Rebirth at Eighty-Four: Contemplations on Wealth, Faith, and Second Chances

Gazing out at the snow-dusted trees of Vernon, I'm struck by the profound contrasts of our world—contrasts that echo through my reflections on spirituality and material wealth. In the heart of this episode, I invite you on a journey from the wintry calm of British Columbia to the sun-soaked luxury of Los Angeles golf courses, revealing how these landscapes shape my perspective on life's deeper truths. As I contemplate the economic allure and potential excesses of the golfing elite, a thread of introspection weaves through our discussion, questioning the very nature of ownership and the fleeting grip we have on our earthly treasures. Through a candid window into my own experiences, I explore the Christian ethos that suggests we are mere stewards of the divine, a view that underpins my personal narrative of transformation.

The waters of baptism symbolize a new beginning, a sentiment that resonates deeply as I share the poignant moment of my immersion at the age of 84. The act, profound in its simplicity, marked a turning point—a rebirth and a washing away of past missteps. Here, the essence of faith and the journey toward eternal life take center stage. I challenge the metaphorical weight of infant christening and advocate for a conscious, adult decision to embrace the teachings of Jesus Christ. It's a conversation that beckons you to reflect on your own convictions, to consider the steps one must take toward redemption, and to recognize the personal journey that is faith. Join me as we navigate the sacred waters of belief, the enduring promise of baptism, and the ceaseless quest for everlasting life.

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Reflecting on Life, Faith, and Baptism

Speaker 1 0:01

Good morning . It's about 11 am in Vernon , british Columbia , about zero degrees outside of Tibet . Getting close to the end of February , it won't be long before we'll be looking at green grass again . That's the welcome deal , I'll tell you . Sure is Well .

Speaker 1 0:25

You know , I've been spending some time , in fact yesterday and today , watching golf tournaments , especially on GolfPro on TV , and right now they're playing in Los Angeles . The other day that we're playing and I forget where it was . What I'm getting at is when we're sitting here in the winter time , usually there's some snow around and you know it's pretty chilly . And I'm watching this big screen with the green and green and more green , and I'm looking at it and I'm just wondering to myself how much do the people that are there appreciate where they are ? You know , I imagine , I imagine they do . But you know I can watch that game all day because it's a moving thing and it's you're visualizing the whole thing , not a bet . It kills a lot of time , I'll tell you . But what I'm getting at is how beautiful the countryside there is and the golf courses are . I mean , you couldn't get greener grass , you couldn't get more manicured lawns , you couldn't get more big , beautiful buildings . And when I watch the amount of people thousands , many , many , many thousands watching each one play Now they're a couple hundred feet away I can't see , I don't . I don't know if they can even see who's who's playing , but they seem to , because they cheer and they let go and cheer again and they must have to pay to go there . Mind you , somebody must pay something because you know , these purses are Ludwig Hovland , I mean one FedEx Cup here just a couple weeks ago , 18 million . Nick Taylor , the other day , one , forget that . Oh yeah , the Phoenix Open 8.8 million . And all those dollars have to come from somewhere and there has to be a lot more than that to be able to pay people off . And besides that , they don't just pay the first guy , they paid down to about 30 , at least I believe because it all cost them money to play and travel and blah , blah , blah .

Speaker 1 3:24

Yeah , I miss my calling . I should have been a golf player . I should have played golf , darn right . But I played little golf , but I didn't take it seriously , nothing , and you know , never even thought of it . But anyway , when I look at those green , beautiful golf courses , I'm wondering how much people are swayed by that . I'm looking at it and say , oh , isn't that beautiful ? Well , it is . But you know there's a danger . There's a danger in people idolizing the world or whatever and saying , oh , all this is wonderful here and wonderful there . Places are pretty wonderful . Now , a lot of places are not .

Speaker 1 4:37

God said don't be enamored by this world , you're just traveling through and don't love the world . You can be in the world but you're not supposed to be of the world . And that's a tricky thing to understand . But I kind of think I understand it because God is a jealous God . I guess that's why Nothing that can do both that or you can do both that , and everything is His , everything . To get that straight in your mind takes a little dancing around . I'll tell you you are , you belong to Him . The cattle on the Thousand Hills belong to Him , everything belongs to Him .

Speaker 1 5:44

For a human being that's a hard pill to swallow because it means that you don't own anything . Not really . You're here by the grace of God , that's it . I don't own this body . People , I mean , say that Women say that it's my body and I can do what I like with it . Not true . There's no more of your body than a tree is .

Speaker 1 6:28

And you know , it's a tough deal to try to understand what the person has to do to get through this life and possibly into the next . And it's going to be a pretty slim deal because there are certain things you've got to do or there's not going to happen . And one of the main things you have to do is get to the point where you believe what Jesus said and you believe what God said Totally , no reservations , no doubts , no nothing , just absolutely . You believe every word . Yeah , that's one thing . The other thing I was saying about it the other day I was watching some programs on TV and how important that baptism actually is . I don't think it's a salvation thing necessarily , but in every instant when Jesus said , here's what you do , you believe and be baptized . Because if you're baptized , god looks at that as you dying and when you come out of that you're a new person . And if you're dying , that means everything that you ever did in your life up to that point has been buried , no longer visible to God .

Speaker 1 8:18

Oh , wow , you know I got I think I got baptized when I was about 80 , I don't know 83 , 84 or something like that , and I thought about it . You know , after 84 years I've piled up a lot of things that most likely shouldn't have done . And let's get baptized , I said and I Well , I think I've mentioned this before , but you know , I sat there and I thought about it and I thought , how about gonna get baptized ? And Then I actually I asked God to supply this guy to do it . It was a fairly young guy . He was the son of a person that I sold a house to does a pool , who was a house painter , and he painted like 120 houses there for me and His son . You know , now he's a you know contractor for Big contractor actually , but he's about 35 . I guess or something like that , maybe 40 for all I know . But anyway he sort of preaches a little bit at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in this one little valley , but he doesn't . He's not a preacher , he just a moral , more or less a speaker , but he's right into it . So anyway , I asked God . I said , would you have him call me and Agree to baptize me in the pool here ? That's a cool . You know , I just signed and built that Rex , and it was a pool in it . Let me thought it was a good thing to use . So I just waited , I kind of , you know , thought about it but kind of forgot about it . I think maybe About two weeks went by or maybe a little more , and I got a call one night about seven o'clock at night and he guy calls and he says hi , how are you doing ?

Speaker 1 10:29

I said fine , yeah . He said it's Paul here . Oh , I said how are you doing , paul ? Well , he said not , yeah , pretty good , yeah , I'm doing fine . I said do you know why you called me ? No , he says I really don't know . He said I just felt I had to call you . So I said well , you know what ? I Would like to get baptized and I want you to do it , and I'd like you to do it some Saturday morning about 8 am and I'd meet you here at the rec center and we'll go in and use the pool and Whatever . And I said give you a day or two to think about it . You know , let me know .

Speaker 1 11:14

About two days later he phones back and he says Okay , he says I'll do it and Is this Saturday ? Okay ? I said yeah , fine . So he came out , baptized me on Saturday , went back in the office and talked and visited for a while His wife and his daughter small daughter was there . Anyway , that's what happened there and right until this day I'm glad I got baptized because you know I had , I did things when I was younger that I , you know , not proud of , and then you know , nobody really knows about it or anything .

Belief, Baptism, and Eternal Life

Speaker 1 11:59

But I , you know , I did things they were saying that I was not proud of , and so I was glad to get baptized . At least , according to God's plan , I got a new , clean start after 84 years . Well , that's not too bad , I mean . But anyway , I often wonder about people , if they think about that , how important that maybe is to them . It's not . I don't believe that it overrides the fact that if you believe in Jesus Christ , like he said , you would have eternal life .

Speaker 1 12:45

Now I but he did say become bad , get baptized , believe in me and be baptized . In other words , believe in me and you cleaned up . So you know I'm the only one in my family who's baptized . The rest have been sprinkled . You know , when there were babies christened , a lot of them consider that to be baptized . But what good is that ? They haven't done anything . They haven't got anything to to be washed away or sins to be covered .

Speaker 1 13:36

So you know that's a Catholic thing , and I don't believe in that at all . I think you have to be an adult person to be baptized , and there's a few things that God requires not not the , not things that you have to jump up and do all the time , but mostly they're spiritual things due to the fact that he wants you to believe exactly what he did and why he came here and who sent him here and why and you have to , you have to have that before you qualify in his , in his way . Well , anyway , that's just a little blurb today . I'd like to just leave you with that , and the thing is , think about it . I can't do anything for you , that's for sure , and you'd have to do this on your own , and I'd like you , you know , if you do , let me know . I'd appreciate it if you did . Anyway , that's it for now .