I May Be Down, But I'm Not Out
Pastor James Ghiloni 4/6/2025
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56:21
Summary
Drawing from his intense experiences in Navy SEAL training (BUDS), Pastor James Ghiloni illustrates that the key to the Christian walk is not athletic ability or perfection, but the resiliency to keep getting back up. Though life brings trials that leave us 'down,' the grace of God ensures we are never 'out' as long as we refuse to quit.
Key points
- •The Christian life involves more than Sunday morning worship; it includes times of being troubled, perplexed, and cast down, as described by the Apostle Paul.
- •Resiliency is the defining characteristic of those who succeed, both in Navy SEAL training and in the walk of faith.
- •Successful living is often simply the act of getting back up one more time after being knocked down by circumstances or failure.
- •The 'captain of our salvation' is always listening to our praise, much like the commander at Coronado base listened for the trainees' shouts, and He will eventually present the 'diploma' of eternal life.
- •The most important part of any elite group or church body is the 'team' aspect; we strive together in one mind and one accord to reach the goal.
Scripture
Resilience
Perseverance
Spiritual Warfare
Victory
Endurance
Life application
When you feel overwhelmed or 'sandy' from the trials of life this week, refuse to 'ring the bell' or quit. Instead, make a conscious Choice to get back up, offer a 'hallelujah' to God, and lean on your church family for strength.
Reflection questions
- In what area of your life right now do you feel 'perplexed' or 'cast down'?
- How can you shift your focus from your current 'evolution' (trial) to the goal of graduation and the crown of life?
- Who in your 'boat team' (church or family) needs you to help carry the load this week?
- What 'shout' are you giving to the Captain of your salvation during your difficult seasons?
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Full transcript
0:00But you miss somebody that is so
0:00special. And we do miss him. Let's stand
0:00in reading from the word of the Lord as
0:02we go today to the
0:05scripture. And Lord, help me with this
0:08thing.
0:12Okay, here we go.
0:14There we go. Oh,
0:18yes. It's like that vehicle he drives
0:21around. We're talking one with another
0:23and that thing's just going somewhere.
0:25God have
0:26mercy. We're living in another
0:28generation.
0:322 Corinthians chapter 4 beginning at
0:34verse 7. The Apostle Paul says, "We have
0:38this
0:39treasure in earthn vessels that the
0:43excellency of the power of may be of God
0:47and not of
0:48us." I believe, and I feel like you also
0:51would believe and agree with me, the
0:53treasure he's talking about in earthn
0:55vessels is this Holy Ghost, the rushing
0:59mighty wind. Yes. The power from on
1:02high, the fountain of living water, the
1:05joy unspeakable and the full of glory.
1:06We've got it right here. And that's why
1:09we're shouting and rejoicing and and
1:11praising and and having a great time
1:13here as we gather together.
1:16But the truth is, there's more to the
1:18Christian
1:19life and living for God than singing and
1:23shouting and speaking in tongues and
1:25shouting amen on Sunday morning. Because
1:28Paul continues in the very next
1:31verse. He says this after he's talking
1:34about this treasure and earthn vessels,
1:36this Holy Ghost, this joy. We are
1:39troubled on every side, right? Yet not
1:42distressed.
1:44We are perplexed. You know what that
1:45really means in our modern English? I
1:47don't know what to do. What do we do
1:49now? I have no clue what's going on.
1:53Perplexed, he said, but not in despair.
1:57persecuted but not forsaken.
2:01Cast down but not destroyed.
2:05Lord, I pray you'll bless your word as
2:06it goes forth today. We thank you for
2:08your presence, the anointing, the glory
2:10of God we feel. Help us today to receive
2:13your word. We ask you to bless everyone
2:15here in the name of Jesus. God bless
2:17you. You may be seated.
2:19Have you ever noticed
2:21that
2:23life just
2:25life, can be filled with troubles,
2:29perplexities,
2:31down times, and yes, sometimes
2:34persecution,
2:36the Apostle Paul experienced that those
2:39kind of days in his
2:42life. And I know you've had yours and
2:45I've had mine. I remember a certain day
2:47in my
2:49life that I was walking through one of
2:52those
2:53times down, discouraged, perplexed,
2:57questioning what where do I go from
2:59here? What am I going to do now? I'd
3:01just been pastoring a church for one
3:03year and it had been a tough year and I
3:05just felt and crying and in my office
3:08wondering I've got a little uh show you
3:11my age. a cassette tape, if any of you
3:13remember what a cassette tape is, of
3:16brother Kenneth Haney, our previous
3:17general superintendent, preaching on
3:20faith. And in that message, he quoted a
3:23short little poem that went like this.
3:27No one is beat until he quits. That's
3:30right. No one is through until he stops.
3:32Right? No matter how hard failure hits,
3:36no matter how often he drops,
3:39and a person is not through until he
3:42lies in the dust and refuses to rise.
3:46Fate can slam him, bang him around,
3:49batter his frame until he is
3:51sore, but you can't say that he's done
3:55when he bobs up serenely for more.
3:58And a fell is not dead until he dies nor
4:02beat till he no longer tries. Do you
4:05know the key to successful living in the
4:08church and even in the world is just
4:11sometimes just getting back up. Just
4:14saying, you know what, I'm down, but I'm
4:16not out. I don't feel like it, but I'm
4:18going to get up again. And today I want
4:21to share with you from my experiences
4:24going through what we call BUDS basic
4:26underwater demolition seal training and
4:29just title this message I may be down
4:31but I'm not out. I may be down but I'm
4:34not out. Things aren't going so well but
4:37I'm not ready to give up yet. I will bob
4:40back up and go on. Praise God.
4:45Hallelujah. And I want to dedicate this
4:47to your uncle Nick. We were close
4:49friends. He was a great warrior. But
4:51he's, like you said, he was in Vietnam
4:53and possibly nobody knows, but most
4:56likely from Agent Orange, developed
4:58cancer and died at a young age, 39 years
5:00old, leaving behind three precious
5:02children that it it just cut there into
5:04the heart. And I dedicate this in his
5:07honor and his memory
5:08today. When you go to Buds, I think I
5:12checked in on Friday and one of the
5:14first things we one of the first words
5:16we heard was this word. That was our
5:18shout. Hya. Now I want to say this. How
5:21many vets we got in the house? I'm sure
5:23we got some veterans in the house. Now
5:25maybe you're in the Marine Corps, Army.
5:26You got your own shout, urah or
5:28whatever. Ours was huy. And I give you
5:31honor because you know what I'm talking
5:33about. You've been there and you've done
5:34that. You've been through some things
5:36and you had to get back up when things
5:37weren't going well. Huya was the shout
5:41that we would shout. Uh it was our
5:43victorious shout, our shout of triumph.
5:45It was also a shout that we would give
5:47to the higher ups. What we call the one
5:50with the scrambled eggs on the hat, the
5:52higher brass. In particular, the one we
5:55really wanted to give it to was the
5:56commander of the the amphibious base
5:59where the SEAL training was going on.
6:01Buds was going on at the base in
6:03Coronado. And there was a commander of
6:05the base. And he had his own office in
6:07that special building in the middle of
6:08the base way up there. Well, we thought
6:11it was up there. His name was Ryan.
6:13Captain Ryan. And we didn't know if
6:15there was a captain Ryan. They said he's
6:17the captain of the base. He's got a big
6:18office up there. And every time we went
6:21by running uh by his walking we you
6:24never walk. You run everywhere you go.
6:26Running by his office. And sometimes we
6:28were cold, wet. You're going to talk
6:31we'll talk about that in a few minutes.
6:33Weary in the middle of hell week and
6:36we'd shout out who Captain Ryan,
6:39wherever you
6:40are. Whoever you are. Well, we didn't
6:44meet him then at 26 weeks later. If you
6:46kept getting back up, if you never quit,
6:49Captain Ryan came and gave you a
6:51diploma. Yeah. Can I say this? One day,
6:54you may not see the King of Glory right
6:56now, but one day the King of Glory, the
6:59captain of our salvation, is going to
7:01hand out some diplomas to some people
7:03who keep
7:08singing. And I am very
7:10thankful for my time in the service. It
7:14wasn't my thing to make a career out of
7:15it. I did the four years. I got out. I
7:18was very thankful for that. But I was
7:20more thankful for that day in July of
7:231971 when God transformed my life and
7:27Nick's life and John's life and a bunch
7:29of other young men's life transformed us
7:31by the power of the Holy Ghost and gave
7:33us another shout of victory. We went
7:36from hooya to hallelujah. I thought we
7:39went from hooya to
7:42hallelujah. And I found out the the more
7:45I shouted hooya, the farther down my
7:48life was going. But when I started
7:50shouting hallelujah to the God of glory,
7:53my life started going
7:55upward. Never lose your song.
7:59And in fact, that's one thing they told
8:01us when we began to start buds. And they
8:03wanted you singing all the time. And I
8:05can't sing some of the songs. I'm not a
8:06singer anyway, but I wouldn't want to
8:09expose you to some of the song we sang.
8:11But they said, "Don't ever lose your
8:13song."
8:16Saint of God, never lose your song.
8:19Never lose your
8:20song. That's a whole another message.
8:24Praise God.
8:26Never lose your song.
8:28Well, here's a
8:30picture of my friend
8:32John on the Apollo 11, the
8:36moonshot. It came down July
8:401969. And John was, as I said, much
8:45into the music world, the drug world,
8:49the hippie world, if you will. We served
8:51our country admiraably, faithfully, but
8:54there was another world for young people
8:56back then. And it was drawing men on the
8:59weekend into that, you know, the singing
9:02and all the songs, anti-war songs and so
9:04forth. So, you notice
9:07John on the right there, the flowers,
9:12he was into the flower power message, if
9:15you
9:15will, and he was in that helicopter and
9:19wanted to make a statement to the older
9:22generation.
9:24So he grabbed these flowers and slapped
9:27them on his wets suit just to make a
9:29statement, if you will. And history is
9:32history. You can't change the pictures.
9:35If they knew he was going to do No, no,
9:37no. You don't ever do that. But it was
9:39too late. It was done. He's in the
9:41water. He's the first man in the water.
9:42Put the sea anchor on the capsule and
9:44the flotation. And now it's history.
9:46That picture is probably at NASA Museum
9:48somewhere.
9:51But thank God through the power of the
9:53Holy Ghost, God took the flower power
9:57and turned it into Holy Ghost power. And
10:00now John is going in and out of Vietnam
10:04baptizing people. He don't have a
10:06grenade. He doesn't have a gun. He's got
10:09a gospel. He's got a message that
10:12delivers people from sin. You talk about
10:15setting people free. They're setting
10:17people free, not with the flower power,
10:19with Holy Ghost power.
10:22Praise God.
10:24Praise God.
10:26Amen. Two other things that you noticed
10:29when you checked into the Bud's training
10:31was this creature from the black
10:34lagoon standing there and it says, "You
10:37think you want to be a frog man?" Then
10:40there was a banner overhead that said,
10:42"The only easy day is going to be
10:44yesterday.
10:47And when I checked in, that was on
10:49Friday. Monday morning, I discovered who
10:52the real creature from the Black Lagoon
10:55was. It was not that lifeless creature
10:59on the quarter deck. It was this fella
11:03standing over me. And I thought, "My
11:06God, there is a real creature from the
11:07Black Lagoon. He's alive and he's
11:10breathing out threatenings that are
11:11real. and I'm going to be with him for
11:14the next 26 weeks and about four or five
11:17other people just like him. So that's
11:20when you realize where you got yourself
11:23into. Every day began with a uniform
11:26inspection. So the night before we're in
11:30that old barracks ironing our green
11:33fatigues, spraying them with starch. It
11:35had to be starch greens, polishing that
11:38belt buckle with the brasso. I think if
11:40I would had any smarts back then, I'd
11:42have taken out stock and brasso. We went
11:45through so much brasso polishing those
11:47belts cuz they had to be shining. And
11:49then of course the spit shine boots. So
11:52there you are early in the morning
11:53standing for your inspection. And you
11:56bet all night getting it perfect. But
11:59that creature in the black lagoon, he's
12:01going to find something and something's
12:03going to be. And sure enough, the the
12:05the the penalty for that was hit the
12:08bay. I'm talking about the San Diego
12:11Bay. We were standing right on the edge,
12:13hit the bay. So, there goes your start
12:15screens, your belt buckle, and all that
12:17P. You jump in and now you're soaking
12:20wet. And the next thing you're going to
12:22go is to
12:24PE. Not PE. I thought it was
12:27PE. I found out real quick, Brother
12:30Elms, it was not your high school PE
12:32class we were going to. Now, obviously
12:35to get into
12:36buds, most all of us had some athletic
12:41background. Yeah. You know, you kind of
12:43had to have a little bit to get past the
12:45screen test. So, we're thinking, man, we
12:48can do this. I mean, PET, PE, what's the
12:50deal? Easy. And go through the
12:53exercises. But there was one ex some
12:55some of them we didn't know. I didn't
12:56know. So, one of them was called an
12:598count
13:00bodybuilder. And what what's an
13:02eightcount bodybuilder? So the
13:04instructor said, "Well, I'm going to
13:05show you what it is and then you're
13:07going to do 28 count
13:11bodybuilders." Now, everything in the
13:12Navy, Army, Marine, whatever, there's a
13:14count, you know, one, you march, one,
13:16two, three, four. So they give a count
13:19through the exercise, even the
13:23one, two, and all that. So he said,
13:25"Follow the count." Well, I'll
13:26demonstrate to you what an eightcount
13:28bodybuilder is. Then I'm like, some
13:30volunteers out here. I see some young
13:32people. He's got his hand up already.
13:35He's got his hand up already. I thought
13:38he looked like one of those. He's got a
13:39number nine here. He's ready to go. And
13:42I thought some couples over there. So,
13:43let me show you first how it goes.
13:572.
14:10And we're the Hey, 20. Come on, let's do
14:13those. So now the next one we're going
14:16to do at his count. So where's my
14:18helpers?
14:20Come
14:22on. Oh, you can do it. There we go. Come
14:25on. Come on. He got to call his friend
14:27out here.
14:32Come on
14:35up. Now, I'm going to face you. So,
14:37you're going to spread out and you'll be
14:38watching me. And remember, we go on the
14:42count. We do what one is, two, and so.
14:44So, here's what we're going to do. 20.
14:53The next time
14:56he go
15:09[Applause]
15:21three, come on.
15:28Oh yeah. Come on. That was
15:32good. They can do it.
15:35I'm the one who need to catch the
15:39breath.
15:42Woo. They did really
15:46good. That was at the PT circle. But
15:51then we went to the rope climb and the
15:55pull-up bars to do
15:57pull-ups. And again, in the military,
16:01everything is on command. So, the first
16:04thing they did was say, "Mount the
16:06bar. Mount the bar." And then you start
16:09pulling them out. Thank God you don't
16:11have a pull-up bar in
16:13here. I'm just going to go like this.
16:17One two three four.
16:21But then you couldn't dismount the bar
16:23until the instructor said, "Dismount."
16:26So here you you've done your pull-ups.
16:28You're hanging on the
16:30bar. And the instructor at that time,
16:33our instructor, his name was Dick Allen.
16:35He was about
16:376'4, solid muscle, about 225 pounds. He
16:41was a Navy
16:42boxer. So here he is getting ready for
16:45the next round. I guess he's got someone
16:48hanging on a bar in front of him. Guess
16:50what he's going to do? You're going to
16:51be his punching bag. Boom, boom, boom,
16:53boom. Until he says,
16:55"Dismount." And suddenly that banner
16:58comes back to your mind. It says, "The
17:01only easy day was yesterday. Where am I
17:04at? What am I doing here?"
17:08And your day is just getting started.
17:11You got
17:12PT and now you're ready for the
17:15day. Every morning was followed by a
17:18number of what we called evolutions.
17:20Everything was called an evolution.
17:22Whether it be a run, a swim, paddling
17:24the boat. We're going to see those in a
17:25minute. But it was called an
17:27evolution. I realized, you know, the
17:29reason they're called evolution because
17:31you're going from something to something
17:33else. When a frog is not born a frog, is
17:36it? It's a little egg and then it's a
17:38tadpole and then it forms some legs and
17:41finally it's a frog man. That's kind of
17:42what they were saying. You're not frog
17:44man yet. You can be. We're going to make
17:46you into one. But to do that, there's
17:47going to be some
17:49evolutions that's going to push you and
17:51prod you. Can I say this? When you're
17:53born again, when I was born again, I
17:55wasn't what God wanted me to be
17:57completely. He had to do some evolution
17:59and take us through some things. And
18:01sometimes the instructor, I'm not saying
18:03to the preacher in the black lagoon, but
18:05sometimes your pastor might push us say,
18:07"We're going to do some praying. We're
18:09going to do some this and that in Bible
18:11study cuz we're trying to become
18:12something
18:14that God knows we can be and God always
18:17has a plan." So, let's look at some of
18:20the evolutions we went through. First of
18:22all, there was the the uh soft sand
18:25runs. You'd be nice to run on that track
18:28at high school, you know. But we're
18:30running in sand up to our ankles and and
18:32you got to stay up and after a certain
18:35few miles they had a little cuto off
18:37called the goon squad. You didn't want
18:40to get in the goon squad. That was
18:43extracurricular activity as they say.
18:46And so I was at the end of a few time I
18:48I'm not getting I caught up anyway. Soft
18:51sand runs into Coronado Beach.
18:54Then there's the O course. It's the
18:57world's most difficult obstacle course
18:59they say in the in the military in the
19:02world. And it's not so much about going
19:04through the obstacles. It's you've got
19:06to be able to complete it to continue on
19:09in a time of seven and a half minutes.
19:12And I confess to you that was pushing my
19:15everything I had. And when I finally got
19:18through that last obstacle, now we
19:20didn't have 911 back in the day, but I
19:22felt like I needed
19:24911. I mean, I was done.
19:28I was very envious and jealous of those
19:31young fellas in their high school. They
19:33didn't play football. They didn't play
19:35basketball. They were gymnastics.
19:37And I mean, they knew how to get over
19:39those things. And whoa, how did you do
19:41that? They were flying over those
19:43things. And I did everything I could to
19:45get get over those. And I made it
19:47finally in seven and a half minutes.
19:49Then we went in the the bay swim, San
19:52Diego Bay. Now you see we got uh fins on
19:55there in wet suits. That only come after
19:57you earned them later. You started out
19:59just skinning it, as they would say, and
20:01swimming back and forth in San Diego Bay
20:04and sometimes in the ocean. And they
20:07would eventually be timed. Then there's
20:09the infamous drownroofing.
20:12Drowning is tying your hands
20:16and your feet to with rope behind your
20:19back and you're bobbing up and down just
20:21to kind of keep from, you know,
20:25drowning. And then when you bob up,
20:27there's that creature in the black
20:28lagoon waiting on
20:29you. He's going to be sure you get down
20:32there
20:34again. Drowning.
20:39There's a class just starting and they
20:43divide every class into boat teams and
20:46everybody's got a boat. Usually it's
20:48seven men. There's three on each side
20:49and a in the back. Seven men to a
20:51boat and you you're you're you know
20:54paddling those boats and we're going to
20:56talk about the surf passage in a moment.
20:57But you see that's quite a long line
20:59there. That's probably the first day of
21:02training. I can tell you in 26 weeks
21:06that line will be quite a bit smaller.
21:11There they are with the everywhere you
21:13go, you take the boat with you, your
21:16boat team on your
21:18head. I feel sorry for those tall
21:22guys. I mean, if three or four guys are
21:25short, it doesn't they got, you know,
21:27they're getting it. And believe me, they
21:30start letting you know that. Come on,
21:33you're not carrying your load.
21:36Then there's surf passage with the
21:39boats and the instructor, you're all
21:41lined up on the beach and you don't go
21:42till the instructor says go. Now he
21:45knows when that high series you're
21:47you're you know you got surfer. There's
21:49a high series and a low series. Wish you
21:52could go in the low series. There's
21:54nothing there. Just go out. But they
21:56know after two or three lows there's
21:58going to be some high. I can tell you. I
22:00don't know about Florida, but I had a
22:01good friend from Jacksonville in the N
22:03in the in the church out there, and I
22:05keep teasing. Your waves are nothing
22:07like our waves. And I don't think they
22:09are, but anyway, they know when that
22:12wave is going to be as high as it can
22:13be. And there's that's when they send
22:15you
22:16out. And then there's what they call
22:18rock pulling. You go out through the
22:20surf and you come back in through these
22:22big
22:24rocks. And again, when those waves come
22:27up, it just throws you into those rocks.
22:30I see those fellas have helmets on. I
22:33was in the old time and we didn't have
22:37helmets. Rock
22:39portage. Then why not do PT? Forget the
22:42football field. Let's do do PT in the
22:46surf. All the exercises, we're going to
22:49do it in the surf zone. Then there's
22:52what they call log PT.
22:58Now, no, not one person can do that by
23:01themselves. But you put a team
23:04together and you can do anything.
23:07Anybody know what I'm talking about?
23:10In the house of God, one couple can't do
23:13everything.
23:15But you put a team together and you all
23:17work together and strive together, you
23:20can reach a lot of you can do a lot of
23:22things.
23:24And I say this when because people do
23:27and I I understand where they're coming
23:29from make a very big issue of being from
23:32the SEAL team. It is an elite group. S E
23:36A L. But the most important word in that
23:40is the word
23:42team. It's not the individual. It's the
23:46working together for one common goal.
23:49And Paul, he said, we strive together.
23:52We're of one mind and one accord. We got
23:54the vision. We're going to do this.
23:56We're gonna have an Easter program.
23:57We're going to do whatever it is we're
23:58going to do. We're going to do it
23:59together. And one person may not do it,
24:02but together we can do it. Can you say
24:04amen?
24:07And then of course there's log
24:09PT. You got it in the surf.
24:13Let's take these out in the ocean.
24:16Have you noticed they like to keep them
24:19wet and
24:22cold? Let me talk to you about the cold,
24:25the temperature of the water. I grew up
24:29in Ohio, central Ohio, Newark,
24:32Ohio, and in the 60s, as I said, I grew
24:35up in the 60s, the Beach Boys were the
24:38hot item.
24:40Now, I know again we're going back with
24:41things you don't know about, but they
24:43used to be called albums.
24:4533s and they've had these they went into
24:47covers. Okay. Well, those
24:51covers was all about surfing. Surfing
24:54USA. Everybody's gone surfing. And you
24:56see those pictures of them surfing in
24:58the Pacific Ocean, Malibu, and you know,
25:00all those beautiful places. And then
25:02they came out with a song California
25:04dreaming. Well, this young man was
25:06California dreaming. I could not wait to
25:08get out there in that beautiful Pacific
25:10Ocean to join the surfing people. I
25:12thought it's going to be great.
25:15But I had a rude awakening when I first
25:17hit the Pacific Ocean.
25:20It wasn't quite as warm as I thought it
25:23was going to be. And I spent much time
25:26in the Pacific Ocean because of my my
25:29calling was to go in the swimmer
25:30delivery vehicle and I was like a mini
25:32subpilot. We spent hours and hours and
25:34hours not only in training but you know
25:37in the teams and I discovered there's
25:39three basic temperatures to the Pacific
25:42Ocean. The first one is
25:45cold. It's cold.
25:48And the second is colder.
25:52You know what the third one is?
25:54It's coldest. That's all you got.
25:58It doesn't get much warmer. It's cold.
26:01Colder.
26:02Coldest. But you spent hours and hours
26:05and
26:06hours in that water.
26:09I told you the evolutions.
26:12We're going to make something out of
26:13you, but it's going to take a little a
26:15little bit of this, a little bit of
26:16that. Beside being wet and cold, they
26:19like you to be sandy.
26:22Now, somebody brought in the pastor and
26:25myself some donuts this
26:27morning, but there wasn't any sugar
26:29donuts. They were chocolatecovered and
26:31they were whatever glazed, but anybody
26:33know what a sugar donut is? How do you
26:36get a sugar donut? You get that out of
26:38the grease and you roll it in the sugar
26:41and the sugar is everywhere. It's so
26:43good. But when that sugar is sand and
26:47it's every I'm talking everywhere,
26:50folks.
26:52It's tough
26:55and you're running and you know, you
26:57know what sandpaper is?
27:02They like to keep
27:03you sandy, wet, and cold.
27:07After four weeks, the first four weeks
27:10is called first phase. That's where you
27:11get all this. We're talking about the
27:14swimming, the running, the O course. You
27:15still get it, but not like intense as
27:17you do. A lot of people don't make it.
27:19They're gone. But to go to the in the
27:21next phase, phase two is where you're
27:23going to get into what you got in there
27:24for. I didn't get in there to roll in
27:26the sand. I didn't get in there to get
27:28wet. I went in there to get some weapon
27:31training, some special training, some
27:33cadry, some demolitions. And we're
27:35getting ready to go into that. Phase two
27:38is coming up. But between phase two and
27:41phase one and phase two, there's
27:43something called hell week.
27:45You want to go to phase two, you're
27:48going to go through hell week
27:50first. Hell week starts at 10:00 a.m. on
27:55Sunday. And they say it's going to be
27:58over
27:59sometime on Friday.
28:02And between 10:00 a.m. and whenever
28:04sometime is on Friday, you get little or
28:07sometimes no sleep whatsoever. And
28:10you've got those boats. You the boat's
28:12always with you. You're carrying it.
28:13You're paddling it. You're doing
28:14whatever to do whatever you got to do.
28:16You're with all the time. And you're
28:18under constant constant pressure to give
28:21up. In fact, I say you can give up
28:23anytime. There's a hot shower waiting on
28:26you. There's a bed waiting on you with
28:29some nice warm covers. You don't have to
28:31be here. They push you to dingdong ding
28:36dong. Ring the bell. I'm out. Constantly
28:38pushing you to see if you're going to
28:40quit or
28:41not. And you spent spend two days in the
28:45mud, the mud flats, they call them. It's
28:47just a just it's
28:49mud. There's what you look like. That's
28:52a good friend of mine. He was he was the
28:54leading officer in my class, John Jim
28:56Dentes.
28:58And for some reason, because he's an
29:00officer, they get tested more than the
29:02the enlisted. He was a leading officer
29:04and he was, you can tell, he was a
29:06little bit older than most of us. He'd
29:08been in the Navy a while. I didn't think
29:09he this man never quit.
29:12He's one of my good friends today. But
29:14that's just after one day in the mud
29:16flats. Now, because of sleep
29:19deprivation, if you know anything about
29:21that, after from Sunday night till
29:25Thursday, you've had no sleep. By
29:28Thursday afternoon and Thursday evening,
29:29especially in the night when you're
29:31paddling that boat through the water,
29:33either in the ocean or San Diego Bay,
29:36you start
29:37hallucinating. You're seeing things that
29:40are not there. And right next to between
29:43the ocean and the bay, there's a little
29:45highway called Silver Strand. That's
29:46where the cars go up and down Highway
29:4875. And um those cars begin to come at
29:52you and you don't think they're cars.
29:53They're they're
29:55monsters. and you see things, you're
29:57hallucinating because of no sleep all
29:59week. Well, in the back of the boat,
30:01there's that coxin. He's usually the
30:03officer in charge. He's in charge of the
30:05boat and the other men are, you know,
30:07enlisted different ranks and they're the
30:09paddling and so forth. Down through the
30:11bay, all of a sudden, Thursday night,
30:13this particular and the officer in
30:15the back yells out to the front of the
30:17boat, "Throw that old lady out of the
30:18front of the boat."
30:21And the men look at him, "Sir, there's
30:24no lady in the front of the boat." He
30:26said, "I'm the captain of the boat. I
30:28tell you, throw the lady out of the
30:29front of the boat. She don't belong
30:31here." He was seeing things that weren't
30:35there. So, sure enough, they took the
30:37guy to call the bowman, throw him out,
30:39pulled him back in, and said, "Yes,
30:41sir." All that during hell week of sleep
30:44deprivation. It's hard to describe that.
30:46It's just you go from one moment to
30:49another knowing I just got to get
30:51through this moment. That's really the
30:53key. I get I'm not worried about
30:54tomorrow, even the next hour. Right now,
30:57I'm going to deal with this. I'm going
30:59to get through
31:01this. After that hell week, you do win
31:04the second phase. And during second
31:05phase, part of it, you go out to a place
31:07called San Clemeni
31:09Island. And there you're going to
31:11experience most likely the flight of the
31:13wooden butterfly.
31:17You stand in inspection. Again, every
31:18morning at inspection, but rather than
31:20send you out into the water, grab that
31:24pallet, put it on your back, run up that
31:26mountain. You better be running. You run
31:28up that mountain and back. So, we
31:30started calling it the flight of the
31:31wooden butterfly. And that's pretty much
31:33everybody's going to go through that a
31:35few times while you're at San Clemeni
31:36Island. That's where you do a lot of
31:37your demolition training and so forth.
31:41In
31:42short, BUDS, which is basic underwater
31:45demolition seal training, is the most
31:48challenging and rigorous military
31:51training in the
31:52world. Only about 20 to 25% of those who
31:56start out eventually graduate and go on
31:58to the team SEAL teams. For example,
32:01class 76 had four graduate out of quite
32:05a large number.
32:07Class
32:0978 had zero graduates.
32:13There was one left, but because he's by
32:15himself, he couldn't do any. He had to
32:17be rolled back to a pre another class to
32:20join them. And he graduated with the
32:21next class coming up. My class had 20
32:25over 120 start. There were 24 of us
32:28graduated that. And I had I was blessed.
32:31It was summer class. My friend John went
32:35through a winter class and in during
32:37hell week, this is San Diego, it
32:40actually snowed.
32:43That was pretty
32:45cold. So Stanford University was saw
32:49this. So they decided to do a study, a
32:53survey if you will. What does it take to
32:56become a US Navy Seal? So they sent a
33:00team down to Coronado attached to the
33:03training. They didn't go through the
33:05training. They just watched it, but they
33:08recorded all the data from day one
33:10through the 26 weeks to graduation. All
33:13the data it would take to become a Navy
33:16Seal. And here are their findings and
33:19their numbers to become a Navy Seal.
33:21They found out you had to during that 26
33:24weeks you'd run over 806 miles, swim 77
33:28miles, paddle that boat around for 19
33:30and I don't know what class that was,
33:32but I think we paddled that boat 10
33:34times more than 19 hours. It probably
33:37just my thinking. We were always in that
33:39boat. You run the obstacle course over
33:4229
33:44times. You spend 35 hours diving
33:48underwater. You do 126 hours of the PT.
33:51You shoot over 3,000 rounds of
33:53ammunition at the at the range. You
33:55tread water for five minutes in full
33:57dive gear, including a 5 to 10 pound
33:59weight bell. You have to swim back and
34:00forth in the pool 50 m underwater
34:03holding your
34:05breath. Now, that thing with the with
34:07the diving, it's not only diving with a
34:10weight belt. But when you're in the pool
34:11and diving, there's you're down there
34:14and the instructor's down there with you
34:16turning your air off, taking your hose
34:18out of your mouth, tying it in a
34:20knot, and so you got to pass the the
34:23dive
34:24test. That's that
34:27nice creature in the black lagoon that
34:29you're going to be
34:32with. That does not include they this is
34:35their these are all quotes from their
34:37finding. That does not include the hell
34:39week which was over 120 hours physical
34:42training with less than four hours
34:44sleep. So Buds is considered as I said
34:47the most demanding and challenging
34:49training in the US military to them
34:51unquote. So what was their
34:54conclusion? What it takes to become a
34:56Navy US Navy Seal. Stanford's conclusion
35:00was this. their words. It was not the
35:03most athletic people, the most fastest
35:06swimmers if you will, the the greatest
35:09runners and swimmers, the Rambo type,
35:11the Hollywood type that they show you.
35:13It was only those who had a emotional
35:16toughness and a commitment to say, you
35:18know what? I'm never going to quit. Do
35:22whatever you want to do, but I'm here to
35:24make it through.
35:26I may be down, but I'm not out. I may be
35:30sore and hurting, but I'm never going to
35:32give up. Praise
35:34God. Now, I never attended or graduated
35:37from Stan Stanford, but I think I do
35:41know in one word what it takes to make
35:43it through Bud's training. That one word
35:46is resiliency.
35:48And that meaning of that word is the
35:50ability to become strong and healthy or
35:52successful after something bad happens.
35:55Wow. Yes. You find out very quickly
35:57after you start bud something bad's
35:59about to happen.
36:02I don't know about you, but even in the
36:04house of God, you pray through on Sunday
36:06night. Don't be surprised if something
36:09happens during the next week that's not
36:12quite like it is at the altar on Sunday
36:13night.
36:16It's the ability to return to its
36:18original shape after it has been pulled,
36:21stretched, pressed, or bent out of
36:24shape. Have you ever been bent out of
36:27shape?
36:28Come on. It got to be some resiliency to
36:32continue on whatever you're doing. Now,
36:34you're bent out of shape. I know no
36:36parents have ever felt that way.
36:39It's the ability, it says in the
36:41dictionary, to recover from or adjust
36:43easily to misfortune or change. In other
36:47words, like I said in my title, to
36:50bounce back after being knocked down, I
36:52may be down, but I'm not out.
36:55I'm not done.
36:57I'm not dead yet. I'm still going to
36:59try.
37:02Now, here is my illustration of
37:04resiliency.
37:06This young man there is on what we call
37:08the slide for life in the O
37:10course. And I use that because one day
37:13after I was I had went to
37:16cow. That's a Navy word for going to
37:19have dinner. And I was running back to
37:23the barracks from cow and running
37:26towards me was someone from the class
37:28behind us. I knew him. His name was
37:30Jimenez. Now I don't speak SP. I call
37:32him Jimn. Jimnz. I didn't know about
37:34Spanish.
37:36Jimenez is and he had two castle, one on
37:39his left and one on his right. I said,
37:42"What happened to you?" He said, "Well,
37:44I tell you, I was on the slide for life
37:46today and I was coming down the slide
37:49for life and I slipped whatever and I
37:51rolled over here and fell and thank God
37:53it's in the sand." He fell in the sand,
37:55but he twisted he tweaked his wrist and
37:58you and there's always medics around the
38:00team training because they want to take
38:02care of the people if they need it. And
38:04there's medics there. But you think they
38:05would send the medic over that creature
38:07in the black who said, "Mimensis, get
38:09back up there. You can do it again."
38:12Okay. He gets back up on the SL come
38:15down again and sure enough he slips. He
38:17falls to the left side and now he's got
38:19left bro left wrist wrench and the right
38:22wrist. He's got two casts on. What I'm
38:24trying to say today about being
38:26resilient. Gimenez never missed a day of
38:29training. He continued on. He graduated
38:31with the class. He I may be hurt. I may
38:33be down. It may not be easy. But I'm
38:36never giving up. I'm going to make
38:43it. In my own class 52, that is our
38:46class standing on the
38:49Friday in hell
38:51week waiting for the sometime to come to
38:55pass. We know it's Friday and we know
38:58this is it. The last day, right? We've
39:00made it. said, "What time?" Well,
39:02sometime we'll get you that. We We're
39:04ready to tell you that. But they said,
39:06"We're going to do one more thing and
39:08we're going to dismiss you and you'll be
39:10done with this. You what they call
39:11secure secure to your shower and go take
39:15a nap, but we're going to do it one at a
39:17time. And whoever wins the race,
39:18whatever boat team wins the race,
39:20they're going to be secure. Here's what
39:22we're going to do. We're gonna do a race
39:25and you got the choice. You can either
39:28duckwalk your whole team together.
39:30Duckwalk with the the IBS, the boat on
39:33your head. Duckwalk down around the PT
39:36field, which about quarter mile away,
39:38and back here. First one back winds. Or
39:41you can snake crawl. And I never even
39:43heard about snake crawling, but I knew
39:45what it must have meant. You know, snake
39:46crawl is snake crawl, whatever that
39:48means, with the boat on your back. So,
39:50you got your choice. Are you ready? And
39:52before he could send this off, this
39:54little Puerto Rican fell in the back.
39:58Bill Ramos.
40:03He shouts out, "Mr.
40:06Instructor, we don't want to do either
40:09one. We want to do
40:12both." I just said, "You
40:16idiot. When we're done with this, we're
40:18taking care of you, brother."
40:23Well,
40:24that all of a sudden the instructor
40:26said, "Okay, it's over. Go take a
40:29shower, all of you." What was he looking
40:31for? Somebody was saying, "You know, it
40:33doesn't matter. You can do one. You can
40:35do two. We can duck walk. We can snake
40:38crawl, but I'm not quitting." And he
40:41said, "Okay, that's what we're looking
40:42for. Go get your shower." Praise God.
40:46Sometimes God's looking for an attitude.
40:48an attitude to do it. It doesn't matter
40:50what the cost is.
40:53[Applause]
40:55Whatever it takes. I may be down, but
40:58I'm not out.
41:00Amen. Give it your best shot. I may be
41:04tired. I may be cold. I may be sandy as
41:07can
41:08be. The truth is, Brother Elms, this
41:11message is not really about becoming a
41:12Navy
41:13Seal. It's about serving God.
41:17Every one of us, every child, and yours
41:20may not be like somebody else, but we're
41:22all going to face times in a walk with
41:24God where things get a little tough. We
41:28may be down. We may be feeling like,
41:30does anybody even care? I'm cold. I'm
41:33weary. I'm tired. But pastor, I'm going
41:37to be in church. We're having some
41:39difficulties in our house, but you're
41:40going to have us there Sunday morning.
41:42In fact, finances aren't what they
41:44should, but we're not missing that
41:45tithe.
41:47I'm telling you, you get an attitude
41:48that said, "It doesn't matter. I'm going
41:50to be there. I'm going to serve. And
41:53yes, there's going to be some times it's
41:54not going to be easy.
41:57But I'm going to keep trying."
41:59Spiritually speaking, we may be down. By
42:02the grace of God, I'm going to get back
42:04up.
42:07The Apostle Paul said, he knew what it
42:10was all about. We're troubled on every
42:13side. Think about that. Everywhere he
42:14looked. Trouble, trouble, trouble,
42:16trouble. I thought this Holy Ghost would
42:18just skate into heaven. No, there's
42:20trouble in every side. Yet I'm not
42:22distressed.
42:24I am perplexed, but not in despair. I've
42:28been persecuted, but he's never forsaken
42:31me. He's never forsaken me. He's with
42:34me. I may be cast down, I'm not
42:38destroyed. And the honest truth is, if
42:41we would really admit it, every one of
42:43us have had times when we might have
42:44felt, I can't even go
42:47on. Let me share this story about this
42:50young man named Bill
42:53Ramos. He's the one that cried out, "We
42:55want to do
42:56both." Here he is in training. He was in
43:00my class under the log PT. He's broken
43:03down. He just illustrates what I'm
43:04trying to talk about. I'm down. He came
43:07in with John and Tommy and myself and
43:10Nick. He was one of those that came in
43:12and I tell you how he came in. He saw
43:15what we were doing. We were going to
43:16church and he was just newly married and
43:18had had a little baby. The baby was in
43:21the Navy hospital
43:23dying. There was no hope. The baby was
43:26going to die. He went to the And I
43:29didn't know he had done this. He went to
43:30the church we were going to and contact
43:32a pastor said, "Would you come and pray
43:34for my baby?" And God instantly raised
43:36that baby up, healed that
43:39baby. So,
43:41Bill and his wife Elsie, they came in
43:45the church and served God, but he was
43:48getting out of the Navy soon. And he got
43:49out of the Navy and went back to Puerto
43:52Rico. And we didn't hear from him for
43:55years. We felt, well, he's he's probably
43:59just backslid. No one could get a hold
44:01of him. And I understand that in Puerto
44:05Rico, Ramos would be like Smith or
44:08Jones. Getting a hold of him was we just
44:10couldn't do it. So many years went by
44:12and I I'd pray for Bill and I'd pray for
44:14my friend. I call his name out. Say,
44:17"Where he's at? I don't know where he's
44:18at, God, but be with him." About 47
44:22years
44:23later, I'm at home about six o'clock in
44:26the morning. My cell phone rings. And of
44:29course at six o'clock in the morning I'm
44:31not ready to answer the phone. I let it
44:33go to give me a message. When I get up
44:35later I went to the message. He says,
44:37"I'm looking for Jim Galoney. This is
44:40Bill Ramos. You may not remember me." He
44:43be and I knew who it was. And he was in
44:46tears. He said, "You know, I've been
44:48away from God a long time, but we're
44:52coming back to God. What am I
44:55saying? Bill, you may be down. You may
44:59be down, but you're not out. You're not
45:03out. You're not
45:06out. I have made my mistakes. I didn't
45:10do what I supposed to do, but I'm going
45:12to get up and live for God. Hallelujah.
45:21Now, I told you the little poem. It
45:22said, you know, and man's not dead till
45:25he dies, nor beat till he no longer
45:26tries. That was Edward Guest. The Bible
45:28says, Micah says, "Don't you rejoice.
45:31Don't rejoice over me when I'm down. Oh,
45:33my enemy. I shall arise. I'm down. I'm
45:37not out. I've made my mistakes, but I'm
45:39going to get the altar. I'm going to get
45:41back in the church. I'm going to do what
45:43I have to do." If you think about the
45:45prodigal son was
45:47down about as far as you go, but he
45:49said, "I'm not out. I'm going home."
45:51Praise God. And if you're here today and
45:54you've made some mistakes, don't give
45:57up.
45:59Never ring the bell.
46:02You may be crawling in the sand
46:04spiritually speaking, but I'm not
46:06ringing that bell.
46:09I'm going to get through this. And thank
46:11God, we have grace and we have help. And
46:15we've got a family. We've got a pastor.
46:17We've got brothers and sisters. We got a
46:19men's group. We got a ladies group and
46:21they're going to help us. We're going to
46:23make it together. In fact, again, those
46:25who make it through the teams, they
46:26don't do it on their own. There's a
46:28camaraderie. There's a brotherhood
46:31pulling each other back in. Say, we're
46:34going to make this
46:36together. The scripture says this.
46:39Ecclesiastes, the race is not to the
46:41swift, the battle to the strong, but he
46:45that
46:46endures to the end, the same shall be
46:50saved. If you want to make it, you got
46:53to get back up sometimes.
46:57James 1:12, blessed is the man that
47:00endureth temptation, testing, for when
47:03he's tried, then he's going to receive
47:05the crown of life.
47:07We're all going to be tried. We're all
47:09going to be
47:10tested. And then here is the testimony
47:12of that man who was troubled on every
47:15side, who is perplexed, persecuted, and
47:18cast down. But he could say in the end,
47:21"I have fought a good
47:23fight. I've finished my course.
47:26I've kept the faith." How did he do
47:29that? He just kept getting back up.
47:32Amen.
47:34Timothy, this is tough, but we're not
47:37giving in. We're going
47:39on. Amen. If you want Paul's testimony,
47:43you got to keep getting back up.
47:48Today, we have the greatest writings
47:51maybe in the Bible, the 14 books the
47:54Apostle Paul wrote in the New Testament.
47:57You know why we have those? Because a
47:59man just kept getting back up.
48:02He's in prison writing those letters.
48:04He's been forsaken writing those
48:06letters. He's in suffering.
48:09But we have the New Testament, 14 out of
48:11the 27 books written by this man who was
48:14down but not out. And do you know why we
48:18have this awesome, wonderful message we
48:20refer to as the gospel? Acts
48:232:38. You know who quoted those words,
48:26wrote those words, said those words? His
48:28name was Peter. Then Peter said unto
48:31them, "Repent and be baptized."
48:34But seven weeks before that, this same
48:37man was so far down in his walk with
48:39God. I don't know that man. Three time
48:44cursing. I don't know Jesus. I'm not
48:48part of that.
48:50I'm
48:51down. He said, "You know what? I'm not
48:53going to stay down. He's too good to
48:56me." Yes, he got up. And because he got
48:58up, he was preaching on the day of
49:00Pentecost. Praise God. Praise God.
49:05I believe everyone in this building
49:06today has been down at some time or
49:08another.
49:09But you've gotten up. And do you know
49:12why we sit here today in this awesome,
49:15awesome church of revival and a thriving
49:20church? Because a couple like
49:23this never stopped getting up.
49:27You think they've never been down and
49:28out, face issues that they wonder, "What
49:31do we do now?" Honey,
49:34they keep getting back up. It wasn't
49:35always just like this, was it? But you
49:37keep getting back up and you keep
49:39building. The key of building a church
49:41is keep getting back up. And the key to
49:44building a marriage, folks, is get keep
49:46getting back up. There's no perfect
49:48people, perfect marriages. Everybody has
49:50their issues and problems come along,
49:51but you I'm just going let's get back
49:53up, honey. We can do this together.
49:55That's right. And the key of being a
49:57good Christian is getting back up music.
50:01You can come as we close out
50:04today. I want to share this true story
50:07again. I go way back to the past. There
50:10was a fighter named Rocky Marciano. In
50:13his day, he was the undefeated
50:14undisputed champion of the world.
50:16Undefeated. Nobody could beat Rocky.
50:20But a man by the name of Ezard Charles
50:22got in the ring to challenge
50:25Rocky and uh Rocky I don't think had
50:28ever been knocked down but Ezard was a
50:30good fighter and he's going back
50:32shifting back and forth and suddenly he
50:34got in his one two whatever and Rocky
50:36goes
50:38down and when you go down you're the one
50:41who knocked down supposed to go to your
50:42corner you know go to your corner wait
50:44till give the one two 10 count and so
50:46forth well Mr. Charles didn't go to his
50:49corner. He went over and was standing
50:51over
50:52Rocky and he was kind of just yakking at
50:55him like he didn't, you know, just
50:56talking to him. Well, obviously Rocky
51:00got up because Rocky was the undefeated
51:02champion of the world.
51:04But after the fight, the commentators,
51:07the media, who are the sports cer
51:10interviewed Mr. Ezard Charles and said,
51:12"That was kind of odd what you did.
51:15That's not what you do. What were you
51:17doing? What were you saying? As we could
51:20see, you were talking. What were you
51:21saying to Rocky? He's I was telling
51:24Rocky, "Don't get up. Don't get up.
51:29Don't get up." Because he knew if Rocky
51:33gets up,
51:35I'm going down.
51:37Can I tell you something? When we are
51:39down and there's a voice speaking into
51:41your heart in the middle of the night,
51:43give it up. Give it up.
51:47It's over. You can't make it. You can't
51:49do it. You can't be what they're talking
51:51about down there. Just give it up. You
51:54know why he's saying that? That's a
51:55voice of evil. Cuz that voice knows if
51:58you get up and you get back in the
52:00church and you get on fire for God.
52:02You're going to do something. You're
52:04going to knock some people out. You're
52:06going to bring some people in. You're
52:07going to be something for God. So when
52:10you hear those voices, uh uh I'm getting
52:12up. I'm going to fight on. I'm gonna
52:15finish the race. Praise God. Stand with
52:18me this morning. Hallelujah.
52:23Something happened to me that I call a
52:25God moment in my life about about eight
52:27years
52:29ago. I'm home in my office at home and
52:33like pastors do, we sometime get in that
52:35desk. We can't get away from it. And my
52:38wife said, "Honey, you've been at that
52:39desk all day. You need to get out, get
52:42exercise, just do something." So I went
52:44and got my golf clubs and went up to
52:47Coronado, California, which was a
52:48beautiful golf course as a single with
52:50no tea time. Think I'll just try to get
52:52on. And sure enough, I got there and
52:54they had an opening. There was a
52:56threesome and they go by fours. If
52:57you're a golfer, you know what I'm
52:58talking about. You can join that
53:00threesome over there. So I went out and
53:02how you do at the golf course, you
53:04introduce
53:05yourself. I'm Jim.
53:08Allan, that's what you say. I'm Jim.
53:12That's what you normally do. you give
53:13your first name. So I went up to the the
53:16young man was there and hi my name is
53:19Jim and there I'm going to join you. And
53:21he didn't just say my name is Jerry. He
53:24said my name is Jerry Ryan. This is my
53:26wife Peggy and that's my dad over there.
53:28He's an old man sitting over there. He's
53:30going to golf with us. He his name is
53:32Jim. So we sit there waiting for our
53:35time to tea off and we're trying to say,
53:37"Hey, could you hurry up? We're ready to
53:39go." I'm just kidding. I wouldn't say
53:41that.
53:43Just
53:44kidding. But and the first tea of the
53:46Cornado Golf Course is directly across
53:49the water, the bay from the Navy base,
53:53the SEAL team base. So I'm trying to
53:56create conversation to be, you know,
53:58short just talk. And it was January and
54:02I'm from Ohio and I know what's going on
54:05in Ohio in January. About 5t of snow on
54:07the ground. It's freezing.
54:09I said, you know, I came out here to
54:11California in
54:121969 and uh I'm from Ohio and I was
54:16right over there at that Navy base in
54:181969. And the older man who had never
54:20said a word all of a sudden begin to
54:22speak up. He said, "You know what? I was
54:25at that base in
54:271969. In fact, I was the commander, the
54:30captain of the base in 1969."
54:35And the light went on in my
54:38mind. You're Captain
54:41Ryan. I just stood there. You're Captain
54:43Ryan. You're the one who handed me my
54:47diploma 48 years ago in Bud's training.
54:52And here we meet
54:53again. And so we went together all
54:56through the day. And I said, "Brother or
54:58I'd say, brother Captain Ryan, I have to
55:01ask you something.
55:04We'd go by every day your office and
55:07we'd cry out, "Who ya, Captain Ryan?"
55:10Now, it always wasn't with enthusiasm
55:12because sometimes we were so wet, we
55:14were so cold, we were in hell weak, we
55:16could hardly even get it out, but who
55:17ya, Captain Ryan, did you hear us? Were
55:20you even paying attention? He said, "You
55:23know what? I always listened for your
55:26hooya. I was listening for it. I knew
55:28you guys were cold. I knew you were
55:30being down. I knew what you're going
55:32through. I knew what it was all about,
55:34but I was listening. Can I tell you
55:36today, we come through those doors, it's
55:38not always
55:39easy, but there's somebody up there
55:42listening.
55:44He's the captain of our
55:46salvation. He's
55:48listening. Not for a huy, but ours is
55:51hallelujah. We sang it
55:53today. You got a hallelujah. You got a
55:57hallelujah in you. He's listening for
55:59it. As we close, if you feel like I do
56:03that, I'm down, but I'm not going to be
56:05out. Come on up and maybe that be your
56:08prayer today. Let's come together to the
56:10front and let's let's go out with
56:12victory. I may be down, but Lord, I'm
56:15not out. I'm going to go on. Let's sing
56:17it. praise
56:18seat of you all by