Clinging to Hope: Lessons from Habakkuk with Mickey Stonier

Mickey Stonier
00:00:00.240 - 00:00:19.725
People grab me on my fire jacket. Why would God allow this to happen to me? And God answers. It's interesting, you know, why, what, how, where, when. But God always answers, who?

It's Jesus. God responds and says, I'm on the throne.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:00:27.025 - 00:01:52.051
Welcome to Eternal Impact. I'm your host, Aaron Matthew Kaiser. And the purpose of this podcast is to bring biblical stories to life so that we can see how they change lives.

Today, this episode is a special one. The date this goes to Air is September 10, 2024.

That's one day shy of 23 years since terrorists flew planes into the World Trade center in New York City, an event that all of us are familiar with. Our guest this week was there at Ground Zero. He was serving as a chaplain for the National Critical Response Team.

His role was to provide comfort and guidance for those that were hurting and needed to cling to God the most in that moment. His name is Mickey Stonier, and he is the executive pastor of Rock Church in San Diego.

In between the funny moments filled with bad dad jokes and puns, we have moments of seriousness and somberness. It's no surprise to me to find that his biblical character is Habakkuk, whose name literally means to embrace or to cling.

And we are about to learn what clinging to God entails. Without further ado, let's jump right into it. Mickey, I want to thank you for being on this episode of Eternal Impact.

Mickey Stonier
00:01:52.203 - 00:01:57.347
Hopefully, we won't talk for eternity here. We'll have a condensed version, but.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:01:57.411 - 00:02:01.659
Well, I'm setting a stopwatch so that we do stop at a reasonable hour.

Mickey Stonier
00:02:01.707 - 00:02:12.655
Good, good. I'm in a 12 step program for talking too much. Too much. It's called Al Anon and on and on and on. So I'm sorry, these are bad dad jokes. I'm just.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:02:13.795 - 00:02:40.719
I have not heard that one before. That's really good.

Before we get into your work here at the Rock and into your biblical character, I wanted to comment on the fact that we're both SoCal boys, but we. We've kind of crossed paths. You started in the Los Angeles area in Hermosa beach and then came down to San Diego in your 20s.

And I started here in Santee in San Diego and went to Los angeles in my 20s.

Mickey Stonier
00:02:40.807 - 00:03:03.089
Yeah, I grew up in Hermosa Beach. My dad was police officer, went through the ranks, became the chief in Hermosa Beach. And my friends always made fun of me.

They'd say I was a son of a beach cop. And so they don't stop, do they? Yeah, no. So law enforcement, family. My brother was a lifeguard. He helped start what was called the Baywatch.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:03:03.217 - 00:03:03.993
Okay.

Mickey Stonier
00:03:04.169 - 00:03:18.985
My brother's name is David Hasselhoff. Well, actually, David Hasselhoff played my brother, but he did his career up there. He's retired and to emergency services.

But I came to Faith when I was 21, in college, reading the Bible.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:03:19.065 - 00:03:21.105
I saw that was the Gospel of Matthew.

Mickey Stonier
00:03:21.145 - 00:03:43.819
Yeah, yeah. I got started there and changed my life. And one thing led to another. Went into.

Instead of being an elementary school teacher, became a youth pastor and kind of grew up within a church and took on more responsibilities. And one thing led to another. I got involved in emergency response work, serving first responders and things.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:03:43.907 - 00:03:50.251
Before we get into that, is there something from the Gospel of Matthew that in particular jumped out to you just.

Mickey Stonier
00:03:50.283 - 00:04:28.039
For me coming to Faith? No, it was the faith it took for me to open the Bible to say, I wonder if something's in here?

And as I was reading and met Jesus for the first time, no one really explained to me who he was. I had questions. I started asking people, what's. What's the Old Testament? Why is there an old and a new? I had no knowledge.

Why did they have to have a new? What was wrong with the old? You know, those just elementary questions. And so I thought I should go to a Bible study.

And eventually made my way into a college Bible study here in San Diego.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:04:28.127 - 00:04:31.703
With a pastor, Mike McIntosh with Horizon Christian Fellows.

Mickey Stonier
00:04:31.719 - 00:04:50.825
It became Horizon. It wasn't a church yet. It was just a college study. And he was teaching through the book of Revelation. And I didn't know anything about it. And just.

I was like, oh, wow, this stuff's real. So came to faith through Matthew, then.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:04:50.865 - 00:04:53.513
Mark, Luke, John, hold the horse and I'll get on.

Mickey Stonier
00:04:53.569 - 00:04:56.921
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your dad humor is pretty bad.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:04:57.033 - 00:05:16.333
I got that from my dad. I wanted to talk about your chaplaincy really quickly because you serve as a chaplain for many organizations.

The fire department, medical examiner's office, the harbor police, Office of Emergency Services, the spiritual care response team for the National Critical Response Team.

Mickey Stonier
00:05:16.429 - 00:07:08.111
Yeah, that's what took me to 9, 11 to ground zero. For the first two weeks there, we were.

It's an act of Congress back in 1996, that Congress passed an act that commercial airlines needed to care for the family members of people lost on a commercial airline crash. So about 100 chaplains and mental health workers were all recruited. We got trained, and we were on call for one month a year.

And my month happened to be September, and so my pager went off on September 11th. Got on a flight September 12th out of LA. The first flight out ended up getting vitiligo or autoimmune from serving there.

I've had two bouts of cancer related to serving. At 9 11.

I got involved with first responders because a firefighter in San Diego died off duty from cancer and another firefighter asked me to go help the family. They were of Christian faith. And so I came alongside the family 27 years ago and got to know the family.

The chief at the time asked me to be a chaplain. So I started riding along and getting to know that culture. The world saw, gosh, these.

A lot of the firefighters had a lot of issues because of all that. They're exposed to what they see on a daily basis. There is alcohol problems, suicidal challenges and marriage breakups.

So I jumped into that and wanted help. So I've been helping firefighters, police officers and got trained in critical incident stress management.

Now I teach all over the country and locally helping firefighters, police, military take care of themselves, you know, which ties into the Rock Church. Our vision is to establish pervasive hope.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:07:08.263 - 00:07:09.735
Pervasive hope.

Mickey Stonier
00:07:09.895 - 00:08:03.051
Every street, every person, we want to have the hope of Jesus Christ stand.

You know, a lot of churches I've seen, it's people go to church to get more information, learning the Bible, which is great and we do that at the Rock Church. But our band is, you know, it's more than information, it's transformation and it's not meant to be behind closed doors.

Let's get out in the community and live out our faith and demonstrate and serve our community. Serve your neighbor, love your neighbor.

We're very active out in the community and part of what's been a blessing for me is taking my inroads for the city and county and nation. I ended up getting my PhD and my dissertation was on compassion fatigue, that emotional drain of helping others.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:08:03.163 - 00:08:12.131
We don't often think that when we're helping others, it's a drain on us. We think that we're kind of lifting them up, but when we're lifting them up, we're giving a little bit of ourselves as well.

Mickey Stonier
00:08:12.203 - 00:08:32.453
Oh yeah, and first responders, military give so much and people don't understand their world.

When you're responding and you're doing chest compressions on a one year old infant whose heart stopped and you have a one year old at home and that emotional connection and the parents screaming and save my child.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:08:32.589 - 00:09:01.705
It's interesting. One of the other connections that we have is. So I mentioned I grew up in Santee Iowa is a class of 98.

And you worked with some of the students and whatnot during the high tennis school shooting. Yeah. Which at the time was the second deadliest after Columbine. I think it's been overshadowed a bit now, but a lot of people forget about it.

But it was 13 wounded, two killed. My brother walked down the hallway.

Mickey Stonier
00:09:01.825 - 00:09:02.249
Wow.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:09:02.337 - 00:09:08.617
Five minutes before it happened. One of the injured was actually in a film I made my senior year of high school.

Mickey Stonier
00:09:08.681 - 00:09:09.257
Wow.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:09:09.401 - 00:09:56.855
And I was down there with a media organization giving support to the out of town media. Because you have all these news organizations that come in and the community gets hostile to them very quickly, but they're not allowed to go home.

And then like, obviously not to the same degree as first responders, but I specifically remember there was a photographer who said that was his third school shooting. If they sent him on one more, he was going to quit. He couldn't do it anymore.

And then the pressure to just get the story is what causes the cutthroatness between them. And so the community just gets mad right away, says, oh yeah, you can't use our restroom. So we had an RV set up to go, hey, use our restroom.

Here's some coffee. Do you need to talk?

Mickey Stonier
00:09:56.935 - 00:10:08.401
Yeah. Just over a week later, there was the Granite Hill shooting.

Shortly after, I was serving up both those for the families in school, did interventions in the school for the students afterwards. Yeah.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:10:08.473 - 00:10:25.001
It's almost like when you're, you're serving in this area, it's. I think a good analogy is like a cup.

If you've got a pitcher of water and you're pouring it into people's cups, you know, you're filling all these people up, but then eventually you're going to have to fill yours back up, otherwise you're empty.

Mickey Stonier
00:10:25.113 - 00:10:26.593
I use that in my trainings.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:10:26.649 - 00:10:41.941
We even just talk about that in terms of just spiritually. Like we leak, you know, and so that's why we constantly have to be in the word. We constantly have to be in community.

We constantly need to be in prayer, you know, because we need to just be full and ask the spirit to fill us.

Mickey Stonier
00:10:42.013 - 00:10:56.349
Yep. Yeah. First responders are very leaky. Yeah. Sometimes to deal with it, they drink alcohol to, to take in, to refill has. Because you're.

People numb their pain and memories and that's not helpful.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:10:56.397 - 00:11:04.077
So, yeah, it can numb you. It can, you know, kind of mellow you up just so you can sleep. And when you're getting into that, that's not a.

Mickey Stonier
00:11:04.181 - 00:11:04.653
Not good.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:11:04.709 - 00:11:12.229
Not a healthy place to be at all. When it goes beyond an occasional enjoyment to a medication.

Mickey Stonier
00:11:12.357 - 00:11:12.765
Right.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:11:12.845 - 00:11:14.493
That's when it becomes a problem.

Mickey Stonier
00:11:14.629 - 00:11:40.543
Well, studies show a glass of wine, red wine can be healthy. Blue zones around the world where people live longer, they sometimes share as a family meal.

They'll have a glass of sardonic Sardinia, one of those communities health benefits. But a bottle of wine a day will destroy you and destroy relationships. So it's being cautious, being careful.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:11:40.639 - 00:11:58.357
It's interesting how you can kind of see those trends.

I mean, I'm on the other side where I'm still single and I've had it where I start talking to someone and they start mentioning, oh, yeah, I'm having my nightly glass of wine and multiple glasses of wine. I'm like, I think that might be a problem. Yeah, you wanna. You want to talk about your.

Mickey Stonier
00:11:58.421 - 00:12:07.813
Nah, kid. Such an awesome guy like you still be single. Hey, ladies out there, check this guy out. He is fun. Oh, sorry.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:12:07.909 - 00:12:10.305
I'm going to have you rewrite my dating profile.

Mickey Stonier
00:12:11.205 - 00:12:26.165
Correction. I'm Mandy. I'm Aaron's wife. Since recording this episode, we met and got married. So sorry, he's no longer single.

You'll get to meet me and learn more about me in a future episode. Till then, it's.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:12:27.985 - 00:12:41.561
You mentioned how this is also with the mission of the church. Kind of fits right in with what you do with your chaplaincy. I was told that the motto here is do something, do something church.

Mickey Stonier
00:12:41.633 - 00:14:06.549
Yes, Pastor Miles, he and I have been together, raised our kids together for 35 years in ministry together. And when he launched out to start the rock church, his passion was that the church wouldn't be a place to go to, but a place to be sent from.

You know, it's kind of like no one goes to the football game to watch the huddle. Sunday is kind of like the huddle. We get our plays, we get, okay, this is what we're supposed to do.

Then get out there and do it, you know, and so do something has been our mantra.

And so then every Sunday, Pastor Myles, he'll encourage people in their faith to grow their faith and get right with God and to obey God and then go do something, you know, and everyone has a calling to make a difference in people's life. We love God, but then we're supposed to love people. And loving people is taking it out into the community. How do you love. And obeying God is love.

And to love is to serve.

And so we try to serve at all levels and different aspects of our culture to make A difference in our culture, in business and government and education, family, you know, what are called the seven mountains of culture. We want to love people in every aspect of culture and give people hope.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:14:06.637 - 00:14:14.381
I've talked about this in a couple of episodes, but my entire reason for being in LA is to influence culture.

Mickey Stonier
00:14:14.453 - 00:14:20.881
Oh, that's great. Media is a big influence. We need more votes like yours.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:14:20.993 - 00:14:23.265
In a lot of ways, it's the front line.

Mickey Stonier
00:14:23.345 - 00:14:23.825
Yes.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:14:23.945 - 00:14:40.049
You know, we're probably as much on the front line as missionaries and pastors and first responders in the spiritual war. It's because we can influence. The enemy is going to want to take us out.

It's going to make us want to compromise ourselves so that we can't be effective.

Mickey Stonier
00:14:40.137 - 00:14:57.525
Francis Schaeffer, you're familiar some of your listeners. Probably not real familiar. Older theologian, ethicist, writer. He had a perspective, and he would teach people about the four branches of government.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:14:57.985 - 00:15:01.841
Four branches, obviously, judicial, legislative, executive, executive.

Mickey Stonier
00:15:01.953 - 00:15:25.205
And the fourth was media that actually influenced the other three.

And so Francis Schaeffer was one of those thinkers that looked out into the future and saw what was headed that media is going to be the greatest power to really influence government. He called it the fourth branch of government. I mean, we're seeing that today.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:15:25.285 - 00:15:33.117
We've. We see that with. There are news networks that literally make things up whole cloth.

Mickey Stonier
00:15:33.181 - 00:15:34.061
Yes. Yeah.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:15:34.173 - 00:16:09.209
That are lying about things. And then there are Americans getting mad at each other because they don't know the true story, don't want to bring up specific stories.

But I've seen that on Twitter and in real life, and even where I've had to go to people, I'm like, why did you unfriend me on Facebook over that comment? Like, you literally are wrong about this. And I was just trying to tell you that I wasn't trying to be rude or anything. You had misinformation.

The media is so incredibly powerful even when they're wrong.

Mickey Stonier
00:16:09.297 - 00:16:11.873
Yeah. Well, we want to get into politics.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:16:11.969 - 00:16:14.517
No, try not to.

Mickey Stonier
00:16:14.601 - 00:17:03.927
Well, politics has gotten into the church, sadly. And, you know, at the Rock Church, we are all about unity because love brings us together.

And when you put your things aside and go love your neighbor, we can unite over that. And so that's what we're all about. And it's not too profound. It's what Jesus did.

He ministered in a real small area of territory, and he loved people meeting needs physically, emotionally, spiritually, of course, fed people. He cared for the brokenness of this world. And that, I would say Jesus was a Do something Messiah, because he didn't just come to teach.

It wasn't what he said as much or equally what he did and who.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:17:03.951 - 00:17:10.615
He was speaking on the Rock doing something. I know you guys have your own crisis team, Is that right or no?

Mickey Stonier
00:17:10.655 - 00:18:41.089
Well, at the Rock, we have what is called the Rock Community chaplains. Because of my training background, I was teaching a class exposing people to crisis ministry, helping people in a crisis.

And there's a way to love people, be there to serve them, be active listener and hear their story. And then eventually, people I've noticed in all the things I've been on, they want to hear my story.

And then when I tell them my story, you know, I tell them, I'm not here to preach at you, but I tell them God's story, his transformation of my life. And so I started training people in the church how to help people in a crisis. And then people started asking, well, can I be a chaplain?

And right on the spot, I made it up, said, yes, you can. We have the Rock Community chaplain. And so we actually grew that.

And we have over 120, 130 chaplains now that serve in hospitals, hospice with police, fire with. We have a chaplain for the Women's Roller Derby League because we train people.

You can be a chaplain where you live and play where you work or with a responding agency. And so we help people. I write policy for different businesses, and there's chaplains now at businesses.

And one of our attendees, who's wonderful, Adrienne. She now she does hospice work. She's done all sorts of things, but she was in women's roller derby. I didn't even know there was room.

Women's Roller Derby.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:18:41.137 - 00:18:44.057
And she became those women are cutthroat, from what I understand.

Mickey Stonier
00:18:44.161 - 00:19:31.585
She became a chaplain, and she was there when people go through crisis. She was loving them. They love her.

And in Las Vegas, they have this big tournament every year, I guess, and they have her open sometimes with an invocation to start the races. So, yeah, so we have a chaplain at a veterinary office.

She says, I want to be a chaplain where I work, and pitched it to the veterinarian there that she served with. And she pitched the idea of dog hospice. When people are putting their animals down, it's very. Emotionally, it is. So she put together pamphlets.

And so she's a chaplain for people who are losing their beloved loved ones, the pets they have.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:19:31.665 - 00:19:35.393
We're all supposed to be missionaries where we work.

Mickey Stonier
00:19:35.529 - 00:19:37.441
But this, I call it chaplets.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:19:37.553 - 00:19:44.945
Yeah, this is when you not codify but when you, like, delineate it like that.

Mickey Stonier
00:19:44.985 - 00:19:45.593
Yes. Yeah.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:19:45.649 - 00:20:02.585
And you say, I'm a chaplain in this place, or like, if you need me. And it makes it where they think to go to you.

Not like, I mean, hopefully we will be living lives that when there's a crisis, they will come to us anyway. But I almost feel like it's saying, hey, I have an open door policy.

Mickey Stonier
00:20:02.665 - 00:20:29.027
For your needs and someone's sick at work. You're the one that's organizing meals and all of that. So we train and all of that. And let me tell you a secret. Don't let people know.

I'm training people to actually be a Christian on purpose. Okay. But we call it chaplaincy. There's a whole chapter in the Bible you're probably familiar in. Luke 10. It was called the.

You know it as the good chaplain story, or Samaritan.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:20:29.051 - 00:20:30.347
I think it's Samaritan.

Mickey Stonier
00:20:30.491 - 00:20:31.619
I call it the good Chaplain.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:20:31.667 - 00:20:39.835
Good chaplain, yeah. Interesting. Do you find that a lot of the people that veer into your chaplaincy program are gifted in mercy?

Mickey Stonier
00:20:39.955 - 00:21:12.543
Definitely. And have a burden to help people in crisis and have that sense of empathy. They care.

I mean, they go through all this training, and I always tell my classes, oh, you. You're a unique, peculiar person because most people avoid people's problems. Where they're taking each class is about 13 hours.

A couple days they're putting aside on a weekend when it's bright and sunny out in San Diego, they're in a classroom learning about how to help people out of.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:21:12.599 - 00:21:13.155
Yeah.

Mickey Stonier
00:21:13.295 - 00:21:19.227
Problems. That's a special person, and that's people that have Jesus's heart.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:21:19.331 - 00:21:32.939
Even, like, beyond that, though, with the gift that we're given and God molds us around once we become saved. I know that there are times that I can have that compassion, but I know it's not my go to. That's not my primary gift.

Mickey Stonier
00:21:32.987 - 00:21:33.971
Right. It's a calling.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:21:34.043 - 00:21:57.071
And I sometimes feel guilty. But then I have to remember, I'm like, God's molded me somewhere else.

Sometimes he'll give me a manifestation of that mercy where I'm like, oh, I need to be paying attention to this need. One of my pastors described those who have the gift of mercy. They can walk in the room and almost sniff. Oh, someone's hurting.

And they, like, beeline to them. And then, like, just sit down next to them and get them to open up.

Mickey Stonier
00:21:57.103 - 00:22:22.897
That's so beautiful. That's awesome. Yeah. Ever, in fact, I make a commitment to everywhere I go, my cell number. I freely Give it out.

If I can help anybody, you know, give me a call. 619-843-3100 even on your podcast, if I personally can help someone.

If not, I'm going to connect people to resources in their city, county, around the country, around the world.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:22:22.961 - 00:22:30.377
Are there any other areas where the Rock is doing something that you especially love?

Mickey Stonier
00:22:30.481 - 00:23:42.079
Oh, this church is amazing. I mean, it's. There are so many ministries. There's a ministry called Umbrella that we have a partnership building. They.

It's a group of women that help women who've lost a child. And I've spoken at their groups, at their conferences. But there's. There's hope for people who are.

And to me, that is the greatest pain a human being could ever go through. It's the greatest pain that God himself experienced for us, for redemption. They're giving freely his son.

Oh, you know, it's just overwhelming to know the love of God for us. So there's ministries to support people through medical issues. We have ministries that serve out in the community.

Work, people needing work, connecting people. So here, it's like Burger King. Our pastor always says, you know, their mantra used to be, have it your way.

And a lot of people view church as a place consumers. I want it my way, you know, and so we look for a church that meets my needs.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:23:42.167 - 00:23:44.303
And I've been guilty of that in the past myself.

Mickey Stonier
00:23:44.479 - 00:24:29.113
It's normal. It's part of who we are in our humanity. But at the Rock Church, there used to be a mantra from Home Depot.

It's like, you know, you know, we will help you build it, you know, kind of thing. So at the Rock, if you have a dream or you have a burden, we will come alongside you.

Because I've had people come to me and say, I have a real burden. To help people who are recovering from suicide of a loved one.

We have Michelle, who's one of our outreach ministries, our partner, our community impact ministries called Aftershock. I said, well, she goes, you need to start a ministry for this. I go, no, God hasn't put that on my heart. He's put it on your heart.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:24:29.169 - 00:24:32.035
I was going to bring that aspect of you.

Mickey Stonier
00:24:32.115 - 00:25:30.611
And so we help people through a process of how to identify their mission, their vision, learn from other ministries that are out there, develop your plan that we're going to get volunteers around you. So she has launched what's called Aftershock. And over the years, Michelle is raised up in our county.

She's now the county suicide prevention lead and part of the Community team. And so amazing. She lost a child to suicide and loved one. And so now she's taken that pain and turned it into healing for others.

So many stories like that. So whatever. Someone has a desire to make a difference out in the community, we will teach them how to do something for that specific population.

Equipping people to do the work of the ministry. So not equipping people to come to church. We want to equip people to actually do the work.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:25:30.683 - 00:25:31.411
To do the work.

Mickey Stonier
00:25:31.483 - 00:25:32.195
Do something.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:25:32.315 - 00:25:33.003
To do something.

Mickey Stonier
00:25:33.059 - 00:25:34.123
And you're doing something.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:25:34.179 - 00:26:00.205
I am actually going to even say I almost mentioned this earlier, and then we kind of went off on a different tangent. But what you were saying about sometimes first you have to get right with God and then you have to just take that leap and do it.

And that's what I've seen with my journey with starting this podcast. Because originally when the idea came, I was thinking it was like, back burner. I'll just do this small little thing.

And then God's like, no, it's gonna be a bigger project.

Mickey Stonier
00:26:00.325 - 00:26:00.805
Yeah.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:26:00.885 - 00:26:10.701
It was like, okay, I just gotta start moving. And. And I'm a. Generally a perfectionist. And so my inclination was this show had to be perfect.

Mickey Stonier
00:26:10.853 - 00:26:11.733
It is perfect.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:26:11.829 - 00:26:17.517
Well, content wise, yeah. But there's like, technical things. I'm like, oh, I wish I had this. I wish I had this. I wish I had this.

Mickey Stonier
00:26:17.581 - 00:26:18.149
You're an artist.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:26:18.197 - 00:26:44.117
But God didn't let me wait until that moment. He's like, you have this, you have this, you have this. Go. This is enough for now.

And I think it was part of him stretching me to do something with what I had and to trust him with the rest.

Because otherwise, if I had three big cameras and my big board that I want to have, I'd be like, oh, yeah, this looks good because I've got the equipment.

Mickey Stonier
00:26:44.221 - 00:26:55.389
You're like the disciples. Jesus poured into him Three years and they weren't ready. Hey, we need to go to seminary or something. And it was like, no, you know, you're ready.

You'll figure it out.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:26:55.477 - 00:26:55.941
Yeah.

Mickey Stonier
00:26:56.053 - 00:26:58.469
Trust in the leading of God.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:26:58.557 - 00:27:06.461
And a big part of it, too, though, has been the acceptance that being in kind of a public eye, I am elevated. Accountability.

Mickey Stonier
00:27:06.613 - 00:27:07.109
Absolutely.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:27:07.157 - 00:27:16.117
And having to just. I mean, I'm not perfect by any stretch, but I'm trying to be better, you know? I'm sorry, I'm practically perfect.

Mickey Stonier
00:27:16.221 - 00:27:16.597
Okay.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:27:16.661 - 00:27:20.405
I'm not perfect perfect, but I am handsome, charming, talented, personable and modest.

Mickey Stonier
00:27:21.025 - 00:27:23.633
Very humble. Good, good, good.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:27:23.689 - 00:27:24.929
I got that from my grandfather.

Mickey Stonier
00:27:24.977 - 00:27:25.817
I Love your heart.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:27:25.921 - 00:27:41.345
Yeah, I just. I try and be better than I used to. I try and, you know, areas that I know I could so easily fall into. Excusing sin.

I try not to let myself go down there.

Mickey Stonier
00:27:41.425 - 00:27:47.173
Well, make sure to hold the gospel, though. Christianity is not trying harder. Right. It's drawing close.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:27:47.289 - 00:27:59.349
My main pastor, Josh Thompson at Legacy, he talks about, when you are struggling with sin, you don't get beyond it by saying no to the sin. You get beyond it by saying yes to Jesus a hundred times, a thousand times.

Mickey Stonier
00:27:59.397 - 00:28:02.585
You've got a good pastor, knows the gospel.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:28:06.925 - 00:28:14.899
Would you say that the do something aspect of the rock has influenced the passage we're looking at today?

Mickey Stonier
00:28:15.037 - 00:28:17.195
No, no, I'm just kidding.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:28:18.095 - 00:28:20.031
I'm like. I see a parallel there.

Mickey Stonier
00:28:20.103 - 00:28:22.559
You're throwing me. Absolutely.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:28:22.647 - 00:28:24.743
Would you like to tell our audience where we're going today?

Mickey Stonier
00:28:24.799 - 00:28:41.395
Habakkuk or Habakkuk?

I was on a tour in Israel, and our scholarly guide, I said, I've always wanted to know, as a Jewish scholar, is his name pronounced Habakkuk or Habakkuk? And he said to me, yes, that's.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:28:41.435 - 00:28:46.091
Interesting, because I had heard that the correct pronunciation was Habakkuk, but I guess.

Mickey Stonier
00:28:46.123 - 00:31:16.995
It could be kook is correct, and I'm a little kooky, so that's why I use that book. But you know, this prophet, we don't know much about him. Okay. Except what's in the scripture.

There three short little chapters that changed the world because of chapter two, verse four. Can I give you a little background on this prophet? Yes, please. Now, his name, this is interesting.

His name means to cling to, to grasp, to hold on, you know? And I was. As a chaplain, I'm called into a lot of horrific scenes.

In this one call I got, it was two public transit buses collided, mass casualties injured. And so I get the page. Back then we had pagers. I go down. It was Logan Heights area there. And there were the buses I arrived.

Ambulances, fire engines everywhere. They're putting people on bodyboards and neck braces. And you come on scene. As a chaplain, there's dozens and dozens of injuries. What do I do?

And I always think of the woman that grabbed the hem of Jesus garment. You know, he was sensitive to the one and what you can do for the one you do for all. And so I survey biggest need.

I see this mom, Hispanic, didn't speak English, but just crying. Her son, probably four years old, just. You can imagine the tears running down his face going, mama, Mama, Mama. And she's on a bodyboard.

They're bracing her neck and they're going to transport her. And a law enforcement officer will take charge of the child.

So I'm there, I just drawing close and I just snuggled the little guy, put my arm around him, and he just buried his face in my fire jacket and just wiped his snotty nose all over me, you know. But he. He just calmed down and his mom just said, gracias, gracias. And I was just holding this little guy and he was clinging to me.

And as a picture of Habakkuk or Habakkuk, his name, you know, clinging to the father, you know, and that's what his name meant. And so here's the prophet. He's surveying the world around 600 B.C. yes. Yes. Yeah. You did your studies?

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:31:17.075 - 00:31:17.723
I did.

Mickey Stonier
00:31:17.859 - 00:32:53.557
I like to be prepared. He looked at and Judah at the time, and the country was divided. There was some sin was prevailing, alcoholism, prostitution.

Everything was going on kind of like today and a lot of division over the country. And he was crying out, saying, God, when are you going to bring justice? When is righteousness going to return to our land?

And then God answered him and says, I'm going to bring justice. I'm going to bring the Chaldeans to judge Judah. And in fact, your ears are going to tingle on what you hear. You're not going to believe this.

And of course, the prophet then in chapter one, he's going, why would you do that? You're going to take them. It's like saying al Qaeda, you're.

I'm going to raise up Al Qaeda to judge America or raise up China now North Korea, North Korea to judge America, you would be going as a believer, why would you use atheists to bring judgment on your people? And several times he goes, why? Why? Why? And said. And then God speaks to him.

And in fact, chapter two, he stands up and he says, I'm going to stand my wife. It's kind of like he's got his arms folded and I'm going to see what God's going to do. And God speaks to him.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:32:53.621 - 00:32:57.517
In fact, he said so that I know what I'm going to respond to.

Mickey Stonier
00:32:57.541 - 00:33:39.645
God with God, I'm a little arrogant. Yeah. But then God says, you know, the just shall live by his faith and that just shall live by faith. And that verse transformed the world.

It's quoted in Romans, Galatians and Hebrews. Martin Luther got saved over that verse. John Wesley got saved over that verse.

So that just propels us throughout human history that in the gospel, at the heart of the gospel, you know, it's not by our works of righteousness, it's faith.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:33:39.765 - 00:34:03.859
That was some of my notes that this is such an important role that Paul quotes it and like you said, Romans, Galatians and Hebrews, just so everyone knows, this is Habakkuk 2, 4. And the entire verse is in the legacy standard Bible.

Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

Mickey Stonier
00:34:03.987 - 00:34:07.643
Yeah, he's going to deal justly with ungodliness.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:34:07.779 - 00:34:27.757
And it's interesting I brought up the, I like bringing up the amplified sometimes just to see if there's extra context. And the second half of that verse in the amplified says, but the rigidly just and the uncompromisingly righteous man shall live by his faith.

And in his faith, faithfulness.

Mickey Stonier
00:34:27.901 - 00:34:28.981
And her faithfulness.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:34:29.013 - 00:34:30.229
And her faithfulness.

Mickey Stonier
00:34:30.397 - 00:34:34.821
Well, you're a scholar and a gentleman, Pastor Aaron.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:34:34.933 - 00:34:36.533
Pastor Aaron, I don't know if I.

Mickey Stonier
00:34:36.549 - 00:34:40.973
Want better love your heart for God's word.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:34:41.069 - 00:34:56.203
I just really, you know, want to be able to like dive into this and dissect it and help it be relatable. So we know that this is foundational. How has this verse impacted you?

Mickey Stonier
00:34:56.309 - 00:35:54.431
Well, it takes me to the heart of all that I do out in the community. You know, I'm there to bring hope, faith and love in every situation where people have lost everything. I refer to 9 11, 911.

You know, that's our emergency line. 911, 911, the towers.

But you know, thousands of people in fact just was with a reporter reflecting on an interview he did with me and he got an award for his show on 911,911.

But I've learned over the years when you're responding to someone who just lost a child or a car accident or hearing you have cancer, those are just as significant. It's not the towers coming down that was large magnitude, but it's a 911 event for that person. And in that moment, in that moment.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:35:54.463 - 00:35:59.007
Even if they've gone through a worse thing before, in that moment, it's like, why this? Why now?

Mickey Stonier
00:35:59.071 - 00:38:33.791
And studies are real clear, almost every one of your audience are going to go through a 911 experience a horrific trauma, crisis, tragedy, broken relationship. And so studies show you're either been through it, you're going through it, or you will. And so we need to prepare our heart.

And everyone's heard of post traumatic stress disorder. And that's a horrific traumatic event that alters how the brain creates A trigger to avoid those experiences in the future.

And it can be debilitating. People medicate, do things inappropriate. There is help through counseling and prayer and spiritual support.

But most people aren't impacted by trauma, by ptsd. It's a smaller percentage. Most people are impacted by trauma. What's called ptg, Post traumatic growth.

And the Bible gives testimony after testimony how all things do work together for good, for God's people, those who love him. Called according to his purpose. Doesn't mean I'm responding to someone in a crisis. I go, hey, you're gonna be okay. All things work together for good.

It's like when you're going through it, this is not good. I know God is good. In fact, Jeremiah said that. And Jeremiah, I think chapter 12, he goes, God, I know you're good, but can we talk about fairness?

You know, this doesn't make sense to me. Most people, when they go through hardship, they start to reflect what's going on.

You know, a lot of a third of people's Christian testimony comes as a result of a major trial in their life. They start to ask why? And Jesus is the answer to the why for many. And post traumatic growth, you're evaluating. I call it an azimuth check.

Azimuth check.

In Special Forces, they get their mission, they got their coordinates and they get into the brush and they realign to make sure they're going to end up at the desk destination for their mission. When hardship happens, people reflect and realize, gosh, I've gotten off course.

I need to love my kids better, I need to love my spouse better, I need to be more generous, I need to get more committed at church.

I need to start reading my Bible, you know, and people evaluate during those difficult times and throughout scriptures and there's tons of verses in the Bible where God has. Hardship is going to be used to get people back. In fact, the whole book of Judges, the cycle, they got away from God.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:38:33.903 - 00:38:37.151
It's that refining fire to pull out that dross.

Mickey Stonier
00:38:37.263 - 00:39:46.757
And then people call back on God and he's the prodigal son returning to the ever loving father. Come home, come to me all you that labor and heavy laden. I'll give you that rest, that peace.

So for me, that verse, it's actually the whole book for me. But that verse is the crux of that entire message of the prophet.

At the end of chapter two, there's interesting verse where again the prophet's calling out to God and he's saying, why? Why God? And God answers, that's it. You Know why, what, how, where, when? But God always answers, who? It's Jesus.

And so basically, God responds and says, I'm on the throne. I believe Habakkuk was quoting Psalm 11. Where is the injustice, unrighteousness? God is in his holy temple. God is on the throne.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:39:46.861 - 00:39:51.973
It feels like there's a parallel between what happened with Habakkuk and what happened with Job.

Mickey Stonier
00:39:52.149 - 00:40:00.389
Oh, well, Job and David. David, sometimes you read the Psalms. A third of the Psalms are written about trauma, crisis, distress and grief.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:40:00.477 - 00:40:11.453
I used to be more diligent about doing like a prayer journal. And I had noticed a pattern where I did things similar to what David did, where I'd be like, God, why this? Why that?

And then suddenly it would turn into a praise.

Mickey Stonier
00:40:11.549 - 00:40:11.997
There you go.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:40:12.021 - 00:40:18.253
And it's like, but you are great. You know, it's like in the middle of it, he'd remind me of who he was. And you see that in the Psalms.

Mickey Stonier
00:40:18.349 - 00:40:20.821
That's Habakkuk, chapter three.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:40:20.893 - 00:40:21.213
Yeah.

Mickey Stonier
00:40:21.269 - 00:41:05.671
You're quoting chapter three. Because he comes to the conclusion, though the stalls are empty, the crops fail, he says. And then he says, I will rejoice.

And literally in Hebrew, I will jump up and down and twirl. He will worship God. So no matter where we go, the bottom, if we can get to that place of Job. And when he lost everything and Job worshiped.

And that so pleases the heart of God. And his friends came to him, his three friends, and sat with him for seven days, just were present. That is such a great thing.

Be with people going through hardship. Just be there.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:41:05.783 - 00:41:06.191
Yeah.

Mickey Stonier
00:41:06.263 - 00:41:10.199
Their problem was they tried to now fix them. Fix him.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:41:10.247 - 00:41:12.047
And with lame, bad advice.

Mickey Stonier
00:41:12.151 - 00:41:24.311
Bad. Well, they actually, you know, bad things happen to bad people. You reap what you sow. That was their theology. But it's.

And Job was like, not always life can be random.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:41:24.383 - 00:41:24.823
Yeah.

Mickey Stonier
00:41:24.919 - 00:42:37.113
So that banter back and forth, fascinated. Because that's one of the earliest human writings we have. Hannah was dealing with this.

If God is so loving and all powerful, how come there's human suffering? And I deal with that all the time. I had people grab me on my fire jacket. Why would God allow this to happen to me?

And, you know, it's being present with people. I actually wrote a book. I'll give you a copy afterwards. People go to one or two extremes.

If you put the words, God is now here and take out the spaces between the words, it could also be read, God is nowhere. And so title of my book is God is now here. God is nowhere. You know, where is God in the midst of your pain? But it's. People go to those two extremes.

They come to the conclusion in the midst of their pain, there is no God. Or they start to search their heart and find that God is present. He's his Name in Exodus 34 is compassionate, full of mercy, kindness, and God.

That's who God is. God is love.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:42:37.249 - 00:42:41.929
I've got a friend that I just got together with for lunch recently.

Mickey Stonier
00:42:41.977 - 00:42:42.729
You have a friend?

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:42:42.817 - 00:42:44.625
I've got a couple of friends, actually.

Mickey Stonier
00:42:44.745 - 00:42:45.681
Can I be your friend?

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:42:45.753 - 00:42:46.225
Yes.

Mickey Stonier
00:42:46.345 - 00:42:50.275
Wow. You got three now. Wow, three friends. I'm a good friend.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:42:50.465 - 00:43:14.687
So one of my friends, he lost his wife a year ago, and before that he lost his mother and he lost some other family members during the lockdowns. And at first I was kind of proud of what he said at his wife's memorial service. And then I got together with him recently, and he's struggling.

He's in that God is nowhere moment.

Mickey Stonier
00:43:14.751 - 00:43:16.497
Yeah, I can understand that.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:43:16.591 - 00:43:23.645
I tried encouraging him. I tried answering his questions, but at the same time, I said, you're going to have to wrestle with God over this.

Mickey Stonier
00:43:23.805 - 00:43:55.395
He just needs people around him, though. It just can be overwhelming. I'll give you a copy of my book for him, too. Share it with him. The answer is ultimately God, and it's unexplainable.

There's so many antinomies in scripture mysteries. You know, Jesus is God and man the Trinity. Human suffering is one of those challenges.

We can explain it intellectually, but it doesn't explain things to the heart.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:43:55.435 - 00:44:01.227
Always and not always. Do we deserve a reason why?

Mickey Stonier
00:44:01.331 - 00:44:01.731
Yeah.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:44:01.803 - 00:44:03.795
God doesn't necessarily want us to understand.

Mickey Stonier
00:44:03.875 - 00:44:08.857
Why it's so deep. This is good. That's how God answered Job.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:44:08.971 - 00:44:09.453
Yeah.

Mickey Stonier
00:44:09.549 - 00:44:09.949
He just.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:44:09.997 - 00:44:11.133
He's like, where were you?

Mickey Stonier
00:44:11.269 - 00:44:17.141
Why? Why, God? Why? And the friends are, yes, this. I'm God. You're not.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:44:17.213 - 00:44:19.933
Yeah. You don't know what I'm doing. You don't know what I'm up to.

Mickey Stonier
00:44:19.989 - 00:44:20.781
But God's good.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:44:20.853 - 00:44:41.389
Yeah. And that was my advice to my friend, was like, you might not get the answer in this lifetime.

That might be when you're in heaven and he sits you down and talks through all your points in life and you go, okay, God, why? Why did you do this? And he might go, this is my reason. Or like the reason, May, between your wife and God.

Mickey Stonier
00:44:41.517 - 00:44:41.893
Yeah.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:44:41.949 - 00:44:43.269
As to why he took her home.

Mickey Stonier
00:44:43.357 - 00:45:16.213
Well, God doesn't cause the pain. He's always redeeming the pain. He's there with you in the midst of it. We live in a fallen world. We know how that all started.

God weeps for the suffering of people. We see that in scripture.

Shortest verse in the Bible, you know, but, gosh, you have a great heart for your friend, but people need people, you know, and you hear the phrase hurting people hurt people. But I've learned loved people love people.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:45:16.349 - 00:45:16.781
Yeah.

Mickey Stonier
00:45:16.853 - 00:45:38.825
And forgiven people forgive people. You know, we can always focus on the negative, but we. God's always working good. Does it make sense? Always.

And that's the theme in scripture of what's called the apocalyptic literature. It's like, this may not make sense, but there is a consequence. Yeah.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:45:38.865 - 00:45:51.657
We don't necessarily. We equate. Good for us is not pain. But sometimes that pain is what causes our growth or is sometimes even just a consequence of a fallen world.

Mickey Stonier
00:45:51.761 - 00:46:50.849
That's how pearls are made. It's an agitation. It's how diamonds are made. Made the pressure. That's how the best of wine is made. They actually.

They actually cause the vines to suffer. They don't water at the end and the roots go deep and pull up the flavors that make the most expensive wine.

So suffering does, throughout creation, bear fruit. God doesn't cause it, but he will work in the midst of it. And it may.

Some of your viewers, listeners could be going through a horrific time right now and getting angry. Yeah, he's, like, even listening to us. Yeah. There is no good in this. And I get it. And I just may not make sense, but call on the name of the Lord.

He's good. He doesn't cause the pain. There are so many unexplainable things, but we live in this broken world. Draw close to him. Pick up the psalm.

That's the kind of the weeping place.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:46:50.977 - 00:47:03.969
Where David went, the thing that we need to do. And this is advice I got years ago that stuck with me so many times.

We allow what's supposed to be a chapter of our life to become the story of our life.

Mickey Stonier
00:47:04.097 - 00:47:08.497
Boy, you need to write a book on that. Dang. I want a copy of your book.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:47:08.561 - 00:47:09.609
You want a copy of mine?

Mickey Stonier
00:47:09.697 - 00:47:11.081
Yeah. There we go.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:47:11.233 - 00:47:15.199
I've shared this with people so many times. It's like, I know that you're in this place.

Mickey Stonier
00:47:15.287 - 00:47:15.791
Yeah.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:47:15.903 - 00:47:19.863
And just don't stay there because it's so easy to.

Mickey Stonier
00:47:19.919 - 00:47:21.007
And become a victim.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:47:21.071 - 00:47:26.711
You become a victim of that circumstance, of that trauma and. Yeah. It's so easy to stay in. In that place.

Mickey Stonier
00:47:26.783 - 00:47:29.047
Oh, I may steal that for a future book.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:47:29.151 - 00:47:30.567
I stole it from someone else.

Mickey Stonier
00:47:30.631 - 00:47:33.395
I'm not gonna quote you either. The Original.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:47:34.215 - 00:47:37.127
I'm sure that the person I got it from got it from someone else.

Mickey Stonier
00:47:37.191 - 00:47:37.999
That is beautiful.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:47:38.087 - 00:49:18.905
And it's interesting too. One of the things you said earlier about the trauma being a third of our testimony, I.

I don't want to go too much into it because it was a recent episode, the fourth episode. I was the guest and I shared my testimony. And yeah, there was like a big part of it that was me coming to Christ.

And then there was a big part about how I had left a really high paying job and ended up. I just failed. I fell on my face. I lost my apartment, I lost my car, I lost everything.

And I had developed this really deep depression and I didn't even realize how that traumatic that event was. I'm like, oh, I just lost. You know, I just failed. But no, it was trauma. It was a 911 moment in my life. Not my only one, not my worst one.

But it was the most effective because it affected my confidence in my ability to succeed in something that I knew my skillset was there, but would I be able to succeed? And it took such a hit that I.

This part where I'm speaking and using my speaking gift that I believe God has given me, I shut off and I did other creative things. I'm like, well, I'll write and direct. I won't worry about being in front of the camera.

And I shut that off to the point where when I finally reintroduced it, it was like everything cleared away. And God's like, this is what I wanted you doing. And so now I feel like, okay, coming to Christ as a third.

That entire thing was a third around my trauma. And now I'm in the beginning of what is eventually going to be the last testimony. I didn't even.

Mickey Stonier
00:49:18.985 - 00:49:30.065
Third of his life was in Egypt. A third of his life was getting Egypt out of Moses. And then a third of his life was fulfilling his destiny and calling.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:49:30.145 - 00:49:33.185
So I'm not one to make a comparison to Moses, but thank you.

Mickey Stonier
00:49:33.265 - 00:50:00.845
Yeah, yeah. I'm closer to Moses than you. Because my first.

I like to tell people my first trauma response where I got to help in a situation didn't turn out well, was a shooting at the Ford Theater when Abraham Lincoln was shot, was there to provide support for the family, everything. So just give you a hint how old I am. I look good for my age.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:50:04.705 - 00:50:10.649
As we're closing up, is there anything else about this passage that you feel like we need to touch on that we haven't?

Mickey Stonier
00:50:10.737 - 00:52:00.907
No, actually, from start to finish, you know, the Josh shall live by faith. Cling, Habakkuk. Cling to God, no matter how rough it gets. It's that faith. Or you could be a Klingon. I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

But hold fast because we're justified by faith, not by works of righteousness. Don't be religious. And I encourage people. We hear Christianity isn't a religion, but it's a relationship.

It's more than that because I have a relationship with, you know, the Starbucks barista knows what I like, you know, and I can walk in. Oh, Chaplain Gotcha. I have a relationship, and they know nothing about me and just maybe familiar.

But God, he desires that we abide, and that's intimacy. So it's. Christianity is not a religion, but it's more than a relationship.

He desires an intimate connection in the deepest parts of our life where we can scream and cry and we can give him our burdens. And when we cling to him, that's the picture for me. The just shall live by faith. It's not by works, not by trying harder. It's to believe.

He on the cross, Jesus says, it is finished. And we believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ according to the Scriptures. First Corinthians 15 gives us the gospel.

Life may not make sense, but know this. I'm with you. God says Emmanuel. That's his name. Jesus. His name, Emmanuel. God with us.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:52:01.011 - 00:52:28.777
That actually touches on a question I forgot to ask of. Like, what would you say the difference is living by faith versus deeds and works, because you touched on it a little bit, because it's. It's deeper.

It's not just, you know, and doing something isn't doing works to try and earn your way in, because it doesn't work that way. So there's. There's a little bit of a nuance there, isn't there?

Mickey Stonier
00:52:28.841 - 00:53:57.487
Well, it brings in the concept of abiding. Jesus in John 15 and John 15:5 in particular says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, he says, the fruit will come naturally.

You'll bear much fruit. And so that life of faith is abiding. It's every day drawing close to the Lord.

Now, for my wife and me, if my wife and I, we start every day together, we, you know, I get the coffee because that is biblical. There's a book of the Bible on it. He brews. I know another dad drove. He brews. So he brews the coffee.

I bring my wife a little muffin and coffee every morning, and we sit up on our bed and we read through the Bible every year and pray together for our day. And it's not religious. It's like, oh, we love that time together. Just being together with Jesus.

And I'd have to say that's been one of the greatest blessings. If you walk into our home, people always say, gosh, this home is so peaceful.

It's not because we have certain furniture or create a culture or environment. It's because God's there in our midst.

And when we as believers learn to abide, just be with Jesus wherever you are at work, sometimes people have the perspective they're Christians on Sundays and they're in and out.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:53:57.551 - 00:53:59.695
Whatever is in your heart will come out.

Mickey Stonier
00:53:59.775 - 00:54:00.527
That's it.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:54:00.671 - 00:54:02.703
Otherwise, you're wearing a mask on Sunday.

Mickey Stonier
00:54:02.839 - 00:54:03.727
There you go.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:54:03.871 - 00:55:05.443
This last year, as God's kind of been preparing me to do this show, and he's been drawing me closer and really working out some of the things in me that needed to be worked on. I went from only doing church, like, one or two days a week and going, I can't do more. I've got other things I need to do.

To now where there are certain weeks where six out of seven nights or days, there's something on my calendar that's that certain color for my church activities and to the point where I wanted.

And sometimes I have to skip some of them because I am busy, but I want wanting to do more because I've gone from, oh, I can't commit to more because I'm too busy to, like, how can I fit more in? Because it's not a religious thing. It's. I do have that relationship, and I want to abide in Christ and be within him.

And it's just this dynamic shift that I noticed a couple months ago. I'm like, this is weird how my schedule is flipped, and I'm okay with that.

Mickey Stonier
00:55:05.579 - 00:55:11.629
And you're taking it outside of the building, out into the community. Hence your podcast.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:55:11.717 - 00:55:12.653
Hence my podcast.

Mickey Stonier
00:55:12.709 - 00:55:18.301
Yeah. Good for you. So keep sharing the good news. What a blessing to get to know you a little bit.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:55:18.373 - 00:55:20.901
Well, this has been a fantastic conversation.

Mickey Stonier
00:55:21.013 - 00:55:21.485
Yeah.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:55:21.565 - 00:55:34.519
I'm glad that we had this opportunity to sit down and talk about your life, your work, the work of the church here at Rock Church in San Diego, and also the life of Habakkuk.

Mickey Stonier
00:55:34.647 - 00:55:35.607
Yeah. God bless you.

Aaron Matthew Kaiser
00:55:35.631 - 00:56:47.285
Aaron, thank you for joining us for today's episode of Eternal Impact. This was one of my favorite conversations so far, and I hope you can see why I walked away from this encouraged. And with any luck, you did too.

A huge shout out to Mickey Stonier for joining us today and reminding us to cling to the Father in the midst of our trials.

For more information about Rock Church where Mickey serves, visit sdrock.com and you can find Mickey's book God Is Nowhere or God Is Now Here on Amazon. In our next episode, we will be joined by Logan Lee, the Pastor of Ignite LA Church.

After we spend some time getting to know him, we will journey into the parables of Jesus, specifically the parable of the Dishonest Manager. If this conversation encouraged you, make sure to follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and share this episode with your friends.

For more information or to join our email newsletter, visit our website at. EternalImpact show until next episode, I am Aaron Matthew Kaiser and this is Eternal Impact.