Let's get into our study. We're going to be looking at, excuse me, Matthew 19 versus 16 through 26 as we continue our series through the Gospel of Matthew. So I'll begin reading at verse 16 in Matthew 19. I'll read to verse 26 and we'll get into our study. Matthew 19 beginning at verse 16. Now, behold, one came and said to him, good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? So he said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good, but one that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to him, which ones?  The young man said to him, all these things I have kept from my youth, what do I still lack? Jesus said to him, if you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Come follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions, then Jesus said to his disciples, surely I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazing. Who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and said to them, with men this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. And so we're going to be looking today at these verses. And let me give you a context, a little background, develop it, and then move into application. What we have here is an encounter between Jesus and an apparent seeker. The encounter is significant enough to have been recorded in the other gospels, in two of the gospels. The same encounter is recorded in the gospel of Mark as well as the gospel of Luke. And what we have is a conversation. And we have much to learn from this conversation because it relates to what it takes to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. We're living in a time when the actual demands of discipleship are very often ignored from pulpits throughout the United States and the world. When we read Jesus' words concerning the cost of following Him, there are those who hear that, they hear the cost, and they have the same response as this young man. They go away, they don't follow after Him. See, they need to understand something all of us really do. Christianity is a way of life that is much more than just following a set of moral codes or rules and laws. It's a way of life. It's a way of life that results in, that is the result of a death, a death of our own old life. It's been said that we are those who have died in order that we might live. That's Christianity. When Jesus was speaking concerning being His disciple, is in Luke chapter 9 verses 23 and 24, he said to them, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me for whoever desires to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. See, that's pretty strong. That's a very powerful statement.  You don't save your life.  It's also been said salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life. And so one of the blessings of studying the Bible, when you study it book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, is you get a complete picture. By going this way, you get a balanced picture of salvation. And that's beautifully illustrated here in this conversation that Jesus had with this man. Now normally this story is referred to as the rich young ruler, but there are others who speak of it in this way. They say this is really a story of a rich young fool. And the reason they say that he's a rich young fool is because he didn't follow Christ. He chose not to. He had the wrong values and he valued things that didn't matter. Again, in Luke in chapter nine, verse 25, the question is asked, what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and he himself is destroyed or lost? So the point of the story is to illustrate man's unwillingness to trust in the Lord. You see in this encounter, we see that there are some who have outward appearance of interest in spiritual things. They may have a personal religious faith. They may have an apparent spiritual curiosity. We all have friends or family members or people we've encountered co-workers who are of that nature, of that way. They appear to have a personal religious faith. They may have an apparent spiritual curiosity. So you'll ask them, what did they do this week? And they may say, well, I went to church. And from there you think, of course, you think, well, they must be born again. They must be believers in Christ and all. They may even ask questions related to God and things like that. So we make an assumption that because they appear to have personal faith, they must really have it. But we need to understand that interest is not a synonym for saving faith. Just because this young man approached the Lord and had spiritual questions doesn't mean that he was hungry for Jesus. And we're going to see that in just a moment. You see, this is a study that I've chosen to entitle not simply the most important decision, but it's really a difficult decision. It's a decision that every person needs to make, whether we will or will not pursue the Lord Jesus Christ. And so as we look at this, let's look at the story beginning at verse 16 in that we see Matthew introducing us to an interesting young man. It's a man that we can learn from. And by combining Mark and Luke's account, we get a pretty good picture of who he is. We know, for example, in verse 20 of Matthew 19, that this is a young man. We also know that this is a man who believed in an afterlife because he's asking a question about entering into life. So if he believes in an afterlife, during the time of Christ, you need to understand that that would make him a Pharisee, because the Sadducees, the other main religious group at that time, did not believe in an afterlife. So this helps us to understand that he is speaking to a young man who is a religious man, a Pharisee. And we also know that he is a man who serves in a synagogue he's referred to in Luke chapter 18 verse 18 as the certain ruler. The ruler that he is is a ruler in a synagogue. Now the synagogue rulers were chosen from men of leisure. That was another way of speaking of them as Hebrew scholars who were free from the necessity of labor and could devote themselves to the duties of the synagogue as well as to study. So this is an individual who would be referred to as a ruler of the synagogue, which is another way of letting us know that he was wealthy. He's a man of leisure and devoted in terms of his studying. We also know that this is a respectful young man, a reverent young man, even a humble young man, because Mark 10 17 says a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. So that shows us something about him. He showed him respect, shows that he has humility. We also know according to chapter 19 verse 20 here in Matthew that he's spiritually unsatisfied because he says to Jesus what do I still lack?  You see when Jesus gives him a list of commands this man replies that he has habitually kept them from the time he was young. And then we see that he was a very wealthy man. He was a rich young man. Verse 22 said he had great possessions. So what we have here is a spiritually conservative, religiously devoted, respectful, humble, searching, upright, and rich young man. And imagine all the good that could come as a result of a man like that becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. Consider just taking into account the man's great wealth, the good things that could be done through this man who has a lot of money just through his financial support. Imagine Bill Gates gets saved. He's listening to K-wave and I like David Rosas. I'll give him six billion dollars. Imagine, I mean this guy was very, very wealthy, very wealthy. So in religious circles he would be a great catch, a good find. He's got all of the attributes that you want for a leader. He's humble, he's reverent, he's wealthy, he's studious. He's got all of the things and yet when he comes to Christ, notice with me, Jesus doesn't just open his arms and welcome him in. Now I'm pretty sure that if this man who was so wealthy would begin to support Jesus' ministry, that that could have been profitable in some ways. We need to remember that Jesus was a carpenter turned preacher. We need to remember that he did not have a personal large income. When you look at the Bible you see that he was placed in a manger when he was born. You know that when his parents took him to the temple in dedication that they gave an offering that was an offering of two turtle doves or young pigeons which is an offering of the poor. We know that in his life as he grew up that or even before he's grown up even as a young child that they took into Egypt and they survived on the gold that was given to Joseph and Mary by the Magi when Herod killed the children in Bethlehem. We know that when he began his ministry he was supported by those who followed him, that he borrowed a garden to pray and ministry and then eventually that he was buried in a borrowed tomb. We know that he didn't have anything. As a matter of fact he had said that in Matthew 8 19 and 20 when it says one of the teachers of religious law said to him teacher I will follow you no matter where you go and Jesus said foxes have dens to live in, birds have nests but I the son of man have no home of my own not even a place to lay my head and so Jesus did not have a lot of money. He didn't have a lot of finances at all. This rich young man coming to him could have been a way for him to have profit to actually have money and yet he didn't take that take advantage of that and say oh yes please come I welcome you in. This is a well known young man undoubtedly and even today many think that if an important person becomes a Christian then many will follow after him but the opposite seems to be true.  You see instead of welcoming him into the family Jesus seems to drive him away and he begins to clarify what what it means to follow him and so that's what we have an opportunity of seeing today how this all unfolds. So Matthew begins very simply here in verse 16 by saying now behold one came and said to him good teacher. The word behold is important you need to make a note of that because Matthew is tipping his hand immediately.  Now why is this unusual? Well it's unusual because very often those who are very rich can be distracted by their riches. Jesus speaks about that for example in Matthew 13 22 when he speaks of the deceitfulness of riches the deceitfulness of riches because when people have money they think they have everything they need very often they have a tendency they can have a tendency of relying on their finances have a false security because they have money so Jesus speaks of how they can deceive you in Ecclesiastes 5 10 it says he who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver nor he who loves abundance with increase this also is vanity in Luke 12 15 Jesus said beware don't be greedy for what you don't have real life is not measured by how much we own so you see it all through scripture from the old to the new that money in and of itself is not going to satisfy you now obviously it's not a sin to possess wealth when you look in the old as well as the new you see that there were very many saints of God who had great abundance men like Abraham for example and and David and Solomon when you look into the New Testament you have rich men like Zacchaeus Joseph Joseph of Arimathea Nicodemus these are wealthy men it wasn't money in and of itself that was dangerous it's the attachment to it see it's not money that can be evil it's the love of money that is so this young man is very wealthy and has an attachment to it and you're going to see this as we go through this but he also has an emptiness there's an emptiness inside and he is aware that his life is unsatisfying he obviously is aware of his own emptiness and he comes to Jesus because he believes that Jesus can give him an answer and so that's a wonderful thing because it's very often the catalyst that helps us to come to realize we need God this natural longing can be used by Christ to direct us in the right direction there's a woman at a well who's thirsty and Jesus uses her natural longing to direct her attention to the one who gives living water there's a rich man who's religious who has a question a natural longing a drive something's going on and Jesus uses that drive to direct him in John 6 35 Jesus said I am the bread of life he who comes to me shall never hunger he who believes in me shall never thirst a philosopher by the name of Pascal once said there is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every person and it can never be filled by any created thing it can only be filled by God made known through Jesus Christ you can have that emptiness in you you can have the education you can have the good relationship you can have the cars the homes everything and still go to bed at night a lonely person you can be lonely even married you can be lonely as you lay in your bed at night next to the person you said you'd love for the rest of your life you can be lonely even when you have a house full of children you can be lonely and you can be lost when you have everything people say you ought to have that's a fact it's just true you can get money and you can get more money and it doesn't satisfy all you do is watch it slip through your fingers and fly away money isn't going to be the answer and this is what the Lord is teaching him he's teaching this young man that you have put your priority on the wrong thing so this young man comes and the Bible tells us that he he ran and he knelt before him a very humble thing to do and then he speaks to Jesus and he asked this question it says in verse 16 good teacher what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life now I want to develop this with you for a moment I'm going to give you a lot of layers here and then hopefully come to an application I want you to see that he refers to Jesus as notice good teacher now under ordinary circumstances this was a respectful way to address a rabbi it seems that he was saying that Jesus is a good teacher but he's not simply saying he's a good teacher he would also be implying that he's a good man so he's not simply saying you are a teacher he's saying you are good and a teacher I want to develop this with you it's important good teacher good man good teacher you can never be a good teacher if you're not a good man there are many people who preach above the way they live so they can come and say do this and do this and do this but they themselves don't lift a finger to do it themselves Jesus speaks about that later on in Matthew information isn't simple is not teaching in and of itself teaching includes the giving of information but in the Jewish way of thinking if somebody is a good teacher they are also first and foremost a good person because it requires a good person to give a good message and so when he's speaking to Jesus he's inferring not that Jesus simply can give a lot of information about heaven he's inferring that Jesus's quality as a person is good and that's why Jesus responds to him in the way he does and we'll see that in just a moment that's how Jesus speaks and that's why Jesus speaks the way that he that he does you see he's acknowledging Jesus to be a great respected rabbi he's acknowledging Jesus as an expert in the Old Testament he's acknowledging him as a teacher of truth but he's also making an inference that there's something about his character when he asks the question what good things shall I do how can I obtain eternal life how can I be saved he's simply saying I'm spiritually empty I have a need to be filled how can this occur in my life listen you can be spiritually empty too we'll see this in a moment there are some in this room right now who are spiritually empty this young man had it all this man was religious he was respected he was a leader in the in the religious community and yet he comes to an itinerant Jewish rabbi and he asks him for direction he sees something in Jesus Christ that he doesn't see in the other rabbis and he believes that this man Jesus can actually help him to enter into eternal life and that's why he's asking this question now I want you to see this notice that when Jesus answers he seems to make it more difficult to come to peace with God he even appears antagonistic and even confrontational notice in verse 17 when he said he says why do you call me good no one is good but one and that is God he asks a question with the purpose of revealing the state of this man's heart his questions intended to reveal the motives of the question in reality he's prying from the man what the man thinks about him why do you call me good do you see something about me that has given you insight into who I truly am because there is none good only God now here's something for you this is Christianity 101 if you do not believe that Jesus Christ is God you're not saved you're not saved if you think he's a prophet a good teacher a good man he's all of those things but if that's all he is in the way you think of Jesus Christ you're not saved the bible says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory of the only begotten son of God Jesus Christ is more than a man more than a prophet more than a teacher you begin your salvation journey when you recognize that God took upon himself human flesh and that Jesus Christ is God in flesh who bore our sin as the lamb of God who died on a cross as a substitution for us who paid the price we could not pay because the debt was beyond anything I could pay for so when I got saved the first thing I needed to understand is Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and so when Jesus is saying this to him he's saying why are you calling me good there's only one who is good and that is God do you see me as more than simply a Jewish rabbi are you being simply polite towards me or are you acknowledging something about me that is necessary for you to be saved are you just being polite or do you know that I am God in the flesh in first Samuel 2 verse 2 it says no one is holy like the Lord for there is none besides you nor is there any rock like our God so he's saying you need to think deeply before you speak to me in such terms now the man had said what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life and so Jesus begins to answer the question I want you to notice how he begins he approaches him on the basis of his personal standards he said you need to keep the commandments well in verse 18 he said to him which ones Jesus said you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not steal you shall not bear false witness honor your father and your mother you shall love your neighbor as yourself and so Jesus begins to give him what are called the social commandments and he's speaking to him concerning this he says keep the commandments now why would he say that to him why would he say keep the commandments well that would reveal to him that his dissatisfactions the result of his religious practice his attempt to keep the law obviously led to his dissatisfaction in life he's tried to do this you see one of the things that I'm going to develop this with you because it comes to a point where you'll see it very clearly when you follow them what is called the mosaic law or the law of Moses following the law of Moses cannot result in life because the law of Moses awakens you to a sense of failure that's one of the reasons why God gives us the law it's not so that we can say I do all of these things and I practice them habitually it's so that we can see that we fail to practice them and it awakens us to our failure it gives people the the ability to realize their own spiritual dissatisfaction it's something that that paul spoke about in the book of romans in chapter 7 when he said in verses 7 through 9 what shall we say then is the law sin certainly not indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law for I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said do not covet but sin seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment produced in me every kind of covetous desire for a part from law sin is dead once I was alive apart from law but when the commandment came sin sprang to life and I died you see I didn't know that what I was feeling covetousness was actually wrong until God said thou shalt not covet now I have a name to put on this feeling and I realize that is something that God is not pleased with so the law of moses was intended to awaken us to a sense of failure because we can't keep it you see the law was given to bring people to be aware of their need for grace it was intended to awaken people to the need for jesus christ napal said that in galatians 3 22 through 24 he said the scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin so that what was promised being given through faith in jesus christ might be given to those who believe before this faith came we were held prisoners by the law locked up until faith should be revealed so the law was put in charge to lead us to christ that we might be justified by faith so I wake up and I say to myself I can't do this oh wicked men that I am who will deliver me from this body of death the desire is there but the ability to perform that which I desire is not I need help and so the gospel comes like it's coming here to this man here the gospel comes and says this is what you need to do then I have a response to that message you see in john 5 39 and 40 it says you diligently said to the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life these are the scriptures that testify about me yet you refuse to come to me to have life it says in john 6 28 and 29 what shall we do that we might work the works of god and jesus answered and said to them this is the work of god that you believe on him whom he has sent what must we do believe in me you will be for the rest of your life spiritually dissatisfied if you think that by keeping rules and regulations that will put you in a position of being right with god it doesn't it just makes you a better living sinner than you were before that's what it makes you a better living sinner it's not a change of behavior it's a change of nature that god wants to give to you you can dress a chimpanzee in a tuxedo he's a good-looking chimp but he's still a chimpanzee nicely dressed but still a chimpanzee and we and we dress ourselves up in good works this man has been doing good works but he's dissatisfied he comes to christ what good thing must i do to have eternal life keep the commandments which ones and then jesus outlines them he gives them several commandments and again in marquis he actually adds uh do not defraud mark chapter 10 do not defraud so he gives them all of these commands these commandments that he gives to him by the way these are social commands these are commandments that were given in man's relationship with men he did not even give to him the commandments that related to his service to god and worship to god he gives six commandments here in matthew a seventh of that is added in mark chapter 10 verse 19 but they all excuse me they all retain to social relationships man's duty to man well as he says that notice verse 20 the young man said to him all these things i have kept from my youth now notice what do i still lack i've kept them since i was very young but i have a spiritual vacuum can you please help me can you please tell me what is it that i lack and the answer an assurance of salvation when am i still lacking i've done all of this since i was a child what am i still lacking an assurance it reminds me of people who are raised in church who went to sunday school all their lives who memorized the scriptures even as the sunday school teachers taught them or went to christian school but they're still lacking something from childhood i was dedicated i i was taught the scriptures i've served i've done all of it but there's something empty within me i'll never forget a young woman who approached me after a sunday morning service and i had given an invitation and she walked up to me and spoke to me after the study and and she said to me i got saved today and i said well praise the lord that's that praise god and she said well she says i didn't want to come forward in front of the people here because my father is a pastor in the city and people know him and i didn't want to bring shame to him but i wanted to come and talk to you and let you know that i was raised in a christian home my father preaches the gospel but not until today did i realize that i've never given my heart to Jesus christ there are people in this room who could say the same thing raised in a christian home a mama who prays for you every day a father who takes you to church gave you devotions loved you they serve god but you have never given your heart to christ and you could say the same thing this rich young man said what do i still lack i don't have it and i know i need it what is it when jesus isn't speaking to him's opening his heart to him what you need is an assurance of salvation you're sincere but you're sincerely wrong you couldn't have kept all of the commandments you're not perfect and you're unsatisfied you know he thought he'd been faithful but he still knew something was missing and so the commandments had their effect on him you know when you begin to look at good people and what we would today call bad people there there are some good people you know the ones that seem to come to faith in christ easier if you will if there's such a word as it pertains to salvation more readily are the ones who know they're evil the ones who know they're evil the ones who i've had so many conversations who will walk up and say i'm an alcoholic i'm violent i've been doing drugs i'm a thief i've been lying i'm unkind i've been unfaithful god i need help many times those people open their hearts so quickly and say yes to jesus you know ones the ones are difficult are the ones that say no no i've always been good i've gone to church all my life i was dedicated as a child no i'm good i just have spiritual emptiness there's a vacuum in me i really don't know but i thought maybe you could help me and then you give them scripture yeah i already know that yeah i already know that no you're lacking something and you know it you're just not willing to yield to what you know you need to do you need to do and that's to come to true faith in jesus christ to actually really open your heart up to jesus and say god be merciful to me i am a sinner many times people can feel terrible guilt and even ache for peace and need for forgiveness from god and that's how they can receive it is when they're aware of it it says in psalm 32 verses 3 and 4 when i refused to confess my sin i was weak and miserable i groaned all day long day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me my strength evaporated like water in the summer heat you see good people can often not realize how needy they truly are now what's interesting about this is mark adds something i think i will i appreciate i think you will too because mark gives us insight in mark chapter 10 verse 21 where it says jesus looked at him and loved him well do you can you imagine if you walked up to jesus if you walked up to jesus say it was possible to do that and you walked up to him and jesus said you need to do these things could you look him in the eyes and say i've done that since i was a baby and jesus would look at him like really really and there's this look that you can see christ having this naive this naive belief that he really has been keeping the law sometimes we don't understand what depth is especially spiritual depth we just don't understand depth at all i still remember a young woman who came to speak to me after a service and she was saying to me how she's going through a terrible she goes i'm going through a terrible uh terrible trial pastor i just want to know do trials ever end i smiled at her she says i've been under a terrible trial i said really she says for so long i said really i said she goes yeah for three weeks i said really you're not married are you three weeks you know when i got saved i began a journey of trials that hasn't ended yet that's just a fact that's a fact whom the lord loves he chasens vizalus therefore in repent that's a fact he works on you he works on you all until the day comes when you finally say i get it then you die i mean that's just how it works that's a fact that's just a fact and so when that young young lady spoke to me and she was so you know three weeks i i understand the what what it means when jesus looked at him and loved him it's how sweet how innocent but you don't understand what you're talking about you don't you don't know you haven't kept these and it's interesting how the lord puts the hammer on them and you'll see this in just a moment because what he's doing here is he's helping him to see what he needs so in verse 21 he says if you if you want to be perfect go sell what you have give to the poor if you want to be perfect the word perfect there means complete you are lacking something and if you want to be made complete then this is what you're to do if you want to be perfect go sell what you have give to the poor you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me you really want that then you need to understand something you need to understand what god values listen i gave to you commandments that pertain to your relationship with man you say that you've been keeping those commands you say you love your neighbor as yourself if that's the case sell your possession give to the poor you will have your spiritual desire now true religion would be concerned with the welfare of others and james 127 it says religion that god our father accepts is pure faultless is this to look after orphans and widows in their distress to keep oneself from being polluted by the world so jesus in his answer exposes the young man to himself to really follow god is to love him to really follow god is to love others true faith is always concerned with the welfare of other people now notice what he says he says you will have treasure in heaven so that exposes whether he really does believe in heaven and the rewards that await believers earlier in matthew 6 jesus at verses 19 and 21 through 21 it said do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also so he says really well then sell all that you possess and come and follow me come and follow me where i'm going you can go too um when jesus speaks concerning commands and all he gave commands here remember with me on one occasion that when jesus was asked a question concerning the greatest commandment that jesus said in matthew 22 37 through 38 you shall love the lord your god with all your heart all your soul with all your mind this is the first and great commandment the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself love god with everything love your neighbor jesus just said the same kind of thing you shall love your neighbor as yourself in verse 19 so think about that for a minute you have moses moses in the old testament has a relationship with god where god is communicating to moses the things that matter moses gives the law to the nation of israel and becomes the deliverer to the nation of israel and moses in the book of deuteronomy gives to us the command that we just read where it says love the lord your god with your heart soul etc he's the one who gives to us that command he wrote that he put that down for the jewish people to know and yet when you look at moses and he's saying hero israel the lord thy god he is one and you shall love the lord thy god you shall love him with your heart your soul in your mind when he wrote that moses is the same person who did not enter into the promised land moses is the one who smoked the rock when he was ordered to speak to it and as a result of giving the impression to the nation of israel that god was angry at him at them when he was not god took him and allowed him to look into the promised land but god said to moses you will not enter in this is a man who wrote to us love god with everything and then you've got david david the sweet psalmist of israel a man who could not go out into a field tend to sheep without thinking of the lord a man who was a shepherd he cared for his father's sheep who when he heard that a giant by the name of the lieth was taunting the armies of god his righteous indignation rises and he says who is this uncircumcised philistine and puts on this mentality of i'll take him out in the name of god and you see this man david and you know that he's a shepherd and you know that he's a man who is called the sweet psalmist of israel who would who would sit out there and he'd look at the stars and when i consider the stars when i look at the heavens i think within my south what is man that thou should be considering him or mindful of him what am i in this universe if i'm not just a speck and god speaking of david said this is a man after my own heart and yet it's still the same david it's the same david who saw basheba desired her made sure that iraia her husband died and took her the same man the same man this is a man after my own heart and yet david went after somebody else's wife did he love god with all of his heart you go into your new testament yeah the man by the name of the apostle peter and he said to jesus though all for sake you i never will i would die for you i would die for you i would die for you in essence i love you more than these i love you so much i would die for you you can't trust these other guys by the way but you can trust me that's what peter was saying you can't trust me oh really no satan satan has desired you he's prayed for and obtained you he's asked god for you and obtained you he's going to sift you as we just sifted he's going to show you what you're really made of but after you're converted follow me i would never i would never deny you lord oh you're going to deny me three times i love you more than then you have john who irritated me when i first began to read his words how he would say i'm the one whom jesus loved and i thought man are you kidding me how could you do that in front of everybody i'm the one who jesus loved oh by the way this is my god i don't even need to write the gospel of john everybody knows i don't have to put my name john everybody knows i'm the one jesus loved think about that i'm the one jesus loved they call him john the beloved to this day i'm the one one okay peter you said you would die for jesus you even took your little sword out and tried to cut off a man's head with it but when jesus was at the cross where were you peter you were hiding for fear of the jewish authorities you're the one who said that you love jesus more than the rest and you were hiding for fear john you were the one who said i'm loved by jesus and you were at the foot of the cross watching your master die you tell me what is more valuable to think you love god or to know he loves you he loves you and that's what jesus is waking this man up to you say that you've kept all my commands and he loved him he smiles at him sell all that you possess give to the poor follow me you will have treasure in heaven no no and he went away sad because he really didn't desire what jesus had to offer and it was revealed through the commandments keep these commandments you say you love your neighbors yourself give to the poor you think that you're going to have a Rolls Royce in heaven you're not everything's left behind how much do you really believe in heaven well you know it's good to talk about over capuchino no how much do you really believe because if you want to follow me i'm saying come come you're welcome but leave it behind and no i cannot do that i will not do that notice what he says here in verse 22 the young man heard that saying he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions and jesus said to his disciples assuredly i say to you that it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven and again i say to you it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of god when his disciples heard it they were exceedingly amazed saying who then can be saved jesus looked at them and said to them with men this is impossible but with god all things are possible his love of wealth and all that he had through it it was just too powerful to give up even if it meant costing his life a wrestler had gotten on a ship in a time when they would go on a ship across the ocean and he traveled across to europe in order to have a contest and the prize was a great sum of money a lot of money that was paid in gold and so he went he won they paid him in gold gold is very heavy i've never really felt gold but i understand that it's heavy and they paid him in gold in gold dust he had a a belt that he put all the gold dust in and is very heavy and he kept it in his his belt around his waist and in the middle of the ocean the ship that he was traveling in to return home began to sink they dropped the boats the lifeboats and said you know abandoned ship and so people were jumping off the the ship into the water and then swimming to the lifeboats and this man did that he jumped into the water but he had this heavy belt of gold around his waist and he went to the bottom he went to the bottom he wouldn't remove the belt to be saved and the riches that he had won took him to his death keep that in mind because that's what the lord is saying to this man you're going to leave it all behind like when the rich man died and somebody asked how much did he leave behind the answer was everything everything there are no herces that are with you hauls going to the cemetery you leave it all behind and so jesus is pointing it out what is it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul what will he give an exchange for it and so when he goes away he goes away sad because he had great riches and as the men watch this man refuse the invitation have life jesus is oh it's so hard for rich men to enter into the kingdom of heaven you know in Matthew 6 24 it says no one can serve two masters for you will hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other you cannot serve both god and money well the disciples when they see this they're amazed who can be saved is what they ask you see remember riches in the old testament are used very often as a demonstration of the blessings of god and they give such great advantages mark 10 24 clarifies this when it says the disciples were astonished at his words but jesus answered again and said to them children how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of god riches by themselves were not the issue dependence on them was you can't depend on god and simultaneously depend on your wealth and that's why he says in verse 26 with men it's impossible but with god all things are possible salvation is a work of god it isn't the work of man it isn't keeping all those commandments it's following jesus because the commandments were intended to reveal our weakness and i need of salvation your life is but a vapor when you're young you don't know that when you get older you know it you start looking behind you and there's more road behind than there is in front and you begin to say things like when did you get so big when did you become so old and you're saying that to yourself it's a vapor today is my son david's 38th birthday 38 today and to this day i still see him as that little baby boy that they put in my arms 38 years ago and uh i was originally going to name him erin erin david because erin is my favorite name i love the name erin illuminated and so marie his mama and i were talking she says what are you going to call the baby if it's a boy i said erin that's my favorite name love the name erin really you're not going to name the baby after yourself i said no no he's going to be erin i'll give him my name is his middle name the doctor who is attending marie had asked me if it's a boy what are you going to name oh i'm going to name him oh and if it's a girl i don't know yet but and then the day came november 13th and uh there i am in that hospital room and the baby is born and we were not the kind of parents at that time how we had a lot of people today want to know uh their child's sacks and all marie and i we said no we'll just wait and you know when the baby's born it'll be for us kind of cool and the doctor says here's your boy and he hands this little boy to me and he says what are you going to name him and i smiled and i looked at marie i said david i couldn't name him anything else david erin but why did i tell you that i told you that because it feels like yesterday 38 years yesterday listen to this old man your time is limited make your decisions now not next week not next month not next year not at a more opportune time make it now now tomorrow is promised to no one to no one that's why you only have today and it's always today see tomorrow doesn't exist because when it comes you know after midnight it's today it's always today right it's always today make your decision today this man went away sad for his possessions were great do you think he's happy today at this moment that he rejected christ he's not you don't lose anything when you come to faith in christ you gain everything when you come to faith in christ don't forget that


We'll give it a few more minutes for folks to might be rolling in a little bit late But I'm so excited to see some people here and he I hope people have stories to tell Come on There's got to be somebody with stories to tell you can tell other people's stories I have I have friend of a friend stories to tell Well, I guess kind of my friend not friend of a friend. Welcome. Come on in All right Go story night. Mm-hmm. We give it a couple more minutes to see if folks arrive Phyllis, I know you'll have to go first because you've got another party to get to Well, I'll go first, but you'll go second You're not shy Yeah, mm-hmm. I hear we're competing with the big Dave's community fitness party tonight, so Do you know Briefly I came in once to be to do your show for like a minute or whatever Yeah, I do the PSA's with Charlotte. Mm-hmm. Yeah This one's a fun one I I expected last year we had a ton of people I don't know if it's the weather or if we're getting too close to the holidays But this year it's a little but there are some cars pulling in so we'll give you a few more minutes, but But last year was a black was anyone here last year. I know Phyllis was Great stories and great local stories about the stagecoach the Stove flake the country club Boston College Yeah, yes, yeah, so so so it was it was great because it felt like it was like Local history as well as ghost stories. It was really fun So so, you know, don't be shy the camera can go off at any moment So if you if you are if you want to talk about something that you don't want recorded, that's okay We can that week in a moment's notice the camera can go off So but yeah, but last year I was really disappointed that we didn't record it because the stories Were so good. I felt I was like boy. I wish I had these Saved so so this year I thought we'd at least invite the camera and see if we we get something worth Preserving so I will start off with a folk tale not a not a true ghost story, but you're welcome to talk about anything But most people talked about their true ghost experiences last year, which was really interesting. So And it's a good night for it. It's extremely dark out and has been dark Solidly dark for two hours. It feels like and a huge snowstorm is coming tomorrow. So get us into the mood Let's see We're gonna give it a couple more minutes just cuz I saw somebody walking this way. So we'll let them let them get here Mm-hmm. Is everybody ghost believers? Yes, ghost believers. I always say Not to this I always There you go, yeah, I always say Yeah, I I say that I I don't know if I believe in ghosts, but I am afraid of them. So definitely Welcome That's right, there's a lot out there there's a lot out there we do not know Yeah, welcome. All right. This is great. All right So, uh, I will get us started. I might give it another minute. It's just six o'clock now But uh, this is this is so much fun. I love I love him. I love telling ghost stories. I love hearing ghost stories It's one of my favorite things People in my book group Phyllis can attest that I always talk about some dark disturbing book I'm we we are in the no pressure book group here is a book group where there's no assigned reading You just talk about a book that you've read and enjoyed recently. So, uh, so it's a very light book group So this is my favorite thing and I love that it used to be a tradition in victorian england to tell ghost stories at christmas time Especially on christmas eve. It makes so much sense to me. It is the darkest time of the year. We're all gathered together We're eating good food having good drinks sitting around a fire. So I'm trying to revive that tradition. So I've got my fire We've got cookies No drinks allowed. Well, you can drink water, but no no alcohol allowed in the library Yes pass the cookies around People are always shy to take treats. Yes I'll just have before you start and you can always say no. Yeah I just enjoyed it. Thank you so much. They smell really good Yeah, judy did a good job picking out cookies Judy. Oh, I forgot. I was gonna judy baked all these cookies this afternoon Oh, yes, you can I'll teach you I will I will embellish a friend's ghost story very good tonight You definitely can yeah Um, so yeah, so so as I was saying I think that this is a very cool tradition And I'm trying to revive it and I also feel like You know, it's nice to have something different to do this time of year. We're all kind of overwhelmed with family and uh holiday celebrations and it's kind of nice to do something that's just for fun Um, and just for you and so I was like, oh ghost story night So this is my my tradition and this is my second year doing it And I hope to do this many years while I'm here at waterbury public library And my name is rachel. I'm the library director if you didn't know that And I am gonna kick it off with a story and I'm not going to tell you the title because I feel like the title gives it away But it's an old folk tale from the Celtic islands And I'll just jump right into it One winter's evening the sexton's wife was sitting by the fireside with her big black cat old tom on the other side Both half asleep and waiting for the master to come home They waited and they waited but still he didn't come till at last he came rushing in calling out Who's tommy tildrum in such a wild way that both his wife and his cat stared at him to know? What was the matter? Why what's the matter said his wife and why do you want to know who tommy tildrum is? Oh, I've had such an adventure I was digging away at old mr.  Yes, just like that So I looked over the edge of the grave and what do you think I saw? Now, how can I tell said the sexton's sexton's wife? Why nine black cats all like our friend tom here all with a white spot on their justices And what do you think they were carrying why a small coffin covered with a black velvet pal And on the pal was a small coronet all of gold and at every third step they took they cried all together meow Meow said old tom again. Yes. Just like that said the sexton and as they came nearer and nearer to me I could see them more distinctly because their eyes shown out with a sort of green light Well, they all came towards me eight of them carrying the coffin And the biggest cat of all walking in front of the for all the world like But look at our tom how he's looking at me.  Fordis's grave Where I was when they all stood still and looked straight at me I did feel a bit queer that I did but look at old tom.  Oh, they stood still looking at me when the one that wasn't carrying the coffin came forward and staring Straight at me said to me. Yes. I tell you he said to me with a squeaky voice Tell tom till dream that tim toldrams dead And that's why I asked you if you knew who tom till dream was for how could I tell tom till dream Tim toldrams dead if I don't know who tom till dream is Look at old tom look at old tom screamed his wife And well he might look for tom was swelling and tom was staring and at last tom shrieked out What old tim dead then I am king of the cats and rushed up the chimney and was never more seen It's not really a good story, but I love it so much I had to do it and I thought that would be a good one to start off with. It's fun and Floor is now open And we do have a couple of plants if we are having if people are feeling shy But I would love anybody who has a story to tell it can be a real life experience You can make it up on the spot. We won't know the difference Please come up. Don't be shy. The camera can go off if you'd like We're we love to hear your stories Phyllis do you have anything?  Yes I would love to hear more stories about the state hospital because it is such an interesting place was such a difficult and challenging history that we have to wrestle with but I actually for years I worked as the um as an archivist at the Vermont state archives right down the road in Middlesex And um, this is not a creepy story, but it's kind of an amazing story I was one of the two archivists who worked on transferring the historic records of the hospital into the archives, which we did Literally two months before Irene. So just such a lucky lucky thing. We had no way of knowing this was coming But thankfully we were able to preserve these were the very early Ledgers and registries and things like that photographs all kinds of records Just just pure coincidence and pure luck that we happened to be able to get those preserved at the state archives before that happened I also was one of the archivists who came to respond After Irene and we walked around the facility and down into the Travel we couldn't go down into the tunnels because they were so full of mud But uh, it really none of those records would have made it if we if we hadn't been able to do that So that was pretty pretty lucky Yeah, and it is it's we're hearing that you've ever been in the state complex when you get down into the basement areas I don't know if the rooms down there were actually used with people the stories they tell about what was in those bottom rooms Well, it's gone now anyway, but they were when you walked through there it was sound because it's Been a long time since this is something I'd like to bring up though Because I'm hearing it a little bit here and I connect with you because Holiday theme that's all right. I don't mind if the camera's on or not But this is something that happened to me and I have experiences with like Spirit worlds or other realms. I'm really I don't have a name for them. I'm not practiced at this nothing like that just like these are my experiences We being my husband and I were in Salem, Massachusetts in september 2014 It was our first trip out to the east coast were from california And it was like a big, you know, like our first vacation together as a couple and it was a big deal So my point being we were taking a lot of pictures. Okay, all like we were there for two weeks Pictures videos all kinds of stuff. So we knew our phones and our cameras were working So on my husband's birthday september 19th, which just so happens We learned on this night to be the anniversary of the death of the last person in the Salem witch trials Giles Corey and so we went on a witch walk that night And we ended up in the middle of the night at what is said to be the most haunted place in Salem, which is this Now just a building but was once a home originally and a two-story home where upstairs A young girl had been quarantined because she was sick whatever the nature of her illness was And so her parents had quarantined her up there and that's where she was like writing out her sickness And there was a fire and she died up there and so Over the years, I can't remember when this happened But basically over the years this building got passed off to the state and Various entities until it became like a historic building because nobody really wanted anything to do with it And so we ended this witch walk in the middle of the night on this fateful like anniversary night That we did not plan for it was just a vacation And we're hearing the story about this and the witch walk tour guide says You know take pictures like this ghost will sometimes appear and like your cameras might malfunction and You know just this is a very interactive ghost I'm paraphrasing but something to that effect. And so of course we're like wow, this is really cool and it doesn't feel Negative in any way. It just feels like something to be experienced And so we get up there and we do go to take pictures and I have my picture. I brought it tonight because That's awesome. I captured her on camera. Wow Like you can see her in the window Wow, it was this like I don't know. It felt very much like she trusted me or She felt safe with me or maybe she Didn't feel scared. Anyway, I don't know what the situation was But it was my husband's camera malfunctioned as well. He didn't get a picture of her but he got some Disturbance in his image. That was not what was actually in front of us. There was no clouds or anything like that So anyways, um, this happened. We're like These cameras they've been working this whole time Like whoa, this is really happening. And then as we're leaving this totally mind boggled On the ground, I see a brooch And it has opals and rubies in it. It's like an old fashion like Like from the titanic era Amazingly beautiful brooch and I'm like, whoa, this is valuable like I go to the tour guide and I say I just found this it's the middle of a busy street in this area. It's the middle of the night But like people have been walking around all the time. So it could have been someone that's there. I don't know. He's like You should hang on to that. I'm like, what like I don't this is not mine His thing was basically that There was a reason that I found it because we had talked about the pictures and various people had had no Experiences on their cameras and others had and some Didn't work at all. So a bunch of different things had happened and we had showed that I got a picture of her face And he was like, you should keep that. So I decided to I felt again that there was like some reason that I had Interacted with her and so I did I took it home and I took it home And then um over the years Our lives changed and we moved to the east coast. So we now live here in Waterbury, Vermont And I still have the brooch. I didn't bring it because I don't think it's like a trinket or a token but um, I just I have a place and that's where it is at my home and it's always been with me and Separately I had a ghost in a different home that I lived at when this happened while I was on vacation that I had had a Very bad ghost experience with like two weeks before my trip And after I brought this home not not connecting the dots not having any thoughts on it that never happened again Like I never had any ill Experiences in that same house. So anyways, I brought it home. I still have it with me And I just think that she feels safe with me and she likes to be talked about I myself have lost a child And so I think that Maybe she knew So maybe sorry, thank you You have the photo Telling your story I jumped because the light So we passed this around I was the pop socket if that makes it easier In the upstairs window Yeah That is a part like that's not like that's what she's looking at me It's great. Yeah, that's amazing.  How cool. Wow. Look at that That was And my husband was gonna come with me tonight, but he's not feeling well. So I was like, I'm I had I had to hear what I love ghost tours and haunting tours when I'm when I'm traveling and I think it's such an interesting way to get a bit of history and But I will say the only one that ever really really scared me is it if you're ever in Niagara Falls Ontario It is the strangest Ghost walk it is not in that the popular parts of the Niagara Falls. It is in like the sketchy like mafia Ron Carson So much fun. So Yeah, it was so weird It's funny Oh, yeah Anybody with I don't try to it just happens. Um, that's the same with me. I don't call it to me Thank you Um, so, uh, we just had a question that has anybody taken photos and had orbs or other sort of mysterious oras or things like that up here Yeah, that's That's interesting. Mm-hmm Yeah, you have I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. So does anybody have a like a local story and waterberry story or um I can do one from the radio station. Oh, oh, this is fantastic. So I work on stow street And we've always had this sort of running joke about well, if you see pink eyes in the basement You know, it's either the rats or it might be rusty or Lloyd down there.  Oh, that's rusty or Lloyd Don't worry about it. I've had a few instances where I'm in there either late at night early in the morning I'm by myself or there might be somebody on the third floor I'm on the first floor and you'll hear steps going up the stairs I turn on my monitor. Note the guy's on the air. So it's not him walking through the hallway I go up look down up the hallway. Nope. Nobody's around but there's something there that walks up and down the steps And about five years ago, I walk into the office early in the morning at 6 30 I'm there before anybody else is in the office. I punch in And I hear and feel something in my ear like a man or a woman has gone Oh, that's chilling and I just put my time card down and I turn around and there's nobody there But somebody Now with that said rusty parker did have his fatal heart attack on the air He didn't die in the building But his heart attack was there So we always jokingly say It's rusty or Lloyd and they're just hanging out with us So I go in in the morning fix my tea and I'm always like, hey rusty. I'm just here It's never been anything malicious or nefarious It's just there's something in that building That was his passion. Yeah, right So we just always sort of accept it and when somebody new comes in and they're like, yeah, I was here late at night Oh, that's just rusty. He's Don't worry about it I always think I wear these keys around my neck in the library so that I can open doors and they jingle when I die, you're going to hear that But that's thank you for sharing I will say I have been in that building it is a weird Building Narrow scare Multiple But there's a mezzanine and it's just it's very strange. Yeah, it's kind of it is kind of cool It's neat it's because it'll make it like that It's easy to get turned around because like you're like, wait, I'm on the mid where am I? Which is everything is trying to go up or down. So yeah, it's fascinating. Yeah, I love hearing water bearing stories Yeah, anytime Judy. I have to ask you worked in the old library in the james house. No, actually, I did Oh, you never like in the james house? This was the library staff Do you know any stories of the james house? Like it feels like the james house is the historic building at the front of this building That used to house the library, right? Um, and it feels like it must have stories. Yeah I the only thing I I would take students up to the top floor and supposedly teach the But uh, uh, you know, don't don't have anything but I I know there should be you think they would be Because uh, that's that's definitely historic. I mean, so you guys probably know james, um henry james Dedicated the building or gave the building to the He gave that was his home and you know preserved it for the library the town of water bearing that the the the Whatever word I'm trying to say Dedicated for for the library so that it would benefit the town So that that's the the history there. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful building and now you can see it. You can see the Uh, the wood the the beautiful scroll of work and upstairs if you haven't been it's the historical society um, and so you can You know see some of water bearing's history up there, which they do a great job displaying Yeah, and and just call and find out when you can go or just you know, maybe drop in during the day Yeah, it's really lovely. They've done a beautiful job. Yeah, I can't imagine trying to open a library So small, but yeah Anyone else have a story? I mean I can tell not my own story So I know that asking friends like about their own personal ghost stories is like one of my favorite things to do when When there's a lag in conversation and One of my closest friends she uh is from the pacific northwest feel free to embellish like sony extra Yeah And she's I think in college and she went home to visit her parents and they had just bought an apple orchard and her sister and her mother separately Had seen a man in the apple orchard and they thought it was the neighbor and he was you know Just an overalls the same shirt hat and they're like, oh, I saw the neighbor and they described him and they're like, oh I saw him too. We should introduce ourselves and When they finally did talk to the neighbors there was no man and The neighbors talked about the people that had previously lived there and the man had passed away and The neighbor was talking about how she misses seeing him out in the apple orchard and she started describing him and both of them realized Wait that that's who we're seeing and My friend You know she that was her sister and her mother One evening she was home again. She was in college. She was you know, is at night. They weren't home and she was working on her computer and The lights went out so She was like, oh, that's weird like a you know The um a fuse must have blown or something But then she walked over it to just check the switch And she was able to turn the light switch back on but it wasn't like a loose light switch. It was pretty stiff and moving so she flipped it back on And thought okay, that's weird And then she goes back to what she's doing and then it happens again And so she goes over and she turns the light switch back on and then again There's nobody there and she's starting to freak out a little bit and then she's just stop that And so she just talks to whatever is You know, she believes is causing this and it just doesn't happen again. Wow So we kind of take control And I do believe her she's not yeah, you know, yeah, no because that's I don't think spirits are like trying to Like Instigate something right, you know, I think they're just like don't Different maybe when they passed right some different social norms, whatever. So it was probably messing with you Maybe their character or whatever it is. So I'm here. I'm here Like that's what it feels like. I think that's really cool. I don't know if I agree with you about that Okay, what's your theory? Well, I don't mean to be morbid, but I think there I think there's been two deaths in my house the original owner And my husband he passed on his He committed suicide so I've gotten remarried And we've had a couple of instances where my second husband says to me one day I've been pushed up the stairs and into the Clock what's that big clock called grandfather grandfather clock. He said I was pushed up the stairs into the grandfather clock I know I've been pushed out the door fell on my front And what I do and we always blame my first husband for it because he was a And what I do is I go to the place where he shot himself and I say to him very calmly No, you don't take it out on my husband. You don't take it out on my dog If you're going to get mad you can take it out on me But stop it And then everything quiet down for a few months. Wow, which is like Yeah It's not always maybe I should have specified on it always because as I've said I've had a really Yeah, really scary right experiences. I just sort of think he's messing with us And I just as a character, you know as true to his character. Yeah as true to his character. He's gonna Yeah, and I don't know stop it So people don't change I keep saying It is there I want to look at your face because your voice. I know so well Yeah, I do I live at 12 Stoast Street across the street. Oh, okay. Okay. I probably see you where you should be. You have a great voice But uh, yeah Now with that said about my husband as I said, I think there's been two deaths in the house Maybe the original owner my husband comes out to me many years ago at about midnight And he's he comes into the bedroom. I'm sleeping and he says Stop watching me in the kitchen Whoa, I'm not watching you in the kitchen. He says, yes, you are you've been standing behind me Watching me make my peanut butter crackers Dude, I just woke up when you came into the bedroom. I'm not out there He says well, there is an old woman in the kitchen watching me make peanut butter crackers And I said to him Well, I haven't told you but I've been hearing a woman singing in our bedroom for about a week now It was just this little soft Hum. Wow, I assume maybe it was the original owner That she's Maybe a month interesting Yeah, he said she uh My husband said that she watched him one night for quite a while And then I heard singing probably on and off for about three weeks. Wow And it never scared me or anything. It's just like, okay, somebody's in the house with me. What's going on? Yeah We had experience at WDV Yeah, yeah But whether you have withered there are sightings or specific sounds or those kinds of Concrete things Don't you feel that Well, all of us Leave some sort of energy stamp wherever I go And when you go into places, just sense that And this is not really a ghost story and it's not really my story, but um, we our last stop on The road was in southbury, connecticut And it was the home of the southbury training school Which is the place where rain man was filmed And it was our property was adjacent to that and it was a cradle to the grave place to put misfits to put unacceptable embarrassing People who turned up in various families and most of them belonged to celebrities from the new york area And so by the time we lived we came there it was set up for I think it was A dozen people and there were only a few hundred like 400 by the time we were there But they and they let they had these buildings that were in good shape But they were vacant and so they allowed them for various community things and the high school used several of the buildings the cottages to For workspaces for making the stuff for grad night and foods for parades and that kind of business And honestly when you would walk into that building Any of those buildings they would almost hum at you. I mean you you could feel you could feel energy in there and It was the only life that many of these individuals knew and so I can't say that it was negative or positive But it was there for sure and it was in every one of the buildings into her eyes I love exploring old buildings. It's so interesting You wouldn't have anything I said I got more Take over, but I can't fill up our time. I should I do I'll do the train Yeah, I'll do a quick one. Yeah, I'll stand up. Yeah. All right. So this one is definitely a This is not my story. It's a friend's story, but I love this story um So I I was an archivist before I became a librarian. Well, I was a librarian I was an archivist for years And one of my first gigs was I went to uh pulse miss college. Does anyone know where pulse misses? It's in the adirondacks. It's in the middle of nowhere. It's near serenac lake if you know serenac lake so I was um fresh out of library school sent to pulse miss college to live for the summer to um get their archives into shape and So I was given an assistant I was 22 myself and I was given an undergraduate to be my assistant So I get this like super young kid um big fish fan But like just like a very uh, kind of a bro kind of a kid really nice guy though and he helped me out a ton and um He grew up in the adirondacks and knew the area really really well And so he had great stories about about growing up in the adirondacks Um, and one of his best friends was a kennedy So, uh, no a Rockefeller. That's what it was a Rockefeller So the Rockefellers own a ton of property in the adirondacks They which is has been good because they've actually preserved the the property But because he was a Rockefeller He knew his way around all these um pieces of property that were otherwise off limits that were preserved by the family So, uh one weekend he he's talking to my friend and he says hey Uh, do you want to go camping and fishing this weekend on some of my family's property? Like this is a pristine lake in the middle of nowhere Nobody knows where it is. It's miles from anything It's such a great place to camp and fish and so these my friends like yeah, of course we're going to do this It sounds great. So they like pack up all their stuff. They pack up their fishing gear They pack up their camping gear They drive down a million dirt roads in the middle of the woods Then they get out and they have to hike to the lake because there's no road that leads to the lake So I have to haul their like lightweight canoe and and their fishing gear to the the campsite And they're having a great by the time they get there It's like dusk and they're having a great time And of course they're drinking a few beers and like you know young men out in the woods having a good time and um So they're like, oh, okay, like let's do some night fishing because night night fishing is the best fishing We're gonna have but we're gonna catch some really good fish in this lake So they they get in their canoe and they like paddle out to the middle of the lake It is pitch black the middle of the night Um middle of nowhere miles from serenac lake miles from anything They're on the lake and they start to hear this like rumbling noise coming at them And they're like, what is that noise? There's nothing out here It gets closer and closer and then they hear a train whistle So they hear this rumbling they hear like it's now distinctly the sound of a train On the lake with them They hear a train whistle and they start to like get angst They're like what this makes no sense. There's no train tracks here This is the middle of nowhere and they're on a lake So um So they start to like panic and they start to like paddle fast to get off the lake And at that point they feel the whoosh like, you know, if if you're close to a train you can feel it going past you They feel the rumble of it. It shakes their canoe the wind blows They they are like It doesn't add up in any way historically as far as anybody knows there's never been a railroad track there But a train a ghost train went by them that night on this lake in the middle of nowhere in the adirates And he was telling me this like Dead serious like I've never seen this kid this serious is when he told this story He was like this really really happened. I cannot explain it. There's no history that explains it, but it happened So I've always thought that was the best ghost story because an entire train being a ghost feels pretty intensive Yeah, and the adirondacks are full of interesting stories Yeah, but Do you want do something else you want to share?   I was an addict when I was young and so I Got clean at 16 and just like I had goals. That's what I was doing And so I did I bought this house in the hood of sacramento because that's where I could afford a house And it had four bedrooms and every single bedroom door used to have a dead bolt Like when I bought the house and I looked at it. It was kind of like obviously I'm just gonna fix that but like What? So that's uncomfortable. Yeah, that's weird the layout of the house. It was very like Functional like very boxy and very square and The way it laid out like there was a big hallway right past the front door when you walk in and at the very end on the Right was my bedroom. And so that's where we slept and I Probably was like maybe two weeks of living there. It wasn't that long We had an unpacked like it was just chaos. Nothing felt like we were at home You know and I've been apartment hopping before that so I didn't even really know what that felt like, but it wasn't comfortable, you know and My son at the time was like four and he had been with friends who I had recently been living with who like wanted to spend the night with him They missed him and so he wasn't there and the person that I was with at the time we were at the house laying in the bed back right bedroom and Something just fell off like things were just like in the house the energy like so much energy So we go out into the front living room area and the way the house is set up like you walk up to the front door And it's kind of in an alcove. So there's like walls that are 10 feet long behind you And that's the living room right there and that's the kitchen right there and you walk down this to the front door So like there's the hallway and there's that living room area So we're in the living room at this point and our friends knock on the door There's nowhere to get out of the door besides in the door or like you'd have to I'd see you out the window so I Not even one second it opened the door and there's nobody there Like my husband was peeking out the window the doors open and we're like you heard that You didn't I heard that that was real like weird So then a few minutes later they actually show up and we're like no way this didn't happen Just things are weird like we don't really know what's going on and it's kind of hard to process that And I'd never had such a visceral experience that was so like Happened and I could just not pretend it hadn't happened and That night as we're laying in bed I can't see the doorway to my son's room and we always shared a bedroom before this house And so I can't see his doorway and I'm just like this isn't right Something's not right the doors closed this deadbolt that it's weird and I Feel the spirit this like evil negative Very bad energy I don't know what it was spirit literally go through my body like through my heart Like right the center of my chest, you know and I it was I couldn't breathe. It was like a physical Feeling and I just hopped up and ran right into my son's room and he was fine perfectly sleeping like None the wiser and basically that night. I just continued to have experiences where I could feel this I don't know still what to call them But this this thing that was happening and it was very physical and we had just closed on the house We had this big vacation plan that we had spent a bunch of money on and we're like We don't like this house. We don't want to live here. Like this is so bad My best friend had just had a baby and she had heart complications and all this thing These things were happening in life. And so we're just like let's go on vacation and just like Do that and when we get back we'll kind of figure out what we want to do and what's happening here And so when we got back I had that brooch and nothing ever Ever happened again at the house We completely remodeled it and when we sold it it was like not even the same house And we did it all ourselves and it was just this like I don't know what it was but something happened And it was I think that's so cool Maybe find this brooch and your heart was so honest you wanted to find who dropped it and the guy Like probably because he'd been doing this ghost walk and You know had seen and heard and experienced so many things he knew Whatever it was that there was a connection between you and that woman and and I'm not how how do I know? I wasn't there, but I just think it's so cool. Whether it's a guardian spirit or just I don't know. I just even when you told the story. I felt like this woman and you Maybe she saw something in you that reminded her of herself at that age or maybe whatever Who knows? Yeah, but it's you know, the guy did mention too He said like I can take it and turn it into the town hall kind of thing It's going to sit there forever and just sit on the shelf So that conversation happened. Yeah, and I was like I hate and my husband was very he's always been very encouraging Like he doesn't have many of these experiences on his own But in that time it was like this is telling you like take that and then to have that horrible such a like you said that visceral feeling about this Spirit that isn't good and then the brooch whether it was the brooch or the woman's energy or whatever But to have that Just dissipate and you told us the story in two different segments. Yeah It's crazy to talk about because like, you know, sometimes people don't believe stuff Right And like sometimes you just don't even want to bring it up because you're just like what are they going to think or What's the point or this person Doesn't even deserve to learn about this like special Be that I this that's why this we had so much fun doing this last year It's fun to have a room full of people who whether their believers are not are very open and very willing to share and are curious Which I think is really critical. So Anybody else we've got We haven't spoken. I don't know if you wanted if you want an opportunity to speak or a few well, I I wanted to I started writing a story for this event, but I didn't get it done But uh, uh, my goal will be to Have it done before next oh next year's event, but um, so it's basically um about This girl that um her dog goes missing from her front lawn, um and as she's searching for the dog and posting to The front porch forums in every town and this has taken on like for five years She's been searching for her dog, but as she's doing that she's noticing a pattern of other missing dogs Disappearing out of thin air In all the towns in vermont and so she starts tracking This information and it's kind of like an obsession for her.  She's like tracking that You know over five years There's been like 9 000 dogs that have gone missing And so I so I'm developing that story to share for next year um But I do want to I I did want to share this other um Real life story that happened to me that like because you all were sharing your stories. I Uh, I it resonated with me and and so I was thinking about like if something had ever happened to me and I mean, I guess Things have happened to me over the years, but I just kind of passed it off as like Not really anything But when I was um 21 I I moved um to high gate vermont. I don't know if you know where that is, but it's It's up north and I remember um, so I Uh I had my own car but I hadn't been driving for very long because I didn't get my first car until I was 20 and so um, I remember going to berlington and going out with friends And I didn't really know the area of high gate and sand albans, but so I was traveling back from berlington back home to high gate and um, it was late It was like one in the morning So it's pitch dark and I again I didn't I wasn't familiar with the roads and high gate because I'm not you know Not only had I never lived up there or really traveled that much out of my hometown Because I had a new You know, I was a new driver um, but um, you know, so I'm kind of an inexperienced driver at that point and so um, I'm driving home and then Um, and there's no other cars on on the road because it's one in the morning and and all of a sudden like I'm not really paying attention because I'm tired, but um, I hear this voice To the right of me and coming from the passenger side of my car and and it said and it was a man's voice A deep voice and he said slow down I just kind of like I wasn't really paying attention and And then I am like driving driving driving and and he's like You're gonna need to slow down and I again, I'm young. I didn't really Think much of it and then He yelled I'm a intersection um With stop signs, but like my I didn't see the stop sign and just as that happened this truck just like Flew by me He must have been going like 80 miles an hour and that was the first vehicle I had seen for like Probably 30 minutes because I'm like traveling home and I just and like I mean I literally swam on the brakes and it was like somebody was there and they were like Shouting at me, but it was so real because it kind of startled me Um, to the point of like I'm like, okay And I slammed on the brakes and like I jolted front You know, I like came to a really quick Hard stop and that's when the truck like came in front of me and just was like Going, you know 80 miles an hour and it scared me and I was like, oh my gosh and then after that Of course, I was like, why don't we capture that? And then I proceeded to go home Wow That isn't has anyone heard of mysterious ways It's a five monthly publication by guideposts What she just reported Is what the stories are guideposts? Hearing the voice next to you In some say it's your guardian angel Maybe it's jesus christ. I don't know but your story is what I read many times in mysterious ways And that was so well told Like the energy I'm so glad you chose to share it. I still remember it because it was so Real and like as if I was like a human person was like physically in my car. Wow Has anybody else ever been in the car that you've heard anyone else in the car with them? You know that kind of happens to me a lot Like in the car and I mean I have um Like things hanging from my my rear view mirror You know st. Christopher like The is the symbol the catholic symbol for like protection travel protection So I have that and it was weird how I came across that necklace like out of the blue kind of like I'd never seen it before but it was in my things So I thought it was cool. So I hung it in my car And um, I didn't know the symbol because I'm not catholic Um, I just thought it was a cool pendant. Um Or yeah pendant and so I After a while like stuff started happening in While I was driving it's like somebody's in my car like giving me That's yeah, yeah, absolutely listen, um, whether it's like I'm lost Um, I get that information like even when I have a GPS and I'm like I I just have somebody except it's a woman and not a man. Um Letting me know like What to do and so I 99 of the time like I I do follow that instead like my GPS even though like, you know You're kind of trained to be like trusting of your Electronics, but but you know when they fail But yeah, that's happened to me quite a bit in the car No, uh, actually yes, I'm sorry. Yes. Yes. Um, because it was a It was like a dodge shadow It was the first car I'd ever purchased by myself and it was pre-owned Yet the shadow Wow, this is this well, thank you for sharing And I'm so excited that you're writing something and that's another thing I did want to say is that I'm very open to fictional stories and if we do this again next year and I hope we will Um, please bring your writing as well. Um, I know that judy runs the the writer's very free group And then Denise has been a part of that as well. Yeah, it's margaret. Yes. Yeah Any any last stories to kind of wrap up on? This has been such a blast. I'm so glad that with a smaller group than last year, but Really good stories and a really good Um, that's a good sharing I feel like it's been a very warm group and I really appreciate sharing and I'm gonna make this an annual event So look for it next year. Um always in december because I think you have to do this at the darkest time of the year We're reflecting on the the year past And yeah, thank you for coming. If you didn't get a cookie make sure you get a cookie Did you say that traditionally ghost stories were filmed at this time? Yeah It's a victorian british tradition to tell ghost stories at christmas Especially on christmas eve is families gather together sit around the fire and tell ghost stories And that's interesting because Obviously, we all know halloween all and all halloween and then the month of november all the saints are recognized and so forth and so maybe by december the spirits have Just gotten tired sitting around it and not being able to do anything And so they're back at action again And it's it's such a dark time and you you come inside and you you gather with people and you and you tell stories And uh, and I just I think that I'm trying to revive that traditions. I think it's so great. Um, and yeah, I just I just love it So yeah, so thank you all


Meanwhile, the Federal Neural Psychiatry Hospital, Kaduna, has requested for more modern facilities, female wards, capacity to tackle increasing rates of mental health challenges in the country. The management said it is difficult to cope with high numbers of female patients admitted at the hospital following the fire incident that recently got it, the female ward. We lost everything. All the property in the ward, the beds, the cabinets, the fridge, the television, the equipment for walk, setters, copes, figs, the files, the records, everything got gone. The patients were moved to the child and adolescent ward, but the ward is too small for them. And the setup of the ward is not for adults, really, it's for children. And we had children as patients there. We had 46 female patients at any time, which at certain points, we have to discharge those that are a bit stable to accommodate more. But unfortunately, now we can only take 18. And they were able to evacuate the 19 patients in the ward, the 19 female patients in the ward, the staff on duty, the nurses, the attendants and the security were all saved. Also, the head of clinical nurses said the hospital is passing through trying times as they can only accommodate 18 patients for now. Our joy is that no patient, no staff, life go. That is the joy we have. These people, these mental ill, female that really need attention, people come from different states. And now it's a pity that some of them will come. There's no space for them to be admitted when doctors see them, for them to be embedded, there's no space. That place is too small. Taking only a T patient out of 46 patients that we used to take. And that 46 even before is not even enough. We are pleading that organization, the government, anybody, somehow that will assist us in getting back the glory of the female ward. Because the other words are okay. But it's the single and the only female ward we have. And we know that there are a lot of challenges now, especially among the female gender. And we see them, but we can't accommodate them. So we are calling for assistance as soon as possible to have a befitting ward for the female patient, which should even take more capacity, more than 46. We need more than 46 bed capacity. Fresh news updates.