Joni: Hey, Ken, thanks for joining me on “Joni and Friends.”
Ken: Well, Joni, thank you for having me.
Joni: Absolutely, I always love it whenever we’re doing these radio programs when you take time to come to the studio.
Ken: It’s great being with you.
Joni: You know, I always gain something from when I listen to you speak, whether it’s on the platform next to me or here at the microphone. It’s amazing how God has prepared you to do the kinds of things that you do now, Ken.
Ken: Using the unskilled people in situations like this. You know, it’s interesting, Joni, because you are too kind to say that. I remember back in 1969 and I was asked to be a supervisor at a Young Life camp. And this was before I was actually a Christian.
Joni: Really?
Ken: Yeah.
Joni: Okay.
Ken: And what happened…I remember being in this barn where the milk cows and the rest of the leaders were with me, and we were kind of in a little circle, and they started to pray.
Joni: But you weren’t a Christian…
Ken: I wasn’t a Christian at the time.
Joni: Okay, you’re in a big circle…
Ken: I became a Christian that weekend, but that’s another story all to itself. But I was listening, and we had our eyes closed, and I was listening to these people pray, and it was coming around the circle, and I knew eventually it was going to come to me and I thought oh, oh, I’ve never done this before.
Joni: Pray out loud.
Ken: Pray out loud. Exactly. I can’t remember exactly what I prayed, but I did say something.
Joni: Well, what’s memorable is that you did pray with that group and then you came to Christ. And, you know, this was what? At a pig farm or what?
Ken: Well, it was a little farm just south of Santa Barbara, and it was a winter Young Life camp. And so I had never been to a Young Life camp before; I didn’t know what Young Life was all about. Actually, you know, I listened to the messages like the kids were listening to the messages, and that Saturday night I came to Christ.
Joni: Well, I remember one time I asked you to pray out loud. We were visiting Billy and Ruth Graham in their log cabin home up in Montreat, North Carolina. It was a privileged opportunity to be with them. They were getting up there, they were, and we spent the day singing hymns.
Ken: They were so gracious to us. I mean, they treated us like family, and we felt very comfortable and I just remember thinking: “Wow, you know, we’re with Dr. Graham and Ruth.” And, you know, it comes to the end of our time after we were singing hymns, and I don’t know if you remember this Joni, but you looked at me and you said: “Ken, would you pray for the Grahams?” The pig farm!
Joni: You were back at the pig farm!
Ken: I was back at the pig farm!
Joni: Well, there is a moral to this story, isn’t there?
Ken: There sure is Joni. That God can use the unskilled, and he does that so that everyone will know that it’s God’s power and not man’s.
Joni: Absolutely. You know, I’m thinking of Moses. You know God called him before he was ready, and sometimes he’ll call us into situations before we’re ready as well, whether it’s praying out loud in a group of men at a pig farm, or closing in prayer with Dr. Billy Graham and Ruth in the room. Wow, I’m proud of you, Ken. Thanks for praying out loud. In fact you got a few people listening right now. How about closing our time in prayer?
Ken: Oh Father, we do thank you for these opportunities that you give us. And Lord I just pray for all those listening out there that you would bless them this day, give them an extra measure of grace, and thank you for the privilege of just being here on this radio program.
Joni: Absolutely. Amen. And I think our listeners can glean from this that we all need to be ready – in and out of season. Be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us, and sometimes to be ready to pray out loud.
Ken: Amen!
Joni: I invite you to visit me today at our website at joniandfriends.org. Until next time, this is Joni and Friends.
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