Guy Dowd 2006

Guy Dowd is an extraordinary author, teacher, and speaker. He has received numerous awards for his teaching and has published several successful books. He is known for his inspiring talks about love, family, and dreams. Guy's messages are both entertaining and thought-provoking. nor your ordinary author. We all respect excellence, and Guy elicits immediate respect because he excels at what he does. As a teacher, Guy received the highest award possible by being named Teacher of the Year from among two and a half million teachers. President Ronald Reagan presented this award to Guy at the White House. As an author, Guy has published five award-winning books, including a bestseller, Mulder of Dreams. As a speaker, he has addressed hundreds of groups and thousands of people from all walks of life. At least one group, the Million Dollar Roundtable, rated him as one of the top speakers of all time. His audio tape describing his experience as a teacher is the most popular tape of all of Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family library of tapes. Guy Dowd's message has unusual appeal because he speaks about things of the heart and life, love, family, relationships, and dreaming dreams. His delivery is such that it is not only entertaining, but also thought-provoking. Gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Guy Dowd. Thank you, Gus. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks a lot. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you, Gus, for that very, very kind introduction. I always get embarrassed when I'm being introduced because sometimes, like he just did, they go on and they go on, and they try to make you sound like you're somebody really important. So I'm going to try to make you sound like you're somebody really important. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. One of the greatest love stories in the Bible, I think, is found in the book of Hosea. It's not a very familiar story, and yet I think it's one of the most priceless stories in all of the Bible. Hosea was a prophet of God. And God told Hosea to marry this lady by the name of Gomer. Yeah, that's a woman's name. And I can't help but think of Gomer Pyle and Jim Neighbors, you know. But God told Hosea to marry Gomer. Now, the thing about Gomer is that she was a prostitute. And God told Hosea to marry her. She made her living selling her body. But Hosea married Gomer. He was faithful to God's call in his life. And they had three children together. But after the third child, Gomer got restless. And she decided to take off, and she abandoned Hosea. And she left Hosea as a single dad to raise the three kids. Well, years passed. And guess what? In his heart, Hosea still loved his wife. So he went searching for her. And he found her. She was on an auction block ready to be sold again, ready so that somebody could take her and use her as a slave, but more likely somebody would buy her for sexual favors. And Hosea bought her back. He bought her back. Can you imagine that? He bought her back after what she had done to him. For fifteen pieces of silver, for some barley, and for some wine, Hosea bought Gomer back. Wow. And you know, that story is really a metaphor for how much God loves you. I didn't say us. You. It's a metaphor for how much God loves you and how much He loves me. You see, we have all sinned. We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and we're standing there on the auction block ready to be auctioned off by the highest bidder. But while we were yet sinners, the Bible says, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and He bought us back through His shed blood on the cross. And that's how we come to know the healing power of Christ, by committing ourselves to Him. The Bible says that we love Him because He first loved us. You know, a lot of people will say, well, what is the opposite of love? And most people will say hate. But I think if you really look at the Bible, the opposite of love is fear. The Bible says that perfect love casts out fear. And we love Him because He first loved us. And dear ones, we need not worry. We need not be afraid because we have a God whose love is unconditional. And if there's anything in the world that we need more than ever today is to know that we are completely, unabashedly, totally loved by God. Isn't that beautiful? Give God a praise! You see, in God's eyes, we're gomers. And God is Hosea. And God buys us back. Ephesians 2.13 says, you lived in this world without God and without hope, but now you've been brought near to Him because of the blood of Christ. You see, God literally wants us not to be His slave, but to be His spouse. Wow! I told you at the beginning a little bit about how I'd lost all that weight. Well, the rest of the story is that after I lost all that weight, I noticed the girls started looking at me a little differently. Possibly because I started looking at them a little differently. I thought, well, you know, I've lost over a hundred. Must be kind of cute. Well, to make a long story short, I finally started going out with this one girl and we went together for almost four years before I finally got up enough courage to ask her to marry me. She'd almost given up on me. Well, once we decided to get married, I thought our parents should meet and approve of our upcoming nuptials. Well, my father was widowed and her mother had been long divorced. And so I invited my dad and her mom to my house. And I made dinner, guys. I made roast beef, potatoes and carrots and gravy. And my girlfriend Tammy, she brought a pie. And our parents hit it off. Unbelievably well. And so Tammy and I were married in June and our folks were married in August. Which means, if you stop and think about it for a minute, and those of you from Kentucky, it'll take you longer. I'm just kidding. Well, that made my father my father-in-law. My mother-in-law became my stepmother. My wife became my stepsister. Together we had four children, three boys and a girl. In other words, three nephews and a niece. And I am my children's uncle. But now here's the rest of the story. After 13 years of marriage, my wife, well, she'd been depressed for much of our relationship. And she started to see a counselor, a psychiatrist and a psychologist. And one day she came home and told me that she was starting to remember all this abuse that occurred to her when she was a child. She had been sexually abused a number of times. And then a few more months passed and she came home and told me that because of the abuse that had happened to her as a child, she had an aversion to men. She didn't like men anymore. She told me she still loved me, there's that word again, but that she was in love with someone else. And she moved out and she moved in with her girlfriend in a lesbian relationship. And all of a sudden my world came crashing down. You know, that can happen to anybody. If we really look to the world and the things of the world to provide us our joy and our peace and our contentment, watch out. Because there is really nothing solid in the world. Not even the earth itself. There's nothing really solid in the world. It's taken me 52 years to finally realize with all my heart that the only thing that's solid is Jesus Christ, who is the same, the Bible says, yesterday, today, and forever. And if we build our lives on earthly relationships, on earthly things and on worldly things, they're going to crumble. But I was completely, completely devastated. Here I was, a father, uncle, left alone with four kids, one of whom was still in diapers. I'll never forget, one of the first days after she was gone, my son Luke says, Dad, can you poach some eggs? Poach eggs? I didn't know what you had. I knew you had to boil water. You should have seen them. My other son said, Dad, I've got a hole here in my football pants. He said, can you sew it up? I had blood in my fingers by the time I was done trying to sew up the hole in his football pants. And I became very, very depressed. In fact, I started to see a counselor. And I reached the depths of despair, kind of like Jeremiah in the Scriptures. And then I remember hearing something that someone said, that I was Mother Teresa. Who said that you'll never know that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have. Feeling really, really down, but with that thought in the back of my mind, I had to go speak to a big, big convention in Las Vegas. I'd never been to Las Vegas before, and I had to go speak to the American Association of Secondary School Principals. About 6,000 or more principals, assistant and principals from all over the United States. In fact, from all over North America. And I was supposed to speak in the morning in this big convention center attached to the Hilton Hotel in Vegas. And I couldn't sleep the night before. And I was about as down as you possibly could. I didn't know where in the world any energy was going to come for me to go out there and speak the next morning. The day I left was Valentine's Day. And that's when I got served divorce papers, was on Valentine's Day. So just before I was ready to go get on the plane, I get these divorce papers. It was a wonderful Valentine's treat. Well, that night I stayed in my room. I didn't go down into the casino. I stayed in my room, and I got down beside the bed, and I poured my heart out to God. And God showed me that so much of what I'd done with my life, I'd based it upon worldly and earthly things, and even worldly and earthly relationships. And I just cried out to God. I said, God, I don't know if you're supposed to do this or not, and I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I need some sign that you still love me and that you haven't forsaken me and you haven't let me go. And I hardly slept at all that night. I finally did get an hour or so of sleep, and I got up, and I thought, well, I better get down to the convention center, get there a little early, check out the place. So on the way to the convention center, the hotel is here, and the convention center here, there's this big hallway in between. And in that hallway, there was a shoeshine man. And I looked at him, and he looked at me. I was the only one coming down the hallway at that moment. And he said, you need your shoeshine, mister. This guy was about 80 years old, wrinkled face. He looked like a raisin. Old, just black guy. But he had joy that just radiated from him. He was just bubbling and full of joy. And he says, you need your shoeshine there, mister. And I looked down, and certainly I did. And I'd never had anybody else shine my shoes before. And so he says, come on, mister, let me shine your shoes. So I climbed up in the shoeshine chair, put one foot up on one stirrup, and the other one on the other stirrup. And he started in just aggressively. I'm looking at this 80-year-old man still shining shoes. And then all of a sudden, he started whistling. And I recognized the song. What a friend we have in Jesus All our sins and grief to bear What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer Do thy friends despise, forsake thee Thou wilt find a solace there In his arms he'll take and she'll be Take it to the Lord in prayer And as he whistled that song, I got all teared up. And I looked at him and I said, how are you doing? He said, oh, I'll be done here in just a few minutes, mister. I said, no, no, no, no. I don't mean how are you doing on my shoes. I mean, how are you doing? Doing. And he looked up at me and he says, well, mister, I got up this morning and my heart's still beating. I got out of bed and my legs are still working. I went to the kitchen, I opened the fridge and there's food in that there fridge and my Jesus still loves me. Applause Oh, wow. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. My Jesus still loves me. One of my favorite verses, couple verses in all of Scripture Paul's writing to the Romans. And he writes, listen to this, I am convinced that nothing can separate us from His love. Death can't. Life can't. The angels can't. The demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing, nothing, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing, nothing, nothing can separate us from... And you know that word nothing? I looked it up in the Greek. You know what it means? Nothing. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. And dear ones, that's why we have to commit ourselves to Him. You know, on what are you building your house? On what foundation are you building your life? For the Christian, there isn't any other option other than to build it on the love of God. Some of you have been torn apart just like I was. Right now, some of you are going through heavy burdens. Some of you are looking toward the future filled with worry and fret and fear. Some of you are looking to today with fret and fear and worry. And it's only when we build our lives on the love of God and love Him because He first loved us, and when we know, when we commit ourselves to Jesus Christ, when we commit ourselves to Him, when we put a sinful life behind us and pledge ourselves to Him, that He brings that joy and that peace and that contentment that will never fail because there's nothing that the world can send our way that will ever separate us from the love of God. Not even death. In fact, death means more of Him. And that gives me such joy. But oh, how we all need to put the sin behind us. Here's Hosea buying back Gomer despite what she's done. And how can she help but be tremendously grateful? So we love God because He first loved us. I used to teach high school English. And one of the stories that was in my short storybook was an Ernest Hemingway story called The Capital of the World. And it was a story about a young man named Paco, a young boy, Paco, who he and his father got it in for each other and Paco became openly rebellious and he ran away to Madrid. Now his father could have said, oh, you know, he's just got what's coming to him. Let him fend for himself. But his dad knew that Paco had to be feeling some remorse and some regret. So his dad took out a great big ad in the Madrid newspaper, the El Liberal. And in the ad it said, Paco, all is forgiven. Please meet me in the square by the Hotel Montana at noon on Tuesday. Love you dearly, Dad. Well, in Spain, the name Paco is as common as the names Bob and John are here. And so noon on Tuesday, Dad went to the square in Madrid and there were over 800 young men there named Paco. But you see, dear ones, that's what God's done for us. He's taken out a full page ad in every newspaper in the country. He's got ads on television by the thousands and they all say, hey dear one, come home. All is forgiven. Love, Dad. Love your heavenly Father. Isn't that beautiful? Have you responded like that to God's love? Do you know that love of God? Are you building your life on that love of God? Are you then in turn turning around and showing that love to the rest of the world? You know, one of the objectives of today is to take from this place. This day is not an end of itself. It's but a beginning for many of you to go back to your parishes, to go back to your churches and to build small groups because men so desperately need this sort of intimacy where we sit down and we talk about our marriages rather than talk about football. Where we sit down and we talk about the challenges of how difficult it is to be a Christian in this world where we're inundated with what's called soft pornography every time you turn on a television or pick up a magazine. It's difficult living the Christian life and we need each other. And we have to strip away the facades of self-assurance and be real. And we do that through celebrating the love of God. And I know that every single person wants to hear these words. I love you. I forgive you. Come and eat. And that's what we're going to do here today. We're going to celebrate communion, the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist together. I love you. I forgive you. Come and eat. I've had an unbelievably interesting journey. For over 25 years, I've pastored a community Protestant church and then for about four or five years, I've pastored an evangelical free church. But God started working at me in my life in a way that I never, ever would have imagined. If you'd ever told me that someday I would be speaking at a Catholic men's conference, I would have told you you're crazy. Because I even kind of held to what I'd heard some people say, that Catholicism isn't even a Christian religion. And on this Easter Sunday, I will be taking my first communion in the church. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Thanks. Praise the Lord. Thank you. Praise God. Amen. I cannot wait. I cannot wait to partake of the body and of the blood of Jesus Christ. And it's through the body and the blood of Jesus Christ that we are made whole. It's through the body and the blood of Jesus Christ that we can know the healing power of Christ's love. God bless you. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Gay... I mean, Guy... for those insightful and entertaining comments.