Raymond Raynor Interview

This is a summary of the transcription: The morning program begins with a prayer and an interview with Brother Raymond Raynor, who replaced stolen equipment for the radio station. Raymond was born and raised in Bermuda, where he grew up going to church and had a good family life. He dropped out of school at 15 and started working to contribute to his household. Raymond had various jobs, including working for a soft drink company and as a system manager at a nightclub. He had a moment of conviction and returned a stolen amplifier to the nightclub owner after four years. Raymond emphasizes the importance of education and the need for both parents in a child's life. He shares his love for his family and the importance of instilling faith in his children. Good morning, Radio Family, and welcome to the morning program. Let's have a word of prayer. Our kind and loving Father, we thank you so much for spirit lives throughout the night, for protection, for your love and kindness, for letting us know that you have loved us with an everlasting love. Help us, Lord, to bask in that love and to reflect that love to those around us. And yes, that you will be with our listeners this morning, and that they will be blessed by what they hear in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, so Mark sat down with Brother Raymond Raynor yesterday, and they had a chat about his life, and we want to share that with you this morning. So sit back and relax, and I hope that you are blessed by what you hear. Good morning, everyone. I am sitting here with a special individual. His name is Brother Raymond Raynor. Correct? All right. Brother Raymond Raynor, and he has an amazing story that we want to share with you. First and foremost, we want to tell you that a lot of you know that we had some equipment, some main equipment that was stolen last week. And when we came in today to do this interview, this special brother put his heart out and did what he could to replace that equipment. So I'm blown away, but I want you to hear him. He's living in the Caribbean, but he does not live actually where he was born, I don't think, or raised, but we'll get into that. Brother Raymond, how are you? I'm doing great. Okay, great. So tell the people in the audience, where were you born and where were you raised? Let's go with that. Let's start with that first. Okay. I was raised in the island of Bermuda. That's where I was raised, in Bermuda. And you were born in Bermuda? In Bermuda. Okay. All right. So your family is from Bermuda, mom and dad? Yes. Okay. When you were born in Bermuda, of course, there's a Bermudian lifestyle. Did you grow up in a church? No. Okay, that's the question. Yes, I would say that I was born in a church. It was an all-day church, all-day Sunday church. Okay. Okay. So give us a little bit about what your childhood was like growing up on that island. It was a childhood life, man. It was nice. It was good. It was no hiccups, good family life. You know what I mean? Good family life. All right. And then you grew older and so forth. By the way, I heard a lot of cool things about Bermuda. I hear how they try to keep the place clean. They try to encourage that you don't drive a car that looks too wrecked up or anything like that. Yes. Okay. As far as your vehicles go in Bermuda, you cannot go in and get it tested and you've got raw spots. You cannot go in and test it if your paint is faded, right? Everything has to be top-notch for them even to pass your vehicle. Wow. And they will inspect your vehicle thoroughly. If it doesn't pass, they'll give you a slip to tell you what you need to get done, and you have to comply with that. Okay. All right. Now you said you went to church. Did you guys go to church all the time or was it just every now and then? Okay. Church for me growing up was back in the day, we used to have buses to come pick you up, and you would go to your designated church. You'd come into your neighborhood, pick up the church. One church that I went to was called the First Church of God. It was in a place in Bermuda called Angle Street, right? The one thing that sticks with me is every time I went there, when you got off the bus, as you walked in, there was a song that was sung. When you're walking in, of course, mom, bring them in. Right? Bring them in. I can't remember all the words. Bring them in. Right? Another song. Right, right. You know what I mean. And then church in the morning, and then you go home and you get your lunch and stuff like that. And then in the afternoon, another church was called the Evening Light Pentecostal Church. They used to be in another part. Bermuda's small, but that was my evening program. Some day I went to the Church of God, some day I went to the Church of England. But it was all-day church. Okay. So it sounds like you went to church pretty often, which makes the story interesting because when you grew older, you eventually got a job, right? And I don't know if you got a job before going to college or not. Okay, it wasn't no college for me. Okay. I dropped out of – I was going to – I was leaving home after a while when I figured that I wanted my own independence. Okay. It was just my mother and I. And I used to put my school clothes on in the morning as if I was going to school, but I actually had a job. And I used to try to catch my mother before she came back home in the afternoon. Now, how old were you around this time? Around that time, I was about 15 or so. Oh, my. Yeah, I was about 15 or so. Wow. And I think it was one day that I came home and she was home before me. And that was the time that I was supposed to be in a model school. But, you know, eventually, in the end, every poor card always catches you. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. All right. So, wow. I'm trying to figure out how to go from here. All right. So how did that end up? Because eventually you actually did go. I remember you told me once at church that you went and got a job and you ended up working at a club. Now, keep in mind, you and I went to church all the time. Was it a club that you ended up working at? No. Okay. I got that wrong. Right, right. Actually, the job that I did have when I was skipping school was packing groceries. Okay. Packing groceries. I was packing groceries. When you were in school. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Okay. Right. I got that. And, you know, I got away with that for a while. You know what I mean? I got away with that for a while. But, no, that was in a grocery shop. Okay. Right. Okay. Yeah. So, then, after that, what did you do? Because... Okay. Well, the way that it went was that my mother told me. She found out that I wasn't there in school. She told me I had to contribute to the house. So, the mind is well made. I had to contribute. But I tell you what, in business, when I look back, try to go to the young folks, I wish I had a father behind me. I wish that didn't happen that way. When I look at how life progressed after that. You know what I mean? So, when I hear stories in families whereby it's that... I hear mothers saying that, oh, you know, I brought up my sons and look where they are in college and this and that and that. Right? That's fine. You know what I mean? But in my experience in hearing those stories and coming along, I know a lot of those relationships were always in turmoil because of that father figure. Of course. Yeah. You know what I mean? So, it's nice that you have strong mothers behind doing things, but it's not good when it's just one. And it goes vice versa, too, with the father bringing up and not having the female. You know what I mean? So, it makes a difference. But the way that it came along, I wish that someone would have stepped in and told me, you're going back to school. You're going to stop that job. You know what I mean? And you're going back and you're going to do this and you're going to do that. So, yes, I was out there for a while, but then all those things catches up with you in years because you can't get those top-notch jobs like you see all your friends who stayed in school. You know what I mean? I resorted to... Back then, Bermuda was just being built up and there were a lot of construction going on. So, I got a truck license. So, a truck license back then was very central because there was a lot of building going on. People were bringing trucks in for people to drive. That was fine, you know what I mean, back then. But I wish that I had the educational skills as I see things are how they are today. And then it came in that I really wanted to be a technician, you know, that type of stuff. I tried certain things, but it was kind of challenging, not having a good background. Just in short, I remember when I was younger, I used to have a first cousin and we all stayed in the same neighborhood. And while me and my cousins were outside always playing around, him and his sister were always on the porch in their books. They couldn't come up and play, you know what I mean, like we were. And I remember, I don't know if my cousins saw in me, he called me one day and said, Raymond, what do you want to do? What do you want to be? I said, I'd like to be a doctor. But he says to me, you can't get there like that, you know. Long story short, then with him, I watched him, he couldn't get enough education. Every time he went over and he came, he did something. I saw him, and I saw him, it was just like the next day, he was always packing his bags because he was going to another course, you know what I mean. He eventually is a lawyer, you know, he ended up being a lawyer and different things. But him and his sister just could not get enough education. So I missed out on an opportunity. But I look back, and that's just for the folks that, the young ones who are listening, you know what I mean, who tend to want to just go out there and have their independence and not, you know, feel their role in the education field. Got you. All right. So as life went on, you had different experiences. Now, you told me at church that you had one position somewhere. Yes. I don't remember what your position was, but. Yeah, I was working for a place called John Barris, a soft drink company. Right. A soft drink company. And I was there for many years in a position, but I had someone that wanted my position because they thought they liked what they saw, me in my white shirt, and they were jealous of me because I was the one only job that everybody depended on, everybody could trust. If the boss needed to go out to collect money, they would call me, you know what I mean, and all that type of stuff. And they really, they were that jealous type of person, you know what I mean. At one point, I had gone away, came on vacation, and when I came back after, I was on a month's vacation to Jamaica just before I got established here, and when I went back, my boss says, I found out that I didn't have the position no more. Right. And my boss says to me, well, Raymond, what can I find for you to do, you know. But the only short of the story is that the position that I was on, it really was challenging. I had to check the monies of the truck when they came in every day and make sure that everything was accurate and everything was right, everything was money matched up with receipts and all that type of stuff. So it was a really challenging job because sometimes you made one mistake, the big boss was always coming, calling you up in the office, and then you get the little threats and things, and it happens again. So really, the person cut your job and all that type of stuff. And I realized that, what's the sense of getting angry? It's not my, I don't have any company, you know what I mean. So the spirit came in me then, you know what I mean. Yes, it was disappointing, you know what I mean, because you didn't know where you were going to go from there. But you know something? My pay stayed the same. It was a new deduction in pay, and I had less stress. Right. So for a while, as I was walking around the job, my boss, the big boss used to come and pat me on my back every now and then and say, Raymond, are you okay? I said, I was fine because in the early stages, I was an angry guy, right, you know what I mean. Before I came to work, I was that angry guy. And they would look for some kind of hostility, but I showed them none. And they were worried about, okay, well, this is other Raymond that we kind of know about, you know what I mean. So that's how that went. Okay. Now, did you have a... The other one was... Yes. The other one that you was asking me about was, I do a walk, there was a time that in the club... Yes. Yes. Yes. So let's tell everyone that, but that's a very interesting story, how it went about. So could start from the beginning with that one. Okay. I used to work in a place, in my club. I was a system manager. And I used to be in charge of all the monies and everything that came in and all that type of stuff. But I was also into music. I like a nice good amplifier back in the day, you know what I mean. I was into music, man. And discos, it was a disco where I was working. It was a disco nightclub. And this is Bermuda. And Bermuda. Okay. And they had to find an amp. But one time that amp broke down and had to go in the shop. And I had my mind on it. It was a Sensui amp amplifier. And I just used to listen to the power that it used to push. So back then I'm not fully grounded with my Jesus, you know. I orchestrate. I say, okay, it's going out. So as it was before to come back. When it did come back, there was a side door that used to go out and nobody could really see you. You know what I mean. So when the amp came out, when it came back to the shop, when it came back into the nightclub, it didn't go, it didn't get hooked up right away. And when it came in, I'm the only one that knew that it came back in. Right. So I decided to help myself to it. Wow. Right. I took it home and as it was in the house. The one thing that always played on my mind because I never wanted to do anything to hurt my mom. I used to see the name. It was called, the place was called, I can't remember the name of the nightclub, but it had the name of it stamped on the amplifier. Right. So I always, I was always kind of conscious of that because if I was singled out in any type of way or singled out, if they came, I can't get away from the stamp that was on the amplifier. Right. But at the same time, the amplifier sounded good and I wasn't taking it off my shelf in the house. So anyhow, as time went on, I got closer to the Lord and stuff like that. I got my convictions and stuff. And it really played on my mind because by then, in that time, I got baptized and all that type of stuff. Right. So how much time went by since the time that you helped yourself with the amp to the time that you get baptized now? It was about four years. Four years. About four years. And I, you know, the thing was that hit me was, you know, you start doing your commandments, you know, thou shalt not steal and that, and you repercussions of different stuff. You know what I mean? So those things were hitting me with conviction. You know what I mean? So one day I decided that I needed to get an ease off of my conscience. So like mid, I caught the, the disco was no longer there, but the bosses, the owner was still, you know, operating it in a different capacity. It was a restaurant now. Okay. You know, it was a restaurant. And I decided to go back and to, the Spirit was sitting there saying, you know, let me go and confess this here and what it is. All right. So as I, as I was going up to the building one day, I was walking there and I saw my brother, which is now, which is now ceased. And I just, somehow I just told him what I was going to do. So he said, Raymond, do you know what could happen? You're right. All these, all these years, you know what I mean? He says, you know, why don't you just take it and if you want to, throw it away, but don't go in, you know. Don't say anything. But don't say anything, you know. But I decided that, you know, I want, I need to carry it straight to the, even if I throw it away, it's still something that I have done. You know what I mean? So as I was walking up, you know, he was, he just shook his head and he walked away. You know what I mean? So I head to the building. So I had to go up two flights of stairs. As I'm walking up there now, you know what I mean? I'm saying, Raymond, you know, I'm looking forward and then I'm also looking backwards. So maybe he stepped back. Maybe, yeah. He came a little heavier, you know. He came a little heavier. So mom, when I got there, I called him. He said, he greeted me and he told me to sit in his office. And then a phone call came in. He had to leave the office. I said, oh man, you know what I mean? So I'm looking at the door, right? Your chance to leave. My chance to leave. You know what I mean? Just get up and leave. But I stayed there. And the moment he asked me about what was I there for, what I wanted to say to him, I told him the whole story, how I had taken it and stuff. He didn't remember nothing about it because the real thing is, he didn't remember nothing about it because really, he owned oil fleets. The nightclub that he was running was really a spinoff so that he didn't have to pay certain monies on his money. So that was just like a little toy thing to him. You know what I mean? And I think that was one of the things that I think about it, that he didn't worry about all that there, so I didn't worry about taking his hand. You know what I'm trying to say? But it came back to me in the long run, as far as my convictions and to what it was. And I told him the story. He told me that he would give me a call. I come to see him again the next day. So, you know, there was like a steel wrestling on my shoulder. Now that I'm turning, has he got something planned for me and all that type of stuff. So it was really a restless night, right? You know what I mean? But when I came, when I got back the next day, he said, look, everything's okay. You know, he said everything's okay. You know what I mean? Of course, he didn't remember nothing about it. He said he would ask his sons and stuff. And as I was walking away, I felt relieved. But as I was doing all these two flights of steps, it was like a spiral staircase type of thing. I heard this voice call, hey Raymond. I said, oh, no. You know what I mean? I thought he had a second thought. He said, look, have a nice day. You know, but I'm glad I did that because it just showed me how, no matter what, God is at work. He knows your heart. He knows where you are. I'm sure if I had to pay any penalty for it, I had the strength to go through whatever it was because I put myself in that position. You know what I mean? So that's where my real dependence on God really came in. That was one of my first tests as far as having to go that way. I was looking at the pictures here in your home. Of course, you have a lovely family. You have your wife. I don't know how you met her. And then you have your children. And I see you holding your baby, and I can see the love that a father has for his child. So maybe you could share a little bit how you met your wife and what lessons you learned from that stage of having children and so forth that you want to share with everyone else. What lessons have you learned that others could take advantage of in hearing your story? Okay, to try to fit it in to family life, I would say that I've always been a responsible person. I can see that. Right, a responsible person. Family means a lot to me in that sense. The picture that you saw, that was my last child. My youngest one, which is 36 now. As you see in the picture. But, how can I answer that? Even just now, I just came home from a trip. I remember I came to meet her, because she just had her first child, which is my grandson. And I tried to instill in her, because she's kind of left the church a bit. And I tried to instill in her, when I first put her on her knees and how I used to pray for her at night time and how I couldn't put her to her bed after a while. We went into this thing with me clasping her hands and saying prayers. So, I tried to do the same thing with the little fella. You know what I mean? Because I watched him in the short time that I was there for three weeks in Bermuda. I watched him do certain things for the first time I was able to experience that. And one of the things was that I saw him do was, we were at the, what we call, 24th of May parade. They have a parade that has a marathon day every 24th of May. The marathon is run, half marathon, then they have a parade after. And I watched him go after this little, probably eight-year-old little guy. And I was just observing him, you know what I mean? And he wouldn't leave the little guy alone. And he was only one. So, what that let me know is, and watching that, is that children know their parents are ready. He didn't do that to an adult. But he knew that little child was close to somehow or the other. And he wouldn't leave him alone. You know what I mean? So, what I shared with her in that day was that children don't think that they don't know. And they're not picking up certain things because children are like a sponge. You know what I mean? Whatever you do around them, they're going to take in. You might not, I don't care if you say harshest words, but you say things, whatever, they're going to pick it up. Yes. You know what I mean? They're going to pick it up. Basically, all in all for, I just, today's society demands like we're in a sexual revolution. Young folks are just going to end up having children. And they don't know what they're really getting themselves into. You know what I mean? And it always comes to haunt them later on. And even the young ladies. You know what I mean? They don't realize in the end, I don't know what they see. You know what I mean? Because I'm not one of those. You know what I mean? But rather whatever, you're always left with the child. If the father decides to go on and don't want you, you're still left with the child. You've got to make right decisions. Right. You know what I mean? But I also realize that a lot of the young folks don't come from the home. There's that stable environment and the teaching environment. I agree. Okay. So a couple more questions for you. You eventually leave Bermuda. Yes. Why is that? I left Bermuda. Came over because I met my wife. I decided that I wanted to get a piece of land over here. So we got the land. I started to build. And I knew it was coming up time for retirement. So my goal was to build a house. And while I was working off the economy in Bermuda, you know what I mean? And even though I felt that I had been in Bermuda for all those years, I just wanted to get out. I thought about my wife more, and I wanted her to come back to her family. Okay. You know what I mean? So that was one of the factors. I could deal with what I had to deal with. Got you. You know what I mean? But one of the goals was to have her come back to her family. Okay. You know what I mean? Got you. If you had parting words for the listening audience, words of wisdom, any nuggets to share with them, in these last days, what would you say to them? I would say, in my experience, where I am, I would say, look, put your full confidence and trust in God. I don't care what you're doing, how you think, you know what I mean? Change your thinking if you feel it. Examine yourselves. Admit to yourselves your wrongs and your rights, or whatever way you want to put it. But know who you are and what you stand for in Christ. Because, see, we can stand in the world and be ourselves as we were and say, this is who I am. But when Christ comes into your life, there's a difference. Your priorities change if you let Him work in your life. You know what I mean? And I know a lot of times I'm talking to people and I'll do witnessing. I like to go, I like to have face-to-face consultations so I can see the expressions on people's faces. And a lot of times when I am witnessing, and I try to use any opportunity to witness to someone, no matter what the conversation may be, I always want to bring Jesus in. And a lot of times I get phases where, you know, they hurry up in the end, Raymond. You know, hurry up in the end. You know, I really want to hear all this. But I'm like, you know, that's like respect. You know what I mean? But my thing is, is just let Jesus work in your life. I don't care what you're doing. The end times. Just listen. Read your Bible. Take heed to what's going on around you. That Bible is a gateway to heaven. Just like the manual in your car, when you get it, they tell you how to take care of your vehicles or your bike or whatever. You know what I mean? It's an instruction. You know what I mean? Just heed to it. And it's not burdensome. It's not burdensome. The only thing that makes it burdensome is if you're going to hold on to the world and the things that are in it. That's why most people have heard, why gain the whole world and lose your soul. You know, and if you really look at where you are, yeah, you might have wealth. You might have your home. You might have a shop car and all that type of stuff and getting on good. But if you ain't got Jesus, you ain't got nothing. I'm telling you, you ain't got nothing. That's right. As much as a nice home that I have and I look at it, it really means nothing to me. What it does mean to me is that there's a sense of security, that I don't have to move out of nobody else's house. If I buy something and I put it in there, it can stay there. Right? You know what I mean? There's a sense of security. But the building itself, it means nothing to me. You know, what you're saying is so important, but you learned that lesson through life. Life has taught you that. Now the thing is, when you were younger, someone in your life may have said those very words to you, but somehow back then they didn't quite penetrate. So you kind of went, what can we say to the young people today that it will penetrate? But you have the experience. They know. They're hearing the words. Yes. But how to make those words stick, you know, is the challenge besides praying for them. Okay, for the young folks, I know things are glamorous and all this beauty that's around you. You know what I mean? And remember, it's just a trick of the devil. It's a trick of the adversary. Yes. Right? You've got to remember who the forces, the forces that we're fighting against, you know. And, you know, I'm saying the most hardened guy on the street, right? You're a hardened guy on the street, and the one who seems to be so rough, but I see him go in pain. And the first person they say, the first word they say, oh, Jesus, help me. Where does that come from? Think about it. Where does that come from? This is a person that you say you don't care about nobody, you know what I mean? But he calls out for Jesus. And listen to me, as I'm saying that, I know most of you have come up, a lot of you have come up in homes that hasn't even mentioned about the Savior called Jesus. You know, you come up on the sidewalk, as we say in Jamaica. You come up on the street, you know what I mean? But I'm sure there's some evidence and things that you see around you. You're seeing people around you that you probably looked at and said, well, how could this person be like that? And I'm like this. Or somebody that's forgave you for something that you knew in your heart that you really should have had consequences for. Think about it. There is some path in your life or something has happened that's shown you what good is, right? And a lot of times, young folks, you stick to their side because that gets you. It seems everything is easier that way. To do good is the consequence. It's just like, look, it's no different from the alcoholic, right, or the drug addict, personal heroin or something. I watch people go through heroin withdrawals. I watch the pain that they go through when they withdraw. Why? Because they want to do good. They want to change their life. Right. Right? How could you go out there and drink and carouse and get drunk and have hangovers for the next day and tell everybody the next day that you had a good time? When you can't even make it to work. When you're feeling sick. When you're putting your head down on the toilet bowl to bring up all that stuff that's in you. Is that a definition of a good time? No, that's not a definition of a good time. Okay? That's not true. Why gain the whole world and lose yourself? And we are young. If you are young, Jesus' admonition has come to us as we're young so he can teach us more and tell us more and talk to us. Open your heart to sin. That's my encouragement. There's a lot more that I could say in my secular life, but I tell you where I am right now, just give me Jesus. Amen. Amen. Well said. Well said. And we want the young people to remember that the enemy will always whisper things in your ear to try to... There's a spirit that tells you not to listen to the adults as if you know better. And I remember being young, we always thought we knew better than our parents. And then when you get older, you kind of realize what your parents are trying to show you, trying to protect you from. So listen, thank you so much for spending time with us. You know, God is working in your life. I'm excited. And I tell people this all the time. I'm looking forward to the seven-day trip to New Jerusalem. I've never been on a cruise before in my life. But I'm looking forward to that seven-day cruise from here to New Jerusalem, right? And I'm looking forward to you being there with me. I'm going to see you and all of us together spending time. I just can't wait for that. I know it's coming, and I'm trying to be patient. I know that day is coming. But thank you so much for spending time with us. And I'm going to say a word of prayer, if that's okay, to close this out, okay? Father, thank you so much for Brother Raymond. Thank you so much. When you were in Gethsemane, when you were on the cross, you saw him. And that's why you did what you did. And I can see why you did what you did because I see the specialness in him that was worth fighting for and was worth dying for. So continue to bless him and his family. And in these last days, Father, continue to work with his family so that they continue to draw closer to you. So that it's not just us, but it's all of us that will be heading home when you come again. We thank you for what you've done and what you're doing and what you will do. We love you so much. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. We are so thankful to God for Brother Raymond Raymour. Alright, we are going to ask you to stay tuned. We will be right back as we continue the morning program. For more information, visit www.fema.org