0:05

Oh, I love the kind of program you are about to hear.

0:07

I love it because it's unscripted.

0:09

It's real, it's raw, it's messy.

0:11

It's it's life. And

0:13

it showcases not us pulling

0:16

ourselves up to

0:18

become acceptable to God. I think

0:20

that's what a lot of people in the in society are

0:22

we Christians? Yeah, these are good people.

0:24

They've done this and that. And the other thing. So God like

0:26

them. It's not about us pulling

0:28

ourselves up. It's about God reaching

0:31

down and giving us what we don't deserve,

0:33

what we could never earn. And

0:36

changing us from the inside out. It's

0:38

about transformation. Brian's

0:41

story of transformation is straight ahead,

0:43

and if you have somebody in your life who

0:45

is addicted, whose inner struggles

0:48

and hurt are leaking out onto everybody

0:50

around them, friend, don't give up

0:52

and don't stop praying. Brian

0:54

Rucker is ready to tell his story,

0:57

and we'll hear it on today's edition of Chris Fabry

0:59

Live. The program from the heart to the heart for

1:01

the heart. Let me thank our team. Behind the

1:03

scenes. Ryan McConaughey is doing all things technical.

1:06

Tricia's our producer to hear is in the chair.

1:08

Laura will be answering your calls

1:10

today. That is how we began

1:12

the program last November

1:14

8th, 2023

1:17

with Brian Rucker. And I

1:19

cannot wait for you to either hear

1:22

this conversation again or

1:24

to hear it for the very first time,

1:27

because what we are talking about is

1:29

not just, hey, he cleaned up his

1:31

life, now there is

1:33

a transformation here. So we'll talk

1:35

about Brian coming up straight ahead on

1:37

Chris Fabry Live. Thanks a lot. I

1:40

mentioned those people who are working behind

1:42

the scenes today and answering the

1:44

phones. We're not live with you

1:46

today. The program is recorded,

1:49

so do not call us, but you can

1:51

go to the website and I hope you will.

1:53

Chris Fabry live org

1:55

because we have a fantastic thank

1:57

you this month for anyone

2:00

who supports this program. Not

2:02

only do you get the opportunity

2:04

to support us and to keep

2:06

this program coming into your life,

2:09

your automobile cubicle, home,

2:11

kitchen, wherever you hear us, if

2:13

you jog and doing the doing the treadmill thing,

2:16

you also give it for somebody

2:18

else. And my guess is

2:20

today there is somebody who needs

2:22

to hear Brian Rucker's story,

2:25

maybe someone who has a

2:28

family member or friend who's addicted.

2:30

They need to hear this for the encouragement

2:32

for themselves, or the

2:34

actual person who's addicted and

2:36

doesn't think that they're addicted. Maybe they

2:39

need to hear this. So when you support

2:41

us, you keep the ministry going. And

2:43

I hope you'll do that today because we have a fantastic

2:46

thank you. Glenna marshall. Did you hear?

2:48

She was with us last week. Glenna

2:51

marshall wrote a book called Memorizing

2:53

Scripture The Basics, Blessings

2:55

and Benefits of Meditating

2:58

on God's Word. And one of the things

3:00

I always do with any book is

3:02

to look at who who blurbed

3:04

this. You know, who said some nice words.

3:06

And here's what Tim Kelly says. There

3:09

are few disciplines Christians want to do more,

3:11

but actually do less than

3:13

memorizing scripture. Glenn.

3:15

His book is designed to help. It

3:17

will motivate you to rediscover this

3:19

important habit, instruct

3:22

you on why it will benefit your

3:24

life and faith, convince

3:26

you it will foster your joy in

3:28

the Lord and help you build and maintain

3:30

the practice. As we and so

3:33

many other parents taught our children, it will

3:35

help you to put the best thing,

3:37

God's Word and the best place

3:39

your heart for the best reason,

3:42

so you might not sin against

3:44

him. That's what Tim Kelly says.

3:47

I think it's a really helpful, practical,

3:49

motivating book. And if you are saying

3:52

you don't understand, Chris, I can't

3:54

remember people's names, don't

3:56

you? Don't listen to that.

3:58

Glenna says she's the same way.

4:00

You can memorize

4:02

scripture, give a gift of any

4:04

size, go to Chris Fabry live.org.

4:07

You can support us right there. Or

4:09

call the number 86695

4:13

Fabry. We've talked

4:15

about the white chair films.

4:17

I am second. Brian Rucker

4:19

said in one of those that he would be dead

4:22

or in prison. I want

4:24

you to hear from and Brian. And how are you doing today?

4:26

Hey, I'm doing well, Chris, man.

4:30

Uh, okay. So let's start with

4:32

Houston. You grew up in Houston. Tell

4:34

me about where you grew up in Houston

4:36

and what it was like.

4:39

Yeah. So I grew up on the north side of Houston,

4:41

uh, in I grew up in a all black community,

4:44

and, uh, you know, where

4:46

I was living, it was, uh, we basically

4:49

call it the projects. I mean, it's the

4:51

government housing, and,

4:53

uh, it was just, uh, gang activity,

4:56

narcotics dealing, uh,

4:58

prostitution, I mean, all

5:00

kinds of things happening all

5:02

the time. And, uh, I used

5:05

to watch shows when I was a kid,

5:07

like, uh, full house, family matters

5:09

and things like that. And then I

5:11

would walk outside my apartment

5:14

and I would see life

5:16

as it was, and I would see life inside

5:18

my apartment and realized that where

5:20

I lived was just vastly different

5:23

than any of that stuff that I saw on

5:25

TV. It made me feel like all of that

5:27

was just fake. And so, uh,

5:29

I grew up without my dad.

5:32

Uh, never knew him, uh, with

5:34

just my mom and my grandmother and a two bedroom

5:36

apartment in the back of the projects. And,

5:39

um, and so without having

5:41

a dad or anything, just living there,

5:44

uh, the people that I looked up to were

5:46

gang members and drug dealers.

5:49

And so, naturally, uh,

5:51

with that being the only, uh,

5:53

strong male influence

5:55

in my life, that's just what I aspired

5:57

to be. And so,

5:59

uh, the first time I seen

6:01

someone get gunned down, I was nine years old.

6:04

And it's a pretty

6:06

tough reality to come to,

6:08

uh, at such an early age. Is that.

6:11

Man, you can die out here. And

6:14

so, um, you know, that's

6:16

kind of the neighborhood that I'm from there in

6:18

Houston.

6:19

Did you, when you went to school, were

6:21

you good at school? Not good at school.

6:23

Not interested. What what did what

6:25

did studying and reading and

6:27

going to school mean to you?

6:30

Well, it's actually a it's actually

6:32

pretty interesting because my

6:34

mom and my grandmother, uh,

6:36

would use other people's

6:38

addresses that we knew,

6:41

uh, from me going to karate.

6:43

So I was in taekwondo whenever I was really

6:46

young, and we made friends

6:48

with people that went to school in a different

6:50

school district, and they

6:52

would use their addresses

6:55

so that I could actually go to school in a better

6:57

neighborhood than the school that was

6:59

at my neighborhood. Uh, so

7:02

I actually really enjoyed school

7:04

because, uh, going there,

7:07

even though it was very diverse,

7:09

it was still a little

7:12

bit different of environment

7:14

than what I would see at home.

7:16

Uh, and then that that created

7:18

a bit of a interesting dynamic

7:21

because I would, uh, get up

7:23

in the morning, my mom or my grandmother

7:25

would drive me to school, and,

7:28

uh, I would be around a certain group of

7:30

people. And then, uh,

7:33

after school, I would normally go to one of

7:35

the friends houses, and then

7:37

they would pick me up and bring me back

7:39

to our apartments in my neighborhood.

7:41

And, uh, and it would just

7:43

be a whole different world.

7:46

Uh, you know, I can't say that I was

7:49

necessarily, like, super invested

7:51

in school. Uh, I was always

7:53

really smart. I heard that old saying,

7:55

like, man, you're just such a smart

7:57

kid. If you would just apply yourself,

8:00

uh, you know, and so, uh,

8:02

but that's that's kind of like what school

8:04

was like for me. It was it was somewhat

8:06

of an escape, but it was also,

8:09

uh, one of those things where I knew

8:11

I would have to go back to the reality,

8:14

uh, when when this is over. So

8:17

it it was just one

8:19

of those things.

8:20

Any teacher ever make a big impression

8:22

on you?

8:25

Uh, not that I recall, especially

8:27

in early childhood. Now, as I got

8:29

a little bit older into my teens.

8:32

Uh, I had a science teacher one

8:34

time that told me by

8:37

the time I was 21 years old, I

8:39

would be dead or in prison for

8:41

the rest of my life. And

8:43

honestly, that is the only

8:45

teacher impression that I truly

8:47

remember. Um,

8:49

now, I was impression by

8:52

the instructors at the taekwondo

8:54

academy that I went to. Uh,

8:57

there was a couple of men there that,

8:59

uh, seemed to always want

9:01

what's best for me and try to pour into

9:04

me. Uh, but the culture was

9:06

just vastly different. Like, uh,

9:08

it was never nobody talking to me about

9:10

God or Jesus,

9:13

uh, or anything like that. It was just more

9:16

about guys trying to promote

9:18

positivity in my life. Yeah.

9:20

What did you think about God and Jesus when

9:22

you were a kid?

9:24

That it was a manmade

9:26

concept and that

9:29

it wasn't real. Uh,

9:31

you know, I didn't never have that

9:33

type of, uh, impression put on

9:35

me, uh, from my family

9:38

or anything like that. You know, my mom

9:40

and my grandma, they would,

9:42

uh, mention God.

9:44

And what I mean by mention God is you would hear

9:47

them say God, but

9:49

that's about the extent

9:51

of it. Like there was never nobody

9:53

talking to me about it. And so,

9:56

uh, whenever I did hear about God

9:58

or whenever I heard about, uh,

10:00

some kids going to, uh,

10:02

a church to, uh,

10:05

hang out for, like, a youth group, I just

10:07

was very, like, against

10:09

it, almost, almost

10:12

to the point of I'm. I'm

10:14

smarter than to believe that.

10:16

Yes, if that makes sense.

10:18

It makes a lot of sense. And

10:20

then there are more things that happen

10:22

in Brian's life that I want you to hear about. And

10:25

if, uh, if you feel like you're too

10:27

far from God for him to

10:29

come into your life to try and transform

10:31

you, I want you to listen. If you know

10:33

somebody who you think

10:36

there's no way that this person will

10:38

ever respond, I want you to hear Brian's

10:40

story because there's transformation

10:42

straight ahead on Moody Radio.

10:53

Our guest today at the radio Backyard Fence is

10:55

Brian Rucker. And

10:57

if you want to see that I am second

10:59

video that he did we have

11:01

linked. You can go there and

11:04

watch it. But I want you to hear the

11:06

rest of the story because

11:08

Ryan's a smart kid,

11:10

but he doesn't have a lot of opportunities. No

11:13

dad around.

11:14

His he.

11:15

Looks up to, you know, the people that

11:17

are gang leaders, the drug dealers in

11:19

the neighborhood there in Houston where he grew

11:21

up. And we're

11:23

about to get him in trouble. Um,

11:25

so when was when

11:28

was the first time that you remember?

11:30

Boy, this is I mean, at nine,

11:32

you saw somebody shot and killed.

11:34

So, I mean, that that was a

11:36

stark thing. But what about your own life?

11:38

What choices did you make that started

11:41

your downward spiral?

11:44

Well. So, you know, around 11

11:46

years old, I started just kind of messing

11:48

around, selling a little bit of weed and

11:51

smoking a little bit of weed. By the time I was

11:53

12, I started

11:55

moved up to selling some crack cocaine

11:57

and things like that. And, you

12:00

know, people hear that and they're like, oh, well,

12:02

man, how did you get involved? It

12:04

was just too easy. It was right

12:07

outside the door. It was on the corner. Every

12:09

time I walked up to the

12:11

corner store at the front of the apartments to

12:13

get a Snickers bar, it was just

12:15

ever present in

12:18

every aspect. And so I just started

12:20

doing those things. That's whenever, uh,

12:22

you know, I got involved with the gang. Was that

12:24

12 years old? Uh, my mom

12:27

ended up getting put in the hospital

12:29

when I was 12, and she didn't get

12:31

out until I was nearly 13.

12:34

She would have a tumor,

12:36

and then another one would develop, and then

12:38

they would go in and remove that. Another one would develop,

12:41

uh, and then they eventually send her home.

12:43

And on December 19th,

12:45

when I was 13 years old, I went to

12:47

wake her up one morning and she had

12:50

passed away. And after

12:52

that I just became extremely

12:55

angry. And less than six months later,

12:57

I get arrested for the first time,

13:00

uh, for aggravated robbery with a deadly

13:02

weapon charge. And I'm

13:04

supposed to do nine

13:06

months in Texas Youth Commission,

13:09

which is basically, you know, prison

13:11

for juveniles. And I

13:13

turned nine months into two and a half

13:15

years. I start a gang

13:18

while I'm in there, get into a lot of fights,

13:20

just continuously do

13:22

things that are, uh,

13:24

going to get you more time or

13:26

what we call recertified and

13:29

things like that. So, uh,

13:31

13, uh, you

13:33

know, I commit a robbery,

13:35

end up locked up from

13:37

13 years old to 16 years

13:39

old. So after my mom passed

13:42

away, it went from, uh, you

13:44

know, me just in this neighborhood,

13:46

just doing stuff that I shouldn't.

13:49

Uh. Uh, now, I.

13:51

I don't care about anything.

13:53

And, um, hostile

13:55

and just beyond

13:58

crazy.

13:59

It sounds like you were.

14:01

You know, if I look at you objectively,

14:04

you're just angry. There's a lot of anger.

14:06

There's a lot of hurt. There's a, you know, abandonment

14:09

from your dad, and then your mom dies,

14:12

and you don't believe in God. But if

14:14

you did, you hold him responsible.

14:16

You know, it's. Why are you doing this

14:18

to me? So you're just. You're just

14:20

kind of this, this storm

14:22

of of anger that's looking for

14:25

a way to work itself out.

14:27

Yeah, well, and then I was also,

14:30

uh, really afraid,

14:32

you know. I felt like I was

14:34

having a fight for my life every single

14:36

day. Uh, and, you know, now

14:38

that I'm a counselor and I look back and

14:40

I've really done a lot of intensive

14:43

trauma work just on myself to

14:45

be able to, you know, be who I am today.

14:48

Uh, I realize how much of that is

14:50

actually true. Just the abandonment issues,

14:52

the grief, the loss, uh, the

14:55

insecurity and everything

14:57

else just piled into

14:59

being this, uh, version,

15:02

uh, of a person that

15:04

only did things to destroy himself

15:06

and anybody around him.

15:08

Yeah.

15:08

There's the spoiler alert. So he's just.

15:11

He just gave away that he's now a

15:13

counselor. But there's more. There's more to the story,

15:15

and I want you to listen to it. But.

15:17

But I see this so often,

15:19

Brian, that the the wound

15:21

in our childhood, the wound in our

15:24

life, this thing that was meant

15:26

to keep us down and keep us locked

15:28

away is the very thing

15:30

that God takes and redeems.

15:32

And it's like a caterpillar. It turns into a butterfly.

15:35

It is. That's the thing that

15:37

he uses to bring life not only

15:39

to you and for you, but then

15:41

for other people.

15:44

Oh, yeah. You know, I've always

15:46

told people like this, God is actively

15:48

working to turn our burdens

15:50

into blessings. You know, Jesus

15:53

didn't come and die on the cross just to

15:55

make bad people good. He came to make dead

15:57

people alive. And so,

15:59

you know, it's one of those things

16:01

where that is what he's

16:03

doing is taking those

16:05

those hurtful things and

16:07

making them a helpful thing, something to

16:10

move us closer to him.

16:12

So when you get out at 16

16:14

and there's your mom's not there.

16:16

Is your grandmother still alive at that point?

16:20

Yeah, yeah. So my grandma's alive.

16:22

Uh, you know, she she would come and visit

16:24

me and, you know, she was in my

16:26

life and everything. My grandma was always

16:29

my rock. She was there in,

16:31

uh. And she she was my primary caregiver,

16:34

uh, during that time when I got out, uh,

16:37

but, you know, while I was incarcerated,

16:39

I made some connections with, uh, some

16:41

cartel, uh, members, and,

16:44

and, uh, by the time

16:46

I was 17, I was making over to $60,000

16:48

a month selling drugs. Uh,

16:51

I had a pipeline from Houston to Columbia,

16:53

South Carolina, and, uh,

16:55

everything just started moving very

16:58

rapidly. It's like I got out.

17:00

I had these intentions of, like,

17:02

go into high school, get a real diploma,

17:04

you know, get a job. And

17:06

none of that panned out. And less than

17:08

two weeks later, I'm back, uh,

17:10

selling drugs and and participating

17:13

in gang activity. And then ultimately

17:15

led to me moving large quantities

17:17

of drugs up to $60,000

17:20

a month.

17:21

Yeah.

17:21

So did you eventually get caught

17:24

then?

17:25

Well, never got actually got caught,

17:28

uh, for drugs. Uh, what

17:30

ended up happening is just before I turned

17:32

18 years old, uh, while I was still

17:35

17, I ended up getting

17:37

involved in arrested on a gang-related

17:39

shooting in which an individual

17:42

lost their life. And so,

17:45

uh, literally my

17:47

18th birthday, um, sitting

17:49

in jail, uh, looking at a murder

17:51

rap and spending the rest

17:53

of my life in prison.

17:55

Was that the low point? Is that the

17:58

as low as you got?

18:01

Uh, unfortunately, no.

18:03

I mean, that was the point

18:05

when I realized my life was over.

18:08

Uh, but, you know, uh, Chris, I

18:10

wasn't one of those guys that necessarily realized

18:13

his life was over. They'd been reached

18:15

for something that could give me life.

18:17

I just kind of wallowed in it, if

18:20

that makes sense. Uh, I just

18:22

kind of accepted the reality

18:24

that my life was over and then said, okay,

18:27

uh, I guess I'm just going to accept

18:29

that and keep that and and

18:32

go from there. Um,

18:34

and so, yeah, I

18:36

go to prison. I'm fighting my

18:38

case on appeals. And

18:41

a long story short, I end up beating

18:43

the case, uh, several years

18:45

later, and I get released and,

18:48

um, upon my release, you know,

18:50

the cops hand me up and

18:52

say, hey, no matter what we got to do, we're going to get

18:54

you off the streets. You were never supposed to get out

18:57

of prison. And I really

18:59

thought either they were going to set me up or

19:01

they were going to kill me. And,

19:03

uh, literally the same day, this

19:05

girl that I used to mess around with

19:08

shows up and says, uh,

19:10

hey, I'm leaving Houston.

19:12

And, uh, I got this little girl,

19:15

you know, she could be yours. Which I

19:17

knew that she wouldn't, but it was

19:19

my ticket away from Houston. So

19:21

for the next several years, I just

19:24

moved from place to place in Texas.

19:26

Moving somewhere, working a job. Get laid

19:29

off, move somewhere else, work a job,

19:31

get laid off. I was still getting high

19:33

and drunk and, you know, coping

19:36

with my trauma in the most unhealthy way

19:38

possible. But, uh, I

19:40

was telling myself, as long as I don't sell drugs

19:43

or, uh, participate in any gang

19:45

activity, then, you know, I

19:47

can. I can be a dad. Maybe I can

19:49

have a job making $15 an hour

19:51

one day. You know, that was probably

19:54

the the most that I had hoped

19:56

for during that time period. Yeah.

19:58

How did you get then from

20:01

town to town in Texas

20:03

to Louisiana?

20:06

So my mother and my grandmother are

20:09

originally from Monroe,

20:11

West Monroe, Louisiana, and

20:13

in the early 80s they moved to Houston.

20:16

Uh, then I'm born, and all

20:18

I know is Houston. Uh, well,

20:20

my mom passes away when I'm 13.

20:23

Uh, my grandmother, after I

20:25

go to prison for the shooting, um,

20:27

you know, says, hey, well, I'm moving back

20:30

to my hometown. Uh, to

20:32

be around family and,

20:34

uh, and so whenever I get out of prison,

20:36

move around everywhere. Uh,

20:39

I ultimately land in East Texas.

20:42

Uh, and I'm working at, like, a chicken Express,

20:44

and I'm just trying to get by,

20:47

and, uh, I also

20:49

ultimately get laid off from that job

20:51

and, uh, say, you know what? Well,

20:53

I'm going back to selling drugs. Well,

20:55

then I get a phone call from my

20:58

grandmother that says her health and good.

21:00

Uh, it was around Christmas time, and I decided

21:02

to come out and visit her. And

21:05

I'm standing outside talking to

21:07

my aunt, and they're saying that they're going to put

21:09

her in a nursing home. And

21:11

I said, well, um, I

21:13

don't want to go back to selling drugs, so

21:16

I'll move out here and take care of her. So

21:18

I literally went back to East

21:20

Texas, gave the drugs to my roommate,

21:23

gave them the keys to the apartment, loaded

21:25

up and moved to Monroe,

21:27

Louisiana to help

21:30

take care of my grandma. And

21:32

that's how I got here.

21:34

And that's kind of a, I mean,

21:36

from from where you were in Houston then

21:38

to Louisiana. There's there's

21:40

some similarities, but there's there's a little bit

21:42

of culture shock there too, right?

21:45

Oh for sure, for sure. It was definitely

21:47

culture shock, but that was kind of the hope.

21:49

I was like, well, you know, I'll

21:51

come to Louisiana. Nobody knows me.

21:53

Maybe, you know, again, maybe

21:55

I could get a job making $15 an

21:57

hour. And so I moved here.

22:00

I start taking care of her, get her back

22:02

on her feet a little bit, and

22:04

I go everywhere looking for a job. McDonald's,

22:07

Taco Bell. Nobody would

22:09

hire me. Nobody would give me a chance.

22:11

And I was just driving down

22:13

the road one day and I see this big brown

22:16

building off to the right. It says

22:18

Duck Commander on it, and

22:20

I go in there and put in an application there.

22:29

Okay.

22:30

So at what point then is this?

22:32

Is the TV show go on at that point?

22:36

Yes. So the TV show was

22:38

going, uh, I had heard

22:41

about it. I think maybe I seen one episode,

22:43

but I didn't know that the extent

22:45

that I knew was, uh,

22:47

there was these Duck Dynasty

22:49

guys, and they're from West Monroe,

22:52

Louisiana. Uh, I didn't

22:54

know anything other than that,

22:56

really? Like, I couldn't have told you who

22:58

anybody's name was on the show

23:00

or anything like that, but I go in

23:03

there and put in an application because

23:05

in my mind, I'm telling myself, well, I'm

23:07

gonna put in an application everywhere.

23:09

That way, whenever I'm telling people how

23:11

I have to sell drugs because society

23:13

won't allow me to get a job, I could say

23:15

that I tried and,

23:18

uh, I just I put in the application

23:20

and about another month goes

23:22

by. At that point, I'm completely

23:25

just insane out of my

23:27

mind, uh, riddled

23:29

with PTSD, the inability

23:32

to sleep, all kinds of, uh,

23:34

all these traumas that we've talked about

23:36

not just from my childhood, but then

23:38

being in prison. Uh, the

23:40

shooting, of course, that occurred

23:42

and everything else. I was just a complete

23:45

mess. And then, uh,

23:47

I randomly get a phone call from

23:49

them, and they asked me to come in

23:51

for an interview.

23:53

Um, and they eventually

23:55

said, yeah, you can

23:57

work here. What? What did you start doing?

24:01

So I start working there and I'm

24:04

just working in the warehouse, moving

24:06

boxes and folding clothes for $8

24:08

an hour. And, uh,

24:10

you know, people could tell that

24:12

I was a little bit different. And

24:15

they were like, well, how'd you

24:18

end up here? And I, I

24:20

tell people where I came from

24:22

and what I've been through, and

24:24

they were like, do what?

24:26

And, uh, you

24:29

know, then, you know, I would never

24:31

forget one time, uh, this

24:33

guy asked me a question. He's one of the buck commander

24:35

guys. He said, well, how'd you get

24:37

a job here? Like, who did you know? And

24:40

I said, uh, I didn't know anybody.

24:42

I just put in an application and, you know, called

24:44

me. And he was like, huh? I

24:47

didn't think that we did that. And

24:49

I was like, well, you know, that's

24:51

what happened. And, um,

24:53

you know, so, uh, come

24:55

to find out, they actually pay to

24:58

play the prank on the guy that was doing

25:00

the hiring. They had a stack of, like, 2500

25:03

applications from just fans and

25:05

different people that would come by. And as a

25:07

joke, the guy randomly pulls

25:09

an application out of that stack and

25:11

puts it on the guy doing

25:14

the hiring desk. And,

25:16

uh, that was my application. And so

25:18

that's how I ended up getting the phone call.

25:20

Wow. So after they hear that, they're

25:23

like, oh, man, you're here for a reason.

25:25

And I was like, yeah, man, I'm just

25:27

trying to do my job. Don't come, you know? Jesus.

25:31

Yeah.

25:32

And and hoping you'll work yourself up to 15

25:34

an hour. You know that's that's the big hope. Okay.

25:36

That's Brian Rucker. You

25:38

got to hear the rest of the story

25:40

from from the the Robertsons

25:43

and others. And then what happened?

25:45

You know that he's a counselor now,

25:48

but you don't know the rest of the story,

25:50

but you'll find out about it straight ahead.

25:52

This is Chris Fabri live on Moody

25:54

Radio. Thanks

26:05

for joining us today for Chris Fabry live

26:07

online at Chris Fabry Live for

26:10

this program originally aired in November.

26:13

And at this point in the program,

26:15

I asked if you had seen the news from

26:17

Ohio. The vote a

26:19

majority wanted abortion

26:22

rights in the state constitution.

26:25

And I asked you in November, how

26:27

do you feel about that? If

26:29

the vote had gone the other way, do

26:32

you know what would have happened at Coronet at

26:34

the 1200 Coronet Pregnancy

26:36

Resource Centers around the country? You know what

26:38

they'd be doing? Same thing they've done

26:40

day after day. They

26:43

get up, they go to work, they help women

26:45

and men choose life. They're

26:47

going to give free pregnancy tests today.

26:50

Free ultrasounds, free counseling,

26:52

free coaching. They're going to answer that

26:54

pregnancy decision line. There

26:57

are men who were pushing for

26:59

abortion who are learning what it

27:01

means to be a dad. And

27:03

there are women who are realizing community

27:06

is not just there for the baby, they're

27:09

there for the long haul in

27:11

support for them,

27:14

material support. So

27:16

if there's something in the news today

27:19

that's discouraging you about the

27:21

issue of life, click hairnet for

27:23

me. Go to Chris Fabry live.org.

27:26

Click the green connect button. I guarantee

27:29

you what they are doing and highlighting

27:31

will encourage you, will motivate

27:33

you. And yes, there's a lot of negative

27:36

stuff out there pushing back against

27:38

life, no doubt. Click

27:40

the green Coronet button at Chris Fabry Live.

27:42

Org and you will see

27:45

some good news. Brian

27:48

Rucker is with us today. At this point

27:50

in the program we get him to

27:52

a duck commander. And I said, Brian,

27:55

so what do they do? They push up against the wall. Do

27:57

they fill your pockets with

27:59

tracks? Did they say if you don't accept

28:01

Jesus, you're not going to work here?

28:03

No, not at all. You know, I

28:06

tell people like this all the time. Like, you

28:08

know, nobody opened up a Bible. Nobody

28:10

pointed to any verses. Nobody told me

28:13

that I was a sinner and I

28:15

was destined to go to hell

28:17

if I didn't repent or anything

28:19

like that. Uh, what these guys

28:21

did was completely,

28:24

uh, change my heart, uh,

28:26

by saying the words we love

28:28

you. And, uh, I

28:30

had never experienced

28:33

that before. You know, in the streets

28:35

and everything you hear. I love

28:37

you from people where you say, I

28:39

love you to, you know, your

28:41

your people that are in that life

28:43

with you, but there's always something

28:46

attached to it. It's not like

28:48

there. It's unconditional.

28:51

These guys said, hey, man, we love

28:53

you. And all they did was,

28:55

uh, give me more and more responsibility,

28:57

pour into me more and more. And

29:00

there was absolutely nothing I could

29:02

offer them. And so

29:04

it just did something to me.

29:06

And, uh, after they say

29:08

these words, I love you, they start giving

29:11

me more things to do around. They're putting

29:13

and trusting me with more things, which

29:15

is stuff that nobody had ever done.

29:18

And, uh, they would just invite

29:20

me to church. They'd say, hey, man, you should come to church

29:22

sometime. And, you know,

29:24

uh, I finally decide to go. And if I'm being

29:27

honest, the first time I went was

29:29

just to go so that they'll

29:31

see me go, and then maybe they'll give me a raise

29:33

or something. Uh, and

29:35

and I, I go, I go

29:38

the first time and I'm thinking, okay,

29:40

all right. You know, I'm listening, kind

29:42

of. And I'm just

29:44

judging everybody. I'm seeing where everybody

29:47

sits. I'm like, why are these people so

29:49

weird? And then I'm like, okay,

29:51

that was done. Uh, people see

29:53

me go, I don't have to do that anymore.

29:55

But then I get back to work on Monday

29:58

and nobody mentions it.

30:00

Nobody's like, hey, we seen you at church.

30:02

Awesome. No, nobody

30:04

said a word about it. So I was like, crap, I gotta

30:07

go again. And so I went

30:09

again. And then I went again.

30:11

And the more I went, the more I

30:13

listened and the more I listened.

30:15

Everything that didn't make sense made

30:17

sense if I put God in the equation.

30:20

So I used to base my entire

30:22

life on science and logic.

30:24

Scientifically, I should be dead,

30:26

and logically I should be in prison the rest

30:28

of my life. And I wasn't in either one of those

30:31

spots. And it literally used to drive

30:33

me insane. Uh, I would stand

30:35

in the bathroom in my grandmother's

30:37

apartment, staring in the mirror, getting

30:40

high and drunk, listening to music, trying

30:42

to figure out or make sense

30:44

of my life. Why am I free?

30:46

Why am I not dead? What is all

30:48

this for? And I never

30:51

could make it make sense

30:53

at all until

30:55

I just simply put it into the

30:57

equation. Well, maybe there's a God,

31:00

and maybe that God has a plan for

31:02

me. And so from

31:04

that I said,

31:07

okay, I didn't have this

31:09

Road to Damascus moment. I didn't

31:11

have this burning bush moment. I said,

31:14

all right, if there is a God and

31:16

this God has a plan for me, and that's the only thing

31:18

that could mathematically make this add

31:20

up. Well, then I'm gonna open this Bible.

31:23

I'm gonna look at the word, and if

31:25

he is real, I will

31:27

know it'll be revealed to me.

31:29

And so that's what I did. And,

31:31

uh, about a month later, I'm getting

31:33

baptized by Phil.

31:38

Was there a was there

31:40

a passage that you read? Did you read the Gospels?

31:42

What was it that that pushed

31:45

you over the edge, that this this

31:47

love that these people are showing you is love

31:49

that God is is giving them

31:52

for you and that he wants to love

31:54

you? Was there a part because you told

31:56

me in the break you'd never read the Bible

31:58

as a kid, right?

32:00

Right? Right. No. Now

32:03

you want to know what it was? Honestly, Chris, this

32:05

is a this is interesting. I love that you

32:07

asked that because most people

32:09

don't really ask me that. But, uh, actually,

32:12

whenever I first decided that I was going

32:14

to go to church or whenever I decided,

32:16

hey, I'm gonna open this word and I'm gonna look at it,

32:19

uh, I was living with my grandma there, uh,

32:22

and I said, well, I think

32:24

maybe I should get a Bible or something,

32:26

you know? And she

32:28

said, oh, well, I got a Bible.

32:31

I was like, mama, you ain't got

32:33

no Bible, you know what I mean? Like, there's

32:35

this type of grandma. She was like, like,

32:37

you ain't got no Bible. And she

32:39

was like, bull crap. I got a

32:41

Bible. And she said, open

32:44

that cabinet there. And I'd open this cabinet.

32:46

And there was a Bible that, uh,

32:48

some guy coming by trying to share the

32:50

gospel with my grandma, uh,

32:52

had came and brought to her and,

32:55

uh, and she was like, hey, you can use that.

32:57

And I open it up. And,

32:59

uh, and I look in there and and

33:01

the guy, whoever he was, complete stranger.

33:04

He wrote, uh, Joshua one

33:06

six, uh, in the cover

33:08

of it and it says, uh,

33:10

take this book of law, meditate on it

33:12

daily. Do not depart from

33:15

it, and then you will have great success.

33:17

And I was like,

33:19

okay. And and

33:22

that was just something that I did. I was like, okay,

33:24

I'm going to take this book. Uh, I'm

33:27

gonna meditate on it daily. I'm gonna read

33:29

it and maybe I'll have

33:31

success. What? I didn't realize that

33:33

the success that I gained was actually

33:36

the salvation, uh,

33:39

through what Jesus had done. Yeah.

33:41

You know, so. So I appreciate

33:43

you asking that, because I don't get to really relive

33:45

that and share that with people very much.

33:47

Well, think about that fella. I mean, you

33:49

don't know who that fella. Given

33:52

that to your grandmother, you have no idea who that

33:54

was, right?

33:55

No, no, I have no idea. She

33:58

doesn't know who it is. It was like. Like

34:00

it's like she didn't know. You know,

34:02

she's she's like, literally, you know, she

34:04

was living in this retired living community,

34:07

you know, a little one bedroom apartment here in Monroe.

34:09

And I wasn't even supposed to be staying

34:12

there. Like, you're not like they're supposed to be the

34:14

only ones living there. And,

34:16

uh. And I said, well, maybe

34:18

I should get a Bible. And she literally,

34:20

I got a Bible, and this guy

34:22

gave it to her, and and she

34:24

just put it in a cabinet like, okay, thanks,

34:27

man. Put it in the cabinet. And so

34:29

I said, hey, maybe I should get a Bible and I,

34:31

I still use that, that same Bible

34:33

to this day. Really.

34:35

Well, I love that story because, you

34:37

know.

34:37

God's word is not going to return void. It'll it'll

34:40

achieve its intended purpose. And I got a friend

34:42

named Christopher who went to prison

34:44

as well. And his parents had been telling

34:46

him about Jesus, and they and his dad

34:48

gave him his Bible, and Christopher

34:51

threw it in the trash. He didn't want it. So

34:53

he's in prison in Atlanta

34:56

on a drug charge, and

34:58

he's walking and he's starting to think,

35:00

you know, there is something about this. And he walks

35:02

by the trash can in prison

35:04

and he sees a New Testament,

35:06

a pocket New Testament in there.

35:08

And he picks it up and he starts to read it. And

35:10

that's when the light comes on,

35:13

much like for you when the light came

35:15

on. Um, what did Phil

35:17

say when you came to him and said

35:19

you wanted to get baptized?

35:22

Well, that's actually kind of funny because

35:24

one of the camera guys from Duck Commander,

35:26

his name is Lao Sink. Uh,

35:28

he was actually supposed to be

35:30

the one to baptize me,

35:32

because he was kind of the guy that I was talking to

35:35

the most at that point. Um,

35:37

and so, like, we're there at the church,

35:39

and I said, uh, you know, I told you,

35:41

I said, man, I think, I think I should

35:43

be baptized. He said, man, I think

35:45

so, too. And we walked to the back

35:47

to go get baptized. And Phil's getting

35:49

ready to baptize another guy.

35:52

And, um, and

35:54

Lyle says, hey, hey, here's

35:57

Brian. He's ready to be baptized, to

35:59

feel if you know Phil or if you

36:01

have heard it's pretty. You're like, well,

36:04

well, come on.

36:05

And he'll baptize

36:07

me.

36:07

You know.

36:09

What? Come on then. Okay.

36:11

That's the that's the perfect.

36:13

Phrase right there. Uh, Adrian

36:16

Rogers just used to say, Come to Jesus,

36:18

just come to Jesus. And Phil says, well,

36:20

come on, there's another what's holding? What's

36:23

holding you back? What's holding you back from

36:25

receiving what you could never earn

36:27

that he's offering to you freely. So

36:29

here's the deal. I want to take our final break here.

36:32

And when we come back, I'm going to tell you

36:34

the rest of the story and what

36:36

Brian has done in the intervening

36:38

years that we haven't talked about so far.

36:41

If you go to the website, Chris Fabry live.

36:43

Org, we've got a link to that in

36:45

second film with

36:48

Brian Rucker, who

36:50

now owns. Well, I'll tell you all about

36:53

that when we come back. This is Chris Tabor live

36:55

on Moody Radio. Okay.

37:06

Brian Rucker owns

37:08

the Awakening program and is

37:10

director of Celebrate Recovery

37:12

White's Ferry Road Church

37:15

in West Monroe, Louisiana. He is

37:17

a registered addiction counselor.

37:20

You can find it. I found out more

37:22

at Chris Fabry Live. Org and

37:24

and I asked you before the program if we

37:26

had gone back to, you know, when you were

37:28

in Houston and, and you were

37:30

told then here's what you're going to do.

37:33

You wouldn't believe it, right?

37:35

Right. No. For sure.

37:37

Tell me about Celebrate Recovery. How

37:39

many? How many people will come

37:42

each week? A couple dozen people.

37:44

What is it?

37:45

Well, so we actually we're

37:47

extremely blessed here in West

37:49

Monroe. And so we, uh, we

37:51

actually have the largest celebrate recovery,

37:54

uh, in the nation. And so we do between,

37:57

uh, an average of 4 to 500

37:59

people every Friday night. Uh,

38:01

and then we have at least, uh, 150

38:04

people in staff studies, uh,

38:06

weekly, any given time,

38:08

uh, and stuff like that. So,

38:11

yeah, it's, uh, God has

38:13

really, uh, blessed this small

38:15

little, you know, uh,

38:17

section of the globe

38:19

and, uh, being a beacon of hope

38:21

for people that are struggling.

38:23

Well, it just shows how many people

38:26

need recovery, how many

38:28

people need freedom from their hangups

38:30

and the things that are holding them back.

38:32

And or maybe it's just your magnetic

38:35

personality, Brian.

38:37

I don't think it has very much

38:39

to do with me at all. Matter of fact, I

38:42

try to remember each and every day that

38:44

none of this has anything to do with

38:46

me. Uh, you know, I'm sitting in my office

38:48

right now, and I have in, in

38:50

big words on my wall. John

38:52

three, uh, 30. He must

38:54

become greater, and I must become

38:56

less, uh, because the truth

38:59

is, I stand

39:01

on the shoulders of the men

39:03

that came before me and was doing this

39:05

before me. And so, uh.

39:07

Yeah, I just think it's a I just

39:09

think it's Jesus, man. He has a plan for

39:12

what we do here with our church,

39:14

and and, uh, he's blessed.

39:16

So I want you to talk to two people before

39:18

we end. One, the person

39:21

who was is

39:23

where you were. Who feels

39:25

like this? Life doesn't make any

39:28

sense. I don't I don't need

39:30

God. I don't want God. I'm just going

39:32

down the road. And whether they've hit bottom

39:34

or not, they don't believe

39:37

that there's any reason

39:39

to to really live or there's

39:41

any meaning in their life. What do you

39:43

say to that person?

39:46

What I would say to that person

39:48

is that that thought

39:50

in itself is the furthest

39:52

thing from the truth that

39:55

there will ever be, and that adversity

39:58

is inevitable, but misery

40:01

is optional. You know, we

40:03

have an opportunity to

40:05

surrender everything, all that we

40:07

are to the creator of the universe.

40:10

And in doing so,

40:12

we no longer have to face the trials

40:15

that we have alone. We

40:17

get to face them with His Holy Spirit

40:19

and with the community that

40:21

God puts in our life. And because

40:24

of that, our misery

40:26

is absent, and all the things

40:28

that we face just leads to our growth.

40:31

And so there's never too late is

40:33

never a time where you're too

40:35

far gone. There's not a moment

40:37

where you will do something

40:39

that God can never forgive you for.

40:42

There's always an option. There's always

40:44

hope. All you have to do is reach

40:46

for it.

40:47

Yeah.

40:48

And he will meet you there. Okay,

40:50

so now talk to the person who

40:52

loves that person that you just

40:54

spoke to, who's been praying and praying

40:56

and praying and hoping and

40:58

hoping and it and

41:00

they're still in the middle of the despair.

41:03

This is never going to happen. What do you say

41:05

to that person?

41:07

Well, what I say to that person is

41:09

to remember that your prayers are heard

41:12

and that at just the right time,

41:14

God will intervene. Sometimes

41:16

we pray for fruit and God gives

41:18

us a seed. Sometimes.

41:21

Uh, we we pray for a way out,

41:24

and he just gives us a plan. Those

41:26

prayers will be answered. And

41:29

it may not happen in the timeframe in which

41:31

we want it to, and it may not necessarily

41:33

look how we want it to when they are answered.

41:35

But God loves your loved

41:38

one more than you, and

41:40

he is going to do everything

41:43

that he can to never, never

41:45

let that person get

41:47

to the point where they don't experience heaven

41:49

in a life in eternity.

41:51

But it's still a choice.

41:53

It's still. And you had to make some really hard

41:55

choices with your life. And and

41:57

it's not all roses and cotton candy.

41:59

Once you make the choice, either. There are

42:01

there are hiccups along the way and

42:03

and stumbling and falling. Right.

42:07

Well, I think it's, uh. You know,

42:09

I think it's part of the process. Uh,

42:11

I tell people like this, adversity

42:14

breeds advancement. So in order

42:16

for you to have growth, for you to have advancements

42:18

in life, you got to face some adversity.

42:20

There's no growth without pain. So

42:23

for me, you know, I get baptized

42:25

and then, you know, it's it's

42:27

0 to 100 real quick. It's

42:29

one day I'm helping out around

42:31

the warehouse. Next thing you know, I'm going on these hunts

42:34

with Buck commander. They start using

42:36

me on the show. I'm getting to do some really

42:38

cool stuff. And

42:41

I had went from being

42:43

this, this person that

42:45

didn't have any hope to

42:48

this person that had an endless hope.

42:50

And then, because I was

42:52

so young in my walk, used it as a liberty

42:55

to do whatever I wanted and think

42:57

that it was okay. And I

42:59

started living this double life. And

43:01

I ended up getting arrested again for

43:03

a DWI and a possession charge.

43:05

And in those moments,

43:08

like I'm sitting in jail, it's three days before

43:10

my episode airs on Duck Dynasty.

43:12

I'm sitting in jail and I'm like, how

43:14

did this happen? I got Jesus,

43:17

and then it hits me. It's

43:19

like, either you're for me or against me. There

43:21

is no gray area. And

43:23

my next thought was, well, it's all

43:25

over anyways. But that's not how

43:27

it works with God. It's never all

43:29

over. So what happened is God's

43:32

people, the people that God put in my

43:34

life, show up, give

43:36

me grace, discipled me through

43:38

it, and then bring me to celebrate

43:40

recovery. And that's ultimately how

43:42

I got involved with your disciple.

43:46

Me through it, I love it. You said that because

43:49

Jesus said he that he would build

43:51

his church. The gates of hell would not prevail.

43:53

But when he gave that charge to the people,

43:55

it wasn't go and make church goers

43:58

or go in and make,

44:00

uh, people who signed the dotted

44:02

line that I'm a church member here.

44:04

He said, go and make disciples.

44:06

And that can get hard and it can

44:08

get messy. But it's worth

44:11

it, isn't it, Brian?

44:13

Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, it definitely was hard

44:15

and messy for the disciples that

44:17

walked with Jesus. And so I think

44:19

it's I think it's going to be for us

44:21

and it is going to be hard. But,

44:24

you know, that's where we live for the

44:26

blessed assurance and not

44:28

things of this world. Because

44:30

if everything is based on my external

44:33

circumstances, I'm going to always

44:35

be frustrated. I'm never going to be,

44:38

uh, truly happy

44:40

or feel that joy. The Apostle Paul

44:42

mastered this because he

44:44

realized that happiness is external,

44:46

but joy is internal. So

44:49

that means that no matter what happens

44:51

to me, the important thing

44:53

is what is happening in me. And

44:56

and so yeah, it's going

44:58

to get tough. But as long as

45:00

I'm clinging to the internal

45:02

change and the thing that the Holy Spirit

45:05

is doing, then then

45:07

no weapon formed against me shall

45:09

prosper.

45:11

We prayed before we started here today

45:13

that that there would be freedom. And

45:16

maybe you're listening and you have somebody

45:18

in your life that you've been praying for

45:20

and you just have felt so

45:23

distraught about it, maybe depressed

45:25

about it, that God hasn't moved in that life.

45:28

Maybe the freedom that you need is

45:30

to keep going today. Just trust

45:32

in what he's doing in that person

45:34

that you care about. Or maybe

45:36

you need the kind of freedom that Brian has

45:39

found because of the grace of God,

45:41

the mercy of God. Reach out to

45:44

Christ today, if you text the

45:46

word gospel to one

45:48

800 609

45:50

624. We'll

45:52

send you some Scripture that will lead you through

45:55

that. How to surrender. And then

45:57

and then it's up to you to plug in to,

45:59

to get involved with a group

46:02

and let them disciple

46:04

you through it. As Brian just said. Text

46:06

gospel to 806 hundred

46:09

9624. Brian,

46:11

I'm so glad that you've told your story.

46:13

You keep telling it, keep doing the counseling

46:16

there at the awakening program

46:18

and celebrate recovery and,

46:20

uh, Hope get to meet you face to face one

46:22

of these days. We will friend.

46:24

Yeah, absolutely. I'm looking forward to it. And

46:26

it was a blessing. It was a complete

46:29

blessing to be a part of this today. Man. Thank

46:31

you for having me.

46:32

Same here Brian Rucker, you

46:34

can see the I am second film. We have it link

46:36

there Chris Fabry live.org

46:39

Chris Fabry live org integrate

46:41

to to see the power of God the

46:43

power of transformation at work. Chris

46:46

Fabry lives a production of Moody Radio, a

46:48

ministry of Moody Bible Institute.

46:50

Thanks for listening.