Stephen Rogers 00:19
Welcome aboard, and thank you for joining me. I'm Lieutenant Commander Stephen Rogers, United States Navy retired, and this program is presented by the Association of the United States Navy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting U.S. naval and U.S. Coast Guard power and operations, as well as the personnel who serve and their families. What you're listening to is Peace Through Strength, America's Navy, and I am the executive director of the AUSN. The topics addressed on this program reflect only the perspectives presented by the AUSN. And for more information on how you can become a supporter of the AUSN, please visit our website at www.ausn. www.ausn.org. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to switch gears a little bit today. Instead of giving you a commentary on certain issues that are affecting the United States Navy, we're going to start a bit of a series called Great American Heroes, and these are great American heroes that you probably never heard about, but indeed real heroes. So right now I'm going to invite as a guest Steve Snyder. Now Steve is president of the 306 Bomb Group Historical Association. He's a board member of the Eighth Air Force Historical Society. He's a speaker, and he's the author of a of a book. You got to get, folks. You got to get this book. It's called Shot Down. It's the true story of pilot Howard Snyder and the crew of the B 17 Susan Ruth. Well, Steve, welcome to the broadcast today.

Steve Snyder 01:52
Thanks a lot. I'm glad to be here.

Stephen Rogers 01:54
Well, I'll tell you, Steve, it's been a challenge to get you right. We've had to switch here and there, but folks, he's been so gracious, and he shared with me. And I must admit, I'm in the same boat. Haven't been able to get that coffee, so I hope you have a cup in front of you.

Steve Snyder 02:13
Yeah, well, yeah, I have my water now, so I'm good to go.

Stephen Rogers 02:16
All right, good. All right, Steve, what I'd like you to do is share a little bit about your background, and then I want to get into this fascinating story. You know, these are these are historical stories that a lot of people of the United States of America are unaware of, but particularly young people, because is was Howard your dad?

Steve Snyder 02:38
Yes.

Stephen Rogers 02:38
All right. So, how old was Howard when he was shot down in this B 17?

Steve Snyder 02:44
Well, actually, at the time he was considered an old guy. He was 28 years old.

Stephen Rogers 02:50
Huh? Wow. Yeah, I guess at that time it was. Well, let's get started, Steve. Please share with us your background. How in the world did you end up writing a tremendous story? I mean, this has got like I said. I can't say enough about it. So, if we could start, give us your background and how you ended up where you are now with the book shot down.

Steve Snyder 03:10
Okay. Well, I was born in Pasadena, California. I lived in Southern California all my life. I graduated from UCLA. I was in the California Army National Guard for for six years during the Vietnam War, but my unit wasn't called up. I moved down to Seal Beach, California, which is about 30 miles south of the L.A. airport in 1972, and I've been here ever since. After college, I had some odd jobs, and then I went to work for Vision Service Plan (VSP) for 36 years. VSP is a company that provides a vision care benefit that corporations offer their employees to cover eye exams, glasses, and contact lenses. It's kind of like vision insurance. For the first 10 years, I was regional manager of Southern California and Southern Nevada, and then the company went national in '85. And I assumed the position of vice president of national accounts, and I started traveling all over the United States, calling on Fortune 500 companies. And then the last 15 years, although I live in Southern California, I was vice president of our Eastern Sales Division, which is everything east of the Mississippi. So again, I was traveling a lot. Then I retired in 2009, and growing up, I knew the basics of my dad's World War II history. I knew what a B 17 pilot he was stationed in England with the Eighth Air Force. His plane was named the Susan Ruth after my oldest sister, who was one year old at the time that he went overseas, and he flew bombing missions over occupied Europe and Germany. And on february 8 of 1944, his plane was shot down, and he was missing in action for seven months. But he evaded capture and made it back to England. But it wasn't until I retired that I had the time to. Delve into my dad's war history in more detail, and there were my parents had kept a lot of material from of war years, and there were two items that I found that was really significant. One was a diary that my dad wrote while he was missing in action about his plane being shot down, which was absolutely riveting. It's in the book, and then the other, all the letters that my dad had written to my mother before he was shot down, and he was really candid in these letters. He talked about what bombing missions were like, what life was like on the air base, what life was like in England and London at the time, escapades of him and his crew, and I just became fascinated with this story, and I became my passion. Started reading book after book about the air war over Europe. Won on the internets, but countless hours doing research, downloading declassified military documents. I find found relatives of all the crew members of my dad's and asked them for any information they could give me. Start going to reunions, listening to veterans tell their stories, and finally three years into my research, I just came to the conclusion that the story was so unique and so compelling that people needed to know about it. So I wrote a book.

Stephen Rogers 06:13
Yes, Steve, and it's fascinating. Now he was in the Army Air Force at that time, right?

Steve Snyder 06:19
Right. Well, actually, initially he went in the as a result of the first peacetime draft in the fall of 1940. He went into the army in the spring of 1941. He was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington. So he was actually in the army for a year, and then he got married, and my mother got pregnant, and so he was concerned how he's going to support his new family. So he decided to volunteer for the Air Force, where he could make more money, especially if he could make it through pilot training to become an officer.

Stephen Rogers 06:52
Hey, Steve, what's fascinating is seven. You say seven months MIA,

Speaker 1 06:58
right?

Stephen Rogers 06:58
How did he survive? Oh

Steve Snyder 07:01
gosh! Well, after he bailed out, he came down and right at the French-Belgian border, and his parachute got hung up in some trees, and he was dangling 20 feet off the ground and couldn't get down. But fortunately for him, two Belgian men, Henri Franken and Raymond Dervin, came to his rescue before the the Germans got there, and they helped him down the tree. And he spent one night in the Dervan farmhouse. They thought it was too dangerous for him to stay there any longer with German patrols combing the area. So the next night, a Belgian customs officer came on a tandem bicycle to take him to a safer location, and after that, he was moved from place to place to place. How long he stayed in any given location depended on how brave the people were who lived there, and how dangerous the Belgian underground thought it was for him to stay there. He might spend a night, might spend six weeks. So he was hidden for quite a few months by quite a few different Belgian people, almost being discovered, which a lot of those times are covered in the book. And then he heard on June six of 1944 the Allies landed at D-Day, and he decided to get back in the fight, so he joined the French resistance and started sabotaging German convoys. So he fought with the French Resistance for a couple months, and then finally, seven months after he bailed out, word came that there were U.S. troops in the village of Trellon, France, and so he went into the town square, met up with an army major and identified himself. They interrogated him, and then he got back to to England. That ended his seven months of MIA.

Stephen Rogers 08:51
You know, you know, I'm listening to this story, and I'm saying, why why don't we really learn about things like this in our early years in school and in high school and even college. I mean, you know, a person like your dad is is well part of the greatest generation, right? My goodness,

Steve Snyder 09:09
absolutely, absolutely,

Stephen Rogers 09:11
and and and I'm I'm just you know, look, I've been around a lot. I've spoken to a lot of people, but any time I speak to someone like you, I'm just so proud of this country, and you know, I'm sure, you know, I mean, there are many, many people who who would love love to hear more about this kind of stuff. Do you have have any of the crew members survived? Did you ever get a chance to ever meet or contact some of them?

Steve Snyder 09:40
Well, B 17 had a 10 man crew. Five of them stories ended happily, and they got back home. But five of them ended tragically, and they didn't make it home. Yeah, my dad kept in touch with the crew members that made it. Fact, they would get together now and then, come to the house for for for dinner, and I was just a little kid, and I didn't really comprehend, you know, who they were, or you know, the significance of it. But I never really got to talk to them. My dad, he died in 2007 at age 91. He wasn't the last crew member to die. That was in 2010, but he was the oldest because he was older than all of his crew. of the Of the crew, the gunners. Well, there were their four officers, and typically, typically the officers were in their early 20s, and then there were six enlisted men, and they were pretty much in their their teens, 1819, So they they were all younger than my dad, but some of them wrote letters and did interviews that were recorded, and so I got a lot of information, you know, documentation from things that they they said and remembered.

Stephen Rogers 11:03
Hey, Steve, what was your dad's rank?

Steve Snyder 11:06
His drink. Well, and over in England, they pretty much all drank scotch. No,

Stephen Rogers 11:14
no, no. I said his rank, his rank. Oh, I tell you, that's a funny one. Yeah, that is. Yeah, I don't care what he drank, but maybe we'll get down to that at some other time. So, what rank?

Steve Snyder 11:30
Well, when he graduated from pilot training, he got his commission as a second lieutenant, and then while he was flying combat missions, he was promoted to a first lieutenant before he could be promoted to captain, he was shot down. Although after he came back home, he was promoted to a captain. So the captain was his highest rank that he achieved.

Stephen Rogers 11:53
Yeah, I'm I'm fascinated over his age, you know, because you're right. You usually some of these people are 17, 18 years old, and I'm thinking, boy, if these 17 and 18 year olds looked at your dad, they probably said, "Gee, what's this old guy doing with us? But he, he, he really-I bet you-he was a role model for them. I mean, to to go in at that age and to to serve his country, leaving his family behind, correct?

Steve Snyder 12:17
Correct, because he had a wife and a little baby girl, Susan, and then actually my other sister Nancy was born while he was missing in action. So he didn't know whether the baby was a boy or a girl until he got back to to England. But I think you're right. You know, my dad at 28 he was a lot much more mature than these other guys. You know, also you know he was a had a family. You know he was a manager at a clothing store chain in Southern California, Desmond's clothing. So you know he had responsibility. So he was he was pretty mature from compared to most these other guys that were either really young or they were they were single.

Stephen Rogers 12:58
Steve, we have a lot of service members listening to this broadcast, as you know, we focus in on the Navy and the Coast Guard, our sea services, but we also welcome members of all the armed forces to listen to our broadcast, to join our organization. And what's important here is that many times, in fact, I've got to tell you, probably most of the time, the members of our armed forces and their families are not hearing news or information like this. A lot of it's negative. A lot of criticism of our armed forces, and on and on and on. So the importance of of getting stories like this out is is is very very I tell you beyond beyond any type of importance I could ever share with you because these are real life stories, and you know when they they hear this story, and there are many probably out on the fleet now. We we do I do get emails from people who are serving on ships some somewhere around the world because this broadcast, by the way, I don't know if I tell you, not only is it broadcast live, but it is put on the America Out Loud News website, where it's also converted the next day into a podcast, and it's pretty much on that website forever. You know, as a broadcast and a podcast. So I'm going to make sure that the people get to see or get to hear this story that weren't able to tune into today's program. So, but but getting back to to the whole incident, the whole issue your family was faced with, I'm wondering, and maybe there are a lot of people wondering, like I am, that the faith and the hope of of your mom and family. I mean, seven months. I'm wondering would a lot of people give up thinking, well, he was killed in action; he's never coming home. Tell me a little bit about that, if you can remember.

Steve Snyder 14:47
Okay. Yeah. Well, as I mentioned, my dad was shot down on february 8, 44, and then on February 23, the families, you know, mothers, wives, received a. Telegram, Western Union telegram from the War Department saying that you know your loved one was shot, was missing in action, and then they got one more letter from the War Department saying he's still missing in action, but you know don't give up hope because you know maybe he's a a prisoner of war. After my dad, when I my dad bailed out, he had no idea what happened to the other nine members of his crew, because he he came down alone and he was just never connected. He didn't know what happened to any of his crew members until he got back to England. But after the plane was shot down and the relatives received these letters. They started sending letters between themselves. My mother, you know, being the my dad was the first pilot, so he was the commander of the plane and the crew. So my mother was kind of looked at as the you know the focal point or the leader of the the wives and the loved relatives back home, and they exchanged all these letters after the plane went down, and excerpts from those letters in the book. They're they're very movie because they're scared to death, they're worried, they don't know what happened, they're praying they that the Lord would would take care of him and bring him home safely. Some of the crew were were captured and became prisoners of war, and they were able to write back home. And so they knew that they were safe, and they knew a couple guys had been killed, but another five of them they had no idea. For my dad and another guy evaded, they weren't together, but they were missing in action for seven months. But then three other members of the crew-they didn't know what happened to them for a year and a half, basically. So yeah, that a lot, a lot of frightful moments. Here's my mom back in Pasadena, California, with one-year-old Susan and infant Nancy, never knowing if she'd ever see her husband again.

Stephen Rogers 17:01
Hey, Steve, we just started a an initiative nationwide called Operation Reach Out. The Department of War is now involved. I met with someone from the White House a couple of weeks ago with regard to Operation Reach Out, and what we're doing is working with local governments to hold networking events for military families in their community, and as you were sharing with me about the letters going back and forth between the families of crew members, we find that we have to get back to that where the military will have a system set up where the families will be able to network together not only in time of peace, but in time of war, I'm sure, as you're telling me this story, that that at least brought some relief that there was support out there from other crew members of the importance of of having that connection. Could you could you emphasize that a little bit? I mean, because there are people, you know, we're at war now, and there are parents and spouses and relatives in the combat area of operations, and some of them have told us that they would like to hear more from other family members that are in the military, merely for the sake of having you know that comfort zone there. Could could you speak to that a little bit?

Steve Snyder 18:19
Yeah. Well, as far as my dad was concerned and his crew, I mean, they formed a tight tight group. The four officers, they were very close because back then the officers kind of did their own thing, and the enlisted men did their own thing. But once they got in that plane, they were a unit. Every guy had a job to do to get that bomber, you know, over the target to drop its bombs and you know bring it back. The sole, the sole purpose was to drop bombs on the target, and so as a crew, they were very close. And then, though I think the family members felt close because of that too, and so having that support back home, and the letters between the crew and family members was very important. I know one of my dad's waist gunners after he had a good buddy on the on the plane who was killed, and you know he wrote this long letter to the guy's mother, you know, telling him about you know stories that they had the fun they had together and you know what a good guy this was, and so that that was really important.

Stephen Rogers 19:42
Is your dad buried at Arlington?

Steve Snyder 19:45
No, my dad. After he retired, my parents moved to Sedona, Arizona, and both of them are well. They're interned at a columnarium at Christ Lutheran Church in Sedona. Actually. One member of my dad's crew and his brother, who was also was a George Ike, he was a co-pilot, and his brother was a co-pilot in the Eighth Air Force, who was also shot down and killed. Both of them are buried at Arlington. Two of my dad's crew are buried in cemeteries in Europe: one in the Netherlands, and one in Belgium, and then the other guys, you know, are buried, you know, kind of in their home hometown.

Stephen Rogers 20:31
Wow, this is a this is really touching, really touching. Hey, Steve, could you tell us a little bit about the 306 Bomb Group Historical Association and the Eighth Air Force Historical Society. Tell us a little bit about that.

Steve Snyder 20:44
Sure. Like I said, my dad was in the 306 Bomb Group, but was based at Thurlay, England, which is about 60 miles north of London. The 306 Bomb Group, their motto was "First over Germany" because they were the first bomb group to hit a target in Germany, Wilhelmshaven, on January 27th of 1943. Also, they they were the longest-serving bomb group in the Eighth Air Force. Some of the audience might have seen the 1949 movie 12 O'Clock High, starring Gregory Peck. Well, that was based on a true story about the 306 bomb group, the fictitious bomb group in the in the movie The 9/18 was derived by multiplying the 306 by three. So after the war,

Stephen Rogers 21:30
excuse me, Steve, one minute. I just want to interrupt. 12 o'clock high. When I was a kid, I saw that religiously in the black and white. 12 o'clock high. You're absolutely right with Gregory Peck brings memories.

Steve Snyder 21:41
That's one of the the best movies about the air roll over Europe.

Stephen Rogers 21:49
Wow! I I didn't know it was based on a true story. Wow!

Steve Snyder 21:52
Yeah,

Stephen Rogers 21:53
good stuff. I'm sorry I interrupted. I just had to reject that because I used to watch that constantly.

Steve Snyder 21:59
Yeah, and it's also that that that movie is used in about the Air Force Academy, you know, to to train men about you know being leaders, and so it also is used in in training and leadership training in corporations as well. So I was Russell Strong, who was a navigator in the 306 Bomb Group, formed the association in the 70s. Back then, it was just all veterans. But as the veterans started to pass on, you know, second generation people like me, sons and daughters and nephews and nieces and so forth, started joining the association, and now really, it's just it's all. We only have about four vets that are that are still alive, so it's basically a second and third generation organization now, which I am president. We have annual reunions once a year. This year, it's going to be in San Antonio, Texas. We also have a biannual newsletter magazine that that we send out. You know, and the main purpose is to remember our our veterans, our our loved ones, and trying to keep their their their memory alive. The Eighth Air Force Historical Society is very similar, except that involved the entire Eighth Air Force. There were 40 bomb groups in the Eighth Air Force in World War II, so that's a larger organization. We have annual reunions too in a magazine, again to try to keep the memory alive. They both have websites with lots of information about the organization and the history of the organization, combat missions and things like that. So it's another way that I keep involved and keep busy, keeping the memory alive because it was you know that World War II was 80 years ago and it's fading in people's memories, and I'm trying not to let that happen.

Stephen Rogers 24:02
Well, you know, you three times you use that term, keeping the memory alive. You know, I love that. That that's that's now burned right in my brain here. I'm going to use that a lot now because that's what this is all about. Together, we've got to keep the memory of these heroes alive, so that young people today will understand that there is a price for freedom, and it happens to be the price of the blood spilled by those who have been in combat, like your dad. I mean, absolutely incredible, incredible story. Hey, Steve, how can we get your book?

Steve Snyder 24:35
Well, if you want an autographed copy, you can go on my website on the homepage. There's a little buy now button that you can pay by credit card. Most people get the book at on Amazon. You know, like the vast majority of books purchased are on Amazon. It's available as a hardcover book, softcover book, audio book, ebook, and in any any format. I

Stephen Rogers 25:00
think I'll mention the name is shot down.

Steve Snyder 25:03
Shot down the true story of pilot Howard Snyder and the crew of the B 17 Susan Roof. My tagline is "It is our duty to remember. And every time I sign a book, that's what I I sign. It is our duty to remember.

Stephen Rogers 25:17
That's great. Well, we're also going to make things a little easier for people to order the book. We're going to get it on the America Out Loud News website, and then and of course send me the link to where they can go right to you. Okay, and and I'll tell you, we'll talk to you again. And I don't know how to thank you for sharing this and keeping this memory alive. It's certainly going to stay alive in my mind. And hey, maybe we'll have you back on again, and we'll do a little bit more about well your activities and what you're doing now. Your dad's proud of you, my friend. I'm proud of you. Good stuff.

Steve Snyder 25:50
Ah, well, it's a it's a passion of mine. You know, he was a great guy. We we were very close, and so it's it's a it's a second career for me. It's it's a hobby, and it's what I love to do.

Stephen Rogers 26:03
Well, what's exciting about our lives, and you know, I share with people. You know, I read the Bible a lot and pray a lot, and I know you mentioned prayer when he was away. There's a scripture that says, "There are many mansions in my father's house. If it was not so, I would not tell you. I happened to ask someone, "Well, who's in those mansions? And that person said, "Your friends, your relatives, the people you love. Those mansions are there. So I pray and believe that we will be reunited, and you'll be reunited with Dad at some point in time in the future.

Steve Snyder 26:34
Amen to that.

Stephen Rogers 26:36
So, okay, there, Steve. So, how about we go for that drink we talked about earlier?

Steve Snyder 26:41
Okay, I'm I'm up for it.

Stephen Rogers 26:43
All right, I salute you, my friend. God bless you, and I'll be in touch. Thank you very much.

Steve Snyder 26:47
Bless you. Thank you.

Stephen Rogers 26:49
You're welcome. You're welcome. All right, ladies and gentlemen, was that not a fascinating story? I mean, a true real life story about a real life hero, Howard Snyder. Boy, and right from his son, boy. God bless them, and God bless America. All right, that's it, folks. So remember that scripture. There are many mansions in my father's house. Look it up, and I got news for you: the best is yet to come for a lot of people in this country because of heroes like the one we just heard. Okay, God bless you all, and God bless the United States of America.

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Speaker 5 29:42
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Stephen Rogers 30:27
Well, thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, for joining me here at America Out Loud News. As I share with you all the time, this is the second half hour of an hour broadcast. During the first part of my broadcast certainly, I address a lot of political issues, military issues, secular issues, if you will, happening around the world. And during this part of the broadcast, I look at spiritual issues. That's right. From a Christian perspective, I happen to believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I believe that Jesus Christ is God, and I like to share this during this portion of my broadcast with you, why? Because we got a lot of troubles, a lot of problems in this world, and I would venture to say that many of you listening right now, you got a lot of problems, a lot of difficulties. I mean, who doesn't? And I've, during the course of my lifetime, have realized that there's a lot of help out there. There is. There's therapists, there's psychologists, there's sociologists, there's ministers, there's priests, there's rabbis, all good people, and I've said over and over again that God gave these individuals a real gift to do His work, as long as they're doing that work on behalf of helping people through very very difficult times. So I tell people, you if you need to go to someone like a therapist, a psychologist, psychiatrist, whatever, go, go. Especially if you're a Christian, go. You know, I know there are a lot of people that'll say, "Well, you know, God will handle this and God will handle that. Well, you know what? Did it ever occur to those people who tell you that that God is leading you, leading you to these professionals, so don't walk away from any any path to help. Psalm 25, I think it's verse 4, says, "Show me Thy way, O Lord, teach me Thy path. And so you may be in a situation where, gee, you're looking for help. There's nowhere else to go, and then finally someone comes along and says, "Well, I know a psychologist, I know a therapist. Why don't you go talk to them? And you may be thinking, "Well, especially I know this happens in the Christian community a lot, and it shouldn't. It's a bad thing when anyone, whether it be a minister or anyone who truly knows the Word of God, when they say to you, "Well, you know, you don't need a doctor, you don't need a psychologist. All you need is Jesus Christ. Now, folks, listen, I'm all for worshiping and depending on Jesus Christ for everything that I need and I do, and I've learned that the way Jesus Christ delivers on many of his promises, well, I should say on all of his promises, unless you know he decides to have some miraculous thing happen in your life, and that's happened to people. But for the most part, he'll send other people. He will. He'll send other people who will be able to put you in a direction that will help you. So please keep that in mind. But don't say no to anybody that's willing to give you help. Because I got to tell you, unless you know that person is sending you down a path that you shouldn't go, you pray about it, and then you think about it, and then you do what you think is best for you-not what a minister says, a pastor, a priest says, not what anybody says, not even what I say. All right, you think about things, you pray about things, and you know what? You'll find out that maybe that person that that that is sharing with you that you need to get some therapy from someone to really help you. You know, maybe that person was sent from God. Yeah, I. It's happened to me. People have sent me, you know. People have come to me for help, and I've said, "Well, I know some good people that could help you, and I've recommended therapists or somebody. Now, keep that in mind. All right, that's very important that you know that. Now, look what I'm about to share with you. I learned from researching the Bible.

Stephen Rogers 34:18
All right, did a lot of research in the Bible, in commentaries in history books during biblical times, and I've got to tell you, every every area of the Bible does have an answer to many of the questions we have, and I got to tell you, I found a lot that I'm going to share with you from Gateway Bible, the Gateway and Bible Hub on the World Wide Web, as well as other other biblical publications. So what I'm saying is, I'm about to share with you didn't come out of my brain. All right, it originally came out of a lot of these other sources, and then I was able to kind of connect some dots and put things together where I could summarize what they. Shared on the World Wide Web or in some of their publications with you. I believe in credit should go where credit is due. Well, let's put it this way: I'll give all the credit to God Almighty, all of it to Him. Well, anyway, people often ask this question of me, and I bet you you have the same question: Why do bad things happen to good people? I believe there was a book written with that title. So the question again: Why do bad things happen to good people in the middle of life storms? Whether they're financial, whether they're health related, whether they're job related, or something else in your life, they may also ask: Why me, God? Why me? And early on in my life, I used to ask that question. I'm a good guy. I mean, why, why me? What do I do to hurt anybody? Why me? And throughout my whole life, up until the time I accepted Christ into my life, and accepted that this was the journey he put me on, and accepted the fact that his will be done, not mine. Even through thick and thin, I kept on asking that question: Why me, God? Why me? So I used to ask that question a lot, and as time went on, I found the answer, and I didn't find the answer in a theology book or in a psychology book, and I didn't find it through any person that I spoke with on the face of the earth, including ministers and priests, rabbis, etc. But I found the answer to that question that troubled me a good part of my life in the Holy Bible, the Book of Life. Now, there are others who will answer that question and use scriptures to support what they are sharing with you, and that's good. A man once said to me, "Look, Steve, if you get advice, if you get an answer to questions like that, go home, open your Bible, see if it measures up to what the scripture is saying. If it does, you got good advice. If it doesn't, ah, you might want to do a little bit more research and thinking about what you were told. But I learned that in the book of life, the Holy Bible, the best of God's crop, the best of His kingdom, the best people of His kingdom-they went through hell and high water, folks, in their lifetime. That's right, the best, not the worst, but the best. Now, who am I talking about? How about this? How about I'm talking about the 11 out of the 12 men who left everything they had to follow Christ? Yep, his disciples folks. They left everything. They were the best. Now, one might say, well, they were the worst when he went to the bottom of the barrel, a tax collector, a fisherman. He didn't go to the rich. Well, doesn't that tell you something? Maybe the rich aren't the best. At least in his eyes, he don't look at wealth, he don't look at success. He looks at the heart, and he found in the heart of these 12, except for one, Judas, that they were willing to leave everything, and of course Judas turned his back on Christ, and we know that's history. Think about that. I'm talking about a king named David. How about Solomon and others? I'm talking about a woman named Mary, Ruth, Esther, and others. These were the best folks. Poor people, hardworking people, just like you and me, all right, going along our way in life. But he went to them.

Stephen Rogers 38:25
You know, I often try to share with people who are wealthy, and I know I've said this some time ago, and it's worth saying again that there's a reason why there's a scripture that says it is easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man or woman. All right, I'll add the the woman, for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Why is that? Pretty chilling. When I say that to some of my very wealthy friends, they kind of give me that eye. They look sideways, not judging them. I'm just telling them. Look at there's a reason why Jesus said that. There's a reason why Jesus didn't go to the pharaohs, to the Egyptian pharaohs, to the leaders of the governments at that time. He went to the people, if you will, that were out on the streets, the people working with their hands, their knees, their feet getting dirty and filthy during the course of their workday, not to the people that were sitting on the leather chairs, if they had leather chairs back then, just simply giving out orders, huh? Pretty chilling. Now listen, if you're wealthy, I don't want you to feel bad. I don't want you to feel condemned. As long as you're right with Christ, you got no problems, because I know a lot of wealthy people who quietly give, give a lot to those hardworking people. But it's something to think about. I don't want to get off the track here. I want to stay on the theme of why me, God, why me? But these are men and women who dedicated their entire lives. To the cause of Jesus Christ, and I'll tell you what you know what they had in common. A lot of them, most of them, if not all of them, had in common, at least in my mind, that same question when they were facing fiery trials: Why me, God? Why me? Now let me ask you this question: You think Jesus may have been saying, "Why me, God? When he was in the garden of Jessetomy praying, and then he suddenly blurted out, "You know what, Father? If you can let this cup pass from me, will you do this? You think he was kind of saying, "Why me? in another term. How about on the cross, Father? Why have Thou forsaken me? But Your will be done. Still, with that kind of a why me, now I don't know, but it kind of makes me think that it's not uncommon for us to say why me, and maybe the reason why Jesus said this was that in his humanity, in his human form, he knew that at some point in time, all of us would ask why me, but also he knew that we would know what the end of the story is, what the answer to why me would be, because he gave it to us in his word. So, I found the answer to why me in Romans 828, and I learned that absolutely without a doubt that Romans 828, no matter what we go through in life, talks about that what we're ever going through in life, every circumstance, every challenge, every valley we walk through, good or bad, mountain or valley, all right, to accomplish His purpose, not ours, but His purpose in our lives, Actually, works out well for us. I tell you, folks, not our purpose, his purpose. Now, one might say, "Well, going through a dark valley-I mean, going through the problems I'm going through-my goodness, God, God actually will will will tell me that that's you know going to work out for my betterment. Yes, it is. Ask me to explain it when I'm going through the valleys. Even now, I say, man, how is this going to work out for me? This is trouble. These are problems. I'm overwhelmed. How do I deal with it? But then I go back to Romans 8:28. A promise, a promise, a promise. I'm using that word. A promise from God. All things work together for the good for those who love the Lord thy God according to His will.

Stephen Rogers 42:25
All things, not 50% of your troubles, not 50% of your challenges, not 99.9% of the challenges, dark times, and difficulties that you're facing, but all things 100% That includes both good and bad things happening in your life. And I got to tell you, God does not cause every hardship, but He is powerful enough to use every experience that we go through, some mistakes that we make, the suffering that's self-inflicted, and many times the suffering that just knocks out our door, he uses everything to fulfill his purpose. And keep in mind, folks, you know people forget this. God didn't make us into robots. He gave us with free will. He created us with free will. He created us in Him is His image, folks, and you know you want to learn about His image, the image of Christ. He worried, He had problems He faced, He had challenges He overcame, but the fact of the matter is, He learned and shared with us. Talk about Christ now, that everything we go through, everything we go through, God is with us. He don't want to see us go through painful times. He doesn't want to see us suffer. You know the book of Jeremiah. I think it's in the the Dirty Dare chapter. I could be wrong, but you know sometimes it's difficult for me to remember all of these scriptures. But I know I know the book they're in. So the book of Jeremiah, there's a scripture that says that I have come not to harm you, but to prosper you. Now that doesn't necessarily mean 100% materialistically prosper you, but to prosper you in a way that you get closer and closer and closer to Jesus Christ, to God the Father, to the Holy Spirit, to God Almighty, folks-all three wrapped up in one. Right? That's how we prosper, and once we prosper to the point that we will fully, undoubtedly, uncompromisingly have enough faith and trust in God Almighty, then watch, then watch, look, listen as you walk through the storms and meet the challenges in life. Think about that again. Look at the life of Job. You, all of you, have read the Bible. You know what happened to Job. Had it made, had it all, a good man, an honorable man, a faithful. Old man, boom! All of a sudden, the roof caved in on him. Lost his job, lost his family, lost his cattle, lost everything. And each and every one, each and every one of the people he had happened to run into at that time were encouraging him not to get closer to God, but pretty much say, "Well, you know, you might want to want to ease up on the God business and just face it. This is what's happened. It's time to move on, Job. Even his wife, even his wife, kind of went down that road. But you know, Job said consistently, "Though he slay me, yet I will serve him. He was saying, "Though this happens to me, and God doesn't show up at the gate to help me. I'm still going to serve Him. Wow, what a testimony of faith and trust in God. And I've got to tell you, same thing happened when Joseph was sold to Pharaoh, when Daniel ended up in in all kinds of trouble, right in the lion's den. All right, but guess what they did? They never gave up on Christ, because there was a reason. There was a reason why Job went through what he went through. Joseph went through what he went through. Daniel went through what he went through. And I look at Joseph as one of the most amazing things, where his brother sold him. They got rid of him. They sold to Pharaoh. Pharaoh decides after meeting Joseph and maybe having a few talks with him, ends up making the governor, the governor of Egypt. That was God's will. Sure, Joseph got in trouble over false accusations from Pharaoh's wife. Gets put in prison. All of a sudden, one thing leads to the next. There's some guy near the jail cell that's talking to Joseph. Joseph remembers that. Well, you know what? There are things that I could do to help out the Pharaoh. Maybe God will intervene. God intervenes. Before you know it, Pharaoh is making Joseph the governor. And then, as a famine comes, guess what?

Stephen Rogers 46:58
Israel, the Jewish population is taken care of because get guess who's in charge of the food, the grain. In Egypt, Joseph, and Pharaoh said, "Go ahead, go feed your people. Just come back, but feed your people. Yeah, look it up, folks. It's great. These stories of the Bible are not for us to sit back and think of them as boy. This is great entertainment. This is great fiction. This is life. This is reality. All of these people I just shared with you, and many, many more, in the midst of suffering, overcame their challenges by maintaining uncompromising trust and faith in God, and look, I'm going to tell you, it's tough to get there. Even now, times, look, I go through tough times with all the faith and trust I have in God. I got at the end of the day say, look, I'm I'm sorry that you know I'm kind of really concerned about this moving forward, and Jesus Christ must be you know on that throne saying, Steve, what are you talking about? Did I not come through for you? Not 99.9% of the time, but 100% of the time. Did I not make promises to you that I kept? And you know what? I feel kind of miserable when when I that's conviction from the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, by the way, and I've said this over and over again, He lives within us. Now, how that's done, I don't know. It's not for me to know. It's for me to have enough faith and trust, which I do. I finally got to a point where I do, and I got to tell you, folks, I don't worry anymore. Now, once in a while, I may slip and get concerned about things. That's okay, but I don't worry to the degree that I'm going to question my faith, or I wouldn't want God to question my faith in Him? Nope, ain't gonna happen. And you know what? What comes my way comes my way. I just do what I got to do to survive, but within the framework of God's law, and within the framework of what I've learned in that Bible, and I've gone through even even recently some pretty tough times, folks, but delivered from every single one of them. You talk about Psalm 23. Well, I had to look at that a few times to remind me of guess who's with you in that valley, and I'm challenging you, listening to the the broadcast now. No matter what you're going through, guess who is with you in that valley that you are presently walking in? Now, we've got to understand this. All right, we've got to understand that that you know God will work with us. Romans 828 says all things work together for the good. Now, what about the words "work together" All right, I want you to think about something. This is brilliant. Whoever explained it this way is brilliant. This didn't come from me. I didn't originate what I'm about to share with you. This was from somebody else who I don't know, but I think it was great. Work together. What does it mean in the context of Romans 828? Well, it's like ingredients in a recipe, right? In a recipe that may not taste good by themselves, all right. But God blends all of our experiences over time to bring about something good. Think about that. So you got a recipe where maybe this ingredient doesn't taste good. Elk. Oh, terrible. That's terrible. But then you blend them all together, all right? You didn't like them separately. Now there's your tough times, all right? Yeah, you don't like this tough time or that tough time, but you put everything together, and all of a sudden, those experiences that you're going through, those challenges that you are meeting day in and day out, maybe week by week. Over time, something good's going to come out of it, and I've learned that in my life. I man, I I went through hell and high water many times, and again, I even meet some of the challenges today with the things I'm involved in, and I think, God, what's going on here? Hell, what's going on? And then I'm reminded.

Stephen Rogers 51:01
Well, remember a couple years ago there, Steve Rogers, when you went through hell and high water, and you were really questioning why this God, why that. And then you find out a year or two later that thank God you went through. Thank God I, the Lord thy God, you know, allowed this to happen in your life. Were you burned? No, I wasn't. Were you destroyed? No, I wasn't. Are you still here? Yes, I am. You didn't believe it back then because you were going through the fire. I put you in the oven of problems and difficulties, knowing you'd come out of it. You didn't know, but I knew because I allowed things to happen in your life, not for your will, there, Steve Rogers, but for my will. And folks, once we realize that everything we're going through, and and I tell you, it's tough. I know it's tough because I tell you what, I see, you know, I go through some things, and I tell you what, I try to wonder why I do? I mean, do I got to go through this? Haven't I not proven myself? And you know, Satan's alive and well. Think about that. He's going to challenge you like he challenged Job and all these fellas and these ladies I just talked to you about in biblical times. You know, the true test of faith is not when you're on the mountain; it's when you're in the valley. Whew, man! I don't like being in the valley, but I get it. And you know, I've learned, I've learned to totally depend on Christ. That's it. Totally depend on Him. Boy, we could get into a long discussion about this, but you see, I'll share with you. I don't have all the answers to the questions that you you have, and even I have. But I know he does. That's why I tell people read your Bible daily. Really, you don't have to spend hours. How about this? How about three minutes? Open the Psalms every day. I read a Psalm every day. I'll read a scripture. Every day I'll somehow, some way, pick up the Bible, and boy, I'll see something there that wow, this really applies to me. This is an answer to what I'm going through, so God, you know, does it for the good, and I believe that the good that you're going to reap is what answered prayer, and perhaps more importantly, peace of mind. You know, people, you know, they pray for. Think about this, they pray for things that you know what I don't think they should be praying for, but that's their business, not mine. For example, financial troubles. Okay, people are praying for money. They're praying to hit the lottery. They're praying for this. They're praying for that. All right, maybe, maybe you should let God handle it. How He's going to help you through financial and difficult times. How about health? There are so many people in touch with me who has a family member or themselves-they're-they're-they're-they're incapacitated through through because of health problems, and you know what? I think it's a good thing to pray for their recovery, because that is God's will to make sure, all right, that your prayers are answered. Now, what if I was to tell you this-that maybe we're looking at their physical recovery, and God is looking at their spiritual recovery. And as a result of the spiritual recovery, well, maybe just maybe, what that person went through will have profound spiritual impact on their relatives and friends and anyone who they have come in contact with, ah, his will, not our will. I've got you know I've had family members. I had a a wonderful nephew believed in in in Christ who, at the age of 40 something, died, and you know he spent maybe 10 years of his life in bed. Wow, but he was good. He said, "Hey, look at you know. He got out once in a while, and he was able to move about, you know. But the last few months of his life, they were pretty tough on him and his family, but they kept their chin up and their faith in Christ. And I got to tell.

Stephen Rogers 54:59
Of something, the profound spiritual impact regarding Jesus Christ that he had, unbelievable, and I really believe that some lives were turned at his wake at his funeral after some of the speakers got up there and talked about the faith journey that this guy, this nephew of mine, walked through. Proud of him. Proud of him. Even impacted me. I got to tell you. So anyway, by faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, well, in his fear, he built an ark to save his family, and he did. So Hebrews chapter six. Look at that. That's known as the faith chapter, and I'll close with that. And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. And then you'll go down after you read that that particular scripture verse. You'll read a bunch of them with regard to biblical times, people who had faith through tough times. All right, that's the truth to Romans 828. Read it and believe it. Believe it, folks. Just don't believe me. Believe God's word. That's it. All right. So you go ahead and you look at that faith journey in Hebrews chapter six, and remember whatever you're going through, well, it's in His hands. Ultimately, in His hands, we have to have enough faith and trust in Him that He'll be there when we need Him. And there's another scripture that says, "I will supply all your needs. You see, it's all there, folks. All right, that's it. God bless you. Thanks for listening, and God bless the United States of America. Thanks for listening. Again, God bless you and your loved ones.