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Rick: Hello, folks.
It's time for another chat session.
Welcome to Safe at Home.
Jude, who's behind the camera,
joined me this morning for a little walk down to the creek.
This reminds me of a mountain stream,
even though there aren't any mountains here in this
part of southern Illinois, although there are hills.
You can't really tell now.
The trees are all in full bloom.
But when it's fall or winter --
when those seasons are holding sway --
you can see that there's a very steep hill,
and it's our version of a mountain.
It's the closest we get.
You might even be able to pick up,
with this microphone, the sound of a babbling brook
during this show.
Let me move close.
I just love the way the water goes over the rocks.
We stumbled upon this land 20 years ago,
and moved here about seven-and-a-half years ago,
as of this taping.
I have to kind of exercise caution, folks,
as I negotiate these rocks.
So far, no slips.
So I don't mean to be rude if I don't look your way.
Cathy and I first discovered this land
almost 20 years ago.
At that time, we had seven.
Number Eight was on the way.
It was October of '91.
As we tape, it's 2011.
So within a few months, it will be 20 years.
We took a drive that day with the seven young boys,
Paul being the oldest.
Let's see -- in 1991, he would have been 11.
Number Eight was on the way.
That would turn out to be Seth,
who would be born on Christmas Day that year.
We were out here that day, just driving around on a Saturday,
and came out here, and saw that this was for sale.
We knew that we had a tight family budget, but we just told God,
"Hey, we would like to move to a place like this out in the open."
Oh, I have an ant going up my leg.
Hey, Jude, he's going to make it on the Safe at Home show, huh?
Anyway, there's probably a lesson in that somewhere.
There probably -- I think there's a lesson in that.
Everything's a parable.
That little ant actually made it onto national TV.
Or just choosing to crawl up my leg -- it was bold.
All the other ants were a little timid.
This ant said, "Hey, I'm going to go for it,"
and it actually has a little corner of Safe at Home history.
But anyway, on that day in October of '91,
when Cathy and I and the seven guys came out here,
the farm field was just loaded with weeds.
There was no crop.
The weeds at that time, when we would come out for
subsequent visits, would be as tall as nine feet.
The spot where I'm standing is about 600 feet
away from the front road.
We would park the van there,
and Cathy and the younger kids would stay there,
because we didn't want to lose anyone.
And I would plunge through this thicket and try to work
my way back here, trying to get to know the land,
sort of praying, and listening, and seeing --
"God, is this a place we should --
"will we be able to buy this land?
"It's for sale.
"We saw the sign."
And we prayed about it.
And it turned out -- just a beautiful series of circumstances.
The guy who was selling it was an older gentleman --
had raised six sons.
He had envisioned the land to be used in his later
days as a place for his grandchildren to come
closer to God and to Jesus.
He was a strong, committed Christian.
He had actually been in the concentration camps of
Europe during World War II.
Still had the tattoo.
He was from Poland.
A very strong Christian.
He's passed on since then.
But it's as if the land, in his heart,
had been consecrated to God for these purposes,
to share the Good News and the love of Jesus with others.
But his wife died, and he was forced to sell.
When we came along, it's like -- we clicked.
The price that we offered and the price that he accepted was just --
it was perfectly meshed.
Well, anyway, I'm going to switch gears now as we go
to our first break.
You recall in one of the last shows,
one of the more recent shows,
we presented a conversation that I had
had with Lance Berkman of the St. Louis Cardinals,
one of the best hitters -- pure hitters --
in all of baseball and a committed Christian,
someone who has really influenced the clubhouse on that team.
Looks like we're having some changing
leaves already, by the way.
This is late July, July 30th, as we tape this.
The Classic is a few weeks away,
but already we see hints of fall.
But anyway, during this coming segment,
I'll come back and talk for a couple of minutes,
and then I'll show you another interview that I
did over at the ballparks -- Busch Stadium.
And that was with Matt Holliday,
an outfielder with the Cardinals,
also a Christian believer.
Cathy and I had the pleasure of sitting down
and talking with Matt a few weeks ago.
So we have that interview on tape.
We'll present it to you in the next segment.
So stick around, and I'll be right back.
Rick: Welcome back, folks.
You know, I was noticing these stones and how
smoothly worn they are.
We talked in one of the last episodes of the show,
when I was over on that part of the land --
you might have seen the show.
There was a ditch in the dirt that had been carved
out during the last seven years,
since we built the house.
In fact, I sort of created the ditch when I was using
the tractor, and I started giving a path --
I kind of encouraged the water, little by little,
to go that way.
So from the front street, which is about 600 feet
from where I stand, the water now snakes its way
back along this little stream,
which is just through earth and dirt,
not through rock.
And the stream is very little.
In dry weather, there's hardly any water in it.
It's sort of just a little etching in the lawn,
so to speak, during dry times.
And even during very wet times,
it's only this wide.
And it sort of curves its way through the lawn.
But here, we see rock.
Just think -- the steadiness of this soft
flow of water has over the years worn down these
rocks to this depth, and the higher rock is here.
You can't really say what day --
when did it happen?
What was the crowning moment when it went from here to here?
It's so gradual, you can't say.
It's sort of like a snowflake.
When the roof of some great dome stadium
collapses in winter due to a snowstorm,
at least one snowflake had to cause the collapse.
Which snowflake was it?
It's sort of like the old saying of the straw that
broke the camel's back.
To me, this reminds me of prayer and consistency.
Maybe a wall or a stronghold within our
lives doesn't fall today or tomorrow,
but we're constantly eroding it and weakening it.
Whatever we're feeding is growing stronger,
and whatever we're starving --
and when I say "starve," I mean in the sense of
starving out a sin, or a thought pattern, or an attitude --
that is weakening.
And it may not happen overnight.
We live in sort of an instant culture.
And that can breed unrealistic expectations
in terms of our walk with God.
Who knows?
Sometimes God might even delay the response that we
would like to see, so that we can fall more in love
with Him than in the object that we're seeking.
Well, as we promised before the break,
I have an interview for you.
We chatted with Matt Holliday of the Cardinals
a short time ago.
Like a lot of Major Leaguers,
his faith in Jesus is lived out in sort of an understated way.
It's beautiful.
I've talked with Major Leaguers since the late '70s --
interviewed them for some books that I did
that contained profiles of Christian athletes.
I've done a radio show, a lot of TV work,
presenting these to the public -- these stories.
What I like about them is the fact that these guys
talk from the heart.
They don't use a lot of theological --
a lot of complexity, a lot of --
a wealth of words.
They just speak from heart,
and they use everyday analogies.
It's not that they aren't --
they're not smart enough.
A lot of these guys were straight-A students and fine athletes,
well-rounded people in high school and in college.
It's just that they've learned to walk it out.
And when you're walking it,
you don't need to talk about it a lot.
So when they do talk about it, sometimes the words,
especially in the case of these last two interviews --
Berkman, in the previous show, and this one coming up --
these guys live it consistently enough --
and we're all not -- no one's perfect.
I'm sure they'll be the first to tell you that
they have dings and dents in their character.
That's why we need Jesus.
His -- God sees us through the blood of Jesus,
and sees us as if we are as innocent as a lamb,
as if we are as innocent as Jesus,
because the same innocence and righteousness that
Jesus had and possessed He shared with us,
and took our place on the cross.
So it's not a contest to see who's the most perfect.
But we are all seeking a perfection of our
character, too, and we are called to be like Him,
to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.
And we talked earlier about this process,
just letting the water of God's love -- His Spirit --
erode, and conquer, and wash away the hardness,
the hard shell of our rebellion, and our pride,
and our resentment, and false independence.
And that's what happens right here --
a smooth avenue, a smooth thoroughfare.
And as these guys are smooth hitters --
in the same sense that they are smooth hitters and great athletes,
they are a success story in their private lives, too,
and that's because of the foundation upon which they are built.
I think I went a little long -- didn't I -- in my setup,
so we'll go into the next segment,
and then I promise you --
in fact, I won't talk beyond 30 seconds,
and then I'll throw you to the interview with Matt Holliday.
Be right back.
Rick: Hey, welcome back, folks.
During the break, Jude, our expert cameraman,
worked his way down the hill and came into the stream with me.
And he's standing on a rock.
It's not slippery, but it's very rounded.
But he is, I think, our most sure-footed son.
I mean, I think, within the family,
everyone would agree, in softball,
he's very balanced as he plays third base or he pitches.
Anyway, I promised that I wouldn't get in the way of the interview,
and I'm going to keep that promise.
Here's our conversation with Matt Holliday of the
St. Louis Cardinals.
We're talking with Matt Holliday of the Cardinals.
And we've watched you just as any fans of this area would,
and heard a lot about your good work off the field.
Everyone knows how hard you hit a ball on the field.
But this show, as I said before the cameras were rolling,
is about the person behind the uniform.
And there's a lot more that goes to Matt Holliday
than what we see on the field,
in terms of faith and family.
Matt: I hope so.
[laughing]
Rick: Well, even on the field is pretty impressive.
Matt: Well, you know, I don't think, eternally,
it'll be all that impressive.
So I -- a follower of Jesus, and a husband,
and a father, and a friend,
and then hopefully, a good teammate,
and hopefully, doing God's will to the best of my ability, and --
or best -- hopefully, with His help.
So that's kind of who I am as a person.
Rick: And it takes a lot of -- it's amazing for you to say that,
that this stuff might not be as important.
I guess that when you go 0 for 5, or something happens,
you always know that there's that rock underneath you.
Matt: Yeah. That doesn't mean it's not frustrating.
I think, as a competitive person and an athlete,
this is my job, and this is something that --
it is important to me, but at the same time,
like I said, the eternal importance of it is more about relationships,
and your teammates, and how you're serving,
than necessarily, how many hits you're getting.
But like I said, I'm not perfect,
and I get frustrated, but at the end of the day,
remembering what's most important is always a nice
thing to fall back on.
Rick: And there's a support group, isn't there?
A lot of people feel the same way on this team.
There's kind of a community within a community, isn't there?
Matt: Absolutely.
We have a lot of great guys that are --
they're followers, and a lot of non-believers that are
great guys as well, that I spend a lot of time with,
and try to share the Gospel with a little bit.
And so it's a great group of guys,
it's a fun team to be on, and we have a lot of fun together.
Rick: And of course, this is --
our show is on a national network, on NRB Christian network,
and there are people all over 50 states who will see this.
But they might -- a lot of people follow the
Cardinals in every state.
Have you found that in your travels,
that the Cardinals are kind of unique in that way?
Matt: It's pretty great. Yeah.
I mean, having come from the Rockies, which --
there wasn't a whole lot of history.
You don't find a lot of fan --
we had a great fan base in Colorado,
but there wasn't kind of the national following
that you have with the Cardinals in other cities.
And I'd put it up there with the Red Sox and the
Yankees as far as going on the road.
And you have a lot of fans there.
And it almost feels like a home game in some of these places.
Rick: Well, just wrapping up, just --
I will ask a baseball question.
This is -- as we tape, we're at the All-Star Break.
There's a four-way race for first place.
It's a lot of fun, isn't it?
Matt: Yeah. I mean, it's early.
You really don't really start getting into the
heat of the battle and the race until you get into September,
but it looks like there's going to be some
competitive teams, and it's going to be a
dogfight to the end.
And we're getting healthy, so I think we have a good shot at it,
if we continue to play well and play hard.
Rick: Well, God bless you and your family.
Thanks for taking some minutes with us.
Matt: Yeah. My pleasure.
Rick: Oh, welcome back, folks.
Wasn't that a good conversation with Matt?
He's one of those guys --
it's sort of a cliché, but he lets his bat do the talking.
He's well-respected in St. Louis and around baseball,
and a lot of it stems from the consistency
of his Christian character.
Well, let's -- I hear some rumbles in the distance, Jude.
I think we'll be okay.
We're down in a valley.
If lightning really starts to flash around us,
we'll have to pause the show,
but I think we'll get it in.
It sounds several miles away.
Anyway, let's go to a break and be back for the final segment.
[distant thunder]
Rick: You know, Jude, there is some thunder in the area.
I'm glad we're wrapping up this show,
because we have a 600-foot walk back to the house,
and you really shouldn't walk across an open field in lightning --
tip of the day --
especially when you're carrying a big camera made of metal.
So we'll try to preserve Jude's safety and finish this quickly.
What did you think of that Matt Holliday interview?
Did you like that?
We're going to try to get over to the stadium soon
and do another one.
Speaking of baseball, this year's Softball Classic
event is coming up.
If this airs in your city before Labor Day weekend,
you still have time to jump in the car or grab a
plane and come to our 13th Annual Softball Classic.
That name can be a little misleading.
There's a lot of softball.
The guys and I play a triple-header,
and we reach out to the community.
It's basically a big Arndt-family picnic at a public park.
We invite softball teams --
really, Chicago ball teams this year,
although we'll be playing softball -- the guys and I.
We invite them out to the park.
Boy, it's really getting black over there, Jude.
We'll have to show the folks in a minute.
But we invite the folks out to the park.
It's free of charge.
We have -- it's a slice of yesteryear.
We have game stands, kiddie stands,
some Christian music.
It's kind of a small operation,
so we get to mingle and meet people.
It's as if we're hosting it in our own backyard,
only we need a larger place, so we go to a park.
Anyway, if you'd like to come out, it just --
it makes a nice, little vacation.
On the night before, those who are going to be
helping in the stands attend a bonfire with us,
and the following day, those who are helpers join
us for a little service, a prayer meeting,
to kind of look back -- kind of a wrap party --
the day after the Classic.
It runs over the Labor Day weekend.
And if you're interested, come on out.
It you want some information,
contact us through the website.
And it's tremendously black.
There might be a tornado on the horizon.
Look at that over there, Jude.
I mean -- we interrupt this show to bring you
a weather statement.
A big, dark patch of clouds is coming this way real rapidly,
and thunder is rumbling.
So I don't know if you can get that on camera.
But I guess, for now, I'll just kind of wind down the show.
And pray for us, folks.
We don't want to go out in a flash of glory.
We want to live to do more Safe at Home shows.
By the way, the Classic -- you could bring Grandma,
bring the little kids, bring your lawn chairs.
It's under the shade trees of a park.
We hope we won't have weather like this.
I felt a drop of rain, by the way.
And we just invite you to come on out.
Watch the Arndt family play a triple-header.
People say that there's something about it that inspires and lifts them,
and I really think it's the presence of God,
the presence of Jesus.
We invite Him to occupy the park and just run the whole show.
And we don't want people to just hear about God.
We want them to experience Him.
So we don't come at them with a Bible-pounding approach.
We let it come naturally and organically.
Let's say I'm interviewing one of the Cardinal
players about his walk with Jesus.
He'll chat right there on home plate, before the game --
I have a microphone,
and he'll share the day that he decided to surrender it all,
and ask God for forgiveness, and welcome Jesus.
Things like that.
Anyway, it is getting a little bit --
things look a bit menacing over that way,
so Jude, maybe we ought to pack it up.
Have I filled the show?
A few more minutes?
A few more seconds?
I've done well?
Okay, folks.
Lord, we just pray for the folks out there who are listening,
each individual, each family --
physical healing, and emotional needs,
employment, finances,
but mainly, the core issues of the relationship
that each person has or should have with you.
Straighten that out first, God,
and then we know everything else will fall in place.
See you next time.
Wow.