Roger Marsh: Welcome back to Family Talk. I'm Roger Marsh. If you're an automotive enthusiast, a car collector or just a car crazy guy or gal, then you may be familiar with our guest today here on Family Talk. His name is Barry Meguiar, and today we're going to hear part two of a truly inspiring, and classic conversation featuring him and our own Dr. James Dobson. Barry Meguiar is the president and third generation leader of Meguiar's Inc. You may have seen his car wax at a store near you. His grandfather, Frank Meguiar Jr., founded Meguiar's all the way back in 1901.
Now before we begin today's broadcast, I want to remind you that all month long we have a special matching grant in place. And if you make a donation during this month of December, your financial contribution will go twice as far thanks to some very special friends of our ministry. Just think of how your donation can help others and impact families. You can make a donation online when you go to drjamesdobson.org. That's drjamesdobson.org, or give us a call at 877-732-6825. That's 877-732-6825. We gratefully appreciate your prayers and your ongoing financial support, especially this time of year. I also want to let you know that today's program is included in the 2023 Broadcast Collection as well. Now let's join Barry Meguiar and our own Dr. James Dobson for today's edition of Family Talk.
Barry Meguiar: Folks, the book is called Ignite Your Life, and I promise you it will ignite your life not because of what I say. The book is full of Scriptures as you know, Jim, reading through it, but those Scriptures will ignite your life when you realize the imperative He puts on us. There's one Scripture that says, "why." You know in Isaiah 43:10, He explains it. Folks read Isaiah 43:10, it will blow you away. Thus sayeth the Lord, "I appointed you as my witness so that you'll know and understand and believe that I am God." He didn't say you understand more. He's basically saying you won't really understand until you start sharing your faith. Because when you do that and you start sharing it and you feel God moving through you, literally as you're speaking, you feel Him, and He starts moving through you and He's speaking through you, and giving the word to say and lives are changing in front of you. Folks, there's no other way to have that kind of intimacy with God. You can't. You can't have that kind of intimacy to God any other way, to have God speak through you like that, and you could do it every day. And then when you do that, you're having wholehearted faith. And when you have wholehearted faith, He says, "Trust me with your whole heart, I'll direct your steps." And He says in James 1, "When you have wholehearted faith, I'll answer your prayers." And He says in John 15:11, "And when you bear fruit, I'll give you joy every day."
Folks, do you want to know that God is answering your prayers every day? Do you want to know that God every day is directed in your steps? Do you want to have joy every day? Do you want to defeat fear effortlessly? It's in the Scriptures and in this book. I got to tell you, it's not about me. I don't take any money. We don't. The money all goes to the ministry. But this book, it's called Ignite Your Life. If you follow the Scriptures, I promise you it will ignite your life. It really will. It's for real.
Dr. James Dobson: You know Barry that I believe everything you just said.
Barry Meguiar: Well, you live it, Jim.
Dr. James Dobson: I believe it, and the Lord has blessed me accordingly.
Barry Meguiar: Yeah, absolutely.
Dr. James Dobson: But I was at Children's Hospital for a period of time.
Barry Meguiar: Yes.
Dr. James Dobson: 17 years as a matter of fact. I saw a lot of children dying, and I saw parents weeping. And how do you pull together this joy with those moments when you're about to suffer an incredible loss?
Barry Meguiar: Yeah, it's a deep question, but a really important question. Because people say, "Well, what about me?" well, I was dying. And then God changes things. Even if He doesn't. Mrs. Demato, let me give you a good example. Mrs. Demato, she's dying in the hospital. She's been through months of painful cancer. Godly lady, loves the Lord, just unbelievable. Raised a great family, five kids. She can't get away from her pain. We watch that process. She dies. We go to her funeral. I'm mad. I mean I'm mad, and I don't mind telling God. He's big enough. He puts up with us.
There's been a number of times where I've been mad at God, and I went to that funeral mad. Why would you do that to Mrs. Demato? During that funeral, three different nurses got up and said the same story, but each one in their own words. Each one said, "I met Mrs. Demato. I was captured by her joy, by her love, by her caring for me in spite of her pain. And then I couldn't believe her joy through her pain. And I decided that's the God I want to have. And I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior."
The third nurse said, "The day she died, I was walking down the hallway and I heard Mrs. Demato singing a hymn." Do you know that our testimony is a lot stronger in the darkness because when you have joy in the midst of the pain, because this life is for a moment, and of course all those children you're talking about, they're in Heaven, right? They're all in Heaven. They're not accountable. They're on their way to Heaven and all the things. If you use your pain folks, if you share your love for God, your excitement to be able to share Him in the midst of your pain, my testimony was a lot stronger when I was dying in the hospital than now. They look at me, "Berry Meguiar's got a beautiful wife, got a business, cars. Why would he not be smiling?" It actually hurts my testimony. Those who are hurting have a much stronger testimony.
Dr. James Dobson: For people who are listening to us now and have questions about pain and about difficulty and sorrow, it would appear that you and Karen are oblivious to sorrow. I know I better because I know what you lived through when you lost your daughter.
Barry Meguiar: We've been through stuff. And I tell you folks, if you're in one of these desperate situations, don't waste it. Don't waste the opportunity. You have a bigger opportunity right now to lead people to Jesus Christ than any other time in your life. When it all goes by and you're back to healthy and happy, you probably won't nearly have the power that you have right now. You have power. I had one gal dying in the hospital, and she wasn't strong until she got her cancer, and then she got strong in sharing her faith and she got down where I could barely hear her voice. And finally, I had to just do some stuff on the internet with her to talk to her. She knew she was dying. I said, "He's keeping you alive because there is yet somebody else to come through that door." That He wants you to minister to.
But of course, we lost our daughter. She's 49 years old. She was the alter ego of me. She had the best of me and the worst of me. She was a car guy. She loved cars and she went through great pain in her life, great pain. And whenever she was in that pain, she ran and hid and went into the Word. Her son just texted me a few days ago and said, "I'm reading through my mom's study Bible that you gave her, and almost every verse is noted and I'm growing. I cannot believe how I'm growing spiritually closer to God because of the notes she wrote when she was in her pain."
When she came out of her quiet times, she had a radar for hurting people and we had people, even now she's been gone four years, even now we have people coming up to us emotionally telling us how she led them to the Lord or she got them to through a tough spot. When she spoke, it was spellbound and people, when she was praying, people would be slain in the spirit. This is a gal with great flaws. She struggled with the addiction, and she fought through all that and was just a warrior for God, and then unexpectedly God took her.
Dr. James Dobson: Did the Lord ever answer the why question for you?
Barry Meguiar: I don't really need a why. He took her at His timing. It's amazing when you're understanding God's in control. We got the why answer from ... 1,000 people came to her funeral. All right? 1,000 people. And I told the story. I knew most of them would not be Christians, and all of them loved Nicole. And I got to speak there only by the power of the Holy Spirit was able to do it, and I gave them a full blast message to the love of God and how this life is like a flower, it withers away in a moment. We got eternity. She's in eternity, and I'm so excited about her being eternity. I said, "She's laughing now. Why should I be unhappy? She's laughing." I'm sorry. I did. I cry all these tears. But do you know that Nicole Meguiar's celebration of life ceremony is on YouTube?
Nicole Meguiar's celebration of life, over 11,000 people. Who watches a funeral? Seriously, who watches a video of a funeral? And this is probably, a lot of people who didn't even know her, but we had an altar call. We had people saved, and we've had reports. It could be hundreds of people have been saved as a result of her passing. You know.
Dr. James Dobson: You're not tempted to say, why me, Lord?
Barry Meguiar: No.
Dr. James Dobson Why take my daughter?
Barry Meguiar: This life is nothing.
Dr. James Dobson: I loved her. You gave her to me. She came from your hand.
Barry Meguiar: And we're going to be with her for eternity. This is a moment. This is just a moment. Do I pain for her? Of course, I hear her voice every once in a while. I've got her picture on my phone laughing, and I see her. Every time I see her. I say, and you're happier now than you were when we took this picture. That fills me with joy. We could take it and just say, oh, it's so horrible. Why? Why would you do that, God? All these whys. You never know why, but we know who God is, and we know He's a personification of love and truth and righteousness, and He's blessing us, and He uses everything.
And quite frankly, God's view of good, let's talk about this just for a second. When He says, "I'll make everything work together for good," you could look at Mrs. Demato, and say, well, that wasn't good for Mrs. Demato. She had all that pain for months and died in the hospital in pain. That wasn't good. Oh, let me tell you, when Mrs. Demato got to Heaven and she found out that three more people came into Heaven because of her, do you think she's complaining? No. God's view of good is salvation. God's view of good is souls.
How can I use Barry Meguiar? How can I use Jim Dobson to get the most people possible into Heaven? And if I can do that with some kind of a crazy death for Barry, then I'm going to do it because I know because of that, a lot of people more people going to be watching and they're going to get the brunt of the message, and they'll get into Heaven. For God, it's all about one thing. Getting as many people in Heaven as possible. And for us, it's the very same thing. It's not about stuff. We've lost a lot of close friends. You and I both have over these last few years. It's way beyond. His thoughts are way beyond our thoughts. For us to question God, that's so absurd. God loves us.
Dr. James Dobson: And yet all of us do it.
Barry Meguiar: And we're all going to be together for eternity. In the twinkling of an eye, that rapture's going to happen. We're all going to be together. I mean, come on. In the meantime, let's finish the race. You're finishing the race strong, Jim. And I'll tell you folks, I've known this man since I was 14 years old. I've known a lot of famous people in the church, a lot. And when I get closer to some of them, a lot of them actually, I found out that they weren't what I thought they were. That when they got off on the side and over meals and stuff, their interests and conversations and stuff were so far anything. What on earth? This is not the person I thought I knew. But I can tell you folks, I've known Jim up close since I was 14 years old. I'm now 80 years old. This man has never changed. Karen and I marvel at it. You're a rock in our life. You both have been rocks in our life.
Dr. James Dobson: You're very kind.
Barry Meguiar: It's true. And so you have been a standard for us, and I think we could have had wandered many times. We have close friends who have wandered into false doctrines, apostacies, all kinds of crazy things. It just breaks your heart.
Dr. James Dobson: Sure have.
Barry Meguiar: We've stayed true. You've stayed true. You've been a rock for us. We've needed you, your strength. I'm speaking now for a whole lot of folks listening to us right now. Jim Dobson doesn't move.
Dr. James Dobson: I don't feel worthy of that.
Barry Meguiar: Well, it is so true, and I don't know if anybody could say it better because I don't know anybody known you longer. But no, this thing of standing strong and serving God and loving God, your focuses move everybody every day closer to Jesus. Everybody, you hear me? I say I'm talking about everybody. I pulled up at a restaurant last week, a guy who was driving the car and he pulled up, a guy that knows you, Jay Snyder, and we pulled in a parking lot to go to lunch with Dave Dubecki, and he just picked that parking place and right in front of me, was a guy in a tank top with tattoos and dreadlocks. And he's got his hood up. I ran to him, "Can I help you?" He said, "Oh no." And he got out a big bottle, Sparkletts bottle, the old big bottles for the machines and he's filling his radiator out of this big old bottle. I said, "What's going on here?" He said, "Well, I got a radiator leak." I said, "That's a lot of water for a radiator leak."
He's, "I just got here from Alabama. I just arrived, and I've had a radiator leak all the way across the country. So I decided I can't stop at a gas station. Never know what I'm going to need it, so I just got me a big bottle of water." I said, "That is brilliant, man. What are you up here for?" He's like, "I can't get a job in Alabama. I have a wife and a kid I got to support. A friend of mine said he has a trucking job out here, and so I'm coming out to meet him and see if I can get that job." I said, "You ever been a trucker before?" "No." "Do you know what you're going to do?" "I have no idea." "A little worried about that?" "Yeah. You think."
I said, "I started a little company way back when and I didn't know what I was doing. I stumbled onto this verse, 'Trust the Lord with your whole heart and don't depend on your own understanding and all your ways to acknowledge Him, and He, God will direct your steps.'" He says, "Really?" I said, "I tell you what, I got a little card here." We have these cards. You get them off our website, igniteamerica.com. They're called Seeking God cards. I hand this card. Said, "Everything I'm telling you a whole lot more is on our Seeking God cards. You just take this card. It'll open up and show you how much God loves you and how easy it is to be in sync with God. Allow Him to direct your steps and take all your fear away." Do we think I did not have his attention? So I said, "Can I pray for you?" He said, "Would you?" So I held him and I prayed, and it was a Holy Ghost prayer.
It wasn't me. God orchestrate ... If I'd park somewhere else in the apartment, I wouldn't even seen him, right? I mean, the miracle was just getting there. And then I'm talking to this guy. This young kid from Alabama with a broken radiator sitting there in fear, having no idea what he is going to do with the rest of his life. And He sends me into his life. And so I pray for him and when we finish, he hugs me so tightly. He hugs me so tightly, and he says, "Thank you, thank you, thank you. God bless you." Now, I didn't get him saved. Did I move him closer to Jesus? Oh yeah. Do you think I was dancing a little jig, walking to that restaurant then to see Dave Dubecki? Absolutely. I mean, wow. Folks, He's around us all the time and He brings the people into our lives.
He brings it. He orchestra. He directs their steps and our steps and then we have these amazing ... You can't prepare for these conversations. That's a joke. You can't possibly prepare. But God sets you up and then He gives you the words to say. It's just the greatest thing in life. There's nothing greater than this. And you know what? When He does that, He blesses the rest of your life. Everything else works for good. It's okay to mention your petitions of course, but make sure your prayers are filled with God. God, I love you. You saved me. You'd love me. How can you possibly love me? As wretched as I am, you love me. And by the death of your son, the Christ, you see me white as snow, and I'm going to spend eternity with you, rein over the angels. What can I do for you? You can move everybody every day closer to Jesus.
Dr. James Dobson: That's such a beautiful message.
Barry Meguiar: It's true.
Dr. James Dobson: The world is hurting.
Barry Meguiar: It is.
Dr. James Dobson: The world is crying.
Barry Meguiar: It is.
Dr. James Dobson: They're dying, and you've got a message straight out of Scripture.
Barry Meguiar: This is all Scripture. It's not me. And when we're hurting, we send focus on our hurt. God, help me in this hurt. Help me get out of this hurt. I need to get out of this hurt. Where are you, God? And then it's not happening. Well, if you're worrying and praying at the same time, He's not obligated to answer your prayer of course. And if that is taking over your life or your focus on that, He'll let you flap in the wind, folks. He did it to me. I got lots of stories if we had time. I can tell you of stories. One time for two and a half years, just let me flap in the wind until your arms get tired, and you come back and then you just throw it out to it.
The Scriptures are so basic and so profound. If we just do the most basic of scriptures, level over your whole heart. Don't depend on your understanding. But how do you do it with your whole heart? You do it when you know God's making everything in your life work together for good. How do you do that? When you live for God's purpose. The one thing that opens a door, folks for your faith, for making God, obligating God to direct your steps, to answer your prayers, to make everything in your life work together for good is the one thing you don't want to do. You don't want to hear this message. I don't want to do that. I got I'm too busy or I don't have time, or I'm not trained or I don't have ... He didn't say, go into the world, all you have a certain personality, and he didn't say, go in the world and pray or go in the world and read your Bible, and he didn't say, folks, go in the world and be a good person.
Do you know most evangelicals today believe sharing their faith is being a good person? I walked out of a restroom the other day with a close Christian friend and he says to me, "See that guy taking care of the restroom in there?" Yeah. "I slipped him 20 bucks. Told him he was doing a good job." I said, "Well, that's wonderful. What did that accomplish?" "Well, I made him feel real good." "Yeah, I think it made you feel real good too, right?" "Yeah. Well, yeah." I said, "You're telling me about it." "Yeah." "Had you ever thought of that you could have slipped in that same $20 bill, but understanding that was a nudge from God, and say to him, 'God just prompted me to give you a $20 bill just to tell you that He wants you to know He loves you.' Look at the difference. Same amount of time, same amount of time. Didn't cost you anymore."
We could do that every day. People have a smile on the top, but underneath, they're hurting. That's why violence is so prevalent today. Right under there's anger, but you know what? That means they're that close. They want to believe there's a God. They'd like to believe there's a God. Well, can somebody tell me about God? And we're afraid. We're hiding it under a bushel basket, and God holds us accountable. Ezekiel 3 makes that real clear. If you don't tell them, if you don't warn them, they will die in their sins and their blood to be on your hands. There's a lot of strong Scriptures on this, folks. It is more than just something. It's not a suggestion. It is the Great Commission.
Dr. James Dobson: You love the Scriptures, don't you Barry?
Barry Meguiar: Oh man. Well, you and I, we went through lifetime of Scriptures and study them. And for us, it's 50 years. Look at the Scriptures through the eyes of faith sharers. Right? If you'll decide from this broadcast, I'm going to try this, and I don't have to train. There's nothing to study. You can go to our website and it'll tell you all kinds of ways to do it. Our website is igniteamerica.com. There's no passwords, no sign-ins. You don't tell us who you are. You can't give us any money. It's about your ministry. Igniteamerica.com's about your ministry, and I help you understand how much fun it is. And we have all kinds of testimonies from people that don't look like me. Quiet people, old people, all the ethnicities, all having the same fun.
I'm not unique. They're all over the place. Do you know that over 80% of the unchurched already have a Christian in their life that they trust? Do you realize we could ignite America the revival in about 30 days without spending a dime if we just got off the bench and got into the game? We're hiding it. We're hiding it. God's holding us accountable. But more than that, you're robbing yourself of joy, knowing God's directing your steps, knowing He's answering your prayers. All those come to fore when you get off the bench and get into the game and live for God's purpose to seek and save the loss or as we say, to move everybody every day closer to Jesus, and that will ignite your life. It will.
Dr. James Dobson: Barry, you share Scriptures we have all read and seen. Why do we not see it?
Barry Meguiar: Oh my. That is such a paradox, isn't it? Most of the Scriptures in this book, and I say it in the book, and most numbers, Scripture you've heard all your life, you'll swear by them. But 80% of all Christians are living in fear. So there's a disconnect between what we read, we quote, we sing, we believe, and what we live. And the Scriptures are the word of God. We need to go back to basics. Unless you have the faith of a little child, right? Okay, if I trust you with my whole heart, you direct by steps. Oh, okay, I got it. But we just go on and we don't think he's director of steps and we don't know where He is, and we distance ourself from God.
It comes down to personal choice. Of course, that's about salvation. He gives this wonderful gift to us, but it's our decision to make. And folks, let me just say this. When you get to Heaven, the only thing it's going to matter is, how many people are in Heaven because of your influence? There's one characteristic that salt and light share in common. They both change their environment, right? Salt changes its environment. Light changes its environment. Here's the question as you're listening to me right now, folks. Are you changing your environment or is the environment changing you?
Easier question to answer. Is the environment changing the church today or is the church changing the environment? I think that one, sadly, that one's so easy to answer. So when you send somebody to church, you're better send them to a church that's preaching the Word of God. But the bottom line is, are you changing your environment? The bottom line is, are you moving people closer to Jesus? The bottom line is when you get to Heaven, the only thing will matter is how many people are going to be in Heaven because we didn't get them saved, but because of our influence, they realize who Jesus and accepted the Lord, and to be a part of that process. If we just got one person into Heaven because of our actions, how great that would be.
Dr. James Dobson: That message will set the soul on fire.
Barry Meguiar: Yes, exactly.
Dr. James Dobson: Let me close with a reaction. Many years ago, I was sitting in a library thinking about things related to what we've talked about today and yesterday. And it all for me came down to three things. Who you loved, who loved you, and what you did together in the service of the Lord. That's really the essence of it.
Barry Meguiar: Yeah. Amen.
Dr. James Dobson: And to follow the precepts of the Scripture.
Barry Meguiar: Yeah.
Dr. James Dobson: Thank you for coming here to share that message with our listening audience. Thank you for writing Ignite Your Life and may it sell a million copies.
Barry Meguiar: Whatever. The right people will get it, and I'm comfortable with that.
Dr. James Dobson: Thank you, Barry.
Barry Meguiar: God bless you, Jim.
Roger Marsh: Well, amen. God really does love you and I hope today's message really inspired your heart. I pray that you will truly let Him ignite your life and direct your steps. By the way if you enjoyed the conversation you've just heard over the past couple days, you'll want to make sure you get a copy of our 2023 Broadcast Collection. To get this 5-Disc CD set or to get it as a digital download, all you have to do is visit drjamesdobson.org/2023. We are a listener supported broadcast outreach and we remain on the air only through the generosity and encouragement of loyal listeners just like you. Remember that for the month of December, we have a matching grant in place, so any donation you make, every single dollar you donate will have double the impact. The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute has big plans for 2024 to help even more families to stand up for righteousness and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Please join with us as we continue to fulfill this tremendous work the Lord is doing through our ministry. Remember you can give online at drjamesdobson.org. That's drjamesdobson.org, or call 877-732-6825.
I'm Roger Marsh and from all of us here at the JDFI, thank you so much for being a part of our ministry, and may God continue to richly bless you and your family as you grow deeper in your relationship with Him.
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