Sundays with Chuck

Dearest Pastor Chuck,
Because of one sentence I heard in a message you gave 33 years ago this month, I am here today and want to thank you! I had just suffered a miscarriage and my marriage was in a shambles. I had a one year old and a marriage counselor had told me to take that baby and run. The black hole I was in was seemingly insurmountable. I was driving home one night, in tears, and listening to your message. I don't recall the topic, but so clearly I remember you saying something about "Nothing makes the enemy rejoice more than a Christian who takes their own life." That's where I was at that time. I had no desire to live here on Earth any longer. . . .

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  • —I felt I was failing in every way and to be with the Lord would be the only way to make that feeling end. But your words caught me & jerked me back to a sense of purpose in light of being a Christian. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I sought personal counseling for depression. Though our marriage didn't survive 15 years later, I had two more children and the blessing of being a mother to those three masterpieces brings me to tears of thanks daily! God has used my struggle with depression to comfort other mothers suffering loss, even to this day. Had I not heard that sentence from you that moment, the enemy would have won on so many levels. Thank you for your Biblical wisdom & sharing it so freely with the world!

I first heard Pastor Chuck preach on my local Christian radio station over 33 years ago. I was a very young mom and had my first office job. The previous employee had the radio set to that radio station, and, when I arrived my first morning on the job and turned on the radio, I left the dial where it was because I liked the friendly voices and relaxed banter between the morning hosts. From 10:30 to 11 am Insight for Living was on, and I enjoyed listening to Pastor Chuck's teaching every weekday. I was already a born-again believer, but my walk was not where it should have been. The Holy Spirit graciously used Pastor Chuck to gently redirect me, and over the next seven years he was incredibly instrumental in discipling me. . . .

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  • I was raised in a fundamental church and I will always value the foundation I received there, but it was hard, austere, and had not much joy. You can imagine how Pastor Chuck rocked my world to discover that a believer in Jesus is supposed to have joy too! (big smile) Many sermons affected me, and I have a journal of tidbits that I would grab and write down verses and insights that particularly convicted/impacted me.
    But the one that I have repeated to my now-adult daughters is the story of the socks! (I wonder if there is a word limit on this box? LOL) My husband is in agriculture, and it was not uncommon for him to walk fields and get his work socks incredibly grungy. I am blessed to have a husband whose feet do not stink but were those socks ever dirty! When he took them off they would land in the hamper all wadded up with a lb. of soil in them. How that irked me!
    I grumbled, usually NOT under my breath, about that dirt and how I had to shake out the socks . . . how ungracious I must have sounded! Praise God He gave me 38 years and counting to make up to my poor husband for my harsh attitude about those dumb socks.
    How did my attitude turn around? Quite simply, I believe that God was sick of my attitude about them. You decide if you agree with me on that. It had been a morning when I had been particularly aggravated while I was doing laundry, and I was at work listening to Pastor Chuck when all of a sudden he mentioned wives grumbling about their husbands. My ears perked up, and when he mentioned us grumbling about laundry and wadded up socks—I kid you not, He said wadded up socks!—I almost fell out of my chair.
    This was in the mid-1990s, and I remember the force of that conviction as if it had happened an hour ago. Pastor Chuck went on to say that we should use the opportunity of the socks to praise God that we had a husband to wear socks. I am crying even as I type it. Yes, that one sermon completely changed my mindset and attitude. PRAISE GOD!
    A few months went by and I was retelling the story to my sister. I mentioned to her the miracle of how once I stopped complaining about the socks and just did the laundry, my heart changed and I was no longer disgusted by those socks. When I saw them I remembered what Pastor Chuck said, and I thanked God that my husband was a steady provider, a hard worker, that he very seldom complained, and lo and behold the socks no longer bothered me! What a testament to our Father.
    But the story does not end there: a few months after my change of heart, my husband overheard me tell the story to my sister and he remarked that he had no idea that those socks bothered me. (Maybe I had not grumbled as loud as I thought? But God had certainly heard my disquieted spirit.) To this day (30+ years), I kid you not, I have never seen another wadded up sock or very few grains of soil. Can you believe it?
    What a mighty God we serve that He should have Pastor Chuck teach men and women how to be God-honoring spouses, that we should listen to him, and that God should change something as seemingly trivial as an attitude toward socks. I have shared this testimony with sisters and daughters, and it always brings a tear to my eye and a smile to my heart to think of how faithful God is and how faithful Pastor Chuck has been. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for the faithful and available ministry of Insight for Living.
    —S.M. Ohio

These last two and a half years have been some of the hardest years for Corey and I. You, Chuck Swindoll, have been woven in and throughout those years on a daily basis. My husband, Corey, had surgery in 2009 to put a bar in his chest to correct an issue he was born with. Little did we know what was supposed to make his life better ended up shifting his life completely. Corey left the hospital in July, 2009 with a new bar in his chest, a laminated card to let people know he will set off airport alarms and a bottle of pain killers. Corey’s recovery was spent mostly in a recliner, trying not to sneeze or laugh so the bar would not be jarred, and on a routine pain management schedule. As the days, months, and years went on, he continued to have chronic pain. . . .

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  • The stabilizers that were placed on each side of the bar inside his chest caused him so much discomfort; you could even tell exactly what the weather was going to be like that day based on his pain for the day. Every time he would go to the doctor, they would increase the amount of pain medicine he was on in order to get him through. After about four years, the pain medicine had become less about managing pain and more about managing emotions. Corey was running two small businesses at this time and he was constantly in front of people and constantly having to be “on” and felt he could not do it without the medicine. The pills were no longer making it to the end of the month and doctors would not prescribe any more. This was pushing him to a crossroads he never thought he would be at. Do you buy pills off the street and become a man you never thought you would be or do you take care of your issue and give up the only thing you think is letting you survive at the moment? Most would think the answer to this question is a no-brainer but we found, in reality, it is not. We are common, everyday people. We owned two businesses, we have two children, we owned homes, we went to church, our children went to private school, we had been happily married for 14 years. The picture the world shoves out there as “having it altogether” was standing hand-in-hand at an overwhelming crossroads. Corey decided he was done and we walked into our doctors office together and met with the doctor on how to get Corey off of the pills. The doctor laid out a regiment to step him down but Corey did not want to do that. Instead, he stopped cold turkey on October 8, 2017. Our doctor told me what to look out for and what to watch him for and would see us back in 2 weeks to monitor his progress. What followed was two years of an emotional roller coaster ride. Corey pretty much did not get out of bed for the first year. He was emotional all the time, he could not handle making any decisions, interacting with our kids was rough for him. His body was rebelling and his mind was readjusting to life without pills. His businesses suffered because of it and our stability went out the door. (Found out through this process that my "stability" is found in Christ, not money.) YET, even throughout all of this, Chuck Swindoll’s Insight for Living daily devotionals were right there with us along the way. You encouraged us with God’s presence through struggles, you walked us through the refining fire and the promise of purification. You took us through the Psalms and learning to praise and worship in the midst of difficult times. Even though Corey could not get out of bed, he would text me and ask me if I read Chucky’s (our pet name for you) devotional today. We would text and email reminders to each other to read them throughout the week. They were truly wisdom for our souls and often times the encouragement we needed to face the next day! At times, when Corey and I could not express ourselves and what we were feeling, you would write something in one of your devotionals and we would copy and paste it into a text to each other or call one another and declare, “This is it. This is exactly how I am feeling!” It was as if you were walking right beside us, whispering hope and there are no words to express our gratitude. Two and a half years later we are still rebuilding and Corey is getting better each day. There are still tough days but we are working through them. The truths that you put out in the story of David just recently showed us once again that a man’s character will be honored. We are walking along the brook with Elijah right now and truly taking one day at a time. God is revealing Himself and our next step, one act of obedience at a time. We know God is asking us to tell our story in a time when so many look at their situations as hopeless. There is no person we wanted to share our story with more than you, Chuck Swindoll. Thank you for your faithfulness, your wisdom and your dedication to putting forth truth. It truly was and continues to be a blessing to Corey and I.

Pastor Chuck,
I'm an avid listener from Zambia since I heard your authoritative voice on an alarm clock radio in a hotel in DC in 2014. I enjoy how you dramatize the Word with such magnetic effect. You should do a Broadway show and musical; your mentor would love that. I agree, you're a natural. I thought to say, by the time your sight is running away, technology has upped its game, and you can still reference your Book and books. He is still providing for you. Thank you so much for doing His work unto His glory. You have mentored me that way.
—Zambia

Throughout my childhood, my dad’s constant requests for gifts, if asked, were for books or audio tapes of your sermons and insights. As an adult, my husband stumbled across your podcast to listen to on his work commute and would share wisdom and words of truth from them with me, prompting me to tune in to the daily broadcast.
Now, in the busyness of work while raising four small children, my days are made brighter and my spiritual walk has deepened thanks to your accessible and true teaching of the Word of God. I often thank the Lord for your faithfulness and feel, in some way, like you’ve been a part of my family, both the one I was born into and the one my husband and I have now created, for many years. I’m so appreciative of you and your teaching. Thank you.
—Australia

I first came in contact with the ministry of Charles Swindoll in 1977 when I started hearing tapes of his sermons from Fullerton. At that time I was a single missionary on a station in East Sepik of Papua New Guinea. The tapes were regularly sent to the mission and I was able to listen to many of them consecutively. I heard series on John's gospel, Elijah, Psalms and others. With Chuck's teaching, he applied it with stories from his life and family. Through them I came to know about him as a genuine, caring, and empathetic man who felt for the needs of his listeners. As a lonely man a long way from home it was a comfort to hear messages which were uplifting, sensitive, and relevant to my situation. When I returned to New Zealand I continued to hear Insight on Christian radio. In all that time Chuck has remained consistent, biblical, and compassionate of the listeners. The ministry is a testimony to God's faithfulness and provision. Thanks to Chuck and Cynthia and the staff for bringing this wonderful sustenance for the soul. I have recently started to watch online interviews from Reframing Ministries. These too are wonderful, empathetic presentations. Seeing some conversations between Colleen and Chuck were inspiring for me. All praise to God that He has sustained Chuck for many years.
—I.B. New Zealand