5 of the Most Powerful GPS Episodes—And a Preview of What’s to Come

From a shark bite survivor, to an NFL star, to a missionary doctor who nearly died of Ebola, meet some of the most memorable guests from the last eight years of GPS: God. People. Stories. 

Then get ready for a year of powerful new episodes as this Christ-centered podcast returns in March.

You can connect with us through email at gps@billygraham.org or on Billy Graham Radio on Facebook.

Transcript

MUSIC STARTS

Jim Kirkland: There was Tiffany Johnson, vacationing in the Bahamas …

Tiffany Johnson: 
00:00:04 I felt like I had bumped into something. So when I turned to my right to see what I had bumped into, I was literally face to face with a shark, and he had my whole arm in his mouth.

Jim: Pro-football player David Tyree …

David Tyree: 
00:00:17 When I was in that jail cell, I realized I’m 24 years old, NFL Special Teams Rookie of the Year, New York Giants Rookie of the Year, and now I had ruined it all.

Jim: And missionary Gracia Burnham …

Gracia Burnham: 
00:00:29 That began a year of running for our lives from the Philippine military who, of course, right away were notified that there were hostages and they were trying to rescue us, so it was a cat-and-mouse game all year long, for more than a year.

Jim: Their stories are vastly different, but these people have one thing in common: God was with them when they needed Him most.

Phil Fleischman: And that is what this podcast is all about: God … moving in the lives of people … who share their stories with us. I’m Phil Fleischman.

Jim: And I’m Jim Kirkland. This is GPS: God. People. Stories., an outreach of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Coming up: a taste of what you can expect as we return with brand-new episodes.
 
Phil: Those new episodes will be posted every other Wednesday, and as always, each episode will feature a word from our late founder, Billy Graham …

Billy Graham: 
00:01:25 Jesus never gave a sermon but what He used, illustrations and stories. He always told some simple story to illustrate a profound spiritual truth. 

Phil: You’ll hear more from Billy Graham about the power of stories in just a few minutes, but now is a good time to tap “Subscribe” or “Follow” to keep up with GPS on your favorite podcast app. Then, you won’t miss the new episodes coming out early next month.

Jim: We would also love to hear from you. If you have a comment about something you’ve heard on GPS, or a suggestion for a new episode, or someone we would need to speak with, you think, drop us a line at GPS@billygraham.org. And you can always connect with us on Facebook too. Look for “Billy Graham Radio.”

Intro: GPS: God. People. Stories.

MUSIC TRANSITION

Kent Brantly: 
00:02:17 I woke up feeling bad and I really thought that it was just an upset stomach from the pizza and Tabasco sauce I had eaten the night before. But there was just … something wasn’t right.
 
Jim: That’s Dr. Kent Brantly, the first guest we ever featured on GPS: God. People. Stories., and that was back in September 2015. Today we’re revisiting some of the most memorable episodes as we prepare to release new ones in just a couple of weeks. We want to give you an idea—or every once in a while, a reminder—of what to expect when you listen.

Phil: Dr. Brantly and his wife, Amber, were missionaries serving with our sister ministry, Samaritan’s Purse, when an Ebola outbreak hit Liberia hard—that was in the summer of 2014. Kent contracted the disease and his odds of survival were not good.

Kent:
00:03:08 I was incredibly sick, dehydrated, and was having trouble breathing. And I looked at the nurse who was standing next to my bed and I said, “I don’t know how you’re going to breathe for me when I quit breathing,” ’cause I thought, “I’m about to die of respiratory failure.” They had no way to breathe for me.

Jim: Days later, Kent Brantly was airlifted home to the U.S. as people all over the world prayed for his recovery. Amazingly, he survived. Since then, God has given him a global platform to share his story—and his faith in Christ.

Kent:
00:03:42 People ask me, “Do you have survivor’s guilt?” And I say, “No, I think I have survivor responsibility.” And I’ve got to use my life in a way that’s meaningful and helpful to other people. 

Phil: Some of the guests we have on GPS are well known—guests like Christian singers Jeremy Camp and Steven Curtis Chapman.

Jim: They’ve both opened up about personal tragedies they’ve experienced. Jeremy Camp lost his wife to cancer, and Steven Curtis Chapman’s young daughter was run over and killed by a car in the family’s driveway. Here’s what he had to share about the darkest time of his life.

Steven Curtis Chapman:
00:04:19 Life was so hard and sad in those early weeks and months that it was hard to imagine ever feeling joy again or tears that would ever be anything but tears of sadness.

Jim: Steven and his family clung to God to survive that horrible time.

Steven:
00:04:36 It’s in my weakness that His strength is made perfect, recognizing that’s the most broken places this side of Heaven that God shows up in the most profound ways in my story. Allowing Him and looking for Him and experiencing Him in those unfixable places I think is really what the journey of faith is all about.

Phil: That journey of faith is what we focus on when we share people’s stories on GPS. We always ask our guests how they became Christians and how they have seen God move in their lives. For example, I can remember the conversation we had with a woman who cried out to God when she was being attacked by a shark. 

Jim: That was certainly a memorable episode.—Mm. [Phil: affirmative]—Tiffany Johnson came on GPS back in 2018. She and her husband were snorkeling in the Bahamas when she felt … a bump under the water.

Tiffany:
00:05:28 When I turned to my right to see what I had bumped into, I was literally face to face with a shark, and he had my whole arm in his mouth. And I began to yank, and I did get a portion of my arm out and he fully bit down right below my elbow, and that’s when he began to fight and thrash and there was so much commotion and, you know, I was fighting for my life and Jesus was giving me the strength to keep fighting.

Phil: Tiffany lost her arm that day, but not her life. And God used her terrifying ordeal to give her a platform to share her faith with millions of people.

Tiffany:
00:06:04 I’m here and I’m alive and I’m able to share this story and see lives impacted through it. So, using what we have and giving God the glory through it, the blessings come when we choose to praise Him through the circumstance.
 
Phil: Hopefully you’re getting a feel for what GPS is like. These are just snippets of some of the stories we’ve featured over the years, but we’ll include links to the full episodes about each of today’s guests in the show notes.

Jim: And there is an extensive library of nearly 300 episodes that you can browse in your podcast app or on YouTube or at BillyGraham.org/GPS.
 
Phil: And nearly all of those episodes are hosted by you, Jim Kirkland, and me, Phil Fleischman, but as we relaunch GPS this year, we’ll be breaking up our duo. This will be my last GPS episode—for a while anyway.

Jim: Well, I guess we now know who will be left. [Phil: chuckles] I will be here, and this makes for a very good time to share that you are launching a brand-new BGEA podcast that is called, “How to Share Your Faith.” 

Phil: I am! And I’m excited about it, Jim. As you know, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has been proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ since 1950. And a big part of our mission is equipping Christians to share their faith with others, but that can feel like a heavy lift for a lot of believers. And that is exactly why we’re starting “How to Share Your Faith.” In this new podcast, we’ll be sharing simple, practical steps you can take to reach out to friends, family, neighbors, strangers even. Because we all want to share the hope of Christ, but sometimes we don’t always know how to do it.

Jim: No, we don’t, and this is going to prove to be a very valuable resource. So, I look forward to checking it out, but we’re certainly going to miss you here at GPS, but we know where to find you now.

Phil: You do. It will be available just about anywhere you listen to podcasts, and we plan on launching “How to Share Your Faith” later this year. And, I will still be working behind the scenes on GPS as new episodes come out. Right now, though, let’s get back to listening to a few more samples of stories that we have shared through the years. 

Jim: Well, since we all gathered around to watch the Super Bowl last week, let’s hear from a guest who was once a Super Bowl star for the New York Giants: David Tyree. Before his famous Helmet Catch—which all you have to do is Google that; you’ll find it immediately—before that famous moment, David’s addiction to drugs and alcohol landed him in jail on drug possession charges.

David:
00:08:34 When I was in that jail cell, I realized I’m 24 years old, NFL Special Teams Rookie of the Year, New York Giants Rookie of the Year, and now I had ruined it all.

Phil: That night in jail, David thought he had ruined it all, but looking back, he knows that God was at work in that situation and in his heart. David surrendered his life to Christ right there in his cell.

David:
00:08:56 I ended up in a fetal position, crying and weeping out to God. I could no longer resist God’s love. The person of Jesus Christ was now a reality in my life. He wasn’t just a myth. He wasn’t just a figment or this idea. The forgiveness of sins is what actually sets man free, and I was immediately transformed.
 
Phil: David Tyree isn’t the only GPS guest who had an encounter with Jesus behind bars. I remember being shocked when I was talking to Tim Terry and he told me about the crime he had committed.

Tim Terry:
00:09:27 I’m convinced to this day I got introduced to the demonic world that night. Everything in me, around me, all I could hear with clarity is, “Take her out,” so I killed my high school sweetheart.

Jim: Seven years into a 30-year prison sentence, Tim accepted a fellow inmate’s invitation to go with him to a meeting being put on by a visiting ministry. Then Tim went back to his cell and started praying.

Tim: 
00:09:51 ‘God, I don’t even care if I get out of prison. I just want to know, God, can You forgive me ‘cause I’m sorry for what I’ve done.’ And, Phil, about that time, there’s a ton of weight come up off my shoulders and there was a puddle of snot and tears on that floor and by the time I got up off my hands and knees, there was a peace that flooded my soul that I knew I had an encounter with the risen Savior. 

Jim: Gracia Burnham was already a follower of the ‘risen Savior’ when she experienced what was likely the most traumatic event of her life. You heard her at the beginning of the episode. She and her husband were missionaries serving in the Philippines when they and several other people were taken hostage by terrorists.

Phil: They were forced to run through the jungle for a year as their captors tried to evade the Philippine military. 

Gracia: 
00:10:33 Just constant movement, moving, moving, hiking, days and nights on end hiking, hiking, and drinking dirty river water—which, constant diarrhea and dysentery, always starving, never enough to eat, witnessing the atrocities these guys committed as we went through villages. 

Phil: The military eventually caught up with them. Gracia was rescued, but her husband, Martin, was killed in the crossfire. In the years since their ordeal, Gracia has traveled extensively to share her story.

Gracia: 
00:11:06 I think when people hear me speak, they think, “Wow, God can use weak things.” “If God can do that for her in that situation, God can take me down this path that I wish I weren’t walking down right now.” And a lot of people are walking down really hard paths today. God doesn’t send you down that path alone. He walks with you and He gives you the strength every day to do what you need to do and we hang on to Him for all we’re worth and we keep going.
 
MUSIC TRANSITION

Jim: Just as Gracia Burnham shares her story to encourage others to trust God—that’s why GPS exists. We bring you stories to remind you that God loves you, and that He’s still working in people’s lives, and to help you grow closer to Jesus.

Phil: And in addition to this podcast, we also have a website where you can discover much more about beginning a relationship with Jesus, or deepening the one you already have. The address is FindPeaceWithGod.net. 

Now, if you’d rather talk with someone on the phone, call our 24-hour prayer line. That number is 855-255-PRAY. 855-255-7729. And the website again is FindPeaceWithGod.net. 

Jim: In a moment, you’ll hear one more quick story from our GPS archives, and a word from Billy Graham about Jesus and His use of stories.

MUSIC STARTS

Voice-over: You’re listening to GPS: God. People. Stories., a podcast production of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Billy Graham:
00:12:57 Jesus never gave a sermon but what He used, illustrations and stories. He always told some simple story to illustrate a profound spiritual truth. 

Voice-over: Billy Graham …

Billy Graham:
00:13:10 And Jesus never held Himself aloof from society. He went to the various things that the world was doing. He never compromised. He never participated in evil but Jesus always invariably used it as an opportunity to witness. He used it as an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel, This is the story now that Jesus told: God loves us, but more than that, God is searching for us. God says, “Return. I will forgive you. I will heal you. I will cleanse you. I will make you a new person.”

MUSIC FADES

Jim: If you’d like Jesus to forgive your sins and make you a new person, visit us online at FindPeaceWithGod.net. Or, call our 24-hour prayer line: 855-255-PRAY.

Phil: The last story we want to share with you on this episode of GPS is from Gentry and Hadley Eddings. They’re a husband and wife who learned to trust and glorify God while grieving the loss of their two young sons in a car accident. 

Hadley Eddings:
00:14:19 We came to a stop light and I really just felt like the Lord said, “Tell Dobbs you love him,” and at that moment I was kind of like, “I mean, OK, I can do that, God.” So I just reached back and was able to just rub Dobb’s little foot and I looked at him and I said, “I love you, buddy,” and then the next thing I know is when we were hit.

Jim: Hadley and Gentry were expecting at the time of the accident and doctors had to perform an emergency delivery of their son Reed. Reed also died. 

Gentry Eddings:
00:14:47 I think that God has to have a greater purpose for letting us walk through this and that He would be willing to say, “I’m gonna allow this evil to come to them and knowing that there’s a greater purpose that I’m working and a greater story that I’m telling.”

Jim: The story of Gentry and Hadley’s faith in Jesus has touched many people’s lives.


Hadley: 
00:15:11 I think something that comforts me so much is just knowing that God feels my pain. It’s not like He is a distant God. He is close to me, you know. He’s close to the brokenhearted. He also gave up His Son, you know, so He knows my pain better than anyone.

Phil: It’s our prayer that the stories our guests share here on GPS encourage you to hang on to God no matter what you’re going through. We’d love to hear from you. You can email us at GPS@billygraham.org. We also have a link in the show notes.

Jim: We will be back two weeks from now with new guests and new stories to inspire your faith. And, as a little glimpse of coming attractions, our first guest will be Mike Weaver of Big Daddy Weave. Phil, thank you for co-hosting GPS with me these past eight years. You don’t look any worse for the wear. [Phil: chuckles] Truly, excited to listen in to “How to Share Your Faith” ’cause we’ve all been there one time or another. And that for one reason or another, whether it’s trepidation, whether it’s fear, whether we believe we didn’t know enough, we were apprehensive about sharing our faith in Christ. We look forward to learning from your podcast. 

Phil: Yeah, Jim, I’m really looking forward to all the good conversations we’ll be having on “How to Share Your Faith.” I’m also excited about all the upcoming episodes of GPS! We’ve got a good list of guests started! I’m Phil Fleischman.

Jim: And I’m Jim Kirkland. I’ll be back in two weeks with new stories to share with you every other Wednesday. Until then, our name is GPS: God. People. Stories., we’re an outreach of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association—Always Good News.

CLOSING MUSIC

# # #