another chance

Back to Basics: Your Real Purpose – Brian Sussman Show Podcast, Episode 129

We can’t be distracted by the news media. Putin evil, help Ukraine, reset economy, World War Three possible, supply chains backed up, workforce depleted, rich getting richer, go green, fossil fuels bad, government good, equality, inequality, equity, intolerance, transexual, liberation…

In Episode 129 I walk us past the media narratives and get right to the root of the real issue that plagues this world: People need Jesus. He is Lord and He seeks to give everyone another chance. And not only does He desire to provide another chance, He is ready and waiting to reveal to all their real and unique purpose for living.

Hope you will check it out!

Goodbye 2018

While I hope 2018 has been a great year for you, I know that for some (likely many) it hasn’t been the best of years.  In fact some of you may well describe ’18 as having, “Sucked.”

Trust me, I get it.  There have been certain years of my life whereby I couldn’t wait to turn the page on the calendar and start afresh.

This is something I address in this week’s Hidden Headlines Podcast.  The God of Creation is willing and able to provide you with the fresh start, the reboot if you if will, that you so desperately need.

As an example, I look to the blogpost I recently penned regarding my friend Sam, who was just pardoned by the State of California for a terrible crime he committed at the age of 17.

Also in that same podcast we reveal the once hidden nuggets of Jewish prophecy that were revealed through the birth, life, death, and resurrection fo Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah (it’s our interview with Rabbi Charlie Cohen).

God bless you, and here’s to a wonderful 2019.

Life’s Amazing Moments

Life has some amazing moments.  Today I witnessed one of them.

During the summer of 1976 I met a guy in Santa Cruz who was working for my future in-laws. He was among the scariest looking guys I ever met, until he smiled. Sam Huddleston was a year or so older than me, and had just been released from prison for 2nd Degree Manslaughter (sentenced at age 17).

While incarcerated he surrendered his life to Messiah Jesus and my wife’s parents were employing him in his first job as an ex-felon (he was doing construction for them).

Sam’s spiritual conversion was hardly a case of “jailhouse religion.” He went on to seminary, earned a Ph.D., became a pastor, and developed a very successful prison ministry built on racial reconciliation.

I interviewed Sam several months ago for one of my Another Chance Podcast episodes. While speaking he told me the family of the victim from his crime had reached out through a third party to let him know that they had been observing his life for many years and, realizing he faith was sincere, had forgiven him.

As I was editing the podcast, Sam called me, asking if I knew Governor Jerry Brown. I told him I’d met the Governor several times and even had him on as a guest on my radio show back when he was Mayor of Oakland, but I didn’t really know him on a personal level. I asked Sam, “What’s up?” He replied he wanted to see if, after all these years, he could be pardoned by the State of California.

Then it hit me. I am actually a good friend of a guy who knows Governor Brown quite well. I called my friend (an older man, well into his eighties, who I have lunch with every couple months) and he said, “Write a Ietter, mention my name–let’s see what happens.”

So, I wrote the letter describing why I felt Sam was a good candidate for an official pardon. I also mentioned the story of forgiveness by the victim’s family. I highlighted our mutual friend’s name on the outside of the envelope and sent it on a Friday. Sam received a call from the Governors office on Monday with instructions on a host of forms he needed to fill out!

Nothing was guaranteed, but he was in the pipeline for a pardon.

That was over two months ago. I figured Governor Brown was likely to do one last set of pardons before Christmas, as his final term is about to expire.

Well, today (Saturday) I received a call from Sam. He was in San Francisco taking Christmas photos with his wife, three kids, their spouses, and something like 12 grandkids. He had just received the call from the Governor’s office.

He was pardoned! Sam put the guy on speaker and asked him to repeat it for the family. Pandemonium ensued.

Wow.

I’ll be re-interviewing Sam for the upcoming Another Chance Podcast (hosted at my personal website) very soon. It should be a good one!

The first photo  is Sam with President Reagan in the 80s, receiving an award for his work with felons and ex-felons, the second his the family getting the news, the third, his wife, Linda (middle) reacting, and the fourth, Sam (far right), grandson, son, and grandson. 

Gut Instincts

Have you ever carried a burden, or feeling, or sense of anxiousness so strong that you had to do something that was out of your comfort zone?  Perhaps that something involved making a decision to go to college, earn an advanced degree, or a qualify for a certification?  Maybe it involved picking up and moving to another city or state?  It’s possible that emotion in question ended up in a proposal for marriage, or the adoption of a young child?

I’ve experienced that same vexing sensation.  Once it caused me to hitchhike across the country to prove my love to a young woman who eventually became my wife.  Another time it led me to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to New York City and–unannounced–knock on the door of a senior news producer at CBS television to say, “I was in the neighborhood and just thought I’d say, ‘Hello.’” That informal meeting ended with a job proposal.  On three occasions similar convictions caused my wife and I to make life changing decisions to adopt children.  And, despite all of the naysayers, in 2001 I followed my gut and went into talk radio, and 17-years later I was voted into the San Francisco Radio Hall of Fame.

So, here I am again.  There’s a feeling I can’t shake.  I’ll try explain.

Many years ago, one of history’s greatest evangelists, Billy Graham, encouraged me by saying, “It is a privilege to co-labor with you in the gospel.”  Billy and I had spent 45-minutes one-on-one in an interview for a TV program I had in Reno. He was genuinely interested in how I, a young Jewish guy, had placed my trust in Jesus the Messiah.  Billy Graham saw something in me that, quite frankly, I never acted upon.  Only recently, while looking through a pile of memorabilia, did I find the letter in which he so encouraged me.  That unearthed letter planted a seed that’s been growing for many months.  The seed has since taken root in a Bible verse found in the New Testament writings:

Therefore, we are ambassadors of the Messiah; in effect, God is making his appeal through us. What we do is appeal on behalf of the Messiah, “Be reconciled to God!”
–2 Corinthians 5:20 (Complete Jewish Bible)

Billy Graham was an ambassador of Jesus.  As such, his life’s mission was to earnestly appeal to people all over the world to become reconciled to God.  His desire was to see people in harmonious relationship with their Creator.  Graham didn’t preach flowery messages that tickled the ears and could be applied like a self-help paperback.  He didn’t beat around the bush: “You have a problem,” he would say, “it’s called sin, and it’s separated you from a right relationship with God, and only Jesus can forgive your sin and reconcile you to Him.”

That Bible verse is hounding me as much as anything ever has.

That’s why very soon I will be unveiling a totally remodeled briansussman.com website, subtitled, Another Chance.  The content will reflect the fact that the God of Heaven is always offering all of us another chance to be in right standing with Him.

Stay tuned for podcasts, videos, and blog posts illustrating some incredible examples of those who have experienced another chance…