After the passing of Dr. Charles Stanley on Tuesday (April 18), his grandson, Matt Brodersen, posted a YouTube video sharing the impact his grandfather had on him, which included saving his life.
The 27-year-old Brodersen, who is the youngest child of Stanley’s daughter, Becky, and her husband, John, used to call his grandfather “Gips” and said that no matter how many times he disappointed Stanley, Stanley never gave up on him.
Brodersen decided to make his video as a way of honoring his grandfather, sharing some of his favorite experiences with Stanley. In the video, Brodersen admitted to making a lot of wrong decisions in his life, some of which led him to becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol at the age of 18.
“I’ve struggled with drug addiction and alcoholism, depression, and loneliness,” Brodersen said. Nevertheless, he recalled a time when one of Gips’ phone calls saved his life.
RELATED: Charles Stanley, Influential Pastor and Author, Dies at Age 90
“One time, I actually ran away to California to try to make it big as a YouTuber, and I had completely wasted all of my money and resources on smoking pot and getting distracted by things that don’t really matter. So I didn’t even make it,” Brodersen shared. “I was super depressed. For the first time in my life, I was actually suicidal.”
Brodersen continued, “So my grandpa called me, and he told me, ‘Matt, your mom told me you’re not doing too well and that you’re thinking about killing yourself…I just wanted to tell you, why don’t you just give Jesus one more try?’”
Brodersen said that while living in Los Angeles, he couldn’t get any work done because of his addictions, a situation that led him to struggle with with loneliness and depression. It was at that time that his grandfather called him.
“For some reason, that phone call really inspired me. I had given up on Christianity. I had given up on my faith at that point. I decided, okay, I’m not going to kill myself. I’m just going to give Jesus one more try,” Brodersen said. “So I drove home from California to Dallas, Texas, and I decided to give Jesus one more try. That phone call was basically life-saving.”
“He never stopped rooting for me, and he never stopped cheering for me,” Brodersen said.
Brodersen shared that, in one of his last conversations with his grandfather, he was trying to convince the longtime Baptist pastor that it was okay for him to attend a Methodist church.
More importantly, he remembered that Stanley often told him, “Obey God and leave all the consequences to him.”
