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Ordinary people who have been transformed by an extraordinary God tell their stories of what happened and what their lives are like now.
Cailin: Welcome everyone to
Faith and Purpose podcast.
Each episode of this podcast contains the
personal testimony of an ordinary person
transformed by an extraordinary God.
My name is Kaylin and I'm
here to introduce this podcast
for my friend Jesse Duke.
Jesse is a husband, father, author,
life recovery guide, lay counselor,
and small group leader, but his
most important role is disciple.
As a disciple of Jesus.
Jesse created this podcast to help other
believers tell their faith stories.
We'll be hearing the personal
testimonies of all sorts of people
who have one thing in common,
Jesus has transformed their lives.
Jesus used parables because he created
us to learn best through story.
And as we listen to how God has worked
in others lives, we find encouragement
and inspiration for our own faith walk.
Whether you are already a believer or
just a curious seeker, we believe that
as you listen to these stories, you will
be encouraged on your own faith journey.
We are sure that God can speak to you
through one of these episodes and that you
will see that our heavenly father truly
works all things together for our good.
When we simply love and trust him.
If you are currently going through a
trial, we believe that you will come
to see that your troubles, heartbreaks,
and failures are not gravestones, but
stepping stones into new life in Christ.
Here's Jesse with today's guest.
Jesse: Welcome everybody to
faith and purpose podcast today.
I've got my friend, Kyle Renfro
here to share his face story.
And I'm really looking forward to it.
I've known Kyle for.
Both 42 years.
And time.
Really grateful to have him.
Volunteer to share a story
and I'm looking forward to it.
How are you doing today, cow?
Kyle: Doing well, thank you for
having me and looking forward to.
To chat in here.
Jesse: All right.
Well, I look forward to it too.
So, Tell us about your face story.
How did, how did it begin?
Kyle: Yeah.
When I share my story, I always like to
start with, um, My parents and obviously.
We know as followers of Christ that.
Our parents fakes.
Um, Is there own, and our faith
is our own, but I think it's.
It's amazing to see.
what happened in my dad's life
because of the faithfulness of my mom.
My mom's story started.
Young as a believer and she
accepted Christ as a teenager,
they got married early.
And, my dad didn't.
Become a follower of Christ
until he was 32 years old.
So I'm the baby of 11.
And so when you're the baby of 11, first
of all, you're just glad to be here, but.
Um, The interesting part
about it is I've known.
My dad is a follower of Christ
my whole life and, uh, Some of my
other brothers and sisters didn't
have that opportunity because.
He was, uh, a self-proclaimed
alcoholic and.
Chasing things of the world.
Um, when he, when the, the spirit.
I guess impacted his heart to where he
knew he wanted to be a follower of Christ.
That changed the dynamic of our family.
And, um, I like to share that because.
There's a statistic out that says if the
dad or the family or the father of family.
Seriously chases after Jesus and
has a genuine relationship with him.
There's an 85% chance that
the rest of the family.
We'll Follow Jesus genuinely as well.
So I always like to start there.
Again, it's.
You know, we know from scripture
that we have our own fakes and.
We can lean on our parents' faith
for, for questions, but we had
to have our own faith, our own
relationship with Jesus and.
The spirit lives within
us when that's the case.
So I always like to start there.
Just because I do think it's
important to understand.
The ancestry or.
Connection to faith.
Um, And we see that in scripture as
well, but my story begins, I grew
up in, in Dillon, South Carolina.
Had two Christian parents, my entire life.
and we were in church.
Every Sunday, twice on
Sundays and on Wednesday.
And.
Doing revivals.
And, uh, so, uh, just had
a strong foundation of, of.
Of what facts look like.
And, um, I became a believer at
the age of seven at camp pine hill
and Bennettsville South Carolina.
Um, which was a special place.
In my faith journey
because I continued to.
To go back to that camp summer after
summer and, um, had a lot of strong.
Man of God pour into me.
Um, so I look at that as a, uh, a really
strong foundation on my faith and where
I learned, where I was discipled and.
so at the age of seven accepted
Christ was baptized at Kemper Baptist
church, a little small church that
my family attended for the first
eight or nine years of my life.
So that's where my, my faith walk began.
At the age of seven, I, it's probably fair
to say that not even our frontal lobes
have developed at that point in time.
So, so you, you know,
you process what you can.
I do think the spirit was
living in me at that point.
And I say that because.
Um, there were times in my
life where I just felt him.
push, push me, pull me,
guide me and counsel me.
Um, even at that age, my mom
was the town librarian and in
lake view, where I went to school
in lake view, Dillon county.
Was our county Dillon high
school was a big rival of ours.
My dad.
On a mechanic shop and Dylan.
And so.
Uh, I spent time.
In the library.
Um, with my mom, I spent time.
At my dad's mechanic shop.
I learned a couple of things there,
both my parents were very given people.
My mom.
One of the first things she told me.
Um, When I went to school, she,
she gave me some money for some
canteen money is what we call it.
And she said, listen, If you bought
anything at that canteen, you
better buy your friends something.
And so.
You know, just some of the, the,
the morals that we know that.
Um, You know, Christ would want
us to live by or exemplified.
Through my mom.
And then I watched my dad.
Did the same where he would do.
You know, he, he was in
the mechanic business.
A lot of times I saw where.
It didn't seem to, he made much money
cause he did a lot of things for free.
And so it taught me some things
about what's important in life.
Um, I know that.
There's a difference between.
Good.
And good and guide, but, uh, I
think we all know that God is, is.
Overflows with good.
And so, you know, Through my life,
trying to understand that became.
I'd say difficult at times.
Um, faith was difficult at times, but.
We do know that chasing after Jesus
and looking at how he lived his life.
Um, there were a lot of just great
things, good things that he did.
Um, what I never wanted to do.
And as I'm older, I see that
now it's confused good things
for things that were from Jesus.
And so.
It may sound a little headsy, but I
think it's an important distinction.
So.
You know, just talking about
some of the trials in my life.
I had a great youth ministry at my church.
We, we eventually started going to
church And Dylan at first Baptist church.
And.
Same to have several.
Strong leaders in our youth ministry.
And.
Um,
One of the first trials in my life that
I remember that just dominated me is
I was on a church youth retreat and.
The first time I saw a pornographic video.
I walked into a hotel
room already stay in and.
Um, Some of the guys had something on TV.
What I didn't realize is how
impactful that would be on my life.
Um, Pornography became a struggle for me.
Um, And at a teenage age.
Um, what was an accidental
stumble into something?
Satan.
Began to use it in my life to.
To distort, um, A lot of things.
You know, as I, as I got older and
God grace and mercy helped me get
through some of, some of those issues.
I started realizing that
the science behind that and.
Science says that when we see it.
Uh, pornographic image.
Embeds in some of our neuro pathways.
And it's not something that
we can just forget about.
Um, obviously.
Guides.
Ah, gray skin can work through that.
And.
He obviously forgives us,
um, When we repent of things.
But it was a much bigger deal
than I thought it would be.
And so.
It changed?
Uh, the way I looked at.
Female friends.
It changed the way.
I thought about.
Um, guys's on a sex.
it became a sinful tool That
Satan used, um, through my youth.
And.
Even in the college.
And so.
I could spend a ton of time there.
it's a trap.
It's a trap that, uh, you know,
I pray for my kids about, Yeah.
But before you go on.
I just.
Um, very familiar with.
Pornography myself.
I've had my own struggles,
but that was way before.
Uh, the internet.
And all that.
You know what I mean?
The Playboy.
Yeah.
And yeah.
Hustler.
Wasn't a big deal when I.
I was a teenager.
Sure.
you had to really work to find.
And the real sneaky
and stuff, but nowadays
It's so pervasive and invasive.
Kyle: kids just.
Gets exposed to this stuff.
And get you use the word trap.
And it is definitely a trap that
you cannot get out of yourself.
I at least I don't think
it takes the power.
Right.
Got it.
I'm really glad you.
You brought that up
because there's, there's.
Probably millions of
kids out there that have.
Started down that path and they
don't know how to get out of it.
And our what to do with those.
Images that you can't see.
So you want to expand a little bit.
Yeah.
So it's a.
You know, I'm 43 years old.
And, uh,
It was a little different back then,
uh, you know, I heard from my kids and.
Uh, my friend's kids because.
Of social media now and
how, how easy it is.
To get to.
The pornographic world.
Uh, Satan's obviously grown so much.
Um, when I was growing up.
We didn't have cell phones.
We didn't have internet until
I was a senior in high school.
Um, uh, right around that time,
maybe the summer of my senior
year, I think it's the first time.
We had internet at home.
Um, So typically, you know, I
never w or I didn't, it was not.
Around magazines.
It was usually through TV.
And back then satellite was a
big, big way of getting TV and.
Satellite.
You know, it was pretty much.
Anything you wanted to
find and you could, and so.
I learned quickly how
to find those things.
Um, and.
I didn't realize at the
time how it was a trap.
And how it.
Dominated my life and my thoughts and,
um, Even as God was working in my life.
It was a sin that just had me.
You know, by the neck.
So.
So.
I guess your question was.
How does it, how does somebody get.
Uh, based on your experience,
how you get free of that trap.
So I think that the first, the
first thing, and I think it goes
for any sentence to, to confess it.
I'm not just confess it to.
To the Lord, but which is ultimately
what we have to do, but confess
it to somebody that, you know,
we'll hold you accountable.
Well, Explain to you.
You know, The significance
of what you're doing.
Um,
And that's the only way that.
Um, I saw any victory over it.
So the.
The way out is to.
Confess.
Or first year after.
To know that it's an issue.
Right.
And you confess it to God and to another
person who can be an accountability.
Sure.
Uh, and so, and then, um,
you, you just sack to.
Prey.
Yeah.
First strength ever done.
So.
This would happen later
in life for me, but.
You know, and I looked at sin.
As something that I had to
be violent about, meaning.
God tells us in scripture that.
Where it's a violently bite
against our sin every day.
Not in our own strength, but
obviously in his strength.
When I started looking at
Sand from that approach.
It was you respect Sen.
And in a sense, meaning that.
We know how quickly Satan can entangle us.
We know how quickly our
flesh can untangle us.
I think those were two.
There too.
The two things that lead us to
send typically are our selfishness.
And then obviously, Satan is
right there at, uh, to add to it.
But, uh, it's a fight.
And even to this day and his adult.
And God's given me so much victory
over that and so much forgiveness
and I've shared it with my wife and.
Um, We're both aware of how quickly
that can ruin a marriage or.
Or, uh, certainly impact a marriage.
So just a confession of that, the
accountability that comes with it.
But then is this a spiritual fight?
That you have to have inside you.
Um, That comes from the spirit.
Um, obviously, but also.
From a want to you.
Uh, you know, we talk
about effort a lot in.
And our Bible studies and.
Whereas effort come in to the gospel.
You know, for, for me.
You know, hearing the gospel
is a free gift, you know, but
our effort is an act of love.
So.
Um, I don't think we can
discount that the effort.
You know, if I.
If I want to be a better Christian.
There's an effort I can put in.
To get in God's word.
More often.
You know, hopefully daily.
To spending more time talking to.
To the Lord and prayer to,
to practice in my faith.
I think.
Some of that comes to mind and
Philippians four 11, Paul says.
I've learned to be content.
And.
When, when I hear that initially,
You know, I don't think this way,
but in order to learn something.
You have to practice it.
When I learned my multiplication
tables, I had to practice them.
So.
Um, to overcome.
to go from Paul.
The killer of Christians to Paul.
Somebody willing to die.
For the cause of Jesus.
It didn't just happen overnight.
It didn't just happen by circumstance.
He committed himself.
To spending time in God's word.
And he was a smart guy when
he was killing Kristen.
So.
To to understanding what grace meant to
understanding, you know, this guy, Jesus.
He was real and he was real because
of what he had done in his life.
Not.
Not just what he heard.
So.
That's how we have to fight sin and.
At 43 years old, I'm still
trying to, to work on that.
Um, but.
Having a fight.
Is is a big part of it.
And.
We denied to apologize for, for being.
Violent towards him.
Like.
You know, if you can't handle
a cell phone with internet.
Get rid of it.
Right.
Yeah.
If that's leading you down a road.
And it's it's it is important.
We know we serve.
Uh, God that forgives, but.
We also are called to be obedient.
And, um,
John 1421 says.
Whoever keeps my commandments.
He loves me.
And he who loves me will
be loved by my father.
And then he says he'll
manifest himself in us.
If we, if we honor that.
Show himself to us.
So.
It's
Not easy.
But it's simply stated, um, and.
So our act of obedience to F to
fighting that sin, to turning
our backs on that sin, to.
To have the accountability.
Is part of that learning to be
content and some of these things.
So.
I think.
You know, obviously God's given
us armor mints in the gospel.
Um,
And you can study those for a
year, if you really wanted to.
But I, you know, it's.
It's certainly in my
opinion, an act of love.
I mean, cause if Jesus went to the cross
in a violent way, Um, to, to basically.
Atone for our sin.
And so.
Um,
It's not, it's not a joke.
Like sends not a joke.
Satan's here to dominate us.
And so anything, that's not a joke.
Takes effort.
I think.
Yeah.
And in the way we love God
by, by running from sin.
We love God by fighting sin.
And we also love God by.
Sharing our story.
We love God by.
Being obedient to the
things he's told us to do.
Um, loving people.
Um, loving him.
Spending time with him.
You know, there's not a secret sauce.
And these are things that you learn.
Cause.
There's not a secret sauce to.
To love and Jesus.
It's.
You've got a Bible.
You know, you got the spirit in, you.
We've got, um, An opportunity
to be in God's word.
Collectively.
On Sundays.
Um, you know,
You practice those things every day.
Or, you know, as many times as we can get
into corporate worship, we try to do it.
But.
So that's the secret sauce.
So so-called secret sauce, I guess.
Um, And then we listen.
And I think.
And I've spent.
A lot of my life trying to be a doer.
Of things and you know, sometimes
God just has this here to listen.
And there are seasons of
our life where I think that.
It was more evident than others.
So.
Well, if you don't mind me, Can
I turn the corner here, Jane.
Talk a little bit.
You mentioned being a doer and.
And I know that's true.
You've.
Pushed a lot in your life.
And.
Uh, can you tell us a little better
about What motivates you to do the things
that you do and maybe talking about.
Business and family and just
life in general and how.
The ward informs that.
Yeah, I think, um, growing up, you.
You always aspire to.
To do something.
I, you know, I thought I was going
to be a ballplayer my whole life.
When I was playing ball, I
wanted to be great at it.
I was.
White and slow, but, uh, You know,
I tried to work hard and you can,
you can have some success being
white and slow, so that's okay.
Yeah, I think, uh, You
know, our family in general.
You know, my, I had older
brothers who went to west point.
He went into Clemson who were successful
at business, who I had older sisters who.
We're extremely successful
in the things that they did.
We teachers nurses.
And so.
It was certainly looming in my
mind as I grew up, you know?
Okay.
I want to, I do want to honor the Lord.
I want to arm my family.
And then I, there were always days where
you're like, okay, what can I do this?
Can I be successful?
Um,
And playing ball.
Uh, you know, I had a couple of incidents.
Instances in my life where.
Um, our successful play in
football and baseball and.
Had some.
Some opportunities to play.
For championships.
And one Psalm and.
Those things are certainly.
At the time you think they're there.
The only thing in life that
matters, but looking back.
It's it's how God taught
you how to, to go hard and.
Try to try to be good at things.
From Lakeview high school.
I went to Clemson for a year and
I was there a year and a half.
And.
Um, Had some opportunities
to play college baseball and
just decided to go to Clemson.
Um, trying to walk on.
Certainly it was not.
Uh, Climpson caliber baseball player.
So, um, but it, you know, it showed
me that very clearly when I tried to
walk on and I didn't make the team.
Ended up transferring to north
Greenville and play in baseball.
Um, for basically a year.
And.
got Bayswater my system.
That's where I realized I
really didn't love baseball.
Like I thought I did.
Um, But I love to compete.
So.
I mean, I remember days in college where.
I did.
I played a different sport.
Five times in one day, just competing and
you know how to in a marital level and.
Trying to find some
time in there to study.
You know, that was certainly not.
Uh, top of my list and then.
When this one summer.
I came to work with my brother William at.
His business run, bro brothers.
And.
He, uh, took me under his wing
and started showing me business.
And man odds just fell
in love of business.
The whole process infatuated me.
The idea of building a team, the idea of.
Buying low and selling high.
The idea of, um,
You know, just trying to fight to
find the diamond in the rough or, or.
That last little bit of.
Profit.
It was just fun for me.
And.
So I was not finished with college, but
we, um, Let me come in and work with him.
Some.
And learn a lot and we did several
different things within his business, but.
Ended up saying, we basically told me
that, you know, he would not pay me
another dime until I finished college.
And so I went home and I.
The cool thing about that is I got
to spend some time on my mom and dad.
I was actually married at the time.
I got married.
Uh, About a year before I finished up
and, uh, to my wife, Jackie, who is.
My queen is ally.
Um,
Like to, to tell.
People about her, but
she's just special, man.
God's gift to me.
I'm going to get you back to the business.
Yeah.
College thing, but.
Uh, tell us how you met Jackie.
So I met Jackie at north
Greenville and I was a.
It's one of those spiritual things where.
When I left Clemson,
gab guide to this, this.
Just the spirit.
It was the same guy.
You got to go to north Greenville.
Like you got to go up there and
talk with the baseball coach and.
And it was kind of, unlike me,
I just took off one warning.
And headed up for a low workout
with north Greenville and.
That got me there.
I didn't know that guy is going to.
Push me there.
So I'd make my wife, but.
Jackie's Mom and stepdad were, were
missionaries at the time in Paraguay.
Um, when.
Uh, I got to know Jackie war and.
Because of their connection to the.
The Southern Baptist association.
Jackie, who was at the
time living in Maine.
Ended up coming down in north Greenville.
And, uh, so she came out away
from Maine to north Greenville to.
To meet the man of her dreams.
So, But there's a.
There's a lot of God's grace in that, um,
Yeah, just that short time I
was at north Greenville for
him to connect those dots with.
Finalizing baseball for me with.
Allow me to meet Jackie and.
Um, become.
Best friends with her and then
going on to get married and.
Heard a.
I basically see my passion
for business and support it.
Even when it looked crazy.
Um, It was certainly something that God.
Orchestrated.
So.
So back to the business.
Yes.
You you w you finished.
I finished.
I graduated from Francis Maine with
a business administration degree.
And.
The cool part about that is I'd spent.
A lot of time.
Working.
And then I got to go back and
most of my senior level classes
at Francis Marion at that time.
Most of your senior level professors
were ex-business men and women.
So.
It really clicked.
For me and started growing that
passion just to be around folks
who had been successful at it.
And then we're willing
to come back and teach.
So.
From there.
I came back to work with William.
I was.
Probably a better employee
at that time, because I.
Growing up some, uh, I had more
to lose because Jackie had.
Was pregnant.
And so when I moved back to the upstate.
I had One more person
to be responsible for.
And so that, that motivated me to.
To want to work harder, to learn more.
And.
So that's what I did.
I started.
Just trying to, to learn things and
watch people and listen to people.
And.
I did find that a.
Yeah, people are people and
people were gonna let you down
at times, people were gonna.
B.
Extremely gracious at
times, people are going to.
Teach you things that they don't have
to and That was a lesson that, you
know, as a, as a young person, you look
up the people and you don't realize.
That I struggled just like you do So I
worked for folks within the business.
I had customers who.
We're brilliant.
But maybe struggled with
things that I thought.
Where we're simple things that conquer
life, but this is how they were made.
so I ended up graduating.
At Francis Marion, when
I think I was around 23.
So it took me about a good
five and a half years.
Then I worked for William
for about four or five years.
And we were in a couple of
plants here and there where.
They would have equipment that.
they didn't necessarily need any more.
It was an end of life, piece of equipment.
At Tom's.
They were buying a new piece.
And then, so I went with him and
I said, William, I love to see if
we can buy some of this equipment.
That still has life in it.
And then maybe sell it to some
other plants that we know or.
And that's where ESS kind of developed.
So I've got to stop your Watsi.
Yes.
ESS
ESS is a.
a business.
That's.
Really.
Paid for a.
A lot of kids.
But it's also, man has put
some amazing people in my life.
We started it back in.
Oh, 7 0 8.
So that makes it about 17, 18 years old.
Uh, what is E S ESS is
equipment sales and surplus.
It's.
Okay.
We do.
We're a little too broad for our own good.
We do four or five different
things, but we buy equipment.
Who are you?
We recycle equipment.
We relocate equipment for customers.
We, um, Warehouse equipment.
they all niche together.
And when we're operating.
At our best.
W, you know, the customer's been
able to utilize all of those is what
really is the magic and what we do.
So.
That's what we tried to do
the last 17 or 18 years.
And, um,
Man it's, uh, it's taught
me a lot about people.
It's taught me how to love people.
It's taught me that.
Hiring good people on your team.
Can be so crucial and it's
not just the talented people.
It's the people who understand.
Um, what a team is, is that people
who understand What trust is and.
That or, you know, give you reasons.
To trust each other.
Um, it's also allow me to.
Make mistakes and learn from them.
Um, You know, if we're
serious about our faith.
Then our faith has the overflow into
our, our work throughout the week.
And.
ESS has given me an opportunity
To let my faith ever flow.
And I assure you there's been
more in perfect times and
there have been things done.
Right.
But.
Man God's grace is still been
right in the middle of everything.
So.
You know, you.
It's still about people and relationships.
And I, I can't imagine any
business that is successful.
That won't echo that.
Um, Where you deliver, you seem to handle
water, really good people working for you.
I'm and.
And I'm curious as to how you.
Go about finding such a car.
Yeah, I don't know, man.
You know, I don't, I don't think.
That is anything I've done.
Certainly.
I think our leadership authentic.
I think.
You know, one thing
that I've tried to, to.
To, to get out of directly hiring people.
And I think when one of our.
Successful, uh, Ventures has been that we.
We have four or five people
who, lead our company.
in the different divisions and before
we hire anybody, they, those people
that we are trying to hire meet with
each of those four or five people.
They walk around with them.
They talk with them
because, you know, as a.
As a business.
You know, we obviously are looking
for, for great people who understand.
Our culture and what we do, but.
Bareness.
They've got to be, you know,
they've got to enjoy working here.
So are you.
Feel free to say more about.
Uh, I don't want to.
Too much time ago.
hearing a little bit about your.
Rest of your face.
Yeah.
Sure.
Yeah.
So the rest of my family, yeah.
So my oldest kid is, is Kaitlin grace.
She's 19.
Um, now she is Kate she's graduated.
Tiller people call her Kate now.
I still call her Caitlin
grace Kate's awesome.
She's a.
a tremendous athlete.
She's a volleyball player.
In high school and just got gifted there.
She's.
She's a caring person who is
growing up now and to see her.
Mature and grow.
Has been a blessing for me.
And her mom.
Um, And so I'm excited about what
God's going to do in her life.
rollin is my 16 year old.
He's my, my oldest son.
Raelynn is, uh, He's a, he's a con fella.
He, uh, he loves football.
he loves our church.
She loves.
being around his friends
and, um, Excited to see you.
What, his high school career is going to
kind of bring, I will say that our church.
Uh, we churched at the mill
was, uh, God, that's tremendous
student ministry in my kids are.
Benefiting from that.
And that's, um, If I could say.
Anything to any.
Young family is find a
church with a strong.
Kids and student ministry, because.
You know, that's, uh, that's huge
in, in the growth of our kids.
Certainly Bible-believing church that.
That has strong leadership there.
My youngest, daughter's Macy, Claire.
And.
She is a.
sweetheart.
She's 14.
She.
She acts like she's 20.
Just a sweet girl, who is.
Always witty and bubbly
and, um, She likes fashion.
So.
Her and her mom get along
well, they like shoes.
Um, But just proud of her and.
As I am, uh, the rest of my kids.
And then my youngest is Beckett who.
If you asked my four kids,
they would probably say he is.
Extremely intelligent.
And, uh, he's also very witty.
He loves video games.
He plays golf.
He, um, It's just a funny dude, who is.
Very very smart.
He got that from his mother.
And, uh, He is.
10 years old.
And man I'm excited for him.
He's he's actually gifted musically.
He doesn't know what as much, but.
He can sing.
I can't clap and sing at the same
time, but back at it just has some,
some God given talent with that.
So, yeah, so my prayer
for my kids is that.
They'll know Jesus, that.
The live for him that.
They'll realize that he's our hope that.
When things get tough.
He's our hope
Where are you now?
While we're on the subject of your kids.
I was thinking about how,
you know, you mentioned.
How your dad and your mom both taught you.
Uh, generosity.
And kindness and given to other people.
And that's the one thing I've
definitely noticed about all your kids.
Th they, they tend to go
out of their way to be.
Hospitable.
In caring and thoughtful.
Of capable, which is rare for a child.
to be so, um, willing to connect
with an adult, especially an old guy.
Yeah.
And, uh, so you you've
definitely passed on that.
less than new.
You're learning from your parents and I'm
sure Jackie had a lot to do with it too.
She used CISO.
The same way.
So.
Anyway, I just wanted to.
Ah, thanks for sharing.
Uh, we've seen them, uh, Have some tag
team wrestling matches amongst each other.
So.
That's okay.
It's nice to hear.
You know, your kids.
Getting it right.
You know?
Yeah.
So, You go, go ahead and continue.
Whatever you want to say.
I do have a question for you.
Yeah.
So I, you know, again, I wanna
reiterate, you know, gods.
I didn't go to school thinking, Hey, I'm
on this unique business one day that.
Is around big, heavy equipment and,
um, Is is very much like some of the
teams I played on the sports in terms
of how you, you fight for each other.
And you root for each other.
Um, love each other.
Um, We've had tragedy in our entertaining.
We've had success in our team and, uh,
We made some money along the way.
We'd lost some money along the way.
Um, but what I, what stands out to
me most is just the people and how
God orchestrates people in our lives.
Yeah, I can say anything is chased.
The people don't chase the money chase.
Um, You know, The journey of it,
the growth that can happen when.
A team can selflessly trust each
other and root for each other.
Um, so.
And it's a tool, you know?
Ah, it's a tool that, that God has given
all of us here to, to honor him with.
And.
You know, we meet customers
who are struggling.
We meet vendors who are struggling,
some of our competitors who, who have
things going on in their lives that.
it can just be a struggle
for him at times.
And.
That's when we have 100%
permission to slow down.
And pray for him and show
up for him and love him.
So.
Customers.
Customer.
Yeah.
Competitors.
And it's, uh, we try, you know, we
like to compete, but we like to.
We want to be.
Friendly competitors to our competitors.
And.
It's interesting.
How in different industries of what we do.
You know, we work with our competitors.
And some.
Facets of our business.
Our competitors don't
want to do that, but.
I always thought it was pretty cool.
When you can work with a competitor.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
So it sounds like you're using.
Godly principles to run your business.
And then yeah, every day we got to.
You know, we, one of our core values.
Is built on Philippians two,
four, and it says, look, not
only to your own interests, but
also to the interest of others.
And so.
If we can genuinely do that, then.
You know, it doesn't matter who you are.
When, you know, somebody's
concerned about your interest.
You can let some guards down
and be real with each other.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So.
Well, that to me, that's the secret.
It sounds like the secret of
your success as you've been.
January.
mean, and in every aspect of
your life and, God has rewarded.
I mean.
Jesus says give, and it will
be given to you press down,
shaken together, running over.
It sounds like that's well,
I, you know, It sounds good.
You know, but man, I've
been the recipient of that.
A ton.
Um, You know, my, my mom, my dad, William.
My brother who.
You know, just taught me about giving.
Who's a very generous person.
I mean, I go through every one of my
brothers and sisters and tell you shit.
where.
They, uh, Just gave selflessly.
For my benefit.
I can tell you about so many
people in business, I've done
that and I've worked for.
And so I saw the least, you know,
the least that we can do is.
Try to, to honor Jesus by.
Doing what he said, you know?
Sure.
I love others.
Treat others as you want to be treated.
You know, we're, we're a for-profit
business, so it's, it's, you
know, we're here to try to win.
You know, profitably.
But there's no amount of
profit that can Trump.
You know, just loving to work with
the people that you work with.
And making sure they know.
That you know, their interests
are important to you.
And.
Yeah, I hope our guys see that.
You know, Uh, I don't, I'm sure
there's times we've gotten it wrong.
But.
If we do, we want to.
Ask for forgiveness and.
Get it right.
Yeah, so.
Well, I haven't really been keeping
interacted time here, but before we get
too far I wanted to ask you, uh, Just
kind of take a 30,000 foot view of your.
Spiritual journey and your life
and What, what advice or wisdom
would you have to pass along to
some, somebody out there that a.
Uh, Jeremy struggling.
I, um,
You know, I think a couple of
things, you got to start with a
personal relationship with Jesus and.
No one can personally live my
faith and I can't personally
live someone else's faith, but.
I was probably 33, 34 years old before.
Somebody.
Walk me through.
What it looked like to spend
time with the Lord daily.
Now don't get me wrong.
I was taught to spend time with
the Lord daily, but to sit down and
walk me through scripture reading.
You know, observing what
you read, writing it down.
Writing down an application of that
scripture to your life, and then
praying over that whole concept.
So my advice is.
Lorna method.
With spending time in scripture and
having the personal time with the Lord.
Um, There's a lot of methods out there.
There's soap there's camp, but ultimately.
Um, they all, um, Um, our
tools that just allow us to.
To here.
C apply.
God's commands.
And God's teaching.
And so.
I also was probably about that age when
I really started taking that seriously.
And you look at folks in
scripture who did it, even Peter.
Peter was a.
You know, the Peter we hear most about.
I was kind of a.
Wasn't afraid to say anything.
Probably put his foot in his mouth
a lot, but there was a time where
Peter just put his head down and
said, this was after Christ died.
But on the cross for us, but.
Learning scripture learning what that
meant to let the spirit live in him.
And.
And then the, the Peter that
came from that was a stud.
For the, for the gospel.
And so.
If we want to be studs for the gospel.
We got to learn.
To spend time with the Lord.
Daily.
To spend time in prayer daily.
Um, And then where whatever God's
given us as a platform, whether it's.
Working for a company owning a company.
Um,
Being a good husband, being a father.
You know, that's where we have the
opportunity to exercise those things.
And.
I've also found that
exercise and those things.
I guess you'd say They're just.
Getting in the messiness of life.
I'm in the middle of a.
Have a 20 week.
make war discipleship group.
And.
Went through the class and now I'm
on the leadership side of it learning
to, to help lead some of this stuff.
And.
You know, theirs.
Plenty of other things that I
could be doing on a Monday night.
And God's just impressed upon me that.
Two hours on a Monday night.
Too.
Fight like Peter and Paul fault.
To to know God more so that.
When obstacles come, when
opportunities come that I can.
Share Christ better.
It's worth it.
Um, But then also every morning
when I wake up or when you go
to bed, whatever you choose.
You know, just spending that
time and God's word and.
Um, talking to the Lord
and listening to the Lord.
And, and being in
relationship with Jesus is a.
You can't fake it.
you just got to do it.
And.
One of the more trying times of my
life happened this past November,
when I went in to my doctor's
visit for a routine checkup.
Had a little nod on my forehead.
The doctor and I started
talking, he's a friend.
Um,
And he said, Hey, let's
just, x-ray that thing.
And, you know, just see what it is.
It's probably not the major.
Um, I get a call about
two hours after I leave.
And he says, Kyle, you got
a gross behind your score.
And I don't know what
it is and I'm concerned.
Did an MRI two hours later and they said,
man, you got a growth behind your school.
And we don't know what it is.
And now when he says behind your
score, does he mean between the.
Bone and your brain.
No behind the school.
Touching your brain, but not intertwined
in my brain is what it ultimately was.
So, wow.
Then they started calling it a tumor
and then they started calling it.
You know, I don't know what
it is, I finally meet with
the surgeon and this is about.
two and a half weeks after.
I was told I had a tumor behind my school.
And, uh,
Two and a half weeks was, was one of the
more trying times in my life because I.
I just didn't know, uh, you know, And.
I mentally was Satan was winning.
Um, I reached out to, to one of the.
The gentleman who is.
Leading one of my discipleship groups.
I said that I'm scared, man.
I don't know what is going on.
I don't feel bad, but they
tell me I got this growth.
Really close to my brain and.
So.
He said, I'm going to send
you some scripture and I want
you to read these out daily.
Out loud to yourself.
Um,
And so I just.
There were bouts.
Of doubt, there were abouts of, uh,
Just being scared to be quite honest.
No.
It's asking God, what in
the world are you doing?
Um,
And so.
Lotta a lot of, uh,
Prayer, a lot of tears.
I'm not life because neither one.
Understood.
What was going on and, um, But I want
to read this verbatim If I can find it.
The scripture.
Yes cause it was this guy's
name's Jared Henkel, And he's
uh, he's one of those guys that.
Or certainly.
Stud.
When it comes to the gospel.
Hang with me for a second here.
Yeah, that's right.
I haven't found this
scripture that, but ultimately
I
was just confirming that,
you know, God's sovereign.
And, um,
He wants you to understand he's
sovereign and he wants you to trust him.
And, um,
That, that sounds really good until
you've got the, the lesion in your head.
It turns out it's just
going to be a lesion.
But, um, but for tonight, Yeah.
For two and a half weeks.
And then even after that, you
know, as they were telling me that.
The signs were.
You know, good in my favor.
I, you know, you still don't know.
And, uh, So, these are my words.
I said, Jared, I said,
I'm scared, brother.
I just need to confess that to somebody.
He said, let me look up some scripts.
Reflect and meditate on.
And he sent me about 10 and we
know that all things work together
for good to those who love God.
Today's.
Who are called according to his purpose.
For whom he foreknew you.
He also predestined to be
conformed to the image of the sun.
He said I would encourage you greatly.
To read these passages out loud.
Let the enemy hear you.
Proclaimed these promises of God.
I realize say it loudly.
Say it would belief.
Say it with assurance.
And then he, he said, He
sent this scripture to second
Thessalonians three 16.
Now may the Lord of peace
himself, give you peace.
Always.
And every way the Lord be with you.
Cashier burdens on the Lord
and he shall sustain you.
Um,
Should I send a load with all your heart.
You know, things that we
had, we've all heard in.
But at that moment, You know,
My only hope was found in Jesus.
And.
Trusting his promises.
Trusting the sovereignty.
And realizing that if,
if this was going to be.
A much bigger battle than.
he'd be with me It turns out that
five weeks later I'm in surgery, they.
They cut a quarter size out of my school.
Um, they pull out this mass was
turned out to be Coagulated blood
vessels that started kind of growing.
Away from my brain towards
my school, which couldn't
have been a better situation.
Put medical statement back in there and.
the next day I walked out.
The hospital, the next, actually
the next I was there two nights.
I actually know that was yeah.
Two nights.
Um, And I did.
Two nights.
Thing or the plan was we can biopsy
had been, you don't really just.
Biopsy something next to the brain.
It's still an invasive You
know, you have to get in there
so that their thoughts were.
Because it was.
You know, three, four centimeters.
At that time.
Um, They would just go
ahead and remove it.
And then biopsy it.
Yeah.
And.
I think there was enough.
I thought that it could be.
Turn out to be okay.
That they thought we had time to.
So they.
The Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
I found out.
December 11th.
I had the surgery.
Two days later, they
called me and told me that.
It was diagnosed as a
humanity, Homer, which is.
Just blood vessels, that coagulate.
And a lot of times they
don't even mess with them.
If they know what it is,
but because of where it was.
You can't really boss biopsy
something behind your school
without going out of your school.
You know, But this thing
was pushing hard now.
It was right here in it.
It was about.
That big.
And so you could see it.
If you.
You probably wouldn't notice it
unless I showed you, but she could see
those a little knot on my forehead.
And, uh, wow.
So it J it just rocked my world because.
And I know I like to eat sweets, but
fairly healthy in the whole scheme
of things and still fairly active.
Um, Had just gotten through with
the eight week course and make war.
The discipleship
program I think it was.
Certainly a time for me to.
Put my money where my mouth was.
In my face.
and so God was certainly.
Showed himself to be enough.
A lot of people prayed a lot of people.
You know, comforted me,
tried to comfort me.
You know, my brother Ben was there.
Uh, my nephew.
Steven who I call Bubba.
I was checking on a constantly.
My guys at work were
constantly checking on me.
And Jared made it intentional
to, to go through it with me.
Um, Which.
Man, if you're ever going through
something tough and you got somebody
that says I'm here with you.
And it is special.
Yeah, man.
So it sounds like you.
Got a lot closer to the Lord.
Yeah.
I told him and I told God during
that time, I was like, man.
Yeah.
If you'll just help me get through this, I
promise you I'll tell the world about it.
And, uh, this is, this was probably one of
the biggest reasons I wanted to share is.
Because.
I told him I would.
And a man guy's been
faithful in my life and.
I, uh,
There's so much that's aligned in my life.
That would.
There's no, there's no other reason it
would have without God's faithfulness.
Um, so.
Thank you.
Jesus.
So there's a lot of people.
Christians and non-Christians I
Go through these health issues and.
Come up against the unknown.
Diagnosed.
But pre diagnosis, I would say.
And that period of time is, is, is scary.
When you don't know what's going on.
so
What was the thing that
Gave you the no.
You know, I think about that.
And I don't know, cause there
was paralyzing moments where.
You know, I could really
do is go sob in a corner.
Thinking about it, but.
Um,
You know, what I do know is
that when I was sobbing, I
was talking to Jesus about it.
And, um, So.
Was it easy?
Was it a walk in the park?
No.
Is that what faith does,
where you know, this.
This fate take away pain.
No.
There's God promised they'll be no pain.
No.
He promises.
The walk through with us and, you know,
we've got family members and friends right
now going through some tough stuff and.
You know, I want them to know I'm
with them, but more importantly,
I want them to know that.
if they're followers of Jesus and
have a personal relationship with him.
He's there with them.
And.
If we're really serious
about this eternity thing.
And I kinda went face to face
with it, as in my thoughts,
unfortunately, my situation.
Was not terminal and turned out
to be best case scenario, but.
We're going to spit.
A ton more time and eternity than we are.
On this earth.
And.
It's hard to process that
from, from this seat today.
But.
I'm P I'm banking.
Um, Jesus being there.
Okay.
And I'm banking on being with him.
Because of what I seen
him do in my life today.
And.
What he'll do moving forward that
that's where I'm going to put my faith.
And, uh,
I hope others around me will as well.
I see enough in my life to
where they want to do that.
But.
You know, that's my calling
is to share the gospel.
And.
You know, To, to share
it with the urgency.
To live it so that what I
say, and my actions match up.
You know, I'm not called to save people.
Because I couldn't get my own strength.
But I don't know where else she turned.
If you're in those situations, when.
It makes Hopeless situations.
Extremely helpless.
You know, so.
Um,
I want to be an overcomer.
You know, I'm a coward at times.
I struggle with faith at times.
Um,
But I think Jesus wants us to
be overcomers and that's all I
could think of in that moment is.
Yeah.
You're going to get me
through this somehow.
Lord.
And when Satan rared his head and.
And my wife was huge.
This.
You know, she's like, Yeah,
let's talk about facts.
What do we know?
You know, And what are
God's promises to us?
That's not take it somewhere that,
you know, we don't have to take it.
So having people around you
encouraging you is, is huge.
And my wife's was certainly
that Jared was that.
My team here at ESS was that.
Yeah.
That's a great experience.
Thank you for sharing that.
I know there's people needed to hear that.
Well, uh,
I'm sure we could go on and on, Is
there anything else you want to share?
Please do otherwise.
I'd like for you to.
pray for people out there who made.
She ain't getting that.
Just gotten a diagnosis.
That's really scary.
Or somebody who's struggling with.
Their faith.
Yeah, let's pray.
father, you are Everything we need.
Um,
Father.
I know that.
Uh, what you've done in my life.
And, and then I know what
you've done in Jesse's life.
And.
Father we're undeserving, but, uh,
because of the cross and because of
what Jesus did for us, um, Um, you
tell us in your scripture that you
see us as perfect and you love us.
You know, understanding that you love.
Centers who fell is, is
a hard concept at times.
And, um,
Father, but she loves us so much.
And you did too much for us by sending
Jesus to the cross, to, for us to think.
You don't love us.
So, uh, the hurting people around
us who were in the middle of their.
Their trials.
Um,
You know, I implore them
to look to look to Jesus.
Um, pour them to lean on their faith.
Um, implored them to, to tell
you about it, to tell you where
their fears are to tell you.
Um, where they're struggling
and then to be ready to listen.
Um, So many characters in the Bible
and we don't claim to be those
characters, but we want to, to see,
you know, how they managed struggle.
And how faithful you are to them.
And so many of those characters
were just honest with you.
And they told you what they were thinking.
Father.
They talk to you.
And the biggest part of prayer
is, is talking and listening.
And so.
Father when we struggle, we just
have to talk to you and lay it at
the foot of the cross father and a.
At your feet.
And so.
I encourage folks who are struggling, uh,
you know, you tell us to count it all joy.
Um, that's easier said than done.
The father.
I know that when we're hurting.
And when we come to you.
You're there as our comfort.
Your layers are peace.
And I know what, because you
promise it in your scripture and
then because of what you done.
You have done in my life.
So father, thank you for this time.
Thank you for Jesse's vision and got
to know his ultimate goal was to.
To point people to you through
these conversations and.
If a guy like me can say anything.
Um, it's that?
my relationship with you And growing
that relationship is the most important
thing I'll ever do in this life.
And then guide you very
clearly tell us to love people.
Along the way to love them
enough to tell them about.
you and what you did for us on the cross.
So.
Thank you for that cross.
And then, The fact that you,
you rose again and you're a
living God who lives in us.
And that we can lean on
in times of struggle.
It's certainly been evident
in my life in the last year.
We love you.
I have a forest Cletus.
Thank you for the blessings in
our lives and your precious name.
We pray.
Amen.
Hey, Matt.
We hope you've been
blessed by today's story.
if you've heard something that you think
could help someone you know, please share
it using the link in the show notes.
Also, if you will give Faith and Purpose a
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you could help more people find it.
You will probably never know how
that small effort can make a big
difference in someone's life,
but our Heavenly Father knows.
Speaking of sharing, if you know a Jesus
follower with a story to tell, please send
them a link to Faith and Purpose Podcast.
It may encourage them to tell their story.
That person may even be you.
Our only criteria is
that Jesus be glorified.
No one has a story like yours, and you
may be the only one who can reach someone
else through telling your experience.
So don't be intimidated.
A story is just that, a true account
of your own experience, and no one
can disagree with your experience.
When we tell what Jesus has done in
our lives, we are being obedient to his
command to go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature.
It's not about theology, and it's not
about how interesting or special you are.
It's all about Jesus.
So when you're ready to tell how Jesus
has impacted your life, you can let Jesse
know at his ministry website, jesseduke.
net.
There you can download guidelines
that will make it easy to
prepare to tell your story.
Thank you for listening today and Shalom.