Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Creators and Guests
What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast?
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
You can mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships with kids from hard places in the name of Jesus. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others. You can mentor.
Speaker 2:Hey, mentors. Just a reminder about the You Can Mentor book. It's titled You Can Mentor, How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses. The whole point of this book is to equip and encourage mentors with new tools and ideas on how to make the most of their mentor mentee relationship. If you're a mentor, hey, go pick it up.
Speaker 2:And if you're a mentoring organization, pick some up for all of your mentors. If you would like to order mass copies, like more than 20, send an email to me, zach@youcanmentor.com, and we will get you guys a special price. But go and pick up that book. It's good. You can mentor.
Speaker 3:Welcome back to the You Can Mentor podcast. My name is Joshua Manning. You definitely know my voice by now because we're, like, 8 weeks into this series. We've been talking about a why I mentor series with the coaches at forerunner. Sorry.
Speaker 3:None of the full time staff get to be on it, except maybe Darius. I think he has an episode. But today, we are wrapping that up with a very special guest. We got ourselves Joshua Turner in the house. Josh, how are you doing?
Speaker 4:I'm doing good. I'm doing great. Feel good.
Speaker 3:You doing great?
Speaker 4:Yeah. You stole my name, but I'm alright.
Speaker 3:Oh, I stole your
Speaker 4:name? Definitely.
Speaker 3:I'm pretty sure you stole my name because I'm the one that goes by coach Josh in our program, and you go by JT.
Speaker 4:Fair enough.
Speaker 3:Fair
Speaker 4:enough. That's fair.
Speaker 3:Although, we should also talk about the fact that I could also go by JT because my middle name is Thomas. So True. True. Yeah. Our our attempts at designating between the 2 of us are No.
Speaker 3:We're we're unsuccessful. Yeah. The reason why this is a big deal for the You Can Mentor listeners is JT here is the grade coach for the junior high. So he works with me over at Lake Highlands Junior High.
Speaker 4:Yep.
Speaker 3:And, yeah, it's just been it's been an interesting year of kids being kids, kids calling us each other's names. Like, they basically use our names interchangeably, and we just have had to learn how to
Speaker 4:Sticking name tags on our back.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. Sticking name tags on our back. I don't I don't know where they got that idea. From you. From me?
Speaker 3:I don't think that's I don't think that's fact. No. It definitely it definitely was me. I I did it to one of the kids once in something like April or something like that. And then it just became a game for them to try to Yeah.
Speaker 3:Try to get name our name tags from the school onto each other's backs, onto our backs without them knowing. And I'm I'm a hand it to them. They they definitely got some really sneaky ones. There was once I think I, like, made it all the way home after program that day. Wow.
Speaker 3:I was, like, getting ready for bed or whatever and found it. And I was like, okay. That one was good. That one was really good.
Speaker 4:That's crazy.
Speaker 3:Usually, I pick up on them pretty quickly because they're not that sneaky. And also, it's my job to be aware of who's where at any given point in time. But every once in a while like, I think they learned that they their their window was when I was preoccupied with the computer or,
Speaker 4:you know Setting up.
Speaker 3:Setting up, checking kids in, whatever. Like, that was their window because that was when I was not quite as spatially aware. And so they just kinda, like, make a pass pass behind me and and just deposit it on my back. And
Speaker 4:How many hours is that that you didn't know till you got home?
Speaker 3:Well, program would have been 4 to 6 PM. So assuming they did it probably 4:30, and I got home around 8:30, 9 o'clock that night. So a good 5 hours. I mean, we went through all of all of free time without that happening. Right?
Speaker 3:So it's it it definitely was a it was a good year. So we got JT in the house today. JT, why don't we just kick this conversation off with who you are?
Speaker 4:Yeah. I don't know.
Speaker 3:Wait. You're telling me you don't know who you are?
Speaker 4:Know who I am, man. You know, that's something that, you know, I fig I'm I'm figuring it out day by day. But on a serious note, I I would say, obviously, you know, man of God, but I I have dreams and aspirations to, you know, be a preacher, maybe a pastor. If you ask some people, they'll tell you, I'm the faith journalist. I went to school for journalism.
Speaker 4:I didn't finish, but I did go to school for journalism. And I I wanted to be on the news. But all of a sudden, I would say around 2019, 2020, while I'm in school for journalism, I didn't just wanna be on the news. I had an encounter with God, and I wanted to be something that was about the news, but more so the good news. So it went from the news to the good news and wanted to share the gospel.
Speaker 4:So, you know, through that process, I just really found a way to connect God to what it was I was doing in school, and he just twisted it that way. So, you know, preacher, pastor, the faith journalist, a mentor, and so many other things that I'm still, you know, figuring out every day. It's it's always it's all with God, it's always something new. So Yeah.
Speaker 3:I get that. You said you had an encounter with God. What did that encounter look like?
Speaker 4:Yeah. So, man, I was I gotta say, maybe 2 at the end of 2018, beginning of 22,019, I went on a trip to Texas, where I am now. Right. But I was going down to Texas, visiting a friend of mine on his birthday. And, you know, we had a we had a great time.
Speaker 4:But later that night, you know, it was just it was it was, like, probably 11 o'clock. And I just found myself on the on his kitchen floor crying. Like, just crying crying out to God crying out to God. And in that moment, you know, I I just heard so many things, you know, like, things from the enemy, and then things from God. And then in that process, I was able to get up off the floor and go sit on the couch, and, you know, God just confirmed to me and spoke to me right there that he's gonna use me for his purpose, for his glory, and that I was on the right route with what I was doing, but he was going to take it and use it for him and use it for the kingdom.
Speaker 4:So I would say, yeah, it it was just a moment that I had with God and just soaking and sitting and sobbing, and him just speaking to me and getting me through that through that moment. And ever since then, I just been running after it. And like you said, who am I? Ever since that moment, I still been, you know, figuring it out and walking it out and and chasing it just so that I can get to what that looks like and what it is.
Speaker 3:Right. So 2018, 2019, you're you're what? Like, 18, 19, 20?
Speaker 4:Yeah. I think so. Somewhere
Speaker 3:in there.
Speaker 4:Uh-huh. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Alright. So a young adult, you know, having to answer the the whole question of, like, what am I doing with my life? Because Yeah. You know, I probably just graduated high school.
Speaker 4:Or no. You said you were 2017. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So and you were in college Mhmm. And kinda figuring out, like, okay, I wanna, you know, I wanna be on the news or or whatever. And then just having to answer the question of, like, what am I doing with
Speaker 4:my life?
Speaker 3:Yeah. And then it sounds like like God just met you Yeah. In that place and and was like, you have all of these gifts. Yeah. You are a leader.
Speaker 3:You're a public speaker, whatever. And I'm gonna use that for my glory kinda thing.
Speaker 4:Yeah. That's Yeah. In the wilderness.
Speaker 3:In the wilderness. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Now, dude, that's a that's a powerful story.
Speaker 3:It's something I can relate to just in my own story because, like, I came down to Texas, and we'll we'll get into you said you came to Texas, which means you're not from here. So Yeah. You know, that that begs the question of where are you from. But, yeah, I came from Texas in from Utah to go to grad school. Right?
Speaker 3:And at the time, like, it was a lot more kinda self motivated in the sense of, like, I was, like, I'm going to grad school because I don't feel like I can be successful in my field, which is in lighting design, as you know, but maybe the listeners don't know. Yeah. You know, I don't feel like I can be successful in my in my field. So I started the process of grad school interviews and going to Chicago for that and and all of that, and God just, like, making a way for that to happen. And realizing after I got the offer, a couple of months after I got the offer for grad school, that God had made the way for me to go to grad school and was saying, like, you're doing this.
Speaker 3:Wow. And I was just like, okay. Right? I'm like, I don't understand because I I didn't know anybody in Right. In Dallas.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Right? I'd never even been to Dallas. So it was like, who in their right mind just picks up all their stuff, moves 1500 miles away to a place they've literally never been Yeah. To start over?
Speaker 3:Right? It it just doesn't happen. But God was like, you're doing this. And I had said yes to him for the first time in my life. And so, you know, from there, it was like, I went to or I started grad school.
Speaker 3:About 6, 7 weeks later, I like, that's literally the only time I've heard God's voice, like, audibly. I woke up on a Sunday in, like, the end of September, beginning of October of 2018, and was just like you know, the first thought in my head was you said yes to coming down here when you're going back to church. And I was like, well, it's 12:30 on a Sunday, so I guess next week. Right.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right? And so, you know, that was just God being like, you're going back to church. Like, I am pursuing you because I love you. Yeah. Right?
Speaker 3:And so, you know, from there, I met Steven, the whole you know, that whole story. But, like, it wasn't or it was pretty quickly after that where it became a, okay, like, I'm a Christian. I know I'm a Christian. I've accepted Christ. How do I use these gifts in a very niche field?
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right? Like, how many lighting designers do you know? Not many.
Speaker 4:I didn't even know that was the thing. Like Right.
Speaker 3:Most people don't even realize it's a career path, let alone you can go to grad school for it.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So they were like, you know, how do I use these gifts that I've very clearly been given as an artist in combination with my calling to be a leader among men, which has been something my mom has spoken over me since I was a baby. Wow. Like, she she's literally she knew I was gonna be a leader long before I I knew I was gonna be a leader.
Speaker 4:Moms always know.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And I was like, so how do I use this this calling and or how do I use these gifts and this calling, and how do those intersect? And that's how I've ended up, one being the site lead at 4 Runner. Right? That's the leadership side of that is I'm leading you, I'm leading the boys, but also I'm the technical director at my church, right, which involves running lights, it involves running sound, it involves posting the sermon every week.
Speaker 3:Right? Doing using literally all of my gifts to serve the church. And so that's been that perfect intersection of those two callings. And as technical director, I'm leading a serve team. Right?
Speaker 3:So I can I can definitely relate to that, the radical pursuit that you're talking about? So you said you were coming to Dallas
Speaker 4:Yep.
Speaker 3:For a party
Speaker 4:Yep.
Speaker 3:Which implies that you are not from here. So where are you from? What do you like to do? Who is who is JT as a person, like his personality? Right?
Speaker 3:Like, I know you. Mhmm. I've I've worked the last year with you.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But, you know, introduce us from that side.
Speaker 4:So I'm from originally Illinois. I'm a just say Chicago because if I say where I'm really from, most people would not know where that is. So just for context or whatever. I'm from Chicago, Illinois. Right?
Speaker 4:I lived there for most of my life. I went to school in Illinois, went to school, ran track. And then for about 2 years, that's when I moved to Georgia. So originally from originally from Chicago.
Speaker 3:K.
Speaker 4:Then I moved to Georgia, and then I lived in Georgia for about 2 years.
Speaker 3:Was that while you were in school?
Speaker 4:Yes. Yes. Wow. I was at Georgia State University Gotcha. Journalism.
Speaker 4:And then I was at Georgia State, and then I would say I was there for about a year, year and a half living in Georgia. And then that's when I moved to Texas with $2,000 in my pocket. And that was it.
Speaker 3:I mean, hey. You had more than I did.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I had a bunch
Speaker 3:of credit card debt when I moved. So
Speaker 4:Yeah. I had $2,000 and really just so like I said, man, I was at Georgia State University, and it was the first time that I ever left home in a sense. Because most people know me from Georgia, but I'm originally originally from Chicago. So that's where a lot of my family is. A lot of my friends are.
Speaker 4:And just a lot of the people that I know the most are back in Chicago. Also, you know, I had a couple I have auntie 2 aunties and 2 uncles in Georgia, but other than that, that was all. So me moving out there, along with my mom, was kinda like a a challenge because I was like, man, I'm starting over. I'm starting fresh. Yeah.
Speaker 4:I don't know really too much, you know, people out here. You know, I would go there for the summers or whatnot. Went to school there in high school, which is another story for a little bit. But other than that, it was just kinda, like, I'm here and, like, God, what are you gonna do? So in that process of me going to Georgia State and pursuing journalism, I kinda just, like like I told you, you know, God just kept pulling and tugging on my heart, like, you know, I'm gonna use you for the good news.
Speaker 4:Like, I know you're going after a news career, broadcasting, personality, TV, whatever it is, but I'm going to use you to spread and share the gospel. And that's just what it was for me. So I would say when I wanna 2020, COVID, that year is just man.
Speaker 3:That's the theme of the that's the theme of these episodes is, man, COVID just kinda messed everything up.
Speaker 4:Yeah. COVID came and crashed a lot of things for a lot of people. And it was good for me that it happened. Because if COVID didn't happen, I don't think I will be where I am right now. Yeah.
Speaker 4:So it was a lot of blessings in that pandemic. But yeah. So God just told me he's like, you're gonna move to Texas. And I was like, okay.
Speaker 3:Okay. Why?
Speaker 4:Yeah. For what? Right? For what? He's like, you're gonna move to Texas, so, like, prepare yourself.
Speaker 4:He told me that
Speaker 3:In the pandemic.
Speaker 4:In the pandemic. Mind you, I am a college dropout. I don't know if I told you I didn't finish, but I did not finish school. Right? So not only that, I was working a job at Party City making $7 an hour.
Speaker 4:How am I going
Speaker 3:to $7?
Speaker 4:$7.25
Speaker 3:an hour. I was gonna say, because federal minimum wage is 7.25. So how you how how are you making 7?
Speaker 4:I mean, the 25¢ ain't really doing that, you know. That's right. For 4 more hours, just for a dollar. But extra dollar. Yeah, extra dollar.
Speaker 4:Right. But yeah, so I was working job to job. Just living like, man, you know, just feeling ashamed. Like, man, I failed myself. I made it all the way out here.
Speaker 4:Like, I'm working a job at Party City. Then I went to go work at Abercrombie. Can't even pronounce it. Abercrombie and Fitch. Abercrombie?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Abbott, whatever. Right? I'm here.
Speaker 3:Is this here in Dallas?
Speaker 4:No. This is in Georgia.
Speaker 3:While God
Speaker 4:is telling me that he's about to about to move me. This is just like what my life looks like in that process. Right? So I'm broke. I'm a dropout.
Speaker 4:I'm living with my parents. My mom and my father, I'm living with them, and, still, I'm reading every day. I'm I'm fasting. I'm praying. I'm worshiping, and I'm just believing that what he said is going to happen, although what it looks like right now says no way.
Speaker 3:Right. It's 40 years in the wilderness.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Like, there's no way I'm moving to Texas. With what? Like, in my dream? So I just started to put away the $7.25 that I had Yeah.
Speaker 4:In my bank account. We got income taxes. I took all the money that I have from my income taxes, put it in my savings account, and this is 2020. I would say around 2021 May. I was like, alright.
Speaker 4:Get ready. We're leaving in June. I was like, okay.
Speaker 3:In June? He gave you, like, a month heads up? Yes.
Speaker 4:Yes. He gave me a month's heads up, up, and he's like, we're dipping out in June. I didn't tell anybody. I kinda always stood out there, like, yeah. You know, I wanna move to Texas.
Speaker 4:I never said why. Because people would be like, why? God told me to. And they'd
Speaker 3:be like, say what?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Right? They'll talk you out of it. So I didn't I didn't say anything. I'm just like, yeah.
Speaker 4:I think I wanna move to Texas. You know? They're, like, when? I'm, like, you know, sometime this year, but God told me in May that he was gonna move me in June. Like, he gave me a date.
Speaker 4:He just gave me a place, but then he gave me a date. And then I looked at my account, and from all the money that I saved, I had $3,000. Right? So Yeah. I'm like, yep.
Speaker 4:That should be enough maybe.
Speaker 3:That should be enough to move to, like, one of the most expensive cities ever.
Speaker 4:Be. Right? Very expensive. And
Speaker 3:At least more expensive than Georgia.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And it's funny because people are like, yeah. Move to Texas. Move to Texas. They're so cheap.
Speaker 4:I'm like,
Speaker 3:Right. No. It's not.
Speaker 4:That's not that's not always the case. But yeah. So I looked at my bank account. I had $3,000, and I said, surely, this has to be enough. Because if you're telling me that you're moving me there, clearly, what I have right now, like, is gonna get me there.
Speaker 3:It's 5 loaves and 2 fish.
Speaker 4:Literally. Wow. Yeah. Five loaves and 2 fish. And Oh,
Speaker 3:dude. I have, like, 3 different biblical parallels for the story you're telling right now. So keep going, and then we'll
Speaker 4:onto something, though.
Speaker 3:Keep going, and we'll get onto it.
Speaker 4:You're onto something, though. Because, like I said, $3,000 so this is in May. At the beginning of June, God pushed it on my heart to give away a $1,000. I just told you I had no money in my account. He pushed it on my heart to sow a $1,000.
Speaker 4:Right? So I wrestled
Speaker 3:33% of it. Man.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So I wrestled with it, and I'm like, god. I can't do this. There's no way. Like, if I do this, I'm staying in Georgia.
Speaker 4:Like
Speaker 3:You're like, this is this is a one or the other. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Not a
Speaker 3:bull thing. Yeah. I'm like, are we moving or we staying here?
Speaker 4:Because What are we doing? What are we doing?
Speaker 3:So And he's like, no. It's a bull thing.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Literally. So I'm like, what are we doing? So I'm wrestling with it. I'm wrestling with it.
Speaker 4:Wow. I'm like, you know what? It's not mine anyway. So I'm like, okay. I'll sow it.
Speaker 4:So I sold $1,000. Into what? It was into a minister that that I that I knew. Like, they've really been pouring into my life, like, a a lot. And I just I just felt it.
Speaker 4:You know? I just felt it to to to sow into their ministry. They didn't have a big following anything like
Speaker 3:this. Right. Right.
Speaker 4:Just like, man, I wanna sow into you. And God told me to do this. And when I did it, they're like Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Especially coming from me.
Speaker 3:So, wait,
Speaker 4:bro. I know you. You know? So
Speaker 3:I know you. I know what you got. Like, are you sure?
Speaker 4:People like that. So I'm like, yes. Just take it. And I I left it at that. So I did that.
Speaker 4:2 weeks later, I booked a flight. So mind you, so now we're at $2,000. I booked a flight to Dallas. American Airlines would not do Spirit. So so, you know, that's a little pricey.
Speaker 4:Right? That's about $300 right there.
Speaker 3:Hashtag not sponsored.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Not sponsored. But American Airlines flight, $300 came and toured some apartments. Before I came, I already had a list of, you know, where I wanna go, what I wanna look at. So I came, looked at the apartments.
Speaker 4:Man, these things were expensive. I mean, they they were up there. So I'm just like
Speaker 3:Were they in the North Dallas area?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. The the nicer part of town.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. So I was there searching out, looking for some places or whatever. Did department tour. It was cool.
Speaker 4:So this is 3 weeks. I'm I wanna say 2 weeks into June, so we're around, like, maybe June 14th, 15th ish.
Speaker 3:Of 2021. Okay.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Of 2021. So I wanna say 2 no. Yeah. So 2 days, like, so I was down there.
Speaker 4:The lady I spoke to the lady. I found the place that I really like when I put in my application. Right? Yeah. To the one I really liked.
Speaker 3:But you had no job.
Speaker 4:I had no job.
Speaker 3:And you had no income.
Speaker 4:And no income. I had DoorDash.
Speaker 3:You were oh, you were doing DoorDash.
Speaker 4:I was doing DoorDash.
Speaker 3:So you were like, hey. Like, I'm self employed.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I was like she said, do you have pay stubs? I said, I have bank statements. I don't have any pay stubs. Like, I give you bank statements.
Speaker 4:In her face, she's like, okay. Like
Speaker 3:She's like, sure, but
Speaker 4:probably not. I'll take it. Yeah. So I gave her my relate because
Speaker 3:I do that too.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah. See? So you know what
Speaker 3:it is. Self employed. Right? Like, anytime I need to get anywhere, it's like, I have 3 jobs. For sure.
Speaker 3:Pay stubs don't cover it. It's like, this is not an accurate representation. Here is a bank statement.
Speaker 4:No. Yeah. So I gave her I gave her the bank statements, and I'm like, ma'am, this is all I got. Gave her everything. She's like, okay.
Speaker 4:We'll let you know. So 2 days ago, she doesn't even call me. She, like, gives me emails. She's like, sorry. Like, you're not approved.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And I was like, okay. You know, I don't think it was service, like, automated or whatever. You know, like, how they have their their emails. So I'm just like, okay.
Speaker 4:Cool. But then, I kid you not, on the 3rd day, like, I was outside walking. And I'm like, god. You told me I was gonna move there. You did this.
Speaker 4:You know you know how we are when we give a guidance. Like, it's not working out how we don't. I'm like, god. You said this. You said that.
Speaker 3:We're a little arrogant.
Speaker 4:What happened? Yeah. And then I go home. I mean, I'm in I'm on vacation, actually. So I went from Florida to Texas because we were having, like k.
Speaker 4:A family or a vacation. So, like, I got away from everybody. I'm walking outside. I'm like, god, you say you were gonna do this. What happened?
Speaker 3:Like And this is in Florida or in Texas? Florida. Right? Yeah. Gotcha.
Speaker 3:So you had come you toured and then went to Florida.
Speaker 4:Yep.
Speaker 3:Gotcha.
Speaker 4:Jacksonville. So I'm like, god. You said this is gonna happen. What happened? So I'm just upset.
Speaker 4:I'm walking around outside for about an hour. I go back to my brother's house, go upstairs, sit on the couch, and I just look at my email. And it's from the same place that had just denied me. So I opened it. I wasn't gonna open it because I already saw this stupid thing.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:I already got denied. I opened it, and it says, oh, hey. Like, you've been approved for the apartment and da da da. So I'm like, wait. This is a scam.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You're like, wait. No. I just got an email saying I wasn't approved. Yeah.
Speaker 3:How can I be both approved and not approved?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Exactly. Gotcha. Okay. On the 3rd day, I looked back and I got approved.
Speaker 4:So I gave them a call, and I was like, hey, just, you know, double checking. I don't wanna move out get out there and look crazy, and I'm not able to move in. She's like, oh, no. We actually, like, had a malfunction in the system. Something went wrong.
Speaker 4:And, like, I'm so sorry, but you actually did get approved for the apartment. And I was like, okay. I hung up the phone. I was like, yes. Like, I was shouting.
Speaker 4:Like, I was I was I was yelling.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Wow. That is that is a crazy story. And I see, like, 4 different biblical parallels there. Right?
Speaker 3:We talked we talked about the 5 5 loaves and 3 fish. Yeah. 2 fish. 5 loaves and 2 fish. I know my bible.
Speaker 3:The 5 loaves and 2 fish. Right? You know, this just this idea of, like, I got, like, this is what I got. And, God, whatever you're gonna do, like, I'm here for it. Right?
Speaker 3:So you had that, and that's faith. And that takes faith. But also, you know, I have in my head the biblical parallel of just the beginning of this process, right, of, you know, this dream that you've been given
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Is Abraham. Mhmm. Right? You know, Abraham being promised, like, you're gonna have a son and you're gonna be a father of nations Yeah. Literally nations.
Speaker 3:And your your offspring are going to be as countless as the stars Yeah. In the night sky. And so, like, he's giving you this dream. Right? You know, that's the very beginning thing is God's like, you're going to do this That's good.
Speaker 3:And I'm going to use you for my purposes. So now you've got Abraham. And, I mean, what was Abraham's story? Like, he he he waited how long before Isaac was born?
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Right? And he tried to take things into his own hands and do his own things and Ishmael. Ishmael. And thanks to him, now we have, you know, eternal war in the Middle East. But that's a whole different a whole different ballpark.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But, no, we've got we've got Abraham who's been given a vision, literally a vision, not even just a promise. He's been given a vision of the future, of his future, right, and his legacy. And that's, like, that's the start of your story. God's like, this is your legacy. You're going to be doing this.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then you had to go through that waiting period. Right? The waiting period the same waiting period that Abraham had to go through. But also, you know, that circles into the second parallel of the Israelites in the wilderness. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Right? You know, of having to wander through the desert for 40 years. Now, granted, their circumstance was a little bit different because theirs was a consequence for their actions.
Speaker 4:They did that to themselves.
Speaker 3:They kinda did that to themselves because they were given the promised land, and they were too afraid to go, like, take it. Right?
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But you still had that period of kind of wandering, of wondering, okay, god. Like, you've given me this vision. What the heck? Right? Where where is this?
Speaker 3:When is this happening? That kind of thing. So we got the 5 loaves, 2 fish. We got Abraham's vision. We've got Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness.
Speaker 3:And then the 4th one is just this this this really cool parallel of I don't know if you caught it, but you said 3 days later. Mhmm.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right? Yeah. You said 3 days after I got rejected, I was redeemed. Yeah. Right?
Speaker 3:So the the 4th parallel there is, like, Jesus' death and resurrection. Right? Not and, obviously, these are not the same things. Obviously, Jesus' death and resurrection is so much bigger and
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3:Better than than the story.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But the same idea of, like I mean, if you look at the Bible and just the number of times that, like, the number 3 comes up, it's, you know, it's a symbol of the trinity. It's a symbol of holiness. It's it's those things. Like, if you look at numerology and kind of the symbolism of 3 within the Bible, like, 3 days later
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:3 days after you got rejected, you like, they came back and were like, oh, just kidding. Like, there was a malfunction.
Speaker 4:Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. A malfunction on my application.
Speaker 3:A malfunction on your application.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And you've actually been approved for something that, quite frankly, you should not have been approved for. Right? Like, you
Speaker 4:I was broke.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You were broke. You had a couple grand in the in the bank and no job. Right? So it's like, how how does that happen?
Speaker 3:It's obvious, like, you know, that only happens as a miracle from God. But it's like the biblical parallels of your story
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And, like, this being the first time that I've actually heard, like, this story in this way. Yeah. Like, I kind of have known some of that. Mhmm. But, like, the, like, the cohesive story and just, like, the biblical parallels is mind blowing.
Speaker 4:I wanna show you something because you were speaking about Abraham. And I promise you're gonna get to the mentorship, but I want you to just read this date right here. What day is
Speaker 3:that? 6/13/21.
Speaker 4:Right. So this is during I forgot to mention. It was on a weekend.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:I'm a church boy, so I'm going to church. I'm a church boy, so I'm going to church. So I was in Texas. There's so many churches out
Speaker 3:here, first of
Speaker 4:all, in Texas.
Speaker 3:I don't know. Yeah. There's it's kinda like 7:11. There's one on every corner.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I don't know why it's like that, but God is because it's Texas. Yeah.
Speaker 3:There's 7 and a half 1000000 people in Dallas.
Speaker 4:But in Genesis, the pastor I I went to visit a church, and the pastor was speaking in Genesis. K. And about it was about Abraham's faith being tested. You mentioned his son, but it it was about Abraham God telling Abraham to go sacrifice the only son that he had. Right?
Speaker 4:Yeah. And being Isaac, and he said, go to the land of Moriah. And when you get there, I will show you which mountain that you're gonna do it on. So
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:He had to go to a land, but he didn't know where or what he didn't know where he was going to go once he got there.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And
Speaker 4:I feel like that's what it was for me. Like, I I got was testing my faith, right, and getting here. And once I got here, I'm like, okay. I'm here now where I'm a go. I just got denied.
Speaker 4:I don't know how this is gonna work. I'd Yeah. Like, I'm so confused. Right? And if you read more into that story in Genesis chapter 22, before Abraham is about to sacrifice his son Mhmm.
Speaker 4:God says, stop. And there, he looks up, and there's a ram, right, caught in the
Speaker 3:thicket Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. That the blessing was already there in the place. Although he didn't know where he was going going to sacrifice his son, the blessing was already there in place for him. Right.
Speaker 4:And that's kinda how it was with me. Like, you know, it was a lot, man. Like, just being able to get here, but now seeing that God has or put that blessing in place for me now that I am here, is it's just everything is coming full circle. That's why I asked you to read that date, 6,132,021, because it's really a full circle moment, like, just having this conversation and being able to look back and say, wow. God did that.
Speaker 4:Like, there's only way that's the only way that this happened is by God doing that. And, yeah, it's it's it's so good.
Speaker 3:Man, that's that's so good. Like, you know, I think about my own Abraham experience.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I've even, like, thought about it in those terms before, and it was just how I got plugged in at 4 Runner Mentoring, like, how I took the job. Right? You know, it was like I had just graduated grad school. I finished grad school in May, and I was, you know, trying to figure out what was going or what was next. Right?
Speaker 3:You know, I didn't have much of a network, granted you know, part of that being COVID happened while I was in grad school, and so theater shut down. Mhmm. Like, theater was theater was out for 2 years before we even thought about reopening.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so my 3rd year of grad school, what I should have been doing was being out in in Dallas, in in Texas, whatever, designing. I should have been networking. Yeah. But there was not nobody to network with because there were no shows.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 3:Right. I said,
Speaker 4:what am I supposed to do?
Speaker 3:Yeah. I'm like, what am I supposed to do? And so, you know, we made it work within the school where my classmate ended up having a contract in Vietnam or Thailand or something like that. He was out the entire semester the entire last semester of grad school. So I I was given the opportunity to just build out my portfolio designing everything that our school was doing for the season.
Speaker 3:Right? All of the dances, all of the the opera. I was supposed to design the opera. It got canceled. But I was supposed to design everything.
Speaker 3:Right? And that was gonna keep keep me really, really busy. But, you know, I graduate and I have no network. Yeah. Right?
Speaker 3:Because I didn't get the opportunity to build out what I should have been building out.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so I'm sitting there going like, okay. Now I'm in Dallas. I don't have the safety net of student loans to fall back on for my expenses. What do I do? Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right? Like and my solution at the time was I need to stay flexible so I can take whatever contract work I can get. Yeah. And so that looked like me driving Uber and Lyft every day for 10 hours. Right.
Speaker 3:And, you know, this is also before I'd gotten hired as technical director at the church. I was serving at the church in in the production team, but I wasn't the tech the technical director. Yeah. And so did that for a couple of months, and it was the end of July of 2021. Yeah.
Speaker 3:The end of July of 2021. So, again, these parallels between your story and my story. Joel and I had some crazy parallels as well if you go listen to to his episode. But we had it was the end of July of 2021. I I needed to come up with $1200 in, like, 3 days.
Speaker 3:Right? Because my rent was due in 3 days and I needed $1200, which I've never earned that much money driving Uber and Lyft.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right? It just was never gonna happen. And so it was a Monday. The end of the month was Wednesday. So the 1st of the month was Thursday.
Speaker 3:Right? And Steven calls me while I'm working. Right? And, of course, I sent him a voice mail because I had somebody in the car. But I called him right back as soon as I dropped them off.
Speaker 3:Right? And he calls me, and he's like, I have nobody else to go. I need you to chaperone the junior high and high school students down to a camp in San Antonio. And I was just like, Steven or he's like, it does pay. It doesn't pay a whole lot, but it does pay.
Speaker 3:And I was like, Steven, just cards on the table. Right? I want to say yes. I really, really want to say yes because that would that sounds like a lot of fun Yeah. Which is totally out of character for me.
Speaker 3:But also, like, know, Steven and my relationship, we know that I would do pretty much anything for it. Right? Just because I love him that much. But I was like, Steven, I I want to say yes. I can't say yes Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Because my rent is due in 3 days, and I have no other backup plan. Like, this is all I know to do to make this happen, is driving Uber and Lyft. And I've gotta come up with, I don't know, with $1200 in the next 3 days. And at best, I can fudge that to 5 days, you know, while I make the payment and it's in processing limbo between financial institutions. So I basically have I have to come up with, like, $200 a day, which means I'm going to be working, like, 14 hour days
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:For the next week in order to make this happen. And this is, like, this is all I know how to do. So I want to. I just can't because I can't afford to miss 5 days of work. I just can't.
Speaker 3:And so I was like, if it paid a little bit more, then maybe I could make this happen. And I was like, there's you know, if it was this number instead of the number you gave me, like, I could I would feel more comfortable making this happen. Yeah. Right? So keep track of this.
Speaker 3:I needed $1200. I told him if it was closer to $500, you know, if it was closer to a $100 a day for for the camp, then I could maybe make this happen. Which, by the way, also, this is a little tangent. I was not a volunteer at 4 Runner, so I had to do all of the training. I had to do the van training.
Speaker 4:I had
Speaker 3:to do the harassment training. I had to do all of that in 3 days. Right?
Speaker 4:That's tough.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Mhmm. So I was like, if it was closer to, like, $500, maybe I could do this. He's like, okay. Cool.
Speaker 3:Let me talk to Laurie, who is the financial person at the time, and see what we can do. And he so he talked to her, called me back in about an hour and a half, and was like, I got it up to 4.50. He's like, that's what I can do. And I was like, I think I can make that work.
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:So 450 for the for going to camp is what I made. I had earned over that Monday, Tuesday, I earned something like $300 for just from Uber and Lyft, driving rideshare. Right? So that's 750. And then in sending me all of the onboarding stuff because, again, I had to go through all of that all of that, the training and whatnot.
Speaker 4:Mandatory stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah. The mandatory stuff to be able to be around the kids. I you know, that all came in just through, like, 50 emails. Not really. It was, like, 5.
Speaker 3:But in that was Felt
Speaker 4:like 50.
Speaker 3:It felt like 50. But there was, another one snuck its way in as I was going through these, and it was a an email from my bank saying Stephen Murray has zed you a $150. Right? At which point, I took a screenshot of it and I texted it to him. I was like, you didn't have to do that.
Speaker 3:So 750, that's 900. Right? And so that was Monday. Tuesday and we're leaving for camp on Thursday, I think. It was either Wednesday or Thursday.
Speaker 3:I think maybe it was Wednesday. So Monday, all of that happens. I'm up to $900. Tuesday is the other part of the Uber and Lyft, so we'll call it a $150. And I was talking on the phone with a friend from church, right, and just processing through things and telling him, like, look, this is where I'm at financially.
Speaker 3:This has kinda got me pretty anxious and stressed. And also oh, by the way, I'm leaving to chaperone a bunch of kids down to a camp in, like, 24 hours. Kids who I've never met. Right? And, you know, so hung up the phone with him, all that.
Speaker 3:And then Wednesday morning, woke up and had an I think it was a text message from Venmo saying his name was David. And this text message said, Shelby Ezel has Venmo or has sent you $300.
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And I literally text turned around and texted him. I'm like, I only know one Shelby, and I'm going to assume that your wife's maiden name is Ezel because she's the only Shelby I know. At which point, I'm going to tell you the exact same thing I told Steven. You didn't have to do that. And he's like, yeah.
Speaker 3:But we're called to bear one another's burdens, and so was a gift. And so you do all this math. It's $1200.
Speaker 4:Right. It adds up.
Speaker 3:It adds up. Like, I came up with $1200 in 3 days
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And got to chaperone these kids down on a camp. And that was just a whole experience, like me going to camp and being like, why am I even here? But that's a totally different story. What ended up happening was Darius offered me the job to be a grade coach while we were at camp. Right?
Speaker 3:And that was a lot of painful processing for me. I had to think through, like, what am I truly called to do? Like, it was a lot of just seeking God in that moment, going, like, God, taking this job in my mind, taking this job means sacrificing literally everything I just went to school for 8 years for. Yeah. Because the rehearsal process for shows, for theater, is typically afternoon, late evening.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And so
Speaker 4:Take up taking up your time.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Of of my time to be in these rehearsals. Yeah. And so taking this job at 4 Runner because it's an afternoon job would mean not being able to take contracts. And if I'm not actively pursuing contracts, then how can I be successful in what I really wanna be doing?
Speaker 3:Exactly. Right?
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so, you know, this is what I call my Abraham moment is, you know, in this God literally saying, like, you're sacrificing this. Like, I'm I'm asking you I'm testing you to sacrifice this. And he didn't obviously, he didn't tell me that I was he was testing me, but he was asking me to sacrifice the thing that I loved the most. Right? I loved being a lighting designer.
Speaker 3:I love doing theater and concerts and podcast editing and those things. Like, I love that. Yeah. And God was like, I'm asking you to give this up Because and, again, in my mind, it was like, they are mutually exclusive things. And so through a period or a a series of conversations with a bunch of people, one of whom was Steven, who didn't even know I'd been offered the job.
Speaker 3:And I'm like, bro, you're the executive director. How did you not know this? The more I processed it, the more I asked about it, the more I thought about it, whatever, the more it was kind of again, that same feeling I had in moving to Texas was, like, I need to do this and I don't know why Yeah. Kind of thing. And there's just kind of a piece there.
Speaker 3:So said yes to the job, and, you know, the really cool part of that story is that there has been a ram for me. Right? I didn't have to sacrifice the thing that I love Yeah. In that I mean, we've we've talked about it in in program before during staff prior. Like, in the 2022 year, fiscal year, I crossed 5 figures in my business as a designer
Speaker 4:Yep.
Speaker 3:For the first time ever.
Speaker 4:Yep.
Speaker 3:And I and and I did that while being a a coach at 4 Runner. Yeah. Right? So it was God was like, you're gonna do this. And I said yes, and then he turned around and blessed the thing that I that he had asked me to sacrifice.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So it's such a cool it it's a really strong testament for me, but, like, I love how you have kind of a similar story.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right?
Speaker 4:And that's and and that's how it's like the it's just the sovereignty of God, like, of what he this sovereignty is what God wants to happen, but providence is how he makes it happen.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. That's so good.
Speaker 4:God wants this to happen, but then we question him, like, okay, god. Are you sure? Like, we're literally asking God. It's not like we're asking a friend or I'm asking you. It's like
Speaker 3:We're asking the person who literally is in control of everything. He's like, are you sure you want us to do this? Exactly. Like He's like, really?
Speaker 4:The God who is above all things and before all things. Like, we're asking him. Yeah. Are you sure you want me to he's like, no. Like, duh.
Speaker 4:Right? So it's like the sovereignty of God is what he wants to happen, but the providence is how he makes it happen. It's how he pulls us from
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Utah, from Chicago, from Georgia to here to there, detached, removed. Because in that process, although we're moving places, he's also removing things also. So it's like, god is doing so much in that, and it's it's it's it's beautiful to see how he can integrate integrate so many things that we don't even realize. And then it's like, wow, God. Had I I should've just trusted you all along.
Speaker 3:Right? Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah. It's like I wasted more time worrying than I did just having faith in, like, knowing that if you said it, that you would do it. Like, you're going to provide. He always provides.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:Like, the the scripture says, I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging for bread. So it's like, for me, what helped me too is just the more I stayed in the word, helped me stay strong. Because it was like, alright, God. This doesn't look right, you know, but I'm gonna trust you anyway.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4:And I think that's what God looks for. Like, I trust you anyway. Like Job said, though you slay me, yet shall I trust you. I think that that's just that's what helps us in our process, just trusting God because some things do not look but I think that's the point. If it looked like what he said it was going to look like, then why would we even need to have faith anyway?
Speaker 3:I was gonna say, does it even take faith at that point?
Speaker 4:Right. Like, what we need it for we walk by faith and not by sight. If we saw it, we would need faith because I already know. Okay. Well, if I go sit in that chair, you know, so
Speaker 3:It's gonna hold me.
Speaker 4:It's gonna hold me. Right? So I think Right. Yeah. God is God is good in the way that he just orchestrates things and Yeah.
Speaker 4:Allows it to come to fruition in our lives.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And I think the thing that I love about that is those experiences become in in the Old Testament, in Joshua, I think there I think it's in Joshua, it talks about stones of remembrance. Yeah. Right? And these, you know, this command to the Israelites when you cross over the Jordan River Yep.
Speaker 3:Put up these stones
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:As stones of remembrance or another another translation, I think, calls it the Ebenezer stones. Mhmm. Right? Erect these stones as stones of remembrance so that in the future, in your future generations
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:When they ask you what are these stones
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You can say this is a symbol of God's providence or provision or his sovereignty or whatever. Right?
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So these experiences of faith, right, the experiences of things not happening the way we expect them to happen or look like the way we expect them to look, these things that require us to walk by faith, not by sight
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Once we go through that and go through that refining fire even
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Those become the stones of remembrance. I mean, I know in my own personal life, like, finances is a huge issue for me. Not because I'm, you know, frivolous with money or anything like that. No. Like, I just I've taken a bunch of jobs that don't pay incredibly well.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. And so it's tight for me. And there are many, many, many months where I go, god, I don't know how this works. Yeah. Like, I'm looking I'm forecasting.
Speaker 3:I'm looking at what's coming in this month, and it's not equal what's going not equaling what's going out. So how is this going to happen? How am I gonna cover my rent? How am I gonna cover my car payment? Whatever.
Speaker 3:And then by some miracle, literally some miracle, God provides in one way. Either somebody's like, Hey. I just wanna, you know, give this to you as a gift. I mean, this the most recent example of this is my federal taxes. Like, I did my taxes this year in April, and this is gonna be really personal information.
Speaker 3:But I did my taxes this year.
Speaker 4:Taxes this year.
Speaker 3:Yeah. For for real. I did my taxes this year and discovered that there had been some issues with my w fours. Mhmm. Right?
Speaker 3:Between the church and between 4 Runner, what was being withheld was not what should have been withheld. Mhmm. Because I had specifically asked for extra to be withheld to cover the income from my business because I don't make tax payments the way I should. So that was my solution. It was like, I'll just have extra withheld out of my w four paychecks to cover the 10.99 contracts.
Speaker 3:Right. Right? But that hadn't been happening, and I didn't discover that until it came time to file my taxes. Mhmm. So between just my 2 w four jobs, I already owed the government 500 and some odd dollars.
Speaker 4:I thought you were gonna say 500,000.
Speaker 3:No. I don't know why. No. 500 some odd dollars. Right?
Speaker 3:Which I do that part first. Mhmm. I hadn't done my business income yet, and I already knew that I had made way too much money that year
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:That I couldn't write off enough of it to break even. So I going into preparing my taxes, I knew I was gonna over owe the government something. I just was hoping it was gonna be a few $100, like, under $1,000. Right? So the fact that my w fours alone, I ended up owing the government 500 and something dollars, I was like, oh, this is not good.
Speaker 3:I'm going to owe the government a lot of money right now.
Speaker 4:Right? Yeah.
Speaker 3:Like, a lot. Like, 4 figures.
Speaker 4:Yeah. That's trouble.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I'm like, this is trouble. So this was a this was a big, like, thing that caused anxiety for me. Mhmm. So finally finished going through the, you know, through that process and figuring out how bad the damage was because, obviously, there was gonna be damage now.
Speaker 3:So figured out how bad the damage was, and it worked out where I owed the government something like 300 or $3,800. Like, $38100. Right? And this is April, and I'm like, I don't have $38100. So my only option right now is to apply for their little loan thing and pay an obscene amount of money in interest to the federal government because that is all I have.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right? So again, just practicing being vulnerable with my friends, especially my church friends, one of them, literally the day before taxes were due, one of them sent me a text and was like, I'm gonna loan you the money. Wow. All $3,892.
Speaker 4:That's that's a real French.
Speaker 3:Yeah. He's like, I'm gonna loan you the money.
Speaker 4:Oh my.
Speaker 3:There are no terms on this in terms of, like, you like, you can just pay it back whenever you can pay it back. Wow. Like, I'm not expecting monthly payments of $25 or whatever. Like, I'm gonna leave
Speaker 4:this That's an angel.
Speaker 3:Yeah. He's like, I'm gonna leave this to you to figure out what seems reasonable in terms of paying it back, and there's no interest.
Speaker 4:That's amazing.
Speaker 3:Right? He's like, I'm gonna loan you the money. And he did. He he I kid you not. He Paypaled me $3,892 Wow.
Speaker 3:That day and I was able to pay my tax bill.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Like, talk about miraculous provision.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:And that is just one of many, many stories that I have of where my church or somebody in my community has provided for my financial need. Yeah. So that's all of that is to say, it's like, you know, we have these stones of remembrance because now I can hold on to that Yes. The next time when I'm sitting there going like, god, how does this work?
Speaker 4:It yeah.
Speaker 3:And, you know, he'll remind me and be like, I've provided for you in the past.
Speaker 4:I'll continue
Speaker 3:to provide in the future.
Speaker 4:It's so good that none of this is scripted. Yeah. Can you read another date for me, please? Sure. In my notes.
Speaker 4:And read the note.
Speaker 3:May 24, 2023.
Speaker 4:Okay. What's today?
Speaker 3:May 31, 2023.
Speaker 4:Definitely not today. Okay. Right. What does that say?
Speaker 3:It says May 24, 2023 at 12:0:3 PM. Don't forget to remember.
Speaker 4:Before you even texted me anything about podcasting this week. Right?
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:Don't forget to remember. God then took me to Matthew 16, and and and this is when the disciples verse 7, it starts. This is when they were discussing among themselves that they didn't bring any bread. And Jesus heard this, and he said, you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves that you don't have bread? Don't don't you understand?
Speaker 4:Don't you remember? Don't you remember? Right? The 5 loaves and the 5 loaves for the 5,000 and how many baskets you collected, or the 7 loaves? Like, he says, don't you remember?
Speaker 4:And then he starts going down the stones, the times, the the the sermons. The so it's like, you can't forget to remember. And I think that's what the enemy may want is to get our memory, because if he can get our memory
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Then he can get our mind. And if he gets our mind, it stop us it stops us from getting the miracle or trusting that there is a miracle that's gonna happen. So that that not forgetting like, God was like, don't forget to remember. Don't forget to remember. And I just wrote
Speaker 3:that down. To remember, like, shaking you.
Speaker 4:Literally, like, don't forget to remember because I think that's something that we can do often. It's just like Yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean, you just have to look at the Israelites. True. Like, how many times
Speaker 4:How many times.
Speaker 3:Did they forget?
Speaker 4:How many times did they forget?
Speaker 3:Like, the Old Testament is literally just pretty much the Israelites
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:Forgetting and then coming back and then forgetting and then coming back and then forgetting and coming back and eventually forgetting so badly that God's like, okay. You guys need to go spend some time in exile so that you come back.
Speaker 4:Yep. Yep.
Speaker 3:Right? So it's yeah. I mean, I think that's something that is just us as humans. Like, we are incredibly forgetful. And I think you're right.
Speaker 3:I think, like, that is one of hell's schemes Mhmm. Is the more he can cast well, it's not even that. It's the more he can keep us forgetting, the more he can cast the doubt. Yep. Right?
Speaker 3:And the more he can keep us apart from, like, that remembrance of, like, God has provided God has been faithful in this way, this way, this way, this way, this way. The more the easier it is for him to slip in that lie of, like, God's really not going to provide for you this time. You have to do it yourself. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Right? Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's that and honestly, that has been one of the biggest lessons I've learned since moving to Dallas, has been what does Foley fixing my eyes on God look like? Mhmm. Right? How do I, every day, wake up, fix my eyes on God, and operate out of that place of keeping my eyes on the lighthouse when the storm is when you're in a little rowboat
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:In the sea in the middle of a storm, and you're only getting this little glimpse over the waves of the lighthouse in the distance. Mhmm. Right? Like, that has been kind of a defining picture for me in recent years and something I've meditated on. It was just like, God, I don't understand.
Speaker 3:I'm in so much pain. I'm in so much turmoil. I don't know what you're doing.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But also, like, I know you've provided for me in the past. I know you are sovereign. I know who you are.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that you won't let me fail.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So whatever you've got going on, like, I'm for it.
Speaker 4:I'm for it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Let's do it. Yeah. Right? I have tried, and I'm not perfect at this, but nobody is. Nobody.
Speaker 3:Right? Because we're all human. But I try really hard to operate my life out of a yes in my heart. Right? And so this even goes so far as to, like, people asking me, like, what are you planning to do in the fall?
Speaker 3:Right? For example, 4 Runner breaks every year for the summer. The after school program does because there's no school. School. Right?
Speaker 3:So it's hard to have an after school program when there's no school to be after.
Speaker 4:So And who's coming in the summer?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Exactly. And who's coming in the summer? They're all, you know, traveling, doing whatever. Right.
Speaker 3:So it's always like, every year, the full time staff is like, are you coming back in the summer or in the fall? You know, things like that. Or what are your plans in the fall? And I'm like, I don't know. And I'm like, what do you mean you don't know?
Speaker 3:I'm like, at the moment, my plan is yes. Right. But also, like, God could be like, hey, you're moving Right. To Timbuktu Yeah. In July.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Right? So I'm like, god willing, yes, I'm coming back because I'm planning on that.
Speaker 4:God has a habit of wrecking plans. Like
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. Like,
Speaker 4:I'm coming back and then boom. Wait. That's your well, God said
Speaker 3:That was Joel's that was Joel's story.
Speaker 4:Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Like, I'm not kidding you. Go back and listen to Joel's story. He he told Quinn in my 1st year, so 20 the 21, 22 school year. He was planning on coming back all the way up till a week prior to training. He was planning to come back all the way up until a week prior to training, literally the same week that I'd been offered the job Yeah.
Speaker 3:And having my own Abraham moment. Joel told Quinn that week, I'm not coming back because I'm going to Alabama to work in another ministry. Mhmm. And that was, like, last minute kinda, like it wasn't he just forgot to tell Quinn, like, no. This this God kinda changed the plan last minute kind of thing.
Speaker 4:That's one of those, like, you got to be kidding me. Yeah. Basically.
Speaker 3:So yeah. No. It just, like, I don't I don't really plan.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I kind of operate out of the, okay, I'm going in this direction until God tells me I'm doing not or not doing that. Yeah. Right? It's like I'm mentoring kids until God tells me I'm not mentoring kids. And even recently, like, that's I've gotten the impression, I've gotten the feeling, even, I dare say, I've gotten the confirmation from him that I'm doing this for a while.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. Because this past spring break, as you know, I went to Utah. My roommate and I went and were supposed to do
Speaker 4:a backpacking trip in Utah. Yeah. You're crazy adventurous guys.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Our our crazy adventurous guys. We were supposed to go backpack through 4 feet of snow.
Speaker 4:Absolutely not.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That did not happen. And talk about god wrecking wrecking plans. That's a
Speaker 4:good plan he wrecked, though.
Speaker 3:Come on. Yeah, baby. That plan did not happen. My roommate ended up getting food poisoning as we were driving up to Bryce Canyon to start this trip. Right?
Speaker 3:So we had flown into Phoenix, picked up my parents' car, and we're driving up to Bryce Canyon. We were within an hour of Bryce Canyon, stopped and got dinner at Subway, and my roommate got food poisoning.
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And so we had to we had to scrub the whole plan because he was not about I was not about to let him go hike for 26 miles with a 50 pound backpack through 4 feet of snow when he needed to when when nature called Yeah. Every 2 hours. We'll just put it that way. Mhmm. Right?
Speaker 3:So plans changed. We ended up getting a hotel for 2 nights in Saint George. Right? And that first night or that first day we drove in, I was really disappointed. I was really bummed.
Speaker 3:I was not the best roommate. We checked into the hotel at, like, 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and he is like, I need a nap because he's been up most of the night. Right. Right?
Speaker 4:And he's sick.
Speaker 3:And he's sick. So he's like, I need a nap. I'm like, that's fine. I'm gonna go on a hike because that's what I came to Utah to do. So I so that's what I did is I went on a 4 mile hike while he took a nap in the afternoon.
Speaker 3:And, again, this is March, so it's not incredibly hot in Utah yet. It's it's pleasant. It's, like, 75, 80 degrees in southern Utah. It was really nice. So I go on a hike.
Speaker 3:You know, I grab some water, go on a hike, whatever. Hike 2 miles. There's a little mountain along the along the trail, and I climb it. So I literally climb a 300 foot mountain, and my intention there is, like, I want to get closer to God. Like, literally, physically, I want to get closer to God.
Speaker 3:I
Speaker 4:wanna go up.
Speaker 3:I wanna go up the mountain. Right? Kinda like Moses and the Ten Commandments, I wanna go up the mountain. And so I climb this mountain, travel a lease my way up, and get to the top, and I'm just overlooking the the the city, the Red Rock. I mean, if you've ever been to Southern Utah, it's absolutely gorgeous.
Speaker 3:Right? So I'm just overlooking it, and I'm just praying like, God, what the heck? Mhmm. Why is this trip not going according to plan? Why is my life not going according to plan?
Speaker 3:What do you have planned? Like, what the heck?
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right? I'm like, what am I doing with my life? And I literally just sat there waiting for an answer, and one didn't come because God God does this thing on his own time.
Speaker 4:He's not gonna, woah, this is why.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Basically. So I'm just I'm just sitting there going, okay. What the heck? Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And not getting an answer and just sitting there in silence looking at beautiful Utah. And so, eventually, I'm like, okay, whatever. This is obviously not going to happen. I don't understand why he's not talking to me because I've always been taught, like, God is actively speaking all the time, and I'm just needing to, like, listen, but I'm not hearing anything. Right.
Speaker 3:And so I was like, fine. Whatever. I'm even more disappointed or hurt than I already was. Yeah. So I start or I come down the mountain and start the 2 mile hike back to the car, And it's, like, 5 o'clock in the afternoon at this point.
Speaker 3:I was up there for a while. And get, like, half a mile into this 2 mile hike back, and all I hear is Jeremiah 29.
Speaker 4:11?
Speaker 3:Nope. Just Jeremiah 29.
Speaker 4:Oh, the chapter.
Speaker 3:The chapter. Jeremiah 29. Yeah. And I was like, okay. Jeremiah 29.
Speaker 3:I know Jeremiah 2911. For I have the or for I know the plans I have for you declares alert. I was like, cool. What about that? Like, why Jeremiah 2911?
Speaker 3:How does that apply in this case? And he's like, no. Jeremiah 29.
Speaker 4:Right. The whole thing.
Speaker 3:The whole thing. Yeah. And would not let it go. And so I was like, fine. I literally, like, paused the workout, sat down on the side of the trail, found a rock, whatever, and just started reading through Jeremiah 29 on my phone.
Speaker 3:Right? Because Bible app on the phone, best thing ever.
Speaker 4:Plutch.
Speaker 3:Yeah. If you don't have it on your phone, go get YouVersion. Gotcha. Put it on your phone. Read it every day because you need to be in the word.
Speaker 4:But,
Speaker 3:you know, I'm reading through it, and I just start at verse 1. I'm working my way through. And verse 7 jumps out at me. Not 11, not, for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:7 says, but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Speaker 3:And I'm just sitting there going like
Speaker 4:That's good.
Speaker 3:Yeah. But I'm also sitting there going like, what better description is there for me and my life than having been sent into exile in Texas where I didn't know anybody. I'd never been there. Right. I don't even like Texas.
Speaker 3:Right?
Speaker 4:Like That's a good idea.
Speaker 3:And it it's growing on me. But, you know, the idea of, like, what better description of their that is there than exile. Right?
Speaker 4:Because That message came after you were at the top. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm trying to come back down.
Speaker 4:Alright. God doesn't say anything.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:And I think sometimes we can, like, for me, for sure, like, I can think that just because God is silent that he's still, but God's silence is not his stillness. Because we we look in Genesis, it it says that in the beginning, God hovered over the waters Yeah. Before he even spoke. So he was moving before he was speaking. And just like with you or with I like, it's like god is always doing something.
Speaker 4:Like, even when it seems like he's doing nothing, he's still doing everything. And, like, that message like, see, because I thought you were gonna go to Jeremiah 2911
Speaker 3:Right. Everybody does. Because it's, like, one of the most quotable verses ever.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:But no. It was like
Speaker 4:That's good.
Speaker 3:God was like, seek the welfare of the city in which I've sent you into exile and pray for them because in their welfare is your welfare. Yeah. And I'm just like, one, I well, so there was that aspect. And then as I continued reading, at first, I was like, okay. Well, like, that's a pretty good description for me.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. And, like, a command for me to, like, go and active like, intercede for Dallas. Right? Intercede for the welfare of Dallas because that's where you are.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:But even within that, like, I as I continued reading I think it's further in Jeremiah 29. I haven't gone back to it recently. But it talks about them being having been sent into exile for a period of, I think it was 40 years. It might be 400. But 40 or 400 years, one of those, like, it's talking about them having been sent into exile for 40 years, and that also was highlighted for me.
Speaker 3:And so between those two things, like, God was like, get used to Dallas because you're gonna be there for a while.
Speaker 4:Get used to it. Get used
Speaker 3:to it. You're gonna be there for a while, and you're called to intercede on their behalf.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, it's just I don't know, man. Like, this this whole episode has not been related to mentoring in any way, shape, or form. But
Speaker 4:Well, God mentoring us.
Speaker 3:That's true. It's God mentoring us. But even kinda bringing this into the mentoring realm so that we can low key kinda wrap this up because we've been talking for way too long. These are all lessons that you and I are learning. Right?
Speaker 3:And we are put into a really unique position in that we get to impart this wisdom that we've gained to our mentees, to the junior high students who, let's be real, they're 13, 14 years old, And what are they struggling with? They're struggling with identity. They're struggling with understanding who God is. They're struggling with understanding what their purpose in life is. Right?
Speaker 3:Like, God has put you and I in this really unique position
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:To show them to show all of these kids, especially the junior high kids where this is really, really relevant for them.
Speaker 4:Pivotal point in life.
Speaker 3:It's a pivotal point for them, And we're in a position where we get to show them who God is. Yep. And not just, like, give them head knowledge of who God is, but we get to teach the next generation. Just like the Israelites with the stones of remembrance, we get to teach the next generation why these stones are here Because what they represent.
Speaker 4:In scripture, it says that there was a generation that grew up, and they didn't know God.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:So, like like, what you're saying, those stones, remembrance, and teaching them and and leading them and guiding them, all that was a part of God's plan while you were in Utah and while I was in Chicago or Georgia or whatever. And it's like, that's what his sovereignty was. And then his providence, he just fucked it and moved it this way and got it that way. And then you just happen to be at a camp. Right?
Speaker 4:And then d b's like, hey, man. You should you should come higher. You know, I mean, I like, you should just come work with us.
Speaker 3:Which that's also a really cool story. Like, you'll have to ask Darius about how that all went down because that was that was God orchestrated too, by the way.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So it but it just goes back to all things work together for the good of those Mhmm. Who love God and are called according. It says all things. Not some things, not one thing, not two things, but that means good things and bad things.
Speaker 4:Like, all things all things work together for those who they just work for you. And I also understand that there's nothing that comes to me or happens to me without going through God before it gets to me. So That's good. If I'm there or it happens to me, I know that this is God because God is sovereign, and there's nothing above him or beneath him or beside him, and that no matter what it is or no matter what it looks like, like, it it's God. And that's literally your story and, like, my story.
Speaker 3:Like Yeah.
Speaker 4:It's God. And it it kinda sucks sometimes because I don't always have the words to articulate it, but when some people ask me certain questions, I'd be like, God, bro. Like, I don't know. Those who know, know. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's it's it's hard sometimes. It's like, how do you explain I mean, we talked about it a little bit earlier of, like, you know, somebody's like, why are you moving to Dallas? You know, like, God told me to. They're like, say, what? Yeah.
Speaker 3:Are you are you sure?
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right? Like, you know, it's a combination of do we truly have the words to articulate it? And if we do, do they have the capacity to believe it? Right? Like Wow.
Speaker 3:Anymore like, I've gotten a lot more comfortable now telling my story and say you know, highlighting the parts where God has been like, you're doing this, and I said, yes. Right?
Speaker 4:The highlights.
Speaker 3:The highlights. I've gotten a lot more comfortable with that Mhmm. Than I was, you know, even 2 years ago. Right? 2 years ago, I would have never said, God told me to move to Texas, and I said yes.
Speaker 3:Because, you know, there was always that fear of, like, people being like, you must be tripping.
Speaker 4:Crazy.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You must be crazy. You must be on something. Like, who in their right mind
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Thinks that God speaks?
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that was a huge insecurity of mine. Mhmm. But in being plugged in at my church, being plugged into into the word, growing in my relationship with Christ, I've been more confident than that. And it all of a sudden is bringing like, he's bringing the the verse. I don't know where it is off the top of my head, but it's for I am not ashamed of the gospel.
Speaker 3:Right?
Speaker 4:Like Paul something. Some Paul thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's it's Paul thing. I think it might be in James, but I could be wrong. But he's you know, it's for I am not ashamed of the gospel. Right?
Speaker 3:And, like, that was who I was 2 years ago. I was like, I'm a Christian.
Speaker 4:Yep. But
Speaker 3:I don't really call my you know, like, I I like, Christian has a negative connotation to it, especially in today's society.
Speaker 4:That's another story.
Speaker 3:Right? It's like Christianity has a negative connotation. So
Speaker 4:I'm a kingdom citizen. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, I would find other ways to say it. Like, one time in high school, this is before I left the church, I was a freshman, 1 kid. I I had a necklace, a surfboard necklace that had Joshua 19 on it. Like, the just the reference, Joshua 19. And he was like, are you are you a Christian?
Speaker 3:And I literally I kid you not. I said I'm a Christ follower, but I'm not religious. Like, I I literally denied Jesus in that moment. Mhmm. But anymore, I wouldn't even dream of saying that because I know that Christ is where the joy is.
Speaker 3:He's where the peace is. He's where love and gentleness and faithfulness and self control all come from. Right? The fruits of the spirit. Yep.
Speaker 3:And I've gotten to taste the good the goodness of that. Mhmm. I've gotten to see how much better life is Yeah. With him in it.
Speaker 4:Yep. He's
Speaker 3:in in many ways, in my own personal testimony, like, God had sent me or let me experience his wrath so that I could have a truer, deeper understanding of the joy set before me in Him. Yeah. Right? So it's just so cool that we get to we get to mentor kids and we get to pour into them all of those lessons that we've learned at kind of the pivotal moment in their life when they're in that transition between elementary and high school.
Speaker 4:Yeah. On top of that, with them not being able to get that anywhere else but really 4 Runner. It's like
Speaker 3:Usually. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Usually. Yeah. Like A
Speaker 3:lot of our kids
Speaker 4:don't have Fathers or
Speaker 3:Fathers or parents who are actively involved in the church. Right. Some of our kids actively go to church. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Most of them don't.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so, like, I mean, that's a reason why we do Forge. That's a reason why we do our own church service
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And teach them the Bible. And it's a reason why I don't know if you've ever picked up on it, but I've taken like, Darius gives us latitude in how we teach. Like, he tells us what to teach, but he gives us the latitude of, like, you know, how to present that.
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And you do that in your own way, and I do that in my own way.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But I I distinctly remember there was I don't remember what the lesson was, but there was a forge sermon that I had to give in the spring semester. And oh, it was the the verse, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3:And it was talking about or, like, he was using it as a reference to I don't remember what the theme for the week was. But as I was reading the scripture and meditating on it that week, I was like, this is not at all what this verse is saying. Like, the point he's trying to make the point Darius is trying to make with this is not what is truly in the scripture. And I'm I'm just one of those people that I'm, like, I don't want to present false theology. Right?
Speaker 3:And so I can't. Yeah. Like, I'm as a teacher I mean, the Bible even says Yeah. That's right. As a teacher, you're held to a higher standard.
Speaker 4:Yeah. You can't be yeah.
Speaker 3:You gotta you gotta be accurate. And so I was like, I can't I can't teach what he's asking me to teach. But what I can do is I'm still gonna present the text, and I'm going to explain how it applies in the situation that he's asking me to apply it to. It's just not quite what he's looking or what his interpretation has been.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And and that's what I did is I I literally got up in front of the students during that forward sermon, and I was like, this is what the text I'm supposed to teach is says. But if we look at the context so it started like, one slide was just that one verse, and then the next slide was that verse in context of the whole paragraph. And I was like, this is what it says. This is how it kind of applies if you take it out of context, and this is kind of how the general population takes it out of context.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 3:But here's what it's actually saying when you look at the whole context.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that was a really interesting experience for me.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And context is everything. Yeah. I mean, especially being at that young age with the boys, and that's what I love. And we get to teach them the word, but not just the word, but, like, context of what it means.
Speaker 4:Like, you know Yeah. The backstory, the full story, everything in between rather than just the you know, like, when you said Jeremiah 29, I went straight to 11. Right? Right.
Speaker 3:Because everybody did. 11.
Speaker 4:Right? But it's like, we have the opportunity, which I love at forerunner, is to teach the kids the bible and to love it, to learn it, but most importantly, to live it. And they've they've responded. Like, even with the responding to the gospel, they always respond. Like, there's always a message that they respond to.
Speaker 4:We see the boys, like, worshiping, standing up, like
Speaker 3:Leading each other in there.
Speaker 4:Leading leading a forge.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. We had a we had a kid at the end of the year lead a lead a forge sermon, and he
Speaker 4:crushed it. Was it Joseph? It was in Joseph. Right?
Speaker 3:Or No. Job. Job. It was Job.
Speaker 4:It was Job. Yeah.
Speaker 3:We had a we had a student teach a forge message on Job.
Speaker 4:Damn.
Speaker 3:And, like, I worked with him for the entire week just making sure he had an understanding of the text and what he was gonna say, and he crushed it.
Speaker 4:We're talking about an 8th grader leading his peers Something that's not normal in 8th grade. Like, to be sharing the gospel Right. In school.
Speaker 3:In school that way. Yeah. Like Yeah. That's unheard of.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And the fact that we're in the school. Yeah. Right? Yep. So
Speaker 4:yeah. It just God is good.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Just the ways God has moved this past year have been mind blowing. I wish we could, like, have a 3 hour podcast and just share all of the stories, but we can't. But, no, we get to do that. And and I think that, ultimately, in this whole episode, this ridiculously long episode, I I hope that that is the encouragement for all of the mentors listening to this podcast right now, is that at the end of the day, it doesn't matter, like, it doesn't matter who you are, how qualified you are, whatever.
Speaker 3:Like, if it's God's will, he's going to make it happen. Yep. What was it you said? God's sovereignty?
Speaker 4:Yeah. God's sovereignty. That's his rule. That's what he wants to happen. But the providence is how he makes it happen.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Like, God is sovereign. He Yep. At the end of the day, nothing can stand against him. And if it's his will, he's gonna provide for a way Yeah.
Speaker 3:To make that happen. He's gonna open some door. He's going to create a scenario for you to engage with your student. I mean, some of the best conversations that I've had with my kids Mhmm. With my kids, with the kids Yeah.
Speaker 3:Are the ones where they just got into some kind of fight or discipline process or whatever. Mhmm. And now all of a sudden, we're sitting in a hall talking about what just happened. Yep. But also, like, I I mean, this is a really good story.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna share the story, and then we'll jump into the last question and wrap this up. So we had a kid. I don't remember exactly when it was in the year, but we had a kid who we hadn't seen in a hot minute. And he came to program that day, and all the other kids like, they came in. I know you're thinking of you're you're here.
Speaker 3:You're seeing it.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:We had we all the other kids had come in and immediately went to the back corner and started which for us, we know means that a fight happened at school and one of our kids was involved, and we need to, like They tell on themselves. Yeah.
Speaker 2:They
Speaker 3:tell them. They think they're sneaky. They're not.
Speaker 4:They're they're they're not that secretive.
Speaker 3:So, you know, just in in kinda I pulled 1 or 2 kids aside and was like, hey. You know, what's going on? Was there a fight? Whatever. And, of course, none of them would rat it rat out what happened because, you know, they have integrity.
Speaker 3:It's just it's put in the wrong place in this case. But none of them would rat it out. I finally I finally discovered that it's this one kid, right, that we hadn't seen in a hot minute. And he was the in in program that day. So I go down to the administration.
Speaker 3:I'm like, JT, I'll I'll be back in a sec. I go down to the front office and I talk with them. I'm like, do you guys know anything about a fight? And they're like, no. We haven't heard anything.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 3:No clue. No clue whatsoever about this fight. I'm like, okay. Cool. Well, let me let me go talk with the student.
Speaker 3:Let me see what I can figure out and I'll I'll let you know. Right? And so I pulled this kid out in the hall and we start talking about it. And by the way, the the administration in that conversation had told me like, I'd asked specifically if they had heard about a fight with this kid or that this kid had been involved in, and they said no. They're like, but he has been nominated for student of the week or whatever.
Speaker 3:Right? And so I pulled this kid into the hall. Right? And I'm like, hey. I went down to the front office and had a conversation with them, and he's visibly, like, disturbed at this point because he's like, I'm a he knows what he's done.
Speaker 3:Right? And I know what he's done, but nobody else knows what he's done. But he also doesn't know that I know what he's done. Right? So I'm like, I went down and had a conversation with the front office, and you know what they told me?
Speaker 3:And he's like, what? I was like, they told me you'd been nominated for student of the week. And he's like
Speaker 4:Wasn't expecting to hear that.
Speaker 3:He wasn't expecting to hear that. And he's like, oh, man. And I've got in a fight today. I was like, interesting. Let's talk about that.
Speaker 3:So we talked about we talked through that. We talked, you know, the typical discipline stuff, which the fight didn't happen at 4 Runner, and so there wasn't a whole lot from our side that needed to happen. Like, he you know, I gave him a consequence, but not because he got in a fight at 4 Runner. I gave him a consequence to hold him accountable for his actions. Right?
Speaker 3:And it was, you know, it was a mild consequence in the grand scheme of things. At 4 Runner, you get in a fight, you get sent home. Right? This happened at school. The administration didn't know about it, so I wasn't gonna send him home.
Speaker 3:Right? And I had actually, like, run this past Darius. I was like, I don't think we need to send him home. What what should I do in this in this scenario? So I gave him sentences, if you know the old school consequence.
Speaker 4:Oh, I I know.
Speaker 3:Trust me. So I gave him sentences. We I gave him a Bible verse about anger that he had to write 60 times, one for each second of the fight because it was a 60 second fight. Literally, one minute, they set a timer and everything. Wow.
Speaker 3:Right? And so in this in this process of having this conversation with him, like, I I got to affirm him. I got to be like, look. I'm I'm not angry at you.
Speaker 4:Yep.
Speaker 3:You're not in trouble at forerunner. You can still be here. Yep. There is going to be a consequence for your actions, but that's because our actions have consequences. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Right? So you are going to have to do something, but I'm not angry at you. I still love you, and I get to show you grace and mercy right now.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And even more than that and this is, by the way, one of the, like, greatest moments of growth I've seen in this kid the whole year.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3:I was like, balls in your court. Integrity. Yeah. I was like, balls in your court. The administration does not know about this fight.
Speaker 3:So
Speaker 4:Could've easily been like, okay. Well, we're good. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. I was like, you have a choice right now. And whatever you choose is what we're gonna do. Right?
Speaker 3:I'm not gonna force you to go one way or the other, but you have a choice to make right now based off of who you are as a man of god. You can either say, let's go back inside right now and rejoin program and have fun. Or we can go down to the office and you can tell them what happened. I will tell you that you bringing it to them, more than likely, the consequence will go so much lighter than if they find out about it and then ask you about it. I can promise you that.
Speaker 4:For sure.
Speaker 3:But at the end of the day, I'm not going to force you one way or the other. It's your choice. And like I said, one of the one of the best moments of growth I've ever seen in this kid, He was like, I wanna go down and I wanna tell him.
Speaker 4:Unforced. Unforced. Yep.
Speaker 3:I was like, it's your choice.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna say okay to whatever choice you make. And he was like, I wanna go down and I wanna tell him.
Speaker 4:Yep.
Speaker 3:And I was like, okay.
Speaker 4:That's amazing.
Speaker 3:Let's go down. So we walked down, and I was like, this kid I used his name, but, you know, anonymity on the podcast. This kid
Speaker 4:John Doe.
Speaker 3:Yeah. John Doe has something he'd like to say. And he told them that he'd gotten into a fight. He told them where it happened, what happened, how it happened, all the things. And he did end up getting suspended, but that was a little bit of another reason.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Anyway, but the point is, like, he had the integrity.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And that's what they decree, responsibility,
Speaker 3:humility, integrity. That's the 5 traits of a man of God, responsibility, humility, integrity, leadership, and respect. And if I remember correctly, we actually highlighted that for him at Mhmm. I don't remember. We should have.
Speaker 4:Yeah. It it
Speaker 3:very touched on him. We should have. Yeah. Like, at the at the end of your celebrations, like, we highlighted that for him. Wow.
Speaker 3:And and, like, that's the area he's grown in the most.
Speaker 4:And he's coming back.
Speaker 3:And he's coming back. So because he was a 7th grader. Yep. So we get him for a whole another year to pour into him. So, yeah, that's just I mean, that's just an example of, like, God orchestrated moments where even in the hard moments, like, those are opportunities.
Speaker 3:And I have 3 or 4 other stories of the year where that's happened, but we do need to wrap this up because we've been talking for almost 2 hours. Yeah. JT, we've talked about your story. We've talked about God and how he's just woven his way into your life. We've talked about how that's kind of bled into mentoring kids from hard places at a junior high in Dallas.
Speaker 3:The question remains, why do you mentor? Why do you show up for these kids every single day? Because that's really the title of this podcast, I think. So and we haven't talked about it at all. So why do you mentor?
Speaker 3:Why do you show up?
Speaker 4:Oh, man. It's because that there was a point in my life where I needed what what I'm giving. Like, with what we're doing, I needed that.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:And I didn't really have that. Growing up, my mom went through a divorce, and I was, you know, fatherless for for for a gap. My stepfather came out and call him stepfather. I say my father. But, you know, but it was a gap.
Speaker 4:It was a period, right, where there wasn't a father in a home. And I needed someone who can, like, pour into me. Right. Not just about being the man, but about God. And, you know, I just remember the things that I was thinking about during that time or, you know, the conversations that I will have with my friends or with myself and what it felt like to have that gap or that void that at that age, you don't know how to fill that void.
Speaker 4:Right? So yeah, man. I do it because I was once in their shoes. And then God sent me, you know, a forerunner or my father, and he poured in, instilled all those things into me about how to be a man, right, and and and and and all the principles that I need. And God also sent, you know, like, pastors and other mentors into my life, and I feel like that's what I'm supposed to do is give back.
Speaker 4:Like, one of my favorite verses is go into all the world and share the good news. Right? All the world is literally every place that needs the gospel, and I feel like that can be at the junior high, that can be at k like, it doesn't matter where it is, and that's just one of the the the staple verses for me. And the Bible also speaks about if you you raise a child up as they go, when they grow old, they won't depart from it. And just seeing how important it is to get them while they're because if we don't get them or help them while they're young, somebody will.
Speaker 4:And it'll be the world, or it'll be this, it'll be that. So it's just like, we play such a pivotal like, that story you just shared, like, I didn't know all the details like that. You know? But just what was instilled in that young man, the integrity that was instilled in him goes beyond forerunner now. Like, now he knows how to have integrity.
Speaker 4:Now he knows how to have the 5 traits, so that's why I do it. And because it also just brings so much joy. Like, to see the kids say, I wanna give my life to God, and, like, I wanna get baptized. Like, stuff like that is just
Speaker 3:That's the real fruit right there.
Speaker 4:That's the real fruit right there, and that's why I do it. I do it because it brings me so much joy, and I'm also just doing the Lord's work. Right? Right. Appreciate thing to say.
Speaker 4:I'm doing we're doing the Lord's work, and there's nothing else that I'd rather do. But if I have the opportunity to share the gospel, especially with kids and then not only that, work work along with some great coaches as well and stuff like that. Like, it makes it worth it. And like you said, I'm always down to come back unless God says
Speaker 3:Right. Unless God enters. Zimbabwe. Yeah. Zimbabwe.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's where you're going? I know. Right? Mine's always been 10 buck 2. Yeah.
Speaker 4:I mean, 10 buck 2. That's what I'm gonna say. 10 buck 2.
Speaker 3:Right? Yeah. I mean, you know, and I you're right. Like, we have some phenomenal coaches. You've heard their stories on the podcast.
Speaker 3:And I'm I'm a just tease it right now. In a in a few weeks, we might have, you know, we might have a treat coming. Yeah. So you'll definitely wanna keep, you know, keep listening in to into the You Can Mentor podcast. It's gonna be just so much fun.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. You definitely don't wanna miss it. Probably are gonna wanna, like, I don't know, get a cup of tea or something.
Speaker 4:Like Netflix. Like, How You Sit Down. You know you're about to watch something.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well, but I'm thinking, like, it's it's gonna be one where you're, like, you're not gonna listen to this on your commute to work. Oh,
Speaker 4:yeah. For sure.
Speaker 3:No. This is this will be one where you're gonna wanna, like, grab a cup of tea, put it on the you know, airplay it to the TV or something like that. Just sit back and listen because, like, it's it's gonna be fire. It's gonna be really, really good. I just know it.
Speaker 3:So teasing that, and then, you know, that's coming in a couple weeks. It's gonna be a massive one to edit. But, oh, man, that's gonna be so hard to edit that one.
Speaker 4:Throw some video in there.
Speaker 3:No. I don't know that we're gonna throw some video in there. But you guys definitely don't wanna miss that. Alright. JT, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 3:Thank you for hopping on the podcast. Do you have any last words of encouragement for the the listeners out there, the mentors or maybe the mentors to be, mentoring leaders, mentoring organization leaders? What what words of encouragement do you have for them at the end here? Shameless plug. I'm writing a book right now
Speaker 4:Oh. Called Faith It till You
Speaker 3:Make It.
Speaker 4:Okay. And, you know, the
Speaker 3:whole
Speaker 4:notion like, oh, you gotta fake it until you make it. But in the kingdom, we actually faith it until we make
Speaker 3:it. Oh,
Speaker 4:that's good. So just I would just say trust God. And I think you said this, you guys, when you're on your trip, you had to scrub the plan.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:That stuck with me. And I that's gonna take me home and I'm gonna be on that for a while. So, yeah, I would say trust God and scrub the plan.
Speaker 3:Trust God and scrub the plan. Yep. I like that. One of my favorite ways to say that is, like, make plans, but keep them loosely. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right? You know, make plans. You know, it's it's not a problem to make plans, but keep in mind that, you know, God can move. Right? God can change things.
Speaker 3:You know, I've we we had that in program, you know. So make plans, but keep them loosely. Yeah. So I love that, you know. Faith it till you make it.
Speaker 3:That's coming out. Who knows when? As soon as it does, we'll we'll jump on another podcast and talk through it. Or I don't know. Maybe I'll connect you with connect you with Zach and John, and they can talk through it with you because I know I know John's done that with a couple of authors already.
Speaker 3:And, yeah, we'll we'll definitely throw the the Amazon link to that whenever it comes out and make you a best selling author. We got you, we got Taj, we got Bailey now, all written books. You know, I still think Steven's got a book in there somewhere, but You
Speaker 4:got a book in your story is a book. Your life is a book. Your story is a book.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Do you owe us a book too? I owe
Speaker 3:you a book.
Speaker 4:No. You owe us a book.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I don't know that I wanna write it.
Speaker 4:You owe a book.
Speaker 3:I'm sure I'm sure my testimony could be a book.
Speaker 4:From Utah to Dallas. That's not come on now.
Speaker 3:What would you call that what would you title the book?
Speaker 4:I don't know.
Speaker 3:I don't know. Alright.
Speaker 4:From Utah to that's probably what's called I don't know because from how you get from Utah to Dallas?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Go listen to episode 1 43, and you'll find out though. Because that's how I got there. Anyway, yeah. We got we got JT in the house.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for joining. Listener, we hope you left feeling really encouraged by this episode. I know I'm encouraged. Like, we've talked about some amazing things and just, like, the way God moves and how we can be encouraged by God's provision. But if you've missed everything else in this episode, you've definitely missed out.
Speaker 3:But just remember this, You can mentor. Yes. See you later.