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Faith Stories with Pastor Joe Coffey is a podcast about the real stories of real people and the real ways God moves in and through our lives. Each episode shares honest conversations of breakthrough and struggle–stories of faith, failure, drift, redemption, and the slow pull back to Jesus. From seasons of success to moments of darkness, these testimonies are reminders that no one is too far gone, no story is beyond redemption, and Jesus is still in the business of restoring what feels lost.
00;00;00;22 - 00;00;23;06
Unknown
Hey, welcome to Faith Stories, a podcast from Christ Community Chapel about how Jesus can change anything and everything. I'm your host, Joe Coffee, and as my special guest, my good friend Mark Lori. Welcome to the show. Mark, thanks for having me. All right. We have known each other for, like, going on 30 years, probably. So I know something about.
00;00;23;07 - 00;00;49;15
Unknown
I was actually a part of when you first started to come into faith with Jesus, I'm going to we're going to go back and then find out kind of how that happened, and then the impact that has had since. So let me well, let's let me have you tell about your family. Like. Yeah. Background. Yeah. No. First give me Trish and the kids and then we'll go to your background.
00;00;49;16 - 00;01;09;04
Unknown
Yeah. Local family. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So wife Trish turned 60 this year. Know if I should say that? Yeah. We're gonna have to cut that. Can we, can we can we cut that? Can we save it? Yeah. Save me. Yeah. And for kids. So kind of 31. Soon to be 31 to soon to be 26 for kids.
00;01;09;05 - 00;01;31;18
Unknown
Oh, man. Oh, you're going to be a grandfather. I am, I am, yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Super exciting. So yeah. All for kids. We've been in Hudson in the same house for 26 years. And before that we lived in Silver Lake for a few years. So we've been going really to the chapel since, you know, add that up, call it 30 years or so.
00;01;31;18 - 00;01;53;26
Unknown
And the kids went to Hudson Public Schools and then off to college, and now they're all out and reasonably productive adults. We're super proud of them. But yeah, we've been locals for a long time. Got it. Okay. So you grew up in Canada. You're a Canadian. Yeah, yeah. You got a green card, are you? We need to be careful.
00;01;53;27 - 00;02;09;22
Unknown
Okay. Can I can I tell my story of how I got here the hard way? Sure, because my kids will get a kick out of it. So I got here the hard way. I had to marry for the green card. Oh, there you go. Those guys who swim through shark infested waters, they do it the easy way. I had to get that in.
00;02;09;24 - 00;02;34;24
Unknown
All right. So. Yeah. So you grew up just over the border, like on the other side of Detroit? Yeah. Windsor. Windsor. Yep, yep. And a family of seven kids. Eight, eight, eight kids and then and pretty athletic family. Right. So which one were you in the order. Yeah. So my twin and I were five and six. So I was effectively six.
00;02;34;24 - 00;02;57;04
Unknown
But yeah six of eight. And yeah we were all pretty all pretty competitive. But we all did sports of some sort. It was just kind of part of the upbringing. We all gravitated to different sports, interestingly enough. But were you the only one that played hockey. So in Kennedy back he plays hockey. But I was the only one that kind of rose to the level that that I did.
00;02;57;04 - 00;03;18;03
Unknown
But yeah, and then my one brother did track and bobsledding and my sister did competitive swimming and yeah, that way, let's get it back up. Like when you say your your brother did bobsledding. Four time Olympian Bob sweater. Yeah. Okay. Right. And your sister who did the swimming and stuff, she became she was on the national triathlon team.
00;03;18;04 - 00;03;41;23
Unknown
She was. Yeah. So I think she still holds a couple records at Northern Michigan University for back in college. But then when triathlons became a thing, she gravitated to that. And she was on the Canadian national team for a few years. And oddly enough, she's now I think she's 65 now, getting back into tries, but but yeah, so and then my twin brother played college football in Canada.
00;03;41;25 - 00;04;12;20
Unknown
Okay. So yeah. All right. And then and you played hockey and were recruited out of high school. Decided to go up to Boston. Yep. So I went to northeastern for two years. And then I transferred to Bowling Green and and yeah, played for a few years. And then I went over to the States after I had a bunch of injuries in college and kind of realized my body wasn't made to take a shot here, but then went over and played in Europe for a couple of years, had a good time.
00;04;12;20 - 00;04;34;04
Unknown
And so I got a couple of things there. One is, when did you realize that your dream for the NHL was not going to take place? Yeah, that's a good question. It's funny, as I look back, I was probably closer than I realized, but when I was in it, I always thought, there's no way it's too big a bridge.
00;04;34;05 - 00;04;59;23
Unknown
And then I just had injuries I had I blew my knees out a couple of times. Reconstructive surgery and shoulder and wrist and, you know, screwing staples in my wrist. And so I think it was through the injuries at the collegiate level, which isn't near the grind of the professional level. And then so once I kind of worked on getting my body back, playing over in Europe was just it was kind of like the window had gone.
00;05;00;02 - 00;05;19;13
Unknown
I had missed the window. Guys don't go over and come back. So I was just there for kind of play a little bit of hockey, relatively healthy. So and that's not uncommon with, with hockey. I would suppose that either your body is built for that kind of wear and tear or it gets ripped up. Yeah, yeah. It's true.
00;05;19;14 - 00;05;41;20
Unknown
And even like even the goal scorers, like the guys who aren't the tough guys, the fighters and the the checkers, even those guys, their bodies are just put together like they're just they're thick and they're, they can withstand the punishment. And and I think my body just kind of wasn't made that way. Okay. So but you transferred from, from out east to Bowling Green.
00;05;41;20 - 00;06;08;02
Unknown
You did that for a reason. And that was because your little brother had leukemia. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So he was diagnosed my sophomore year when I was at northeastern. And then. And so it was it was clear he was going to undergo substantial treatment. 17 1617 yeah. You. 1718 I think he passed. He was 19 by the time he passed.
00;06;08;02 - 00;06;27;23
Unknown
But but yeah. So and he was going to in Canada the best care is up in Toronto. So Windsor Toronto's about a five about a three hour drive 3.5 hour drive. And then Bowling Green another hour and a half on top of that versus Boston. So I just thought, you know, if there's an opportunity to be a little bit closer for when he's in Windsor or maybe even visit a metronome.
00;06;27;23 - 00;06;51;03
Unknown
And so yeah, so I had the opportunity to transfer into BGI now when your brother passed away. How did that impact you? Do you remember? Yeah. At the time I was so mired in my own little world. I don't know that at the time. You know, you're sad, but I don't know that I fully appreciated kind of the gravity of it.
00;06;51;05 - 00;07;10;28
Unknown
You know, I saw a and he was a great kid, too. But I don't know at the time that I fully kind of realized it all. I was just in my own little world, I think. And you grew up in a Catholic family? Yeah. Yep. So, yeah. Died in the wool. Catholic, I guess is the term, but yeah.
00;07;10;29 - 00;07;37;05
Unknown
And my, my parents are both from European descent. And there were, there were dedicated Catholics and we went to Catholic schools really k through 12 actually 13 back in the day in Canada. But yeah. So we're we're all raised Catholic Church on Sunday and all the formalities that go with it. Yeah. So what did during that time when you were growing up, how did you how did faith impact your.
00;07;37;06 - 00;08;04;23
Unknown
Did it not much. Or was it a formality or. Yes, a good question. And I don't know that I've got the I know the full answer but I think formality was part of it. But I think it also there was a foundation I think a foundation was created and there was a seed there. We were all altar boys and we served weddings and funerals and but we didn't.
00;08;04;24 - 00;08;26;04
Unknown
It wasn't, I guess I would say it wasn't personal. Right. But but there was definitely a foundation there. Okay. So then you then you go away to school. Do you stay connected with faith? My hockey seems like a sport where, particularly as you go up into the professional level and stuff, that you play hard, play hard kind of thing.
00;08;26;04 - 00;08;55;15
Unknown
So did faith. Was faith much of that? Not really. Okay. So yeah, so ran pretty hard, probably from 16 to 26. Ran pretty hard. Yeah. The norm of what's around you, right. You know, surrounding yourself with the five people around you. Five people around me were pretty, pretty hard on and off ice. So I was I was into that.
00;08;55;15 - 00;09;17;02
Unknown
And yeah, it was kind of crazy. So the faith when we were when we were talking with Tom, I was asked to ask you if you ever, you know, lost the fight and you said on the ice. And I said, yeah. And he goes, because then you said, because I lost a few and and bars. But I was pretty pickled.
00;09;17;02 - 00;09;37;27
Unknown
So. Yeah. So then yeah, that's why I always think hockey players unaware like buttons that say, listen, I played hockey, which means I can fight. So just be careful, you know? Yeah. So yeah, like I said, we ran hard on and off the ice. But yeah. So we, I was a bit of a I guess we called them back in the day.
00;09;38;01 - 00;10;02;23
Unknown
Muckers. I was a bit of a, you know, I was a mucker who could score a few goals, but, but yeah. So we it was pretty, pretty gritty and, and the guys hung with were pretty gritty again on and off the ice. So but yeah we drank the odd tussle off the ice. Were you ever asked by a team to be a fighter to be I mean other designated fight guys who fight, right.
00;10;02;23 - 00;10;19;11
Unknown
So I was my my last year of hockey. So I'm like 26 by this point. And, and I figured I'd come back. So I was finally playing in Germany. Now I played well, I played in Germany, and then I came back and I thought, you know, I'm healthy. I've had a couple decent years and maybe I'll come back and give it a go.
00;10;19;11 - 00;10;38;22
Unknown
So I started at the lowest level. People that know hockey's the East Coast League, so I go down and get a few fights in training camp, and then we're starting in the season and a couple fights and then and then the coach pulls me. He has this conversation with in pre-season you get and fights in pre-season and practice and stuff.
00;10;38;24 - 00;11;04;00
Unknown
You guys. Yeah. During tryouts yeah, sure. Yeah. So how does that I mean, just seems. Yeah. That was that is such a funny thing because as a sport, I know when we first started to meet at Starbucks for discipleship and stuff and I. You were the first hockey player that I ever tried to disciple. I didn't know where the fighting fit because you'd be going.
00;11;04;02 - 00;11;24;04
Unknown
You were working, but then you would go to like a Bowling Green alumni game, come back and your hand would be all beat up and be going, what happened? You go, yeah. Things got a little chippy and I'm just going, I don't know how to respond to that as a I mean, should I say to you as a Christian, you really shouldn't be trying to beat somebody up, even on the ice.
00;11;24;04 - 00;11;44;01
Unknown
But I didn't know. So because it's the way hockey polices itself too, right? Yeah. And actually so a couple stories. So one of the toughest guys that's ever played in the NHL was at the time. It still is a very strong Christian. And he was, quote, a one time as saying somebody's got to protect the boys. Who better than a believer.
00;11;44;05 - 00;12;04;27
Unknown
Right, right. Okay. So yeah. Yeah. So that's you know, he made that wasn't your excuse at the time for not really. You're you're not really. Okay. So you got a couple of fights. Yeah. And then your coach set you down. Yeah. So so he sits me down and I said, listen, I, I'm happy to handle myself, but I'm not.
00;12;05;05 - 00;12;22;17
Unknown
Again, I'm 26 and it's a long shot that I can kind of maybe make a go of it. And the guys that that fight for a living, that's a tough way to make a living. Yeah. Every night there, there there's the possibility. Right. And you know who the one or 2 or 3 guys are in there. And I just I didn't want that.
00;12;22;17 - 00;12;42;09
Unknown
I didn't want them like I can't for me if, if, if it's spontaneous and it breaks out, I'm there and I'm the guy, even if it's not me, if it's somebody on the ice. But to be sitting on the bench is looking and waiting and just kind of. And they put you in just for that. Sometimes some those guys, they do, some of those guys, it's not so much part of the game anymore.
00;12;42;11 - 00;12;58;23
Unknown
But but yeah, it's a tough way to make a living. And I, I also felt like I could play a little and I, and I could, but maybe not enough to keep my spot. And at 26, you were saying when you said make a go of it, you were talking about trying to make it to to the NHL.
00;12;58;25 - 00;13;16;10
Unknown
Yeah. Because I was finally healthy, so I thought I'd give it a shot. But when that conversation happened, I just thought, okay, I this is how he sees to pull the plug. I'm like, no, thanks again. And most of the guys, a lot of the guys then didn't have college degrees. I got my college degree and I'm like, yeah, I kind of don't want to do that.
00;13;16;12 - 00;13;39;19
Unknown
Okay, maybe if I was 21 maybe. But. Right. Yeah. All right. So now your athletic careers over, when does faith start to like rise up again. And it kind of a different way. Yeah. In a very different way. It was really kind of through Trish meeting Trish. And then and then quickly Tricia and I knew each other in college.
00;13;39;19 - 00;13;57;16
Unknown
We didn't date. But then when we kind of re kind of met up and started dating, it got pretty serious pretty fast. And I just for me, the whole time I was thinking, okay, I got I got to be a better person, you know, I got to be better for her and I got to be better for, you know, potential family.
00;13;57;19 - 00;14;17;11
Unknown
So it it kind of maybe started my, my journey back to faith because I think, I think I had seeds of it, like I said. But yeah, it was just I wanted and I knew there was more out there. So it wasn't so much looking for God or searching. It was more just like, what's what's my foundation? What's it going to be?
00;14;17;12 - 00;14;40;09
Unknown
How can I truly set my life on a different path? Right, I guess, yeah, yeah. So you you felt like you needed you kind of saw where you wanted to be and the trajectory to get there, right? Yeah, I'd say so, yeah. All right. So you just. So Trish is not Catholic and so she takes you to a to this church or just.
00;14;40;10 - 00;15;01;11
Unknown
No. So we're in Cincinnati at the time. And so we started church shopping down there again because I, I knew there was more I wanted but and we ended up we went to a lot of different churches. We ended up going to a Catholic church because I just I like the priest style. But and, you know, we weren't kind of married to the church.
00;15;01;11 - 00;15;33;25
Unknown
We were only there for a couple of years. And then we moved up. And then I got a job at Kings Medical. Okay. And and it was filled with just solid people, solid guys, solid believers. And that really further, I guess, underscored the the point and the need to be kind of like them, who were all trying to be Christlike and finding out why and how, which led me to to the chapel.
00;15;33;25 - 00;15;59;25
Unknown
But but that the Kings was such a blessing at the time. It really was. Yeah, that's really interesting because one of the things said, we're in a series, I'm Proverbs and I'm one of my passages is who walks with the wise becomes wise, and he was a companion of fools comes to harm you. And I think who you hang around with super important.
00;15;59;26 - 00;16;29;02
Unknown
And in fact they I remember they did a study and it was really on obesity and that if somebody's best friend is obese, their chances of becoming obese are 60% higher than because you will assume the habits of the your closest friend. So you're all of a sudden you get a job, by God's providence, in a place at a time when you're thinking, this is what I want.
00;16;29;03 - 00;16;53;04
Unknown
Yeah. And instead of those guys going out to a bar every night, which could be another different, a different place to work, which would have been easy to a little sense. Right, right. And then but instead you're going I mean, these guys are talking about church and Bible study. So you start to come here. And when I mean, it seems like a slow progression for you.
00;16;53;05 - 00;16;58;19
Unknown
Do you have a time when it clicked?
00;16;58;21 - 00;17;22;22
Unknown
Yeah. And I hesitate because I'm a slow learner. It kind of was a slow progression. But it's funny before I get to that is just from 16 to 26, hanging out with hockey players and being surrounded by those guys. And then I get to Kings, you know, and there's there's some kind of realization in the middle. Then I get the Kings and and that really.
00;17;22;23 - 00;17;42;14
Unknown
So maybe to to your point, they're just hanging out with people who who I saw were the real deal. That was a different group of people. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And you know imperfect but. Right. But but the real deal for sure and quite a bit too is you're looking for people that, that want to go where you want to go.
00;17;42;15 - 00;18;09;02
Unknown
Yeah. Right. Like yeah. If you're looking for guys who are, who want to make it in hockey, you're going to do what they do. Yeah. Are you going to look for somebody who? Guys who want to be great husbands. Great fathers. Yeah. And have a piece. Then you're looking for something else, right? So yeah. So for me, it was, you know, by this point, you and I are riding bikes next to each other at the, at the gym.
00;18;09;03 - 00;18;43;06
Unknown
Right. And I'm fully in surrounded with the Kings culture. And I'm actively now reading the Bible and searching and, and I think it's almost kind of like, you know, those paintings that you stare at, and after a while you're like, like, oh, right, right. I think I was just thinking about this, this conversation because as we talked, you know, I don't see myself as the deepest thinker, but just kind of trying to have some, some realities to reflect on.
00;18;43;07 - 00;19;18;06
Unknown
I think for me, that's kind of what it was like. I think, you know, it just at one point I just between truly, earnestly seeking in earnest and then in the different culture. And now I'm starting a family. And it just, it really kind of came to be. And the difference between and it's I know it's cliche, but the difference between kind of a relationship and a religion, it's somewhere in there I crossed over and I fully just and then and then it really starts taking root.
00;19;18;07 - 00;19;45;17
Unknown
Right. And then we start the Bible study. And that was that was just awesome. Yeah. Yeah, that was a really good time. Now, one of the reasons I wanted to interview you, some of my other guests, it was so dramatic. It was like from darkness to light, absolute change. Someone's involving rehab or whatever. For you, it's more a gradual thing.
00;19;45;17 - 00;20;12;18
Unknown
Now, 30 years later, like when your desire early on was you realize, I'm going to get married, I want to be a good husband. I need to be a better man. I want to be. If I become a father, I want to be a good father. Now, 30 years later, you have four children, all of them committed to Christ, right?
00;20;12;21 - 00;20;31;17
Unknown
How do you feel like? How do you feel like that happened from in the last 30 years? Oh, so you've kind of gotten I mean, I don't want to say anybody's arrived, but if you were, if I were to say to to show you a picture 30 years ago and say, is this what you want to be? You be going.
00;20;31;18 - 00;20;57;07
Unknown
That's exactly what I want to be. How do I get there? And you'd want to get there tomorrow, like by the time you're 28 or 29. But it takes a while. Yeah, it does. And it's interesting, just the as we chatted earlier, the trajectory of the guys that I hung with from 16 to 26, the hockey days, boy, some of those have ended so well.
00;20;57;07 - 00;21;32;10
Unknown
Some of the guys have gone off and it's been tough in some. It's still tough and some have made, you know, the business person transition. But to to the trajectory that I ended up on and just with the foundation, I think Trish had a lot to do with it for sure. Just just as I was exploring the faith and what how I could live it out, right, given kind of who I was to that point in the transition, because it wasn't a tomorrow all of a sudden, I'm, you know, preaching in three quarters.
00;21;32;11 - 00;21;56;06
Unknown
Right. But yeah, Trish had a lot to do with that. And, and the, the talk about the culture of kings and the culture of the people that, that we hung out with and I traveled with quite a bit with kings, as you know. So Trish. So we get we get fully we make our church home. Trish jumps in with with all the kids.
00;21;56;06 - 00;22;07;25
Unknown
And I know you know this, this is where this where it might get emotional but.
00;22;07;27 - 00;22;13;04
Unknown
She.
00;22;13;07 - 00;22;35;16
Unknown
We we talk about it because our kids are now coming to this age. But Trish jumps in with the kids and she she gets involved heavily involved with the church. But it's more the women and the families. And I could rattle off the names and you know the names, but but the people that she hung out with were unbelievable.
00;22;35;16 - 00;22;43;19
Unknown
They were they were all solid believers, all these little kids.
00;22;43;21 - 00;23;20;14
Unknown
So for for me, that was just I come home to that and I just I just want to be more, do more, just have the faith, really kind of be my own and then and just raise this family to to be God's tools. Yeah, it's great for me because I have been at a front row seat to it from the times we were meeting at Starbucks back in the 90s.
00;23;20;21 - 00;23;45;06
Unknown
Yeah, probably. Yeah. And I'm trying to keep you from getting deported for breaking some guy's jaw at Kent State Ice Rink. There was the occasion. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At least you're almost always playing hockey when you got into a fight. Yeah, right. Yeah. But from those days until I'm watching you become the father and the husband that I think God has wanted you to be.
00;23;45;06 - 00;24;13;18
Unknown
And it's been a. Well, it's been great to watch Marcus. Just a like a long ago. I read a book one time called The Long Obedience in the same direction. And I think, you know, we've talked about trajectory and trajectory happens with, you know, a thousand little tiny decisions that keep you moving toward a certain thing. And I think, I mean, you saw some of the guys that you hung out with at 26, 28.
00;24;13;19 - 00;24;42;22
Unknown
It goes this way. It's brutal. You know, we it's funny, we started talking about how hockey can break, break up your body. And, you know, life breaks people up or you become stronger kind of inside as you grow in the faith. So it's been great to watch you, to watch your family excited. Now you're beginning the next generation with Bo and Jane.
00;24;42;22 - 00;24;49;28
Unknown
So thanks for spending time for telling us your story. Yeah. You bet. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.