SPEAKER_02 0:02

Welcome to the Faithful Warrior Podcast, where courage meets conviction. Each episode shines a light on the powerful testimonies of veterans, first responders, and godly men of faith who have walked through the fire and found strength in Christ. These are stories of real life warriors on the battlefield and in life who share journeys of struggle, redemption, purpose, and unwavering faith. Join us as we dive deep into at the heart of what it means to be faithful in the fight and anchored in hope. And welcome to our guest tonight, Michael Thomas. How are you doing tonight, brother?

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Good. How are you doing tonight?

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Oh man, I'm beyond blessed, beyond blessed. It's a great day and getting to sit here tonight with you to talk about uh how how God's working in your life, man, and and and moving and can be quite an inspiration to other people, man. So uh man, just thank you for being here and uh just want to open up and just hey man, just introduce yourself, tell us where you're from and just a little bit about you, and we'll get started.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Well, uh obviously uh as everybody can see, my name is Michael Thomas. I live in in eastern Tennessee. Um was born in Baltimore, Maryland, traveled around a lot as a kid. Um and I'm sure we'll get into it, you know, the the upbringing I had, that sort of thing, um, broken homes to where that led to and and uh and how the Lord stepped in. But um, I live in East Tennessee now. I'm 55 years old, about to be 56, feeling that that that that day coming on on July 7th, I'll show it out there in case anybody wants to have a gift. Um but uh yeah, July 7th, I'll be 56 years old, and and the odds said I wasn't gonna make it past 25. But God, Dwayne. But God, you know what I mean? Um He's got a different plan than what we have, and and here I am. I um I got I met the Lord on August 20th, 2006, and I'm sure we'll get into that a little bit as well. Um so this this this uh this August uh 20th will be 20 years since I met the Lord in the backyard of a trap house. Um it's just amazing that I know that August 21st I will be walking with the Lord longer than I walked in addiction. And that's just some amazing stuff. It's exciting. Um it's where the Lord's got me to. Of course, we do uh the gospel in the park once the third Saturday of every month here in Athens, Tennessee. And we are we're looking for other Dwayne will come to where you live and do a gospel in the park, is what I'm getting at. Um takes nothing to bring the equipment down there and set up and and have some worship, some word, take care, love them the community, give them something to eat, give them something to wear, uh be the hands and feet of Jesus. That's that's what it's all about. The the Bible says, Dwayne, and you know this that it says go ye. It doesn't say sit here and wait and hope they show up. It says go ye out into the world and preach the gospel. So that's what I want to do. I want to reach the unchurched, if you would. Uh so many times we sit in the church and we wait for them to show up. And that's not that's that that goes completely against what the word of God says. It says, go, Jesus said, hey, two of y'all line up together, kick it, get out there. Um, go go go tell somebody about the gospel. And that's what they did. And they they continue on, and here we are today, uh, on a podcast. You know what I mean, talking about the goodness of God. Where else can you do this with but uh in the wonderful day and time that we're living in now? Um Jesus Jesus would have had a much easier walk if you had a little podcast to get a drop on, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Isn't that the truth? Isn't that the truth? Yeah, you know you what you said there, you know, you gotta share the gospel, and you just can't share it on Sundays for an hour while you're in church, you know. You know, this this calls for us to do this on a daily on a daily. Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that. So man, man, you I heard you say something about uh a trap house and back uh 20 years ago. So uh man in 2006. Why don't you take us back and uh tell us a little bit about Michael before 2020 or 2020?

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Well, like I said, a broken home, you know, uh parents got divorced when I was seven. Um father disappeared for for many, many years, about 10 years. Then all of a sudden he he appeared out of nowhere and had sent a message as after I started getting into trouble and dabbling and and smoking pot and you know, his departing life of a 15, 16-year-old. And all of a sudden he showed up when I was 17 again, and and uh I was like, well, the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, you know what I mean? So so I left my mother's house in in Connecticut where we were living at the time, and my father lived in East Tennessee, uh in Kingston, and and I got on a Greyhound bus. And I took the Greyhound bus, had my buddy Corey, dropped me off at the bus station in New London, Connecticut, right near the right near the largest naval base in the world. Um got in Connecticut there, and went to New London and jumped on a Greyhound and rode to Baltimore. And I got off the bus in Baltimore, and um back then you could make a phone call for a dime. I had a pocket full of dimes. I called my grandparents that lived in Baltimore. Um, my grandfather, my papa Pete came and picked me up and went to his house from and I spent like a day or two there, and then all of a sudden, my my dad that had reached out, my father that had reached out and from Kingston. Um, we connected and he got me a plane ticket and I flew to Tennessee. Um years progressed, we ended up moving to Florida, so on and so forth, and and uh it just I became the the person that would bounce back and forth. I'd go from Florida to Connecticut, where my mom lived, back and forth, and she ended up moving to Tennessee later on. That's how I ended up here, and I'll I'll get to that in a little bit. But um just the the world had its its fingers and its tongs in me, if you would, it had its talons in me. Um, even from the get-go, from being born, I was I was born, lived in an incubator for the first three years of my life. Um, was born blue. Uh, I make the joke, I I I I wish wish the smurfs would have been out back in 1970. I would have been apparently today I look a little bit like Papa Smurf with some stuff on. So anyway, but uh yeah, I was born blue, lived in an incubator, and so I was dealt a bad hand right off the bat. Um that that led to taking medication that gave me ulcers at an early age of 12, so on and so forth. But here I am now, moved to to Tennessee with my dad. We moved to Florida in '88. Um, to a town called Dade City, is where we moved to, and I ended up landing in Zeppelin Hills, Florida. If anybody's ever been to Zeppel Hills, that's where the water's from. Um but uh that's the the claim of fame for Zeppelin's Florida. That and Paris and Parachuters. Uh there's a lot of skydivers, skydive city. Um, if you got any paratrooper friends, I bet you they know about Zeppelin Hills, Florida, you know what I mean? Um got in with the wrong crowd in Florida. Um I like to party, you know, the broken home, uh, alcoholic parents was an Alateen and Alan Alan AA meetings as a as a young child. Um my mother had divorced my father, she ended up remarrying, and you know, so I've seen multiple failed relationships in the home. And I I so I didn't learn how to have good relationship values. So um I went the other route, uh, the party life, um, staying on this couch, that couch, that sort of thing for for many, many years. You know, I'd I'd find I'd find a girlfriend that had a place, you know what I'm saying? Um, that was that was my lifestyle. You know, I'd f I I didn't want a girlfriend that didn't have an apartment, you know, or a car, because I didn't have usually any of those things. So I would use them for that. And and it's because I didn't learn good, valuable relationship skills. Um, but there's something I the Lord put on my heart that I'm gonna share every opportunity I get. And this is not something um that has been coming out, but except for this this past year. Um when I was 15 years old, there was an incident that happened, and it was just revealed to me at a Ruau conference last fall. Um, a gentleman by the name of Ron Carpenter, pastor from California, was preaching the Friday night service, and he began talking about something. He's one of those preachers, I was like, man, he I like the way he preaches, he's good, he delivers the word good, but I was like, he's not, you know, I want to, I want to go see him. Um, he wasn't one of those, uh, he didn't have that that that sort of pull on me to I I gotta go see Ron Carpenter. But I mean I like the way he preaches and delivers the word. But he was there, and God had him there for a reason. Um, Dwayne, let me tell you what, I I know you believe in in divine encounters with things. I mean, I believe our our our connection is a divine encounter as well. But I believe that I was supposed to be at that service that night with Ron Carpenter preaching a message about putting on the mind of Christ. And that so many times we we we we don't fully put on the not to think like him, not to to act like him, but put his mind on. And and and I was like, wow, that's that's that's pretty deep. That's a difference than thinking like Jesus. You know what I mean? Trying to think the good things. Um and he started talking about taking him to the deepest, darkest places of our lives. And I uh I was praying as he's preaching, and all of a sudden he says, It happened to you when you were 15 years old, and I knew. I'm like, Lord, I know that you're talking to me through this dude here from California. Um and what had happened, Dwayne, was when I was 15, I I ended up being molested by a man that was coaching me in basketball. Um you know, he was get provided marijuana and and one thing led another, and and and he he he molested me as a young man. And and at 15 years old, I don't know if you can relate that you probably can, especially being a military man. Um, you're a man, you know, at 15, your mentality is I'm a man.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

When in all actuality, you're still a child that's developing many, many things. Um, but at the time, of course, I'm thinking I'm I'm a man, I can't tell nobody this, and I held that inside for many years. And during that service, when he said it's, you know, you and I was able to take Jesus there, and we went there, Dwayne. We went there and looked at that situation, what happened to me. And the Lord said, You've been walking in bondage for 40 years. I mentioned earlier, I'm 55 years old, about to be 56. Since I was 15, I've been walking in bondage and torment that didn't belong to me for 40 years. And then the Lord spoke clearly to me, Dwayne. He said, In 19 of that, 19 of that, you've been holding my hand. I feel the presence of God, Dwayne. And I began to realize that how many people, men, you know, we're we're we're men that that we you know, we get on on the the group sessions during the week sometimes, and and it's about men iron sharpening iron to encourage men to be better leaders, better fathers, better, you know, uh leaders in their workplace, in their church, wherever it may be, to be better, better men of God. And many men have suffered the same thing that I suffered, and deal with that same torment that it's their fault, and have been walking with God, no different than the person that comes back from war and deals with the the PTSD from that. There's PTSD that comes from sexual abuse. Um you see things triggers, and it was, and and I'll say this, he was a black man as well. So for years I was a little racist, you know, and and and so God had his work cut out for him. Um here I here I am, I go through life and and I have all that revealed to me this past October. But back before August 20th, 2006, I hated everybody. I hated me, I hated God. And I'm gonna jump into that just to catch up on some things. I I ended up with some people I was selling anything I'd get my hands on, drugs-wise. Um, had gotten connections with some folks in the cartel in Florida, some motorcycle clubs throughout Florida. Um, if if you were doing dirt, I was in. Um and it got to a point to where while I was doing dirt, the Lord had his hand on me, Dwayne. It's so crazy. People shot at me, tried to stab me, try to take me out uh with AK-47s, etc. And the hand of it, and and because the hand of God was on me, I thought I was just the biggest, baddest dude on the block. You know, you can't, you know, untouchable. You know, that six-foot.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Yeah, have you been around the block?

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Nine foot tall and bulletproof, whatever it is, but um, I thought that was me, and I just well, I'm untouchable. Not realizing that God had his hand on me, the same God that I was telling people when I would, you know, get high with them, sell them dope or whatever, that that there was no God and how I knew from what little bit of scripture that I'd learned growing up. Um, I will say I'm happy that my mother, I was the kid that was drugged to church. You know what I mean? She'd send me to youth groups, and I'd and and and even in those youth groups, I I wasn't doing youth group stuff. I was just looking for the girl, and and and and you know, everything was about Michael. So here I am on the August 20th, 2006. I'm in in this trap house in Mascot, Florida. And I'm hiding out from the DEA and staying away from the cartel because I didn't want the DEA to get to my friends at the cartel because they they respected me. They they actually loved on me in a way that most other people didn't in that in that sort of environment. They have a family, that family connection thing, and they they brought me in as family, and even though that I was not one of them. And that was that was love that I had never experienced as relationship-wise growing up. So I I embraced that love heavily. Um and so I was hiding out there, and and in the backyard of this this trap house, there was five marijuana plants, and uh um if you've ever been in Florida during the summer, there's storms that roll in that are as black as your shirt.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Um, and they're nasty. I mean, they're nasty storms. I've I've been in certain areas in Brandon, Tampa area. I've watched seven, eight tornadoes roll out of the sky, you know, like EF1s, EF, you know, EF Zeros. But still, I've I've seen them. Um, the storms get rather nasty in the summertime. Anyway, um I saw the storm rolling in. I was like, well, I gotta go outside and and and uh protect the weed. You know, I gotta protect that was that was where my mentality was, I gotta protect the weed. Yeah. And so I tuck these five plants up against this wooden privacy fence in the back corner of the house. And I'm walking back to the back door, and I'm like 20, 30 foot, and all of a sudden I feel see a flash of light out of the corner of my eye, and I turn and I watch a bolt of lightning hit where those pot plants are at. Smoke come up off the ground, the ground shook. Most people, Dwayne, when that happens, would be like, Well, run for cover. Not this guy. Remember, I'm 10 foot tall and bulletproof. I that's what the saying is 10 foot tall and bulletproof. Um, I was going, I guess, with sizes of uh uh the giant and with David and Goliath. You know, that nine foot. Anyway, I must have that in my mind, but 10 foot tall and bulletproof. And what I do is I turn around and I start cussing the God that doesn't exist. Um, UMF or who the F do you think you are? Um, and then I say it goes on for five minutes. I don't know exactly the time, Dwayne, but I put my hands up and I said, Is that all you got, big boy? And another bolt of lightning came down 20 to 30 feet on the right of me. Now, there's a reason why I say the the distance that these bolts of lightning were is because 10 years prior to that, in Zephyr Hills, Florida, I mentioned where I was living, I was at my friend Michael's house and we were doing some work on this house, and a storm rolled in just like that one, you know, black cloud, and and we're like, well, we gotta, you know, let's back the truck into the garage that was detached, and and the garage was 60 feet away from the house. Well, as we're sitting there, I'm sitting on the tailgate of this truck, and and all of a sudden a flash of light hits, you know, and I hear the boom and the shake, and all of a sudden I remember being picked up off the concrete floor. Well, the lightning bolt hit in the back at the back of the house and ran across the yard, up a tree, back down the tree, and across the yard and hit the front of the truck because it was in the rain and the water, and I was on the inside sitting on the tailgate. So I was just sitting on something waiting to be charged with electricity, wet metal. Um, and it slammed me to the floor. My friend Michael picked me up, and his dad says, Get him, get him up. He don't look good. Well, they took me and I got so what I'm getting at is that was 60 foot and lightning literally hit me, Dwayne, on that day. Yeah. Um, the fire department checked me out and I was good, and they they messed around with my friends saying they walked on to Chief Newest, and he's like, No, he didn't make it. You know, had some fun with my buddy, but then he saw me walk. Oh, okay. Um, you know, but I was okay. That didn't help. That that that at that point, I think is why when the first bolt of lightning hit, I think in my mind, I was thinking, I've already survived one of these from you, bro. So uh bring on what you got. And the second one, but when the second one hit that day on August 20th, 2006, there was a peace that came over me that I've never known before, and I've never felt that same peace again. Even in my walk with God, I mean I've had moments of peace and tranquility, if you would, but I've never felt that same exact. I mean, there was there was not a worry in my world because I knew that God was real and that He had mercy and grace for this wretched drug dealing atheist.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Immediately, dude.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

I think, I think I not meaning to compare myself, but but I was trying to give Paul a run for his money, if nothing else.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

Yeah. Yeah. Man, I tell you that that uh that feeling that you get when you have an encounter with with the Holy Spirit, man, is it's something that you don't forget. And it's uh it's one I've had that experience also, and uh it's really hard to explain. Um but when you have it, you know when you have it. It's it's beyond that. So man, yeah. Yeah, so uh that that was kind of a a shakeup. So what happened there when uh the lightning bolts hit and you felt that uh man, I bet you that was just put you back thinking for a second. So what happened after that?

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Well, um I was sitting here looking at uh I I'm gonna give myself a little plug. My book, Struck by Grace. It's the full testimony of what happened, and in here it tell you you know I hit my knees and acknowledged the God that just spared my life for a moment. And from that point forward, I uh that's the day that however there's there were three more days that that took place to the 23rd. And and I'll say it like this because there was a girl that was there, we were partying getting high, she showed up, she showed up just after the lightning struck actually happened. And she shows up, and and this girl is getting high with me, we're getting high together, we're hanging out, and she's telling me all this nonsense about God has this plan for my life, and she's some spiritual weirdo in my in my eyes, you know what I mean? She's just another victim along the path for me to to to party with.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

And she's saying all these things about God has these plans for you, and she's throwing these Bible verses. I'm like, whatever. Let's just get high. Well, three days go by and and she loses it. She'd stolen some pills that were in the trap house that had been stolen from the post office. Um, and she was not fully in her right mind. And we I literally had to push her out the front door and close it and lock it. Um, she called the police and said that she had been held hostage there for three days, and which was not the case. She was just there, you know, we were just partying. Um, she came there voluntarily, and I had to tell her to literally remove her and push and lock the door. Um that that's not a sign of told somebody against her will when you're forcing them to get out. Um, the police officer did the same, but I had a warrant for my arrest for violation of probation for not reporting, and and so he came in and this is just how good God is, Dwayne. There was probably two to four ounces of methamphetamines in this house. Um I believe that God had his hand on me even then for the police not to do a thorough search of the premises and simply just took me to jail for my violation of probation, and that was that was the end of it. Um God did that time and time again throughout my life. Time when I should have gone to jail, should have been under the jail, um, like I said, people shooting at me, trying to take me out. Different times when when when I I deserved much worse than the mercy and grace of God. And I didn't recognize none of it. I just thought it was all how tough am I, how big and bad am I? Um, and I never saw that because I was I was always on survival mode. Um life was just a blur. Um, it was about what can I get from me. It was all self um acquiring things, you know, whether it was women, drugs, you know, stuff. Um, just just it was all about Michael. And uh but August 23rd. Is the day that I say that I was saved. When the police came and saved me from myself, because I believe 100% that if they had not shown up there at that house, if that girl that was accusing me of holding her hostage would not have shown up and said the things that she said to me and did the things that she did on the third day, which I think is crazy. Because the the the I think if you look back August 20th, I think maybe a Friday even. Just the similarities of scripture, you know, the three days of significance. Three days, I think he I think the Lord sent that girl there. I of course I know he the lightning was from him, but I know all that was the mercy and good, but I believe he sent her there in the midst. The Bible says that he will take what is meant for evil and use it for good. Um, the enemy was meaning for me to not pay attention from what just happened and sent me this girl, and she was a good-looking girl, you know what I mean? So everything of the flesh, my my drug addiction, uh uh sexual prowessness, all that was in play there of the enemy trying to say, well, don't look at what just happened the other day. But yet this girl's speaking life into me, and I'm like, whatever, get out the house. And and God, I believe, ordained that for that sheriff's department to show up in Orange County, Florida, and take me to jail. Because it was that moment I ended up in in the Pasco County jail where the warrant was from uh the next day or two, and I ended up calling my mother. My mother's never received a phone call from me from jail, and of course, back then a phone call from jail was like $100 a minute. You know, it was just crazy stupid. Nobody ever wanted me to take the phone calls from jail because they're expensive. Now they give them a phone call once a week, five minutes. I don't know how they made it too nice in jail. Just I'll leave it there. Um, they made it too easy to break the law, whatever. I would get three hots in a cot and a phone and a tablet and whatever. Anyway, um, so I called her and she says to me, I'm standing in the middle of the pod. I I remember like it was yesterday, broken. I was a broken man, crying, weeping, but I had a reputation for fighting, so I wasn't worried about anybody in jail saying anything. And of course, they didn't. Um again, God had his hand on that, I believe, as well. And my mother told me, she said, the Lord told me that he was going to bring you to your knees, even if it meant that you had to die. And at the time when she said that, I was like, wow, I'm sorry, Mom. Because I was not a good son either. You know, I've said things to my mother that God should have taken me out for when I said them. You know what I mean? Um, but today I I I I honor my mother and my father. Um, regardless of the mistakes they made in choices raising me, family situations, relationship skills not being learned in the home. Um, I learned hostility over love, that sort of thing. But I still honor them because I I like what they did. No, because the word of God tells us that we must honor our mother and her fathers. It doesn't mean I have to like the situations that they did. They did the best with with what they had or what they knew. Um, but anyway, um that's that's that's where it brought me to at that time. And and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:35

So I want to ask you.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

August 23rd, the day I believe that I got saved. I was I found the Lord on the 20th, but I got saved. And when I heard my mother say that, I realized somebody did have to die. Yeah, I had to die in my flesh so that I could be born again and filled with the Holy Ghost that to have the presence of God in my life. Of course, when it was said, I was just like, oh my gosh, God said I was gonna die. You know, well shoot, I'm already past the the 25-year mark I thought I was gonna make it to. So, but she said that that was that was it it broke me. Um and that was the beginning of of of the change. Uh some things came about. I was uh this is something that's not in the book, but I uh while I was in jail at that time, I was in that jail for about 30 days or so at that moment uh to go through some process and whatnot. And and uh during that time they called my name and said the detectives are here to see you. And I was like, Oh, great.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

Yeah, that's annoying.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

It was not good. Um, I was selling guns and things to people to to be used in criminal activity. I mean, I mean I knew what they were getting bought for to be used in. Um, and there was a gentleman that had been killed, um, and they were there to investigate me for the gun that killed him. Here's again how God works. I sold the gun to people to kill him. Praise the Lord, they didn't use that gun. Yes, I got upstairs and I it was crazy. I I love telling this part of the story. I walk in the room and I thought I was on an episode of Law and Order. The detective was a beautiful young lady. You know, I'm like, I heard boom, boom, as I walked in the room. And she starts asking me questions, and and she says, Do you know why I'm here? I'm like, no. She said, Well, is it our it's to our understanding that you sold a gun that may have been used in a homicide? I'm like, okay. And I instantly said, It was a nine millimeter uh semi-automatic rifle, blah blah blah blah blah blah. And she's she looked at me and she said, We're looking for a 223. And I'm like, that's an AR-15. That's not what I that's not what I gave the people.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

Anyway, she says you're free to go. And as I'm walking out, she said, Michael, she said, we know that you are running around with stone cold killers. Um, several of my friends were under indictments for multiple different murders, and and and I knew back histories of them. You know what I mean? I I knew, you know, because this one man in particular, um, I had brought him some some drugs one time and we were getting high, and he looked at me. It was just me and him, and he said, I'm sorry, man. I'm like, what are you talking about? You're sorry. He said, I'm sorry. He said, I didn't mean to do that out there in the orange groves. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. And I'm and I know the story, and I'm like, I really don't want you to confess nothing to me because I don't want to be called up in court because they're they're in the middle of this indictment. And uh he confesses to me about killing this kid in the orange grove. Um and again, how God has his handle in situations. That man that confessed to me, I ended up in jail with him one time after I found the Lord. Um, didn't tell him nothing I knew about his guilt in that situation. And uh he loved on me in jail. He got out, um, made bond or something, and he and he left me his stuff. He loved on me. He said, When you come see me, you know, come see me, we'll have a beer. So I'm like, dude, I said, you know, I you already know the story. That ain't happening. And he said, Oh, come by and have a glass of sweet tea. I'm like, sweet tea? I'm I'm game for. Um, and I ended up getting out and went by, and sure enough, he gave me a glass of sweet tea and some he was grilling some burgers. He still went, he was still doing his dirt, but he he loved on me and respected where I was at in my walk at the time with the Lord. Well, he long story short, he got very ill, got some some illnesses, and and he he died of natural causes before he was before the investigation came to full fruition. Um, but that's the type of people I ran with, Dwayne.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

Um and so I thought when my mother told me you're gonna have to die, I'm like, well, I shouldn't have. You know, again, back in that 10 foot tall and bulletproof. No, I'm not gonna die. But that day on that phone, it something broke inside me. And um, I was a broken man, of course. Um and I got out of jail, like I said, and went and seen that man, and he he he knew you know fairly shortly after that passed away. Um but I had to go back to Court Wayne. Uh my my time wasn't over. Um, I was supposed to go to jail for six months, and I was only in there for like two and a half months or whatever. And so I called my mother, broken still, and I'm like, Mom, I've not been a good son. I've said some mean and evil things to you. Um I said, I'd like to come up to Tennessee and see you. And she says, Well, how about after you get done going back to jail for 30 days that that I get you a one-way ticket? I'm like, Well, I really don't have a whole bunch, I don't have a whole lot here. Now, I I've got a daughter in in in Florida, she's 31, her name is Katie. Um, she lives her own life, but at the time I was like, I wasn't no kind of dad anyway. You know, I was like, all right, I'll come up Tennessee, maybe we can learn and it and it did, it healed some of my relationship after that came came about. Uh um I was forty thousand dollars behind in child support Dwayne. $40,000. Let me tell you what, this is just fast forward a little bit. Two years ago, child support finally paid in full.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_00 31:34

It took me that, but it took that long of being responsible, 16 years of walking with the Lord to pay off the first 12 years of not paying at all. Um, my license was off. And that's that was the big, my big charge that I'd get arrested for too is driving on suspended because of child support issues. And I'd go to court and they'd they'd they'd bring it up to speed. And again, I'm thinking, well, I just got favor. My my daughter's mother said to me one time, she says, I can't get it. She says, I've never seen anybody have so much luck when they go to court as you do. You walk in, you're guilty, and they throw it out. I'm telling you, Dwayne, that's the hand that God had on my life while I was against him. And see, we we miss that part of things sometimes. All that time I spent spitting in the face of God, doing what I was doing for me selfishly. Um, of course, when you're doing the dirt, when you're walking in darkness, you don't see the hand of God that's protecting you. You just think it's you because you believe the lie. Oh, look, you made it through that one again. Um, you know, and and you believe that lie. And and so many men today, I I I ran away from it a little bit, but but are struggling with things that have happened to them. And they need to know it's okay to take Jesus there because he can the Bible says this. I love the scripture. Though I make my bed in hell, you are there with me. Oh my gosh. That changes things. There's nothing that's too big for him. You know, there's nothing too big for him.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

No, nothing at all. Can I ask you a question? So since that time, you know, when you when you got uh new and you accepted God and changed your life? And because just listening to the life that you were living and you know of the flesh the things get hard. What was the hardest thing that you had to leave behind at the at your first part of your walk of your old life?

SPEAKER_00 33:40

Things that I had to leave behind.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

Yeah, what was the the hardest thing that you had to leave behind?

SPEAKER_00 33:47

Okay, well, when the very last time I was in jail, I I need to tie this into this next part because something that I as far as leaving things behind, I want to lead into this with this. I was I was a trustee in the jail, and I was supposed to have gotten out of jail, and I was in there for three extra days again, three days again shows up in my life, and I'm asking the sergeant in the kitchen, can you just you know get with the judge, fax him? You know, back in the day, fax everything. Um, you know, now uh I don't know if they still fax or not, but you know, you had to fax the paperwork over from the jail into the courthouse, and he'd reach out and so finally one night another inmate looked at me and he he knew you know I was walking with the Lord, so on and so forth. He says, Hey Michael, he said, Did you give it to God? And I'm like, dude, I give it to God every day. Here you go, God. He said no. And I I can see his face looking at me right now. He said, No, did you give it to God? And I realized at that moment, no, I didn't fully just release my hands to give it to him. I was still holding on to something. Well that night I I was on the top bunk in the in the trustee tent. And uh I got on my knees and I was praying. And my prayer was this Lord, if you want me here, I'm good. If you want me to leave, I'm good. And that was at about 11:30 at night. And I find it funny. I never thought about this until right now. I was born at 1128 at night. So right around the time I'm born, you know, uh, however many years, 36 years later, whatever it was, 37, whatever, I don't know. Um at 11:30 at night, I have this prayer. And at 1217, I get a tap on my foot, Thomas, roll it up. So I roll it up, I get released from jail, and I walk, I hitchhike, you know, get rides or whatever. But I walked for about 10 miles and I had a lot of time to spend with God. And the next three days, while I was actually before I left jail, somebody had asked me to check on their daughter. You know, they had an abusive boyfriend, and I always had this Superman syndrome about me. Even when I was doing dirt, I always would protect the the those who couldn't protect themselves. It's just something that's always been in me. Um, so I that it made me not a very good drug dealer because I had too much compassion. But anyway, um, I did a check on this girl, and uh I've been out since Friday, again Friday, and it's Sunday. I go by this house and I'm come walking back down Calvin Avenue in Zepper Hills, Florida, past the place that I used to set up at another little trap house and sell dope from there, and it was across from this little church called Crosslight Baptist Church. Pastor John Leach. Well, I'm walking back Pilot's church Sunday night, and I hear boom, chicka boom, chicka boom inside. You know, they're jamming, they're worshiping, and I'm wearing the only clothes that I have to my my name because I've been walking around the town for three days straight because I didn't want to return back to the trap house. I didn't want to return back to the people that I knew, the things that I used to know. The Bible says, like a dog returns to its vomit. I didn't want to return to that vomit because there was nothing good there for me. And so I walked around for three days straight. And I'm walking by this church, a little cross-light Baptist church, they're worshiping, they're having, you know, the little praise and worship part of the service. And I feel the spirit just convict me. Here I am, dirty, stinking. The only clothes I own are on my body because everything else had been stolen, you know, while I was in jail. Um, and I walk into this church, and praise the Lord, they're having a fellowship dinner after service. Good old Baptist church, they're having food on a Sunday night. And uh anyway, I I we I get to eat, I hear a word, and they love on me, and and uh we come back out after eating and they're they're playing some music, and nobody's playing the drums. And I said, Hey, can I? He was playing a Johnny Cash song with Christian lyrics, is what he was doing. And I'm like, I know the drum beat. I'm not a great drummer, I'm not don't claim to be a musician, but I I said, Can I play the drums? And they're like, sure. So I played it, and the next Sunday I was playing drums in their baptismal pool. Um, and then the next week I was getting baptized in that baptismal pool, and then they put me back in there. But the things I had to change was walking by that trap house across from the church that I used to at one time make fun of the people coming out on there on Sunday mornings while I'm slinging dope across the street, going, look at them idiots over there following this fake God. God's got a sense of humor. And so I laid down things that I I avoided certain places. Um in recovery, they talk about people, places, and things. You you know, you gotta replace these things. If you if you hung out at the bar, don't hang out at the bar no more. You hung out at the trap house, don't hang out at the trap house no more. The strip club, whatever. You hang out at Bob's house and Bob's a heathen, don't hang out at Bob's house no more. Um, so changing those things was was hard because it's what I knew. It was my familiar thing to go back to. Because I knew the results, I knew what was gonna happen, I knew, I knew how to manipulate the world in that environment. Yeah so I but so I had to get rid of these these things that were not healthy for me, and and lo and behold, they stuck. The Lord was able to do a work in me and uh start getting some foundation underneath my feet. And that that little Baptist church is what really started everything in my walk with the Lord. Um and I I'm very grateful for John Leach, which actually rests the soul out just a few months ago. He's gone on to be with the Lord. Um wonderful man, always loved me no matter what. Um good choices, bad choices. I won that I that I made while I was, you know, uh he ended up opening up his his church building to me later on. I the Lord led me to holding a church service in the park, so on and so forth. And he opened up his doors for me to use the the church on Sunday night or Saturday night, and which I found funny because I I by this time I'm I'm Pentecostal. I've I've encountered the the Holy Ghost, I've had an encounter, and the fruits, you know, the gifts of the Spirit are evident anyway. So we're having Pentecostal church on Saturday night, and he's got a Spanish church that holds a two o'clock service on Sunday afternoon. Also Pentecostal service. And so I found it funny. Of course, they would say that they were Bapticostal, as long as one foot was on the floor, you weren't there for that type of thing. Um but that's where that's where I met the the the the Holy I met the Holy Ghost in a Baptist church, Dwayne. I know all the rules say that's not supposed to happen, but he's there. This denomination thing, that's that's just a bunch of putting limits on putting out in a box. So, but anyway, but that's where it all started. That was right there in Crosslight Baptist Church on Calvin Avenue. It's a it's a blessing. I love looking back, and thank you for taking me there.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

Yeah, man. That's that's awesome. And so uh now I want to get into now what you're doing now. Um, you have a ministry, uh the daily word, and also you do gospel in the park. Can you tell us about those?

SPEAKER_00 41:26

Yes, the daily word started um in a little apostolic. Uh, it's neat that the Lord took me from a life of crime and criminal activity, and there's no consequences for anything, and you know, where everything goes, you know, or anything goes, to uh uh an apostolic church after the after cross lay. When I got up here, I ended up in an apostolic church where you know um nothing goes, you know, you don't drink, cuss, smoke, or chew, or date girls that do um sort of scenario. Um long sleeve dresses, Pentecostal hair does, all all the all the good um Pentecostal things that you're that many people are familiar with. Um and I believe God had to put me there to get me out of the lifestyle of just I just do whatever I want with no consequences. Um not that not that God's looking to punish me, but he wanted to teach me some guidelines on hey, this is what my word says, because those people were getting me in my Bible regularly. And so anyway, I was in a little apostolic church, little Jesus name uh church, if you would. Um not you know, and that's a whole nother ball game, Jesus only, Jesus Name, but that's a different story. But I ended up in this little Jesus name church. Uh wonderful little pastor, Pastor Pastor Bonds from Jamaica. Wonderful little man. Um and he asked me to take over something with some things with his youth and whatnot. And I had the opportunity to start on blog TV, um, a little evening podcast, if you would, back in 2008. Uh, and I called it the Daily Word. It started off where I would send it out on a phone, um, and I could only send it to so many people, so on and so forth, and then technology advanced. First, it started off with a text like you know, John chapter 6, verses 4 through 12, and you'd have to go home, open your Bible, look it up, and then technology changed and it let me record for a minute, and it became something that I was referring to as the word of God in a minute. Because it was, it was the word of God, and I and I got it timed down to where I can say the scripture and read enough scripture and then finish it with my little tagline, Jesus loves you, so do I. Share the word of God with someone today. God bless you. That simple, nothing, nothing fancy, just all about the Lord. And I started sending that out, and I and I grew that on the audio version to about I was sending it to about 380 people a day personally. No app, no nothing. Groups of 10, groups of 10. Here you go, here you Go, here you go. And that became a ministry in itself. And and then I I started on Blog TV in 2008, and and it was it was amazing. My only competition was uh Justin Bieber at six o'clock in the evening on Block TV. Um, that was my big competition. I mentioned that to you before in the conversation, but yeah, that was my big competition back then, and uh um it's neat because I I I got to see that witness to people, and I did that for two years at six o'clock every night. Um and it gets difficult. So that's where the Daily Word was born. Um, had testimonies of people up here in Tennessee. I'm in Florida, um, that I sent out the audio daily word to. Um and I got a phone call from a young lady up here, her name's Beth, and and she calls me, she says, Michael, you're not gonna believe this. I'm like, I'm like, is everybody okay? You know, and I know her husband, I know her kids, you know, is everything okay? She says, No. She says, me and my husband was arguing. My phone was off on top of the dresser, and all of a sudden it started playing the daily word, and it was exactly what we were arguing about. And I was like, well, that's got to be, you know, just I began to hear testimonies of things like that. And and so things started to grow, and and later on it turned in, you know, uh, you know, I had a little app built and so on and so forth. And I'm just I'm just trying to be obedient to the Lord and go where he wants me to go. Um, so I've I've got a little podcast as well where where I gather testimonies on the dailyword online.com. Um, and people can go there and check some of those out. Um, it's neat the people that that the Lord has brought into my life to be able to have his guests on there. Um and this is neat because this is the first time I've been uh I've been the guest. I was telling you that earlier. This is my first time being a guest. I'm usually in your shoes, having to control everything. So I want to say thank you for giving me a little bit of peace of mind. All I have to do is just talk about the goodness of God. Um, so the Daily Word was was born there in a little church here in Athens, Tennessee. Um, and then the gospel in the park. That is something that came about last June, uh, this time last year. Um, I was on a Zoom meeting for the Ruach Global Network with my pastor Kevin Wallace and some other folks. And uh Ruach is a conference that is actually the conference that I was at when I heard Ron Carpenter say, take Jesus to the darkest place in your life. Um, so we're on the Zoom meeting, and and and Kevin Wallace says, I'm hearing the Lord say that to take take it to the park, that there's there's a celebration in the park this summer, that that there's a move of God in the park. And I'm like, Oh, that'd be cool. Well, here it goes June, July, August, and September. I get a nudge from the Lord why didn't he listen back in June? I'm like, well, it's already it's past the summer now, so it's it's almost fall, so it don't count, right? And he's like, No. So I began doing some work, scheduled a time for the park and here in Athens, and went out to the homeless communities and just told people, hey, we'll be in the park on this day. Um, it was the third Saturday of October. Um, we'll be giving out clothes because I knew it was about to be cold. And I wanted to make sure that people were taken care of when it gets cold, and you know what I mean to have extra. You know, it's easy to give coats and blankets away in the wintertime to the unhoused homeless community, if you would. But a lot of them are also unchurched. Um, so when the Lord laid on me to go to the park, it wasn't a homeless ministry because it's not a homeless or a or a or an unhoused ministry. It's it's a ministry to reach the unchurched, the people that may never darken the door the doors of your church church or my church or the next church down the road. For whatever reason, whether it's religion that's evident, whether church hurt, um, whether it's shame, whatever, no matter the place that they may be, um, it's it's it's become quite a thing, and it's it's grown from uh the first gospel in the park. We had about five five of homeless people there. It was just me, them, and and some music that I that I had written, and the Lord had blessed me with being able to write some lyrics and I've put them to music and whatnot. And so I've created the music uh library to be able to play. It's all Christian, all points to God. Um, but it's just in the way that I like it. Um, it's just got the sound that I like, and and it's my it's it's it's but the Lord started to say, look, you know, because I get I get a little um overzealous with trying to get worship people out and play and sing. But the Lord's like, look, if they come, they come. I've given you something to use. Anyway, so I'm out there, and it was about five or six people the first one. And the last two that we've been out the last two months, there's been 50 to 60 people at. Ooh, hallelujah. And the Lord is just growing it as exponentially. Now, I just actually formed my first group of volunteers in the gospel in the park. Um, people that said, hey, I want to come alongside, I want to, I want to make food, I want to give out clothes, I want to do whatever, I want to, I want to do my part to help this kingdom work, um, which is such a blessing. Uh, such a blessing to have people come alongside because it takes a it takes a body. I can't do it by myself. Can I go out there and set up my speaker and and give out some pizza and some water, sodas, whatever? Of course I can. But it's nice when I have people that while we're there, somebody needs prayer. We can pray with them. We can we we had a lady come um about three months ago now, three, four months ago, and she testified, and she testified about how she had to go to the doctor because she's she's got some some tumors that they believe to be cancerous. I believe it was like three tumors. Well, she just came back not this past gospel in the park, but the one before that in May, and testified again that two of the tumors are completely gone, and he believes the third one is now cancer free. Ooh, praise the Lord. You know what I mean? And it's not it's nothing that I'm not I'm not any special person, but I love the fact that there's the hand of God and the spirit is moving you know in the park on people's lives. You know, the Bible says you'll know a tree by its fruit. The Daily Word has been doing things for nearly 20 years now, and I find it a blessing because through that time I've learned how to deal with a lot of discouragement and disappointment of people not coming alongside something. Because not everybody always sees your vision, Dwayne. Not everybody's gonna come alongside you and jump on board and just, hey, let's go do this thing. It's gotta be the people that God ordains for that season, for that time, for that work in the kingdom. And so for the many years that you know I had people help me, you know, this and that, but it was a lot of discouragement with the Daily Word, which I will continue to do as this it's become part of my day now. I get up, I record a daily word, I put it on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, wherever it can go. Um, and I ask that people, when they see them, if they see them across their social media feed, to share that. I tell people to share it with your friends, your family, and your enemies. Because if you share it with your enemy and you win them to the Lord, you've won a friend for life. So it's about winning people to the kingdom of God, not just about making friends or followers. And it's taken me many years to get to the point. It's not about followers, likes, dislikes, what people say or don't say about me in the comment thread. It's about me sharing the true word of God with people in their where they're at. The Lord told me many years ago that if you don't love them where they're at, Dwayne, you'll never lead them out.

SPEAKER_02 52:09

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 52:10

And it's not about saying, oh, what you're doing is okay, because I'll be honest, I I I am pro-life. I I don't believe in the LGBTQ community agenda. Um, I believe that there are people that that that need the Lord just the same as the liar or the or the thief or or the drug addict or the drug dealer. You know what I mean? We're no different. We're if it opposes the word of God, that's what I'm gonna share. And I'm gonna let the word of God do what it does. The Bible says no man comes to the Father except the Spirit draws. I just want to be a part of the hands and feet of the kingdom to share the gospel so that people can come to know Christ that saved me in the backyard of a trap house.

SPEAKER_02 52:52

Yes. Yes. And and this uh gospel in the park takes place in Athens, Tennessee on a once a month, correct?

SPEAKER_00 53:00

Yes. The next one is June 18th at 6 p.m. Or I'm sorry, not June 18th, July 18th, because we just did the one for June. Because I couldn't get the third Saturday, it was booked up already, you know, getting close to the 4th of July and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 53:12

Is there a location 27th? Yeah, is there a location where people can find that? Do you put it out uh ahead of time? Um is there a social media page?

SPEAKER_00 53:22

I can tell it's it's Athens Regional Park in Athens, Tennessee. Um people can Google it. I I I I want to say I can I can pull it up here and give it to you in just two seconds. Yes, sir. Thank you, Lord.

SPEAKER_02 53:45

And after you give us that, I'm gonna ask you what your favorite Bible verse is. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_00 53:52

I don't know how much more time we got because there's a lot. No, I'm just playing. Um that's the wrong one. There we go. There is a link on my Facebook page um for the gospel in the park.

SPEAKER_02 54:15

Um I do not see the address, it just gives up you know, like a um, we'll put that in this uh episode in the uh comment sections. We'll make sure that the people know where that is, and and uh I believe he has a website, and um we'll we'll make sure that we get that on there. So I just want to make sure the people know that you have this monthly. And if anybody hears this that's in the area or wants to travel there to come, man, come there. Come there and hear the word, hear the gospel spoken.

SPEAKER_00 54:47

So and again, if if you want the gospel in the park to come to the park in your town. Um back in May, I went to Florida to do the gospel in the park in the town that I did all my dirt.

SPEAKER_01 54:59

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 55:00

Um, it was it was absolutely wonderful. I used to hold church in that park for a little while until an atheist group came to fight me about it. Um and I had to learn all the rules. And here's what's a blessing is is in Zepper Hills, Florida, you're as a as a ministry, um, you're entitled two special events in the park a year. You can't set up chairs, you can't keep offerings, you can't put out signage. You there's all these things you can't do. Um Athens Regional Park here in Tennessee, they put the gospel in the park on the LED sign out in front of the park.

SPEAKER_02 55:30

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 55:32

The entire week before it says it'll say July 18th, and the whole week before that, it'll say July 18th, 6 o'clock p.m., 6 to 8 p.m., pavilion by the lake. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 55:42

Nice, nice.

SPEAKER_00 55:43

They they encourage me, they they love that I'm there every month. I just had the sheriff here in town, Joe Guy. I ran into him at a so at a public event called Moo Fest. Here, um, if you didn't know, we Mayfield's dairy is right here, so they have Moo Fest cows, uh, the dairy farmers. Anyway, so he he said to me, he said, uh, um I want you to come out to the jail and sign up to minister to I was like, wow, that's just crazy. Here, here's God got me. Now he's got me wanting to, you know, got people asking me to come to the jail and minister, minister the gospel to share the love of Christ with them. Um yeah, if you would have told me 20 years ago that I'd be preaching the gospel anywhere, especially in a jail, I'd have laughed at you.

SPEAKER_02 56:34

All right, as we wind down, brother, I want to I want to ask you a couple questions here. Okay. Um, that we ask all of our guests. And the first one is what is your favorite Bible verse and why?

SPEAKER_00 56:46

Well, I'm gonna go with two only because they're both fitting and because I have a tendency to mix the two of them up as far as their chapter and verse, but Revelation 12, 11. Says we're made overcomers by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, and we love not ourselves to the end. Um, and the other one is Matthew 11, 12. And you can see how I mix them up 12, 11, 11, 12.

SPEAKER_02 57:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:18

And Matthew 11, 12 says, Since the days of John the Baptist, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent people attack it. We are under attack from we we we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, principalities, spiritual wickedness in the high places. It's a spiritual battle that we fight, and we need to be ready knowing that the enemy attacks. Whether your your PTSD is from a military or a traumatic event that happened in your life. Um, we all have a testimony to share, but if we tell our testimony without applying the blood, it it loses its power. We have it says be by the blood of the lamb. And the it doesn't say by the word of your testimony and the blood of your lamb. I mean, I'm not trying to play semantics on the word, but I believe that the Lord put by the blood of the lamb first. That we have to apply the blood so that the testimony will take root and it will be authentic. It'll be covered by the blood of the lamb. It's not something that I did to protect myself again and have that falsehood of, oh, I'm the biggest and baddest, and you know, God can't even touch me, sort of mentality. Right. But yeah, those are my two favorite verses. I've I've got several others that I love, but those are my go-to for applying the blood to our lives to share our testimony, because that's that's what I go off of with the with the Daily Word test uh podcast with the testimonies, um, is is the fact that you can argue the word of God. People do. Take a look across any social media platform. People are saying this, saying that, they take it, twist it, whatever. Some don't twist it. Some are giving it the truth straight down the middle. Praise God. But people argue the word of God. But I've come to find out that what you cannot argue with me is August 20th, 2006, in the backyard of that trap house. I was there. I know what God did, and I know what God didn't do. You can't touch that, you can't take that from me, and it's because of the blood of the lamb, it's why that even had an opportunity that opportunity to happen in my life. So I share that. And I know that ever since that day happened, the denim, the the devil's a little bit, he's he's mad. He's like, Man, we lost a good one. We lost a good one. It was a good sales rep. He was leading the sales this month. Um, and now he's on the other side. He's working for the the competition. Done jump jump companies on him. He's a little, he's a little upset. And he's even more upset because he he knows the end of the book. He knows it better than you and I do. You know, he knows his end is not good for him, and we win. And we win.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:14

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:15

So those are my two favorite scriptures.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:17

Amen. Thank you for sharing that, man. I appreciate it. And we're going to close it out with this question. And it's not really gonna be well, it's gonna be a question, but what would you say? Because you've been through a lot, we've we've listened to it, and man, you've you've battled through a lot, and you know, we don't want to glorify that part, but we know what it feels like to be in there. So, what do you say to the person who feels too broken or too addicted or too far gone, too far gone for God to save them?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:50

I would say that is an absolutely fantastic question. But I would say you're never too far gone from God, and I can only tell you that because I know where I was at. I didn't get into a lot of the parts about how I I played with Ouija boards and the book of Necronomicon. I mean, I didn't get into all that. I mean, I dabbled in darkness, darkness, darkness, and embraced it. And God saw fit to reach down in the backyard of a trap house on August 20th, 2006 to save me. He didn't save me from the drugs, he didn't save me from the the addiction. He saved me from me. He saved me from me destroying my sight, myself. He has that much mercy and grace. It doesn't matter where you're at. I don't, it doesn't, I don't say I don't. God is not affected by how lost you are. He's looking for you right now. He's in the trap house, he's in the strip club, he's in, he's in the jail, he's he's in, hold on, he's in the Boy Scout troop, he's in, he's in the ball field, he's he's everywhere looking to find you. You don't have to walk it alone. You are never too far gone. I don't care what you're I don't care if you're doing it right now, in the name of Jesus. I I pray that God you you you draw that person right now in Jesus' name. Draw them out of the darkness and into your marvelous light. But we have to respond. If I would have carried on the way I was after my encounter with the Lord in the two bolts of lightning, I would probably be dead or in prison or maybe a combination of the two of them over time. But God stepped in on that day and he wants to step into your life, but you have to respond. You have to accept him as Lord and Savior. And he'll go with you, he'll be with you, he'll never leave you. That doesn't mean you're not gonna have hard times. I'm gonna be honest with you. Jesus said it clearly, he said, In this world you will have trouble, but fear not, for I've overcome this world.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

And if he that is in you is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the Holy Ghost, if you would, at that point, you have nothing to fear. The Bible says that we actually have nothing to fear. That we're sober-minded because of what he did on Calvary. God can clean you up no matter how dirty you are, how smelly you are, or now or not how far or how often you spit in his face. He did it for me. He did it for Dwayne, and he'll do it for you. Because he's a man of God.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:52

Yeah, that's that's pretty powerful, man. I'm telling you, if you're out there right now and you listen to that and you don't think you're worthy enough or you're just too far, there's a great example of somebody who was brought out. Man, just reach out, just cry out to him. Just call upon his name. And as we close, man, remember this being a faithful warrior is not about being the strongest person in the room. It's not about having it all together. It's about remaining faithful to Jesus no matter what battle you face. If you're walking through difficult season today, don't quit. Keep trusting, keep praying, keep moving forward. God is not finished with your story. So until next time, stay faithful. Keep your eyes on Christ, and remember the battle is real, but so is the God who walks with you through it. We'll see you on the next episode of the Faithful Warriors Podcast.