Transcript

Episode 1 · The Weight of Fire

Thiago Novaes: Every fire needs fuel. Every wall needs to come down before what's underneath can breathe. This is the way to fire. Faith, fitness, and conversation. Featuring common people with uncommon stories. Every episode we're going to bring someone new. First we sweat because something happens when you're tired and honest at the same time. The wall comes down, and that's when the real conversation starts. About faith, about God, about the job, and about the why behind it all. I'm your host, Tiago, and this is the way to fire. Let's get to work. Alright, guys, so this is the beginning, the very first episode of the Way to Fire podcast. This has been a long, long time waiting on this. We've been working very hard to get this going, get this project started. ⁓ but we are finally here. We've already been through a workout, just me, myself, and I. And now it's the other fun part. We get to sit down at a table across from each other and just have. Good old conversation. Me in the future after episode one, I will be your host. I will be the one asking the questions, being the one interviewing all of our guests. But today we thought it would be good as the pilot episode, as the first episode to have myself answer the questions. And I could not think of anybody better to question me than my wife. So I have here today Samantha Navyas. ⁓ she is not a guest, but she will be the one hosting the podcast today. So bear with her. She's mildly nervous. ⁓ but we're gonna have a good time. We're gonna have a good conversation. We had these conversations over and over again, just troubleshooting and and thinking about ideas for the podcast. She has been my right hand person on this project and I think I think this is gonna be good. So before we even start, before I pass the mic to her, I want to start with a prayer. So here we go. Dear God today, we want to say thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to come over here and share a little bit of our story, a little bit of our project. We want to always remind ourselves that the purpose of this is you. purpose of this is to bring a little bit of positivity but to bring a little bit of your of your word and of your love and your message in a time where it's rare to find out there. So for that we want to say thank you and we appreciate we we can honor you enough and do a good enough job to at least touch one soul out there. Amen. Amen. All right Samantha take it away All right. ⁓ tell us tell us your name. Tell us who you are. So my name is Tiago Novaez. I am a Brazilian who moved to the US fifteen, twenty, a long a long time ago. Moved to the US a long time ago, me and my brother and sisters. ⁓ and then in my journey going to high school and whatnot, I decided to go to fire school, became a firefighter, been doing that for thirteen years now. Met my wife along the way. You you know that. ⁓ we have two beautiful young girls, Sophie and Olivia, age six and three. ⁓ I've moved up the ranks with the O'Califier Department all the way to the rank of a captain, which now I have my own crew, which I'm very blessed with. A bunch of older kids that I gotta manage day in and day out. Yes. but just blessed, you know. had a lot of ups and downs in life, learned a lot. I think I am where I am today because of everything I've experienced in life. So that's a little bit about me. And I think the main thing I'm been in and out of church, been a Christ follower. I've been a believer my entire life. Grew up in church. ⁓ but that's that's kinda where I'm at. Awesome. All right. So the first the very first question for all our guests here is Tell us your why. ⁓ I love that question. So our why. I do believe that everybody has their why. Some people push the limit with their why and understand that having a why is pivotable. Pivotable. Pivotal okay, I mess I messed that word up, but it's a it's it's an important to have a why, right? For me, throughout my life as a young man, I think my why was different than it is today. I think they your why transitions a little bit with your life experience, with the things that you're going through. But I believe my why nowadays would be to honor God, honor my family, and do the best I can do every time I wake up. I think having the ability to know that. trying to just be a little bit better than I was yesterday, not just physically through a workout, not just as a father, not just in the spiritual realm. I'm just trying to be a little bit better, just one thing at a time. And I think my why at this exact moment in my life is to spread a little bit of the word of God. I think that would be my main my main reason, you know, why I'm here. Absolutely. I love that. What do you think what keeps you going? I gotta put family, right? Family up there, I think Being a good husband, I think is is one of the biggest one, but I think set an example for my kids. I think the moment I got the the title of a husband, it was phenomenal, it was life changing for me. I think that's when I transitioned from it was all about me to now it's about me and you, right? It became there's nobody else but me and you. Sure. Like I think one of the biggest things that I that that I realized it was me and you was when w 'Cause we were living together already before we got married. Yeah, don't tell anybody. But was when once we got married, for whatever reason I had this this idea that, ⁓ boy, like somebody comes through the house, there's nobody else. I gotta be the one that gets up. I gotta be the one that investigates. I gotta be the one that provides the protection. So for me that was a a life changing moment. I think you make me better, right? ⁓ we are a team and but then Being a dad, who being a ja a dad I think took me to a whole different level. And then having two girls. God bless me. But having two girls also has been man, I I don't know what life would be without my daughters. But I think being a dad was another great and unique experience that I think I don't even know if I could put into words what it is to be a dad. But I think you guys are what keep me going. I think being an example for them, not just how they can push themselves, how they can be better, how they can grow, how every day is an opportunity for you to do more, go that extra inch, that extra mile. I believe I want to set the tone for any other dude that comes after me. Absolutely. You know? Mm-hmm. We know. Yeah. Like I did it with my sisters. You know what I'm saying? Some of them settled. I'm just kidding. I love my brothers in law. But ⁓ That's that's my my my thing that keeps me going, I think right now would be family. ⁓ it you can end there family yeah family's a good one I think that's us we do it and we keep you on your toes all right if you had one piece of advice for someone who's maybe struggling going through something what would that be man if you're struggling you're going through something I think community right I think having a solid community and that could be anything but having somebody right having somebody that's there for you that's gonna be be Be a person you can confine with. And there's certain things that you might not always share with me. But if you have somebody, right? Doesn't always need to be your your parents. It doesn't al always need to be your brother and sister or your wife. If you have a friend, but if if if you think you're alone in this world, I think that's when you go through these tough times and it's it's even tougher, right? I think when I look back at my at my journey, at my history, at my the process, right? The process that made me the Tiago that is today. I think a lot of it is me, yes. A lot of it is God. Yes. And God is part of my community. And God is has always been there in the darkest of my darkest days. But it's the people too. You know what I'm saying? Like I think Samantha was kind of unaware of how close like me and my close family are, you know, my brothers and sisters and my mom. We we share everything. And now you know that, right? Like we share everything. From, hey man, I'm thinking about buying this shirt to hey, I had a I had a tough day. You know, and I don't and I think everybody needs that that type of community. You know, so I I look at my brothers and sisters and my mom and I say this time and time again. They're they're not just my brothers and sisters and and my mom. They're they're my friends. You know, I'm saying you are not just my wife. I think you carry so many other titles, which is more than just that, is a friend. You know, as small as some stuff might be, I know I can confine it in you, you know, and I know I could ev I can always text, call, FaceTime, leave a voicemail or anything with with my family. And I think having that and knowing that I have that brings a little bit of peace through the tough times. You know, so throughout the episodes here I'll probably open up a little bit more about some of my life events. Sure. You know, we'll give that opportunity a rise at other time, but I think ⁓ that that would be the one thing, like have a community, have people that support you and that could be with the church, could be with your family, could be with the circle of friends. With work. I think it's fair to say that you have found a great community well with your your brothers and sisters that you work with at the Absolutely. Absolutely. There's dudes there, there's specific dudes that I know I can call and they know who they are that I constantly call and and and bicker with them a little bit and they they're they're they're a shoulder for me, right? They're they're somebody that's there. If if I got an issue with somebody else or as I'm learning to be an officer in the role that I'm in, I don't know everything. You know, then if if the moment you believe you know everything, the moment you believe you can't go to work and learn something from the newest of the new guys, that's when you start to lose it. That's when you start to lose the idea of what a a a decent officer is. So I've I've had those dudes, I still have those dudes. I know the dudes I can count on, I can't count on, but I think they're part of my community. Absolutely. You know. So awesome. Yeah. I love that. I love a good community. Yeah. I love that I get to be a part of your community. You are a big part of my community. So do you have a favorite Bible verse that you look back on that you go to when you're struggling or any time? So I I I'm no pastor, right? ⁓ I struggle time and time again reading the Bible. ⁓ but there is for sure one verse that has stuck out to me that I that I read time to time and I think it's probably very unique and then it for me God is a stud to put this on somebody's heart for him to for them to write this in in a book, right? Which is Psalms twenty three four. And You got that Bible right there? Open it up on Psalms twenty three four. All right. Psalms twenty three four. You guys ready for this? We're ready. Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thy art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. God, tell me that ain't cool, right? So for me, you know, time and time again, we go through tough, tough parts in our life, we go through some tough stuff, but knowing that, knowing that no matter how how bad your path right now may look, how bad your conditions, how bad the scenario, how bad the environment is around you. Here, you know what I'm saying? So so for me, that's always stuck with me through a lot of my hardships in my life, through failing the stuff I failed, through going through the pain I went through. ⁓ I think this psalm right here is is is phenomenal, you know. So that's that's that's the one I would choose over and over again to think over my head, just knowing he's right there, he's right here right now, you know. So And look at what look at it now, look at you now, look at us. Right at us. We're doing a podcast. This is episode one. You are interviewing me. So didn't know you were doing this until about two days ago. It's a good time. Yeah. So all right, guys. So as far as the podcast goes, ⁓ as far as the podcast goes, this is just a little intro into episode one. Something very similar. We're gonna get together. I'm gonna have guests on the show. We're gonna be talking a little bit about ourselves talk a lot about our faith. We're gonna have a quick workout before we do all that. Here at the Way to Fire, we believe that once you go through a an environment where you sweat, you find a little bit of pain, you find a little bit of struggle, then the true raw emotions come out. And that's our search, that's the point to get dudes here that maybe you know but you never knew that they were a believer, that you didn't know they went through a circumstance that maybe you might be going through right now. So with that in mind, I'm gonna say I see you later. I hope you have a good day and God bless you.