Latest / One Voice Many Conversations / Crushing Strongholds Ep#037-Guest Speaker Rory Paquette-Surrender ALL!

Transcript

Crushing Strongholds Ep#037-Guest Speaker Rory Paquette-Surrender ALL! · One Voice Many Conversations

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: Hello everyone.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to another great episode of Crushing Strongholds.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is a podcast where we turn pain into power, trauma into triumph, and a place where we get to expose the lies of the enemies.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: And how do we do that?
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: We do that through your testimony.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: And we do that through the word of God, and we do that through the love of Jesus Christ.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: And today I'm super excited, as you will be able to tell through this episode, because I have a great guest with me today, and I'm super stoked to bring him on and have him share so much of what he's done.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: But first, I just want to let you know that this is the man who taught me how to push the play button on my own podcast that we're listening to today.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm super thankful, I'm grateful, and I'm very honored.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: This man not only um has walked me through some of the fires that I went through, but he has several podcasts of his own.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: He's a wonderful coach, and not only just that a mentor, but he's also become a friend.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just honored.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to welcome Rory Piquette to um Crushing Strongholds.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I let him come on and say hello.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, Mickey, thank you so much for that.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: And uh yeah, it's uh I guess I did have a little bit to do with this whole explosion of yours, but um I I've I've just loved watching you uh get started and grow and just expand.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, the fact that you're doing five shows right now is amazing.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I'm just I'm on the sideline, you know, right now, just sort of cheering you on and you know, liking your posts and doing everything I can to to help further it because you're just doing some fantastic work.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you for inviting me to come on.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate that.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm excited.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I'm I'm learning from the best of the best.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm following your lead.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm tearing up now.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, seriously.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about some of the podcasts that you have?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because you have many podcasts as well.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: I do.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for that.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: I've got seven right now that are uh active and rolling.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um uh Power Man is my uh my biggest and my best.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um we help husbands and fathers to you know kind of become more accountable and find that inner fire in life.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we have the podcaster nation, which is my second biggest one.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Power Man's the top five podcast, and the podcaster Nation is a top 10% podcast.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and that's where we interview people like you, uh, you know, who are podcasters and let you guys tell your story.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: I started another podcast called Wake Up the Lions.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: So that's number three.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and that is for Christians to come on and give their testimony, talk about how God's influenced their lives and encourage others to do the same.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, let's see, number four would then be step up to the mic, where it's for pub uh public speakers who want to come on and interrupt, uninterrupted, deliver their signature talk.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: So they get to come on and it's like being on a stage.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then they also have an audition tape to use after the episode comes out.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: So kind of win-win.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh fifth one is the right path, W-R-I-T-E, Right Path podcast, and that's for authors who are uh, you know, well, they've got books and they want to talk about them, but it's not just about the book, it's about the author and the story behind it.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um number six is um my Real Talk for Realtors podcast, which I resurrected from the scrap pile from years ago, changed um everything I was doing with it.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: I used to be a real estate mentor.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not doing that anymore, but I am telling the stories of real estate professionals now and also teaching them how to podcast uh through that podcast as well.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so that's been fun.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: And then uh the final one is uh one that I co-host with a friend of both of ours, Brandon Lynette.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: And that one is um Boiling Point, Faith and Fire.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's the only podcast that I co-host.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's the only one I've ever really co-hosted.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, if anybody but Brandon had asked me to do it, I probably wouldn't have.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: But Brandon and I go back, you know, decades.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: And um, she's amazing.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a political podcast that has its roots in faith as sort of the cause for all of the political stuff that goes on.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: So it's been uh I'm busy and it's been a lot of fun.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a podcast coach and a speaker coach in addition to those things and absolutely love doing what I'm doing.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: I'm living my best life after all these years.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: So sorry to take so long, but that's all of it right there.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's good.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome, actually.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's great.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: I I have listened to um most of those podcasts.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: I have not listened to all of them.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: I have not listened to the step up to the mic one yet, but I need to look some of those up and see how that goes.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: See if I want to stick my foot in that direction or not.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: I want to see the thing.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: We'll always take the download.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll always take the demo.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um and definitely get feedback on it and learn how to do it um as things progress.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well, as you know, with my grandmother, so um, we're kind of, you know, with that.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we just waiting.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: But this podcast, um, what I love about it is I know that everyone in the world, as we're going through all of our craziness, we all face strongholds and we get um obstacles that we have to overcome.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we really have to reach out and lean on God to do that.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so I want to ask you today, do you have a story that you can share with our listeners where you had an obstacle that that you just had to hurdle over and um crush a stronghold in your life to get where you are today?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: I've had too many of those, unfortunately, in my very short 55 years on this planet.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, I've I've encountered that a lot.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's something when you and I, you know, were working together before, it was I loved what you were doing because I personally have been through so many of those those instances.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think everybody has at some point.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I mean, let's see.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: The one to actually talk about, maybe that I haven't talked about before uh too much.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I've been through the ringer with um building and losing businesses, with uh rough childhood, you know, abusive things, you know, stuff like that.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I've also um, you know, lost it all at one point.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I have made the decision in my past to um no longer be here.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: And uh somehow God saved me from that.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I've also faced not being here uh through a medical situation, uh, which um should have killed me and didn't.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um at the end of all of that, though, I was faced with a big decision about what was I going to do with my future.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh my kids were all grown, and um, you know, emptiness syndrome had set in.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: My wife and I kind of sat down on the couch after my youngest one finally left the the nest and we looked at each other and went, um, hi, nice to meet you.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: Now what do we do?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: Because we literally had dedicated three decades of our lives to uh raising all three of our kids and preparing for it and everything else.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: And we kind of were like, Well, what are we gonna do now?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, at that point, I didn't have any other choice.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I had had faith come back into my life, and had God make himself very, very um visible in my life with um, you know, the surgery that I had that should have killed me and things like that.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: And all of that sort of came together, and I said, I need to change.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: I I can't keep doing what I'm doing.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: I had been doing podcasting and coaching and everything else on the side uh for a long time and loved every minute of it.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I also had been working another job, and that had been, you know, sort of you know, helping to pay the bills, but I didn't really need it anymore.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_02: I just felt like I had to have that piece of security.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that was one of my strongholds I had to get over was the the you know fear of that lack of money, that fear of failure, and that fear of um you know scarcity, uh, all that kind of thing in my life.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: And getting over that would have been impossible.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: But um after having come back in touch with my faith and with my relationship with uh God that I had never really had before, um, I did something I had never really done, but and I just said, I'm gonna pray.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just going to put my head down, I'm going to find a quiet place, and I'm going to just simply pray.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm going to say, you know, God, what should I do?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: How do I do this?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: Can you help me and show me the way?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: And it was probably the first time in my life that I actually, like, actually surrendered myself and said, I and I have no preconceived notion here.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: Lead me and I'll follow.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: Because, you know, you try to be obedient, but when you're a stubborn, you know, old Italian set-in-your-way dude, um, obedience is the last word on your list.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's right there next to vulnerability.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's like a bad word.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: So uh, but that that moment where I had to decide what to do next, um, you know, my wife and I talked about it, she said, wherever you feel led, you gotta go, and we'll figure it out.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: We made a huge decision to, you know, sell a bunch of stuff, downsize, um, eliminate expenses, move, you know, relocate.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because, you know, why do you need a 3,000 square foot house with three bedrooms and everything else when all your kids are gone?
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: Why am I paying for all that?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: So, all of that stuff we made a decision to do, and we went almost minimalist and cut everything down and got rid of a bunch of nonsense in our lives.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I went full-time being a podcaster, being a podcast coach, um, everything that I'm doing today.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: And when I did that, you know, I wasn't even really afraid to do it because I just knew I was being led there.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think that's that's probably the story that um I think defines me now more than all the other ones.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm really not the the abused kid who survived anymore.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not the guy who lost everything and found a way to come back by working three jobs and sleeping one hour a night for six months.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not the guy who almost died going into the hospital and then almost died on the surgery table, you know.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: So twice in in a week when you almost die, it's like, okay, he he wants me here for a reason.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I got to figure out what that is.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: And instead of trying to figure it out on my own, I opened myself up to it and I said, you know what, God, I'm gonna stop trying to figure everything out.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me what I need to know and and guide me where I need to go.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I will.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I did.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: I love that that your wife is like backing you 100% and just saying, you know what, wherever you go, where you know, because you know, as a husband and a family, that's what men are supposed to do in the family.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: And not a lot of women surrender to that.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I I think that's wonderful that your wife has said, you know, wherever you go, that's where you need to go.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I think um it's interesting that you said, you know, obedience is the hardest thing, but once you surrender and you start leading, you are walking in that obedience 100% of the way.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a huge, you know, huge step.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: You should give yourself a little credit for that, because it's really hard to be obedient to God um when you kind of have when we have our own ideas of what we kind of want to do in life.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: And it may not necessarily be what God has designed for us or the assignment he's given us.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so sometimes we take the wrong path and we end up, you know, like you say, with a lot of extra weight, a lot of extra burden, a lot of extra, you know, what am I doing with all this stuff?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: I love that you said that when you got rid of everything, you just got rid of the nonsense.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it brings peace to your life because you don't have so much stuff in your way blocking you from the vision God wants you to see when you get rid of the nonsense, you know?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it I think it also ignites relationships, you know, brings it makes your strong your relationships stronger with people.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like um, like you said, you know, once your kids all left the house, you probably were like, oh god, you know, it's me and you again, what are we gonna do now?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, now you get to go back go on dates and vacations and enjoy each other's company or whatever you guys want to do, but um it's a time to um reunite, you know, that very first start of the whole process with you guys, you know.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's a really wonderful testimony because I think a lot of people honestly don't look at stuff like that um like they should, and just taking you know the the opportunity to let God lead you where he wants you to go and open those doors for you, if that makes sense.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: It does.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate that.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's kind of exactly what happened.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we both decided when we got together.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean, the reason that we decided to be together was we had very, very similar ideas of where we wanted to go and what was important.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: And we knew that we wanted to have kids, we wanted to raise a family, and we wanted them to be the priority in our lives.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: We wanted to live lives to raise them, to produce the best people we could.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I know there's a lot of you know thinking, especially in today's world, that says, oh no, you got to take care of you, and you gotta, you know, uh you gotta put on your um your air mask when the plane's going down so you can help everybody else do it.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, yeah, look.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the bottom line is if there's four, if there's four people at the table and there's three pieces of chicken, you didn't do your job.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: And the one who has got to sacrifice is the one that was supposed to put the chicken on the table.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: So that's me, you know, and so I always looked at everything and said, if we don't have enough, I'm gonna sacrifice.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they're the most important people here.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I tried to, you know, uh create situations where my wife didn't have to do that, but then she chose to do that.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: She's like, Well, I'm gonna sacrifice too, because then they have everything they need.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: I never asked her to.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I never uh tried to include her in that.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_02: I tried to actually put everything out there so she never had to.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: Even when there was enough, she still chose to make sure they had more, you know.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: So we've had similar mentalities the whole time we've been together, and that hasn't changed today.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we're stronger now than we've ever been because we're actually we actually can see each other through all of the haze since we got everything else out of the way.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_02: So it's very rewarding to have done what we've done, raised three kids who are as fantastic and as successful as they are, and um, to be sitting here enjoying it right now and say, how what are we gonna do now for us?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: It really is kind of cool.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Now I know that you've had both of your boys on a podcast.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think on Power of Man, right?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: You have them on.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: What about your wife?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever done a podcast with her?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: I haven't.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we've talked about it.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: My my wife is not, um, let's put it this way, my wife is the perfect compliment to me.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: And um, as as much as I am the I you know, talk all the time, put myself out there, don't care what anybody thinks of me, my wife is exactly the opposite.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: So uh we've talked about it, but she has really said that's really not where I need to be.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't think I'll ever get her in a podcast.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: But um, if she ever said to me, hey, I'd like to be a guest in your podcast, I would drop everything, put her on a podcast immediately, and we'd go.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's it's not me keeping her off the podcast.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: I figured so she doesn't want any part of it.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: And and my daughter also hasn't been on the podcast because of her choice.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: She's very private, uh, especially on social media.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: And she's just like, I don't want anybody knowing my business, but thanks, Dad.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you put yourself out there, that's fine.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: If the boys want to do that, that's their problem.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm not gonna put all my stuff out there in a podcast.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_02: So uh the the women in our family are both, you know, very personal and and keep themselves keep to themselves.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: And uh all the men in our family are boisterous and uh gregarious and you know, uh don't shut up.
• 15:16
  unknown: Yeah.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: Love that though.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: That'd be exciting.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think that'd be a wonderful podcast if she ever did come on.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um just because you know how well you say she compliments you, it'd be awesome just to see it, you know.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure people that are around you and and around your family and around your life, they see that, you know, you know, on a personal level, not on a stage front level.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: So um, I'm sure it shows there anyway.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, just you know, the way you talk about her shows it as well, because she seems like a wonderful, wonderful lady.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: And um, yeah, it's exciting when you when you think about the transitions that God puts in your life, that um just like doing the podcast, like when you started with me, um, and God pushed me into doing podcasting, I was like, no way, there's absolutely no way I'm doing this.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I really did not think this is where I wanted to go, but God kept pushing me.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I told my daughter, and my daughter said, There's no way you're gonna do that.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: You don't like your picture taken, you don't like your voice, you don't like you don't like, you don't like any you don't even like people to record if you're in the room.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, and um it took me getting over a huge amount of fear, like you know this, to push play, you know.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you just like you can't keep recording 40 episodes and deleting them.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: You have to push play eventually.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'm gonna publish some, yeah.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, get it published.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I hated my first episode, like you said, I hated it.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I want to take it down, and you said, no way.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that, you know, when we overcome strongholds, um, you know, like you you know some of my story too, but um, where you know, I was raised in a lot of fear and stuff with rejection and abandonment in my life.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: So it always brings up the the thought in my mind, like nobody's gonna like this.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna get, you know, all this uh you know, adversity, and then I'm gonna have all this fear.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: But that didn't happen.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: It it was interesting because God actually opened doors and I got to meet some amazing people.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure you've met, I mean, you I know you've met hundreds of people.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: And what a great way to um just even share the ministry, you know, especially with waking up the lines that you do and um your other the boiling point podcast.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um because I've known I've known her for a long, long time, you know, and and so um she you know, she's really wonderful too.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that God opens those doors for a reason.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's our choice whether we step through it or not.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and I think sometimes we don't do that, we just sit at the doorway and we can't make up our mind and we don't make up that decision because we're scared, you know, if that makes any sense.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_02: 100% it does.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh uh you nail the right on the head, you know.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: It is up to us every step of the way.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: So um and you know, it's funny just to go back uh real quick.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_02: My wife really has supported everything that I've done, even the really stupid stuff.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: She's supported it, you know, and she's always said, you know, she'll give me her opinion, she'll she'll weigh in.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but at the end of it, she's like, Look, you do whatever you feel like you gotta do, wherever you feel like you're being called, and we'll ride it out.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's either gonna work or it won't.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: And either way we'll we'll make it work.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's okay.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: I thought it was on airplane mode.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's I think that's awesome that she's she supports you in that way because um a lot of people don't have any support in that area.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: So it's nice that you know you have somebody pulling for you and rooting and you know, like you're little, you know, having a cheerleader in the background for you sometimes.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's nice to have that, you know.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: And no kid yourself, okay.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: She's a little Italian gal, so she's also my harshest critic.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if I say something stupid, she's gonna be like, Really?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: You had to go there seriously.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm like, I well, I hey, you know, I just where I felt led.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: She's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: But uh so she doesn't necessarily like everything that I do, but she supports it in the end.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, well, that's good.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's good.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's good.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, sometimes when we're watching the team and they lose, we still gotta support them.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're on the cheerleading side of the fence, you know.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: You can't just go, I'm going to that side.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: They won, I'm going over there.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think we all make those decisions and those mistakes.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: I know that I've made plenty of them.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Even even doing podcasting, you know, I've gotten on and forgot what I was gonna say right when I hit record, and I was like, oh my goodness, what is happening today?
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: But um it's been a great and fun adventure, and I've really enjoyed um branching out.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I I I didn't realize you had seven podcasts now.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: I thought you had five, but um I think it's interesting how like our desires shift and our ch and they change, and then God kind of for me, God is like like yay or nay, you know, because I've had some people ask me, and I don't know if you've ever felt this way when you're going with your podcast, like somebody will say, Hey, you know, I want to do this on your podcast, and you're like, Well, let me think about that, and I'll get back to you.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it's sometimes it's just a no, you know, you're like, No, I'm sorry, that that I don't really feel like that fits the what I'm doing here, you know.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it's that's really hard to do that.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said, you know, it's your show, you gotta pick and choose who you put on it.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh my goodness, saying no was one of the hardest things I ever did, I think, with this podcast.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I had to explain myself in a roundabout way to where I didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings, but I didn't think it was a good idea to have them on the show, you know.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so I don't know if you've encountered that or what you've done with that obstacle.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: Can you share some of that with me?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: I'd love to.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: The um it is your show.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I got a feeling you were quoting me right there because I do say that all the time to everybody that I meet.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: It is your show.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if I'm commenting on a post on Facebook or something about podcasters, I'm like, it's your show.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there's no rules.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: There's it's not like if you do something different than everybody else, you lose your membership card and you can't be a podcaster anymore.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, one of my things is it is your show.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's an extension of who you are.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's who you are personally, too.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's very personal when you do a podcast.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I've had people who have said, hey, I'd love to be on your show, and I'm just like, you know, I I really can't right now.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'll sometimes I'll try and be nice.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we're just really booked, you know, right now, so I can't.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I'm like, you know, it's just not a good fit, but thanks.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because I'm just one of those guys that just don't care what people think of me at all.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: I I mean, if you don't like me, fine.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know, get in line.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: There's lots of other people like you.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: Don't like me.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: I don't care.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, that they're not putting food on my table.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I've even had a guy who knows I interviewed him or uh you know, talked to him ahead of time, did some research.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we chatted, we set up the appointment.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: He comes on, everything seemed fine.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: He comes on for the interview and shows up being a total jerk.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: He was some stunt man or something.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Who apparently was having a bad day and thought that he was all that.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm just verifying some information.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm like, okay, well, your book is titled This, you know, and it's about this.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: And he goes, uh, yeah.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: Did you do any research on me?
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, I just gave you the name of the book, bro.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: I'm double checking.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and I said, and your last name is pronounced, you know, this way.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: And he goes, Okay, so you didn't do any research.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: I said, you know what?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: This isn't a good fit.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: No, hung up.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: Goodbye.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: You're done.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm not going to be nice.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's bold.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's you know what?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: I've been doing this a long time.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I've done over a thousand episodes, and I don't have, you know, that whole uh I have no tolerance anymore for nonsense.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: If you want to come on the podcast and talk about, you know, you and your your course or your book or your mission or whatever it is or your podcast, great.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: Let's have a great conversation.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: If you're showing up with a bunch of nonsense, click.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't I don't need that in my life.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: No, I I'm not desperate, you know, for any in interview or something.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, you know what?
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: I got a hundred other people who want to be on the show.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: Goodbye.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: See you later.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I just think that's how you have to handle not only your podcast, but honestly, I think more of us need to handle our lives that way.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I've handled my life that way for a very long time.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_02: And and I don't plan on changing that anytime soon.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you seem like the same as when I met you.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: No, I probably am.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm that same guy, unfortunately.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: That makes you who you are.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's important.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we don't have to change for people.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: We don't need um I lived in a world where I always had to get validation, you know, until somebody said, Why do you always need to be validated?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like you got to get that that card stamped in the parking garage, you know.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember one time leaving the parking garage and going, I don't have to be validated, you know.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Jesus Christ validated us when he went to the cross.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: And someone told me that.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, that hit me so hard.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh my gosh, you know, and it took baby steps and went from the parking lot to the cross before I realized I did not need any validation from people.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: I can be who I am, be my own person, you know.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um that was huge.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: That was a huge, you know, um comment to be to be said.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, that is I'm using that.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm using that in my podcast.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: Because strong.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because I think that sometimes we, you know, when we start something new, um we want everyone's opinions and their thoughts on it, but do we sometimes?
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't, you know.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, I don't know about you.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: I well, you're at a place now where, like you said, you just it's yours and you don't care anymore.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want anybody else's opinion.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I don't want anybody else's opinion.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: You know what?
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's between me, my wife, and God.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: If my wife gives me the okay, and if I, you know, and I I pray and and I feel like I'm being led to do it, I just don't care.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: I can have, you know, when I was getting ready to release, I'll I'll share this quick story with you.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I've probably told you about this before, but um, your listeners may not know this.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: When I decided I was going to put out Wake Up the Lions, uh, you know, the advertisement for it is, you know, a place for Christians, and I use that that word, which apparently is a bad word on social media, to come together and share their testimony.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: And that was the whole thing.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't like some big long dissertation of what it was.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, that's all I said about it.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_02: And hey, it's you know, launching this week.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: Hope you guys will tune in.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I put it in a reel on Facebook and I sent it out.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: And within a day, within a day, I had over 300 uh comments on it, and I about 250-ish were all negative or threatening or um like really just poisonous.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, I read every one of them, you know, because I really I was like, wow, this is this is a whole new level of hate here.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: And um and what you know, a lot of people take that when I first would get to hate back in the early days of power of man, that would bother me.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I'm a guy who's had four death threats, actual death threats, uh, because of what I say or the people who come on my podcast and what they say.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: And after four death threats, I'm I'm amused by it now.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I kind of I read the comments on there and I went, if they're not firing at you, then you're not over the target.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: So I must be squarely above the target, which means it's time to fire away.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I should be doing what I'm doing.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: The more hate you get for something like that, the more you need to be doing it.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I launched, and boy, all those haters just disappeared once we launched.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: It was really amazing.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: They went back to their mom's basements with their purple hair and you know, their Cheetos and everything else and said, Hey, here we go.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: Not that I'm against purple hair, as long as it's used correctly.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I just uh I'm like, whatever.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think it's interesting that you say that because um there's so much toxic toxicity in the world that like um it, you know, they want it to become contagious.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we could let it be, you know, it we could let it be contagious to us if we allow it.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: And when I started this podcast, I shared this with you when I first met you, that um um another individual that I was talking with wanted me to not do a Christian-based podcast.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think I shared that with you.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I was I wasn't going to.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: I almost I almost didn't do it.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: Remember?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I talked to you, and you said, no, I think I think what you're doing is is in your heart, and that's what you need to do.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I know, but I don't, you know, I'm more I'm already getting flack from you know, and you're like, but that's what you need to do.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: I've not regretted it one moment, not one moment.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I've not had um any negative talk, I've not had anybody because people are sharing, you know, things that they've gone through where God has actually saved them, you know, and pulled them out of the fiery pit of hell, you know.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: And if if there's something wrong with telling people that, then there's something wrong with their heart.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they need to get out of the pit of hell, I think, you know, if they're still stuck there.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, when I think about Jesus, you know, Jesus was hated before anybody was hated.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I always think if they hate Christianity, then they you know, Jesus, what it says in the Bible is 100% true.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's true to the fact that if they're gonna hate me for being a Christian, it's because they hated Jesus first, not me.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so when we think about the word Christian, you know, it came from that.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: It came from, you know, them um you know, mocking him.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: It was a mockery word for Jesus.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: And um, even though Christianity, you know, is a discipleship term terminology to get discipled underneath the feet of Jesus, not through anybody else.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I find it interesting that um I had a friend that actually said, you know what, I'm not gonna Christian anymore.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not I'm just not gonna Christian anymore.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, how do you not Christian anymore?
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, because when I say I'm a Christian, people just growl and they're angry, and I'm like, that to me, that would make me want to be a Christian even more, I think.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: If if you know, because I truly believe in Jesus Christ as my savior and I follow him and I want him to lead me like he's leading you, and you know, and I I can't go around telling people that and then back down from saying I'm a Christian.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't want to back down.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like you, if you if you're getting thir uh, you know, the fiery darts thrown at you, then you're actually probably right where you need to be, you know.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: And not everybody's gonna agree with us, and that's okay.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: They I don't care if they don't agree, they can they can think how they want to think, but I can think how I want to think too.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and that's what I try to tell people, you know.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not mad at you for how you think.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: Don't be mad at me for how I think or what I believe in.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, absolutely.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to choose the fiery pit of hell, well, you know, I'll pray for you.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: I will pray for you, and you know, I'm not gonna even I'm not even gonna throw the good book at you, I'm not gonna Bible thump you, I'm just gonna pray for you.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: Because there's, you know, some people you can't do that, you know.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_02: That's all you can do is that's all you can do is pray for at that point.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and it it's interesting because you know, my other podcast we're we're talking about prayer, because prayer is missed mentioned over thousands of times in the Bible.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: And um yet I think that we don't do it enough.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes when we don't do it or when we do do it, it's it's not even it's not even a real prayer, you know.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: We we've talked about that, how we just kind of go, oh, thank you, God, for this food, and then we shovel, you know, our food in our face, you know, because we're just eyeballing and drooling over the cheeseburger, you know, like, oh, I gotta bless my food.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, God for the food, and you start scarfing, and then you choke on your food and you wonder why, you know, because you know, it's not even blessed yet.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: But I think we do that in our prayer lives too.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like if we're just praying to um go through the motions, then we're not doing it for the right reason.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, God's not a box we check off every day.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: And a friend of mine told me that too, and I was like, you know, I love that because we do sometimes put God in a box and we just check him off each day.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: Did I read my devotion?
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, done.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Did I say a prayer?
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: Done.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you know what I mean?
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now let me get back to me.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: Let me get back to myself, what I want to do.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: And crushing strongholds has really taught me to, you know, how do you get over things that are crushing you in your life if you don't start leaning on God like we're supposed to be?
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: He says we are not to be carrying those burdens we're supposed to give them to him.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: So we need to be doing that.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so I I think it's great that you you fully surrendered.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that is so huge.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'll I'll be honest with you, I don't hear a lot of men say that.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: I hear women say it often.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so um women go, oh, I had to surrender, I just had to surrender.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um I get that.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't hear men say that too often.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: I hear men go, yeah, you know, I had to have a talk with God.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure oh, I'm sure he did.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, but to surrender is a is a huge, that's a huge crushing of a stronghold because a lot of people, like you said, I'm you know, I'm I'm strong and I'm the man of the house and I'm you know, you know, I'm you know, whatever.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm you know, it's kind of not I don't want to say a power chip kind of thing, but when you're the head of your household, um if you're not being surrendered to God, how can your family follow you?
• 32:01
  unknown: Right.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: How can you lead your family to God if you don't surrender to God first?
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's a huge step to take to surrender uh at for anyone at that point, especially if you're leading a family, you know.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I love what you're doing.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: I love that um you're you're doing all these different topics and I love that they're Christian based and people get to talk about real life stuff, and um it it's okay.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay to have strongholds.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think people go when they when they I talk to them about strongholds, they're like, oh, I don't know if I want to talk about that, you know.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Can we talk about you know the cushy stuff, you know, the fun stuff?
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, yeah, we can.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: We could talk about that all day long too.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: But um, what have you actually overcome?
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: What has God actually done in your life?
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of like that Janet, uh, what is it, um, Janet Jackson?
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: What have you done for me lately?
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, can we get back to what God's done for you lately?
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: Because we're so self-absorbed.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think about that and and I I when I sing that I always say, What have you done for me lately?
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: God, and I'll be singing it, and I'll be like, I'm talking about you, God, not anybody else.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just kind of funny when you you know bring it all into that realm that you want to be pleasing to God, you want to be in that walking in that obedience, like you said.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's hard.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: I found that to be the hardest thing to do is to even try to walk in it.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: They're just not words that we accept, you know, especially as men, we don't accept the word surrender.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we're not we're not brought up that way.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and as soon as you say that word, then it's you that is equal to I've lost.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not, you know, um your ego cannot be so strong that it prevents you from taking care of the people who are depending on you, you know, and that's just one of the other tenets that I live my life by, and that is that um, you know, I started this with the power of man, but uh I I've been living my life this this way my whole life.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: The people who depend on you have to be more important to you than you are to you.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I get so much flack for that because people are like, oh, self-care and this and that.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, look, I'm not saying don't take care of you.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'm simply saying that you gotta take care of the people who depend on you first.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: Right, you gotta take care of them because they're depending on you.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: You brought them into the world or you promised them when you married them, and you said, Hey, these are the people I'm going to be here for you.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so if you're not, then you're letting them down.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: Now be there for those people who depend on you, and then you know what?
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: Go refill your cup and get ready for the next time that you need to be there for them.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that I I've always practiced that.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: That does actually go hand in hand with surrender, because if your ego is so big that you can't surrender to God, then you aren't serving the people who depend on you.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, there's there's no weakness in surrendering to God.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's where you get your strength from.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I'm not going to surrender to any other earthly, you know, uh body or man or anything else, but the you know, the Lord, I will kneel in front of him all day, every day.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: Good word right there, actually.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's interesting when you when we talk about that because um the word surrender itself people means laying laying it all down.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: You just lay it all down.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: And not everybody wants to do that.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, I'm gonna just lay down a little bit.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'll give you a little, I'll give you about 10%, you know.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: Hold on to this over here.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but you're and you yeah, and you're carrying the other three quarters on your back still because and then swaying you down.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: And people don't realize that once you do that though, God actually ends up helping you because God is one of his characteristics, which I find interesting, is that um he designed us to serve, not always to to take, but to give.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: So he d designed us with more giving than taking, actually.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: So as a service, when you have children, that's why they're called dependents on your tax form, is because they depend on you.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: And the government gives you money for you know that child credit because they depended on you.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: Not that it's a lot, but you know, we get that.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so there are people that are gonna depend on you, and there's people that you're gonna depend on, you know, as well.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: And um so I think it's interesting that you say that because when we surrender and we have to lay stuff down, we don't always want to take that into account.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want to do that, we want to hold back, you know, some of it.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: But when we surrender all of it, that's when God can actually work with you, you know, because you there's nothing else in the way from what he has planned for you.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: He can actually take you to such a higher level, and there's so much freedom in that when you surrender everything, that it's so freeing.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: Only, you know, to the mind, to people around people around you will see it as well.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_01: They'll be like, man, you know, what's different about that person?
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: And it's because you're free.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: You're not walking around with all that all that nonsense that you said, you know, that we carry.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: I I mean, and now I feel like I have to purge my house after this conversation.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna get busy, get off the phone, I'm gonna serve have a yard sale tomorrow, you know.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um because I think that we accumulate things that we do not need.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: They're it's nonsense, you know, the stuff that we put our time and effort and our money into instead of one another, instead of people.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: And if we served each other more, we wouldn't live in such a toxic world, I believe.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when we're actually caring for one another instead of hating one another and taking from one another.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think that we do that in this world, but um, I don't know.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: I I find it hard with everything going on in the world, you know, what to do with that, because um sometimes you just want to jump on the TV screen and shake the guitar out of somebody and be like, just knock it off for five seconds.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: Just get over yourself for just a minute, you know.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um if we could only do that in reality, right?
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's what had to happen to me.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: Someone had to, you know, take me in, shake me up a little bit and be like, hey, you know, something's gotta change, you know, something's gotta give.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: If you want, if you want to get out of the dark place that you're in, you're gonna have to, you know, make a decision, you're gonna have to choose to get out of this dark place.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: You can stay in the pit or in the basement with purple hair, whatever, as long as you want.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you're not gonna get out unless you make that choice to do so.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's really, really, really awesome.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm gonna start wrapping us up, but I just wanted to um ask you one more question.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: If you could tell our listeners one thing that you think um helped to shape and mold you to become the person you are today, that gave you the strength where you're at today, what would that strength be?
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: Besides God.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: We know God did a lot.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, you know, God gets glory the glory for all of it, but um, you know, God has has sent some things to me uh over the years and has given me things to help.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, that's a pretty pretty simple answer.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um my wife gets all the credit for all of it.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because you know, God put her in my life in the most unique of circumstances.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we never should have met in a million years.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_02: If you go back and look at everything, we were you know one fraction of a millisecond away from never even meeting.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_02: And she came into my life at a time when I really needed a light, and she was that light.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_02: And in every dark spot in my life, every time there's been something that um really where evil was really gonna get a hold of me, where the devil was gonna just drag me down for good.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, every time I've turned around to look, she's always been sort of the the bringer of that light, you know.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and I credit it to her that you know it's her light, but I know that that also comes from her faith.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_02: My wife has done so much for me, but she also did it for her family.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, when I was fighting my relationship against God, um, because I was so angry that he had allowed all these horrible things to happen in my life and to my family and to my mother and you know, everything else that went on.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: I uh I was very angry with him.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: I never doubted his existence, but man, I was ticked, ticked off.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I didn't know how to raise my kids in faith.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_02: And my wife and I talked about it and I said, I want them to be raised with it, but I can't do it.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_02: I've just recognized my own failure and my own anger.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_02: And she took that on completely and she kept the fire burning.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, my children have been fully exposed to faith, it's a huge part of their lives.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_02: My youngest is actually uh pursuing becoming an uh associate pastor at his church where he volunteers all the time, uh, in addition to everything else he does, running his business.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um so she is the one who kept that line alive for them.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um she's the one that has kept me going.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, when the doctor said uh sorry, I'm getting a little choked up.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_02: When the doctor said that I had a 20% chance to come through the surgery that I had, um I came through that surgery because of her.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_02: You know, when I came out of it, she's the what I was thinking of.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_02: And she's the one that got me through everything afterwards.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_02: And she's the one who's still putting up with me today for no reason.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_02: That woman could do better than me on accident, okay?
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_02: And she's still with me to this day, Mickey.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_02: So she's uh she's everything to me.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_02: And um, that's that's what's gotten me through.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, that's an awesome that's really awesome to that.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_01: You better have her listen to this podcast because she's gonna get carry-eyed.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's wonderful that you say that.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um I love I love that how much you honor your wife because you know there's a lot of people out there that don't honor what they have, you know, their families and their lives and and whatnot.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I I I respect that so much for you sharing that.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that's really awesome.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um is there any links um or any um information you want to give to our listeners if they would like to get a hold of you for some coaching?
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or do you do you want them just to message you?
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: Or I will put your link in my in my show notes, or um, are you available right now for coaching still?
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: You are, right?
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have open spots?
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: I know you're pretty booked.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm sure our listeners are like, hey, I want I want this guy to start coaching me.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate that.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you and I talked about it before the show.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_02: I'm coaching more people now than I ever have, but I cut way back on my interviewing.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I I was found some of my own advice.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_02: I got way ahead with my podcasts.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_02: I have um three months of content on all of my podcasts already created.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I said, all right, we're gonna cut back the interviewing so that I can increase time dedicated towards coaching people and helping people to achieve what they are trying to do.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I definitely have room for more clients, even though I have more clients than I've ever had.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's a really it's it's a blessing uh place to be right now for me.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh as far as contacting me, I am uh old school, old guy, perfect, easy to get a hold of.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: Go to Facebook or Instagram and just type in at my name, Rory Pocket.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's it.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_02: At R O R Y P A Q U E T T E.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure that will be in the show notes for you someplace.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um just my name on Facebook or Instagram.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_02: Both accounts are uh you know content creator business accounts, they're wide open.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_02: Uh check it out, send me a message on your platform.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_02: I respond to messages all the time.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know this.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: We've talked at three o'clock in the morning before.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: So it's uh not a problem, and it's the easiest way to reach me for anything.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_02: And and all the information for all my podcasts is available there as well.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_02: So best way to do.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, awesome.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate that.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'll definitely make sure that I include that in our show notes so if people want to get a hold of you or contact you, or um, or even listen to your your podcasts.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um that'll be awesome.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, too.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's right and subscribe and like and share and engage.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_01: I try to fix that even with this podcast.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: So well, I I I think it's been um wonderful times you know, talking with you today and really enjoyed your conversation.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_01: I've always enjoyed our conversations together, whether we're recording or not.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: So um I've enjoyed your coaching, and um, like I said, that's um I consider you a mentor and a coach, but I also you consider you a friend, and um, I've just greatly have been blessed to have met you and get to know you.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm I thank you for sharing your testimony today, and I know our listeners are um will enjoy it.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so with that being said, um, to our listeners, if you do want any coaching um for speaking or podcasting, Rory is the guy to call.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_01: He's he's your man, he's your go-to.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_01: You can go to him if you are looking for um an out or have an obstacle or a stronghold that you are trying to overcome and need to get through a breakthrough, um, need to have some bondage broken or even to get out of that pit of hell, you can reach me at crushingstrongholds.com and go to my website, fill out the information there, and um send me a little message and I will get back to you.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: So um with that being said, Rory, thank you so much.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for being here.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a pleasure to have you.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I hope you forgot.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'll come back anytime and thank you for having me on.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's been an absolutely delight, and you're doing fantastic.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_02: Keep up the good work.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: I I give that credit to you, by the way.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, to our listeners, I hope you all have a great day.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_01: And this has been another great episode of Crushing Strongholds.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: You all stay well.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_01: God bless and take care.