Latest / The Whitfield Report / TWR Monday | Faith, Fighting, and Finding Purpose: Ty Rowe's Journey through MMA and Christianity

Transcript

TWR Monday | Faith, Fighting, and Finding Purpose: Ty Rowe's Journey through MMA and Christianity · The Whitfield Report

• 0:09
  Of the Whitfield Report, I am your host, Sam Field and joining
• 0:16
  me for this very special edition of the show, my best friend, one
• 0:23
  of them for one of my best friends of 15, no, actually 17
• 0:30
  years now that I think about it. Mr. Tyro, who is an amateur
• 0:39
  mixed martial artist and I've talked at Ty before on the show
• 0:45
  with some of you guys just kind of showing a bit about my
• 0:49
  background. But I mean, Ty, you have a very
• 0:54
  interesting history, even before I met you, so why don't you just
• 0:58
  give just like, a brief introduction, You know?
• 1:01
  Who are you? You know it's shit.
• 1:07
  There are so many details over the past 17 years that I've even
• 1:10
  forgotten. So, you know, just take it away,
• 1:14
  man. Yeah.
• 1:16
  Thank you, Sam once again for having me on the show side.
• 1:19
  And thank you everybody who could TuneIn and watch.
• 1:23
  Yeah, so a little bit about my background growing up.
• 1:27
  You know, I had a rough childhood growing up.
• 1:30
  Didn't really get along with my parents, very troubled, full of
• 1:36
  anger and life. Got arrested out of jail in and
• 1:40
  out of foster home. When I graduated high school, I
• 1:44
  got kicked out of my aunt and uncle's house, had a breakup
• 1:48
  with my ex. I mean it just it felt like my
• 1:50
  whole world was clashing down. And you know it it was a bad
• 1:56
  time because I started partying. I started drinking, doing
• 1:59
  certain drugs. I thought that would make me
• 2:02
  happy. You know what I mean?
• 2:05
  So I fell inch to drugs, alcohol, hanging with the wrong
• 2:10
  crowd, doing stupid decisions, which ultimately worked out my
• 2:15
  favor because it allowed me to give my life to God.
• 2:18
  And from there, it allowed me to lose weight and get into mixed
• 2:22
  martial arts to get into my first competition in Brazilian
• 2:26
  Jiu Jitsu next month. Awesome.
• 2:30
  So a little bit about about the background for the audience,
• 2:36
  just to kind of fill them. And I met Ty way back in 2006, I
• 2:44
  think, when we wrote in two. 1006 Middle school, middle
• 2:49
  school which you know. Some of you who you know may be
• 2:54
  listening to this. Some of you were either you know
• 2:57
  Tykes or some of you might not even even been born yet, which
• 3:00
  is hard to, you know, imagine, But you know, when I first met
• 3:07
  Ty, he was really struggling with things.
• 3:12
  A lot of anger shoes, but behind all the anger shoes and I saw a
• 3:20
  spark in him, I saw a good man deep down.
• 3:26
  And this is one of the things I've talked at in the show was,
• 3:33
  you know, diving beyond what people may see on the surface
• 3:39
  and also maintaining your loyalty, you know, with your
• 3:45
  actual friends. I mean, I've said this before,
• 3:48
  but Ty is one of my brothers. We, you know, our friendship
• 3:56
  isn't relevant of friendship. It's more of a brotherhood.
• 3:59
  It transcends friendship. In my book, and I mean many
• 4:06
  people say they, they empathize with me because I struggle with
• 4:09
  physical disabilities. And that may be true.
• 4:12
  But there are several other young men out there like Ty who,
• 4:17
  you know, struggle with other things too.
• 4:19
  And I think in this day and age, Ty is, you know, potentially
• 4:24
  going to be a role model, you know, for lots of young men who
• 4:28
  are struggling out there. So, Ty, one of the things I
• 4:32
  wanted to ask you about, this may kind of be a bit of a tough
• 4:35
  question. But you know, you just mentioned
• 4:41
  that you were struggling with partying and with alcohol and
• 4:45
  drugs somewhat. But at what point do you think
• 4:48
  you really hit like, rock bottom and you knew, OK, I need to make
• 4:53
  a change? To be honest with you bro, it
• 4:57
  was a lot of different examples. So I think when I really gave my
• 5:02
  life to God, well, right before then, I remember I called you
• 5:06
  and a few other people, but I was just sad, depressed.
• 5:10
  Lonely. And I felt like there was no way
• 5:12
  out. So I think you might remember I
• 5:14
  might have left you a voicemail at one point.
• 5:17
  And I was like, dude, I can't do this anymore.
• 5:20
  I'm just feeling lonely, depressed.
• 5:24
  I just, man, I don't know what I'm going to do in life.
• 5:26
  I think the answer is ending it all.
• 5:28
  And I remember I told you that and then you called me up and
• 5:32
  prayed for me. And that kind of lead my life to
• 5:37
  God, because at the time. I was diagnosed with bipolar
• 5:41
  disorder. Like I say, I was still dealing
• 5:45
  with the fact that I got kicked out of my aunt and uncles, the
• 5:49
  breakup with my ex the first time and, you know, just really
• 5:53
  crappy friends. Like it just, it felt like my
• 5:55
  whole world was falling apart, you know?
• 5:58
  Yeah. You know, and I haven't shared
• 6:02
  this with too many people, but, you know, when Ty called me, you
• 6:10
  know, from what I remember you, you kind of were on the verge of
• 6:14
  suicide from what I remember. And you know, it was very hard
• 6:21
  for that was very hard for me. And I just began to pray for it
• 6:26
  because, I mean, just to give a bit of background time, I both
• 6:29
  know people who have, you know, taken their own lives.
• 6:33
  We've, you know, we both know, we both know people who have
• 6:37
  decided and all who had so much potential.
• 6:43
  And so the fact that I was able to you know talk my my brother
• 6:52
  down from suicide, I give thanks to God that he was able to give
• 6:57
  me the strength to do that because that was hard for me to
• 7:00
  do, especially since I was going through a rough time having just
• 7:05
  moved to Florida and kind of feeling lonely myself at the
• 7:08
  time. So they didn't know anybody.
• 7:11
  You know things are way different now obviously.
• 7:14
  You know I'm I've been a bit more successful here and you
• 7:20
  know things are trending up words for me too.
• 7:22
  But it is, I was thinking at this earlier today, there is
• 7:28
  something to be said for being able to endure through tough
• 7:34
  times. And I think those tough times
• 7:37
  make us better men. You know, there are lots of
• 7:45
  young men who are still suffering, you know, through
• 7:51
  depression. And in some ways, I think there
• 7:53
  are lots of, you know, there are a lot more pressures on, you
• 7:59
  know, people in general. But I've noticed, especially
• 8:03
  with younger men. Why do you think depression is
• 8:08
  so high in, you know, younger men these these days?
• 8:16
  You know, I think it's high because of the pressure man, the
• 8:19
  pressure of trying to find who you are as the man, the pressure
• 8:23
  of what am I going to do with my life?
• 8:25
  How am I going to be successful? Like, you know, who am I gonna
• 8:29
  marry? Like, you know, I think, I think
• 8:31
  it's a lot of things. And it's what it boils down to
• 8:33
  is the pressure of finding yourself as a man.
• 8:38
  Yeah, I mean I think also we have society now that really it
• 8:46
  it really tends to celebrate women more.
• 8:50
  And I'm not saying that that that that that's a bad thing.
• 8:53
  But I think in pop, in popular culture, I think there's kind of
• 8:57
  this thing that like men are bad or men are less than and you
• 9:03
  know, you're always hearing that like toxic men.
• 9:06
  And I don't really know, you know, certainly there are
• 9:09
  examples of bad men. But I feel like those kind of
• 9:12
  get over exaggerated in in the media and they don't like focus
• 9:17
  on good men like you know, you or I or you know even like
• 9:25
  sororities like Sylvester Stallone and Chris Pratt are
• 9:28
  kind of getting a, you know, not as recognized.
• 9:34
  So kind of diving into what you're doing now, though, what
• 9:39
  was it about martial arts and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in
• 9:43
  particular that like drew you, you know to it, just like as a
• 9:48
  discipline? Yeah, so it was a couple things.
• 9:53
  I'm going to be transparent on the show.
• 9:56
  Yeah, please do first. Thing that happened was,
• 9:59
  honestly, I kind of got into a fight with a buddy.
• 10:02
  I mean, we've patched things up now, but I got into a fight with
• 10:06
  a buddy of mine in the Park Meadows parking lot and he kind
• 10:10
  of had a little bit of a boxing background when he was a kid and
• 10:13
  all that and. I mean, I'll give print when
• 10:16
  it's doing. I'll be humble.
• 10:17
  I kind of got whooped on, you know.
• 10:20
  And then there was the other fight with, you know, who trying
• 10:23
  to, you know, claim some things that didn't happen.
• 10:26
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 10:27
  So it it was just like a lot of anger out first, a lot of
• 10:32
  fighting, like I say, hanging with the wrong crowd and trying
• 10:34
  to prove myself. And, you know, then I had some
• 10:38
  health issues because I was almost 300 pounds, I mean.
• 10:41
  The heaviest I ever weighed that I knew of on a scale was 275,
• 10:46
  and that's pretty big. Yeah.
• 10:48
  My health issue started becoming a concern when I started puking
• 10:52
  up blood uncontrollably and couldn't stop.
• 10:56
  So yeah, we're two main factors. And I was telling my buddy
• 11:00
  Isaiah, who happens to be a mixed martial arts, she's like,
• 11:04
  he kind of was getting all my case out of love.
• 11:07
  He was like, dude, like, you guys started getting into
• 11:09
  martial arts. Like, you all start exercising,
• 11:12
  being careful. And you know, after everything
• 11:16
  that happened in my health, the fighting and all, I'm like, you
• 11:19
  know what? This dude is right?
• 11:22
  Like, I need to learn discipline.
• 11:25
  I need to learn how to defend myself.
• 11:28
  I need to learn a way out, you know what I'm saying?
• 11:30
  To better myself as an Allinall individual.
• 11:34
  And folks, I'll tell you right now, without martial arts,
• 11:36
  without muay tide, jiu jitsu, MMA, boxing, like I would either
• 11:42
  end up in jail or dead right now to be completely honest with you
• 11:46
  guys. So I got it when I made a post
• 11:50
  on Facebook. I think you might remember it
• 11:52
  from years ago. I said hey does anybody teach
• 11:55
  martial arts need to learn self-defense?
• 11:58
  So I posted that ad and people were posting stuff, but what
• 12:01
  really caught my eye was. Prophet Frankie from church, he
• 12:05
  said, oh, Aaron Beasley would be a good contact for you.
• 12:10
  So I looked at his profile, saw his Muay Thai and MMA and all
• 12:14
  that. So I thought, you know, let me
• 12:16
  give this brother a shot and see how he does, you know?
• 12:20
  So I messaged him, added him. I'm like, hey, my name's Tyro.
• 12:26
  You know, I I saw a posting on my posts on Facebook.
• 12:31
  About you and martial arts training, I'm very interested.
• 12:34
  So we started chatting on messengers, like what are your
• 12:36
  goals? And I said, you know, I'm not
• 12:39
  sure right now. I'm just trying to learn
• 12:40
  self-defense, you know? So we got in touch and we
• 12:44
  started doing some sessions together and it was crazy
• 12:47
  because I would have never thought I'd be competing in this
• 12:50
  stuff. Like initially, all I wanted to
• 12:52
  do was get into it, to learn how to defend myself, You know what
• 12:56
  I'm saying? So he started, like, talking to
• 12:59
  me more. And he was a brother.
• 13:01
  And he is a brother in Christ, by the way.
• 13:04
  And he was just like, well, hey, man, I think you'd be really
• 13:06
  good in competitions. I'm like, wait, what?
• 13:09
  You compete in this stuff? You know?
• 13:13
  So he, Yeah. So he started telling me about
• 13:15
  competitions and we started training and getting ready for
• 13:19
  it. And little by little, like I
• 13:21
  started meeting other people like Henry.
• 13:24
  Omar, Alex And started training and sparring with them and you
• 13:30
  know, God had really put it on my heart to start competing.
• 13:34
  Hence how I got this Jiu Jitsu tournament next month.
• 13:37
  So All in all along I was trying to do MMA and Muay Thai, but
• 13:41
  then I saw this and I've done a little bit of ground game.
• 13:44
  Mind you, I've got some submissions and all that, but I
• 13:48
  saw a posting on Facebook for Submission challenge in Denver,
• 13:52
  Co. So I screenshot in, send it to
• 13:55
  my now trainer Henry Meeha. And by the way, he's a born
• 13:59
  again Christian too, thanks to me and a few others.
• 14:02
  So praise God. Awesome.
• 14:04
  Send it to Henry Meeha and I was like, hey man, what do you know
• 14:08
  about the tournament? He's like, not too much why you
• 14:12
  want to compete it? I said yeah, I'd really love to
• 14:14
  if you're okay with it and I'd really like us to focus more on
• 14:18
  ground game because. Like, it's crazy because he was
• 14:21
  asking like, okay, you sure you want to do this?
• 14:23
  Because I can get you in an amateur movie fight fight coming
• 14:26
  up. And Holy Spirit was really
• 14:29
  leading me to do this jiu jitsu fight.
• 14:33
  So I said, you know what, I'm. I'm sorry, but I'm just going to
• 14:36
  go with this jiu jitsu term. So he texted back.
• 14:40
  He's like, you know, you're right, man.
• 14:42
  I think it'd be good for you to get out of your comfort zone a
• 14:44
  little bit. I think you should do it.
• 14:46
  So we'll train on jiu jitsu this next month and 1/2.
• 14:49
  And we'll get you ready to win the tournament.
• 14:51
  So awesome. And and what was it about this
• 14:58
  Jiu Jitsu tournament, as I was to the other one that Roy spoke
• 15:01
  to you specifically? Like I say, Holy Spirit was
• 15:06
  leading me more. The jiu Jitsu tournament also
• 15:09
  was a number of things too. Like you might remember I have a
• 15:11
  wrestling background for middle school and high school.
• 15:15
  Yep. Yeah, and you know, I don't know
• 15:18
  man, it's just something about ground game.
• 15:20
  Like I feel like my ground game is much better than my stand up
• 15:23
  game, hence having the wrestling background.
• 15:27
  Yeah, so. My Holy Spirit being led by my
• 15:30
  experience. And yeah, that's kind of why
• 15:33
  ultimately I chose to do the jiu jitsu tournament.
• 15:36
  So yeah, so you you just felt called.
• 15:40
  In other words, to do this, there's not really a logical
• 15:43
  explanation. You just felt called to do this.
• 15:47
  Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, OK.
• 15:52
  Well, assuming that you win, because I know you're you're
• 15:56
  going to. It's up to God, man.
• 16:00
  It's up. What is?
• 16:01
  What are your plans? I mean, do you think this is
• 16:06
  this something that you're just pursuing right now as a hobby,
• 16:10
  or do you want to do this professionally?
• 16:14
  Where do you see this going? Yeah man, I really want to try
• 16:22
  to get into the UFC at some point.
• 16:25
  At least do a UFC tryout by the time I'm 32, yeah?
• 16:30
  And I'm 29 now, by the way. But for now, yeah, I want to
• 16:34
  build it into maybe a professional MMA career.
• 16:38
  I want to compete in Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, win the belt.
• 16:42
  I want to, you know, I mean, I'm right now we're looking at
• 16:45
  heavyweight, my team in trans, really trying to get me to leave
• 16:49
  heavyweight, but I kind of like that call of the heavyweight
• 16:53
  champ, you know what I'm saying? So I mean, I've slimmed down
• 16:57
  tremendously. Like I say, the heaviest I ever
• 16:59
  knew was 275. I'm at 205 now, so I've lost a
• 17:03
  lot of weight. Yeah, you're you're looking
• 17:06
  good, man. Hey, thanks, man.
• 17:09
  Yeah. I mean it's just like to answer
• 17:12
  your question, I just ultimately want to go to the UFC and just
• 17:15
  glorify God down the road through AM MA ministry, teach
• 17:19
  mixed martial arts and use that to do like a gridiron gang
• 17:23
  effect and really use that to minister to young troubled teens
• 17:28
  who need to know martial arts and self-discipline.
• 17:31
  Yeah, I mean, I I kind of learn alluded to this, you know, but
• 17:36
  earlier. But I I think there are a lot
• 17:39
  of, you know, kids out there who stroke with anger issues and a
• 17:44
  lot of the same stuff that you do.
• 17:47
  And I think instead of just, you know, putting them on drugs or
• 17:51
  you know, medication or just simply counseling.
• 17:55
  I'm not saying anything bad against, you know, counseling
• 17:58
  and medication. But I think a lot of, well, let
• 18:04
  me ask you this, do you think, do you think your adolescence
• 18:10
  would have been better if you had discovered martial arts
• 18:15
  earlier in life or? Oh yeah, totally 100%.
• 18:20
  Like, now don't get me wrong, I did karate and wrestling when I
• 18:24
  was a kid and you know, wrestling can be effective.
• 18:28
  Karate. Not so much depending on, but I
• 18:31
  feel like if I would have gotten into MMA as a kid.
• 18:36
  And had the trainer training and support I had now.
• 18:39
  Oh yeah, absolutely. I think I would have learned to
• 18:42
  curb the anger. Then more sympathetic not have
• 18:45
  gotten into the fights I got into.
• 18:47
  And because you know the thing about martial arts, man, whether
• 18:50
  you're an MMA, Muay Thai, boxing, jiu jitsu, Judo,
• 18:55
  wrestling, Taekwondo, whatever, you really learn sympathy for
• 19:01
  other people. So even if some dude is so.
• 19:04
  Tempted to throw hands with you right there.
• 19:06
  You're at a bar or whatever, you're on the streets or
• 19:09
  whatever, and somebody just has in their head they want to beat
• 19:13
  you up today, right? Yeah.
• 19:15
  You guys go at it. You still have self-control at
• 19:18
  the end of the day to where you just dismantle them, but you
• 19:22
  don't like kill them or beat them up, you know what I mean?
• 19:25
  Yeah, I mean, that's definitely, you know, something that I've
• 19:30
  always admired. I mean, not just with you, but
• 19:33
  with some of my, you know, physical therapists and whatnot,
• 19:36
  you know, are also martial artists.
• 19:38
  And one thing that always struck me is there there's kind of
• 19:44
  misconception if you take martial arts, that's going to
• 19:47
  make you more violent. But in my experience, it's
• 19:50
  always calmed. You know, people like you seem
• 19:57
  way more like at peace and just calm than you did, like five
• 20:03
  years ago. You know, you, you seem and you
• 20:09
  know, granted, I'm a little biased since I'm one of your
• 20:11
  closest friends, but you you do seem even like looking from the
• 20:15
  outside, like a lot more calm and a lot more, you know, oddly
• 20:22
  like meditative at times. It's it's interesting.
• 20:29
  So. Yeah.
• 20:31
  And to add, to answer your question, like I really feel
• 20:34
  like it depends on the person, because I'll give you a good
• 20:36
  example, like money, right? Yeah.
• 20:40
  You're an A hole to begin with. Like, I think like anything
• 20:44
  that's meant for good will, bring out the real use.
• 20:47
  Let's go back to the money. So let's say I give you 10
• 20:50
  million right now. Now knowing you and I, we're
• 20:54
  good men, we're gentlemen like we do great things right.
• 20:57
  I feel like if you get a lot of money it brings the true nature
• 21:00
  of yacht. So if you're an A hole to begin
• 21:03
  with, it's going to make you more of an A hole and not want
• 21:05
  to give to people. If you're high and generous,
• 21:09
  it's going to make you want to do more of that.
• 21:11
  You see what I'm saying? And I feel the same way about
• 21:13
  martial arts. I feel like because you know, a
• 21:17
  lot of these fighters in the MMA or boxing or whatever type of
• 21:21
  Pearl martial arts. A lot of them were kind of in my
• 21:25
  shoes, like they grew up getting picked on, getting bullied.
• 21:29
  We're told they weren't good enough.
• 21:31
  Nobody gave a darn about them. And I feel like when you're like
• 21:35
  that, that'll bring a good fighter out of you in a more
• 21:39
  passionate, sympathetic fighter. Now, if you grew up like some
• 21:43
  other people we know had, easy A they got everything handed down
• 21:48
  to them. They have life on the easy side.
• 21:50
  They didn't have to struggle or fight hard for what we did.
• 21:54
  Yeah, I think they're ultimately gonna be more of an A hole with
• 21:57
  martial arts and they're gonna think they can go around beating
• 21:59
  people up, you know? I mean, it's just like
• 22:01
  everything else either brings the worst out of you or the
• 22:04
  better. You see what I'm saying?
• 22:06
  Yeah, it's funny. It's funny you mentioned that
• 22:08
  because I I mentioned you know that we were doing this podcast
• 22:13
  to someone and I'm like and they they literally said like oh I
• 22:16
  hope your friend doesn't you know turn out to be like a Jake
• 22:19
  Paul or a Logan Paul or something like that.
• 22:21
  And I and I I told him I'm like I'm like believe me like you
• 22:26
  know the Paul brothers, like they're I got because they're
• 22:29
  celebrity. But like, you know, this guy is
• 22:31
  like humble and like he knows what actual, like, you know,
• 22:36
  mixed martial arts is is all about so.
• 22:41
  Yeah, I mean, like I say, if anything, it brings out more of
• 22:44
  what you are like if you are an yeah, begin with you'll be more
• 22:48
  of an A hole and go beating people up.
• 22:50
  If you're a good, sympathetic, understanding people, loving
• 22:53
  person, it'll bring more. That's where you're like, no,
• 22:57
  I'm not gonna hurt this dude even though I can't.
• 23:00
  You know what I mean? So yeah, so I only have a few
• 23:05
  more questions on my end. Do you know now, do you have
• 23:12
  like your fight card like set already?
• 23:16
  Do you know who you're competing against, or any of those details
• 23:21
  or? No, we'll find that out on the
• 23:24
  day of the competition because they do weigh ins at 8:00 AM the
• 23:30
  day of the competition. So then they get all those cards
• 23:32
  set up and then it goes from there.
• 23:35
  I know it's a double. Match elimination.
• 23:39
  So if I lose one, I can't lose another one, or else I'm
• 23:42
  disqualified. You see what I'm saying?
• 23:44
  So, so are you gonna be fighting like could you potentially be
• 23:49
  fighting like multiple people in this tournament or?
• 23:53
  Oh yeah. Oh, yeah.
• 23:55
  OK. So it's not just this, it's not
• 23:57
  just one exhibition match that you it it's a chance to, you
• 24:03
  know, fight potentially several people.
• 24:07
  Yeah, exactly. Like I said, it's a double match
• 24:10
  elimination. And the cool thing is it's
• 24:14
  submission only. It's not by point or time or
• 24:17
  anything. Submission only.
• 24:20
  I registered in the fight as a Nogee, what's called a Nogee
• 24:24
  white belt. And for some of you who don't
• 24:26
  know the difference between Gee or Nogee, so Gee is like wearing
• 24:32
  that karate suit, like hoist gravy.
• 24:34
  First ever UFC. Nogie is just wearing tight
• 24:37
  street clothes, so and you know I haven't been doing it for the
• 24:41
  longest time. Like Henry, he's a black belt
• 24:43
  Nogie. Me, I'm going in this considered
• 24:46
  as a nogie meaning tight street clothes, a white belt.
• 24:52
  And the way the belt rankings are is I believe, I I know like
• 24:57
  black belt's the highest and you have to be in it for 10 years
• 25:01
  white belt. And folks, I'm not too sure.
• 25:03
  So I'm just gonna say I wanna, I think then it's blue belts.
• 25:07
  Then somewhere along the lines you get your purple belt.
• 25:10
  I mean, I know like purple pie. I think blue is the one after
• 25:14
  white belt. So that's kind of how that
• 25:16
  ranking system works, you know? Yeah.
• 25:21
  What is it about? Why did you choose to go no G
• 25:24
  instead of, you know, doing with a G?
• 25:29
  Is there an advantage or? Yeah.
• 25:31
  So the only difference like, OK, so in Gee they teach you to like
• 25:36
  pull at the sleeves, pull at the leg sleeves.
• 25:39
  Now say you're in a street fight, right.
• 25:43
  And you know how some dudes are like, let's say he decides to
• 25:45
  take off his shirt and fight you bare shirt, right shirtless.
• 25:50
  You're going to grab onto then because in Gee you're only
• 25:53
  trained to grab onto the Gee. You see what I'm saying?
• 25:57
  So in my opinion, Nogi is good because it's more realistic and
• 26:02
  that's just because of the sole reason that you're not grabbing
• 26:05
  on the clothes to submit. You're grabbing on to their
• 26:08
  actual physical hand or leg and getting them to submit.
• 26:11
  Like you see what I'm saying? Yeah, totally.
• 26:15
  So, well, you know, are there any prizes or you know let's say
• 26:25
  that you when you know it. So I I guess like how is it laid
• 26:33
  out? Is there is there like
• 26:34
  potentially like a championship round that you could compete in
• 26:37
  or yeah. I know there's different
• 26:41
  divisions. Like they got kids, they got
• 26:43
  teens, they got adults, they got Gee, no Gee.
• 26:47
  So like I say, they've got a division for no Gee weight
• 26:50
  class, right? But I think I signed up for a no
• 26:53
  weight class, no Gee. I'm pretty sure that's what I
• 26:56
  signed up for. I'll have to double check.
• 26:58
  But if it's so class, then I'm just in that.
• 27:01
  No weight class, no key division.
• 27:04
  So I could be fighting a dude bigger than me or smart me.
• 27:07
  And that's why I decided to go the no key route.
• 27:11
  And I know this sounds weak for saying this, but I don't want to
• 27:13
  grapple with a guy smaller than me, so I'm more of a weight
• 27:17
  advantage. You know what I mean?
• 27:20
  Sure. Sure.
• 27:21
  Yeah, so but to answer your question.
• 27:25
  There is a championship round you get.
• 27:28
  They have first, second, third place.
• 27:32
  Not sure what the. I don't think I'm getting paid.
• 27:34
  I think it's like a trophy or something, or maybe a prize,
• 27:38
  like a small prize or something. But I do know they have first,
• 27:41
  second, third rankings and that's my goal, is to at least
• 27:45
  be in the top three. If not, God's will be done.
• 27:47
  You know what I mean? Yeah well hopefully even if you
• 27:51
  don't like it like a cash prize or something, hopefully there
• 27:54
  will be someone watching there who could you know potentially
• 28:01
  you know scout you out maybe at some of the at some of these
• 28:04
  events. I I had a friend who you know
• 28:07
  did amateur boxing in college and he you know granted like
• 28:11
  boxing in Brazilian Jiu jitsu are two completely different
• 28:15
  things but but he he recently competed in a in a tournament
• 28:21
  ironically his name is Tyler as well and he actually got scouted
• 28:27
  by a by a tell agent for local boxing federation here in
• 28:33
  Florida. So do you know if there's any
• 28:37
  opportunities for you to, you know, to get noticed here?
• 28:44
  I'm pretty sure there might be a scout there that might notice
• 28:47
  there's different grappling tournaments and leagues like
• 28:51
  there's flow grappling like the IFBJJ or something along those
• 28:56
  lines. So I mean there is professional
• 28:59
  MMA like UFC and then there's professional Muay Thai and
• 29:03
  professional jiu jitsu and different subsections of that.
• 29:08
  So I mean, there might be someone who if I like, let's
• 29:11
  just say if I was to get first place, right?
• 29:14
  It might be going hey man, you want to come on the blow
• 29:17
  grappling or something And I'm like you know if it's God's
• 29:20
  will, I'll do it. But you know there might be, I
• 29:23
  don't know I don't know too much but I know little bits and
• 29:26
  pieces. But yeah they may have a scout
• 29:29
  there that might be one of the sign me if I get good enough.
• 29:32
  Yeah, Awesome. Awesome.
• 29:36
  Well, I can't really think of too many other questions on my
• 29:42
  end. Anything that you'd like to say
• 29:44
  to the audience or anything you'd like to promote any?
• 29:47
  Are there any details I missed about this that I should know
• 29:51
  that the audience should know about?
• 29:52
  I don't wanna get into the full details of my story for
• 29:56
  whoever's listening, if that's OK.
• 29:57
  And maybe that might bring up some more questions, I don't
• 30:00
  know. You wanna give that a shot?
• 30:02
  Yeah. Just, you know, dude, like I
• 30:05
  don't wanna. You know, I don't want to share
• 30:09
  anything that you don't want to be shared.
• 30:10
  But by all means, you know what's go through your entire
• 30:15
  story. If you want to bear, bear your
• 30:18
  soul. If you want if.
• 30:20
  You want to. Right on.
• 30:22
  So yeah, folks like to to tell my story.
• 30:26
  Grew up having a rough relationship with my real mom
• 30:29
  and stepdad, You know, I've kind of come to forgive them though,
• 30:33
  and make amends with them. Got arrested at a young age when
• 30:38
  was in and out of jail, in and out of foster care center and
• 30:43
  all that. Got out with my aunt and uncle.
• 30:46
  It didn't, unfortunately, it didn't work out with them
• 30:49
  either. So I I was more so kicked out
• 30:53
  unfortunately. But yeah, like I say, folks went
• 30:56
  through all those hardships and like, you know, when I got out
• 31:00
  of high school, I got kicked out.
• 31:04
  You know was saying with the wrong crowd.
• 31:05
  Drugs and alcohol break up with my ex the first time.
• 31:09
  I mean, it was a rough going life, yeah.
• 31:13
  And also and also this wasn't just like a one time you know,
• 31:20
  girl that you hooked up with. This was a longterm
• 31:22
  relationship, right? Right.
• 31:25
  Yeah. So it was heartbreaking and, you
• 31:27
  know, heartbreaking the second time.
• 31:28
  I should have learned, but we'll get into that in a minute.
• 31:33
  So yeah, it's just it didn't work out.
• 31:35
  It felt like my whole life was falling apart and I started
• 31:38
  eating away my feelings and getting more and more depressed.
• 31:42
  I hate like literally I hated who I was.
• 31:45
  I struggled with my self-confidence after that.
• 31:48
  I thought I was ugly. I thought, like, you know, I'll
• 31:51
  never get married. And and so I started finding
• 31:54
  comfort in food and I ate my feelings away, you know, and
• 31:59
  like I said, I was doing a lot of smoking weed.
• 32:03
  Drinking alcohol, underage and partying and all that.
• 32:07
  And at the time when I was diagnosed with bipolar, I just
• 32:11
  broke down crying right then and there.
• 32:13
  Dude, I thought, man, my life's over.
• 32:15
  You know I. Know how I could cope with that?
• 32:19
  And they're saying, you know, I'm going to be on meds the rest
• 32:22
  of my life and things like that. And I just, I couldn't cope with
• 32:25
  it, dude. So I started smoking marijuana
• 32:28
  along with other drugs that we're not going to get into,
• 32:31
  but. I was really smoking weed a lot,
• 32:35
  drinking alcohol because I was a happy drunk.
• 32:38
  I wasn't like some people I know was to get all mad and the
• 32:41
  angry, yeah, you know, so I was a happy drunk and I was lied to
• 32:46
  by the devil. I thought those things would
• 32:49
  make me happy, you know what I mean?
• 32:51
  And I thought that would bring true happiness.
• 32:54
  And it was about my second year in trade school when I was ready
• 32:58
  to get out and graduate. And I ran into my longtime
• 33:02
  friend, another brother of mine named Terrell.
• 33:06
  And this was after I made the phone call to you about
• 33:09
  depression and killing myself. And the whole time you were
• 33:12
  praying for me and God answered your prayers.
• 33:15
  So what happened was, I remember I was sitting at a lunch table
• 33:19
  with some guys. I admit I probably smoked before
• 33:23
  school and I was in there high as heck anyhow.
• 33:26
  But Terrell came up to us. And, you know, we were having,
• 33:29
  like a really worldly conversation, like who could out
• 33:32
  drink, who, who could date the most girls, you know, foolish
• 33:35
  stuff like that. Right.
• 33:37
  And then Terrell came up to us and started evangelizing us,
• 33:41
  administering us about the gospel.
• 33:44
  And at first I come play off like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 33:46
  whatever. You know.
• 33:47
  But later that night, something just burned.
• 33:50
  And somehow I was like, you know, I think maybe this is the
• 33:54
  one true friend I can make. I think maybe this guy can
• 33:57
  really help me find what I'm looking for, you know?
• 34:01
  So I approached him the next day and I was asking questions about
• 34:04
  like what church he went to and what religion he was a part of.
• 34:09
  And I didn't know if he was going to be Mormon or Joe
• 34:12
  Witness. So that's why I didn't mind
• 34:13
  investigating, you know what I'm saying?
• 34:15
  So come to find out, he was non denominational Christian
• 34:19
  relationship with God really ministering to me.
• 34:22
  And it took me to a point where I was like, well, hey, can I
• 34:25
  come to your church? But yeah, man, we got Bible
• 34:28
  study night. Come on through.
• 34:31
  So I came through and I was like, you know, doing Bible
• 34:35
  study. It was a young adults group with
• 34:37
  a lot of cool, very related to God people.
• 34:42
  And I started digging into my Bible for the first time in a
• 34:47
  long time. And it was the New Testament
• 34:50
  because, you know, I grew up Catholic and everything so.
• 34:52
  I knew or what I thought was a lot about the Old Testament, but
• 34:56
  I didn't really know the New Testament very well.
• 34:59
  So after the Bible study, Pastor Gerald that, who was the pastor
• 35:03
  leading it at the time. So yeah, man, you got to read
• 35:06
  these books, right? So over time, I started reading
• 35:10
  Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Like I started reading through
• 35:13
  the whole Testament, a New Testament.
• 35:16
  And slowly I saw her falling in love with the word man.
• 35:22
  Like, I know that sounds weird, but I started falling in love
• 35:24
  with God's word. I started like reading the
• 35:28
  scriptures and like learning them.
• 35:30
  And I was just like, man, this is totally different than what I
• 35:34
  grew up with in the Catholic Church.
• 35:36
  And I was like man, like, and I prayed like I was even talking
• 35:40
  to God before I was saved. And I asked him, like, God, just
• 35:46
  give me a sign. Show me this is really you.
• 35:50
  And he showed me through other people, and I heard from him a
• 35:54
  few times calling my name. So ultimately it led me leading,
• 36:00
  giving my life to God on stage. I remember they were singing the
• 36:03
  song and I just somehow felt compelled to go up on stage,
• 36:08
  right? So I did.
• 36:10
  And the apostle at the time was like, hey, why are you up here?
• 36:13
  What's your name? I said my name is Ty and I'm
• 36:17
  here to give my life to God. And they started praying for me.
• 36:22
  I said the prayer of salvation. And once I got done saying that,
• 36:27
  I felt like some huge relief came about me.
• 36:30
  Like I felt better. I couldn't explain it.
• 36:34
  Like I felt some sort of Holy Ghost come into me and give me a
• 36:38
  spirit of relief. You know what I'm saying?
• 36:41
  Like I was so happy. I literally walked home
• 36:43
  listening to praise and worship music that day.
• 36:47
  And I just knew I was like, okay, this is it.
• 36:49
  Like, I'm going to heaven. I'm saved, you know?
• 36:54
  And it took a lot of growing and faith after that because I was
• 36:57
  still drinking and smoking and doing worldly things.
• 37:01
  And what got me to quit, all that was kind of a couple things
• 37:06
  to it. That like, one I went to a party
• 37:09
  that I heard. God told me not to.
• 37:11
  But you know, back in 2014, I was like, yeah, Yolo, you only
• 37:15
  live once, you know? So I went to the party and then
• 37:18
  ended up getting raided by the cops and I was running for my
• 37:21
  life and things like that. And then God started giving me
• 37:25
  dreams and visions about losing everything and you know what my
• 37:30
  life would have been like. And he also gave Torella vision
• 37:34
  about what would have happened if I kept drinking and smoking
• 37:39
  and doing drugs. And it was hard, man, because I
• 37:42
  would have lost everything. And by everything I mean
• 37:44
  everything. So I had to make a hard choice.
• 37:48
  And ultimately I said, you know what?
• 37:51
  I'm not going to let these things define me.
• 37:54
  I'm not going to let bipolar define me.
• 37:56
  I'm not going to let drinking, smoking weed, hanging out with
• 37:59
  bad friends. So ultimately, I decided to do
• 38:02
  what it's in the Bible and dirt, your loins being put your big
• 38:07
  boy pants on. And I'm not going to let these
• 38:09
  things define who I am. So I threw out all my marijuana.
• 38:14
  I threw out the lighters. I got rid of all the drinks.
• 38:18
  Like, I pretty much poured them down the toilet and flushed
• 38:21
  them. And I was like, no more.
• 38:24
  This is all stopping. I'm changing the future, you
• 38:26
  know? And then I cut ties with a lot
• 38:30
  of friends I was dealing with at the time.
• 38:32
  I texted them. I called them and said, hey, you
• 38:35
  know, I wish you the best, but I have to end this friendship.
• 38:39
  I'm a man of God now. I can't be doing these foolish
• 38:42
  things, but I'll keep like, you know, just keeping them lifted
• 38:44
  in prayer. Yeah, well.
• 38:48
  Yes, I'll go ahead. One thing I want to ask you
• 38:51
  about that is how did, how did they, how did they react to
• 38:59
  that? Because like, I know that like,
• 39:01
  in my case, like, yeah, some people were like, OK, whatever.
• 39:06
  Some people were happy, but then other people were just like
• 39:11
  actually angry with me, you know?
• 39:14
  So like what was your experience and we going?
• 39:17
  Same thing, you know? OK, whatever.
• 39:20
  Oh, man. Come on now.
• 39:21
  All good for you. Like, you know, a Little Mix of
• 39:24
  everything. Yeah, so.
• 39:29
  Yeah, so I gave my life to God, quit doing drugs and alcohol,
• 39:34
  but I was still struggling with the health issues.
• 39:37
  Kept growing in faith, but then. Like I say, I kind of fell short
• 39:40
  a couple times and got into those fights feeling like I had
• 39:44
  to defend myself. And then, like I say, the
• 39:47
  incident came up where one day I was at the light rail station
• 39:51
  and I just couldn't stop puking blood.
• 39:53
  Like I knew something was up. So they took me to the hospital
• 39:57
  and the ambulance and they ran some tests and the doctor pretty
• 40:01
  much told me like, hey. You gotta get your diet under
• 40:04
  control. You're going to drop dead, dude.
• 40:06
  Like you saw me. My triglycerides were high.
• 40:09
  Blood pressure was high. Like it was bad, dude.
• 40:12
  And you're only 27 at this point, right?
• 40:16
  If I, if I remember, yes, yes, 27 at the time or well, I think
• 40:21
  like 2526 around there. But yeah, around that age.
• 40:24
  Wow. Yeah.
• 40:26
  So really bad health issues. So I told my buddy Isaiah what
• 40:31
  was going on, and he was just, like, told me about getting into
• 40:36
  martial arts. You know what I mean?
• 40:38
  Yeah. So took his advice.
• 40:40
  And then, like I said earlier, I hit a bugshot, started train
• 40:44
  with him, but come to find out, he was the same man, too, you
• 40:48
  know what I mean? So I was telling him, like, you
• 40:51
  know, hey, I kind of want to get in this to kind of be the bully
• 40:55
  now, you know what I mean? Like, I want to be in control.
• 40:58
  I want to show those people who they were messing with, You know
• 41:01
  what I mean? Yeah.
• 41:02
  And he ministered me. He's like, man, do you really
• 41:05
  want that? Like the best way he described
• 41:09
  it was like, look at yourself in the mirror.
• 41:12
  But when you do that picture, you don't see you, you see them.
• 41:17
  He's like, do you really want that?
• 41:19
  And I was like, no, like, I had to rethink it over, you know
• 41:24
  what I mean? Yeah.
• 41:25
  So it it took a lot of growing in faith and then people started
• 41:30
  ministering me once I told them I was doing Muay Thai.
• 41:33
  They're like, yeah, you're going to compete.
• 41:35
  And I'm like, what? Like, yeah, I yeah, like I did
• 41:40
  not want to compete in a professional or amateur or
• 41:43
  whatever match. I thought I was just going to
• 41:46
  learn self-defense, get even with people, get out, like live
• 41:50
  my life, show them I'm the bully now, you know what I mean?
• 41:55
  But people were literally ministering to me and being
• 41:57
  like, yeah, you know, you're going to compete, you're going
• 42:00
  to get good at it. Like you're going to start going
• 42:03
  to matches and tournaments and they even start misering that
• 42:07
  you know you're going to use this to get an MMA industry
• 42:10
  going and you're going to help young, troubled teams.
• 42:15
  And I was like, well, for real. Like I didn't see it.
• 42:17
  But God started showing me in my dream about my MMA ministry.
• 42:25
  So what do you. That's awesome.
• 42:28
  Yeah. So what he showed me was kind of
• 42:30
  like you saw on the vision, and so did Deacon Tim confirm this?
• 42:35
  I'm wearing a red and white Cape, but it's mainly white with
• 42:38
  red letters. And it's Philippians 413.
• 42:41
  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
• 42:44
  Yeah, so he said. And he told me this a few weeks
• 42:48
  ago. He's like, yeah, I see you in
• 42:50
  your white Cape with red letters.
• 42:53
  So I'm like dope. So you know, I just, I didn't, I
• 42:57
  didn't take it well at first. But then I'm like, you know
• 43:00
  what? This is what God's called me to
• 43:02
  do. It's not my will be done.
• 43:04
  It's your will be done, Lord. So I just accepted it, started
• 43:08
  training harder and better. And like I say, ultimately we
• 43:12
  got into this MMA tournament, lost a lot of weight training.
• 43:17
  And I was just so determined because for one of my health
• 43:21
  issues, too, because of everything God's called me to
• 43:23
  do. And I'm just like, you know,
• 43:26
  there's more to my life than meet the eye.
• 43:28
  There's more than just sitting around all day not doing
• 43:31
  nothing, going from job to job. Like, no, I'm called for a
• 43:35
  bigger purpose. And that's to draw close to God
• 43:40
  and to minister the gospel in the way people want to hear it,
• 43:43
  you know? Yeah.
• 43:46
  So what God showed me in the dream was like these young kids
• 43:50
  that wanted to challenge me. They're like, oh, we think we
• 43:52
  can beat you up, you know? And then the dream, like, I'm
• 43:55
  going against one of the kid, like the gang leaders of the
• 43:59
  little kids. I'm just, like, dodging every
• 44:01
  hit they're throwing at me. Right?
• 44:03
  And they're like, whoa, like, how do you do that?
• 44:06
  I'm like, well, why don't you come to my gojo and I'll show
• 44:08
  you, you know, So and, you know, God showed me in another dream
• 44:13
  where I was just, like, ministering to these young,
• 44:16
  troubled teens. And I was like, hey guys, we're
• 44:19
  coming to the end of the season. Like, I don't know what's going
• 44:23
  to happen with you guys or where you're going to be.
• 44:25
  But if any of you want to accept the Lord and don't feel like
• 44:28
  you're doing this for me, but then you want to accept the
• 44:31
  Lord, raise your hands and I'll come pray with you.
• 44:33
  And in the dream they all raised their hands and I prayed for
• 44:36
  them and they were saved on the spot.
• 44:41
  That's pretty powerful stuff, man.
• 44:43
  I mean, I know that. There are going to be some
• 44:46
  skeptics, you know, that listen to this.
• 44:49
  You know, atheists that you know was under this.
• 44:52
  Because I'm a pretty wide variety of people and I just
• 44:56
  urge, I urge the skeptics out there to, you know, just to, you
• 45:04
  know, go back and maybe relisten to this podcast again, you know,
• 45:10
  or maybe, you know, later on. You know if you are sinclined,
• 45:15
  reach out to tie and ask him. You know if you're if you're a
• 45:19
  skeptic because I mean I I can attest being you know witness to
• 45:25
  ties story first hand. I mean man, you've you've really
• 45:29
  changed you know personality wise and physically you actually
• 45:33
  look younger now than you did even a few years ago.
• 45:39
  I don't know, you know. I I don't know how to explain
• 45:44
  it, but you look fantastic and you look, you look, you look
• 45:50
  happy, man. I'm not only happy for you,
• 45:55
  Well, we are coming up on the hour, so I I kind of want to
• 45:59
  wrap this, you know, pretty quickly.
• 46:01
  But any final kind of words of inspiration?
• 46:05
  And where can people find you if they want to get in contact with
• 46:09
  you? Yeah.
• 46:11
  So before I say any of that, I just want to add, let's end the
• 46:15
  podcast in closing prayer, which we'll do after this.
• 46:19
  But yeah, folks, let me tell you guys something.
• 46:21
  Before I gave my life to Christ, I was an agnostic.
• 46:25
  Like, I didn't believe in any set religion.
• 46:28
  I just believe that there was a higher being.
• 46:31
  So I'm telling you, folks like Jesus is the only way to have he
• 46:34
  loved you. He cares for you.
• 46:37
  God wants to have a relationship with you, and I'm urging you
• 46:41
  folks like do it before it's too late.
• 46:44
  Like God will judge you. It says in the Word that nothing
• 46:47
  can separate us from the love that God has for us.
• 46:51
  Yeah, I want to do 2 prayers before we close out.
• 46:54
  I want to do a salvation prayer for those who want to have a
• 46:57
  relationship with Jesus, who want to know they're forgiven
• 47:01
  and to be saved and go to heaven.
• 47:03
  And just remember, folks, nothing, and I repeat nothing
• 47:06
  will celebrate separate you from the love that God has for you.
• 47:11
  And if you need to reach out to me, I'll give you my number and
• 47:14
  e-mail address on air. Because I want to see that
• 47:17
  you're saved, you're doing well, you have a relationship with
• 47:20
  God, and you're forgiven in love, So my.
• 47:42
  Wow. He just docked himself on air.
• 47:45
  Light isn't and gentlemen, feel free to hit me up both.
• 47:48
  If you have any questions, concerns, want to know more
• 47:52
  about me or my relationship with God or having a relationship
• 47:55
  with God, please call me. But first, Sam, I just want to
• 47:58
  say a prayer of salvation for those who don't know the Lord
• 48:02
  Who wants to know Lord? Then I want to close out in the
• 48:05
  closing prayer, if that's OK. Sure, yeah.
• 48:08
  I just want to interject here real quick too, you know, I
• 48:11
  usually don't. You know I I've talked my faith
• 48:16
  a bit on this show but I've never like prayed on air before
• 48:19
  because I do believe it is something sacred and personal.
• 48:22
  But in this case I'm willing to kind of you know, I'm willing to
• 48:29
  separate a bit from my on air personality because this is my
• 48:32
  brother that we are you know that we have on for this Monday
• 48:39
  show and so. You know, this is the discussion
• 48:44
  that we've had is, you know, I'm kind of discarding my on air
• 48:49
  personality for tonight. And so this is just both of us
• 48:53
  being raw and unfiltered and neither tire.
• 48:58
  I really hate anyone. You know, we don't.
• 49:00
  We're not saying that, you know, Christians are better or
• 49:04
  superior than other people, but this is just our faith and what
• 49:07
  we believe in and we want to spread.
• 49:10
  The gospel. And yeah, we we believe as men
• 49:15
  of faith. So yeah, and you know, man,
• 49:19
  that's part of Our Calling and life is just to go out there and
• 49:23
  get the gospel known and to draw closer to God.
• 49:26
  Those are the only two things. Yeah, I just want to open in
• 49:30
  this salvation prayer, if any you want to change in your life,
• 49:34
  then if you want to better your relationship with God, if any
• 49:37
  you want to see results. I'm gonna say this prayer little
• 49:40
  by little and I want you all to repeat it after me and then
• 49:43
  we'll go to closing prayer. Are you so is that OK, Sam?
• 49:47
  Yeah, just just as long as we hit under 60 minutes, but we're
• 49:51
  good. So, OK.
• 49:53
  So let me make it quick then. So repeat after me, folks.
• 49:56
  Dear Heavenly Father. Dear Heavenly Father, I confess.
• 50:02
  I confess that I have failed you.
• 50:05
  That I have failed you, but most of.
• 50:08
  All but most of all, I failed myself.
• 50:13
  I failed myself. I sinned, I sinned, I
• 50:18
  trespassed, I trespassed. And I went against you.
• 50:23
  I went against you, but I'm praying to you today.
• 50:28
  But I'm praying to you today that you accept me.
• 50:32
  That you accept me and your word says.
• 50:37
  And your word says that if I declare.
• 50:40
  That if I declare Jesus is Lord and Savior.
• 50:45
  Jesus is Lord and Savior, and that he rose again from the
• 50:49
  dead. And that he rose again from the
• 50:51
  dead. And if he is alive, and that he
• 50:54
  is risen and alive. And that he is risen and alive,
• 50:59
  I will be saved. I will be saved.
• 51:02
  So I confess that all right now. I confess that all right now
• 51:08
  with my mouth. With my mouth, and I declare,
• 51:12
  Lord. And I declare, Lord, that moving
• 51:16
  forward today. That moving forward today, I
• 51:20
  have a relationship with you. I have a relationship with you,
• 51:24
  Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, breathe your life
• 51:29
  into me and give me love. Breathe their life into me and
• 51:34
  give me a love and Lord, just show me how to go be the person
• 51:40
  you called me to be. Lord, show me to be the person
• 51:45
  that you called me to be. I fight the good fight moving
• 51:49
  forward. I fight the good fight moving
• 51:52
  forward, and I am your soldier in Christ.
• 51:57
  And I am your soldier in Christ, in Jesus name.
• 52:01
  In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
• 52:05
  I pray. Amen.
• 52:08
  So yeah, folks, if you just said that prayer and said it
• 52:11
  wholeheartedly and meant every word you said, you're saved,
• 52:15
  folks, like you're going to heaven.
• 52:17
  There's nothing that's going to separate you from the love of
• 52:20
  God. You have a relationship with
• 52:22
  him. Please once again call.
• 52:34
  So let's go ahead and close our prayer, and we could both pray,
• 52:37
  OK? OK, I real quick.
• 52:40
  I hope you don't get too many trolls.
• 52:42
  Dude. Dude, hey man, you know what?
• 52:47
  It's all good, bro. I'm all about seeing people have
• 52:50
  a relationship with you. I do it for the kingdoms.
• 52:54
  All right, all right, brother. All right.
• 52:56
  So let's pray out. So, dear Heavenly Father, I just
• 52:58
  come before you, God, and I thank you for this opportunity
• 53:02
  to get my testimony out and to be able to share the gospel and
• 53:06
  my testimony and even be able to share with my brother Sam.
• 53:10
  Lord, I thank you for the friendship we've had all these
• 53:12
  years and us ministering and being there for one another.
• 53:16
  And we just thank you, Lord. We love you, Lord, and we pray
• 53:18
  for favoritism. We pray for strength.
• 53:21
  Holy Spirit, set your fire in this tournament.
• 53:25
  We pray you know, God, my will not be done, but your will be
• 53:28
  done. But please, God, give me the
• 53:31
  strength and power and agility to do well in this tournament.
• 53:35
  And I thank you for Sam. I thank you for the brotherhood,
• 53:38
  the friendship. And we just thank you, Lord.
• 53:41
  In Jesus's name we pray. Amen.
• 53:44
  Amen. And Lord, I just want to thank
• 53:47
  you for giving me out the opportunity for 15 years now to
• 53:52
  do this show to come on air. Through thickens thin no matter
• 53:58
  what's going on, to be able to speak in your name and be able
• 54:05
  to, you know, do investigative journalism, do interviews, and
• 54:10
  to have deep conversations like this one.
• 54:13
  Lord, I thank you for my brother in Christ, Ty, who has been with
• 54:19
  me for even longer and who has been, you know, an intimate part
• 54:24
  of my life. And Lord, we just pray for him
• 54:31
  in this coming month that you guide him in this tournament and
• 54:36
  that he may be victorious in the tournament, but of course we
• 54:43
  know that he is victorious even if he loses because he has you.
• 54:48
  And Lord, I just pray that this podcast may reach those who.
• 54:55
  You know, desperately need to hear it.
• 54:57
  And we give thanks and praise in your name and Amen.
• 55:04
  In Jesus' name, Amen. Hey, thanks, everybody.
• 55:07
  Thank you, Sam. Thank you for having me on the
• 55:09
  show. Love you guys.
• 55:11
  Appreciate you all. And thank you very much.
• 55:13
  Not a problem, brother. Folks, we'll be back Wednesday
• 55:17
  night, 9:00 PM Eastern Rumble. Until then, folks, God bless.
• 55:24
  God save this great nation, as my friend John Nera likes to
• 55:29
  say, another brother in Christ, God, Freedom, Legacy, in that
• 55:33
  order. And I'll see you on the next
• 55:35
  show, folks. God bless, God bless.
• 55:39
  Bye, bye.