Lessons Learned for Vets
Lessons Learned for Vets
Exploring the Importance of Faith in the Military Transition with Eric Brew
What if military transition isn’t about the next job, but about laying down the "rucksack" you’ve carried for years? Lori speaks with Marine Corps and Army veteran Eric Brew, now Georgia Director for Warriors Set Free, to unpack this organization's candid blueprint for healing from the past, building honest relationships and choosing a purpose that fits. Eric’s story cuts through the noise. He isn't known for using buzzwords, there is no posturing, just his authenticity sharing his hard-won lessons on how to own your narrative and connect without pretending.
We dig into Warriors Set Free’s origins under Set Free Ministries and the heart of their work: a peer-led, faith-centered approach that meets veterans where they are. Eric explains the Freedom Appointment, a one-day spiritual “house cleaning” that compresses months of inner work into focused time, and why virtual options make it accessible across the country. He also highlights immersive gatherings like The Warrior’s Battle for men and the new Heroes Reflect for women and family members, designed to help people put down guilt, shame and the silent weight of service.
At the core is the TRIP framework:
Truth as a filter for life’s grit
Relationships in the right order
Identity that reframes strength without shrinking
Purpose you can pursue in any field with integrity.
Eric offers practical guidance for both extroverts and introverts such as become “bilingual” in civilianese when needed, honor what charges your social battery and lead with authenticity because veterans can spot pretense a mile away.
The deeper insight Eric shares is both sobering and hopeful, transition never ends. From empty nests to career shifts and grief, change keeps coming. With truth, relationships, identity and purpose in place, each new chapter becomes navigable.
Ready to rethink what comes next and set down what no longer serves you? Listen, share with a friend who needs it, and leave a review to help more veterans find this conversation. Subscribe for more real stories and actionable tools for every chapter after service.
Welcome to the Lessons Learning Productions Podcast, your military transition degree. I'm your host, Lori Norris, and I've helped thousands of military service members since I fully transitioned out of the military since 2005. Thanks for tuning in to hear the after-election reports and real stories of your fellow veterans who are here to help combine, educate, and inform you as you navigate your own military transition. By the way, if you find value from today's episode, please share it with others. Leave us a review and post about us on social media. On today's episode of the Lessons Learned from Us podcast, I am so excited to welcome back my friend Eric Prew. Eric retired after more than 24 years of service in both the Marine Corps and the Army. And after his military service, he made the decision to continue to serve his military brothers and sisters, first at Still Serving Veterans, then with American Corporate Partners, and now as the director, as the Georgia director for Warrior Set Free. This is Eric's second time on the show, but today we're gonna speak about his organization, the work he does, and how he is continuing to live his purpose with this new mission. So, Eric, welcome.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you, my name. I'm just so I'm so excited. I'm a two-timer. You know what an armor that is? I'm a two-timer.
SPEAKER_00:So exciting. I know it's just like you could probably wear a badge, you know. I think I should.
SPEAKER_01:I should get some of an award.
SPEAKER_00:Well, um, I am excited to have you back. I'm sorry that I missed you this year in Atlanta. Uh-huh. I'm sorry to not be there.
SPEAKER_01:But makes you so much fun.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Oh, wait, that's right. We're it's Florida, isn't it? Yeah. So I've never been to I've never been to Tampa.
SPEAKER_01:That was a hard sticker for me to keep. I I knew a little ahead of people, and so I could, but I was told I couldn't say anything. I'm so excited.
SPEAKER_00:All right, I'm gonna have to pick room for some other insider info later. So we'll get back to that. So well, you know, the show's about the military transition, right? And so everybody can go back to season three because your previous episode was a killer. It was it was uh very powerful. You gave us a lot of really good information. Um, I want to start today because I know, as your friend, every position you've landed from the very first job to today has been about networking, right? Yeah. I mean, literally everybody knows Eric Brew in this space, right? So you're you're you're like a celebration. Maybe it's dredge now. Maybe it's a dredge. But how did you make that happen? Like what advice can you give about networking and kind of how you created that environment, those relationships that have really truly led to your career progression?
SPEAKER_01:That's such a that's such a wild, open-ended question. And it's and it's not, it's it's it's hard, right? Because there's a certain, there's a certain way that God designed me, and I'm an extrovert. I I love people, people energize me. I don't get drained by people, I'm not afraid to talk to people. And so those are things that I have naturally gifted to me. So that's it's a little bit of a cheat code, right? My wife is an extreme introvert, and so the peopleing, like her people meter starts to, you know, it starts to get a little alone sometimes. Um, for me, it's the opposite when I interact, like when I do things like go to the Mick, right? That energizes me. And so um I learned that the first thing I learned is that it's okay to not wear the uniform anymore. Right. That was the first thing I had to accept and I had to learn that it was okay. That when I got my DD214, whether anybody wanted to admit it or not, I was a civilian. That's that's what I am. A veteran is an indication of something you used to do. It's literally in the definition, right? Um and so I I kind of took that on and said, Well, then I need to go find people that can help me learn how to be this thing. Because I it'd been almost a quarter of a century since I had been just like a civilian. I won't say just a civilian, but a civilian. Yeah, it'd been a long time and I was a kid. I didn't know any, I didn't know anything then. I'd proved that throughout my 20s. I proved it over and over again I don't know anything. Um, but as I stepped out of the uniform, recognizing that I was gonna be a civilian and being okay with it was a was a a hurdle for me to get over, but I had to. Um recognizing that being unapologetic with my story was was gonna be valuable. Um I think that there is something to be said for an authentic and unapologetic delivery of your story. And I think far too often we the, and I mean people, I I would love to say that veterans have the corn the market cornered in this, but we don't, right? I think it's people. I think we let ourselves get shut down out of guilt and shame, um, or embarrassment or the worry of what somebody else might think. And so we don't share our stories. We don't talk about who we are. And I think that was one thing that I believe, and truthfully, I you know, you know my faith. I believe that God instilled in me is an ability to share my story without feeling that guilt and shame. I know who I am, I know the mistakes I've made. Um, I was there, I was there for every one of them, right? I was I had a first, I had a front row seat to every stupid decision I made. Um, but in that same breath, that created the man that I am. And so I'm not ashamed of who I am. I'm not ashamed of what I've become. I'm I'm I'm grateful for what I've become. I'm grateful that I'm still here. And so I took that and I I had to begin to bring that into my story. Um, and so in order to network, you have to be unapologetic. You you have to, you have got to find a way to be comfortable in your own skin. I mean, we talk about in the military being comfortable with the uncomfortable, and that's great until things are uncomfortable, and then nobody wants it, right? Like we used to say when I was kicking indoors, you say it's like you know, everybody wants to do gangster stuff until it's time to do gangster stuff. Like you, it's hard. Like it's so learning to be unapologetic, learning to accept where I was in life, um, and then being able to tell my story to those around me, I think is what really helped the most.
SPEAKER_00:And I think, you know, you said like, this is how God made me, this is who I am. Yeah. What if God made us like your wife and we're introverted and we're not, you know, we're not there yet? I mean, how would you? I know that's not you, so how do you give advice on that? But what do you what would you say to that person that's like, gosh, that that's just not how I was made?
SPEAKER_01:I I think I would, I would, the advice I would give is the same advice I've given to veterans um about being civilians. And that is, I don't want you to deny your natural design. But if you want to really enjoy your time in a foreign country, you might learn their language, right? Yeah. Even if it's for a time. And so I don't want a veteran to stop being a veteran. I want you to be able to stand around a bonfire with an adult beverage and a cigar or, you know, and tell stories. But then I want you to be able to walk in the boardroom on Monday morning and speak civilianese and speak that language of your culture, of your organization. Um, I would say the same thing to an introvert. I don't want you to deny your natural design. However, you are gonna have to learn how to be bilingual. You are gonna have to learn how to, for a time, exist in that world and then get away and get alone and recharge, right? Um, know your battery, recognize your battery and and and obey your battery.
SPEAKER_00:I think that, yeah, you've got to know kind of, you know, you say, like, oh, go into somewhere like the mix, like charges of my battery, and I'm like, mm-mm, that drains mine. This past weekend, my kids and I were in very people-y places, very crowded, lots of people touching us. And my my youngest daughter and I were like, I don't want anybody touching me, I don't want anybody looking at me, or they're a little more introverted, you know. So um, I think that we we do. We have to like just figure out who we are and what works for us.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But we also have to, I don't know, play the by the rules of the game. And that sometimes means we have to step out of our comfort zone, right?
SPEAKER_01:And well, and I think I think there's value too for even extroverts. Something I've had to learn and had to practice is being okay being alone. Right? For somebody like me, that seemed almost insurmountable. When I went through my second divorce and I was living by myself, that was that was gut-wrenching. I didn't know how to be by myself. I had to learn who I was without people around.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And there's value, there's value in all of us stepping out of our comfort zone, no matter which direction we go, and getting alone or getting with people and building community or getting alone and spending time getting to know yourself, right? There's there's value in that.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, I like it. I think you know, there is no cheat code. No, right? No, I wish there were. That would be awesome. But yeah, I mean, I think that we all just have to figure out what works best for us and who we are. And I really like what you said in that, you know, like you have to be yourself, you have to be authentic. Because I think everybody knows when we're putting on a show, don't you think?
SPEAKER_01:It's so hard to because like what what we pride ourselves, especially, and I'm gonna say veterans in this, I think veterans do have a unique ability. Veterans can sniff out a disingenuous human being really quickly. Like, we have got our our meter for being able to read the crap, um, I think is really finely tuned because of environments we've had to survive and then the ways that we've had to be successful and the performance mentality. Um, I think that we have an innate ability um to sniff out um the disingenuous. And so um I think it's important for us to recognize that and then to um avoid that at all costs, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like who we interact with, but also for us, you know, that way, right? So okay, yeah. I think that's good advice. Like see, you told me you were gonna follow my thing and you're doing it. I love it. All right, so I want to talk about your organization because what you're doing now is completely different, right? So your first job was really about supporting people in the transition, you know, with still serving veterans. Your second job with ACP was all about connecting people with mentorship and just kind of um building those bridges between the business world and the military veteran world. And so now you are with Warrior Set Free. So let's talk about your organization.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Kind of like what's the mission, what's its history? Like, give me a little bit of an overview of it.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so I'll give you the the the 30,000-foot view. So, roughly 30 years ago, um, Dean Vandermee, who's our founder, him and another gentleman started set free ministry. So take the warriors off. Um, and really what set free was built on is the idea of freedom in Christ. So it is a full it is a full-time ministry, um, it is a Christ-centered Bible standing ministry. Um, and so what the idea is, is that we can find freedom in Christ. We can, through scripture, we know that that Christ offers us freedom from the crap that we carry, right? So we all walk around with this rucksack on, and I'll use language that we speak, right? We all walk around this rucksack on, and we might have a thousand things that weigh a thousand pounds, or we might have one little pebble that weighs a thousand pounds, but we've got crap in our rucksack. And when we're tired of carrying it, scripture tells us there's a place to take it. Um, and there's a way to go about it. And so Dean built this ministry, this incredible ministry, on helping people lay stuff at the foot of the cross and walk away from it and be free from it. Um, and that grew and it blossomed, and it grew into this thing where he's got he's got set-free global, which is in a bunch of different countries and Uganda and building high schools and education and doing freedom. And it's incredible. Well, 11 years ago, a guy named Steve Prince, and I won't tell Steve's story accurately or or better than he can by any stretch of the imagination. Um, but Steve Prince went through the program, and essentially what happened is he walked out down the other side and said, This is what our community is missing. And he's he was an army veteran. Um, and he said, This, this is the thing. This is, I don't know why nobody's doing this, but this is this is the answer. And so they built a third leg for the stool, right, under the set-free umbrella called Warrior Set Free. Um, and so Warriors Set Free exists um to walk with our brothers and sisters, to help them grow in their faith, to heal from the past, and to win life's battles. And that's really it. Life, you know, you and I joked before we came on, life is still gonna life us in the face. There is no avoiding that. Nowhere in scripture will you find that if you become a Christian, everything turns out awesome, right? Like that's just not how it works. Life still gets a vote. Um, and we learned that in the in the military, right? When I was deployed, we always, you know, the enemy gets a vote. The truth is, everything around us gets a vote. What we know for a fact coming through scripture is that when you surrender and submit those things and lay them at the foot of the cross and walk away, although bad things happen, you get to experience it differently. You get to walk through that hard thing differently. You have something and someone to lean on and to lean into and to receive comfort from and to experience joy from in places you wouldn't understand or you wouldn't comprehend, right? In scripture, we call it the peace that passes all understanding. That's a peace that doesn't make sense. That's a piece I can't wrap my head around. I don't know why I'm feeling peace, but I'm experiencing this turmoil, this trauma, this loss, this hurt, this pain, this guilt, this shame. And I'm feeling peace in all of it as I navigate it. And that comes from a true surrender to God. And so warrior set free exists to help people understand where that is, where it comes from, right? And the hard part is really truthfully, like scripture, the Bible as a document is offensive. It's really offensive because it points out our sin. And nobody likes a finger wagged in their face. I I do not like having to own the crap that I've done wrong. But it doesn't make it untrue.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I can get mad at gravity, I'm not gonna start floating. Right? Just because I'm mad or I don't agree with or I don't like a truth doesn't make it untrue. So we walk with those folks to help them lay that stuff down. Um, and so two years ago we launched the Georgia expansion, um, which is kind of exciting because they've never done an expansion before. So we got 30 years with set free, 11 years with Warriors Set Free, and two years ago they launched their very first expansion. So um I like to call myself the proof of concept, or this this team down here, the group, not myself, but this team down here, the group, the proof of concept. Um, Steve would call us the test dummies. I think that's probably more accurate. Um, but but now Steve is our national director, and I get to be the Georgia director. Um and together we get to steward this thing that God has given us, which really does a couple of things really uniquely. It meets people where they are. I don't, again, I don't care if you have a thousand pounds, a thousand one pound things or one thousand pound thing, right? It doesn't matter. We get to meet people where they are, we get to love them the way Jesus loved them. We get to be honest with them and tell them the truth, even if it hurts sometimes. And then we get to watch God work in very real ways and in very real time as He as He helps someone experience and feel and walk through and process their forgiveness and their ability to lay their crap down. And that is probably one of the most beautiful things I'll ever get to see. I love it.
SPEAKER_00:Is so you are in Georgia, you oversee all the operations in Georgia. How many other locations do they have?
SPEAKER_01:That's it. We're the first. We have not, yeah, we've been doing this for two years. Um, and it's a little, as I'm thinking about it, they haven't expanded again. So maybe this wasn't a good idea. No, I'm joking. Um, no, we're we're we are actively looking at other states. Um, and we're actively actively looking at the how um because that matters, right? Organizationally, expansion matters, right? Scaled growth matters. We can talk about all of those things that matter um when you grow organizations. Um and and also we believe because because of our faith, we believe that following and obeying God and the Holy Spirit and how they drive us and where they have us to go, that that also matters um primarily.
SPEAKER_00:So So I'm uh I'm in Arizona. How can the organization help me if I'm a veteran?
SPEAKER_01:So what's really cool is we can do everything we do virtually.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:So um That's what I thought. Yeah. And and I will say this, and it's it's it's it's not everything. I probably it's probably a misnomer. So the the the organization is built on an on a process we call the freedom appointment. Okay, so a freedom appointment is a one-day kind of intense spiritual house cleaning, right? Um, I often compare it to 12 weeks of therapy, right? You go to the therapist once a week for an hour, we do it all in one day. Um, and so and it's it can get intense, right? But it but it's it's a it's a what's great about this with veterans is that we know how to do the hard things. We know how to do the hard thing. We know how to suck it up and drive on. We know how to adapt and overcome. We know how to get in there and get our hands dirty. Um and so when we get somebody who sits down, because the truth is, this whole process, Lori, this I have led people to Christ through this ministry and watched them come to Christ. But if you don't believe in God, then this doesn't matter at all anyway. And I'm not, I'm not, I don't, this, this Bible was not meant as a blunt force instrument. I don't beat people with the Bible, right? So if you don't believe in God, then not anything I'm saying is gonna matter anyhow. But if you do, or if you're questioning, or if you've got an idea that maybe I'm just tired enough. Maybe I'm just tired enough. And there's gotta be something different. Well, then we can sit down, then we can come to an understanding of what the truth is, right? So we we work off of our our our framework, which is trip, and we'll talk about that. I know you want to ask that. I'm see how I'm obeying.
SPEAKER_00:Um I am not demanding obedience, just structure, Eric. Come on.
SPEAKER_01:I thought it was a fun word to use. Um, but no, I mean it's it's again, it's it's a matter of just getting. We we do our best to set a table to create opportunities. Um, but the freedom appointment is that one day intense spiritual house cleaning. Um, we go off seven steps. We call it the seven steps of freedom in Christ. There are seven things that we go through, and there's a a manual because why wouldn't there be? We have acronyms because why wouldn't we, right? Um, can't be a real ministry that leads that that loves on veterans if we don't have those things.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:Um but the freedom appointment can be done in per or done in person or virtually. Um, but we also do every Tuesday morning we do a Bible study, and that's one of the things we do for discipleship where we just kind of guide people. I do I lead it on Tuesday mornings. Uh Steve Prince leads it Tuesday evenings. Um, we have a thing called the Warriors Battle, which is really exciting. That's a four-day men's event here in Georgia. Um, that is not done virtually. You're gonna have to come to Georgia for that. Um, but it is a unique opportunity to get around brothers um and again to lay some heavy stuff down. It is similar to and nested with the Freedom Appointment, but they're not identical. And we did that intentionally because we want you we want you to do all the things, right? There's not a one and done with God, unfortunately, right? There's a one and done for salvation, but there's not a one and done for, you know, for for the work you got to do. Um, and then for the ladies, we have an opportunity called the Heroes Reflect, which we will be hosting our very first one uh March of next year. We're very excited. My wife will be leading that one with um the founder's wife. Um, and so we're very, very excited about that. I am super, super excited about finally getting the ladies um involved in this stuff. This has been um my wife being a veteran. I I obviously have a vested interest in our female veterans, our spouses, and such. But um but anyway, yeah, so we've got we've got all those opportunities.
SPEAKER_00:The ladies' event is for veterans and spouses.
SPEAKER_01:So we're gonna this is how we're gonna run it. It's gonna go active duty, veterans, first responders, and any family member. So if it is a mom, a daughter, and my heart really goes out to the daughters, right? The ones who were raised by us, right? I have I have I have five adult children, um, and I know I made mistakes. So I want them to get loved on too, right? They they suffered through my services as much as I did. Um, and what's cool is all of my kids have been through one of these events. Like I get to personally, like my children have been through these events, um, which is really cool. Even even my youngest son, Jordan, who's who's 16, um, he's been through a young men's event. Now we host that up in Michigan. That's not here in Georgia quite yet, but it is it is phenomenal.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, excellent. All right, well, let's talk about that. You mentioned the framework, right? So let's talk about it. I heard about it because you and Sean well sat sat down and uh went through it, right? And so let's talk about it. You I mean, it's an acronym, of course it's an acronym. You're for veterans, right? Yeah. So we we love a good acronym in the military, right? So z you you talked about earlier, the TRIP framework. So tell us what that is and kind of how your program operates around that.
SPEAKER_01:Sure. So TRIP is a very simple acronym, it stands for truth, relationships, identity, and purpose. And so what we want to do is we want to build out our understanding of those things. Um, and I love this analogy that I is is super personal to me because it's exactly how I came to understand the truth of God's word. Um, but with my last name being Brew, I have to be a coffee connoisseur. Like I have to, right? That's this, there's just no other rule. Um, and so the way I look at the truth of God's word is I enjoy coffee. When I have a warm, hot cup of coffee, it brings me joy, it brings me happiness, it gives me energy, right? There are there are benefits to me drinking that coffee. However, if I reach my hand into a bag of grounds and I shove them into my mouth, I'm going to have a very different experience.
unknown:Right?
SPEAKER_01:It's gonna be bitter, it's gonna be gritty, it's not gonna taste good. I might get some energy. I would I've been in a couple of schools where I had to like suck on some coffee grounds. Um, but um it's it's not gonna give us that same exam, that same that same result, right? And so what happens is I run it through a filter, and it's the thing that comes out on the other side that's beautiful, right? So I look at life the same way. If I reach into the bag of life and I try and I try to consume it raw, right? It's generally speaking really gritty and bitter, and it's hard. But if I take that same life, that same experience, and I run it through the filter of God's word, what comes out on the other side is something that we can enjoy and we do get to find peace in, and we do get to find happiness in, and we do get to experience hope, and we do get to experience grace, and we get to let go of guilt and shame, right? And we get to let go of these things and we get to have this cup of life that is so much better, right? So that's that's the truth. The truth of God's word is with him things are better. Not that life stops happening, but you experience them differently. Um, with relationships, we want to understand how, not just how how to restore them, but also what order they belong in. And again, I just go to scripture for that very simply. In Genesis, it tells us that first he created them male, male and female. So the first relationship we ever had is with our father, with our heavenly father. So with our relationship with God is first. Then he made them husband and wife, and that's the second relationship. Then he gave them children, that's the third relationship, and so on and so forth, right? Scripture lines out God's, I think you and God would get along really well because he likes things in order too, right? And so, and and to be honest, like my wife and I have even adjusted our marriage to fit that model. I've told my wife, and she tells me, I love her second. She has to come second, she won't come second to any human being on this earth, but she does come second to my God. She is not God, she cannot hold that place, and I can't hold it. It relieves so much pressure, right? And next is identity, and that's understanding what's your identity. What does the Bible say my identity is according to God? Who am I designed to be? And that was something that was really hard for me as I was coming out of the military. See, I grew up in a Christian home. I went to a Christian school, I graduated from a Christian high school, I went to a private school for most of my 12 years. And there's a whole story behind that. But the fact is, when I graduated, I ran away from God. So I knew God, but I didn't know God. Right? Most people miss heaven by 18 inches. They might know him, but they don't. They have not, they have not, they have not allowed him to infill it, right? Um and when it comes to identity, when I came back to Christ five years ago, six years ago, I struggled with the idea that after nearly a quarter of a century of kicking indoors and chasing bad dudes down and doing things like that, I didn't know how to go back to what at that point was my mentality, my understanding of what a Christian man was. This soft, turn the other cheek, weak, right? And I didn't, I couldn't, I couldn't wrap my head. I couldn't, I didn't know how to go back. I didn't know how to undo a quarter of a century of the other. And God took me to Exodus 15.3, and I don't memorize a lot of scripture because well, IEDs and TBIs are real. Um, but you can only get blown up so many times before things stop working. Um, but I I God took me to Exodus 15.3, and Exodus 15.3 simply says, the Lord is a warrior, Yahweh is his name. And that clicked with me, and I realized, wait a minute, if if I call him my father, that means I share DNA with him. He created me. So if he gets to be a warrior, I get to be a warrior. I don't have to undo everything I've done, I just have to reframe it. And so that helps. So we want to we want to help men understand their identity and who God says they are, really, not who the world says they're supposed to be. Right? I get so tired of people talking about um how men are simple-minded, one-track minded. I've even heard pastors talk about it. Oh, guys are just simple. You just gotta, I cannot be fearfully and wonderfully made. I cannot be uniquely made. I cannot be made in the image of my creator and be simple-minded and stupid. I cannot be called to be the spiritual head of my home. God would never put that on someone who was less than. I am complex. I have a lot of emotions and a lot of things, and I've got to learn how to experience them all. And that's all part of my identity.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_01:And then after identity, we want to talk about purpose. What is the purpose? Now that we've got this framework and this idea of kind of like where we come from, how we live life, who lives life with us, and how do we do business with them, right? And who am I? Now I start looking at what is my purpose? What is my God-given purpose in this life? Where do I go now? What do I do with it? And I'm not saying that everybody has to go into ministry or go be a preacher, right?
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:If you're gonna be a banker, be a banker. Scripture says very clear, whatever you do, do it as though you're working for God, not for man. So, whatever you do, I I I often think it's funny when people will ask me, Well, what should I do when I retire? What should I do when I get out of college, or what should I do when I scripture says I picture God up there going, whatever, man? I don't know, pick something. But what you pick, glorify me in. Right? So, anyway, that's the trip frame.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. And a lot of what your organization does is built around that framework, right? So that's kind of what you're walking people through and helping them figure all of that out.
SPEAKER_01:And it gets a little more complex as we dig into each person, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Obviously, yeah. Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:What I really like is that as we do that, none of us are clinicians. None of us are counselors, none of us are therapists, none of us are pastors, right? And what that builds is this really cool soft middle ground landing zone for some people who maybe don't want to say that they need counseling. Right. Or who maybe even have church hurt and don't want to talk to a pastor. We have created what Steve and Dean created and what I get to steward, and what James and Mary gets like this thing that we've got here is this really cool soft landing ground for people to just come sit with people who are not going to judge them and help them navigate things we've all done. I went through my freedom appointment in 2021. I did my 40 men's event. I've I have I have done all of this. My children have done all of this. My wife has done all of this, right? Like this is I'm telling you, Lori, if God can put a dumpster fire like me back together, He can do it for anybody.
SPEAKER_00:You are probably the most humble man I know, but we'll just leave it at that. So okay, I have to ask this question, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm gonna guess that if someone does not have the same relationship with their faith that you do, they may have already stopped listening. That's okay, right? Not every episode is for every person. Um but if you're listening still and you're like, I just don't have that same relationship with my faith with Christ that Eric has. I think Eric already told us that you know, maybe I don't know, six, seven years ago, you didn't have the same relationship, right? But anyway, I don't have that same relationship as you. I I don't think I can do this. Like I don't think this is for me. Like, what would you say to those people?
SPEAKER_01:First of all, my heart breaks for someone who isn't ready for God. Right? However, I get it. I've been there. Um man. The question I'd have to ask them is how tired are you? How tired are you of fumbling around in the dark, trying to figure it out, bouncing off the same walls, making the same mistakes, figuring out that it just doesn't work and I can't nothing I'm doing is working. How tired are you? If you're not tired of it yet, then you're not ready. And my prayer for you is that you'll get there. Right? Um scripture tells us in 2 Peter 3:9, and this is one of those ones that really hits hard. It says that God doesn't, God isn't slow as some people understand, slowness. It says, no, he's patient for our sake, because he doesn't want any man to be destroyed, and he wants all to come to salvation. So what I would tell you is that God's a gentleman, he's not gonna chase you down and beat you and drag you over, drag you back to salvation, he's gonna stand and he's gonna gently knock at the door. And when you're done fumbling around in the dark, and when you are done trying everything like me, and ruining two marriages and screwing up and failing every which way you can, when you're done, just cry out to him. And if you need help with that, please call me.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Okay. I think that's fair. Yeah, thank you, Eric. I so I know that you know what you're doing now isn't necessarily the aspect of transition that I I talk about a lot, right? The careers and the job searching and all of that. But I think that what I've learned in the five seasons of doing this is that transition is so much more than writing a resume and getting a job, right? Which, you know, we already already all knew that. But any last kind of words of advice for like how to bring all of this together and kind of like focus on like the whole person, if you will, in the military transition.
SPEAKER_01:This isn't your last transition.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Right. My my youngest son is 16. I'm about to be an empty nester. That's gonna be a transition. We're going to experience loss of loved ones. That's a transition. We're gonna experience changes in jobs, that's a transition. This is not your transition, it's not the last one, right? Um, it might even be just it's not your first. You transitioned into the military, right? So it's not even your first transition. Um, you graduate high school, you graduated college, you got married, you had kids. We've all been through these transitions in life, and they're going to continue. So as you start to make a framework for yourself and how you navigate transition, ask yourself, how do I navigate transition? It's this is the this is the most, this is one of the most important ones because it's the one in front of me right now, right? Especially if I'm transitioning right now. This is this is the big scary thing. But it'll be the big scary thing too when your wife and your and you are looking at each other, standing at the front door, wondering why the house is so quiet, right? Or the first time you bring a grandkid over to spend the weekend, or like there's all these transitions we go through in life. Start building your framework now. And I would be remiss if I didn't say I'm begging you to include God in that. Include a faith in God, not just a faith, not just religious. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a real solid understanding of God's character and his voice and a relationship with him. I've had so many people stop me like, oh, I don't, I don't do religion. Fantastic. Me either. I do relationship with Jesus. Like that's that's where I'm at, right? I this this this dogma stuff that we've got going on and the the he said, she said, and all this religious stuff that we're put piling on top of Jesus. It doesn't, it's not, it's not, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about understanding the person of Christ. I'm understanding, I'm I'm talking about understanding his sacrifice and why you need to lean into him. And when we do that, it makes the transition easier because we have now filtered our transition through the word of God. We understand that things are gonna go differently and things are gonna happen, and but I've got somewhere to go and I've got somewhere to lean.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I like it. Thank you very much, my friend. I appreciate you following my framework, sir.
SPEAKER_01:No, I've enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_00:I I love having you. I love talking to you. I'm sorry I didn't get to hug you this year.
SPEAKER_01:Next year.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I hope so.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we shall see.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, friend.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, ma'am.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks for listening to today's episode. My goal is to give you actionable strategies to help you learn to market your military skills and smooth your transition to the next phase of your career. If you learned something valuable today, share it. Subscribe to our podcast and our YouTube channel, leave us a review, and write a post on social media about the lessons that helped you today from this episode.