Death to Life podcast
A podcast that tells the stories of people that used to be one way, and now are completely different, and the thing that happened in between was Jesus.
Death to Life podcast
#186 From Trinidad to Transformation: David Hunte's Spiritual Journey
What happens when a young musician from Trinidad encounters a transformative spiritual awakening? Join us as we explore the captivating journey of David Hunte, whose life took a profound turn from his roots as the son of a charismatic Seventh-day Adventist pastor to becoming a devoted follower of Christ. Raised in the lively culture of Trinidad, David's experiences under the watchful eyes of his father and community painted a vibrant backdrop to his early years. Through candid reflections, he opens up about the pivotal moments that reshaped his faith and identity, offering a narrative of hope and resilience that's sure to resonate with anyone seeking deeper meaning in their spiritual journey.
David's story is more than a personal transformation—it's an exploration of faith's evolution from a transactional practice to a genuine relationship with God. Growing up, scripture memorization and early baptism felt like routine, yet these seeds of faith took root during his challenging transition as a foreign student in Massachusetts. Facing harsh winters and financial struggles, David found solace in the warmth of a supportive church community. Listen as he shares how this experience strengthened his spiritual resolve and provided a sense of belonging, all while juggling the demands of multiple jobs to support his education. This episode is a rich tapestry of cultural exploration, personal growth, and spiritual insight, offering listeners a glimpse into the resilient spirit of David Hunte.
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The world doesn't think that the gospel can change your life, but we know that it can and that's why we want you to hear these stories, stories of transformation, stories of freedom, people getting free from sin and healed from sin because of Jesus. This is Death to Life.
Speaker 2:And I was taking the clothes from the washer and putting it into the dryer. And as I was putting it into the dryer, I heard it says you are clean, I have made you clean. Those are the words that came into my mind and it was just like you are clean. And it really just went right through me and I was just like, oh, because god had been baptized into Christ and raised. And so I believe that's what I first started really grasping onto it and believed that I was a son.
Speaker 1:Yo, this is the death of life podcast. My name is Richard Young. Make sure, if you dig this podcast, to go and rate it on Apple. Share it with some friends, post it to your Facebook wall, send it to your mom. Episode is with David Hunt, and man, david has been such a blessing to us for the last four years and to finally hear his story, um man, my heart just goes out to him. Uh, it's not for kids, it is beautiful. And uh, at the end you might, you might, catch a David Hunt song, and you know that's what we all want to hang out for. So a buckle up, strap in Love y'all, appreciate y'all. Here's David. All right, david Hunt, where are you taking us? Where does the story?
Speaker 2:begin. That's a very good question.
Speaker 1:Yeah, where are you taking us? You're good, i're sure you're taking us back in time where I just want to know yeah, well, I grew up in the islands.
Speaker 2:I am an island boy through and through um. I grew up in the island of trinidad and the country of Trinidad and Tobago, but I grew up in Trinidad. My grandmother was from Tobago, but my mom was too, but I grew up in Trinidad.
Speaker 1:How far is that from the DR? How far is it, yeah, is it near there? Is it near that part of?
Speaker 2:It's right off the coast of Venezuela, so it's not necessarily far. It will take about three hours to fly, two hours, two and a half hours.
Speaker 1:I'm going to show some ignorance here. What about how far is it from Jamaica?
Speaker 2:It's about four hours from Jamaicaica. Three hours, four hours from jamaica and the language that they speak in trinidad is what we speak english there's in a former british colony, so we I didn't learn any other languages like um, spanish or anything like that. Well, I mean, I learned Spanish in school, but we spoke English.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, so tell us about the island, the island was very, very easygoing.
Speaker 2:The Trinidadians have a very easy personality, at least as far as I can remember. You know it's like you know we have a very, very, very open, open, kind of open kind of people. So, you know, you say hello to people on the street, strangers you don't know. You know it's like, you know, good morning, hello, and that sort of a thing. So it's a very easy going, laid-back kind of vibe all the way, all the way through. And so growing up I really didn't have, um, too much of a too much of a issue with, like, uh, christian things, cause my father was a pastor, so you were, you know, supposed to to behave and I would get the looks and the lectures from from, you know, from from my dad, you know you. You know, if you see me be misbehaving in the audience and it's like, hey, you know, I see you, oh man. So that was a thing. And so I got baptized when I was nine.
Speaker 1:What kind of church was he a pastor of? What kind of church, what kind of church was he a pastor of? What kind of church was he a pastor of? He?
Speaker 2:was a Well, let's put it this way, he had multiple churches growing up, so he was a Seventh-day Adventist pastor. I'm a third generation Seventh-day Adventist third generation Seventh-day Adventists. So yeah, so my dad was dedicated to the ministry before he was born. It's kind of like a Samuel experience it was. My grandmother couldn't have kids and for the longest time she prayed and she said if I got a kid, dedicate him to the ministry. And so my dad was obedient to that call and he went into the ministry and so I was a pastor's kid. I had three older brothers, so it was four or four brothers. And you know, growing up that was, you know, pastor Hunt's son. Right Was my identity for a long time. It still is.
Speaker 2:I don't think I'll ever not be Pastor Hunt's son. But yeah, so you know my dad was very, you know, outgoing and charismatic and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:What was his sermon? I remember there was one Pardon, Sorry. What was he preaching? What was his sermon? What was the thing that if you went to hear Pastor Hunt, you were going to get like, overall, you're going to hear this message. What was he trying to get across?
Speaker 2:You know he preached the good old Adventist message and for him he I wouldn't say I remember any of his sermons. All I remember is he told a lot of stories, like he would always start his sermon with a story for the kids and was always stories from his life, because he pastored all over Southern Caribbean and had a lot of experience pastoring and, you know, dealing with the supernatural.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, you know dealing with the supernatural and uh yeah, these it was.
Speaker 2:I believe he was literally sold out for God Cause he, you know he'd walk in demons, tremble kind of a vibe. You know he was a righteous man and um, but he was pretty much, you know, you know much down the line and he spoke about freedom, but I don't remember any of his stories, any of the sermons, for example, I could point to and say, ah, this was his main theme.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, yeah, because I was younger. Um well, when I say I was younger, I was the youngest of four, and so he was the other thing I remember he was always working, he was constantly working, he one district, he had 13 churches as a pastor. Mercy, yeah, so you know. One for each Sabbath of the quarter. Pretty much.
Speaker 1:He would go to like two churches. Where is he going to be on 13th Sabbath when they do the ordinance of humility Welp?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know he moved around a lot and then we moved to some other districts that you know, like four churches, so he was more present, but my mom would pick one church in the district and we would all go to that church. As my brothers got older, you know, they started, you know, doing their own thing, because you know if they started working or doing whatever they could so that they could get out there it was, you know, it was the vibe they would, you know, go places. If they had, you know, a girlfriend or something like that, they would end up going to that church where the girlfriend was. Yeah, the other thing that we had growing up was music.
Speaker 2:So my dad was very musical. He played a lot of instruments and we all got a modicum of that to some degree, got a modicum of that to some degree, meaning that, you know he would. You know he would have us sing. If you know, if we were, if he was doing like an evangelistic series or something like that, he would have us sing and we would come on and do the thing and then he would preach. And so you know he taught me how to play and my older brother also taught me how to play piano specifically, but other instruments. He was foremost in my training for music and so that's kind of like a little bit about my background.
Speaker 1:How long were you on the island? My background.
Speaker 2:How long were you on the island I?
Speaker 2:left when I was like I don't know 23. Oh, wow, yeah, I was older. I went to Seventh-day Adventist Elementary School and I also went to the high school that's associated with the college Caribbean Union College, now it's called University of the Southern Caribbean, and so that's where I went for my high school. And when you're done with high school, you take another set of standardized tests for graduating high school and you could take different subjects If you're in science track, you do different sciences If you're in languages or you're doing social stuff, economics and that sort of a thing. So you could, I did the sciences, and so biology, chemistry, physics, you know, math track. That's kind of like what I was doing. I did that because my brothers did it, sure, yeah, so just follow, follow it along.
Speaker 1:And I like science. So where is this college? What is it? On Trinidad, it's in.
Speaker 2:Trinidad. Yeah, so Caribbean Union College and it, it, it reaches all the way through the Caribbean. People come from all over Barbados, guyana, grenada, st Lucia, st Vincent, you know, know I may come from, you know, from the us, from the uk as well, expats who have moved away and they want their kids to get a little bit of the island culture.
Speaker 1:Um, did you have a heavy accent?
Speaker 2:I had a heavy accent yet. Well, no, it was a light accent. You could hear little bits of it here and there as I'm talking.
Speaker 1:So you went to college there to do the sciences and you graduated from that college, Because if you left at 23, if you're going around 18.
Speaker 2:Oh no, so I didn't finish explaining. So we have a standardized test and that's usually around 15 and 16 that you can get out of high school and then you could do standardized test, which is administered uh, I believe by now they probably have a caribbean equivalent, but we would take um tests from cambridge in london. So the same tests that they took in in england we would take on island and it's all over the caribbean. That's, that's how the schooling is done, so you could go to college at 16 oh wow.
Speaker 1:So why did you come to the states?
Speaker 2:I wanted to study music oh yeah, and there was no music at a higher level. All the musicians that were teaching in Trinidad all had to go abroad to study music. Either they went to the UK or they went to the States.
Speaker 1:So let me guess where you landed. Was it near South Lancaster? Massachusetts, yeah, did let me get early 90s early 90s, 1994.
Speaker 2:This is okay, this was yeah, that's man, you the.
Speaker 1:The oj case was going on and you're landing in south lancaster. You're like oj. I don't know if he did it. I need to, I need to do this music yeah, no, it was.
Speaker 2:It was a little bit of a shock, culture shock. Little island boy, skinny, I was like 130 pounds and it was. You know. Just those days are long gone, um, but yeah, it was interesting, to say the least.
Speaker 1:So who was God your first 23 years of life? Who was he? What was his thought process towards you?
Speaker 2:You know, I really I knew you were going to ask me this question, because you ask everybody. That's the question. I was just like, okay, in this particular instance I don't remember thinking of God in any particular way. He was just, you know, someone who I served, cause I was in church my whole life and I didn't have a you know a wild story. Um, even though, thinking back on it, any disobedience, you know, you think about it, it could be considered wild, because why would you do that?
Speaker 1:I don't know If you have a cheeseburger. That's not wild to me, but I mean to other people. To each his own, yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:So for me, god was someone who I served. You know, I called myself a Christian. I call myself a follower of Christ. You know I called myself a Christian. I call myself a follower of Christ. But I really didn't know. The parents instilled the word of God in me. So sometimes, you know, you may ask for a text and it just pops in because I memorized a lot of scripture, so we had a lot of memorization going on, so I knew the Bible, not to Floyd's example. You know that. You know reading the Bible every year. I wasn't that, but I knew enough so that I could get by and people thought I was a good guy and for the most part I am. I was um. Now I am because of of who God is in my life, but at that time, uh, I, I can't say that I, I, um, I was in any way knowing who God was.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So it was just, you know. You know, I was really thinking about the questions like God, was this nebulous being there that I could go to when I had problems? It's almost like the ATM, you know. So it's like, oh yeah, I know there's a huge amount of money there so I could go to it whenever I needed some. Yeah, and really for a long time. So, even being baptized at a young age, I did it and funny stories like the crusade, the evangelistic meeting that I got baptized in, my father was involved because he sponsored the college student to be able to preach, because the guy was in college for theology and in order to to graduate as a in that time, you had to preach and do evangelistic series.
Speaker 1:it's evangelistic series series is really dave um you had to, you had to do series is really, dave, you had to do a series is yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It was a thing so my father actually sponsored. And I found this out like maybe two years, a year or two ago, when I spoke to the evangelist and he says hey, how are you doing? He told, he told me the story. My father never mentioned any of it, I didn't know any of it. But anyway, to the evangelist and he says hey, how are you doing? He told, he told me the story. My father never mentioned any of, I didn't know any of it. But anyway, that's another story for another time. But so, baptized at the age of nine, not really knowing what that meant except now I could get communion yeah, now you can eat.
Speaker 2:No, you could eat on the 13th saturday oh, man, it was, it was a, it was a vibe, but so all of the time going through college, and I think it's what like, contributed to um my behavior, because if, if I sinned, I can, you know, you know, first john 1 9 go and ask for forgiveness and and you receive it right, and then then you're good, you know, until you sin again and you repeat and um so you better get good.
Speaker 2:Better get good, and so for me it was very works-based, but by rote. I did it by rote because that's what everybody said you need to do, sure, and I'd be, sorry you, yeah, sincere. Sincerely is like you know, god, if you, if you forgive me, I'll you know, I'll never do this again. Uh, multiple times you meant it yeah but you did it again.
Speaker 1:But I have it on good authority that you did it again, but I did it again. I have it on good authority that you did it again, but you meant it.
Speaker 2:I did Every time Every time. And you know, sometimes people think that's enough and they go through life believing that you're a sinner. You know always, until you know Jesus comes and you're changed.
Speaker 1:That's the okay gospel.
Speaker 2:That's the okay gospel.
Speaker 1:That's the okay gospel.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you get here 23, music, massachusetts. What happened, man?
Speaker 2:Well, I, you know it was that first year was a little bit of a shock because I'd never seen snow. That first year was a little bit of a shock because I'd never seen snow. I was really had. No, my blood wasn't thick enough, it's still. You know, cold was a shock to me. So, you know, wearing two pants and two sweaters and with a jacket and three pairs of socks, and that was a, that was a vibe for me. I mean, you know, I looked like the Pilbury Doughboy, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know I'm just bundled up, you know, but that was, that was one thing. And then you know being away from home. So I had no network. You know, back home, you know you have a network. You know family people looking out for you and people looked out for me here, don't get me wrong. There were so many people that reached out to me because and they helped me because I was, you was a foreign student. They've taken me places like, okay, we can go to the Goodwill store or to the community service. They had people who donated coats and shoes and all the stuff. So I was able to get a lot of stuff because I didn't have any money Literally no money In a strange land, no money and stuff. I worked on campus but all the money I made went towards my school bill because I didn't have enough to cover. I couldn't get loans, so I worked. I worked. One time I had like five jobs on campus because I needed to work.
Speaker 1:Hustle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hustle, I got a church job playing for you know church. I got a church job playing for you know church and you know they paid me under the table because I wasn't supposed to yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Undocumented. I mean, I was documented because I had, you know, a student You're not a citizen yeah, yeah, yeah, working, but they needed someone to play and I, um, I could do it. So they just paid me and, uh, it was, it was good and being in church all the time, in church all the time. But, um, even as I was there, I was there, I was consumed and addicted to LUST, and that was a major part of why I was always asking for forgiveness is I would go to where I shouldn't gocom, and but that, and that was at the beginning of the internet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you had to do the whole dial up.
Speaker 1:People in the house knew where you. You weren't where you should be Cause they picked up the phone. They couldn't call anybody. Oh man, no, yeah, Well, yeah, where you. You weren't where you should be because they picked up the phone. They couldn't call anybody. Oh man, no, yeah, well, yeah, yeah, isn't that fascinating that the internet started. I don't know who invented it al gore invented it and the next day there was some, some naked pictures on there. I was like, oh, this is this tool. And and then the next day someone's like, let's use it for this.
Speaker 2:And it's probably what is used for the most crazy, huh yeah, so for me, I liked to read all right, so I would read stories, and that's what really got me hooked. Actually, I found a book somewhere. Someone had a book and it was all about you know, doing things you shouldn't be doing, and I was like yes, the dark arts, the dark arts yeah and so that really got me hooked on reading.
Speaker 2:So I would read pictures and I would see movies, vhs tapes and stuff like that, but that wasn't really what drove at the time. My mind was reading the stories. So using my mind now to imagine what the story is being anyway. So for years, years, that's what. And because you're not looking at pictures, it's not as bad.
Speaker 1:Right, sure, that's what they say.
Speaker 2:That's what they say right, sure that's what they say.
Speaker 2:that's what they say and yeah, so you know growing through. So it took three years for me to graduate. So I had a associate degree when I came and I got a bachelor's degree from Atlantic Union College and you know I worked at because after you graduate, you could convert your student visa to a work permit in your field and you could work for a year. So I worked at the college. I told you I was, I worked. It's like you know, if you want someone to work, I'm your guy, because I need I'm right here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So I graduated in 1997 and then I worked for a year. So during this time, when I first came to the States, I was dating a young lady who was also from Trinidad. Her brother was at Atlantic Union, where I was, but she went to Andrews and so we did the long distance thing, but that didn't work. That didn't work for me. So I, I had, I, I met a girl. So this is where the wildness for me is. So I had my girlfriend at Andrews, but I met a girl on campus. You know she's nice, she's pretty, and so we started talking, even though I'm dating this other young lady at Andrews, and before you know what, with this other girl, and I broke it off on the phone with the other one, and you know it was. You know it was. I'm trying to get the timeline in my head because I didn't make any notes, you're good. So just going along, ended up not working out with this other young lady. That I started, yeah, and sometimes that's how it works.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you run into somebody, you think it's going to be something, you break up and then you realize it wasn't something no, it wasn't something then, what are you going to do? We're going to find out what'd you do.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, um, I started dating my, my wife now, um, michelle, she had someone had told me she liked me, like when she first came to college and I was just like I'm 23, she's, she's 18, it's, or at the time I might have been a couple years later and just like man. This is right around the time I broke off with this other lady and I told my friend is this like? Is she single, this other lady? And, um, you know, I, I told my friend this is like man is she single.
Speaker 2:She's like yeah, I was like oh, and so you know, we started talking and um. So during the year that I was working, we got married. So that would have been 1998, spring of 1998. We got married.
Speaker 1:You said this is where the wild stuff comes in. So far, this is one of the wildest episodes. This is one of the wildest episodes. You went to school, started liking another girl.
Speaker 2:I'm teasing you a little bit, yeah, no, no well, I mean there was drama involved, but you know, I think it's for the purposes of the story. It's really not really, um, not so. So I mean um, I mean, I guess, if you do the math, we got married in april and my daughter was born in october, so there really isn't enough time for that to really well, you know.
Speaker 1:You know what they say. The first baby can come at any time. It's the second baby that takes nine months, but the first baby anywhere from six to nine months. Five to nine months who's counting? Yeah?
Speaker 2:that's I mean yeah, no so did you?
Speaker 1:did you experience some guilt, condemnation and shame there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and so that also became part of it.
Speaker 1:And so How'd your parents handle that? How'd my parents?
Speaker 2:Yeah, how did your parents handle that?
Speaker 1:They were fine.
Speaker 2:They didn't do the math or anything. I didn't really speak to them about it. Um, I guess I kind of had a little bit of of um like a jacob scenario. Like when I left home I never saw my dad in person again. He passed away.
Speaker 1:What.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. Yeah, no, he passed away in 2001.
Speaker 1:So it's been 23 years, but you left in 94 and you never saw him again.
Speaker 2:No, not in person. No, because Skype and Faceetime and all that, those technologies weren't really, weren't really and what year did you get married?
Speaker 1:98, so he wasn't.
Speaker 2:They weren't able to make it to the wedding or anything my mom came to the way he couldn't get a visa to come um that's wild. Well, here's the thing there are a lot of pastors that come to the States and they stay. So I guess because of that I don't know, I don't know what the reason was he couldn't come to the wedding. So my mom came and my brother came, my two brothers came. My oldest brother also couldn't get a visa, for some reason.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it was only my mom and my two brothers for my side of the family, but the wedding so you're starting.
Speaker 3:Pardon.
Speaker 1:I was going to say so you're starting your life out married, working, and you got a little baby girl. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so, you know things were good. Things were good. You know, um, I managed, you know it didn't really fall too far, but, um, I don't know what it was that you know kept. Well, I mean, I know what it was, but you know it kept me going back to, um, you know, this time the internet has, you know it kept me going back to. You know, this time the Internet has, you know, blossomed a little bit and there's a lot more content for people to consume. So I was, you know, still On the struggle bus, on the struggle, on the struggle on this. You know I'd read books, um, every man's battle, um, you know, casting your eyes and and yeah, bouncing your eyes right, that was the idea whatever it is, yeah, you know it didn't work.
Speaker 1:You're like bump bounce, bounce.
Speaker 3:Well.
Speaker 1:I mean it. It worked. It was just it was white knuckling it.
Speaker 2:It was like we needed a we needed something else, and so there really wasn't a lot of control there. Sure, self-control, because I wasn't living in the spirit, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Living according to Adam 1. So you know, there was. I played for several churches, so on Saturday we'd go to church and then on Sunday I would play, you know, for there was this one church that I played for until, yeah, actually until 97. My buddy used to play there, the one whose sister I dated. He used to play at this one church and then he left to go elsewhere and I took over for him at this other church, the church he was playing at, and actually I'm still playing over there. It's nice, like 27 years, mercy, mercy, my goodness, yeah.
Speaker 1:So when did you first meet, jonathan Leonardo?
Speaker 2:So I met him at AUC Atlantic Union. So interesting story. My wife used to for a little while she was not in the dorm and she stayed with with Keri and and and Jonathan and you know she they were good friends, she would stay there and you know. So Jonathan knew, you know, michelle from a long, long time, 96, 97, somewhere in there. She was staying with them until she got her own place and was doing the thing. But yeah, it was, it was interesting. It was like oh yeah, it's Jonathan. You know he's like he's always around and he's just like, oh man, karen's little brother, you know.
Speaker 1:I just got off the phone with him and he was like man I. I've known that brother since I was 15 years old. He's like that's a young buck's like that's. That's family to me. Yeah and uh, that's interesting that you knew him. I knew him when he was in high school, but you knew him probably early high school. I knew him later high school yeah, it was before that.
Speaker 2:He was um, before high school, I think. Oh, he might have just gone into high school, I think, or he might have just gotten into high school, I don't know his timeline so much. Yeah, so got married working long hours. I would play and we would sing on the weekend. You know my wife sings. She's a phenomenal singer. Oh, my goodness, beautiful voice. I was actually in a recording. We had a group, we made a CD and I need to find it.
Speaker 1:It's around here somewhere.
Speaker 2:What was the name of your group? We Are Persuaded. We wanted to use the name Persuaded, like you know, Commissioned or Winans, but there was another group in Boston called Persuaded. So we were like so we call us a, we are persuaded, with a W, persuaded I don't know why we don't spell correctly.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:So you were doing the music thing? Yeah, doing the music thing playing piano, playing bass. Um, I actually learned that time. I picked up the guitar again that started playing guitar like early on, but I never followed through, just let it drop for the piano. So I picked up guitar and because we had other guys in the band that played piano, so I didn't want to, I got to play something right.
Speaker 2:So I played guitar, learned that, and so let's see what else happened. So I played guitar, learned that, and so let's see what else happened. So it was during that time, while I was playing for this other church where I still play that I met one of the parishioners there, and so it was, you know, very easygoing kind of you know. He's like, hey, how's it going? And eventually went over because I also, I'm a computer guy by trade. So he's like, hey, my computer's not working, Could you come and fix it? And so me, I'm just like, hey, yeah, sure, let's go over there. And you know, one thing led to another and, you know, started doing the thing and I was before, you know it, I was in a full blown affair and how many years into your marriage was this?
Speaker 2:you know, I'm not really sure like maybe six or seven years. So like maybe six or seven years, so it wasn't. It wasn't. You know something that I, uh, I, I took time to like. That's why I say I didn't make bacon. You know, it's good I'd go back and make notes, be like, I think, zach it wasn't this time and that time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um. So what did that do to you, Cause?
Speaker 2:you're a sincere guy. Yeah, it really messed with me. Well, I didn't think anybody knew, but Michelle knew, she knew something was off, because, you know, I just wasn't the same and there's just really no way to hide that, Right Unless you can, you're, you got deeper problems.
Speaker 2:I think if you're really good at hiding that, you like you know, compartmentalize, yeah, yeah, no, that's, I know. I had no real where you. You really can't hide you, just you know, unless you're a cia agent or something like that yeah, ted bundy or something where you can switch personalities, or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so for me it was not my best moment or moments or moments. And the thing about sin is that it's gradual. You're never like one day you're on Mount Everest where it's like minus 50 degrees and then next thing you're in the Sahara and it's like you know 115 degrees. Did I say that correctly?
Speaker 1:It's like the frog in the boiling water. Yeah, it's a frog in the boiling water. You can't drop it in the boiling water, but if you drop it in the regular water, you can't really.
Speaker 2:So it's the same principle you put the frog in boiling water, he's going to jump out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's the same principle you put the frog in boiling water, he's going to jump out. But if you just slowly let that water boil, before you know it it's cooked. She confronted me about it. I think we might have been on a if it's not an anniversary trip we were at if it's not an anniversary trip we were at a parent's house or something. She confronted me about it because, you know, I don't know if I left my computer open one time and she went in there and was reading emails and stuff like that, because she couldn't understand what was wrong. Something had to be wrong, and so she confronted me and that was a wake-up call for me.
Speaker 1:How long were you into it when she confronted you Like ballpark.
Speaker 2:I know you don't have the dates, but yeah, like, maybe I don't have the dates, but yeah, like, maybe, I don't know, a year, six months, somewhere, somewhere in there. It's as I say, it was a gradual thing, right, right. So, um, you know, and I think, one question I remember she asked me. She's like yo, do you want this? And so, you know, confronted me, he's like yo, bro, you want this? So I'm like yeah, and I think by this time she had told her parents. So they were there in the house, in the house and pops said to me.
Speaker 2:He's like you know and he, he rocks with.
Speaker 1:He rocks good gospel.
Speaker 2:That man Praise the Lord, he, he gets it. And I've, you know, I've been playing like death to life or one of the podcasts or Bible studies would be going on and be like, yeah, that sounds right, you know, they're preaching truth over there. So he was like you know, we love you and we will support you guys, you know, no matter what. And so, you know, I broke it off and, um, michelle forgave me and, um, you know, so that part of my story is where I first really saw forgiveness in action my wife, as hurt as she was, she loved me and I think she had probably already forgiven me by the time. You know, she confronted me and, you know, at first I didn't, I was like, oh, nothing's going on. It was her acceptance of me that really made me feel, just for a moment, like I was a person. And I say for a moment, because I was still looking at you know stuff, um, and I just, you know, that part was still uh, had a hold on me, um, and so we, you know, we went to the pastor, we had counseling and, um, you know, pastor explained, you know how you know stuff like this happens. He's dealing with all this stuff all the time.
Speaker 2:I'm like, really, I knew even people who had were my contemporaries gotten divorced and done all the things and that could have been my story, but it's not. You know, for for um, for me, and um, I give thanks to God for my wife Michelle. I love that woman, my wife Michelle, I love that woman, love that woman. And so I'm going on. So, even after that, you know, we're still singing, we're still in church, we're still doing the thing, but I really was just barely barely existing spiritually because I mean, I was still working. I'm I'm still, you know, providing for my family, and I think one of the things that I did by working so much is that I missed out on a lot of family time and my daughter growing up. She, you know, she has said to me because she wrote me a letter recently well, a year or two ago, you know and she forgave me as well Because she thought for a long time that I didn't like them, because I wasn't around that much. Yeah, that's a lot. I was like yo for real.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah. So anyways, it was um, and then we came to pandemic.
Speaker 1:All right, we're going to take a quick break in this episode and I'm going to bring on my sister, cassie. Cassie, good morning, what's up.
Speaker 4:Hey.
Speaker 1:Quick question for you how long has it been that you've been with this whole gospel thing, when you've been rocking with the gospel?
Speaker 4:I've been rocking since about mid-2020.
Speaker 1:Mid-2020?. That's coming up on four years. What has the gospel done in changing your life Quickly? I know you have a whole story, but real quick.
Speaker 4:In short, the gospel has changed my perspective on life and how I just view everything, so it set me free from a lot of anxiety and guilt that I carried around, and I just can't share it enough.
Speaker 1:That's. That's pretty good. So everything, I guess, okay, that's cool. Uh, you, you have a dedicated it's like some of your time, your energy, your finances to keep this thing going, to get this message out there. Why has that been so important to you?
Speaker 4:It's been important to me because I have lived a lot of places and so having this community is really important to me as I move around, shift around and just like getting the gospel to the dark corners. And some of those dark corners are in our big churches and some of those dark corners are in our rural areas, like where I live now, and so it's just so important to me to be able to spread this good news and not hear an okay gospel, but to actually hear the good news. Like a good friend of mine who you might know says if the gospel hasn't changed your life, you probably haven't heard it yet.
Speaker 1:Let's go. Let's go, hey, if you're listening and you want to partner with us in 2024 and going on to the future, every dollar you donate at loverealityorg slash gives goes to getting this message out there, and whether that's through Internet Church, whether that's through the Bible studies, whether that's through the Dead to Life podcast or one of the many podcasts that we have coming out now, it is going towards getting people to hear this, because it's not a numbers game, but it's a numbers game. We want more people to hear the good news. So that's loverealityorg slash give and let's go. Cassie, is it true that you have an episode of the Death to Life podcast? It is true we haven't recorded it yet, but we're about to. Yeah, all right, let's get back into the episode. Thank you guys, so much.
Speaker 2:It was. You know, no one's able to. You know, go out, everything shut down. And oh, let me backtrack. And oh, let me backtrack. I think there was. We have this faith gathering in our church tradition called Camp Meetingaster for the young adult, one year. I think it might be 2018 or 2019. They had Jonathan come. Might've been 2018. Was it 2018? And he preached wave one. I didn't know it at the time. It's now that I'm thinking back about it. Yeah, because he had, you know, adam one and Adam two, and what is your relationship to sin and stuff like that? And I heard it. You're like that sounds cool. It sounds cool. It's like, oh man, yeah, jonathan's preaching the thing. Man, this dude is on fire. Good for him. Yes, and I had it in mind. It's like, oh, okay, that's good, that's a good message. Man, I didn't really think about it in terms of like it being so different than what I was hearing, because I mean, I heard I don't think I heard the forgiveness one. I think I might have missed that night.
Speaker 1:I might have had a rehearsal that's when I know people don't really get it when they're like man, that's really good. I'm like it's really good, huh yeah, like, like, if it's not like this is life transforming, then I'm like I'm not sure you really heard yeah, yeah, and so my buddy will duran the man, yeah, so his birthday this week Shout out to Will yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:We had a church. Our church was a little bit different, so we met in a theater.
Speaker 1:The angels go in there with you or they stay at the door. Just kidding Inside joke, keep going. Well, I mean, it's a church service, so yeah, the angels go in there with you or they stay at the door. Just kidding inside joke, keep going well, I mean, it's a church service. So yeah, the angels, you never know, they might get thrown off at the door.
Speaker 3:Oh, I can't go in there oh man, no, no, don't worry about that, that's just inside, inside adventist joke that's hilarious.
Speaker 2:We had, um, we had a church in the theater and I had taken a class it was a networking class with will, and when you, you know, after class, we would sit and talk and Will would tell me his testimony, and you know how the church did him wrong and all of this stuff. And you know, and we and I just sit there and listen Cause I mean, at the time I didn't have you know what, what am I going to say? You know, I don't, I don't really. I mean, I believe in God and I believe that God, you know, is, is my, you know he's good for me and all of that stuff, and he's good for Will, but I didn't know how to explain you know why and how.
Speaker 2:And so then he went to a wave, one here in Massachusetts and you know, jonathan was preaching. He's like yo, will, you got to come and they've been best buds for the longest time. So you know, it's like all right, I'll go, because it's my buddy. And he got hit with the spirit and the gospel and everything. He's just like wait, what? It's that simple. He's like yeah. And so he started around. I was just like, oh, but Joy, it's like yo, what, and he started talking about how he's been changed and totally, and I could see him because he would not step foot into a church, you know, for the longest time, for years he didn't go, and his dad is also a pastor, and so I think it was.
Speaker 2:The following is like 2019. Jonathan came for what we call um god encounters or something like that. Will got baptized and you could see physically, when he got this, like the spirit descended on him. You could, you could palpably feel that thing and it was like man, that's so good, now will's in, now will's in all right, and I'm happy for him and stuff like that. But I'm still, yeah, captured, you know, by my, my, my behavior and and you know, still back and forth.
Speaker 2:You know, god, if you help me, I'll I'll stop. And you know, still back and forth. You know, god, if you help me I'll stop. And you know I mean forgive me, jesus. You know this is the last time all this sort of stuff that I would say, and it wasn't until the next year, during COVID, you guys had the first Zoom wave, one I believe might've been. I don't know if you had the first Zoom wave one, I believe Might have been. I don't know if you had more, but this one was like either in early April or May.
Speaker 1:Oh, I remember, I remember seeing you on there for the first time, yeah, and Jonathan was like joking. He was like, ah, I don't know what he calls you. He just said that on the phone and I was like, oh, who is this guy? This guy must be a big deal, this is an important brother.
Speaker 1:No it's like no man, no, I've always thought that I still do so. I saw you on there and I was like, oh, I hope he grabs a hold of this thing. So you just got on there because you're like they're having a meeting and I'm asking what it's about.
Speaker 2:It was interesting, and Will was just gung-ho about it, not Will Murphy. I met him actually afterwards and he just was like yo, you got to go. I was like yo, we're having wave one, you want to come? He's like, yeah, I'll go, so Friday night, um, and then, uh, saturday night, it was the Friday night. The Friday night he did, I think. Was it the prodigal son? What's my relationship? Was it Friday?
Speaker 1:night probably, uh, romans 6 the tabernacle, the Red Sea. Second night's the prodigal son.
Speaker 2:And you know that I believe it was that Sunday evening I was doing the laundry and I mean you guys used to go late because you started at nine here on the East Coast and it just you know you guys would go late. But anyway, I remember earlier that Sunday evening I came home and I was doing laundry and I was. We had it was a white Westinghouse or one of those top loading washers and dryers and I was taking the clothes from the washer and putting it into the dryer. And as I was putting it into the dryer I heard it says you are clean, I have made you clean. Those are the words that came into my mind and I was just like somebody say something to me and it was just like you are clean.
Speaker 2:And it really just went right through me and I was just like, oh, because God had already made me clean, because I had been baptized into Christ and raised, and so I believe that's what I first started really grasping onto it and believed that I was a son and that I was holy, blamameless and above reproach. And it really resonated that moment. I was just like, okay, yeah, I believe, and it really transformed how I. It really transformed how I moved from that time forward and yeah, that was transformative Was it that summer, that 2020 summer, when this was starting to land for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, summer when this was starting to land for you. Yeah, that's when I first really grasped the hold of freedom and understood how God felt about me as a son and so really and truly the desire for looking at you know where I shouldn't becom and going about my life that sort of just like I wouldn't say magically. But I found myself not going there and not looking to that for validation and who I was, um, and just losing myself in the imagination of the stories of whatever it was. A lot of fantasy, um, you know stuff like you know Lord of, like Lord of the Rings kind of a thing.
Speaker 2:Um, but you didn't need that anymore but I didn't need it anymore, um, and that was fine and but then one day, I don't know, it might have been a year or or two after that, I just found myself. It's like, hey, I wonder what happened with this. You know story and I'm just like it's a story, you know. Yeah, they're doing things on there but I'm not really interested in that. But I found myself back in the cycle because I stopped. Um, aligning myself is like first corinthians, chapter three is the first Corinthians chapter three. Set your mind on, on.
Speaker 2:Colossians three Colossians, three yeah, yeah, set your mind on things above, where you're above not on things, and so I, you know, just like, eh. And before I was back in the cycle, I was just like I, I don't need to live like this, I don't need to.
Speaker 1:Habits are just patterns that have developed, like there's patterns and then they develop over time and then we continue and then they become habits and you had developed a habit of fantasizing and that led to such and such and such. So it's not a mystery if you put yourself back into that pattern that it feels really familiar, because that's how the human brain works. Yeah, um, but praise god, we have the ability, with God's grace, to break that habit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I believe this went on for a while and it was earlier this year that I don't know if it was a wave, but I started. I might've seen one of Justin's uh posts on IG. Uh, it might've been last year that I started um just rocking with all the Bible studies and um you hardly miss one anymore.
Speaker 1:Like you just became a mainstay.
Speaker 2:Like, just like yo, he's in the house listen and a lot of times, like during the week especially, you know I'm working, so you know if I'm out of my office or I'm answering up someone, you answering a call for somebody, or something like that. I may not get it, but I remember it was Chris's study. I think Chris's study is the one that I really just like, the one about work.
Speaker 2:It's like work in peace. That's what it's called Work in peace. Yeah, that's what it was Work in peace. I really started reviving what and you know it's just good gospel Justin on Sunday, and I think Annabelle had one on Sunday night. I think I got on there once, I don't know if it's still active, but on Sunday night I think I got on there once, I don't know if it's still active, but you know it was worthy of everything.
Speaker 1:When we talk about gospel junkies. If there was in the dictionary, if we pulled it up, it would be a picture of you and Floyd.
Speaker 2:It'd just be like you guys with thumbs up, we love the gospel and we're here for it, listen, and I think it's um, there's something about the gospel, now that it is, it's really really good to, it's really really good to just vibe with it. I mean, people watch YouTube, they watch Netflix and more power to them. But I think that finding the Word of God and it means it's, it's just powerful to me. Um, I just can't seem to get enough of good gospel and you know, it's infusing my, my walk and so just understanding that as you walk in the spirit, the fruit of the spirit starts to bear in your life. So you have peace, you are peace, you are love, you are gentle, you are patient, you're kind these attributes joyful. You're in self-control attributes joyful. You know your self-control.
Speaker 2:So I had a problem with sweet, with sweet tea in particular. To be honest, to call it what it is extra sweet tea. They really they could put more sugar in there and I would still drink it because I was just like, oh, I had to have it. And I drink water now like a gallon of water. You know because gallon of water? You know, because you know the Spirit working with me by grace, through faith. Saying is like I am not a drinker of sweet tea. I have self-control because Jesus and the Spirit is with me. I do not need to look at that thing that I used to look at, because Jesus is greater. Greater is he that is within me than he that is within the world. So I do not need to bow down at that altar, but to make Christ my altar and follow Him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, you have been such a blessing to us and you know you said 2020. You came on. I think you've been around since the first. Like we're going on four years of doing these Wave Ones live this in two days it's going to be the five-year anniversary of Tyler and Morgan's story and kind of all of us kind of coming together. And I've just seen that you've been around, man, and you've been always encouraging and blessing us with your music.
Speaker 1:And I didn't know your background story, but I knew that there was something that God had broken you free from. We all know that we are free from sin, but it, you know, those who are forgiven much, love much, and I just saw you. I've always known, I mean, that brother's been forgiven, that brother had been forgiven because he loves much. Just the way you talk about God, it's like he's gotten you out of some things. He, he saved your life and so, man, it's been such a blessing and a testimony to all of us and I think you being a part of our community is a blessing to everybody in it.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, man, thank you I thank God for Love, reality, unapologetically, just telling the world about the gospel Jesus loves you, he is Lord and because he is Lord we have freedom. Because he is Lord, we have all of the fruit that comes with that peace, love, joy, patience. And I just want to thank God for you guys just not giving up in spite of it all and the circumstances that you faced. So I want to thank you as well.
Speaker 1:Praise the Lord, man. So it's a privilege. We love nothing. This is, we just want to do this forever. But where would we go. Let's see If we go back to David, who you know. Your wife catches you on the email and in the moments or days after that where you're feeling, I'd imagine, pretty low, and you could come and you could put your arm around that guy and you could tell him something. What would you minister to this dude's heart?
Speaker 2:I'd just tell him that you know it may seem like you don't understand what's going on, and that might be okay, but just know that you are a son. You are a son, know that Jesus loves you and has forgiven you a long time ago. You just need to know that because he's forgiven you and that he loves you, you can hold your head up high in confidence and walk as God would have you to walk. It would have saved me years and years of ducking and hiding Because a lot of times you know you can't see what's on the phone, right. And so yeah, you are a son. What a hug, a big old hug.
Speaker 1:You are a son amen, you got your piano right there. I do, you're gonna, you're gonna give us something yes, for sure, for sure, for sure.
Speaker 2:I'm just trying to make sure. I mean you hear that.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, okay, oh, it sounds good.
Speaker 3:I'm ready. I cast all my cares upon you, cares upon you. I lay all of my cares upon you. I will cast all my cares upon Jesus, jesus, jesus. There is something about that name. Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, but there's something about that name. Yes, there's something about that name me thank you so much, man You're welcome.
Speaker 1:Man. Bless the Lord. I love that song and if that's the desire of your heart, man, this prayer is for you. Father, we just thank you that we can give our cares to you, we can lay all of our burdens at your feet. And, father, right now we're doing that. Whatever's on our heart, whatever's on our mind, we're giving it to you. We know you will deal with it. We're trading with you. So thank you for answering our prayers in Jesus's name and thank you for David. Amen, amen. All right, want to shout out the Milk Dudes? Thursdays that's our latest circle. Eight o'clock central. Hit up loverealityorg. Slash circles and get on over to the Milk Dudes. Okay, do it. You're going to be blessed, but until the next time, love y'all, appreciate y'all. Bye.