Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Family Business with the Alessis. And today it's not just Alesi's in the podcast booth. It is Jonathan Roman, Armando Gomez, and Steve Alesi here with you. And I'm so glad these guys are here because I have known them for a long, long time. We've been in great relationship together, and we've experienced some great highs, but we've also gone through some lows. So today we're going to be talking about the 42 experience that I had as we are getting ready to launch the book 42, a guide to finishing well when you thought you were finished. And the reason I wanted you guys with me today is because you were there. You were there in 2007 when all of this erupted. And then, man, you get the news. I'm having a heart attack, two hours away. And uh, so it had quite uh an impact uh in our relationship and your life and our working relationship and in the way that that you handled ministry. It it it just brought us through some very interesting days. But we're sitting here at the desk today, 15 years later, we're wearing our goodfellas camp gear, all of us matched this morning, because ultimately what we want to show is that the thing that you thought was gonna finish you, if you deal with it the right way, you can finish well in life. So that tagline of being a guide of the book, a guide to finishing well when you thought you were finished, it's really gonna be played out in this episode today. So you remember where you were at when uh you got the call that how how did that happen? Because I don't think we've even had this conversation.
SPEAKER_02Uh I it was a Monday afternoon, uh, about 5:30. I I was just getting home with Jackie to our condo across the street from the Daydeland campus. Wow. I was living blocks away before we even had an idea of going back. So I was right there and uh Des called us with uh the terrible news on a on a rainy Monday afternoon.
SPEAKER_04Yep. Wow, how did she say it?
SPEAKER_02Uh I I you know Des, and uh I'm sure she'll get to share her story, but uh, she was direct to the point and told us uh with no mincing words, Pastor just had a massive heart attack. And uh the the fear that comes over you when you hear uh such terrible news because at 46 you shouldn't have had a massive heart attack.
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_02So we knew it was bad.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And I think we have to ask the audience's forgiveness. There's gonna be some tears.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_02Some some grown men are gonna be crying today.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, just so freaking emotional.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. What about you, Mondo? Where were you? I remember exactly, I don't remember that it was a Monday, but I remember at that time I was taking flight lessons. I was learning to fly a helicopter. We had just landed and we're doing a debrief. And I want to say it was either it was probably David Martinez or Maury that texted me and said Pastor had a heart attack. And you know, those are not texts that are jokes, right? It could have been some other, some I'm like, no way. And I called Pastor Mary, that was my first reflex. She's in the ambulance uh with you. So I hear the sirens, I hear her quite, you know, frantic or agitated or whatever. And she's like telling me just pray, just pray, just pray, just pray. And obviously, I I hung up as soon as I could because she's with you. And I remember getting in uh in a I think I was driving an explorer at the time and just flying to Stuart as fast as I possibly could. Um, and the feeling was impossible. Like, no, this can't be happening. Um it it it connected me to some other heart attack tragedy that was in my in my early life with my own dad that I watched him have a heart attack. So everything just and and you maybe people in the podience, is that what you call it? The podiums. In the podience, don't get it or understand that you had very quickly become my father figure. I I I so I'm thinking I'm losing my pastor, my father, and the way it sounded on the phone call was not not that great. Um, so I was torn up and I just turned on some worship music. And I think I got to Stuart, if there are no law enforcement officers listening to the podcast, but I think I got to Stewart at in about 40, 48, 49 minutes from Pembroke Pines, from Miramar, from North Perry Airport. And I remember getting there, and Pastor Mary was in the uh, I don't know, waiting room or whatever that room was, and I gave her a hug, and and I think I might have been the first one there. I think my maybe one of your family members, a sister or somebody was there, and just sat down and I didn't know what to do. I mean, that that's that's what I remember the day was, and I and at that time we still didn't know that you would or had survived. Um so that that's the the moment story, and it was uh it was excruciatingly painful. Yep. Um, because again, I don't know what I was gonna do if that were to have happened. Sorry, I'm sounding very selfish. Right, right, right. It was about you and your family, but for me, it was like, what are what are we gonna do? What are my family gonna do? What if so that's where we were at?
SPEAKER_02We left, got on the turnpike, 110 miles an hour, uh in the rain. And the the only hope we had was when we came, uh, it was probably about West Palm, beautiful rainbow appeared. And for a second, you're like, God, okay, this is either a promise or a very cool, cruel joke.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So, you know, we're just holding on to the promise that you were gonna be okay. We come in to the emergency room, we see Pastor Mary, and she's as strong as anyone can be when something goes on like that. I'm sure that part of it was shock and the Holy Spirit's protection. But all we can do is wait.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. No, I still can't believe uh all that occurred. It sounds like we talk about somebody else, and I'd cry if it was somebody else's father, somebody else's friend, somebody else's pastor, because I I I just can't imagine the uh the frailty of being in a situation where you just don't know what's gonna happen. And uh and and everything looked good for us. I mean, we oh yeah, that was good. We had just bought the this building. We uh we were flipping it or building, remodeling it. We still had our offices or or we are holding service at the other church.
SPEAKER_02Service over there, but we had moved our offices over after Easter because we had our first Easter service here at this in 2007.
SPEAKER_04So we're we're building, we're remodeling. Things look good. I mean, come on, we've been working hard, so I'm taking off for Father's Day after Father's Day happened. So it's a vacation. Yeah, gosh, that's right, and then you know, all hell breaks loose. Um we're telling the story because we we can go back and be burdened or or emotionally moved by it because it was so real. But here we are, guys, 15 years later, we just came back from a camp where we took men uh and we put them up there in that environment at the farm. And it's like there's no residue of that event even happening. Matter of fact, we got to tell the guys because on our jerseys, our our clothing, our hat, we've got 42 on it because it's it became a real staple of being able to go through your own 42 moment that rocks you, but yet getting back up and keep fighting and to the point where life goes on and it gets better. So we're on the other side of this, and I wish people would get that. If they can just hang on, a divorce happened. Oh, can't imagine. Excuse me, can't imagine. You take a hit financially, you take a hit in your your career, you take a hit uh with sickness and stuff. If you can just stay in the game, don't lose hope, don't lose faith, don't give up, don't throw up your hands and quit. Um, if you can do that, there is this promise on the other side of it that man, life can go on and it can get better than it did before. But here we are, man, thankfully for that.
SPEAKER_02It's trials that produce perseverance, that produces character, that gets you to the place of hope. Yeah. And I think that's where we are, where we can rejoice today because we're at the place of hope.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. But you know, you you put that book together and it's kind of like it's just a thought that's starting to come together. So I hope I say this right. But the the the confusion, you know, sometimes in in our lives things happen that you can have all the faith that you want, but you you hear, you know, these verses are like God is not the author of confusion. But I'm confused. In the moment. Like I'm confused. Like my pastor, who is the leader of our church, who is the strongest Christian that I know, who is the example to me, to the example to my family, the one who has served God all his life, he's the one that's either dead, about to die, uh, in a in a critical situation. That's confusion. Yeah, that that brings confusion. So then you start thinking, wait, how can God do these things? The same, very same questions that as a younger man, I'm thinking, how can God allow? Let's say that let's say allow because he, you know, every good and perfect gift is from above. We know that. But in those moments you get so rocked. But here's here's this book, and and the lessons that you're you're helping people understand through this book, that it's the same thing that you ended up walking out after 2007, because we saw you slowly but surely get strong again, slowly but surely conquer your fears. Slowly but surely, all the things that you had already been teaching us on how to live life, continuing to live life, we thought that the person that would teach us these things was not gonna be in the picture anymore, or at least be weakened to the point where it may not be the same.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, that's not what happened. It's like what you said, that became the foundation. Like you had a whole different foundation before that. Now this became the foundation of what God was gonna do past it. Yeah. And we learned all kinds of new examples of greater strength, greater perseverance. Right. So that that's I think the big lesson. I don't know if we're in that mode right now of the big lesson, but but that's the big lesson is that you were almost finished, right? Right at that moment, but then you're now talking about and teaching how to finish well, even even after you thought you were finished. Everyone can relate to that.
SPEAKER_04And and for you to be in the position then, because of what happened with your father, you saw his heart attack, you ultimately lost your dad. You were a young man, and you lost your dad early on. He wasn't there for you for certain events in your life, he wasn't there for your marriage, he wasn't there for your your your children. Um, you you lost such an important person to you. So here you are, fast forward. And yes, before that, you weren't as faithful in your pursuit of the things of God when you lost your dad. But now you bring, you add faith into the picture, and you're like, okay, life should be different than it was pre-faith, right? Right before when I lost my dad, the man that I love the most. So life should be different now that I have a relationship with God, and now you're being reintroduced to the exact same feelings and emotions, and that's real. Oh gosh. It's real. And then, you know, this is where, as much as you and I and we all get up and speak about faith that things are gonna get better, this is when you're really tested to sit back and say, okay, what if it doesn't get better in this moment? Right. What am I gonna do next? Abandon ship and just, you know, check out on my family, check out on my friends, check out on God. Am I just gonna bail because it didn't happen the way I wanted it to? And and I don't have the answer for that one. Right. Because we didn't have to go that way. What I do know is on, you know, God and his mercy was good to me, and we're throwing a lot of God in this today because it this is our life, okay? This is how we make it, and this is how we encourage others to make it is with God. But God was merciful in that season to, you know, not for me not to step over into the other side and and life is gone on, but it was real.
SPEAKER_03Oh, 100%.
SPEAKER_04And if we could say something in the podcast today, we're we're saying to those that are listening to us, your 42 moment, your hit, that's real. All of that stuff is real, and you can't deny it, you can't run from it. You you better just kind of exhale for a minute. It's happened. And I remember sitting in the the uh um the cardiac care unit after they had gone in and and done the the cath, and uh they're sitting, and I'm I'm with people I don't even know. I'm in the hospital with a young man and a young woman. I'm talking in their maybe 20s, and they're the ones responsible for me. Not my wife who takes care of me all the time. Not even my parents, you know, mom back in the day. You you you trust older people, yeah, not a doctor. I'm there with 20 somethings, and they're coming in. You're doing okay? Okay, don't move. We go they they didn't want me to move too much, or else I would have where they had punctured to go into that big vein right in my grown area. They didn't want me to move too much, or else it could bleed out, you know. So they're like, don't move. We don't. So that's who I'm left with that night in the middle of the night, and I'm sitting there feeling like I am so alone. Nobody that I knew was there. It's like, come on. This is crazy. So maybe you're listening to this today and you feel that. You feel like, wow, I'm alone in this. Yeah, my kids are there, maybe even my husband, my but I feel so alone. Yeah, there's times when you sit there and say, God, where are you? Why did this happen? But and you have those feelings of being alone. But y'all are sitting at the table today because I wasn't alone. No, we weren't all together in the moment. Yeah, but man, I had y'all staff, but more than that, you're brothers. And there were people that are out there that were praying, supporting, saying, All right, hey, took out that stupid RV the day before, and you ended up, John, having to take it back to the rental. And that that wasn't the best thing, but you guys were there to help. But yeah, that was kind of spooky, huh?
SPEAKER_02It's it's eerie when you're getting it. You had planned a vacation to enjoy with your family, and David Martinez and I had to return this RV, and we're, you know, thank God you weren't in the RV somewhere in Ocala when this happened. Yeah, boy. That's those are all the thoughts that you're you're processing. Like, okay, we can see all the bad that's going on right now, but there is some good that happened. Wow, yeah. The paramedics being closed, the hospital, the all the things, even if you would have been in Miami, Miami's an hour away from Miami.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So from from uh Cutler Bay to Baptist Hospital is a 30-minute drive.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So and and from their little uh center, their little fire department, firehouse, for them to get to where I was is a good 20, 30 minutes. Those jokers were there in Stewart in like five minutes. They were right around the corner. I could hear those sirens going off, woo, woo, woo. And then all of a sudden I didn't hear them. I'm like, oh my god, they got lost. I'm no no, I'm not gonna make it. I couldn't wait for them to come through the door.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, you guys had to return that RV. We returned it, and you know, speaking of finishing well, yeah. Uh this past summer, I go on an RV trip with my family.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And it's because uh even though we thought we were finished, we weren't.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02We have the blessing of being able to take trips with our family now and and seeing it all turned around. And I'm driving an RV, which I never thought I would.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because of my pastor, who has a vision to to have family time and uh bless bless us.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, we have an RV because we take all of our guys up to and girls now, our ladies, up to our camp and to uh give the leaders with extra housing and give the leaders a little bit more comfort driving up and back up and back. We have the RV. But when it sits here, we're like, no, let's this let the staff go and enjoy it on their vacation. So it's what was the first introduction to an RV was so ugly different. Now, all these years later, hey, we redeemed RV.
unknownThank God.
SPEAKER_03You know, the thing about it, also, Pastor Steve, is is that's relatable still today is for me, thoughts are thoughts, they're always gonna be there and they're not always godly. And I'm I can't I can't imagine what your thoughts are about that. I just know that you conquer them because if not, you wouldn't be sitting here, right? But it happens, I can tell you for me, I just wanted to get to 47 years old. Yeah, and and and it was not because you know, I don't believe in superstition. I'm not, I'm I'm been in faith for 28 years now. So I'm not going there. I'm just saying thoughts, right? I just wanted to get to 47 because it's like, wow, that's gonna happen to my pastor at 47. How can anybody at 47 uh or even RVing or even vacations and these stupid little thoughts might come up here and there, which has to happen to you. That's just looking at you, being able to write a book about it, can tell you that any thought that you're going through that that is plaguing you or constantly trying to feed you fear, you can literally overcome that thought with faith, overcome that thought with God's word. I know not everybody that listens to this is is maybe in the faith or or godly. I don't know how people do it without God at this point. But it there's something about having someone that is bigger than you, our God, and being able to count on his word and his promises. And it's still active today because stupid thoughts have to still come into your mind. They come into mind. I don't know about John. John's pretty perfect. He's got he's got a down. He's a church guy, he's a church guy for real, like born and raised. But but for finishing well is possible, um, even when you're that close. And I think everybody's been that close in one way or another. So I just I just love that we are still and you are still bringing a positive outlook, yeah, no matter where in the negative somebody is, because it could be the pits. I've been in the pits, yeah, you've been in the pits, you've been in the pits. Someone watching is either in the pits or has been in the pits.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Or is about to hit the pits. Or is about to hit the pits.
SPEAKER_03It's all one point. It's just about a building. Careful. I'm just kidding. But there's there is a way to finish well, and and that 42 story, I think, is inspiring. It inspires me probably daily.
SPEAKER_02You know, right after the heart attack, I think we all felt like we were in a season of what's next. Because Martinez and Burke had lost their company. You had your heart attack in in April. Uh Jackie and I found out that uh we were gonna be having a daughter. But in July, right after your heart attack, we're in the emergency room because Jackie's bleeding and and we think we're gonna lose our baby. So when you're going through that season of hit after hit after hit, you just have to take the punches.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And you know, uh around here, we we don't like throwing in the towel. So it's how do you just make it to the next day?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because we stopped looking, looking at a year or uh 10 years from now, we just started you get into this mode where you're looking at can I make it till tomorrow? Um, can I can I make it until the sun comes up?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And that's all Jackie, that night, Jack, Jackie and I were just worried about the sun coming up because if the sun came up, then we could rest a little easier because we didn't have our pastor to call. We we we were respecting that you were hurting. So hit after hit, you just take another step. And that's part of the the the roadmap to getting to finishing well is realizing you're not finished if you can just make it one more day.
SPEAKER_04John, in the book, I I I talk about throwing in the towel. So much of these analogies come from boxing because there was an early season where I really, really loved boxing. I can't stand it now after the heart attack, after the trauma. MMA, I used to love it all. I can't handle it now. I just seeing people beat on each other. I kind of a TSD, I guess. You know, I just thought, no, that's terrible. But so much of what helped me get back on my feet, my mindset was from the boxers. Remember, we even did in the cage the teaching with the guys. You know, taking them through and the champ, uh champ life, you know, all of that was tied into fighting. But one of the things I say is I I know from a boxer's perspective, the fighter is taught, you know, how to hit, maybe even how to take a hit, um, how to uh, you know, their stamina. You gotta be at top shape. They're teaching them how to work out and and and develop their muscles, their strength, their their quickness. They they teach them how to eat right to make sure they're taking care of for their new nutrition and and all of that. Everything is preparing them for the fight. But there's one thing I'm not sure you can ever teach a person, and that is how to get up off the mat when you've been hit. Do they teach a boxer how to get back up? Or is that just instincts? Do some fighters have it and some don't? It was Ray Boom Boom Mancini that we write about in the book when he came to one of our uh Goodfellas events. Remember, he says the the the punch that hurts you the most is the one that you don't see coming, and that's usually the one that puts you out. So I didn't see this coming, and boom, I'm on my back. Boom, you and Jackie get the the word, you know, our money you lose your dad early. All of that we're down now. We have to figure out a way to crawl back to our feet, get back in that corner, because if we can just get through the round, all right, not throw up our hands and quit, not lay and sit there and beg for the guy to get the 10 as quickly as possible so he can count you out. If you can get back to the ring, uh the corner and get with your cup man, your corner man, and let them start pouring back into you, there's another round. And if you can just make it to the next round, yeah, then the longer you make it the next round, the next round, the next round, the better you are at being able to not just survive the fight, but even come out on the other side and maybe even win.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So we're now, 15 years later, we're with men on a quarterly basis. We're taking them up to our farm, we're looking them in the eye, we're helping them man up. Guys, none of that really would have been possible had we not all during that period of time got up off the mat, go get in the corner, having y'all around, handling things, man. I remember my case said, guys, he came, my pastor came and he said to the staff, more or less what? Don't bring one problem to Steve.
SPEAKER_02And we didn't bring them to you.
SPEAKER_04No, you guys dealt with them. You had to release some people during the hard time as a staff. People were not all you think everybody'd be on the same page, and but you guys had to make some difficult calls and release people. I remember, man, when I heard about that, I'm like, I think I have an opinion, but I don't even have the energy to even formulate my opinion. So let it happen. You guys had to handle that. You were the corner guys at that point helping me.
SPEAKER_02What we had to do some cutting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Just because you're in the corner doesn't mean you don't get cut. Oh so that's that's what was going on. And and you look to where we are today, men's camp, uh, a beautiful building, two campuses now. Gosh. Uh, even the the little things like the RV being redeemed, yeah. We are finishing well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And uh, you know, you said something about the boxing analogy. How important is that corner? Like, like we all have a corner. Even in the it made me think of the tragedy of my dad dying. I had friends at that time, they're not, they're not Christian, but if I didn't have four friends that were my best friends, I probably wouldn't have made it through that time. Yeah. So even it, even, even just relationships that love you is so powerful because I remember here we all like came together. There was nothing we were gonna bring to you. We were gonna try to solve everything on our own. Um, I remember us communicating really well with each other and Pastor Mary and the team. And it was like you find this this strength as as the corner that you're like, what well, if if he can pull through, then we can pull through. We we can't get down, we can't stay here forever. Yes, this is horrible, but let's let's let's bring it all back.
SPEAKER_02So and we're not the people we are without the event. Oh, no. We we you and I aren't as close as we are today if we didn't have the event.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Nope. And and that's and that's why those relationships are, which is our core value, right? Relationship, relationship, relationship. It's not a slogan, it's like who we actually have been. We bleed it, we've been there for each other. I remember uh even during COVID, you know, they came, they were the first ones to come over to our house. And this was during the time where everybody's like, Don't touch each other, be careful, this is crazy, we don't know what's happening. And Jackie comes to the door, and Anna and I get the door, and we're like, You guys want to go around the back? And Jackie just runs to me, gives me a hug.
SPEAKER_04She hugged you, she hugged.
SPEAKER_03Jackie never Jackie, she must have missed me. Jackie's never hugged you. I don't think Jackie's ever hugged me. I was in tears. Yeah. Because we hadn't had personal contact in a long time. We had a pretty tough time with that season. And here is one of our best friends, and that's what she did. You know what that meant the world because, like, I don't care. I'm not scared of you. I'm not scared of this. I'm not, and it was like this.
SPEAKER_02We've been through life and death before, right?
SPEAKER_03And it was just this beauty of relationship, and that's what I think that has gotten through us.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, plus she was quarantined for him for like a month. She was ready to get out of the house.
SPEAKER_03Let's just go visit somebody else and see. Keep it our bottle. It's fine. They're on day 11. We should be good.
SPEAKER_04No, no, guys. I it's um it's a great picture of uh talk about corner men. You guys are our in our corner. You were in the corner of this church. You you you helped uh us get through it, which is another key principle. If you're going through your 42 moment, stay connected with people, don't run from people. If if that's your first instinct, you want to be alone because you're embarrassed, shame, you're you're hurt, you're disgusted, you're disappointed, you feel uh let down. Man, don't just do the opposite of what you're feeling. Run to people. Yes. They are important to help you get through it. Give yourself some time to get through it. You took a big hit. Gosh, I remember Mary and I being up there and we'd look at each other, and it was quiet. Uh, there's only so much television you can watch, you know, it's only so many walks you can take. And we're looking at each other, and we're like, you know, we got to head home this weekend just to be able to see everybody. So we'd take a little trip down here for the weekend, drive to Miami just to see y'all, because being with you was was strength for us. You can't do it when you're taking a 42 like that. You can't do it on your own. You need each other. And uh thankfully, you guys handled the situation so well. And even to this day, we're we're saying it before our podcast. There's like no hint that we went through this. I mean, took 15 years to finally put it into writing in a book. Uh, people hear the story of it and they they still can't believe it. It kind of goes in one ear and out the other because they're like, ah, that couldn't have happened. Look at look at this. Yeah, look at all this. But I'm not sure any of y'all would have been in relationship today if things would have gone different 15 years ago. I don't know if this church would have been here.
SPEAKER_03Nothing would have been the same.
SPEAKER_04I don't know if if Mary would and and Christopher, Chris was too young. I don't know if this was something you guys would have done to be able to continue this. I got a feeling Mary would have gone back to Grace and worked alongside of my parents, and you guys, uh maybe you were in the picture. You might have gone back and helped, but we didn't know John until Metro.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think, I mean, I know our goal was to was to do everything we could, but everything would have been different. And I mean, life is such a gift. So I I mean, you're you have to be one of the strongest people I know to be able to have come through this um and and win on the other side, not not just limp, but win. Yeah. And and I think that that's the example that that I keep loving about the whole thing, because it doesn't, it doesn't show on you that we don't have any dust on, you don't have any dust on you from that pit that you were in. And that is constantly encouraging and and constantly an example. Um, because not quitting is one thing, I'm good at that. But but going for more, you know, like it would have been just perfect if you just not quit and lived and enjoyed your family and and just had a good life. Yeah, this is man, I'm alive. Life is a gift, this is good. But you like doubled down. And and I don't think most people do that. So to me, and to us, I'm sure, that's an example. Like most people will not double down. So, where do we need to double down? Where where do we need to finish well? Not just finish. Finishing would be, oh, I'm gonna live till 90, I'll be okay. Finishing well is I'm gonna build a legacy by the time I'm 90, and that's what you're pushing for. So truly thank you for that. Because we we take, I don't take it for granted, but we don't say it enough to each other.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_03That motivates me all the time to do to do something better, always. Appreciate that. Appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I remember the day your your dreaming came back. And the result of you dreaming again causes us work. I was gonna say, Joe.
SPEAKER_04We're both gonna let you finish and just uh chill a little bit. I was gonna let you finish, and I'm like, should I interrupt? Because my dreams make them work harder.
SPEAKER_02When a waldy's come down in a week, your dream might cause us more we're gonna have stayed in Stewart in a couple more weeks never fell through.
SPEAKER_04At least the Christmas, get through the holidays. No, that's hilarious that you would say that because I'm thinking that at the same time, John. Well, oh man, we life comes at us, we know life's not easy. We we don't like to have to go the hard route sometimes, but it's a good route if we can embrace it. You know where they say embrace the suck kind of a thing. You got to be able to do that. Uh, but you can't do it alone. And that's why I wanted you guys in the booth today because uh I I we haven't really talked about how you dealt with it, all that your your mindset, all the things that you had to process. Um, but it does, it it's brought us closer together. I I wouldn't be where I'm at today with this church had it not been for you guys. And I'm very, very grateful for that.
SPEAKER_03Thank you.
SPEAKER_04And every person that is a part of our deal here. I hope they know that. Because uh, yeah, there's there's we're all a part of this big body, but we wouldn't be where we're at today uh without Armando Gomez, John Roman. And uh so Mary and I are so grateful for you. All our Lese family are grateful for you, and uh, you're part of the family business, no doubt. And uh, we've been through the worst of times, but now we're celebrating the best of times. Amen. And the future only looks better. So, what are we saying? You have a 42 moment, it hits you. Don't run from your people, run to your people, keep that God connection in place, and then just let your time play out. You may have lost the dream, but I promise you, if you just stay at it, don't quit. Don't stay seated in the corner. Get back up, go one more round. If you do so, you'll find your dream ignited again, and you will finish well. So thanks for joining us today.
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