Bruce Duty – Choose Resilience

The world is loud right now—full of pressure, distraction, and uncertainty. It’s never been easier to escape discomfort and never harder to build true resilience. John Martin and Bruce Duty step into that tension, reminding us that while we often chase comfort, God uses adversity to shape our identity and strengthen our faith.

We ground this conversation in Scripture and real-life experience. You’ll hear how pain, loss, and hardship are often the very places where God does His deepest work. Bruce shares how discovering your identity in Christ is the foundation for lasting resilience—not just bouncing back for a moment, but growing stronger for a lifetime. We talk about the importance of knowing who you are, why you matter, and how a strong spiritual core changes everything.

Then we get practical. Stop running from discomfort and start learning from it. Embrace the process of growth, take responsibility, and allow the Holy Spirit to transform your character—producing love, joy, peace, patience, and self-control. We also highlight the importance of community: real, face-to-face connection, not just digital interaction. Because healing, encouragement, and purpose are often found in the people right in front of you.

We also share simple but powerful ways to stay grounded: get into the Word daily, build your life around a Christ-centered church, and find a small group where you can grow, be accountable, and stay connected. And don’t forget to step away from the noise—find quiet places where you can hear God clearly and be renewed.

If you’ve been feeling lost, overwhelmed, or stuck in life’s challenges, this episode will remind you that God is with you in the valley—and He’s using it for your growth. Listen now, share this with someone who needs encouragement, and leave a review so others can find it.

What’s one challenge in your life that God might be using to build your resilience this week?

For more information contact us at
rtrdestiny@gmail.com

For more information contact us at
rtrdestiny@gmail.com

Transcript

Welcome And CPAC Takeaways

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Well, hello, I'm John Martin, and welcome back to Road to Redemption. So excited to be here, and I'm with my friend today, Bruce Dooney. Bruce, how are you? Hey John, good to see you again. Good to see you, good to see you. And I know you're back from CPAC recently, right? Didn't you? You just went over there to Texas. How was that?

SPEAKER_00 0:25

CPAC event in Dallas. It's an annual event that uh normally takes place either in Dallas or in the DC area. I've been to Dallas a couple times in the DC area, maybe three or four. Okay. It's a good event. I don't know if it was highly attended in comparison to the DC events, but it was still a good time, lots of good speakers and making good connections.

Bruce’s Background And Calling

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Well, um give us a little background on you, or folks that don't know you, what's what what's your background?

Salvation On The Flight Line

SPEAKER_00 0:58

So uh I I like to say that being born in the Los Angeles area and then growing up in Tucson, uh Arizona is important in that both of those areas are laid back, and I'm kind of a laid-back sort of person in many senses anyway. And um uh that area has a special place in my heart because of being raised in that area, and the beauty. So I'm an outdoors kind of guy. I like the beach, I like the mountains, and I like the desert. And uh both those states, especially Southern California and Arizona, speak a lot to me. After graduating high school in Arizona, uh moved to Kentucky, worked on a horse farm, did that for a little bit before joining the military. I joined the Air Force and became an Air Force Security Forces guy. Went through training in San Antonio, Texas. So more training at Camp Bullis outside of San Antonio, and uh enjoyed being law enforcement in the military. Ultimately, though, I was thinking I was going to be a high school football coach or basketball coach, and I did do some of that intermittently the rest of my life, but um I I changed that once God redeemed me. Once I found out that I was a sinner in need of a savior, and uh when that occurred, that changed the trajectory of my life, physically, mentally, spiritually, and uh and ultimately ended up becoming a servant in local churches and on the mission field, and then an army chaplain. And so I recently retired as an Army chaplain, uh, and that active duty time Air Force and Army uh you know work together, allowed me to retire, and and I enjoy the benefits of that right now.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Now, how did you become redeemed? What what did it take, you know, you know, and in your journey to where you gave your life to Christ?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yeah, so I did not grow up in the church at all. I spent all of my time, including weekends, uh, outdoors, riding bikes, hiking, getting in trouble, playing sports, whatever. And so uh as a young adult, I um was beginning to question some things about life, where I was going, what life's purpose was. And as such, I pulled out this little Gideon's Bible that was handed to me when I enlisted in the Air Force. Took that Bible. I was watching an E3A WAC airplane at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City. You know what an E3A WAC airplane is? And so you've seen it. Yeah, it is uh the the pretty large plane that you'll see every once in a while with a big dome on it. There's a smaller one. The Navy has a uh E2C Hawkeye, which has uh similar capabilities, smaller plane, Air Force has a larger one. I am I'm providing security for that aircraft and some B-52s, which is pretty cool. And uh yet, in all of that, I still didn't know who I was or where I was going. Reading the Gideon Bible, someone came up to me, uh, aircraft mechanic on that same AWAC airplane. His name was Woody, and he said to me, Do you know what you're reading? And I said, I have absolutely no idea what I'm reading. And then he began to explain uh what I was reading, the gospel story, the book of Romans, and by the time I got up from that encounter, I had uh knelt down, I had secured my my weapon, so an M16. Today we carry M4s, so uh that dates me a bit. I'm carrying my M16, 120 rounds of ammunition, and uh my bray on my head. And I I asked Jesus to save me and to forgive me. And uh I meant it. And I knew that he meant it. And he redeemed me at that moment right there, and my life has not been the same since.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Amen. That's so cool. You just with the Gideon's Bible, you know, that that's that's great. It's still in most every hotel room, which I love. They are the the Bible is there, and that's a big part of what we talk about on this show, is really getting this Bible and just reading it every day, you know, because that's how God speaks to us the main way is through the Holy Scriptures. Um, but so you were you were saved that way. Uh so once that happened, was everything just perfect for the rest of your life?

Growth Through Discipline And Service

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Is it oh yeah, everything was laid out perfectly smooth, yeah, pristine waters. Yeah. So yeah, talk just a little bit about so he redeemed my soul, obviously, and at that point I am bound for heaven, and I had confidence and security in that. But I also knew that I was a work in progress. The Holy Spirit, which comes into your life at the point of redemption, began changing me at that moment, and uh he changed my attitude, my vocabulary, he changed my goals, changed everything. But that took time, of course, and um and it mattered to me then because I was really serious. Uh that was probably the first time in my life that I was um just resolved to do life right, and uh and God began teaching me how to change. I found out that self-discipline, taking responsibility and accountability was important. I found out that the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control is that which needs to be evident in my life. And once I began experiencing that, I wanted to teach others. And I found in the process that I I was not going to grow or mature until I actually stopped focusing on me being changed, primarily, but using that to help others. And in that I began to grow and mature, and and I wanted then at that point not to make a living in life, but to make an impact in life.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

And um, but you're now really passionate about talking about purpose and resilience. And talk talk to us a little bit about that, because I know there are a lot of our listeners out there that that are struggling with what is their their purpose, you know. A lot of people are depressed and anxious because they're like, what am I doing here? And this life is tough, you know. Even being those that are giving their life to Christ, it it's it's not easy, it's a challenge. And and I know you're you're passionate about that, so talk to to our listeners about that.

Identity Crisis And Spiritual Core

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Well, one of the things that I learned early on is that embracing pain and uh as a result using suffering in your own life is important. Uh we we are right now in the are we in Miramar Beach? Is that where we're at? Yeah. So we're in Miramar Beach, it's probably 70 degrees outside, it's sunny, and that beach, just right down the road, is one of the best-looking beaches in the world. Um life is not always at the beach, um, and most of my lessons in life were learned not at the beach, but in the pit or the valley, and I I believe that that is true for most people. You very rarely hear someone say, when I was at the pinnacle of my life, when I was enjoying everything, I learned this lesson. It's more like when my mother died, or when my child died, or when I was fired, when my business went bankrupt. It's at those moments that someone will say, I learned this lesson. I learned this about life and I learned it about myself. And I think that our generation and our culture has forgotten how to take advantage of that kind of resilience. Learning from whatever adversity that you're facing. And instead of just having the willpower to bounce back, you actually use that moment in life to evaluate who you are, and in order to do that, you've got to find out what you believe, what your core values are, what you love and who you love. And all of that shapes your meaning and purpose in life. So ultimately, John, I think what that is, is discovering your identity and maybe rediscovering your identity. I believe that anyone listening right now or viewing right now understands that our nation is in a national identity crisis, and we have been for a long time. I believe that communities are experiencing identity crises, and individuals and families are experiencing the same thing. As a result, human beings that you would never think would try to find out if they're a man or a woman or cannot define whether or not they're a man or a woman. You never would have thought that before, but now all of a sudden we know people that are in that dilemma. And instead of getting angry about that, we need to find out why we're in that situation. Why have we lost our national and community and family identity? And so I think that in order for you and I to be resilient, we have to first know who we are, why we matter, what our purpose is in life, and that requires that we know a little bit about our spiritual core, and then develop that spiritual core so that we can become resilient. There's a doctor and or a professor, Dr. Miller out of Columbia University, that produced a study that resulted in at least 80% in three different categories. Suicidal ideations, just common everyday resilience, and then resilience during tragic situations. 80% or above are more likely to overcome, adapt, and become stronger if they have a strong spiritual core. And that's coming from a secular university. And so I'd like to help people know what their identity is so that they can become resilient for the long haul. Not just bounce back for today, but bounce back for life and find a new path forward.

Pride And Hidden Idols

SPEAKER_01 13:23

And really, we need to find our identity in Christ, in Jesus, you know, who is his Lord and Savior. And that's what he wants us to do, is to seek him, to know him, to love him, and to seek, you know, find our identity in Jesus. And, you know, it's it's a process, you know. We start all, we obviously we we give our life to him and we surrender him and we repent and turn away from our sins, but it's um, you know, starting to read, he left us an instruction manual, his Bible, so we we read that, we go to church, we get into a small group, and all of these things are here for us to find our identity in Christ. I think that's the the problem when you were talking about our our nation, our world, is we've lost our the identity in Christ, especially in America that we once had is this being a you know a nation under God. Uh so I think that what I feel is we need to get back to that and put our trust in Him, you know, not in the devices and things in this world.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

And I think that when you're doing that, John, you you're going to come up against competition. There's always competition, and that is because pride dies a slow and ugly death. Uh, national pride or personal pride. It's difficult to look yourself at yourself in the mirror and know that you are 95% of your own problems. That's hard. And it requires you getting down to the nitty-gritty of life and your own attitude and actions. And I think that that's the battle that we face. I think that America achieved such great success in many categories. Families, churches have experienced great success. And as a result, I believe that we've become prideful. St. Augustine said that even when you become resolved and resilient enough to move forward by faith in Christ, you're going to face the continual idolatry that is associated with pride. And for him, and I think it speaks biblically true, that is profit, pleasure, and prestige. And you can find it anywhere. And no matter what part of America or any part of the world that you live in, if if my idol is profit, pleasure, or prestige, even if I claim the name of Jesus, I'm going to have a difficult time winning in my growth in the Lord Jesus. The Spirit then will not be able to work in me because I've got an idol. I can wear a t-shirt that says I trust Jesus. I can have a cross that says I trust Jesus. But inside, I'm all about me. And that's where real growth happens, is on the inside.

Suffering In Daily Life

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Well, and Jesus and the scriptures calls us to be a servant. That's the primary thing. Yeah, you know, tells us to love him with all our heart, love our neighbor. Loving our neighbor really. We're really called to be a servant. It's not about us and how much we profit. And it's our primary goal, what he's calling us to do is to serve others. So I think that's a big part of the problem, as you were talking about in our nation, is we've we've just become all about ourselves and our own pride and our own gain. You know, and we need to help others. And I I couldn't help but looking at your notes. I appreciate you. But but you've got you know suffering and pain in your notes, and and really, gosh, that's we are seeing so much suffering and pain in our world today. I mean, just everywhere in every family.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Um isn't it interesting that today we're wondering about the Strait of Hormuz and its impact on oil, its impact on our wallet or purse, and we're we're consumed with that. We're consumed with whether or not the Iran war is going to come to a conclusion, whether the ceasefire is going to remain in effect or what have you. I mean, there's a lot of big picture stuff to think about, but every day someone is dying. Every day someone new is addicted to something. Every day we have a friend or family member that is facing a mountain that they do not think that they can climb. And that is a reminder that the world just never stops spinning.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Well, and and just the thing we want y'all to know is that you are deeply loved by God. You know, he loves you more than anybody could ever imagine, more than any of your relatives. Um and, you know, he's he's calling you to a deep relationship with him. And we really need to seek him first when we're in suffering and pain. And we all as people tend to go other places first a lot, to alcohol drugs, to relationships, you know, to which are gonna, you know, these are fallen people. We we we need to go to our Lord, to Jesus, and cry out to him in this this suffering and this pain, you know, that we're all, you know, everyone experiences, especially today.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

So the psalm help says that uh I look to the hills. Where does my help come from? I look to the hills, my help comes from the Lord. Yeah. And uh I like looking at hills. I love mountains. Uh, but I know my true help comes from the Lord. Uh Psalm 46 says that he is a very present help in times of trouble. And it would be nice if we all embraced that truth during times of trouble. But you gotta know him. Know him enough that you realize that he is the loving refuge that he wants to be in your life, and he's a shield and protector and a provider. He's uh he's everything. And uh so with that said, we should be encouraging one another to not grow weary and doing good. The Apostle Paul said that to the uh church in the Galatia, maybe, and uh that's a phenomenal truth. It it's tough to not get tired doing good because you have to empty yourself. And whether you're doing that as a teacher, a coach, a missionary, a pastor, a warrior on the battlefield, it's tough. But we need encouragers to encourage us to not grow weary and so true.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

We just encourage you, listening, to um go and connect with people and you know, just anybody throughout your day, just go up and ask someone how they're doing and just get to know them and listen to them and just put your phone down. And um, I just think that there alone would have a huge impact, you know, on our world. People would just do that. I mean, if you walk around today, you just see everybody's just looking at their phone and the grocery and their car, just and it's part of the problem, you know, is we're becoming so disconnected, and you know, there's so much suffering and pain, and we need to encourage each other. That's that's what God's calling us to do. Um, you know, as I said earlier with the road to redemption, you know, to get into the word of God, get into a Christ-centered church, just go and get into a small group in your church. Um connect with others, um, you know, because God loves you. He's gonna bring you through it. Um, you know, through the suffering, the pain. If you just cry out to him, he will be there. Um what else, Bruce? Is there anything else before we go today?

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Well, I I I like the fact that you keep coming back to community and connection. So there's that vertical relationship that you have with the Lord, and then the horizontal relationship that you have with others in your community. And um that face-to-face interaction, looking at one another, um eye to eye, you know, eyeball to eyeball, is great. And I I do think that you're right, we've lost the value of that. And I think sometimes that's because we don't take time. Um we think we're missing out on something. There's always something better over there, and so I want to keep looking around, and I I forget that there's value in looking at someone in the eyes and then seeing their response. And and too many of our people have uh embraced that uh kind of connectivity that doesn't really allow for that. And while there's uh tremendous value in being connected globally with people, uh we can't miss, we cannot miss out on the community that we have right in front of us. Because, think about it, it if you believe that God's in control and the person that's right in front of you then is under the hand of God, then that person right in front of you is there for a reason. So why look past her? Or why look past him? Why would you do that if you know God's in control?

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Why don't we all make it a goal just to, you know, at least once a week, um, just try to in our day, just put down our phone or whatever, you know, it could be a distraction and find someone in our daily walk and just walk up and engage them and ask, you know, if you can pray for them or just if they need anything or just any way that you could help them. Uh I just think people, if everybody did that, they'll listen to the show, including us, it just is gonna bless people, you know. People are gonna be like, wow, thank you. I, you know, because we just our world today is just the opposite. Everybody's walking around looking at their phone the whole time and just thinking about the next next accomplishment that they gotta get done for the day. Yeah. You know, so God calls us to serve others, be a servant. So wow, let's do that.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Well, thankfully, we've got um we've got some people that do do that and do it well, and um and that's fun to watch them in action and training up the next generation.

Solitude And Listening For God

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Absolutely. Well, we're visiting with Bruce Duty, great man of God. Um you're on your own, you mean you're on your journey. I mean, you've been an army chaplain, you're you're you're you're as we said, where you're stepping out and doing talking about resilience and um discovering your your purpose, your your identity. Um can I add something?

SPEAKER_00 26:20

So um as much as important as that connection is, it's also important to pause and reflect and get out there and find places of peace, uh especially if you're healing through whatever trouble that's come your way. And as I mentioned earlier, we live close to the beach right here. You take advantage of the environment that God provided you. Um there's a a place right near where I live where I can easily distance myself from any home in the uh in the area. I don't see any house, any residences at all. It looks like I'm in the woods in a matter of like five minutes. And I need that regularly. And it's in that moment that I talk to God, and it's in that moment that God speaks to me. So find the beauty around you as well. Embrace the privilege of being part of God's creation. There's a lot out there.

Final Encouragement And Farewell

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Well, we gotta try to put ourselves in positions where God can speak to us. You know, he speaks to us primarily through the Holy Spirit through impressions on our heart. You know, I mean, some people have heard from God in an audible voice, and I know that happens, you know, but but for most of us, you know, he speaks to us through our heart, through our spirit. Uh, but we're so drowned in the phones and stuff, you know, that we can't hear him. So try to get alone with God and just put it all down and just, you know, listen to his voice. He'll speak to you, he'll speak to you through his written word. Um, as we said, go to church, get in a small group. Well, Bruce, it's been great. I'm so glad we got to get together. Yeah, it's been awesome, and we look forward to having you back on again sometime. I appreciate you. Thank you, sir. God bless.