Life With Max Introduction

My name is Max Marcoux, and my passion is helping people renew their lives—one step at a time.

After more than 27 years as a pastor, over 30 years of marriage, raising four children, owning a fitness center, and walking through both victories and difficult seasons, I've learned that real transformation doesn't happen overnight. It happens one choice, one lesson, and one step of faith at a time.

On this channel, you'll find short, practical, Bible-based teachings designed to help you:
• Grow closer to God
• Understand and study the Bible with confidence
• Strengthen your faith in everyday life
• Find hope during difficult seasons
• Discover the purpose God has for you
• Live with greater joy, peace, love and courage

Whether you've been following Jesus for years, you're just beginning your faith journey, or you're simply searching for hope, you're welcome here.

My prayer is that every video encourages you, challenges you, and reminds you that God is not finished with your story.

Renew Your Life. Step Into Who You Were Created to Be.

If these videos encourage you, I'd love for you to subscribe, leave a comment, and share them with someone who could use a little hope today.

Thank you for being here. I can't wait to grow together.

— Max

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Thank you so much for tuning in. My name is Max Marcou, and this show is called Life with Max. I'll be sharing with you stories and hopefully useful tips that I've learned along the way that have really helped me to carve out a path going forward. Being a pastor for 27 years, married for over 30 years, raised four great children, and I'm very grateful for the life in which I have. But it was often great mentors that poured into my life, took the time to share wisdom beyond my years, and studying the Bible and the timeless wisdom that's in there. There's so many stories, hundreds of stories of people overcoming the odds. And so I love it. I find it exciting. A little bit about me. I grew up in Whalen, Massachusetts. Two great parents and a great sister. We had a little beagle. In high school, I got into a rock band and made some lifelong friends, still to this day, as you can see probably by looking around, or if you're listening to this, I'm in my little music studio filled with guitars and drums and other instruments. But I love music. And um I get to play sometimes at my church on Sundays. It's just it's a blast. Uh I also love photography. So I got into photography as a hobby and mostly nature photography. I like to get out into the woods or out on a boat, a kayak, and uh and mostly just photograph nature. It's a wonderful uh way to just connect uh with our creation. And for me, you know, that's one way I connect with God. It's just being out there alone. Uh well, not really alone, but when I slow down and I listen and look, I see that there's so much happening. Uh flowers, trees, rivers, lakes, the ocean, and all kinds of wildlife. And I, as you'll hear about in the future, if you keep tuning in, I'll share more about that. But the main thing is, and the main reason I started this show was to share with you things that I think could be helpful and and also inspiring. Sometimes we know what to do, but we're not feeling encouraged. In fact, many times people are feeling the opposite, discouraged. Um I think sometimes tuning into a show like this uh can help just give you the the oomph, the the lift that you need and and push forward. It has for me. That's that that's what I've done many times. Is I uh again, I've had great mentors, great pastors in my life, great friends, great family, but there are times when you just need uh something while you're heading to work or heading home for work or at night where you just want to listen or watch something to inspire you. And so I'm gonna do my very best to do that. Uh, what else can I tell you about um myself, I guess. Um, I have a gym uh outside the church. I my business is the gym business. So started a gym 15 years ago, but I've been a personal trainer for just over 20. And it really connects with what I do at church. It's really ministry, it's trying to help people. And at our gym, we do group classes, we do one-on-one personal training, and we also serve a lot of people, men and women with Parkinson's disease. Uh, years ago, about 14 plus years ago, uh, someone I know got Parkinson's and found that boxing can help slow the progression of that disease. I already did boxing with a lot of my clients, so I learned more about that. And today, more than half of the people that I serve at my gym have Parkinson's. It's just become a center for people that are looking for a community to fight forward. And again, that's just kind of how I'm wired. I want to be a part of communities that help people to fight forward and push through. So we'll talk about exercise, we'll talk about nutrition, we'll talk about rest. I'm big on the science of sleep because I've struggled with getting a good night's sleep for most of my life. So I don't want to accept that. I wanted to try to, I didn't want to accept it. I wanted to try to, and thankfully, there's so much new science out there, and it's helped me. It's helped me in big ways. So I've been sleeping better. Um, I'm a big believer that we never stop learning or or we'd never have to stop learning. And I think education is something that it's available by you listening to this, you'll you'll be educated because we'll share truths and stories that will help educate us to uh keep our minds fresh. And I'm also big into having a hobby. Uh whenever I uh sit with somebody, especially uh men, I find that if I ask them um how many friends they have, oftentimes I'm I'm surprised that they struggle with that. Uh they're not really sure how to answer that one. Uh the the truth is a lot of men in America these days don't have really a good close friend. If you do, you're fortunate and take care of that friend. Try to be a good friend to them. Um second, I ask, uh what are what are your hobbies? And often that one is uh met with silence. And I I think having some sort of hobby is a great thing. That's why I got into photography and that's why I love playing music, whatever it is. Uh it it could just be hiking, just it doesn't have to cost you anything, just get out into the woods and um and just be uh intentional about making time for yourself. Anyways, we're gonna talk about all this stuff, but it all really leads to the the big one, and that is love. I feel that if you're not getting proper rest, then you're tired. It's hard to love when you're exhausted. You still can, but it's harder. Um if you're not getting exercise, you may not have the endurance for all the that people need from you or deserve from you. If you're not eating well, uh then you can also feel sluggish and get sick more often. Again, you could still love, but it's more challenging. Um educating yourself keeps yourself uh bright and strong and interesting to be around. Not that you have to talk a lot. I'm actually a big believer that it's it's more important to ask people questions and do more listening than talking. We'll talk about that. Um, but educating yourself and um making sure that you're you're not stagnant and stuck in in the beliefs you had from 20 years ago or however you old maybe uh from three years ago. I always want to be learning. As I've studied the Bible, I've learned so much and it's fresh. It just keeps giving me new ideas, new perspectives, new ways to look at people. It certainly has changed my life in what is called the fruits of the Holy Spirit. I'm much more gentle, I have a lot more patience, uh, I have more self-control, and I'm able to love better because of the wisdom in which I've been uh able to seek out as a as a student. And adventure is important. So if you're doing all those things and you're feeling good and you carve out a little time for a hobby and have some adventure in your life, not the once a year I go somewhere, I mean a little bit throughout each month. You know, once a week would be amazing. But that takes in being intentional and and saying no to certain things so that you can say yes to something that might really help you. And when you feel that you're really alive and and living, you're able to love at uh an optimal level. And so we'll talk all about that. You know, life isn't transformed every night, it's really just one step at a time, one choice, one day at a time. So thank you for tuning in. There'll be uh episodes at elevationchapel.org, and I hope that I can serve you well. Thank you so much.