The Outdoorsman's Mandate
The Outdoorsman's Mandate
Living with Intentionality and Grace
Ever wondered how childhood experiences can shape one's journey of faith and resilience? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Steve Ivaska, a man whose life is a testament to the enduring power of faith. From his early years fishing and hunting in Coldwater, Michigan, to the influence of his mother’s dedication to teaching Bible verses, Steve shares heartwarming stories that highlight the importance of family, nature, and spiritual grounding. Our discussion takes you through the Ivaska family’s Thanksgiving traditions and the precautions taken to protect our newest family member, setting the stage for a spiritually enriching dialogue.
Steve reflects on his deep partnership with God, which began with marrying his junior high school sweetheart, Pat, and finding a supportive spiritual community in Peoria. Hear about the transformative moments that have fortified his faith, the challenges and blessings of raising a family, and the profound significance of maintaining a grateful heart. As Steve recounts nearly 50 years of spiritual growth, you'll gain insights into living with intentionality and the importance of active participation in God’s plans.
The episode rounds off with powerful reflections on life's bigger questions, the importance of Christ-centered leadership, and the pivotal moments that reshaped Steve's priorities. We explore everything from a severe ankle injury that prompted deep self-reflection to the mission of fostering leaders who stand for truth. Don’t miss this episode filled with wisdom, gratitude, and the enduring spirit of faith.
You're listening to the Outdoorsman's Mandate Podcast. The lessons learned in outdoors can completely shape the way life is viewed. Through discussing and sharing our experiences that we've learned in outdoors and hunting, we're going to dig even deeper into the real meaning of the Outdoorsman's Mandate, which is to find our purpose in life, make a difference and steward well what we've been given. How can you do that? It's simple faith and action. So, wherever you find yourself on your journey, the only way forward is for you to take a step. Take a simple step listen to this podcast and find your mandate. Step listen to this podcast and find your mandate. Welcome to another episode of the Outdoorsman's Mandate podcast.
Speaker 1:On this podcast, first of all, it's a great honor. I respect our guest here, steve Ivaska, very much. He's just an incredible gentleman, an incredible man, an incredible man of God. Just haven't known him that long as far as just personally, but just in the time that I've known him, it's just been a great honor. We met because of this podcast actually, or kind of in a way, through our business, cornerstone Gundog Academy. He is one of our customers there and he had reached out at some point and sent me an email just saying that the Lord had put my family on his heart and he was praying for us and that just meant the world to me and so that kind of started our relationship and it was just very powerful, it was very timely. So it told me that he was listening to the Holy Spirit and so I want to honor you before you come on and just say it is a great honor to have you on the podcast. So welcome, welcome to Outdoorsman's Mandate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks, josh, and it's a privilege to be with you today.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you. Before we dive into anything deep, what's your weekend look like? Obviously, we're recording this just past Thanksgiving. Any funny, crazy stories from Thanksgiving? Or it was all calm up that way.
Speaker 2:Well, it was relatively calm. I mean, it's always great to be with our kids and grandkids. We weren't able to get together as our entire family. If you took our entire family with our kids and their spouses and our grandkids, there's 21 of us. But we've got, you know, one on an aircraft carrier out in the Pacific and you know, my son and his family down in outside of Atlanta and Mark and his family outside of Grand Rapids, michigan. But we got together with our daughters and what five of the 12 grandkids. So that was really good.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's, that's amazing. It's amazing, just. I love just the aspect of family to me. Just, and seeing how the Lord blesses family and a lot of times, how the Lord can just take things and put them together, that's just one of the greatest representations of life to me is seeing a family together. So that's awesome. Sounds like you had a good time. We had a good time For us. We actually didn't spend time with the whole family as a whole recently because we had our baby girl and we had to protect our immune system due to the circumstances that we had been through having to go through the NICU and all that. But I think we should be good for Christmas. We get to talk to the doctor after that. But I'm just really excited about this episode.
Speaker 1:We've kind of talked through a little bit about what we're going to be covering episode. We've kind of talked through a little bit about what we're going to be covering. Before we dive in and kind of get to the meat of this and let you hear this incredible man's story, let's pray and let's just invite the Holy Spirit on. Let's invite the Lord on, because this is ultimately His podcast and he's the one making a difference. So if you're good, let's go ahead and pray real quick. Lord Jesus, we just thank you for who you are. We thank you for your grace, we thank you for your mercy, god, we thank you for your heart, that you care for us, and we thank you for you, father, god, and we thank you for you, holy Spirit, and we just want to invite you into this episode here.
Speaker 1:This is your podcast, lord. Everything in the earth is yours, on heaven and above, and everything in the universe and in all creation and beyond is yours, lord, and so we just want to submit and yield to you and just honor you before we start this episode, and thank you for all that you're going to do and thank you for the way that you're going to touch hearts. So we open up our hearts to you and may your will be done in Jesus name. Amen, amen. Well, steve, let's just get to your story. Let's start from the beginning. Where does your story begin?
Speaker 2:Well, my story begins in a small town in south central Michigan called Coldwater, and the reason it's called Coldwater is it goes back to the Pottawatomie Indians Wow, and they had settled in that area and so there's lakes throughout the area and I happened to grow up on a lake and you know, the memories that I have from that lake are, you know, are pretty incredible. Dad was a guy who you know he loved to fish, he loved to hunt. You know I'd hear these stories yes, I was at a very young age of him trapping and falling through the ice and losing his lantern and things like that. So it was, you know, kind of these legends, if you will, of the things that had happened, but it was one of those things that he started to happened, but it was one of those things that he started to. I'm going to say, take me out doors at a very young age. So if you can imagine a little boy aged three or four and his dad telling his mom hey, what we're going to do this weekend is I'm going to take Steve up north in Michigan to Houghton Lake to ice fish over the winter, or, you know, the weekend, and I have no idea what may have been going through mom's mind at that, but nevertheless it's a very distinct memory. It was me and dad traveling I don't know 150 miles, or whatever it was, up to Houghton Lake, getting a motel and spending the night there, houghton Lake, getting a motel and spending the night there, and then the next morning driving our car out on the ice for the tip-up festival and Dad had rented a shanty. And it's just those things that you know one would never forget. And there were just a number of instances like that.
Speaker 2:Tell just another quick story. So it's now summertime and I'm probably in a similar age, maybe four or five at the most, and probably a Saturday afternoon and Dad and I are going to go fishing. So I mean, what better way for a kid to go fishing with his dad? So he takes me down on the dock that my grandfather had built, an old wooden you know dock, and he gets me set up in the you know in the front of the boat and my life jacked on and everything else. And he gets in the boat and pushes off and pulls the cord on the three and a half horsepower Evan Rood motor and all of a sudden that motor is just engulfed in flames, oh man.
Speaker 2:And the next thing I know I'm flying through the air into the water and what had happened is that there was gas that apparently had seeped out and when you know, the spark plug fired, it ignited the gas on the top of the motor, oh man. And dad had literally reached up to the front of the boat, threw me out. So I'm now bobbing around in my life jacket out in the water, and the next thing, dad's jumping in the water too and he grabs the boat. So, dad, six, two or so, he's waist deep in the water. We haven't gotten all that way out from shore and he turns said anything more about it. But as I reflected on that, josh, I mean the thing that just really struck me, because I think oftentimes you know our kids and grandkids, they learn just by watching us and that as a man has a responsibility to protect his family, and when his family's threatened he acts and dad just instantaneously took the action.
Speaker 2:So there's just numerous stories along those lines with dad and the lake and the boats and those types of things. That's incredible. That's amazing how those memories, just numerous stories you know along those lines with dad and the lake and the boats and those types of things.
Speaker 1:That's incredible, that's uh. It's amazing how those memories just imprint on you so powerfully, especially something um that crazy. I mean, that's. It sounds like it all happened, just like that.
Speaker 2:Well, it did, it happened just like that.
Speaker 1:So I guess that was so you're, as an outdoorsman, you know obviously we're outdoorsman's mandate. I guess as a child some of your first introduction to the outdoors must have been fishing. Was that the case? Is that kind of what drew you into the outdoors?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it was fishing, it was dad taking me hunting. My grandma made a hunting vest for me. Dad would shoot a pheasant, he'd stick the bird in the back. And so again, here's this little boy, you know, carrying around a pheasant in his back and but I think, just the wonder of being out outside, being out outside. Mom, you know, wasn't the same outdoors person as dad was. When dad decided to clean smelt in the washing machine, which didn't turn out to be too good, he thought it was going to be a great idea and it kind of went south on him, but mom nevertheless tolerated that. But mom also, you know, made sure that throughout the year, you know, that we were outdoors. And the other thing that I just really appreciate you know about her was looking at the focus that she put on teaching us kids Bible verses.
Speaker 1:Really, that's awesome, love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so I mean a number of years after you know that happened and she needed to go to the University of Michigan Hospital Won't go into all the details but she was pretty sick and you know, in spending time with her just being able to say to her Mom have not I commanded you, be strong and of good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismay7, psalm 23, just those types of verses, and in her last days, when she wasn't able even to hold the conversation, being able to say those verses to her. So there was this learning that was just continuously taking place on, you know, watching dad, listening to mom, and you know, I think out of that, as I'm much older now, just thinking about the profound influence that a mom and dad can have, influence that a mom and dad can have on their kids and really not know it perhaps in the moment.
Speaker 1:That's powerful and this culture that we live in. There's an attack on the family, clearly. I mean, we're all aware of that and some of us are aware of it, some of us are deceived, we're not aware, but there's a major attack on the family and obviously God's design is family. That's his, you know, man and woman. He created both of them and united them together, and then that impartation of a family. And you know we face a very real adversary. You know there's a lot of people out there that don't believe in a real Satan. However, we face a very real adversary. You know there's a lot of people out there that don't believe in a real Satan. However, we face a real adversary. And even if you don't believe that, just think about it, just use your mind here a little bit. Right, if your goal is to tear something apart, well, what's one of the easiest ways to do it? Well, you start at the top. If you can create the leadership and create turmoil in leadership and then watch it unfold from there, then obviously you can take out the rest. The strength starts from top down and there's just a very real attack on the family. So I'm glad we're talking about that and it's amazing the impact that it had on your family and I hope that encourages people that are maybe on the fence just as a family, maybe they're dealing with conflict in their marriage or conflict in other areas. Just they're dealing with something. Maybe they're on the edge, they're just barely hanging on.
Speaker 1:I hope that what you just said, and maybe what we continue to talk about here, is that impacted your family and that marked your life, which I'm sure we'll get into that a little bit more, and that marked your life, which I'm sure we'll get into that a little bit more. But I hope that encourages someone to stay in the fight and to not give up, because we are under a very real attack. Every family is and don't be surprised by it right? Those random arguments, those random things that come up that seem to come out of nowhere. Sometimes they're not so random, but it's amazing how the Lord can take what's broken and then unite it, which, in your case, it sounds like you were blessed with a beautiful family, just a wonderful family that really imparted a lot to you. How did that impact you moving forward? You said something that was interesting, that you didn't know it at the time, when you know, when they were teaching you that, like you didn't realize how much of an impact it had on you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, I mean, when somebody says, okay, let's go through your memory verse one more time, gets to be a bit of a you know task and yeah, maybe you get the ribbon at church or whatever else, but seeing the value of just being able to bring those verses just streamed into my mind, I mean, mom was, you know, struggling, you know, and things of that nature, and just God bringing those things to mind. And the other thing, you know, as I reflect back, is probably the, the many hours that my mom and dad both prayed for me and you know, the picture that I have of my dad today, who is also passed away, is every morning junior high, high school. You know, as I was getting down, get ready for school, he was getting ready to go off work. He always had his journal and his Bible sitting right there in front of him and he was just so consistent about that.
Speaker 2:And I was talking to him one day just about, you know, talking about family, and he said, steve, do you know your great-grandfather prayed for four generations. Well, my great-grandfather came to the United States 110 years ago, in 2013. And my dad said he was praying for four generations. So that meant he was praying for my grandfather and his generation, my dad and his generation, me, my generation and my kids, and it was like wow, wow, okay. His prayer for the four generations ended with me responsibility now in praying for my kids, my grandkids, those yet to be born, as we see in Psalm 78, which is just such a precious psalm for me.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful and you know that topic of prayer too. I want to hit on just something that came to mind I think that we should talk about too, too, is the power in prayer and the responsibility of us in prayer. You know a lot of people are like you know, well, god's got it, you don't got to worry about it, but God's not really into—God's kind of in the partnership business. You know what I mean. It's not just—He wants us to play a role, like he is partnering with us. I mean that's why we his scripture talks about in Genesis.
Speaker 1:You know he's giving us dominion and there's a lot of responsibility and a lot of expectation from us on this journey. So it's there's definitely. You know you can't. It's pretty important to pray. It's pretty important to not just to leave it to chance you know it's or just to hope that he's going to take care of it. He will take care of you, but he wants to partner with you and the power and the multiplication and all the things that can happen when you get into join him with partnership are pretty powerful.
Speaker 2:Yes, it is yeah. Being able to pray and then being able to act upon what it is that he brings to mind, that's important. Yep, I've you know, I've heard you. Now, here's what I'd like you to do.
Speaker 1:Oh, there's a lot. There's a lot we're covering here. Well, some of that we won't be able to dive in too much today, but let's continue on and just kind of talk about how that marked you and how you've brought that responsibility into your family, and just kind of how you know just your story with your family as you grew up and then you kind of went out on your own and you became, you know, as the scripture says, you know you're going to leave your father and mother and cling to your wife scripture says you know you're going to leave your father and mother and cling to your wife.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I was very blessed on being able to marry a girl that I got to know in junior high school Wow, and that's amazing and started dating Pat when I was in high school and we got married when I graduated from high school. She was a year ahead of me, had a job at a bank making I don't know $3.75 an hour and I had a scholarship, you know, to go to school, and so it's like, well, this seems like this is all working together. In fact, I have a two-page budget that I put together looking at her income and our expenses, and I think about that today and it's like, wow, we, you know we were, we're really pretty young. That's amazing. The thing about it is that was in 1970 and 1975. Yeah, I went to work for Caterpillar in Peoria, for Caterpillar in Peoria, and what I found in that move was moving away from family and friends and really not knowing anyone, as we started out in what seemed to be a fairly large city, at least larger than anything. You know that I had been around growing up than anything.
Speaker 2:You know that I had been around growing up and we started looking for churches and when we found one that just was Bible teaching, Bible believing, and Pat at that time was, she was, let's see, latter stage of pregnancy with Leanne, our first one. And so, just, you know, for protection for herself, she wasn't going out a lot. And then when Leanne was born, well, just like you, Josh, with you know, with Joy, hey, you know she needed to stay in, but I was visiting some churches and found one that just really taught the word, and I can remember standing there one morning in that service, tears just coming down my eyes, saying thank you Lord, and realizing just how important that was to be with God's people. That's amazing, and so that was, you know, one of those, what I would say, not necessarily a turning point, but looking, and you know, at the things that are of importance in there. So, yeah, so then we got started and after Leanne there were three more that followed all in a seven-year span, that's wonderful.
Speaker 2:And it was, you know, seeking to bring them up in the nurturing of the Lord and also being able to expose them to the out-of-doors. And you know, we had just a lot of great times with the, you know, with the kids and the outdoors and doing things along those lines.
Speaker 1:That's wonderful. Well, let's, how old were you at the time where you found that church? And you had that? Because I know there's one thing that I would love to talk about too, because, as people are listening to you, we're sitting here thinking that everything's been all perfect, you know, but the reality is life isn't perfect and we all have our battles we face. Yeah, it'd be interesting to kind of share how you know the Lord, how you got to this place of this grateful heart, how you got to this place to where you know the Lord's word means so much to you, and how you're on fire for the Lord. I mean, there's no other way to say it You're just, you're passionate about pursuing him and and living for him. But what's what's been kind of some of that story? How did you get to that place? Have you always been to the place, to where? It's always been great? Or you know what was the story there?
Speaker 2:No I I.
Speaker 1:I haven't.
Speaker 2:I mean, there, there've been just I'm going to say the ups and downs and I think, for you know when, when things are really going well, it? I mean it's easy to get focused on my own thing and not actually saying, hey, I don't need God anymore, but just kind of drifting along, right.
Speaker 2:But just kind of drifting along Right, and so I think it's been a progressive journey over the years. And you know, if I go back to that period of time, what, almost 50 years ago, when I was in my early 20s and we made that move I can see God at work in my life, drawing him to me throughout those years. And I used to think you know, I say this a little bit tongue in cheek because I don't really think I understood the meaning of it as to sanctification, well, that's sure a big word. And then now, as I'm thinking about it and looking about it, no, that's God just drawing us to be more like Jesus over our lives.
Speaker 2:It's a progressive journey. I mean, we're continuously learning. He's continuously drawing us to him. We're off track sometimes. You know he's bringing us back, so I can't say that, no, it was just instantaneous. And I was, you know, on fire for the Lord in my 20s because, quite honestly, there probably wasn't much of a fire. There were some embers there. I knew what was important, but it's something I just am so appreciative of seeing the continuous growth throughout my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's that journey. Obviously, your family were believers, and it sounds like for generations, so you would have been introduced very young to faith. When did it become your own? Was it early on, eight years old, or is it something that came a little bit later in life?
Speaker 2:Well, it came a bit later in life, in my 30s. There was this period that it was like wait a minute. Is this real?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Is what I was taught real Is what it is that I'm doing and going to church and teaching our kids. You know about the Lord, is this real? And you know, as I wrestled through, that, I was fortunate enough to be able to read a book called More Than a Carpenter by a guy by the name of Josh McDowell. Some of your listeners may be familiar with him, but Josh actually grew up in a small town not too far from where we lived in southern Michigan and never met him at that time, but became an atheist and Josh went on this exploration journey to, like a number of atheists, to prove that, you know, god isn't real, god doesn't exist, and came to the exact opposite conclusion. And as Josh is.
Speaker 2:So, as I'm reading this book, more Than a Carpenter, josh kind of boils down at least the essence that I got out of that is, if you looked at Jesus's claims, I and my father are one. There's only one way. You know in heaven, I only do and say what the father says and you're seeing these miracles and it's like okay, seems like there's three options here. This guy is either a lunatic, because no one makes claims like these. The first shall be last, the last shall be first, okay, my kingdom's not of this world, okay, or he's a liar he's saying things that he knows are not true but are still saying them. Or he is who he claimed to be sent from God as the Savior of the world. We claim to be sent from God as the Savior of the world, who died and rose again. And as I'm reading through more than a carpenter, I'm also reading through the book of John, and I took the three older kids camping. Pat was at home with Mark, our youngest, and we're camping up along Lake Michigan and I distinctly to this day remember laying in a hammock with this big sand dune. There Kids are playing in the sand.
Speaker 2:And I'm reading through the Gospel of John and looking at those, the words that he gives his disciples before he's going to go to the cross. So, you know, at the Last Supper he's got these guys together. He's sharing with them what's most important, the most important things they need to know before he goes to his crucifixion. And in there, as he's sharing those things with them, he tells them, sharing those things with them, he tells them I'm not only praying for you, the disciples. And so he prays for them. And as I'm looking here. I want to capture this, you know, make sure I've got it right in my notes.
Speaker 2:Chapter 17, he prays for his disciples that God would protect them, and then he says you know, my prayer is not only for them alone, meaning his disciples. I pray also for those who believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one Father, just as you are in me and I am in. And it was like wow, jesus was praying for me. It's incredible. Almost 2,000 years ago and it was just like I'm going to say, a veil or a hood was pulled away. It was like this is absolutely true. That's amazing, Everything that I've been taught, everything that I've professed to know. He was praying for me. Not only was my great-grandfather praying for me four generations ago, but my Lord and Savior was praying for me before I was even born.
Speaker 1:That's incredible. I want to hit on some of this because I feel like there's a lot of people that might be able to relate to this but maybe not have made it to that place that you're at now. That you made it to, was this kind of a long period of this doubt and did you keep this to yourself? Was this something that you had shared with anyone? Or was this kind of something you were like internally battling and just kind of doing what a lot of men do and that's just like let's just not tell anybody, let's just kind of keep it ourselves and just deal with it, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as I reflect on it and I don't know, maybe I'm the only one, or maybe there are other guys that are, you know, like me but it seems like there's something that when an individual hits their 30s or so, okay, so they've got these, or we have these aspirations that relates to our career, as it relates to our family, and then we hit this spot that it's like, hmm, am I writing, am I working at the right place? I can remember going and picking up Chicago Tribune and, you know, reading through the one ad says well, maybe I should be working someplace else, and, and so there's questions that are going through, probably my mind. Is it related to purpose and identity?
Speaker 2:Hmm, you know, in there, and so I don't think it was something that I was sharing or talking about with others. It was just is this real? Am I on the right path, not only career-wise, but is this a path in spirituality? Is this true? Wow?
Speaker 1:So is that kind of the extent of how far it went, or were you even considering, was there other options out there that are real?
Speaker 2:I really wasn't considering other options.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was just like well, how do you know a God that you?
Speaker 2:can't see, hmm, a God that you can't see. And yet I think, as I look back, one God's hand was on my life throughout that entire period, but even as I reflect back on it today just the love for the outdoors, seeing the beauty of creation, the wonder of it all, and I probably wasn't processing it fully in that way as to wait a minute. There is a God. This didn't happen by chance or accident. But, even more importantly, this didn't happen by chance or accident but, even more importantly, I'm here because of him and the purposes that he has for me. So I don't know, in my 30s, necessarily I was processing at that, maybe at that deep of a level, right, but at the same time I think that it was just God being at work in my life and, who knows, maybe saying to me hey, steve, you say this is true, how do you know it?
Speaker 2:I like that, I like that and I guess my answer today would be because your word says it is.
Speaker 1:And you experienced it, you realized his fingerprint was in your life and that aha moment to realize, I think that's amazing. I really want to hit on that too, just that moment that you realized Jesus really was praying for you. Like you, he was actually thinking of you. In that moment, which is hard, I think, for us humans regular humans, I should say, obviously not the son of God, but a regular humans to process, cause, like our minds are so limited. But once you come to this conclusion that there is a spiritual, that there is reality beyond what we see, and realize that you know we're just limited but God is unlimited, he can do anything and Jesus being 100% man and 100% God at the same time, you know he wasn't limited. He could think about you and me and every single person, which is just hard, I like it, like it's hard to process, I think, in the human body and condition we're in. But the reality is he was thinking about you and it was very intimate, as that moment that you had which is, I love that story, that is powerful. So that was kind of a solidification for you, which is amazing that it came in your 30s, the realization okay, this is real, everything I've been taught everything. I've the realization okay, this is real Everything. I've been taught, everything I've really been living out, this is real. Where did you go from there with that? Was that kind of like okay, you've had this piece, now, like you know, it's real.
Speaker 1:And one thing I want to hit on before we go further is I do think that the generations my generation and then even younger generations that are kind of coming up right now are really all about. They really are hungry for truth and I think it's not enough to just take it by like they got to know for themselves. They need that own experience. So I think that's amazing. That kind of the same thing was for you. Is that you? You really needed to know for yourself, like you had to have that experience. That's just amazing how he chose to show up to you. Uh, in the outdoors, camping with your, with your family yeah so where did uh, where did y'all?
Speaker 1:where did you go from there? Did is that? Did you see any changes moving forward on how you approach life, or what was the next step for you from that, from that point?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, a bit of the next, uh, a bit of the next step was in the mid 1980s. I mean going back to am I working at the right place? Okay, so, so, so, so. So now it's like, okay, god is real and he's my savior. Am I working in the right place?
Speaker 2:And I had been traveling 100 nights a year for 10 years with four kids in a seven year age span. And there was a guy by the name of John Garner to work for the Caterpillar dealership in North Carolina. And I called on John and John asked me if I was willing, would be willing to go to work for him. Leave cat, go to work for Caterpillar, you know dealer. And I was like, you know, I'm really not interested in that. But on the other hand, john was the first Christian businessman that I had been around that lived out his faith in every aspect of his life, his personal life, his business life, everything.
Speaker 2:The decision to leave Caterpillar, move the family to North Carolina and go to a cab dealership. And I remembered the day that they're packing us up. It's tears going down my eyes again. It's like was this, I'm leaving again. So, just as I left Michigan to move to Peoria, illinois, I'm leaving again, maybe a little bit like Abraham. At least I knew where I was going, but I didn't know what all was going to be entailed in there. Nor did I know that two and a half years later I would be told that I wouldn't have a job. So now I hear I am a little bit older, in my 30s, and praying.
Speaker 1:Lord, you got to just show the way.
Speaker 2:Do we go? You know, I don't know where to go in here and I recall getting the kids together and praying as a family. Lord, please provide for us, wow. So we're out with the four kids one night in North Carolina and we go to this pizza place and as we walk out, one of them says hey look, dad, there's a sign that says help wanted.
Speaker 1:You could go to work here and what went through my mind.
Speaker 2:On the one hand it was funny, and on the other hand it was, yeah, and if that's all there is, then that's what I'll do to provide for my family.
Speaker 2:But by God's grace, he opened up an opportunity for me to go back to work for Caterpillar, and in doing so, though because we had to sell our horse in North Carolina I commuted back and forth for 20 months, getting home every three to four weeks while Pat was taking care of the four kids, and that was another I'm going to say catalytic event or period of God working in my life, being alone at night Pat and the kids, you know, a thousand plus miles away, or nearly a thousand, you know miles, or nearly a thousand, you know miles and just spending the time in the Psalms and in prayer.
Speaker 2:And another thing that I found in that is a guy by the name of Mike Boyle, about my same age, pastor at a local church, started getting with me to spend time with me, and I began to see and experience the power that one man can have in another man's life by encouraging him, lifting him up, helping him think through things, and so, again, that was another one of those periods of spiritual growth that occurred within my life. Spiritual growth that occurred within my life.
Speaker 1:That's incredible. It's amazing to see, too, the timeline of that and how really God was actually preparing you. He's like, hey, we're going to make sure you're confident before you go into this next season, because had you not had your experience with him in the hammock, how would you have responded to the situation that you went through? But you responded with faith and there's provision every single time. You know, even when it seems impossible, when it makes no sense, you know there's always going to be provision. Um, I mean, even for the israelites in the in the desert I mean, he was making menna and quail appear out of thin air like that. So, uh, it can come from the most unexpected places too. But that's amazing how the timeline of how that happened, how the Lord was preparing you ahead of time for what was to come.
Speaker 2:And I think that that's also again going all the way back with my mom and dad and the importance of Scripture. My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus. Does that mean things are going to be easy? Does that mean that he's going to answer exactly the way that we'd like to have? I mean, I didn't know it was going to be 20 months of going through that, but he met all of our needs.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. So things kind of at some point point it sounds like it's stabilized. Where does the where does the story continue from there for your faith journey?
Speaker 2:yeah, well, the uh. So now I'm gonna move into, let's see. So so that was in my 30s, I think, think in my early 40s. You know, it was kind of like, in fact, someplace in, you know, in my files when I turned 40, I sat down and put together what I would call a mission statement. Mission statements aren't two pages long, so it was more of a vision statement. But, looking at what you know, what really mattered, what were my priorities as it related to my walk with the Lord, how I showed up at work, my relationship with my kids, things of that you know, nature and, yeah, just identifying those things.
Speaker 2:But I think another I'm going to say catalytic event, if you will occurred in my late fifties. Actually, um 14 years ago, on December 26 of 2009, I was outdoors with my son and son-in-law and we were out for a run in the dark, in the rain, the night after Christmas and for those listeners who are familiar with the outdoors, you know, when it's raining and cold and the wind's blowing out of the north, you know, as we're in that run, one of the things comes to mind it was like I wonder how hard the winds are going to blow tonight to dry this off before it changes to snow. And in fact I know exactly where I was when that thought went through my mind. We finished out our run. The next morning I get up and get my running gear on and I say to Pat, hey, I'm going out for a run. She says, you're what I said I'm going out for a run. Uh, she says, steve, the kids are here, the grandkids are here, your folks are coming out for brunch. And I said, well, that's fine, I'll be back in just a little bit.
Speaker 2:I had an objective that year, josh to run 1,100 miles. Okay, and I had 16 more miles to go, okay, oh, wow. And it's December 26. So I've got to at least get another three in that day. And in that process I head out the door and I hit a patch of ice and my right leg comes down underneath me all the way to my body and it dislocates and fractures my ankle and I'm crawling on my hands and knees saying God, just don't let me pass out.
Speaker 1:That's awful.
Speaker 2:Thinking how am I going to get back to the house? And fortunately, somebody saw me, got me back to the house, my son and son-in-law got me into the ER and I said you got to have surgery tonight. My son, joel, spent the night there with me. They did the surgery, spent a night there with me, they did the surgery and in the recovery process, god brought two questions to mind how much time have I got left and what am I going to do with my time? And those were questions that I truly believe that he was bringing to mind. As to Steve, what's really important, what matters most, and I was so focused on getting my job done at work, getting the 1100 miles in reading through the Bible each year, but it was kind of like the two minute warning drill reading through the Bible each year, but it was kind of like the two-minute warning drill I got to get this off so I can check this off, to go on to the next day and check that off etc.
Speaker 2:Kind of like hurry up Auspense, I guess, is what we would, you know, refer to it. But I think, as I heard somebody say the other day, when a good thing becomes the ultimate thing, it can become a bad thing. And I think in that, being off track a bit, what God was bringing to mind was what's really important. So I wrestled with this thought of do I work at CAT for one more years? Do I work five more years? And deep down there was just this sense as to it may be time to leave. And this is going through my mind. I'm not processing it with anybody else, it's just really weighing on my heart.
Speaker 2:And I'm at the gym one morning and a guy says to me a friend, hey, I just read this great book by John Piper, don't Waste your Life. And being a reader, it's like, okay, I need to order the book and read it. And you know, in there he just outlines, you know, when you look back over life, what really matters, what's important. So with that I decided that it was time to step away from. You know the corporate world. You know I enjoyed it. I got to do just. You know a lot of things that you know, growing up in a small town in Michigan, I would have never imagined being able to do and responsibilities I had.
Speaker 2:But it's like I need to get focused and so, as I stepped away on December 1st of 2010, it was a focus on three things Deepening my faith and walk with the Lord is number one. Investing more time with Pat, the kids and the grandkids is number two and number three, a personal mission statement of building leaders with Christ-centered priorities. So that was the focus and the mission statement of building leaders of Christ-centered priorities. I think what really brought that to mind in the power of Scripture was the passage in Ezekiel 2230, where God says I look for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land, so I would not have to destroy it. And I found none and I thought that never should have been. There should have been leaders standing up for what was right, standing up for the truth and filling the gap. And that's where Josh, god just drew my heart to being able to walk alongside other leaders and help them discern and live out what it was God was calling them to.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. I mean, it's just amazing how that was revealed to you and just how the Lord just opened that up to you. So where have you gone from there with that realization? Have you started making progress down that road?
Speaker 2:I have progress down that road. I have, and certainly I think my faith walk has, you know, has deepened and our faith walk is a progressive journey. It's going to continue to deepen and deepen and deepen as we spend time with the Lord in the Word and in prayer and with other believers. I mean, that's just going to happen as God brings that to us. At the same time, you know, in those three priorities, I got to be honest with you in investing more time with my kids and my grandkids, more time with my kids and my grandkids.
Speaker 2:I struggled with that a bit and probably you know it's interesting. If you look at a deer trail, okay, how do you know where the deer trail is? Well, it's right here. And why is that? That's because they walk that trail every day. So everybody who's a deer hunter says, well, I know they walk that trail every day and so you know, if I'm deer hunting then I'm going to be along that trail so focused on work for so long that it wasn't, hasn't been necessarily easy to get out of that rut.
Speaker 2:Okay, and on to forging. I'm going to say, a new path. So, for an example, if you'd ask me, and one of the reasons that you know I chose Step Away was. I knew family was important, but it was like, well, how important. When my oldest son, joel, played Division I soccer, I didn't miss but two home and away games as they played throughout the country because that was important. But I could tell Pat, hey, I'll be home for dinner tonight at 6, and then call her at 7 and say, oh, I still got a little bit more work to do, and then show up at 8.30 and have that happen numerous times, and so from a gut check standpoint it's like, well, how important is that? And so that's another area that I think God's been bringing me through is I know the value of family and my marriage with Pat and as of this past August, we've been married 53 years.
Speaker 1:My God, it's amazing Grace, okay, amazing.
Speaker 2:But for someone who is task oriented, as many men are, it's easy to lose sight or push the relationship off to the side because I got to get the next thing done, and so that's an area that I'm continuing to grow in.
Speaker 1:You know, as I look at those priorities, definitely, I mean I think it's important and it's that's pretty eye-opening too. Thank you for sharing that, just sharing how you know your specific situation, because a lot of people can get caught up in that and that's hard to admit at times, you know, because there's always justification for pretty much anything if you really think about it. But that's amazing just how the Lord, kind of has been developing you and developing you and then you come into that realization hey, how important is this family? That question that's big and at the end of the day, that's, that's it. That's everything is faith and family and, uh, cause that's who you have at the end of the day. So kind of that. Um, that really shifted your priorities. It sounds like it really just a major priority shift, um, through this season that you were in what, uh where? Where does that conclude? Does that conclude with where you're at now in life and what? What's your, what's your thoughts there?
Speaker 2:You know, I identified those priorities deep into my faith and walk of the Lord, investing more time with you know, my within my family, and then focused on personal mission statement of building leaders with Christ centered priorities. Each year, I go through a process of kind of a stepping back and assessing. You know, what were my intentions for the year? What happened? Why did it happen that way? What happened, why did it happen that way? What do we do the next time? You know for a better, you know for a better outcome. Well, each year I've gone through and those continue to be the three areas of focus In that assessment. One of the things that's come up this past year, one of the things that's come up this past year well, actually, yeah, in 2023, is looking at that mission statement of building leaders with Christ-centered priorities and just thinking I've been bold in sharing my faith with others.
Speaker 2:And Josh, what and that started at the beginning of the year, just kind of surfacing a bit in my mind. You know, as I'm reading scripture in the morning and journaling, beginning of 2023? Beginning of 2023. As I'm reading through scripture and journaling in the morning, it's starting to catch my attention throughout the year. I'm praying a bit about it.
Speaker 2:A niece of mine at age 38 has been given three to six months to live, and she's since passed away. But what went through my mind was wow, if I were told today that I have three to six months to live, what would I do? There were some practical things that came to mind that I'm still, you know, working on on bringing Pat up to speed on financials and so forth and so on, that if I weren't here, that she could could, you know, take care of those or at least know who to talk to. The second thing was having conversations with my kids and grandkids about what really matters in life, my faith journey, and praying the same for them. And then the third thing of being able to identify guys I know that I spent time with that may not have even seen him for some time, of getting together with them and renewing or rebuilding or taking the relationship further and also being interested in them and their spiritual journey. No-transcript.
Speaker 1:That's amazing, and so that all kind of started 2023. How have you taken action on all of that as far as reaching, Obviously you're taking action on that. With your wife, you said that something that you've you've kind of more or less just maintaining your family, but not necessarily been actively doing that in the past, or just if opportunity arose you did, but you weren't seeking it out.
Speaker 2:If, if the opportunity arose, I did. I mean, I can recall you know, numerous times at, uh, you know at work that you work. I'm thinking of the guy whose dad had pancreatic cancer and sitting with the guy in my office and just saying, hey, could I pray for you? Afraid to share my faith if asked, but maybe being fearful to cultivate the conversation, mm. And it's interesting how fear gets in the way of us stepping out and doing things. You know, just an aside I'm, you know, getting into duck hunting and working with my dog and thinking, well, you know, okay, so I'm not going to carry a gun because I want somebody else to shoot the duck or the pheasant, and that way I can handle the dog okay.
Speaker 2:But there's probably also a bit of a fear. It's like, well, shoot, what are they going to think of me if I miss a shot or if the dog doesn't, you know, perform? So that's on the one end of the spectrum, but there's the other end of the spectrum as to. Well, maybe it's along the same lines. So if I say something about the Lord, what's somebody going to think about me Learning? Is that fear, while real, that the premise of it is completely illogical?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:If I know my faith is secure in Christ for eternity, and I know that, why would I not share it with you or someone else? Because I would be willing to share that. I'm working with Cornerstone Gundog Academy, and here's how Josh is helping me with Daisy and here's the progress that she's making. Well, I should just likewise be as enthused about sharing with others how God is working in my life and how he can meet the needs in their life. So that's the part that God and I are going to school on and he's continuing to. You know, show me that I can trust him. All things and what I've seen, you know. Just you know recently in some things, just his affirmation I'm with you, I'll keep you in all places, he's at my right hand, I need not be afraid and also recognizing that it's not me that people are rejecting. I mean, if I bring something and love and care and concern for them, it's not me that they're rejecting.
Speaker 1:That's strong and that's. You know, I think a lot of people struggle with that fear of man. You know, I mean we all do. I think everybody struggle with that fear of man. You know, I mean we all do. I think everybody struggles with the fear of man. But also it begs the question of who do you fear, right, man or God too? And it's I think we could all say we've been in both cases. I mean, I'm sure everybody's found themselves in one situation or another, but kind of when you're looking at your priorities and you're kind of reorganizing them and you're laying them out, um, you know the fear, the fear of man versus the fear of God and having the fear of God's a real thing and but also the ability and the opportunity to plant a seed they may blatantly reject us in today. However, that may be a seed that's planted, that may grow and sprout 15 years from now, at the right time in the due season.
Speaker 1:That's our responsibility. Ultimately, that's a great commission Jesus didn't—like we talked about earlier in this podcast. It is a partnership. He partners with us. We have responsibility and it's not to just simply go to church, check off the box and slide into heaven. The responsibility is hey, we've got to make a difference while we're here. We're here for a reason and it's not just to live our lives. We're here to make a difference and take those next steps.
Speaker 1:And that's different for everybody, you know. It may. Sometimes it may be as deep as a conversation with a friend, or even instigating, like, hey, let's go to get coffee and let's talk and let me ask you about your life. Or it may be as simple as just having a smile on your face and just being there for people. Well, that's amazing how you responded this year and how the Lord's walking with you in this. That's one thing I just want to highlight to you is just how the Lord is gracious to everybody in every part of their journey, and He'll walk with you where you're at.
Speaker 1:We so often put this pressure to be so-called holy. You see these pastors that are doing great things and people fall. That's pastor's work right there. You can't be brushing off responsibility like that. Don't be washing that off. It's everybody's responsibility and God's going to walk with you where you're at. You may not be at a place to where you may be at a place to where it's new to you, and if that's fine, god will walk with you where you're at, which is beautiful, um, but it's amazing who we serve and how great he is.
Speaker 2:Yes, it is.
Speaker 1:Wow. Well, this has just been an incredible uh episode as, as we kind of wrap up what, what, uh? How does the priorities and everything that's kind of been going on in your life, how does all of that kind of shift into you know what's next for you? Where do you go from here?
Speaker 2:yeah, the uh the word that comes to mind is to you know where to go from here is being able to identify. Okay, so we're kind of wrapping up 2023. What is it that 2024 might look like? And I guess there's a couple of ways you know to think about that. One of the ways is to say, okay, am I just going to let it unfold or are there some things that I want to be intentional about? And one of the processes that I've thought through and helped some others to think through and I don't know whether this is relevant to people listening or not is, before looking at 2024, taking a long-term view, and I'm going to say looking at life. So, just for the moment, let's think about it this way my 80th birthday will be a lot sooner, josh, than your 80th birthday will be, but let's just say we're thinking about at our 80th birthday and our wives tell us uh, hey, we're, you know we're.
Speaker 2:I'm taking you out to dinner tonight at uh, you know the place that you like to go and uh, so you think it's just going to be a quiet evening, get back home, be in bed soon, type of thing. And you get there and there are 200 people there, and out of the 200 people that are there, there's your spouse, your kids, your grandkids, people you worked with, people that you hunted with, that you fished with, hunted with, that you fished with. What is it that we'd like them to say about our lives and the time that they spent with us? What is it we'd like them to say that they admire about us? And that really, I think, gets at the crux, des who is it that we want to be? Who is it that God would have us become?
Speaker 2:And then the second piece is thinking about okay, if that's the case with whatever I've identified in here, then what are the values that I need to be living out each day, and what are my intentions that I want to make progress on each day and in 2024? And so that begins to cast its trajectory. Now, we know that man plans, but God directs his paths. Okay, so we don't know what may happen in 2024, or we may not, or we don't know what's going to happen. I shouldn't say we may not know what's going to happen. We do not know what's going to happen in 2024. It's true, and we don't know what's going to happen between now and my 80th birthday. Okay, that's true, and we don't know what's going to happen between now and my 80th birthday. Ok, but being able to be intentional On what's what's important and what matters, and so that's a process that I'm just starting to go through right now.
Speaker 2:In looking back at 2023, what were my intentions? What happened? Why did it happen this way? What will I do next time for a better outcome? Or, to you know, continue to foster this. You know the same type of success and, as I go through that, there are these categories that I look at each year my spiritual area, faith area, my marriage and family, my health, and that's both physical and mental, and, by the way, I put dog training in that category, just because it's good for me, it's good for the dog, that's right. That's right.
Speaker 2:Type of thing Worker, vocation and community and serving others and so being able to identify what are my intentions in those areas.
Speaker 2:And so being able to identify what are my intentions in those areas, and not to set a whole number of objectives, but just what are the key things that God's bringing to mind, that he'd like me to make progress on in there. So in that area, for example, of health, the mental part, it's like Steve, don't be anxious for anything. It's like Steve, don't be anxious for anything, but in prayer and supplication, bring your request to me and I'll give you the peace that'll guard your heart and mind. It's like Lord, why do I continue to wrestle with this, being anxious so much as opposed to trusting you? So that's an intention and a growth area, wow. And so being able to look through those five areas you know for me and set those intentions for you know for 2024, so that there's a roadmap to know where I'm at and know where I believe God's taking me, and to make a comparison, you know, of what I've learned out of the Cornerstone Gundog Academy. It's good to have a plan that when I go out into the field.
Speaker 2:I know what it is I'm going to do and I'm not just making it up as I go along. And I like to use the word intention rather than the word goal, because for some of us we die in the line to accomplish a goal and forget about everything else that may be shifting or moving as opposed to no. Here's my intentions. Things may shift, they may change. God may bring some other things into play, but at least thinking through with intentionality what that might look like.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. I love those two, those categories, and just thinking about things from that way. That's a great way to think about it. Well, steve, this has been an incredible episode. It's been an honor to have you on. Having you share your story has just been absolutely incredible, and having you take the time to just walk us through that and just share your wisdom, as well as just your story and every step along the way, I think I feel like it's a lot of people are going to be able to relate to it. I know even I'm relating to it in different ways and I think you know it's. I hope it sheds some insight and hopefully encourages people in their journey in the outdoors and in life too. You know, because I think everything's intertwined. You know it's if you want to have a good time in the outdoors, you is intertwined. If you want to have a good time outdoors, you got to have a good life in general and you got to same thing for your family.
Speaker 1:Everything is kind of intertwined in one way or another. Yes, it is Well. Any concluding thoughts? Any last thoughts? Do you want to pray us out real quick as we wrap up here? Yeah, I'd be glad to, josh. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Lord, thank you for the time that you have given us today. Thank you for the growing friendship that Josh and I are having. And, lord, I wouldn't have even imagined back six or 12 months ago that we would be having a conversation today. We know everything's within your timing and you chart the seasons of life for us, the people you bring into our life, and I'm thankful for Josh. I ask that you'll continue to bless him and the outdoors mandate.
Speaker 2:Lord, I pray for those who may be watching or listening to this that you'd speak to them through your spirit and what it is that you have for them. And, lord, as we're approaching Christmas, I'm just so thankful for Jesus, who you sent to earth to live out the life that none of us could live out, a perfect life, a life that truly cared for others, a life in which he was willing to demonstrate the ultimate leadership by laying down his life for us and then being able to take it back up again with the resurrection, back up again with the resurrection, and being able to, through our belief in Him and the forgiveness of sins, that he can make life on this world full and for eternity. And we just give all of this, lord, in your name and may you receive the praise, glory and honor In Jesus' name, amen, amen.