The Gospel In The Game Sports Podcast
Conversation and stories about real athletes and the journey thru sport, faith and life.
Connecting athletes, sports families and the church. Build bridges and telling real stories to help repair, build and grow people.
Hosts Dan Dromarsky and Dave Dawson
The Gospel In The Game Sports Podcast
Aaron Luchuk - Finding Purpose in Life's Unexpected Turns
What happens when your identity becomes completely wrapped up in what you do? Professional hockey player Aaron Luchuk takes us on a journey through the extreme highs and lows of elite sports, revealing profound wisdom about finding purpose beyond performance.
Aaron shares the electrifying moment of scoring the game-winning goal in the Memorial Cup championship—a dream scenario for any hockey player. Yet it's what he learned through disappointments that truly transformed his perspective. "My dad always said you don't want to be Aaron Luchuk, hockey player. You want to be Aaron Luchuk who plays hockey," he explains, highlighting a distinction that's relevant whether you're an athlete or not.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when Aaron reveals how his biggest career setbacks—being drafted later than expected and losing his NHL contract during COVID—ultimately led to his greatest blessings, including meeting his wife in Orlando. "I would trade my entire hockey career a million times over to meet my wife and to now have my beautiful baby girl," he reflects, demonstrating how our deepest disappointments can become unexpected pathways to joy.
Perhaps most movingly, Aaron describes discovering Deuteronomy 31:6 mysteriously written above his locker stall before a playoff game—a verse that would become his lifelong anchor: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you."
Whether you're navigating career challenges, wrestling with identity questions, or simply love stories of purpose found through adversity, Aaron's journey offers both inspiration and practical wisdom for separating who you are from what you do.
okay, hardest question of your day if you could have something to go along with bacon for breakfast, besides eggs what would it be?
Speaker 3:just coffee I got. I got a young, young daughter. So um, coffee helps in the mornings, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:Coffee and bacon. That's the new combo.
Speaker 2:Yeah, your young daughter likes coffee as well. That's great, great spot to get her started.
Speaker 3:Yeah she likes taking a little bit of uh yeah, a little taste of my coffee. In the mornings too, she always wants a little.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that has nothing, nothing to do with being wound up mid afternoon. No, not at all.
Speaker 2:Can't get her to bed at nine o'clock. I can't imagine why yeah.
Speaker 3:Thankfully she's a good sleeper, so me and my wife don't have a problem with that.
Speaker 2:So as am I. I do enjoy my afternoon naps. Dan knows all about that, so Never told to have a nap. Bacon an important food group. I love how Dan often starts the interviews with that question, because bacon generally is the forefront of the mind of a lot of men and many times.
Speaker 1:It is. It's the Gospel in the Game sports podcast with Dave Dawson and Dan Dramarski. Well, welcome to the Gospel in the Game. I'm Dan Dramarski and with me, as always, is Dave Dawson, and today we have a very special guest with us, aaron Luchuk. Aaron, tell us a little bit in about 20, 23 seconds, a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm from Kingston, ontario, 28 years old. Yeah, lucky enough to be. I've played pro hockey now for for eight years. Met a lot of cool people along the way. Um met my wife playing hockey um down in orlando and, uh, yeah, currently in kingston, ontario right now and getting kind of ready to go back to orlando um here in the next couple weeks to start another hockey season wow, meeting your wife through hockey.
Speaker 1:How many people can have that claim?
Speaker 3:yeah, not many, and we met during covid, so that's even, uh, even, uh.
Speaker 2:A more rare um, part of that story that might be for a completely different podcast. Totally certainly been enough of those covid stories out there, but definitely so. Um, so sounds like you and dan connected on instagram, which is great because there's so many different ways of people that we've had guests on our podcast before. Whether previous relationships and social media is such an important part of that in our day and age right now as well, are you a big social media guy? Is that an important part of your daily life, or there are times that you kind of wish you weren't on it as much, based on what guys can read about and things like that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm on it. I mean I have all the accounts and stuff like that. Would I be put much thought into it in the day-to-day? It's more just a news outlet for me. I can see what's going on in the day-to-day of the world. A news outlet for me. I can see what's going on in the day-to-day of the world. I'd probably like to be on it less than I am right now, but it's a tool. There's a lot of things that you can use social media for good for I'm not on it too much, but my wife wants me off it more.
Speaker 1:It's interesting. A lot of these things can either be a tool or a toy, can't they? It's easily swayed to the other direction. Tell us a little bit about the sport that you love. Is it something that you? You started since the ripe age of x or um? Has it always been part of your life? Were you doing something athletics, otherwise?
Speaker 3:yeah, I grew up uh, I guess, fairly normal canadian story. Um grew up with playing hockey from the time I can remember Me and my dad started playing hockey in the driveway and then growing up he built me a backyard rink for me and my sister. So in the winter times hockey was always crazy busy, but in the summer I played baseball. Didn't really play much hockey at all, so kind of, looking back on it, really happy that I was able to experience more than one sport. Hockey and baseball growing up was like 50-50 for me. It wasn't like one or the other. It just so happened that hockey was the one that kind of took off for me. And, yeah, I feel incredibly blessed to play a kid's game still at the age of 28 and get paid for it. And I'm hoping to play it as long as I possibly can. Hockey's given me so so much that I can't complain at all. I still love it. I love every second of it, the highs and the lows. Yeah, just kind of hoping to keep it going.
Speaker 2:Aaron, there are a lot of guys I've connected with throughout my broadcast career that I've been able to build relationships with, with athletes and some that maybe didn't go pro or weren't able to have the opportunities in a great junior career and into the pro career that you have had. Just because of either, they've lost the passion for the game. I just connected with an athlete on the weekend who's 6'6 receiver maybe could have played pro football, but he just said he lost the passion for the game. Split six receiver maybe could have played pro football, but he just said he lost the passion for the game. How did you navigate that journey growing up early on to continually stay in love with the game? Enough that you know you've probably seen a lot of guys who it was their parents dream or maybe it was this or that right and and you go through conflict. What was that journey like from a young age navigating through to stay focused and completely stay passionate about it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it's such a grind, whether you're trying to go professionally, I think the highs are tremendously high and the lows are tremendously low. I think if you don't have that support system around you, even from a young age, I think it can be skewed one way or another where all of a sudden, whether it be hockey or or football or whatever it might be, really turns into a job early on. And thankfully I've, even through my low moments my career, I've had my support system to kind of keep me grounded. And uh, growing up my dad always said like you never want your identity to be rooted into, like what you do as a, like you don't want to be aaron luchuk, I'm a hockey player, you want to be aaron luchuk who plays hockey.
Speaker 3:Um, and that was kind of a big thing for me to not really have my identity completely rooted in an outcome of personal or team um wins, losses or points or anything like that. And certainly it's hard when you lose or you don't play well as an individual and stuff like that. But I'm able to, since a young age, feel like I was able to rely on a lot of just trying to remember that outside of the four walls of hockey that, uh, it's not who I am as a person, so I think that's kind of always been in the back of my mind. Um, I've always been hard on myself on the ice and stuff like that, just kind of as I am as a person. But I think at the end of the day it's been good for me just to realize that there's life outside of what I do and it's made hockey more enjoyable and the lows not feel as low and easily, not as easy, easier to forget them, I guess.
Speaker 1:So good. When we probably get to our I guess you'd say 100th episode, I'm going to go back and listen to them and write down wise moments from hockey dads, because I think you just added a whole other element to it, and it's an ongoing thing. We keep on hearing these great things about your identity. Speaking of identity, if someone looks up your name on the interweb, they're going to see an incredible moment in sport. Can you tell us a little bit about your I guess you'd say one of your pinnacle junior hockey moments?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was very, very lucky to be a part of a really good team in Windsor that was able to host the Memorial Cup. So we knew that whole year that we were building towards that. It was one of the closest groups of I mean we were kids, but guys that I've ever played with in my career and still keep in touch with a lot of them to this day. And, yeah, I was able, uh, score a big goal for our team and we were able to win in the championship game in windsor. Um, which was just a. It was the highest, the highest in my career, um to win with that group in the city of windsor, a city that meant a lot to me. I lived there, for I lived there for four and a half years with the same billet family. Um, they became family of mine, pretty much felt like another set of parents and um had a billet sister there that was younger and felt like just my sister still to this day.
Speaker 3:And um, it was it wasn't the end of my windsor career because I ended up playing a couple more months in the season after, but um, it really felt like a cap to uh a really really kind of transformative part of my life, and really I mean moving away from home for the first time and going through those four years kind of left when I was 16. And we won when I was 20. So I kind of became an adult in those four years and, yeah, just a tremendous group Definitely wasn't me by any means. We did it as a group and we wanted it as a group, but to be able to do that, no one can ever take that away from us. I can look back whenever the end of my career is and probably will look back at that and be in the biggest goal that I ever scored.
Speaker 2:Four-time 20-goal scorer for Windsor as well. I want to land on this for a little bit, aaron, if you don't mind, and unpack it a little bit. You said a lot of things in there. I just want to start with a goal. Now. A lot of us growing up playing street hockey you know, playing hockey on skates and scoring a late goal, maybe an overtime winner. This wasn't an overtime winner, but it ended up being the game winner. You know, walk me through that moment of the excitement of you got the game winning goal in front of a home crowd. Like there are a lot of us that won't experience that. Ball hockey, maybe street hockey, sure, you know, maybe junior hockey in front of 500 people. But take me into that moment of of winning it. National championship. And you got the. You were the guy scoring the goal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't think it like it never fully hit me in for a while, until after I just the whole day, and especially that that game in the third period was definitely a blur, so a lot of it has just been some pieces of memory. But I come back to a lot. We second intermission going into the third period. We were tied. We were playing against erie, who was arguably the top team in the nation for the entire season, ranked um. But there was a real like calm kind of feeling in the dressing room. Our coach, rocky thompson, came in and pretty much just said look boys, like in 20 minutes we're gonna be champions, believe it. It was just like okay. We all kind of looked around each other like, okay, we're gonna do this. We didn't know how we were gonna do it.
Speaker 3:Um, and I was lucky enough to receive a tremendous pass from jeremy brocco in the slot and put a good shot on where I wanted to put it and everything kind of just goes black after that.
Speaker 3:I've seen the video a million times but I don't really remember exactly how I felt, um, I just remember at that. For the rest of I think there was probably 12 minutes left to go in the period when that, when that goal went in, I remember looking up at the clock with like three and a half minutes left, being like holy smokes, like stuff's happening right now. And uh, not until then did I really realize kind of the severity of like how close we were getting. But, and it wasn't until after my assistant coach, jared smith, gave me a hug and just said do you realize what you just did? Like you're in like chl history for going to game winner and in a morocco final. I was like whoa, yeah, you're right. So, um, yeah, again, I don't want to take all the credit, because it definitely wasn't. We did a tremendous, tremendous team effort with saves and, um, that was an awesome, awesome team and, yeah, to do it where we did it was was special I think, yeah, thanks for sharing that.
Speaker 2:You said in that that this was probably the biggest goal you've ever scored in your career. So there are many of us I can experience speak of moments in my broadcast career where I did something really cool and I thought, wow, that's got to be the pinnacle. And you wake up the next morning and not that you feel empty, but you go, okay. Well, where do I? Where do I go from there? Where's the next high right? So, as an athlete, an athletic Christian right, an athlete who you mentioned earlier in the podcast, that that's not your identity. Your identity is in Jesus. Take me through that journey of hitting that pinnacle and then where you could go with that, which could be hey, I'm Aaron Luchak, I'm the one who got the Memorial cup winning goal, which is pretty cool. How do, how do you bring Jesus into that equation of knowing that your identity is rooted in him?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think like the phrase gets used like glory to God, very like um, nonchalantly in a lot of things, um, where we just use it for a lot of people sometimes just say it to say it kind of thing. And, um, my dad and my mom had both said that to me right after the game, being like glory to God, that was unbelievable and stuff like that and again, and it was a whirlwind and stuff like that. So you just it's just you're not even thinking straight, but that was really it. I think, um, you know I was, I was there because of hard work and I was there because of a good team, but I was there because God put me in that opportunity to do something like that. And I think yeah, I think again it's.
Speaker 3:It really just comes back to my identity as a, as a Christian believer in God first and foremost, and I think that helps with the highs of the highs, because I think in a lot of this world, when any sort of person that isn't a believer has experiences of high, whether in the business world or anything to do with life, I think those highs are chased a lot more um than it would be with um without having a faith background and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:So I think and that's not just my faith, it's my, it's my uh support system around me and stuff like that Not to let my, uh, my head get too big where I couldn't walk through a door or something like that and um ground me in those moments, but also like appreciating kind of the opportunity that I was given, um by, you know, by God first and foremost, but by the people around me kind of guiding me there and, um, teammates, pastors, family, like everyone's kind of playing a part of getting you to where you need to be at that moment.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, looking back on it, obviously there's a lot of perspective. Now it's been, yeah, almost close to, well, nine years, I think, something like, say, eight years. So, looking back on it, I kind of can grasp onto those moments and stuff like that of little memories that in the time felt like nothing, just kind of passing conversations or little things like that. But you can kind of look back now that I can really kind of grasp onto that where, like, wow, those are really cool moments that definitely will be cherished.
Speaker 1:So we've gone from the pinnacle high of highs hockey moment. Now let's flip that coin over and talk about the maybe is there a low of lows? That's the opposite side of it. You mentioned the humility and the other things that came with the high points. What comes with the low points for an athlete?
Speaker 3:well, there's plenty. I think, uh, pro sports can, can eat you alive. It's such a battle, um, as an individual, to like you're constantly comparing yourself to the person next to you, even though that person next to you, it could be your best friend, which in a lot of professions maybe you don't get as much, you don't like. Everyone kind of works together, but there's not as much like inner competition, um, so that part can create lows on a day-to-day basis, just off of, like, where you are in a lineup where you, um, you know playing or not playing in the game. Um, but again, hindsight being 2020, and I look back at, probably like some of at the time, what I thought were like the lowest of lows. Um, one was actually getting drafted to Windsor where I did I thought I was going to be a high pick in the OHL draft. Um, had people telling me I was going to go late first, early second, thought it was going to be the greatest thing in the world. I ended up getting drafted in the fourth round, which, at the time, felt like the world was falling, like everything was caving in. Um, panicky, felt like my dream was like shattering before my very eyes that day of the draft. That draft day was one of the worst days I could ever have imagined. I got drafted by Windsor, still felt like what just happened. This is terrible Four years later. Obviously we just talked about the Memorial Cup winning goal Couldn't have happened in a better place. Met some people along the way me and my family my dad short story the family that started taking me to church in Windsor. The dad of that family is now my dad's best friend. It was just a crazy small world and that was super cool. I'm not even just like it's. My life got changed, but my dad's life got changed just because his family reached out saying like hey, we'll take your kid to church. Um, seven hours away from Kingston, to Windsor. And uh, now like pretty much like family now. So like you look back at moments like that where it's like again I've specifically remember being like not angry at god, but being very much like why is this happening? And didn't really know at the time. And then you look back now and it's like obviously that was the path and then the other moment would have been um, so I was on an nhl contract.
Speaker 3:My first couple years was with ottawa, toronto, montreal couple years was with ottawa, toronto, montreal. Covid hit my last year my deal, um, I just got traded montreal and uh, league shut down. Obviously we all remember what happened and stuff like that. And more or less montreal kind of said, look, we never saw you play. I was only there for like two games before covid shut everything down. They're like look, we're just, we're not going to be renewing your contract. Obviously that hurt understood it at the time. Obviously it was just terrible timing.
Speaker 3:The world was kind of flipped upside down, but very much had no idea where my career was going to go next. And then wasn't, didn't even know if I was going to play because all the leagues didn't even know if they were going. And then the ECHL announced they were going and my best friend, he was playing down in Orlando. He was like hey, man, why don't you just sign in Orlando with me? We'll go live together, we'll have fun, we'll go play some golf, play some hockey, get out of Canada. Everything was locked down was like sure, whatever, let's go do it. And then still, I didn't really wasn't sure where that was going to take me.
Speaker 3:Ended up meeting my wife, uh, that year in Orlando.
Speaker 3:That never happens. Um, if my contract gets picked up in Montreal and I would trade my entire hockey career a million times over to meet my wife and to now have my beautiful baby girl. And like moments like that where I can sit back now and be like okay, like it also makes it easier when I go through now, like moments that I'm like why is this happening? Like this shouldn't be happening in my opinion, but it is why and again I can look back on those two moments specifically and really lean on what God had me. Then the world didn't end and now I can kind of sit back and be like, take a deep breath and be like this might suck for a little bit still. That's not going to change. The hurt's still going to be there in moments of really lowness, but at least I can like confidently say that every time that I've been in my lowest of lows, that God's brought something out of that that made it like 100 million times better than I could have ever imagined in the first place.
Speaker 1:Well, I love how this went from comparison in in a low moment and seeing someone achieve something or get something and all of a sudden, you can look back now and see the hindsight and see God's fingerprints on it. When you're talking about comparison and maybe there's a young person listening and they're thinking about comparing, maybe they're going into junior hockey or they're going into their youth hockey or they're a little bit, even older than you and they're comparing them to someone else. What sort of advice would you give them when it comes to looking and at life and how to deal with it, based on your experience with that example that you just gave? Yeah, comparison.
Speaker 3:It's going to happen. Naturally, I don't think you could ever like take away that side of it, because everything is stats, everything is wins and losses. Everything that you are based on as a player is on a stat sheet somewhere online and that's like. That just is what it is. It's the business we signed up for and that's okay.
Speaker 3:I just think I came down to, instead of really worrying about excuse me what was going on around me, to really kind of like and again this was a dad moment he just said you got to control what you can control, and that's your day in. It's how many hours of sleep you get, it's what you eat for breakfast, it's how hard you work out, it's how hard you train and practice, and if the results don't go where they want you to go, at least you can look yourself in the mirror and have your head held high and be like you know what. It just didn't go my way. But he said you'll feel way worse If you compare yourself.
Speaker 3:You drive yourself crazy mad. You stop giving full effort. You start like cheating on other parts of your of your lifestyle, with whether diet or sleep or something like that, just because you're feeling sorry for yourself and then at the end of it you'll probably be where you don't want to be to begin with and feeling a lot like, well, if I could at least try it harder. And so he said, just want, don't want to give yourself any sort of excuses that way, and that's my biggest thing. Now I think, uh, again, I'm immune to still doing that where it's like you still want to be the best that you can possibly be, day in, day out, and sometimes it's frustrating when it's not going your way. But at least I know if my process of giving everything I have is up to my standards, then at least I'll be able to live with kind of the outcome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you mentioned a dad question. Dan is also a dad, so often a lot of the questions in his brain. I love when he starts thinking of them, because there are people out there who are fathers and and mothers of children as well. So appreciate you sharing that. And, yeah, that's such an important piece and I I'm not a father, so I I often look through, you know, the lens of of uh the the single man life and and uh the the the struggles, and you know, and when looking at your elite prospects, you've been on a journey right and I think there's, you know, maybe, a number of people out there similar to myself in my life. I can look back and go why did this happen? And I just loved that you shared. It was so beautiful about how you know, you said, well, what you were kind of frustrated about being drafted fourth round, or angry at God, and then, oh, wow, that makes sense. And then, okay, I'm in Kingston because of this. And then, okay, now I go to Orlando to play in the East coast league and that's where I meet my wife, and you know hindsight being 2020, that the picture is clear.
Speaker 2:What do you have to say to somebody who's in it right now. Who's really fighting it? Who's going? Why am I going through this? You know why are my relationships difficult. Why are my finances difficult. You know why is everything so difficult. You know when will I catch my break? When will this ever end? When? When will this get more peaceful? Somebody like yourself who just has gone through, and we could. This podcast could go two hours based on what I've learned about you right, so you've got such an inspiring story as someone you know, four time 20 goal scorer now in the east coast league you talked about. You know the importance of being your wife. What can you share with somebody who's just fighting it right now? From a faith perspective, an athletic Christian? How to hang on, to hope in those moments.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was actually. So I go to Elevation Church down in Orlando with my wife and Stephen Furtick, who's a well-known pastor. He did a sermon a couple of years ago on just like looking back at miracles that happened in the Bible. And in every miracle there's a storm that's happening, figuratively or literally. When it's talking about him walking on water, he doesn't perform a miracle for the most part unless something's going wrong in the beginning of the story of whatever happens. And it's like in the beginning of the story of whatever happens. And it's like that really struck a chord with me, just with like sometimes I feel and he brought it back in the message too that a lot of times when we're going through something heavy and like we don't understand why God's doing what he's doing, it's because he's setting ourselves up for a breakthrough in whatever it might be Um, and it might not even be the breakthrough that we want, um, um, but it's what we need at the end of the day from God and what he sees in our lives and stuff. So again, there's nowhere in the Bible to say a Christian is not going to go through storms. In fact, it probably means we're going to go through more Um, and I just think that's uh, that's a part of it, um, whether it be, you know, lifestyle wise or um, kind of figuring out who we are as people and Christians and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:I just think it's easy to say when you're not in a storm, to just like be like hey, stick with it, and stuff like that. But I do think, like action before motivation is a real thing, and sometimes we don't feel necessarily motivated, you know, to read our bibles or go to church or go to chapel programs and stuff like that, especially as hockey players during the season, like sometimes those are sort of the extra parts of of life that we can easily put on the back burner because we can say we're tired or we need to get more rest or we want to do something else because, cause it's, it may be, our only off day is a Sunday and you know you guys just want to like not go to church more, go do something else. You know what I mean? It's very easy to kind of let Christianity kind of slip and kind of get off the narrow path that we need to be on, and I just think that's where, again, if you're in it, and it's what people said to me when I was in it, just to be like keep going.
Speaker 3:You know like there's going to be a breakthrough. Whether it be the breakthrough that we want or feel like we need, something's going to happen. And then God performs his miracles in the toughest of times, um, and it just kind of hold onto that that it might be a day, it might be a year, it might be 10 years, but eventually something's going to happen. That's going to make you look back and be like, okay, that's why I went through what I did.
Speaker 2:Well, the segment that we want and we need, everybody's favorite segment is rapid fire question time. We're going to fill random questions at you, aaron, that have nothing to do with anything, and we're going to pick your brain. You ready to roll?
Speaker 3:Ready, we're going to pick your brain.
Speaker 2:You're ready to roll Ready. All right, so you were drafted in the fourth round four players ahead of you. Do you know who that was? Stanley cup champion.
Speaker 3:Nope, not a clue. If you give me a hint, maybe I can guess.
Speaker 2:Uh, he got traded from Calgary and his career turned around, ended up pretty good. Jonathan went the other way, matthew Kachuk. It went the other way, matthew Kachuk. That is correct sir.
Speaker 1:Well done. If you could shoot on any NHL goalie for an ice session, who would you shoot on?
Speaker 3:Oh, good one. Well, I mean, Hellebuck just won the MVP and the business, so maybe I'll see where I stack up against him.
Speaker 2:If you're creating a player on NHL, whatever it is 2026, what is Aaron Luchuk's skill? That is the highest of all of them.
Speaker 3:That's shot. I got a good shot in real life and I know that and I'm proud of it, and I would like to be able to shoot hard in a video game too.
Speaker 1:Okay, we're swinging by Bucky's on a road trip. You're grabbing two items. What are you picking up?
Speaker 3:Smoked brisket sandwich and the banana pudding.
Speaker 1:Heavy.
Speaker 3:But it's worth it.
Speaker 1:Heavy, heavy garbolo there.
Speaker 2:Who's one player in your career that is maybe a guy who could have made the NHL, one of the best players you played with and never made the NHL that team I played with in Windsor.
Speaker 3:We had a lot of guys that were um top prospects that for whatever reason just kind of like, didn't. Uh, it didn't work. They played pro for pro for a long time at Jeremy Brock with a guy that made me that pass in the in the final game for the game winner he was. I haven't played with a guy that can can pass a puck. Uh, quite like him. He played a little bit in the NHL, a couple of games and stuff like that, but never stuck. But talent wise, just unbelievable skill.
Speaker 1:Okay, here's. Here's the hardest one. What's your favorite Bible verse? There's so many.
Speaker 3:There is a lot. I got it. I figured you were going to ask me, so I wanted to read it. So I didn't butcher it Sorry, and butcher it, um sorry. Follow up deuteronomy 31, verse 6. It is be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the lord, your god, goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you oh, so good, so good what a funny story how that verse became.
Speaker 3:And again like talk about god moments. Um, my second year in the ohl we played kitchener um in the playoffs first round and no idea how it happened, but it was first intermission or second mission, I can't remember. We were down. We were down like I think two or three, three or two, one or something like that. We were down down by one and I was exhausted and I looked up in my stall and whoever had sat there before had Deuteronomy 31.6 on a piece of tape above my head. I didn't pick the stall, the equipment managers put that in there. And I remember in the moment looking up and being like that's weird. And then I didn't even I didn't know the verse at the time and looked it up after and I was just like that's weird. And then I didn't even like I didn't have know the verse at the time and looked it up after and I was just like that's pretty cool, wow. And since then, yeah, it's kind of just. It's always stuck with me, but yeah.
Speaker 1:That is so good, so good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that honestly really sums up in a lot of ways how I felt about this podcast so far is that the Lord providing for you in ways that the unexpected, but somehow he finds a way to to connect with you. So did you ever find out who that was? Who wrote that on there, or did you? Did you ever want to know, like that's what's interesting, right? Did you want to know, or did you just leave it as going?
Speaker 3:It would have been impossible to know. I think we would have got in late. The equipment managers we have in Windsor they're still there. Jr Grant would have put our bags in, would have had no idea, would have just kind of chucked it wherever it may be, the auditorium in Kitchener, very, very, uh, you know famous um arena in Ontario and that's being used for 101 different things, even outside of hockey concerts and whatever that could have been there for. You know a day that could have been there for for five, six years, I don't know, but it, it was there and uh, yeah, it's, it's, it's been with me ever since.
Speaker 2:Gives me goosebumps. Man, I'm not going to lie, that gives me goosebumps. That's incredible.
Speaker 1:That's fair. You know what that's a? That's such a good. I love you know. I love that segment because every once in a while, our natural selves bring some crazy questions and it often brings out a good event or a good story or a good thought or something we never would have thought of asking.
Speaker 1:Well, we have two conditions on this show. One is the fact that we ask that you get to come back again. We want to follow up with you, we want to hear what the Lord's doing in your life. That's condition number one. The second one is we always end our interviews with praying for you. So let's take a minute and pray for you, Aaron. Heavenly Father, we come before you right now. We thank you so much for Aaron and just the wonderful things that you placed in his life. And, Lord, we just pray that you bless him and his family and that you would watch over him and that you would give him opportunities to speak into many more lives through the sport that he loves of hockey. And, Lord, we just thank you for the witness that he's been and the witness that he will be.
Speaker 2:In Jesus' name, we pray Amen the witness that he will be In Jesus' name. We pray Amen, amen. Yeah, that part honestly, dan, about the scripture. I can think of times in my life that I've seen the footprints of what God has done and you might think, oh well, is that coincidence? Is that maybe that was just weird timing that I ran into that person suddenly? Or I can think of a day that I was having a really bad day, um, on just driving home from work, and then there was an abbreviation. I forget the scripture, but it had the abbreviation of the three letters of the book, and then the number is on like, oh, this guy's license plate in front of me said like three letters and then three numbers, and I was like, oh, that's, that's like, that's like a book of the Bible. It's abbreviated in the three.
Speaker 2:I'm just going to look at that verse up and and it actually ended up being a verse that blessed me. So, whether you're listening to this and you're, you know, maybe you're drawing for straws or you're you know you're you're reaching or stretching or whatever, I love looking for things like that in life, cause I really believe that if we're looking for and listening for God's voice, he'll speak to us Right. So for Aaron to look at that, he can just go okay, cool. Well, that's just a Bible verse, that's neat. No, it sounds like he took it as going like Lord, you have something here for me and I I don't want to humanize it by trying to find out where that came from and put my logic into it. Instead, lord, I'm just going to let you bless me and speak to me through that. I thought that was so powerful and that was really encouraging for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know what? There's a verse, often in between stanzas in the Psalms, and it says Selah. And Selah means pause and reflect, and I think often when we, when we come across scripture or it's there, sometimes, we just like we don't pause and think for a moment. Wow, this is here for a purpose. This has caught my eye for a purpose, and God uses that with his word. And and uh, it's boy. Every once in a while, when you're pleased to see a little bit of the fingerprints of God at work in your life, you can and and uh, it's boy. Every once in a while, when you're pleased to see a little bit of the fingerprints of God at work in your life, you can say, wow, okay, that that was a God moment. Okay, that was a that was. I need to stop and listen more often.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I I can totally be guilty of that Certainly need to listen more and listen for the Lord more overall, and you can listen to more of our episodes. If you find us where all podcasts are found, you can follow us on Instagram. We're on Twitter or X, but it's one of the lesser used platforms these days, for we prefer to mostly go on Instagram. So connect with us, reach out to us. If there's something you liked, share it as well with someone else if they're looking for some encouragement and we love having guests on and we're grateful for your feedback as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, feedback, feedback. You've been listening to the gospel in the game. This podcast is listener supported and can grow by your input and support.
