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
Rob Globke - surrendering professional aspirations
What happens when God redirects your NHL dreams? For Rob Globke, former NHL player turned hockey chaplain, surrendering his professional aspirations led to an unexpected journey of purpose and fulfillment.
Growing up in Detroit as the oldest of five brothers, Globke's path seemed straightforward - excel at hockey and build a long NHL career. As a high second-round draft pick, everything pointed toward success on the ice. But God had different plans that would challenge conventional definitions of achievement and worth.
During his sophomore year of college, Globke encountered Hockey Ministries International through his agent's recommendation. At a camp in Windsor, Ontario, he experienced something transformative: the seamless integration of faith and hockey. "I was just blown away that never in my life had I seen hockey and the Christian message intertwined so well," he recalls. For someone accustomed to feeling like "the Christian guy on the team, kind of the oddball," this revelation proved life-changing.
The defining moment came during a 12-hour bus ride in Germany, lying on the floor with teammates' legs draped over him, listening to a sermon through foam headphones. Despite pursuing an MBA and having various career options, Globke felt an undeniable call to ministry that eventually led him to join Hockey Ministries International full-time after retiring from professional hockey.
Today, Globke serves as a chaplain, supporting athletes who struggle with identity tied to performance rather than inherent worth. "You are who you are because of what Christ has done for you, not what you can do," he explains, countering the prevailing mentality in professional sports. Through voluntary chapel programs, he creates spaces for players to explore life's deeper questions in comfortable, conversational settings.
What's your true source of identity? Join us as Rob Globke shares powerful insights about faith, purpose, and finding fulfillment beyond the scoreboard. Whether you're a hockey fan or someone searching for meaning beyond professional achievements, this conversation offers perspective-shifting wisdom about what truly matters.
okay, rob. If there's someone in the world that you don't want to get in a fight with, who's that one person?
Speaker 2:okay, just it just has to be one person, one guy.
Speaker 1:It's a one-on-one match here.
Speaker 2:You're not outnumbered one match, uh, I would probably say is theane O'Chara. He was the toughest guy and he didn't get in a lot of fights because most guys knew not to mess with him. And that's probably somebody I wouldn't want to get into a fight, if I know Although I don't know a lot of these MMA guys, so maybe I wouldn't want to fight with them, but he's the first guy that came to mind that I played against that you just didn't want to get in a tussle with.
Speaker 3:Was there ever a moment on the ice where you get rocked by somebody or somebody bumps into you, somebody whacks your stick and you turn around and you're like had some skill, but I was playing?
Speaker 2:on the fourth line most of my career and there was many moments like that, because a lot of the times you're on the ice with a lot of the guys that you don't want to mess around with. So, and I was never a good fighter I got in a few fights but I was never a good fighter. So there was times when you turn around and you're like, yeah, I don't, I shouldn't be messing with you, yeah, I shouldn't be messing with you.
Speaker 1:I apologize, sir, please don't hurt me. Yeah, exactly, exactly. 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 your host, dan Dramarski, and with me, as always, is Dave Dawson. And here we have with us today Rob Globekew. Rob, in about 27 seconds, give us a short summary of who is Rob.
Speaker 2:One. I'm a man, so we could start there. I live in Chicago, illinois. I grew up in Detroit, I'm a son, I'm a brother to four younger brothers I'm the oldest of five. I spent most of my life playing hockey and it has led me to all different levels the NHL and it has also led me to this ministry that I now am a part of and I serve with for the past 15 years, called Hockey Ministries, and I'm also a father of four and a husband to Elizabeth. So I guess that's my life in a nutshell.
Speaker 1:Yes, sibling of four, father to four, I love it. We have something in common, rob, but another thing that we have in common is Hockey Ministries International, and it's a pleasure serving with you. Tell us a little bit about how you got involved with Hockey Ministries.
Speaker 2:Well, when I was a sophomore in college. I know you're not supposed to have agents, but times have changed now, for sure, and everybody pretty much has agents when you're playing in college. So I had an agent in college. I was a sophomore, it was the summer of my sophomore year and my agent's, like you know, you should check out this organization called Hockey Ministries. And I was like Hockey Ministries I've never heard of this before. And he's like, yeah, they combine Christianity and a Christian message with the game of hockey and you should go check out one of their camps. So I was like, sure, I'll go check out one of the camps. And so I went to one of our summer camps hockey ministry summer camps in Windsor, ontario and just that week I spent there.
Speaker 2:I was just blown away that never in my life had I seen hockey and the Christian message and Christian people intertwined so well. Most of my life I was the Christian guy on the team, kind of the oddball, and so to be around so many different Christian guys and just see Christ proclaimed at the rink and the locker room all over the place and combining my two great loves was just mind-blowing for me. So from that point on I volunteered as a player all the way through my pro career. I volunteered with an organization and was a part of the organization, and the organization was a part of my life as a player. It helped me through a lot of different times in my career and so after I retired, I just felt God calling me into the ministry. So I retired from professional hockey and joined hockey ministries full-time about 15 years ago.
Speaker 3:One of the main themes we found on this podcast, especially the more hockey players we talk to is you often hear how common faith is in baseball and football etc. And people talk about hockey. It's growing. There are more Christians there. How would you describe just the explosion of Christian athletes and hockey and interacting with them and how it's continuing to grow right in front of your eyes?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great question, Dave. I mean I don't know. You are right to say that. You know, for many years, baseball and football it was just kind of accepted there would be a chapel, there'd be a lot of Christian guys, and then hockey. Especially when I was younger, growing up, that was never the case. It was a pretty dark place and it's still, I would say, a pretty dark place. But, as you said, it's growing. There's a lot more, I guess, acceptance to things of faith, not only amongst the players but amongst, you know, gms and coaches and teams. So there's a lot more acceptance of spirituality and Christianity and Christ. So, to be honest, I do not know why the change has happened. I contributed to a work of the Holy Spirit, obviously we know that. But as to the nuts and bolts of why there's more acceptance and there's guys praying on the ice now in the middle of the ice after games, I don't know why that has happened, but it's a good thing. I like seeing it for sure.
Speaker 3:Well and it's incredible, it's part of your story you don't often hear. Dan and I were. Even we were preparing for the guests tonight and different guests we've interviewed. Your name came up and we just talked about okay, so here's a guy played in the NHL. He's played pro hockey. Often when someone retires, there are different career options out there for you, right? But the Lord specifically called you into being a chaplain. So walk me through that process of hearing that calling, receiving that calling and then walking into it. And, as you mentioned, you're like it's kind of crazy to see where what's happening in the hockey world and you get to be a part of it and maybe the Lord's positioned you in a spot to be part of this revival.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I mean specifically. I remember I'll just tell a quick story. I was towards the end end of my career. I played in Europe and I was in Germany at the time. It was a couple years before my career had ended.
Speaker 2:We were on a road trip. It was about a 12-hour bus ride. After the game we were busing back and if you're a player, if you have played, you know that on the bus during a long road trip, you know everybody kind of has their spot. Some guys are laying on the floor, some guys are laying across the seats, like there's, it's everybody kind of intricately positions their self, like Tetris, so that everybody can sleep or watch TV or whatever you want to do. Everybody kind of has their position. Anyway, I'm laying on the floor of the bus. That was my position. Guys are legs are over me and I was I just vividly remember listening to a sermon.
Speaker 2:It was a by a guy named John Piper at the time and it was so old. It was on a CD. You know it's one of those CD players with the old foam headphones and I was listening to this sermon and I was just I. That was the first time in my life where I really felt convicted that God wanted me in some kind of ministry in hockey. I didn't really know what that was.
Speaker 2:And then, from that point on, a guy by the name of Don Lismore, one of my good friends, who's now my boss. He kept saying randomly towards the end of my career like we could use a guy like you in ministry. And at the time I was doing a master's of business and, like you said, there was lots of different career options that I could have pursued after I played. But for whatever reason he kept asking me that. And more and more as my career was getting closer to the end, I just I felt God just pulling me more and more into into ministry and I just I felt God just pulling me more and more into um into ministry. And I I just couldn't. When I finally got done playing, I just couldn't resist. Like I just said, I can't go into the business world, I'm not going to go into coaching. I just I, I think God really wants me to do this. So I just had to. I had to jump in with both feet.
Speaker 1:So not everyone listening is familiar with what is involved with working with a chaplain, with a hockey team. Tell me a little bit about. If someone is just like well, I keep on hearing about, like chapel program and chaplain, what is that person to the hockey team?
Speaker 2:The person of the hockey team is. I would I describe it as someone who cares for the spiritual needs of the team and a lot of times there's structure to that. So a chaplain every week or two weeks or three weeks, depending on the team schedule and their schedule will go in and do a Bible study of sorts with a group of guys that want to. It's never mandatory for the team, it's always voluntary. It's a resource that we tell the coaches. We're there to provide the players if that want to. It's never mandatory for the team, it's always voluntary. It's a resource that we tell the coaches we're there to provide the players if they want it. And for the guys that do want it, that's part of the structure is we go in and we do a little Bible study or some life mentoring with a small group of guys that want to do that. But beyond that it's also dealing.
Speaker 2:I'm sure the hockey world, especially in Canada, would remember the humble Broncos situation. A chaplain is there to meet the spiritual needs when crisis happens, when a guy gets dumped by his girlfriend or is not playing well or having trouble at home and he needs somebody to talk to. A chaplain is also there for things like that and you need somebody to talk to. A chaplain is also there for things like that. Chaplain's there to pray for the guys if they need and, just like I said, care for the spiritual needs of the team. And again, that can be a structured thing like a Bible study or it could be just the chaplain shows up at the rink and is there to talk to the guys and just be there for the guys if they need them.
Speaker 3:And I've had the privilege of being in some chapel programs and being able to experience the conversation flow and what it's like, and I think maybe if someone's listening to this and they don't believe in Jesus, they don't believe in God, they're just a fan of hockey or they know you then what can you tell them about the type of culture that the chapel program is meant to facilitate? Because they're going to have a number of different backgrounds of faith and life experiences on a hockey team. As you mentioned, christianity isn't as common in hockey, so how would you describe how a conversation in chapel is facilitated?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think sometimes, especially people that aren't maybe maybe Christian or aren't familiar with the chapel program, they hear the word chapel and they automatically think it's going to be church. You know, there's going to be singing, there's going to be somebody preaching, and that's totally not what a chapel is. A chapel is really a conversation amongst a group of guys and, like you said, you know I have the opportunity to work with guys from the NHL all the way down to the youth. I do chapels at all different levels and it really doesn't change no matter if you're talking with an eight-year-old team or an NHL team.
Speaker 2:It's just a lot of times a group of guys could be anywhere from three to 15 or even 20 that come and just have a conversation about life and, like you said, you'll have some guys that are maybe Christians and you'll have a lot of guys that aren't, but they're Christians, they want to, they're thinking about life and thinking about things that are outside the game and they and they're eager to talk about, like, what's their purpose, why are they here, how did I get here, all these kinds of big questions, and a chapel program is really just a conversation about those kinds of things. It's not uh, it's not me or anybody else preaching at the guys. It's just having a conversation amongst teammates trying to figure out life and why we're here and how to live it and how much God loves us. That's really what it is a conversation, I would say.
Speaker 1:So with the chapel program. Help me navigate this for the listener. Is it something that's readily available to teams all over the place? What's the reach with chaplains in hockey?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean numbers-wise, the reach is we have just over 300 chapels operating across 28 leagues. That's in North America and in a handful of European leagues as well. We have chapels running and, dan, I would say, yes, yes, it is available to any team that that wants it. Sometimes we have players that want it, but we don't have a local chaplain. So if you're listening to this and you know you have a team in your community, you should check out and ask the, ask the team, if they have a chapel and if they don't, you want to be a chaplain. We'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 2:On the flip side of that, sometimes we have chaplains and the team doesn't necessarily know about the chapel or anything like that, but we have a local pastor, whatever says oh, I want to do this. We can help facilitate that local pastor with the team and get that all set up. So the reach is endless. We don't have a chapel on every single team, obviously, but there's tons of opportunity there and that's really what our organization does. The Hockey Ministries just facilitates teams with guys that can do the chapel, like guys like yourselves, or local pastors, local lay people, to be the chaplain for teams, and that's pretty much what we do.
Speaker 1:You mentioned being involved with camps. Tell me a little bit about hockey ministries. Uh, summer camps. Is it like a a camp that we would picture out in the woods? How do you incorporate hockey with with camp?
Speaker 2:all our camps are a little bit different depending on on where they are. Some camps we are out in the woods. What I tell people is sometimes picture a like what you would typically see as a prototypical Christian camp and then just throw some hockey aspects into it. And that's really what our camps are like. I mean, the kids do a lot of fun stuff. They do swimming and a bunch of different off-ice activities and they do dry land training and all that kind of stuff too. But they also skate once or twice a day, depending on the camp and how many hours they have, and every day they do a couple bible studies we call them huddles and at the end of every day, in the evening at all our camps we usually do a chapel and that is more like a church where they're singing and kids play fun games and they listen to a message from a pro player or a guest speaker. But it's basically combining a Christian Bible camp, a summer Christian Bible camp, with a hockey camp and taking the best of both worlds and mashing them together.
Speaker 3:Now you told us all about how the Lord called you to this spot finishing out your pro career, and I've been on those bus trips doing play-by-play for the Edmonton oil Kings, the Western hockey league, and you're like you're, that's, it's incredible. The amount of Jenga that goes on with human body parts on six and seven hour, nine hour bus rides and your feet don't go here, they go here in my head Like it's, it's unbelievable, it's, it's impressive. So I can literally picture you on the floor and going yeah, that's his spot. But I wanted so you told us about how the Lord called you. I want to hear a story of now that you are a chaplain, you're in those spots, you're living by faith, right? The Lord, you believe, is going to provide for you. Take me into a moment when you have an interaction with an athlete or somebody, a life situation where the unexpected happened. God showed up and you went, wow, like I didn't think that was ever possible for the Lord to move in that way, and I'm sure you got a number of those stories.
Speaker 2:I do. This is kind of going to be an odd one, probably, but a few years ago I was a chaplainplain for a college team, and college guys are in that, you know, they're young, they're in the mold of their. They either have girlfriends or they're looking for girlfriends. And one of these, one of these players, was in a relationship that he knew he shouldn't be in. Um, and he, you know, he asked me the first part of the season and he was just asking me, kept asking me like well, what should I do? What should I do? She does this, this and this. And I and he kept saying I know it's not good for me, but I just can't resist. And so I kept gently trying to tell him. Anyway, one one day he, he ended up calling me, so I take the call and I got four young kids, like I said.
Speaker 2:So I ended up going to the garage because he said he needed. It sounded like he really needed to talk and it needed to be private. So I'm in my garage and he's talking to me, really emotional, like I know I don't know what to do, I need to do it. And so we had this 30 minute conversation and he calls me later that night and I'm walking him through this and it's like it's bad to say this because you don't want somebody to break up with their girlfriend. But he calls me later than I. He's like I finally did it. I finally did. He was like so happy and so overjoyed like I. Finally he's like I think I did what God wanted me to do for like the first time in my life, and so he ended up breaking up with his girlfriend. So so I ended up telling people. I tell people like I help people break up out of bad relationships. That's what I can do as a chaplain.
Speaker 2:But it's a weird story, but honestly, that's one of my favorites, just because a lot of times, in many points in our life and many points in players' lives, you have decisions to make. You could either grow closer to God or you could say I know what I'm doing is wrong, it's not good for me, it's not what God wants me to be doing, but I don't care, I'm still going to pursue that way. And this was a moment where this guy was wrestling. For a couple months he knew what the right thing to do, but he didn't really know. He wasn't quite ready to take that step. When I first talked to him and finally, when we had that phone call a couple months after our first conversation, he actually did what God wanted him to do. He stepped away from something that wasn't good for him and stepped into something that was better, even if it meant breaking up with a girlfriend. So for me that's one of the cool stories I like.
Speaker 1:I love the phrase that you just used stepping out of something to step into something better. Looking back in hindsight, what can you see the Lord doing in your life to prepare you for what you're doing now?
Speaker 2:To be honest, dan and I tell little kids this and they can't really fully understand it. And I tell them that one day they hopefully will. I think the best thing that God did was remove me from the NHL. I was a somewhat high draft pick. I was a second high second round draft pick and, you know, a lot of times you think those kinds of draft picks are supposed to have good and long careers and they should play a long time.
Speaker 2:And my career didn't end up the way, going the way I was expecting it to go, or I thought it would go. And at the time when you're young, you're in your mid twenties, and you're thinking, well, why, why is this guy playing more? Why is that guy having such a great career? And like you're saying, why, god, why can't? Why am I not getting what I want to get? And at the time you're like God, what are you doing to me? Why are you doing this?
Speaker 2:And it's not until you look back 10, 15 years after and you're like, okay, god, I guess you know what you're doing. And I tell people I honestly I don't think I would be in ministry if I had a different career than I did. So I think in the moment, god taking away an NHL career that I thought I should have actually led me to where I am today, doing things that I never would have imagined. It brings me more joy and more happiness than any hockey career ever could have. So it just took a long time for me to see it and see God moving the chess pieces around in that way.
Speaker 3:Something so unique to the Christian faith and I love how you said that, rob, because you mentioned earlier in the interview the Humble Broncos. I actually knew Darcy Hogan, connected with him early in my broadcast career when he was coaching in Peace River, and kept in touch with Christina Hogan after that and I remember one of the clips when I interviewed her for Sports Spectrum Magazine a number of years later. I had asked her just to walk through the process and she said something at the time that was so foreign maybe to the sports world but in Christianity is unique. If Darcy would have known, how many people would have been encountered that would have encountered Jesus through his funeral. He would have traded his life for that, and that blew my mind that it broke me when she said that.
Speaker 3:So I want you to unpack that a little bit more, because maybe somebody listening to this again who hasn't heard the gospel before go, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You were okay, not playing in the NHL. There's how many thousands of kids out there who would a harpy would trade to play in the nhl, but that, that this being surrendered to the gospel is such a beautiful piece that dan and I both know, and you know as well. So unpack that for me how powerful that concept is to you being surrendered to Jesus and say I would give up my pro-career, jesus, to follow you.
Speaker 2:I mean that's a huge question, dave, and that's many sermons right there, that question that you could unpack. That's a big question. I know we're getting close to run out of time too, so I got to be quick with this one. But I mean, jesus said it himself like the first shall be last and last shall be first. If you lose your life for my sake, you're actually gaining life.
Speaker 2:I mean, paul said it in first Corinthians the gospel, the message of Christ, is foolishness to the world, but actually it's. It's wisdom. It's going to look odd to the world, but it's actually wisdom and what is right and what is good. And I, honestly, you don't really understand it and I still sometimes don't understand. I still sometimes find myself chasing after the things of this world, even though I know, like you said, dan knows, you know, I know that the things in the world are smoke and mirrors. It's rust that's going to pass away all the things that we see, but yet we still sometimes chase after them. And that can be hockey.
Speaker 2:You know, guys chase after making it to the NHL and you get, like me. You get to the NHL and you realize, man, this doesn't really fulfill you like you thought it would. But you could switch out anything you could switch out. People chase after cars, or the perfect life, or a certain career or a certain family, whatever. We all chase after something, thinking that's what's going to make us happy.
Speaker 2:But in God's wisdom he says that to lose your life is actually gaining your life. And it's super hard to understand that. But until you have life experiences where you go through and you realize that, oh man, jesus knew what he was talking about. He was a lot smarter than I am. Here I am chasing after all these things of the world, trying to get ahead, and I'm no farther ahead than where I was to begin with. And until you start giving up yourself and sacrificing yourself for things like the gospel or what God wants you to do, then you realize, man, that's what truly makes you happy. So I don't know. Yeah, I can't explain it because I still struggle with it sometimes, but it's an amazing thing.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we pose the question to people and say if you could go back in time and talk to the younger version of yourself? I'm going to kind of rephrase this a little bit, kind of with the same heart behind it, though. If there's a young hockey player that's listening to this podcast right now and they're kind of sitting on the fence kicking their feet and they're listening to the things that you're saying and the truth behind it and they're still sitting there, what words of encouragement would you speak to them just to tell them about that, where they're placed right now?
Speaker 2:I would say don't. I've found a lot of times when people are sitting on the fence they're afraid of man. They're afraid of what their friends might think, their parents might think, their coach, their teammates, their girlfriend might think if they actually say you know what? I believe in Christ. I know it deep down, but I'm afraid to actually follow him. I'm afraid to give my life for him, to actually follow him. I'm afraid to give my life for him.
Speaker 2:They're just afraid of what everybody else might think or what it might cost them as far as reputation, or what somebody might write about them in the papers, like look at this crazy guy he's. You know he's become a Christian. I would just encourage guys to not not fear what man thinks of you, because ultimately there's only one person and I would say that's God who has the ultimate judgment of you, and you should care about what he thinks about you more than what you know. Your coach, your parents, your friends. Anybody else thinks about you. God. God comes first and God loves you and he cares about you and he wants you to be on his team, and so that's what I would say Don't, don't fear what other people think.
Speaker 3:Okay, so you know we talked about the young athlete, rob. I want to let's go to the pro athlete. If there is somebody who's in maybe the height of their career, maybe the tail end of their career that again you talked about you navigate life still with so many NHL players. What's a piece of advice for somebody and we've had a number of semi-pro athletes on who've talked about the Lord taking something away, similar to your story and life just coming alive what's a word of advice for a pro athlete who's in it right now, maybe navigating some difficulty or having a hard time separating the glitz and the glamour from the gospel?
Speaker 2:I would say it would probably be, especially in this day and age, with the pro athlete. They're always, somebody's always monitoring them, even in the media. Somebody's always writing about them or complaining about how they're not playing well In practices. Now they're wearing heart rate monitors. They're I mean everything about pro players, especially in NHL guys. Life is like inspected with a microscope and somebody is seemingly always looking over their shoulder expecting them to perform, expecting them to produce, and I think a lot of times this is all hockey players to produce, and I think a lot of times this is all hockey players, but especially pro players, think, man, if I don't produce, if I don't earn my next contract, or if I don't get my, if I don't earn my way on the power play, then I'm nothing, I'm not worth it. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm less of a man, I'm less of a human. Nobody cares about me and and even we, unfortunately we strap numbers on the guys, like if you are more successful and you score more goals and you do all these things, you're going to get paid more. So you can actually like see the worth of guys on the team.
Speaker 2:And I think that mentality is ingrained in that pro player's life. Like you are who you are based on what you do, and the Christian message is completely opposite. You aren't. You're who you are because of what Christ has done for you, not what you can do. And I think that's really hard for pro players to get because they're so accustomed to like I have to earn it, and so they extrapolate that mentality onto their faith and say I need to, I need to go to church, I need to do this, I need to do that in order to be good enough for God. And it's hard to get them to see like there's nothing you can do to be good enough for God. You just have to give yourself up to him. And it seems easy to say, but when you're in that mentality, that pro-life, it's really hard for those guys to do because they're so used to that. Anyway, that's a long-winded answer to your question.
Speaker 1:That's a great answer because I think it echoes this thing that we keep on coming across is self-worth identity, and a lot of the athletes that are believers keep on echoing the same thought that their identity is found in Christ, their value is found in Christ. In a sport or in a profession where it's, like you said, the exact opposite, and so I think that's really like laying out that equation is like super important. Let's talk a little bit about value. What are some valuable lessons that you've learned through your experience being involved in sport?
Speaker 2:learned through your experience being involved in sport. One valuable lesson is I guess you could sum it up as patience, kindness and gentleness, and those are things that you don't often hear for hockey players. I mean, hockey players aren't supposed to be gentle, but I think being on a team teaches you to be patient, teaches you to be kind, teaches you how to work with somebody else even though you may not agree with them. I'll just share a quick story as an example, like when I was playing in the minor leagues. I'm not going to share his name, but back in the day I used to be, I used to sit in the locker room next to the same guy for the for a couple of seasons, and he was a guy who liked to chew uh, you know, tobacco.
Speaker 2:You know, guys would put tobacco and this was in the old days, this was like the rough cut stuff, like not in the pouches and he would chew tobacco. And, uh, he would. You know guys that chew tobacco have spit cups. And again, he, he wouldn't. Unfortunately he wouldn't use a bottle that had a screw top, like plastic water bottle or whatever. He would use an old coffee cup and I would, I swear, once a week this guy would bump his coffee cup and it would spill always not on his stuff, but it would always spill into my stuff and it would drive me insane. I'm like why don't you use a screw plastic water bottle like an empty water bottle? What are you doing? Every time he would do the coffee cup and eventually he would spill it. And he was just one of those guys that was just kind of a mess all over the place and it would drive me nuts.
Speaker 2:But he was my teammate and I. You just have to learn to be patient and kind and gentle and gracious and try to be a good witness. So that's one one lesson I learned from from sport and being on a team, and I guess the other one is just I guess I don't know how else to say this it's not even necessarily a Christian lesson, it's just a good lesson, just authority. Like you know, you do what the coach tells you to do and the coach tells you to show up for the bus at. You know, at 5 pm you'd be there at 5 pm.
Speaker 2:I had a coach, you know, if you weren't there by 4, 55, if he said 5 pm, the bus, whether it's a road trip game, whatever the bus would take off, and there was many times where guys weren't there but the bus just rolled up and they had to drive themselves to wherever we were going or they didn't go. So it's just that that mentality of like you know, this is, the coach is your boss, the GM is your boss, you kind of do what they tell you. I think that's a. It's a good lesson. Especially nowadays, people think they can do what they want, so it's good to have that.
Speaker 3:Anyway, those are two. I think that probably reappeared in your life as well, as a father and a husband, and there's probably some things that spilled over it. Uh, equipping you for those two roles as well, for sure. Well, I'm sure we could go on for hours and hours and hours, and I'd love to, because I think this is just incredible picking your brain. But we've arrived now, rob, at our favorite segment. I'm not even sure if it's favorite, but we just it's a favorite one, it's a we like to think. People think it's the favorite segment, it's my favorite. We're going to throw random questions out at you that have nothing to do with anything, and we're going to get you to say the first one that comes to your mind. You ready to roll Ready? What was the first video game that you ever played? A hockey video game.
Speaker 1:Blades of Steel Classic. I think the Oilers were like blue and no, like orange and green, Something weird I never picked the Oilers.
Speaker 2:I was always the Red Wings, if I could be.
Speaker 3:Michigan guy Loyalty right there, for sure.
Speaker 1:Okay, Rob, what would you do if you found a penguin in your freezer?
Speaker 2:I would probably take a picture of it first and then show my kids. I'd run and get my kids and say, look at this. That's probably the first thing and take a picture.
Speaker 3:What was one of your favorite hockey memories? I know you got many. There's lots in the NHL. It could be either from a road trip or from a game or something that happened, but something you go back to and go. You know what that was the cool time and go.
Speaker 2:you know what that was the cool time Hard to pick just one. I'll go back to the Pee Wee Tournament when I was 13,. The international Pee Wee Tournament in Quebec, one of the biggest, best tournaments in the world. We were playing in the semifinals represented the Detroit Red Wings, and I just remember being 13 years old and 10,000 people showing up to watch me. As a 13-year-old, that's just a memory that stuck into my mind that I'll always remember just that feeling.
Speaker 1:Rob, you're a smart guy. How would you design a spice rack for the blind?
Speaker 2:I'd put braille on jars. I have no idea.
Speaker 3:I feel like these are questions that Dan asks in his chapel, because that he comes up with some good ones for those for sure. That's fantastic. Who were you when you were ripping Puck's top cheddar on growing up as a kid, scoring that overtime goal?
Speaker 2:Mike Medano. It's a local Detroit kid. A lot of people growing up said I skated similar to him, we had similar styles and I just yeah, I just always liked Mike Badano. He didn't play for the Red Wings, but he was a Detroit guy.
Speaker 1:If you were a beverage, what would you be?
Speaker 2:I'd be a Cherry Coke Classic.
Speaker 3:They have a great variety of drinks. I always was envious growing up in Winnipeg, driving down to the USA and going. There's so many good drinks down here. We're going to take it back to the biblical realm, a Bible verse that, right now in your life, applies to where you're at, as a father, husband, chaplain.
Speaker 2:This is going to pain me to say. I don't know the reference to it, but it's Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knows what's before him and he says if you can take this cup from me, please take it from me, buddy. This is the best phrase in my opinion the bible, it's. In the last couple years it's played a huge part of my life. Uh nah, he says not, but not my will. Yours be done. So I would say that just that little phrase, not my will, but yours would be the Bible little phrase, five word phrase, that I would say is the best thing in the Bible.
Speaker 1:That's some good advice, rob. Good advice. Well, we have two conditions on everyone that we have as a guest. First one is that we get to invite you back and we'll follow up with life and where the Lord leads you and what he has you doing. And the second one is is we get to take a moment to pray for you.
Speaker 2:That sounds great. Let's do that now. That sounds great, yep.
Speaker 1:Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for Rob and we just pray that you would continue to bless him and use him for your glory and purpose. And, lord, we thank you so much for the adventures that you lead us on, for the exciting times and for the times that are tough. And, lord, we know that, no matter what part of the path that we're on, that you're next to us. If we know you and Lord, we just pray that Rob would be an encouragement to those that he comes across and you would allow him to continue work not for his glory and attention, but for your service as a servant of him. And, lord, we thank you most of all for the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so great to hear you know. And again, a theme over the last few episodes of I was going this direction, then the Lord stepped in and then I'm going this way and there's, if you're connected in Christian circles, there's a lot of those out there of people who have left high paying jobs because the Lord said, hey, I want you to do this, and maybe sometimes it's not even ministry related, it's just I need you to go do this because I have an assignment for you. So it's, it's really cool again just to hear the sacrifice of where he was like and even he was laughing as he was describing being on the bus Cause it's still fresh in my mind. You know the bus trips with the Evans and Oil Kings last year of going, yep, yeah, you're like laying this way and it's, it's literal, it's, it's an engineered Jenga.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 3:Yep, like this is designed. Like there's no way. Like if it's someone hits a bump, no one's going to hit anybody. Like they're all big designed.
Speaker 1:It's crazy, yeah, and you know what. It kind of speaks to the fun moments in the sport, too. It's not always about the competitive nature and everything. People have fun. They have fun playing sports, being on a team, doing things together. I think the hard attitude behind what Rob talking about even still being involved with teams and individuals and relationships we get to see through these interviews and so often, like you said, these things just keep on coming up. One of the things that keeps on coming up is relationships and about how these athletes just develop relationships that transcend time and they can go back into those moments so quickly. At the same time, it speaks to what they're doing now and it time is irrelevant. It just it's the process in which they're going through. That really, really covers it all time is almost irrelevant.
Speaker 3:We record the episodes as well. We have an unabated amount of time. It's wide open. There's no time limit on when we record at all. For sure. It's, yeah, like there's, and one day we'll release a behind the scenes episode of all the things that go on recording a podcast. But what you can do, you can subscribe to us where all podcasts are found. They can follow us on Instagram we're on Twitter or X as well, if that's one of your platforms you use, but primarily on Instagram and reach out to us. Let us know if there's something you liked, someone you liked, something you want to see more of, hear from, or just let us know that you're interacting. The analytics are crazy. Dan checks them out every couple of days and got listeners all over the globe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know what? Go back in time. Go back in time, listen to old episodes. You'll love them. Maybe not the really old ones. Oh, maybe really the old ones too, I don't know. Listen to the old ones. You've been listening to the gospel in the game. This podcast is listener supported and can grow by your input and support.
