Brad Cooper - Mental Toughness For Real Life And Faith

Mental toughness gets sold like a slogan: push harder, dig deeper, don’t quit. That sounds inspiring until you’re exhausted, disconnected, and running on six hours of sleep. We sit down with Brad Cooper, an Ironman triathlete, physical therapist, and mental toughness researcher, to talk about why the “grind” version of toughness breaks down and what actually builds durable strength for sport and real life. 

Brad shares the surprising stress story that tops even his hardest races, then takes us through how curiosity and injury pushed him back into research later in life. We unpack his core idea that mental toughness is not a performance you show off, it’s a resource you manage to get the outcomes you want. That includes your marriage, your leadership, your spiritual life, and your ability to serve without burning out. 

From there we get practical. We talk Christian stewardship of the body, the “plus one” strategy for simple habit change, and why we ban the word “should” when it turns growth into self-shame. Brad also reframes retirement as retreat, a purposeful step back that sets up a new season of impact, not a slow fade into the couch. 

We land on four cornerstones that cover the basics most people skip while chasing hacks: move, fuel, rest, connect. Sleep, nutrition, relationships, and daily activity shape your resilience far more than hype ever will. Subscribe, share, and leave a review so more athletes and leaders can find this conversation, then tell us: what’s one small “plus one” you’re willing to start this week?

Transcript

Season Three Kickoff And Surprise Topic

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Dave, we're starting season three. We have two seasons under our belt. And when you're planning the next season, you kind of want to say, Well, what direction are we going to go in? Did you ever think that we're going to start with the subject that we're starting with?

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Yeah, to be honest, uh, you know, what people love the behind the scenes in society. Some of the highest trending YouTube videos are here's me opening my fridge, I'm putting on this shirt, here's my closet, here's what's in the trunk of my car. These are millions of people view these on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube shorts. Like, that's what people want. So here's the behind the scenes of the Gospel in the Game podcast. Are you ready for it? Dan booked our guest for today, and I said, Who? Who is he? He wrote, he he's did he play a sport? Yeah, he's a triathlete. Okay, cool. That sounds awesome. Great. So what are we talking about? Mental toughness. Okay, cool. Again, and no disrespect to our guest, but it kind of, you know, we we the direction we took season one, we had a lot of these topics of ass content and things in life. And then season two, we had all these guests on and different variety of guests. You know, we've had pro athletes and we've had minor athletes, and we've had all these kinds of people. And then coming into season three, you know, we talked about prayed about where the direction we wanted to go. We have all these options, all these great people. And then Dan said, We're just starting with mental toughness. So I went, cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

You are listening to the Gospel in the Game Sports Podcast with Dave Dawson and Dan Dromarski. It's interesting though, how season two set the stage. We had a wonderful guest interview Jerry Schemmel. Jerry's the play-by-play guy for the Colorado Rockies, Major League Baseball. And thinking a little bit during our break, okay, like these guys gotta know guys. And speaking with Jerry, Jerry said, You have to listen to Brad Cooper. And I was like, Brad Brad Cooper, expecting, okay, maybe a player, maybe something else. And then you look into Brad and you're like, oh wow, okay, Brad. Brad's accomplished a few things in his life. Yeah. But at the same time, you listen to the conversation that you're about to hear, and you're like, wow, okay, there's there's not enough time today to listen to everything that we got to talk about. But I hope that as everyone takes in season three, episode one, and even though you might say, Well, what do you mean mental toughness? There's a lot more to the story, isn't there? Okay,

Stress, Marriage, And Being Human

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Brad, you're the mental expert in this. What is the most stressful situation you've ever been in in your life?

SPEAKER_03 2:48

Well, I mean, you're probably wanting me to say something about the middle of the race across America when we're in day five, and the four-person German team is about to catch us, and I've been riding for four hours. And but I think it might be when my wife wasn't positive she wanted to marry me, and I was on hold for a few months, and I'm like, but uh so I think that's the time I was most stressed over an extended period. Physically, it would have definitely been at Hawaii Iron Man or Race Cross America or a certain time in a marathon or something like that. But but life-wise, I and we've been married 35 years now, so it turned out okay, but I think that's probably the time stress-wise overall.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

I was like, and that's probably a podcast on its own.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

The story of that, I would have been probably you would probably want to invite her to get the the wisdom of that process, but yes, I I'd agree.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Well, if that doesn't say you're human, I don't know what does.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Yes, relating to the viewers and listeners right off the top for sure. That uh there's a there's a lot there. I got about a hundred follow-up questions, but I'm guessing let's do it, buddy. The first one being you're happily married now, so I guess it all worked out.

SPEAKER_03 4:12

I I am the luckiest man in the world. Uh she's amazing. Again, 35 years, three kids, two grandkids. Uh super fortunate. Our family's amazingly important to us, and and and Susanna has this Jedi mind power, I think. And I think that's how our kids have just turned out amazing, and we love their spouses. And I and I think maybe her Jedi mind powers may have had played a little bit of a role there, but um, yeah, she's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Uh, that's beautiful. And I love the way spouses or husbands or wives like describe each other because automatically you go to like the greatest some of the greatest things about them, and it's like not oh, well, you know what, she she may uh she makes a good spaghetti, or yeah, hey, he can he he mows a good lawn. It doesn't go right to that, it definitely definitely goes to some of the wonderful things that we have. Um, you have there's so many ways that we can come at this, like uh like we discussed previously.

Injury, Curiosity, And Research At 50

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Um, I think one of the things that I want that stood out to me is how do you go back to school at 50? Yeah. Like really.

SPEAKER_03 5:23

I I'm a I'm a curious guy. I have four college degrees. I I Suzanne and I both love to read. We've got 1500 books in our library, and we've given away hundreds. So that's just who we are. Our dinners now that we're empty nesters, we're exploring together every night over dinner. Oh, what did you read today? What did you learn? Like, what do you think about this? What do you think about this? Oh, I don't know. And pushing back that kind of stuff. So the the year prior to that, and and you had Jerry Shamel on a couple episodes back, good friend, he twisted my arm into doing this race across America thing. We ended up winning that. Um, three months later, I qualified for the Y Iron Man. A month after that, ran a sub three-hour marathon at age of 49. And and all of those happened within, I think it's race across America was six weeks after I'd gotten in a wreck and fractured my pelvis, three ribs, clavicle, the whole thing. And so I did not enter that race with the physiological uh base that I had planned on going into it. And I certainly I could not swim, I could not run, so I didn't go into those next events with the physiology up to where I would have liked to be. And so it became a cognitive, uh, I don't want to say battle, but uh study, exploration. And I came out of it saying, Well, I don't get it. I like there were times when my mental toughness was good, but there were times when it was terrible, and that wasn't because of blood sugar, it wasn't because time on the bike, it was it felt random, and so I just started digging into everything I could find my hand, get my hands on, and there wasn't much out there that applied to the everyday person. So you got David Goggins out there saying, just bite your lower lip and keep going. I don't care if your leg's broken. That's great on social media, but it's not real applicable to people like me or teachers or podcasters or leaders or these other folks, and so finally I said, Let's do this. And I went back and was super fortunate. Um, my professors out of the University of Exeter in the UK, one of them sp was one of the top five or six guys in the world on mental toughness. He was kind enough to basically adopt me as his older son, and we jumped in and it was an amazing opportunity. I got to read, I don't know, 300 articles, research studies on everything from sleep to mental toughness to nutritional impacts to relational components, etc. And then we had our four studies published internationally, and that then led to this book that isn't quite out yet, but uh pretty excited about that, been working on it for a couple of years.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Okay, there's a lot there that really excites me right off the hop on this podcast. Dave, I'm trying to give you a lot, buddy. Yeah, so if if people are just gonna click, I want to find out who this guy is. Here you go. There's a whole bunch of things there. So there's a lot of topics we can camp on, Brad. And I appreciate you rolling through there. And yeah, it, you know, listening to that when I talk, when I'm hearing about your mental toughness, it makes sense to me because you have all of these accolades beside your name, where from maybe the outsider, someone like myself would go. I've never pursued a university degree, but I have all these accomplishments. How does one do? For you, mental toughness almost seems second nature because you're so studied in those areas. I want to know how did you get into triathlon? And then, like, you know, when when when you think of you know, guys, there are sports you play, south of the border, football, baseball, being to the primary ones, hockey. Yeah, you know, you're in Colorado is sure making a push there. So, where did triathlon come into the in the picture? And how did all that factor in?

SPEAKER_03 9:15

Totally

Falling Into Triathlon And Loving Identity

SPEAKER_03 9:16

accidental. Uh, I'm a physical therapist by background, and our clinic had partnered with this organization that wanted to provide coaching, which is related to what I do now do, but at the time they provided fitness coaching for like prepping you for a triathlon or a marathon or a 5k or whatever. Uh, and they needed somebody to be the guinea pig. And I was running a little bit, not a lot. My strategy, my strategy in my 30s as our kids were young was when my jeans didn't fit, then I would start to run. And then once they fit again, I would stop running. And so that's what I was doing at the time. And in this manager meeting or whatever, I raised my hand and said, Well, I'm running a little bit. I could, I could try this coaching thing out and be the guinea pig. And so signed up for a sprint triathlon. And you guys, as you get to know me, you'd be like, Okay, not a surprise. But as we as we started down that path, I got about a month into the training, and I I was like, the sprint triathlon, like there's this half iron man a couple weeks before. What if I did that? And I literally came down and said to my wife, honey, I'm thinking about maybe should I do the half mirror half iron man instead of the sprint triathlon? And she said, March up to the to the mirror, and this tells you about my wife. March up to the mirror, look at your eyes right now, and I think your answer will be in that mirror. And so that was my first race. It was, I don't want to say it was a disaster. I got through it, but I I limped through the finish line, but I fell in love with it. And then you see Kona on TV and people crawling across the finish line, you're just like, that's amazing! Like, I wonder if I could do that someday. And so I started getting more serious about it. And one thing led to another. And now I've done 11 Ironmans and four times at the World Championship in Kona. And and some of my very best friends have come through that sport, they're amazing people, they're engaged in life. They they want to be all in on everything that they do, not just triathlon, but other things as well. And and so that's uh that's been a fun part of life.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

Okay, a guy does 11, 11 Merith Ironmans, 11. There has to be a point where you're like in the race and it's grueling, and you're like, what am I doing?

SPEAKER_03 11:37

Oh, every time. No, I I got the answer for that, Dan. And and and I think you'll appreciate this. I think your listeners will appreciate this. I'm not sure I love doing triathlons, but I love being a triathlete. Does that make sense? So explore that a little bit. I being out there, I love competing. So, yes, race day is amazing, and I I like the training that goes around it, but yeah, you're right. When your gut is hurting and you're walking in the marathon portion of the race, and you're like, uh, not again. This happened again. I can't believe it. You're like, why am I doing this? And then you remember because it's part of who I am, it's it's the way God's made me. This is this is a unique aspect that has led to some amazing opportunities in life. And so, so yes, your question is a good one. And my answer is I don't always like being out there.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Well, and I love I love what you said about this is how God made me, because you know, that I've been on this journey as well, this health journey the last couple of years. And I think maybe many listening or watching can relate to the fact that life gets busy, and we as believers spend so much time talking about behavior, you know, the mental stuff for the physical scripture talks a lot about the body being the temple of the Holy Spirit. Yes. So I want to ask you about that journey of understanding the power and stewarding your body well, what the Lord is giving you, but also using that in a way to honor Him and walking through that process because again, we go back to playing sport. That's that's applicable in baseball and hockey and football and soccer, but triathlon is in its own different world to that. So then how do you respond to the obedience of Jesus by saying, Hey, Brad, I've given you this, and how do you steward that well through that process and submit to him, knowing that the power of the Lord is gonna be done through you?

SPEAKER_03 13:45

I love

Stewarding The Body With Plus One

SPEAKER_03 13:46

you having you bring that up, Dave. Thank you. Because I think in the church we've decided, oh, don't say anything about exercise or physical fitness. Wait, what? What are we doing? If if we're not opening this gift that God has given us in terms of the physiology of our body and the way that God has made us, then we are not as effective in any aspect of our lives. I don't care if we're talking our marriages, our service at church, you know, volunteering with a kids' program, it does not matter. If you are ignoring the physiology the way we were created, you are not living into in alignment with God's will. And I'm I hope I'm offending someone out there. I hope somebody's like, you can't say that. Fine, fine. Yeah, I mean, if you really are gonna say to me, yeah, I'm okay not having as much energy, I'm okay not being as engaged in my life and my volunteer, my work. And okay, but I don't think you can look God in the eye and say, I'm doing your will by being 80% of what I could be, or frankly, 50% of what I could be. So I love that you bring that up. You we've yes, time is limited, life is busy, it throws a lot at us. I'm super fortunate in the way I can work my schedule and do some of those things that other people maybe can't. And yet there's this we I talk about this plus one strategy. There's always something. So maybe you're not thinking about a triathlon, maybe you don't even want to run. That's totally fine. But could you start using a stand-up desk? At least you're not sitting all day. Could you at least pick a different lunch plan? Something that's super easy, but it's always healthy, and you no longer have to think about what you're eating for lunch. Like the plus one, it's little stuff that doesn't take any more time. It just takes intentionality. And I believe God designed us to be intentional. Or maybe he didn't design us if you don't think that.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Now I want to ask you how is your faith how has been activated through that? Because for me, most of my life, you know, I I ignored, I tried to focus on, you know, the behavior side of it. Okay, stop sinning here, stop sinning here, okay, spend more time in the word, spend more time worshiping, be better in relationships. And there was always, you know, at the end of the day, you know, a lot of people deal with body dysmorphia, which is pretty common in our society today, where people, you know, have somewhat of a self-hatred, which has always been something that I've battled with. But now activating that physical side of my life and understanding how the Lord wants me to treat my body, how has your faith come alive in your life? How has that changed your marriage? How has that changed your family? How has that changed the legacy that you're building for the future of the young ones in your life?

SPEAKER_03 16:34

Yeah, we we do a I've been hosting a men's group at our church for the uh at our home through our church for the last, I don't know, two and a half years or so, called Not Done Yet. And it is for guys like us having these conversations, kind of your 50 to 80 year olds, and this idea that society is saying to us, this is the time we slow down, this is the time we let off the gas, this is the time we pull up the lawn chair, head to the beach, grab our novels, and just relax because we've worked really hard. And and that's totally fine for a week. That's not a life. And then and all of these things that we're talking about, when that bubbles out of you, it comes out in every single way. So your relationship with God improves, you're tuning into the things that you want to move into. And I want to come back to the word should here in a second. Um, you're your marriage, your way that you're able to step into the gifts that God's given you. One of the one of the rules for the guys group is the word should is not allowed. So when you say, Well, I should be exercising, I should be reading more, I should be volunteering more, I should be stop. We don't use that word here. If you feel drawn to that, if you feel God's pull towards that, if you're listening, if you're fully engaged in your life, then your ears are more open, then those things happen. When someone else tells you you should do something, that's fine. But that means when you say should, let me back up. If if I use the word should, it simply means I don't believe it yet. I might think Dan knows what's best for me and is a super smart guy, and and Dan thinks I should do this. But as soon as I use the word should, that means I don't believe it yet. I haven't tapped into that yet. So use that as a high, it's kind of like the word busy. Busy versus full is something I've been wrestling with a lot. If if someone's like, how's it going? Oh, I'm really busy. Busy. That just means there's no time left. That means I've made bad choices. That means I'm not organizing what I've been given very effectively. Now, yes, there are times in life that are simply busy. But generally speaking, when I catch myself say I'm busy, I've now started sitting back and going, Well, wait a minute, that just means I'm I'm just loading up the days, I'm filling the day versus stepping into the day, leaning into the day, being purposeful with those things that I'm so I I don't know if that helps, but but the whole shaming, and it's usually self-shaming, that simply means we're not tuning into the joy that's available to us. We we talk about I I mean, pick a pick a thing, uh, running, walking, hiking, paddle boarding, cycling, whatever it is that you're thinking about doing. I'll hear this phrase of, well, I get bored when I run. Running's boring, biking's boring, uh, hiking's boring, whatever. And and we have a one of our uh, he's not a pastor, but he's a frequent speaker at our church. Um, HUD talks about if you're bored and you're married, you're not paying attention. And I love that. And I've adopted that into all aspects. If you're bored when you're running, you're just not paying attention. Now, running may not be for you, that's totally fine. That's a different conversation. But if it if it is for you, but you're bored, really? How is that possible? Like every step you take, your foot automatically adapts to the ground, your heart pumps four, five, seven, ten beats faster as you pick it up. It slows down as you ease down, your eyes picture, you can hear burst. Like, how could you be bored? Again, it may not be for you, but you can't, you cannot honestly tell me you're bored if you're paying attention. And I think that's true for so many aspects of our life, Dave. And that's that's where living in to God's will is is so impactful because as we tune in, then we're not doing it because we should, whatever it is, we're doing it because we're sensing that joy and that drawing. It's it's a magnet, it's a pull, not a push. If you're if you're constantly having, you know, people say, Oh, I need to push myself more. No, I don't think you do. If you tune into the joy, if you tune into the pull, you don't need to be pushed. And that's my book's called The Toughness Myth, because people are saying, Oh, you just gotta push yourself. No, I I I think you missed it. I think that looks good on social media, but it doesn't apply to life. So I don't know if that helps, but oh well, that helps a lot.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

I'm so glad that we paid for the full version of Zoom. Like, I'm I'm not I'm not cap, I'm not capped at a time, like I'm just like soaking it up. Uh I love the should idea. Uh I have always said, for me, it's what if someone says, what if we have a rule when I direct Bible camp and I say to the kids, they say, Well, what if? I'm like, Well, remember, we're not allowed to use what if. Because what if brings up the hypothetical, the impossible. And like you're explaining to them something simple, and they're like, Well, what if I'm running and I step on an axe and it flies up and hits Johnny on the shoulder? And Johnny's got to get flowed on a helicopter, but the helicopter is not available. And you're like, you've gone from a kid running to being flown out in a helicopter really quickly. So it brings you into the impossible versus focusing on whether it's the subject at hand or even the priority. You mentioned something so critical, so critical. So forgive me for rewinding a little bit. Oh, I love rewinds. Okay, you talked about people in a generation or an age where they feel it's time to park themselves on the beach. And it's hard because I'll I'll go back to my example with Bible Camp. And the harvest is plenty, and the laborers are few, and there's so many people that are so well equipped with experience and life and qualifications that we would love to have them participate, but they're gone somewhere else. How do you help someone discover that just because the clock is further forward, they're still capable of being used?

SPEAKER_03 23:33

I I you're gonna have to stop me on this, Dan, because this is my sweet spike. This is my soapbox favorite. I I I think I sent you a link to all the articles I've written on this subject and and the way we dive into this and we're doing this men's group. Uh, I I think the first step that might be helpful for folks is to look back at the original word retirement. It mimics, it is, it shares uh a root word with the word retreat. Now, if you understand what a retreat is, retreat is not an escape, it's not a running away, it's not a I gotta get out of here. It's a planned, purposeful pulling back in order to go back in with a new plan, with a new strategy. So when we see retirement as this escape, oh I gotta get out of here. I'm done, I'm finished, I'm just time for me to hit the beach. That's not the intention of retirement. The intention of retirement was to take a step back, get your legs back under you, and then go. And I think it's also interesting for folks in our age range, kind of your 50 plus. A lot of people never thought about the fact that we are the very first age group in the history for those of us in the US. I don't know my Canada history very well, so my apologies. But in the US, those of us in that age group, this is the first generational age group that has not had a draft that threw off the early part of their lives, their 20s. And if you're healthy at the age of 60, will has a coin flip chance of getting into their 90s, first generation to get both of those in one life. So we have more opportunities out of the gate, and we have 20 more years to work with it on the end end of it. That's to me responsibility. That's not, I mean, retirement made sense. The beach made sense when you're gonna live to 67 and you retire at 65. It doesn't make much sense when you're gonna live to 92 and you're retiring at 65. So, folks, let's let's do this thing. Um the the other thing I want to not forget because you guys both mentioned it's not totally related to this. So, Dan, you might have

Retirement As Retreat And Aiming For Joy

SPEAKER_03 25:51

to circle me back. Is with these choosing activities that will engage us more, tuning into the joy. I have this little phrase called aim for joy, A-I-M. And if you don't like running, then it's a three-step process. And I'll just keep using running, folks. Fill in the blank with whatever your thing is. Um if you're saying I'm running, but I hate it, I just have like David Goggins, our friend David Goggins. I hate running, but I do it anyway. No, you've made a career out of it, but different subject there. The first step is admit the joy's already there. So that's the A. Admit it's already there. Now, if you're like Brad, I've tried, I don't like running, like it's just not my thing. Okay, cool. So I is integrate. Think of things that you do that do bring you joy and integrate those into the running. So maybe you like listening to podcasts, maybe you like the social side of running with friends, maybe so you get a buddy that you're running with, but whatever. You take something that you enjoy. I love running with our dog. So our Australian Shepherd just smiles ear to ear when we go running. So that brings joy. So think of something that brings you joy and integrate that. Now, if we get to the A, admit it's there, and it's not there, Brad. Integrate. I tried the podcast, I tried the dog, I tried the friends, still hate running. Okay, cool. M is modified. You got a thousand different options. What about cycling? Susanna doesn't like to run, she likes something called orange theory. It's a it's a gym thing. So find the thing that fits for you. That's the modify piece. So A, admit it's already there and stop whining. B or I in this case, is integrate something you do enjoy and see if that makes a difference. And then if it doesn't, let's change it. We got choices. Go make that choice. But don't say because I don't like running, I'm not going to be active. I don't like running, so let me try rowing, let me try swimming, let me try hiking, let me try. So it it it gets us off the excuse bandwagon with that.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

So, okay, so someone in that category has just heard you describe aim. Okay, they're they're in their latter latter year, they're for let's they're in the third part of their third of their life. Okay, so yeah, go ahead. Yeah, they're 60. Yeah, 60. Okay, so you have your youth, you have your work period, parent period, and then you have your latter part. You're in that part, and you have listened to this podcast, you're hearing it right now. You got a young athlete who's on the other end of the spectrum. How do you connect where you've been and where you are right now? Maybe you're the active one with a kid who all he wants to do is hold a controller and see a screen. That that's the disconnect right now in so many family lives and church lives that the churches are watching these two poles be pulled apart versus being pushed together. What's the branch?

SPEAKER_03 29:03

Yeah, love it. Um, okay, dads. What are you doing? Son, get

Closing The Gap With Kids

SPEAKER_03 29:10

off the couch and get outside and play. Okay, dad, who's working 80 hours a week. Okay, dad, who comes home and has a glass of wine and watches TV. Okay, dad, who's sitting there scanning YouTube while I'm playing computer games. Our kids were fortunate. They're amazing. But our daughter the other day said something that just cracked me up. She she said, We're we're going to do a 10K or something. And again, our kids are now 32, 30, and 28 to give context. They're all married. Um, and our grandkids are three and one. So our mid our our middle daughter, our middle child, she's our youngest daughter, said, Dad is so weird. Like 5K's were way more fun than they should have been as kids. Like you're getting us up at 4:30 in the morning, we're driving, we're tired, we don't drink coffee when we're 13 years old. So we're, you know, do and we had a blast. Like, why was it so fun? And it just cracked me up because that was such a ref that's just what we did as a family. That's it. And it wasn't me saying, Okay, kids, get up and go run track. We did it, we did it. We did it. So I think, Dan, the first thing with that is what are we doing? It's but it's the pull versus the push. Kid, go do this thing. That's push. Hey, son, you want to go run together? Hey, son, you want to go for a hike this weekend? Hey, daughter, want to go riding? I got a tandem bike we can rent. That's that is absolutely number one. Dan, I started running. You asked about the church's role here. I started running because our high school youth director was a runner and said, Hey guys, anybody want to do this governor's cup 10K that's coming up? I can help you uh put, you know, I know you none of you run now, but I can help you get ready for it and you'll be fine because it's three months away. So those are two wonderful examples of people that changed my life because they lived it and they invited, they didn't push it. And I think that's a big key to this whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

So good, so good. Appreciate you sharing that. Um, I got uh curiosity for me. Now, we talked, I love how you talked about dads, right? I mean, I've been involved in men's ministry for decades, and and I really love getting the best out of men and coaching them to really see the potential and who they are. So I want to ask you about the fitness aspect in churches. Give me a word for pastors. You know, pastors are equipped to handle all kinds of traumas, right? Dan's a pastor himself, and he knows you know, also a chaplain, and there are things that pastors face that the unfathomable, right? There's you can think of any type of topic that we face in society, and they start to get broader and broader and broader. There's so many difficult situations. And God bless our pastors. We pray for and we celebrate and we honor and we respect. How do you what's a word you can give to pastors where, you know, there's a lot of topics pastors, you know, almost are are hoping they don't have to face, you know, uh some some aspects of death and sudden death and things like that. But fitness is one thing that is almost a taboo subject for a pastor to talk about, right? You look around the congregation and you think, okay, well, this person is considerably overweight, and this person is a little overweight. And I can see after you're eating this and this and this, and I can see you walk in dealing with all these frustrations. Well, when was the last time you you know consistently ran for a half hour every day, right? So um, I want to what how would you equip? Um, how would you exhort? How would you encourage pastors to really lean into the physicality, the physical health component, because the two are so, Brad, as you know, intertwined, right? Mental toughness, physical toughness are connected. If you're not taking care of your body, it doesn't matter how much counseling, how much scripture you want to read, how many Holy Spirit sessions you go to, like if you're not taking care of your body eventually, you're gonna deal consistently with some of these difficulties, right? So, how do you and what's a word you can give to pastors to incorporate a fitness ministry? Because we have men's ministry, women's ministry, children's ministry, serve ministry, by like we have all these ministries, but churches don't have fitness ministries, right? What's a word you can give to pastors to the importance of having this in the church?

SPEAKER_03 33:37

So I think pastors have one of the hardest jobs in the world. We we go out to a basketball game with our pastor once a year, and I literally every year I'm like, Aaron, dude, you have got the hardest job. Because it doesn't matter what you do, someone's gonna complain. It doesn't matter how well things are going, how much you prepare, how impactful things are, somebody's whining, and that's the only stuff you get. So, all respect to the pastors out there, you are doing amazing things under very difficult circumstances. With that said, I think the the the model I would encourage is the model we've been talking about with parents. I don't think you can stand up there and say, y'all, we're doing a BMI test next weekend, and y'all are gonna need to check in and you like that just doesn't. You think you get complaints now, you're you're in big trouble. But but a pastor who's living a healthy life matters, and someone else can create that. You could you could talk to one of your whoever in your our church is built on small groups, and I think a lot of churches are going that route these days. And so, could we get two or three uh small groups organized around hikes? Around, well, we did this last year. I just threw out to our our not done yet men's group, we were talking about the four foundations time, money, health, and purpose. So let me go through this again: time, money, health, and purpose. None of those are the goal. Let me be clear. All of those set the stage to be the person God wants you to be. If you are not handling your money well, you are limited, you are distracted, you are stressed, you cannot fully live out the life that God has designed for you to live. Same with your health, so your fitness. So you you go through all time, money, health, and purpose. All of those, they don't take the stage, they set the stage for something bigger. So you can you can have those conversations, you can build that in. And as we were talking about that in our men's group, a few of the guys were like, I've never thought about my health piece impacting my life that I'm living, the the impact that I can have in this new phase. And and you could see the wheel spinning, and we have a little homecoming 5K every October, and this was July sometime. And so I thought, why not? And I just threw a note out to these guys and said, Hey, several of you mentioned the health piece that you want to get on a different path with that. There's this 5k, there's 2,000 people in it, so you won't be last, I promise you. You can walk it if you want to. I'll give you the training so you can build up from zero, kind of your couch to 5k kind of thing, so that you'll be ready. Anybody interested. And I think six of the 13 guys were like, I'm in. Like they raised their hand because there was no intimidation, there was no pressure. It was just invited in. And it has just been beautiful. One guy, he his basically he avoided a heart. Like he it his doc said, had he not started running, he would have died of a widowmaker three months later because it brought things forward. He got into his doc, he found a few things, and he's now going to this track group that happens here in town on Tuesdays with me. So, so the invitation, it doesn't have to be from the and again, invitation, not guilt, not should, not everyone needs to, invitation modeling. The other thing I would stress, we talked about the foundational for time, money, health, and purpose. The other thing for people to remember is the cornerstones cover 90, I don't know, 7% of all health-related activities. And the cornerstones are move, fuel, rest, and connect. Everybody's looking at all these weird things on social media and all the oh, you need peptides, you need you know this, and you need this diet, you need stop, move, fuel, rest, connect. Move, fuel, rest, connect. And not like Dave does, just that plus one model. So you you don't say, Oh, I need to do what Dave's doing. No, you need to find the joy in what will draw you into it, and then take that one step, that plus one. Move, fuel, rest, connect.

SPEAKER_02 38:11

And there's no magic formula. If you're back to formula, and this goes back to what you talked about with the church and pastors. Uh, there's no magic formula, there's what's lined out in scripture, the importance of okay, remembering the Lord, breaking bread, uh, fellowship, singing, teaching, teaching time. Those are all the key elements of it. But one church's programs is doesn't fit in another church's programs. Some churches don't have programs. And I think one of the greatest things that I learned early in my life was good leaders delegate, they understand the strengths of the people around them. Maybe John is wonderful with his health, he can encourage others. Maybe Susan is incredible with her uh hospitality or her finances, using the strengths of others in order to not necessarily just because he can take it off of my plate, but it we're a body. The the fingers don't do the same thing the ears do, the ears don't do the same thing the toes do, the toes, not the neck. And I and I I love how you connected the physical body with the mental side of it because so many people separate the two.

SPEAKER_03 39:29

Oh I tell me, have you ever had a bad sleep two

Move Fuel Rest Connect For Resilience

SPEAKER_03 39:36

or three nights in a row and been on mentally? Now take that into regular life where most people, based on the data, are staying up a little too long, and then their alarm goes off for work, and so then they're tired. Is that person living into the potential God laid out for them to live? Of course not.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

Well, and then extend that into the candy crush candy crush, Candy Crush doesn't have priority, and I'm coming up to Canada, right? No, I don't, I've never even played it, so that's okay. We're good. Keep on going, Brad. Keep on going.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Dan just Googled it beforehand and said, Yeah, these are the things kids are playing. If you didn't realize it was 1996, was the article was written.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

So yeah, that's right. Uh Brad, the continue please, with the mental toughness side and the connection with the body, because I think it's so important. You talked about robbing yourself from sleep, but also the potential.

SPEAKER_03 41:01

Yeah, and and everybody's different. You know, we we hear about eight hours, we hear about seven hours, seven and a half. Um, check yourself at the like if we want to go through the mood fuel, rest connect, we'll start with rest since you mentioned sleep. Uh, one of our biggest research studies that was published based on the PhD work I was doing would involve sleep. And if that sleep is depleted, we we had we had the most amazing study participants. They they did this out of the goodness of their hearts, they limited their sleep to, I think it was four hours for five days in a row, and then they tracked all these various things as far as their exercise and their relationships and and their their they did a mental toughness inventory each day. And it was clear if you're not sleeping well, your mental toughness isn't as good. And by the way, my research, the functional mental toughness bank, it's not about showing everybody how one mentally tough you are, it's about getting the outcomes that you want out of life. Like social media's messed up how we see so mental toughness. It's turned it into something that you want to show your mental toughness. And I'm like, I don't care. I care what your outcomes are. What is your life growing into? Not anyway. So sleep is is you want your mental toughness to be higher, folks. Get your sleep dialed in. That doesn't mean eight hours. It might be seven and a half, it might be seven. I'll tell you, for almost all of you, it's not six or less. So if you're like, I'm pretty good, is my question for you is pretty good the way God designed you to function? Is our goal pretty good? Uh uh the what the four-letter F word that I can't stand, and I think I'm allowed to say it on this podcast, is fine. Like that is the worst. Oh you're fine. Like our kids would come home from school. How was your day? Oh, it's fine. Oh no, did you break your arm? Like, what happened? That's terrible. I'm sorry, your day was just fine. We can do better than that. So, so anyway, sleep's huge. What we've put into our bodies, and that's why you use the word fuel instead of eat. Eating is what satisfies the tongue, fueling is what prepares us to live the best possible version of what God has designed for us on a daily basis. So when we shift our thinking, stop, you don't need to diet anymore. If you simply think every time you put something in your mouth, am I fueling or am I eating? Tongue or body, you kind of make the right decision. Connect, that's one we ignored for years. Relationships matter, they matter a lot. I'm an introvert. I would much prefer to just be in my office all day and work and read and have some time with Susanna and our dog. I'm good with that. That's not how I was designed. So, even as an introvert, I need to be engaging with other individuals, men, small groups, couples, etc. So that's the connect. So we have move, we've talked about that at length. Find your thing. Don't try to be like Dan or Dave or Brad. Plus one. If you're we hear about the 10,000-step rule, there is no 10,000 step rule. The rule is improve what you're doing today. If you're at 1500 steps, don't go to 10,000. Get to 2200. Yeah, get to 2800. Let's gradually increase that. But we know that matters for life and our future. And then you talk about the ultimate cognitive thing everybody's talking about is Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's. And if people are not tuned into the connection between physical fitness, physical activity, and decreased likelihood of Alzheimer's or dementia, you have missed so much data. Folks, if for no other reason, protect your brain by being more active. And I think that gets a lot of people's attention who are like, I don't care. I'm not an exerciser. I'm not an athlete. Okay, that's fine. You really want to improve increase your odds of dementia and Alzheimer's by 40 plus percent in the next 20 years. Knock yourself out. Enjoy that couch, buddy.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

You really um have you seen the movie Italian job? Because the first time you said, fine. The frizz, and I have I apply everything in my life to movies, and you're similar, I guess, to Dan. Dan hasn't seen a lot of movies. So fine. He he described freaked out, insecure, neurotic, and emotional. Yeah, that that's like that's the definition. That's the first place my brain. Like, has he seen Italian job? That's the question that's going through my brain.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

And mean meanwhile, I'm like, is he talking about some guy who owns a pizzeria? Or like what's happening here?

SPEAKER_00 45:38

Dan's like, I saw Star Wars. I mean, hasn't anyone seen Star Wars? That's the last movie that came all last week, right? So, but uh, that's been a theme. Dan and I joke about that for three seasons now. So um, Brad, I love so much what you had shared. Thank you so much just for just your your knowledge, your wisdom, your transparency, and thank you for you're adding so much to this. It's a great way to kick off season three. This has been incredible. Um, I really wanted it's funny. I just put in our chat, Dan and I are like we're chatting back and forth behind the scenes as you are talking. And I said, I want to I want to talk about Connect next. He's like, Okay, sounds good. And then right away, in great broadcaster segue, Brad starts talking about Connect, which is incredible. So, you know, we talk about mental toughness.

SPEAKER_03 46:20

We talk about connected, Dave.

SPEAKER_00 46:23

Oh, um we talk about the component of mental toughness and how valuable that is to be, you know, there's such power in that, and scripture talks about that, renewing the mind, taking every thought captive in

Rebuilding Connection After Hurt

SPEAKER_00 46:35

obedience to the Lord. So, but along with that, okay, you can check the things off. Okay, I'm fueled, right? I'm moving. You know, there are people in my life that have all those things, but like, well, I don't want to go to church. Well, I don't, I don't need friends. I I can do these things. I, you know, I work and whatever, and I can do this journey on my own. I have whatever, I don't leave the house, right? But I'm doing those. So I want to unpack the connection aspect because then there's the opposite side of it. Most of my adolescent life, I spent all my time connecting, but you're sure I was moving, but it wasn't healthy. I wasn't fueling properly, I was eating burgers and pizzas and pop and sugar and salt, right? So so so uh please connect the connect portion to that formula and describe the importance and the value about being connected to the body of Christ. And I want to even add another layer to that, as Dan talked about the older we get into that you know, late 40s, 50s, where there's this mindset of, well, I don't need a lot of people in my life, I can do this thing on my own. No, there's probably even more vital the more you age to stay connected. Because in that, Brad, is it true that there maybe might be a root in there of well, I when I was friends with this, I got betrayed. So I can never trust anyone ever again. Well, I went to a church and I got hurt and they made fun of me for wearing this shirt. I can never trust people in church again. So there's a lot there to ask you, but can you connect the connect piece to that to that formula with all those things together?

SPEAKER_03 48:07

Yes. Um, we can go a lot of different paths here. So you feel free to nudge me if I'm taking the wrong one that you that you want something different. Um, first of all, the more we I've been thinking a lot about this lately, the more we blame the external instead of the internal, the things that we don't control instead of the things that we our choices can move, the bigger are the more we'll grow in our lives, the bigger impact we'll have, the the greater we'll be opening that gift and utilizing it in a more effective way. So let me use a simple example that I think may resonate with people. The word motivation or discipline, I hear all the time from people, I don't have enough motivation. I don't have enough discipline. And they're saying it like it's height. Well, I'm not 6'3, so I can't dunk a basketball. I'm off the hook because I'm not 6'3. I don't need to do jump ropes and squats and all this other stuff because what can I do? I don't have enough discipline. I don't have enough motivation. And and the the person that's effective is the person who says, My my motivation feels low. What are the steps I can take to enhance that? Oh so motivation for that person is the reflection of my actions, the reflections of my decisions, the f reflection of my choices, not an external thing that gets me off the hook because Oprah didn't knock on my door and say, I'm gonna talk about your book on my next show. So the same thing's true with churches. Sure, blame the world if you want. That's fine. There's like 1,500 people in that church and two people offended you. Really? Like, are you seven? Let's grow up a little bit. And I know that's sounds harsh, and it is harsh. And there's some people that have been really hurt, but they were hurt by a person, not a church. They were hurt by an individual, not the God that is the focus of that church. So I think that that's a big part to start with. The the connection piece as a whole, I I think I just started three things down as you were asking that question. A, the data says that the lack of connection is equal to smoking in terms of your health. So if you sure, I can get by by myself. I told you, I'm an introvert. I'm happy in my office talking to Susanna, hanging out with our dog. And I know that to live a healthy, expanding, growth-oriented life that doesn't happen in that setting. And the data is clear on my future health being dependent upon that, or just pick up a pack of cigarettes because it's kind of the same thing. So, so that's the second one. Um I I maybe not everybody feels this way, but my I feel like my calling in life is I want to make a difference. I I want your two lives to be better when our conversation is over today. Like that is, and and I hope every day as I wake up, that's my attitude of okay, I'm talking to Christine and Dave and Susanna and Bill. And if I live into this today, their lives will be a little bit better in some way at the end of the day than it was at the beginning of the day. You can't do that if you're sitting in your own office with your dog and talking to your wife only. So that's critical if that's part of the mission that you see. And then Susan, I have this little phrase we're gonna grow old together, not get old together. Ooh, what does that require? That does not require sitting in a cave, that requires new experiences, new relationships, new groups, and that helps build that growth.

SPEAKER_02 52:12

Okay, someone's just heard what you literally just said they get the encouragement side of it to go do it. What's step one?

SPEAKER_03 52:27

I'll give you a couple. You've got a couple I I'm guessing at least two-thirds of your audience is probably men based on the topic. So guys and women too, but women are just naturally good at this, so I'm probably not talking to you. So guys who are wanting to stay in your cave, you've got a couple of guys that you've texted occasionally. Instead of just texting them, say, Dave, coffee next week, 10 o'clock, Tuesday. Dave's gonna say yes. I almost guarantee. I mean, he may suggest a different date, but I can almost guarantee you that's such low-hanging fruit, it's not intimidating. It kind of fits into so just ask. So that's that's an initiating. If your church offers the small groups, folks, that's that's low-hanging of all the low-hanging fruit. You don't have to like everyone's new in those groups, there's no pressure. The topics are generally easygoing, so take advantage of those and then look out into your community. What are the things that you enjoy? Again, we're talking pull versus push. So, what are the things you enjoy doing? I'm involved with a local running club here in town, and we just started a youth program with the with the kids, and that's giving me some new relationships in that realm. So it's there, we just have to open our eyes.

SPEAKER_00 53:50

I love that now. Men, for the most part, the general generality here. I'm going to offend somebody perfect. What's a Christian podcast without offending somebody? But men for the most part are pretty blunt. They'll tell you how it is generally, right? For the most part, generally, pretty blunt. That sometimes there's bitterness that's held and whatever, and unforgiveness, and those things happen, but for the most part, dudes will tell it how it is. Hey, you smell, you should go have a shower. Okay, cool, right? So that's how often how dudes are. No, women are can be like that, but sometimes, you know, women might not have the ability to really um, especially in connection. Sometimes it's a little harder to bring a girl into that connecting. Like, you know, for example, I've been I've told you I'm going to the gym for the last little bit, and you know, you ask a dude to spot you at the gym. Now you got a best friend for the next year. He literally just held a bar for you, right? Every time you see him, you're like, yo, bro, what's up? High five, don't know his name. He's your best friend, right? For for girls, they it takes a little more time to build that trust, generally, not all of them, but generally. So speak to Brad, the girl who maybe has felt like an outcast, maybe has fun, and she might be older in life. She's tried so many times to fit in, so many different groups, but she just can't cut into that girl's dance group or the coffee group or then the sewing group or the book club. She just she was always the quirky one, she was the different one. And now, and then now she's later in life going, I've tried it. I'm the introvert, like you said, I'm good. I'm dismissed because I'm so hurt. Like, how do you speak to that? Maybe the female athlete who's you know got a different temperament than the other ones, who she just can't connect with the girls in the in the dressing room. What do you do in that situation?

SPEAKER_03 55:46

Yeah, I think for the women that you're talking about, A, that example that you use is perfect because think of the superficiality of guys. Like you spotted me, and so now we're best friends. I I would suggest women in quotes struggle with that because they're not satisfied with superficiality, right? They men are like, Yeah, we're good, dude. Let's just run together, we don't have to talk. Women, again, generalizing, not true of everyone, uh, they crave a deeper level. So they're not satisfied with just you know, spot me or go for a run. Although those can be good things as well for women. Um, so I think part of it is we need to give credit where credit is due, that the women, it's harder because they're asking more, they're asking for a better level of connection than we are. We're like, yeah, cool, broncos, woo-hoo! That's all we need. Women, it's like, yeah, broncos, but let's have a deeper conversation. So if that's you for the women that are listening, and that's hasn't worked for you up to this point, then start. And sometimes it's just literally taking a piece of paper and saying, Where have I tried? Because sometimes we think we've tried, we kind of tried. We did one thing and we we extrapolated that to every well, it never works. Oh, really? What have you tried? Well, it's been three years, but three years ago, I blah blah blah blah blah. So then think about who are you? You use the word quirky, quirky simply means unique. So you're unique. How are you unique? You mentioned a uh a runner, for example, or an athlete, female athlete. Okay, I can guarantee you there's probably a triathlon group or a running group in your town. You will be open arms there, and that could lead to the coffees later. So start with where you are, don't try to be someone else. You are made uniquely, you are created uniquely, you have these incredible gifts. Step into some of those, try out two or three of those, and then build from there.

SPEAKER_02 58:00

So good. Want to just touch on the mental toughness? We could spend about 15

Mental Toughness Bank And Overtime

SPEAKER_02 58:22

hours talking about mental toughness because I think as people go through life, and we've we've brought branched off so many, like I guess you'd say not subjects, but environments, whether it's the gym or an athlete or a church or other things. How does someone in your perspective best take the important things and place them on the shelf without cluttering the shelf? There's so many tools out there, there's so many things that people rely on.

SPEAKER_03 58:59

I would start with the cornerstones. So when we talk, I'll give you the quick version of the um the FMT bank model that we created. So you got the bank in the middle, and you want to build that bank up. Think of it just like your finances. You you want to have more mental toughness available, more money in the bank. So mental toughness is your funds in this case. You want to limit the leakage. So stop spending mental toughness on the dumb stuff. Like the AT in money, it'd be like an ATM withdrawal fee. Like, why? Why didn't we why are we paying three dollars for that? We could have planned better. So, same thing with our mental toughness. Let's not waste it on figuring out where we're gonna park before the race. Let's pre-plan all that so we can dedicate our mental toughness to mile 10 of the half marathon. So that's part two. And then part three is when you need it, how do you access it? And then it breaks into three pieces: there's thrive, prepare, and activate. And all of those influence the bank, and all of those are influenced by the bank, and all those influence each other. So I would point that person, Dan, to the Thrive element. Thrive is the way that we're living our lives. If we move, fuel, rest, connect, I can guarantee you, guarantee you, like Charles Barclay says, I guarantee that you're gonna get a win out of this thing. Because we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, if you're sleeping, not more, if you're already sleeping plenty, you don't need to add to it. There's a point of no return. If we're fueling well, if we're active and we're connected, we know our mental toughness will be better. And then the prepare piece, there's some specifics around that where you can practice self-talk and those kinds of things, and there's things we can do with activate, but focus on the thrive first and the other things will organically grow.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:54

Okay, Brad, before we get into uh the fact that we could have talked for another four hours and we can't. Um, but if you're ever swinging by, you make sure you knock on my door because we'll spend four hours on my deck. Real quick, we're going into our next segment here. It's overtime, rapid fire questions, just a couple quick words to each question, five questions. Are you ready? Got it. I'm ready, buddy. All right, first one one book everyone should read.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:33

So powerful, and it covers a lot of things we've talked about here. Tillick's been dead 100 years or something, but his wisdom is just fascinating. So, The Courage to Be by Paul Tillick.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:45

A Bible verse that uh during competition that you repeated to yourself or that you used in order for the Lord to hit you into a new gear.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:54

I I don't have a verse per se, but one of the strategies I use in Iron Man during the bike. So the bike's 112 miles, you've come off the 2.4 mile swim and you're going into a marathon. I would write my family's name, each of their names on the water bottle, and then spend 20 miles just thanking God for our experiences and praying for their lives. And so, because you and that's it actually turns out to be an FMT strategy, but by tuning into that element, it pulls you out of the constant overexhaustion in this piece.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:27

So one thing every athlete should hear before competition, they should hear, and it doesn't matter the sport.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:37

There's a thing called challenge threat. There's a there's a lot of research around this concept of challenge threat. And the short version is the same athlete who sees things as a threat performs more poorly than the athlete who sees things as a challenge. It literally changes the way your heart pumps, it literally changes the way your arteries and veins allow the blood to flow to your brain, to your muscles, it's et cetera, et cetera. So I think it would be some version of look for the opportunities or uh step into what the day offers or something along those lines, instead of you've got to score a goal, you've got to hit 520 on the first mile. You like instead of the threat of falling short, the opportunity that exists around the challenge that we have such a great opportunity to step into as competitors.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:35

I've been dying to ask you the question what'd you tell your wife to get her to marry you?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:41

You know, I think that's a great example, Dave. I didn't tell her anything. She wanted to see this is and this is our follow-up three-hour podcast on the subject where you're gonna invite her. But she would say she wanted to see who I really was. Like she saw the Brad on paper, she's she knew the Brad from class. She saw, but who is Brad really? Because if I'm gonna spend a lifetime with this guy, I need to make sure I know who he really is. And is he trusting God? Is he just trusting Brad? So I didn't say anything, but she used her x-ray vision to see what was really happening, and I'm glad she did. Yeah, so good.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:21

Last question. Usually we say, What would you tell your younger self if you could write down one note for yourself to read 20 years from now? What would you put in a sentence?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:35

You know, I just wrote I just turned 60. Um, and I wrote a manifesto. So you've got access to it in the link if you want to peek at it. It's a short breaking down what is the life I want to live for the next 20 years, 30 years, maybe I'll die next month. I don't know. But whatever days are left, these are the things I want to be true of my life. And I think the biggest single thing is are you being a catalyst? A catalyst, if we know if you know what catalyst is from your old high school chemistry days, it's when you have two elements and they're not mixing together or they're not mixing fast enough, and you throw a catalyst in there, and then things happen like action, people are changed, and and in this case, elements, but that's the goal. And the really cool thing, fellas, is a catalyst is not used up in the process. How amazing is that? So it creates this chain, but it's not burned out, it's not used up. I think that's the life God designed us to live is the life of catalysts. Because if you're burned out, we're not being a catalyst. If you're grinding, we're not being a catalyst. We're a catalyst when we're living into the way God designed us to live, and it's positively influencing the world in the process.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:59

That's so good. Thanks so much, Brad. Really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:02

Appreciate it, fellas. This is fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:04

Some great, great. I know you got to go. So Dan's gonna pray us out, but I was encouraged. I was really challenged, especially by that catalyst concept. So thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:11

So encouraged. I look forward to our next visit, Brad. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we just pray that you bless Brad and use him for your glory. Thank you so much for the time that he's invested in, not only to our podcast today, but to so many things that you've placed before him. And Lord, we just pray that you would use him for your glory, honor, and praise in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:35

I think based on what we talked about at the top of the show, was expectations open for this podcast going mental toughness, cool, excited about it. That well surpassed our expectations, leaving things open. And I love the way it started. Jerry Schemmel, play-by-play announcer for the Colorado Rockies in the major leagues, sent us an email season one. Hey, I'm listening to your show. Cool. Season two, we brought him on as a guest. Now season three, episode one, connected right away to here's a guy he referred us to. Uh lives in Colorado. Tremendous. Brad is what an incredible person. What an incredible interview. And a guy that we could have on for our record marathon eight-hour show one day. Maybe that'll be a thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:24

Well, and I think the whole idea of like the mental toughness toughness, it's not what you think it is. And I think this episode probably wasn't what a lot of people might have thought it was. I think we got into a lot of important things, the connections between body and mind, the importance of community. Uh, there were so many connecting factors that we dove into and we didn't even kind of see it going that way. But I just love how the Lord leads.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:50

Yeah, that's the most important part. And maybe that was an encouragement for your life as well, because there's a lot of us for sure. We have a plan for life, we have a plan for finances, we have a plan for a relationship, we have a plan for a church plant, we have a plan for the way things go. But you know, it says in Proverbs that in our hearts, man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. And I feel like that is a good scripture that applies to today's episode because Brad can attest to in his life, he might have thought things were going to go one way and instead they're going the other. So that is really the journey for all of us and an encouragement for you in the mental toughness journey. Yeah, it's mind, body, spirit. It's all three of them are connected, and there's no right one way. I love that comment you made, Dan, in the episode that there's, you know, there's no one way in ministry to do this. Where Susie has Susie might be a finger, Jim might be an eyebrow. Like they're they all have different purposes, and there's all components to it. But the but the body of Christ being connected is probably the most important piece to all of that, and encouraging others and using that element to be mentally tough and staying sharp.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:54

And we're all on the same, we're driving the same roads, we're driving different cars, different things. One guy might get a flat tire, the other guy's engine might blow up at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:06

Now you're talking about our friendship for this episode. That's for another episode as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:11

So it is, but you know what, David? My my point is it's like you just never twice. You never know the direction things are gonna go. But at the end of the day, God's good. God is good.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:21

I love that. So, yeah, if you're encouraged by this, send us a note. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to, you know, look into the analytics. We have listeners all over the place, and we're, you know, season three is gonna look a little bit different, add in the video component to it as well to want to be more um in touch and integrated and uh where the Lord is leading us. So you can click the links on our socials, uh, check us out, follow us and connect whichever way you feel uh most wanting, most connected to, because connection was the heart of this whole show. So um, yeah, thanks so much for listening. Thanks for being a part of what's coming in season three. And we're excited, right? Season three is gonna have a bit of a different flavor as Dan and I, as you talk about following the leading of the Holy Spirit. We're gonna trust the Lord in the direction of where this show is gonna go. We trust him, uh, we follow his lead, and we trust that you do as well in your life. So thanks so much for listening. We bless you. We're praying for you, and we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:14

We hope you have enjoyed this episode of the Gospel in the Game Sports Podcast. This podcast can grow with your feedback and support. Like and share with an athlete in your life today. We want to hear your feedback, guest suggestions, and comments from what you have heard. With your support together, we can reach more people with the gospel in the game.