He Quit His Government Job With 8 Kids and No Backup Plan — Here’s What God Did Next

What does it look like to trust God completely when everyone around you says stay put? Nick had 17 years with the United States Postal Service, a postmaster position in Gatlinburg Tennessee, full retirement benefits, and a large family counting on every dollar. He also had a calling he could not ignore.

When the COVID vaccine mandate threatened his job, Nick faced the decision that would define his family’s future — stay comfortable or go all in on God. He went all in. In this episode Nick sits down with Joshua Brown to talk about the leap of faith that changed everything, how Dave Ramsey helped his family pay off $84,000 in consumer debt in just 18 months, what it looks like to build a real estate business in 13 states while homeschooling nine children, and why your health is directly connected to your ability to lead the people you love. He also shares the one challenge he would give to any man who never had a father showing him the way.

In this episode:
— Why a federal postmaster with 17 years walked away from a safe government job
— How Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University changed their family’s financial life
— What it looks like to take a leap of faith with a large family depending on you
— The five pillars every man needs and why most men get the order exactly wrong
— Why health is directly connected to a man’s ability to lead his home
— His one challenge to every fatherless man who does not know where to begin
Resources mentioned:
— Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University — ramseysolutions.com
— NeoLife Supplements — neolife.com/funlife
— Nick on Instagram — @nickaverylove
— dudeswithoutdadspodcast.com — Apply to be a guest

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Dudes Without Dads is the podcast that trains men to become the dads they never had. If this episode added value to your life please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a man who needs it.

fatherhood, father wound, sonship, men's ministry, christian men, healing, identity, intentional fatherhood, dudes without dads, joshua brown, eric manly, the intentional dad, generational curses, masculinity, christian podcast, faith and fatherhood, becoming a better dad, father absence

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And through those hardest times, we're like, Lord, is this truly what you want? Is this really what you want? And he's like, Yes, yes. And I was like, I can't. Everybody I talked to was like, no way, no way. Don't you dare. You have a large family. You have a safe, you know, a safe government, federal job with all the you know, retirement and matching 401s, all that stuff. And but then a small group of people I would talk to, and they're like, Nick, you gotta go risk it. You got this, you will do it. God will take care of you.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

My life was just spy rolling downhill, depression, alcoholism, incarceration, death by despair. One guy who showed up is just easy. If you can give a man clarity and community, he can start to live out his purpose. You can break generational curses of alcoholism.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Welcome to Dudes Without Dads, the show that trains men how to become the dads they never had. Nick, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Yes. Hey, thank you, Josh. It's a pleasure to be here, my man.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Hey, I want to jump right in. You've got a fascinating story as far as taking a leap of faith. I know we have a lot of dudes um listening to the podcast that are trying to decide do I do I stay at my local job or do I take a leap of faith or I make a jump. Would you mind sharing a little bit about your story of where you were and then what you did when you ended up walking away from a good job and not knowing exactly what was going to happen in the future?

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Yeah, absolutely. So I um I used to work for the Postal Service for 17 years. Um the last 11 of them was in management. So I I was the postmaster of Gatlinburg here in Tennessee. And um when things got really rough during COVID, 2020, um, that's where I started questioning a lot of the government, you know, you know, agendas. And um, and the COVID vaccine started coming out, and I was I was actually considering of taking the you know the shot. Most of my friends were. Um, and then just over the summer, we have a lot of good friends um who are in the medical field, and next thing you know, like one by one, their YouTube accounts start getting shut down, and some of them I know, so I reached out to them like, hey, what is going on? And uh, so they just kind of encouraged me, like, Nick, everything you do, just do not take this shot. This is not what you think it is. So I was like, oh my goodness, because I thought I'd be at least taking Johnson and Johnson, it's one of the safest ones that they were kind of advertising pushing. So I have you know, my friends who are in the fire department, police, you know, department who are now being laid off. And I was like, oh my goodness, so what am I gonna do? And um, as a postmaster, when we lived in Washington State, I reached out to my boss and he was a good Christian man. So I'm like, hey, what do I do? He's like, Nick, I don't know, but I am retiring, I'm leaving. And I was like, Well, I can't do that, I'm still so young. I'm like, I'm in my in my mid-30s, so I'm like, Lord, what do I do? And he's like, Nick, you're having another kid, so just take your three months off, and then you know, we cannot fire you when you're on FMLA, but once you come back, you will probably get the boot. And I was like, Okay, so what do I do? So, first time I'm taking three months off on FMLA, and I started, you know, um homeschooling my children and being with them, exercising with them every day and helping them with their with their studies, and still, I still had like a good four to six hours every day where I'm just kind of like lingering, not doing anything. I have no agenda. So during those times, I started like long walks, just walking and talking to the Lord, sometimes singing, sometimes just praying, sometimes just bawling. And um, so I I was just talking to the Lord, I was like, Lord, if you I never thought I would leave the postal service because it's such a good cushion. I mean, I've done it for you know almost two decades, and I love what I do, I love managing people. Um, I manage anywhere up to 150 employees, and I just enjoyed it. And um, so I never thought I would even be talking to him about this. I'm like, Lord, but now I gotta make a decision on what do I do? I'm like, if you can please provide me with a job where that makes, you know, at least$60,000, because we did the Dave Ramsey thing a few years back, so we learned how to budget very, very well. So um, so I was like, if I can just make$60,000, I'm like, I'm golden, but if you can give me a job, you know, a job where I can work, you know, six to seven hours a day, I'm like, I would thrive. And I remember just coming back from the walk and just talking to my wife and telling her about that. And I was like, hey, why don't we start praying? She goes, You want to quit the post office? I'm like, honey, it's you gotta take the shot and be comfortable, or I trust the Lord, trust the process, and I know that God will take care of his own. Even if I have to, you know, scrub the floors in the restaurant, clean the toilets, I don't care. Like, I will do whatever I can as a husband, as a father to provide for my family. And I mean, I've never made more than 85,000 a year in my life. And at that point, we've had um, you know, six or seven kids at that point. So um, we've learned how to manage our funds, our finances very, very well. So, long story short, I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna do this. And during this time on my FMLA, I had a guy reach out to me through social media and I was like, Nick, we need to get together. I need some help. And uh, so we got together, so he was just asking questions about you know Christianity 101, you know, giving, tithing, you know, books, reading, meditating, fasting, all those fun, fun things that we do. And uh at the very end, he was just like, Hey, you know, thank you so much. This has helped me so much. And I was like, wait a minute, what do you do for a living? I mean, this guy flew from Hawaii to Seattle to meet with a client, and he's like, I'm in real estate. And I was like, I love real estate. Since I was doing the postal service, we've been doing some real estate, we've been doing some flips, we've been doing some hard money loans, we've done some new builds, um, things like that. So I'm like, I love real estate. I'm like, tell me more. So, anyways, he got me on board and and he was like, I will teach you everything I know, but if you want to excel, you gotta, you know, hire a coach. So that's where I hired the coach and and doing the postal service. So before I came back to my job at the postal service, um, they were not laying anybody off at that point yet. Um, but at this point, I opened up my first LLC and started doing part-time work. I mean, I'm working anywhere between 10 and 15 hours a week and working nationwide in different states and finding these houses that are run down and trying to do some work on them and turn them, put them back in the market or find a buyer. So, anyways, it was a different world, and I've done that for six months and I've quadrupled my income. So, my fat, I've never fasted this much in my life. And through those hardest times, I'm like, Lord, is this truly what you want? This is this really what you want, and he's like, Yes, yes. And I was like, I can't. Everybody I talked to was like, no way, no way, don't you dare. You have a you know, large family, you have a safe, you know, a safe government, federal job with all the you know, retirement and matching 401s, all that stuff. And but then a small group of people I would talk to, and they're like, Nikki, you gotta go risk it. You got this, you will do it. God will take care of you. And I'm like, Yeah. So these are the voices that I kept hearing. I was like, you know what? I'm gonna go against everything. And if I lose everything, I can always come back to the Postal Service. I know my way up now. I've no I've doing it, you know, I've been doing it for almost two decades. I know what I need to do. Maybe I'll lose a year or two, but I know God will take care of me. So during that time, we're like, we also got to move from Washington. So we moved out of from Washington to Tennessee, and um, and so started that business there. And um, and we're doing that, we're now in 13 states that we're doing um real estate. And what's interesting is during that time, God has just blessed us with an additional blessing of a um a supplemental income from our supplement company. So something that I started, you know, in 2017, we started taking uh whole food nutrition just to build our immunities because we were building a house. I was a deacon for seven years in my church in Washington, um, you know, doing the family life and work and all that stuff. I was like, you know what? Health is gonna start dropping. So we started taking this whole food nutrition supplements. And through time, next thing you know, like my paycheck is almost to my postal income paycheck, and simply by just sharing people and educating them on health. And then so it was kind of like a double blessing where God's like, I told you I would, you know, take care of you. Because before then it was like a hundred, two hundred dollars a paycheck, you know, a month, and then we come out to Tennessee and then just seeing fully trusting the Lord, like Lord, I don't want to be you know making mistakes, you know, and and but I am sensing that this is exactly where you're leading me to. So a lot of conversations with you know good friends and mentors, and uh that's where the encouragement came in. And then you know, the finance world has just been such a great blessing, and just trusting the Lord through through it all.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

That's so powerful. And as I'm as I'm listening, I'm thinking about all the dudes uh listening because discipleship is real life, it's where it's not necessarily what you hear inside of a pulpit, it's what you practice outside the pulpit that disciples you. And so if there's a dude that's listening and he is thinking about leaving his job, um, first, before you answer that, I want to find out what was your wife saying during this time? So you've got a lot of people saying, Don't do it. You got a little little group of people you're listening to and saying, do it. What was your wife saying? I want to thank you for taking time to listen to this story. And if there's something inside of here that is adding value to you, I want you to stop and hit subscribe. I am on mission to help men become the dads they never had. Many of us struggle with father wounds, addictions, identity issues, and really what we need is we need a model. We need to see people that have broken the patterns and come alongside of them. I want to simply invite you to join me on the journey. Every Thursday, we're gonna release a new episode. Each episode is gonna help you and others become the dads they never had. Hit subscribe and share with a friend. Now let's get back to the story.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Yeah, you know, so my wife is very strategic. You know, she wants some cushion. So for her, she just wanted to see like what is the end result. So I had to paint her a picture. I'm like, I'm like, honey, the end result is I'm at home more. That's what I want to do. You know, like I know your children are there for a season. I'm like, once they're out of the house, I can always pick up overtime, I can always do other things. So if I can just invest into them now, the things that are probably the most valuable in the world. I mean, when I read, you know, uh 3rd John verse 4, there is no greater joy than to see your children walk in the truth. As my oldest one just graduated this week, it truly, truly hits me so hard that there is really no, no greater joy, absolutely none. No, I don't care what career or what they do in life and all these you know accolades, like if they are God's children and they love the Lord, that that is just the greatest thing. So for me, having that mindset, I was like, you know what, let me pour into them as much as I could. And then I was like, honey, one, I'm gonna be more present. So, and then you know, two, you know, um, you know, we'll still make our 60,000, you know, but you see what the Lord is doing, like He's already opening all these channels, we just need to step in and go all in. So long, you know, so long story short, she was a hundred percent supportive. She goes, honey, you got this, you can do this. I believe in you.

SPEAKER_02 11:31

So I think it's that's that's good, and so anybody that's listening, I don't think it's ever God's advice, and I don't mean to be speaking in, I should ask you. But if your wife says no, it doesn't mean go.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Of course, not yet. Not yet. So she needs time, you know, the marinating process. Yeah, but uh, I mean, if there's anyone listening right now and they're thinking of leaving their job, I would say one, just lean in heavily into prayer, um, two, lean in heavily to guys that you know, everyone, everyone is better than you at something, you know. That's Dale Carnegie's quote. But but everyone also has a desire of their own. Like there's craftsmen, there's uh, you know, in the real estate world, there's everything out there. And so if you have something that you're like, I really love, you know, putting my hands to this work, find somebody who does this kind of work and ask them all the questions, be around them, take them out to lunch. Take, I mean, that's what I did for almost a whole year. I took out this guy to lunch every single month and I paid for him because I was like, I need to glean from him. I know he is 10 times smarter, wiser than me. I'm like, I want that knowledge, and if I could, this is one way of getting it. So lots of prayer, lots of fasting, your wife on board. I mean, I talked to my pastor about this as well, you know. And then before I made that jump, you know, I kind of had that, you know, um, almost full-blown assurance, but it was still like, oh, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm trusting the Lord. I'm going all in, I'm just trusting you, God.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

For guys that have never heard of Dave Ramsey, and they, you know, maybe have a poverty mindset where whatever comes in, they spend out and they have no context for budgeting or money or management. What is who is Dave Ramsey? What is financial peace? Because I don't know if you would have had the same experience if you had a ton of debt that you were hooked to. So talk about that for a second.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Yeah, absolutely. So in 2017, yes, we were um up to almost$100,000 in debt, and that's consumer debt, that's credit cards and one car payment. Um, obviously a mortgage payment, too, but I'm just counting consumer debt. So we were just every conversation that we have, it's all about money, vacation about money. At church, it's tithing, it's about money. How much do we give? You know, we well, this month we could do 20 bucks, but I want to do 100, you know, or there's a need in church. I'm like, I wish I can just buy them that, you know, you know, give them a thousand dollars instead of you know a hundred. So I was like, you know what, we need to, you know, do something about that. And most of all my friends um have credit cards debt, so that they don't know the um the debt-free world. Um, now I have a few friends, but at that point, like I didn't have any friends who were completely debt-free and just setting me on that path. So um, one of my buddies, uh Vitali, he reached out to me and he was just like, Nick, you gotta take you know the Dave Ramsey stuff. And I started listening to him podcasts, and it's not the same. He's like, No, you got to take the FPU, which is the Financial Peace University. It's a nine-week course. Um, you can find it online. They, you know, they do them in churches primarily. And in nine weeks, my wife and I went, we found a church that does uh childcare as well. So we can just leave the kids there with them and just learn as much as we could. And in those nine weeks, we learned so much about finances that helped us start paying off our debt. And a year and a half later, 18 months, we paid off um$84,000. We were completely debt-free, except our house. Um, but everything else became a different world. And then till this day, we are still using his app and we are still budgeting. Um, today we were at a grocery store, so we're budgeting and doing a lot of stuff because that's one way you just kind of have control of your money and you know how much stays, how much goes, how much fun play we have. We're planning our vacation for my 40th birthday next year. We're allocating some money there. So it's just a beautiful thing that when a money, you know, money issue comes, you're like, Yeah, I got that rainy day fund. Let's pull it out and let's let's rebuild it back back after it's you know depleted or something. So that's Dave Ramsey. He's in Nashville. I mean, it's a blessing. And since then, we've led that um you know, uh, that course twice in our church. So we've helped almost 75% of our con congregation uh through that course.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

That's so good, and I appreciate it. And if you're a dude that's trying to figure out how to to manage money better, which I think that's every dude needs to be thinking, how can I manage money better? Um, you can't get what you ain't got. So you've got to be able to save up money so you can get what you do maybe want. And so that's right. Um, did when you got married, how many kids did you and your wife want to have one day?

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Yeah. So originally we are from, so originally original, we're from Russia. I came to the States when I was four. We came to Sacramento. My wife was eight. We met in church, um, in church choir. So we got married in Sacramento, California. When we got married, we thought three kids would be the most we would have. After a third, my wife wanted the fourth one. I was like, oh my goodness, like this is crazy, you know. Like, like, when are we gonna live? You know, like what about us? You know, we can't go on vacations, we can't do anything because we're tied up with another kid. And uh, so after we had a fourth, that's when the Lord just spoke to me. And I was like, honey, I want a fifth. And you know, and now we're expecting baby number nine uh in a few months. And the Lord just showed me that, man, children are a blessing. Not only that, God says, This is my gift to you. And I don't know anybody that has ever denied a gift from you know, anybody, like, oh no, no, no, thanks. You know, you can keep that, especially from God. No, they're a blessing. We took away television, we took away everything that distracts us or how we grew up, right? I mean, my dad was my dad is awesome. I have a wonderful relationship with my dad now, but growing up, I did not have that relationship with him. My dad was very, very tied into church. He was a pastor, plus he was running, you know, a pizza shop, plus he was learning language, plus he had other things. So, I mean, the only thing I remember, you know, having this one-on-one with my dad was just one time we went to a park and we flown a kite. And after a few kite flows, um, he's like, I need to take a nap. So he took a nap. And I was like, Man, so but then just kind of as you grow, you understand, like, wait a minute, things need to change. How do I how do I raise these champions? And that's just giving them the life, giving them the world, not the world that the world has to offer. But how wasn't from the very beginning? You know, farmers, you know, there's a lot, a lot of work prep thing, and then comes the blessings. So, same thing with children, it's like the more you put into them, the more you're out there, the more you're doing things with them, the more you're teaching them all these things, like they are your best friend. And then you start, you know, date nights with them, you know, in 2017. Again, uh, we started date nights with them, and every uh either Thursday or a Wednesday, we'll go on a date and we just rotate one by one by one by one. And sometimes we'll miss a week uh or two, uh, but we try to keep it consistently, and that's another beautiful, beautiful time where we can just spend some time together and pray. Ask them, you know, how can I grow as a father? What have I done? What do I need to apologize for? And certain things like, hey, you know, here's what I've seen. This is how you can grow and ask, you know, for their needs. So, I mean, since then it was just like, no, Lord, give us as many as as you can, as me, as many as we can handle. Um, and so that's a short story. One and three, and now we're at nine, and uh, we'll see how much more the Lord gives us.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

Oh man, we could talk all day about the reason and the things you hear when you have big families and the jokes and things like that. And you're like, Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Uh speaking of jokes, this is a quick one. So, my 10-year-old, so all of them have a schedule of who's making breakfast, who's making lunch, and my wife makes dinners. Um, I mean, she loves to cook, but she also wants to teach them these ways. So, yesterday, my 10-year-old is like, Mommy, I want to make an omelette perfect. She always does, you know, scrambled eggs. And my wife's like, All right, excellent. So, crack 16 eggs. And she's like, I'm gonna quickly jump in the shower and I'll be right back. And she she heard 60 eggs, so she just kept cracking and cracking and cracking, and she comes to my wife's like, Mommy, we're out of eggs. And and my wife's like, No, we can't because daddy was at this grocery store yesterday, he just bought five dozen. It's like, no, we're out, and she's like, Well, how many did you use? Like, well, you said 60, and we I only cracked 40. So we had an omelet with 40 eggs, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

Did you take a picture of it?

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Yeah, I did, and it was so good. It was like it was the best omelet I've ever had. I'm like, I want more of this.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

How did your wife respond in that moment?

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Oh, you know, she laughed. This was the funniest thing. We've never had anything like this happen before. Yeah, and uh, and that's one thing, you know, that's one thing I am learning myself for not to do is when they make mistakes, it's an opportunity, a moment to laugh about it. I mean, if it's not a sin issue, like why laugh about it? If it's a sin issue, then it's an opportunity to teach. But if it's one of those silly mistakes, like, man, make the best out of it. You know, they're gonna be gone soon, and we're you're gonna be talking about this for the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Yeah, and so when we talk about discipleship, when we talk about, you know, how to be the dad you never had, it all takes on context when we see our kids make mistakes, when we make mistakes, like how we respond. So I love that many would blow up, they'd think about you just wasted, and it's like how you model whatever just takes place is the discipleship that you're teaching inside of our kids. And you actually said something a little bit earlier about taking serious your health, your fitness. Oh, yeah, you know, and would you mind and maybe even you're not really able to lead your your family or to lead your wife if you're not taking care of of your body. Can you connect some dots there? Do you have an incredible story of overcoming the home that you were raised in? Or maybe the father wounds that were placed inside your life? If so, I want to share it with other dudes without dads. Simply go to dudeswithout dadspodcast.com and apply to be a guest on the show. The reason it's important to share your story is because when you share what God has done for you, it helps other men believe that God can do it for them and he can't. So share your story.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know, so I mean, there's these five pillars in life. You know, there's your faith, your marriage, your your children, your health, and your God-given abilities. And well, I believe, and I've heard this from other guys, I believe that most men, like we're driven and we are really, really good at number five. Uh, that's you know, our businesses, making money, you know, providing for the family. And most, most, most guys focus on that alone. And then you see everything else starting to fall apart, you know. But when you see it in reverse, you're seeing the number most number one most important thing is having your relationship with our creator. Two, focusing on loving your wife, understanding your wife in seasons when she's pregnant, when she's you know not feeling well, and truly just understanding her and continually loving her as Christ has loved his church, that is a game, game changer. Um, and then three, your children and four, your health. Um, I think it's a huge, huge aspect. And I know a lot of guys don't focus on health, and I don't blame them. I was one of them. Um, but the moment I started looking into health and seeing a transformation in my life, and then seeing my parents go through health challenges, I was like, you know what, you're gonna be my guinea pigs. I believe in this company that I'm taking my supplementation from. I mean, it's it's by far the one that completely stands out from everybody else. I mean, it has a scientific advisory board. I mean, to get that seal alone is is very, very difficult. But they, you know, they guarantee that you will have the safest, cleanest, and the most reliable products. So I was like, I'm gonna send you some stuff. My dad's like, nope, I'm hospitalized and this and that. And I was like, Dad, I'm gonna send you some stuff, try it out and see what happens. And then just seeing like within like 30 days, their health transforms. And seeing my parents who are extremely skeptical about, you know, taking supplements, like, oh, that's pills, and it's not pills, it's whole foods. And then, and then seeing that in a different world of seeing guys my age who are having you know 30s and they're having problems, you know, 50 year old, 50 guys, 50-year-old guys have, and all of a sudden their inflammation goes down, all of a sudden they have more energy, and now they can sleep normal and all these other things. There's something to this, you know. And I learned this from Dave Ramsey when I was taking his course. He says, you know, the wealthy people, you'll see them at a grocery store, they're reading the labels. Where everyone, uh everyone else on the other side, they're just like, let's take this, let's take that, let's put this in our cart. And to me, it kind of stuck in my mind, why are they reading labels? So over just years, it took me, you know, gradual. I mean, we've been in the health world for almost 15 years, but we just started looking like, yeah, all these seed oils, all these things. So we shifted from regular milk to organic to now only raw milk, eggs, right? They're pastured or you know, pastured organic eggs. I mean, all these things you're learning. And it's almost like, and and people kind of get you know really skeptical about oh, you're organic, you're one of those health nuts. I'm like, well, no, organic is just another word of saying natural, and that's how God designed things to be. Like, we just want to eat things and drink things to the way how God has designed them to be, without any additives or sprays and chemicals and all that stuff. So, yeah, I mean, even today I was at a grocery store. I mean, something organic is like potatoes are a dollar and sixty or you know, for organic or non-organic is a buck 20. I'm like, yeah, it's gonna be a little bit more, but that's why we increased our budget, you know, to our food, our food budget from I think it was 1200 to 1500. Um, like, yes, it's$300 more, but let's see if it makes it. And it did, and we had money left over. And when we switched from everything organic. So when I started noticing that and doing real estate on the side, yeah, I just saw how how health can change and impact so many people's lives from our pastors who was dealing with so many different things, um, people that we've helped. And I was like, now I'm like, now that is my passion. That's where I want to help as many people as possible, especially men, because men don't really take the time to you know look into them, you know, labels and all that stuff. Men are just gonna consume what their wives buy and they're happy, like my wife made this, excellent, you know. But we saw the the quality, like we specifically bought non-organic, organic, you know, just to compare. Like, is there truly a different taste? And there is, it's such a sweeter taste. You feel like you're eating stuff in the garden, you're eating things clean. So, and I feel like now with the Maha movement and the government, you know, like I feel like there's gonna be a lot of changes happening in the US, which is wonderful, removing those dyes and stuff. So it's uh I'm just I'm excited for the future here.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Yeah, and then let's go ahead and give a CTA for you know your supplement company that you're connected to. If somebody wanted to find out more about the supplements that that that you recommend, where would they go? How would they find out more there?

SPEAKER_00 26:43

Yeah, of course. It is uh the link is uh neolife.com, and that's neolifeneo life.com forward slash fun life, and that's where they can check out uh other products such as you know um protein shakes, um, from kids, you know, kids' supplements, protein shakes. Um, the stuff that I take is probitality is just the foundation, just be taken every day. Fruits and vegetables, your all omegas, you're reducing inflammation and stuff like that, prenatals. So, I mean everything for all ages. So, so that's that.

SPEAKER_02 27:14

Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that. You've lived in multiple states, yes, sir. Uh, you've been in ministry, you've uh been in business. Um when you think about what it looks like or what it means like, just to define what a great dad looks like, how would you define that?

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Oh man, I would probably say a father who's intentional about everything, you know, when when I feel like that's when I have grown so much, is when I truly understood that my role as a father is not about me, even though I invest in my into myself, and that has to be outside of children's, you know, my family time. So I wake up 5 30 every morning, uh sometimes at 5, and I hit the gym. Well, first I spend time in God's Word, roughly about an hour, um, 30 to 40 minutes in God's Word, about 30 minutes, 20, 30 minutes in prayer. Um, I try to fast on a weekly basis. So those are things that I do outside of things, and then I hit the gym. So by the time I come back from the gym, children are, you know, they're doing homeschool uh with my wife, and uh all our kids are homeschooled, they've never been to a public school, and uh so but doing that, so just being intentional and planning. I was never a planner. Um, so just actually sitting down on the calendar, plan out the year, plan out the vacations, plan out our events. Every quarter, we want to have a family day, so we take them to Dollywood. Um, we got season passes this year, so we're going a few times a month, but just being intentional, chucky cheeses, whether it's um parks, um, small things like that, just planning and being there for them and understanding that I am here for them. I am here right as Christ. We are the priests of the home, we're the pastors of the home. These verses that you read to pastors that Paul's writing to Timothy um and to Titus, like I'm applying that to myself. Like, I want that high standard. I want to be a man who's walking with integrity, who's faithful to my wife, who loves the Lord with all his whole heart and mind. Do I do that all perfectly? Absolutely not. I fail all the time and fail miserably. But the beautiful thing is a righteous man falls down seven times and he gets right back up. So I'm giving myself that grace that God is just so, so good and merciful. But you just keep growing in those things of uh, you know, God's character, uh, what a man's supposed to look like. Oh man, he will bless you beyond, you know, beyond your measure.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

Yes. While you're chatting, I can't help but to imagine the testimony that you carry inside of your community, inside of your family, inside of your church. Everywhere you live, work, and play, you are setting an example for many others to look on to to say that's what a godly man, husband, father looks like. And I mean that. You're on fire, your energy levels through the roof, and you're intentional with all your ways. Thank you for giving the example for your community in Knoxville, also for those that that hear your story. Um, if you were to give one challenge to a dude who never had a dad and doesn't even know where to begin, what challenge, what what word, what would you uh like to say to them?

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Oh, that's so good. Uh challenge. I think just what helped me, um, and I would I would challenge everyone listening. If you don't have, you know, men in your life that you can surround yourself with. Um so actually, let me back that up. So, what happened with me is I love to put things to a test. And I'll do usually I do a 30-day test. If it works great, I'm keeping it. If it doesn't, it's not. So I did a cold plunge test um 2020, yeah, 2020. And I was like, I want to see because I'm not a person to take cold showers, I don't like cold water, it's not me, but I'll do it for 30 days. So I've done that for the first month. I was like, oh my goodness, this feels good. Let's do month two. Oh my goodness, this feels good. So till this day I'm taking cold showers and doing cold plunges. Um, and and and with that, everything else. And one of the things I did was in 2015 was I started reading God's word every single day. And I said, you know what? Let me just read God's word for every single day. And that's something I've never been taught, I've never done in my life. I would read God's word, I guess, whenever I have time or feel like it. So I was like, let's see what happens. After 30 days, I built this relationship with God. I was like, God, I've been missing you my whole life. You know, like it's something that I desire every single moment. And uh, so after I've done that, I started reading more books about you know, about manlyhood and growing and providing for your family, loving your wife, and just growing in your faith. So I would say number one is uh grow into having a deep, deep, deep relationship with our father. Not the one, I mean, an average person reads their Bible uh seven minutes per week and spends seven minutes in prayer per week. I mean, those statistics should crush you. Um, so do not read your Bibles, study, study your Bibles and see what God works as and then on top of that, surround yourself with godly men who are above you, further than you in life. I mean, most of my friends that I learned and gleaned from are 10, 15 years ahead of me, and I'm constantly till this day, like I'm still picking their brain, calling them with you know at 10, 20 questions. Um, how do I do this? How do I do that? How do you do this? How do you do that? So just keep growing in like-minded men. There are a lot of godly men who are extremely successful in business and finance and marriage and faith and all these things, like they are willing to spend a lot of time with you and and to share and give you those blessings. So I would say invest as much as you can into having like-minded friends and having a deep, deep relationship with God.

SPEAKER_02 32:54

Yeah, you just dropped it down, brother. I appreciate you sharing that. And for anyone that's listening, there is hope. You know, who you saw, who you see today in Nick is not who he was 20 years ago, 10 years ago, five years ago. It's a progression. And any dude that that has children, it's not always perfect. There's kids yelling, they're screaming, they're not always acting right, they're biting each other, pushing each other. That's normal life, and that's why it's required that we spend time with Jesus so we can be like Jesus wherever we are. Thank you for setting the example of that. You've been a pleasure to be on the show, and I look forward to seeing you in the future, my friend.

SPEAKER_00 33:31

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And uh, I mean, if people want to get more, and if they don't have people, you know, friends, you know, I run their circles. I mean, they can always reach out. I'm on Instagram, um Nick Avrilov, and be more than happy to talk, pray, advice, anything.

SPEAKER_02 33:44

Yep. Uh loving Nick, I'll see you in the future.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

Thank you, Joshua. God bless. Forgiveness is more for you than them.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

I had inner peace for the first time in my life. It's just Jesus, just Jesus.