Don’t Give Up

Don't Give Up Season 2 Ep 11: Rolling With The Punches

• Hamilton Smith, Bob Branton, James Burns • Season 2 • Episode 11

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This week, former boxing champion Henry Stewart joins us for a conversation about perseverance, resilience, and learning how to keep moving forward when life hits hard.

Drawing from his experiences both inside and outside the ring, Henry shares lessons on enduring adversity, maintaining faith through difficult seasons, and developing the kind of determination that refuses to quit.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • The mindset of a champion
  • Rolling with the punches when life gets tough
  • Persistence through setbacks and disappointments
  • Keeping your faith during trials
  • Why giving up is never the answer

Whether you're facing challenges in your walk with God, your family, your career, or your personal life, this episode is a reminder that every believer will face battles—but with God's help, we can keep getting back up.

Stay in the fight. Stay faithful.

Don't Give Up.

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SPEAKER_03

Hey. Welcome to Token O'Hey. There's a face to start with. Oh hey.

SPEAKER_05

I'm watching it. Oh hi there.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we should start the show from now on. Ham comes in, puts the splatter on.

SPEAKER_03

I would love that. He throws the shoes on.

SPEAKER_00

And then I throw on the belt. Yeah. People right now are wondering why does Ham have a championship boxing belt right next to him? Oh, this? This whole thing?

SPEAKER_05

You beat Bobby Lashley.

SPEAKER_03

Not many people know that I'm a world boxing champion.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. He's been boxing at the local grocery store for years now.

SPEAKER_00

I see him box a sandwich every day.

SPEAKER_04

Your co-host, Bob Brack. We're a Christian podcast that stirs your soul, that strengthens your faith. Join us as we explore powerful testimonies, the history of God's Word, and reveal His delivering power over addictions, depression, and life's trials. We'll celebrate success, learn from failures, and ignite your journey to rising Christ's unstoppable grace.

SPEAKER_05

We started this podcast as we both experience God's goodness, mercy, and power to take us from death to life. Our heart is to encourage you that no matter where you are, don't give up. God hasn't given up on you. Shadow boxing champion of these.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Tell all my secrets. Hey, no, I I'm pretty jealous of your shirt, I'm not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_05

I was trying to make you jealous. I got a few.

SPEAKER_04

And you never brought me one down?

SPEAKER_05

Because I was trying to make you jealous.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I can tell. God still works. It worked.

SPEAKER_05

It's not 100% yet. I'm getting there, but I'm not 100% all over again.

SPEAKER_04

I don't get it. Everybody gets all the cooler shirts and leave me with all the crumbs.

SPEAKER_05

We enjoy it too. It's I'm sorry. I do apologize. I beg for your forgiveness.

SPEAKER_03

I I forgive you, Bob. But I don't forget. Yeah. Um, don't forget.

SPEAKER_06

Don't forget.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, well, thank you so much for joining us today. Catch us on Spotify, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook. We're on all the platforms. And today we have a very special guest. And it is actually his belt. And uh, my very close friend, man of God, a warrior in the spirit, and a warrior in reality. He is the WBF boxing champion of the world. We have Henry Stewart here. Man, dude, I can't believe you're on here, man.

SPEAKER_02

I'm happy to be here. I'm actually, I people say I'm happy to be, I'm honored to be here with you guys. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_04

Likewise, we are honored to have you, man. And honestly, you are. I since I'm gonna give a short little quick uh story testimony, and you'll probably laugh at this. The first time I met you, I had just punched through a window a couple months before, and my arm was all basically paralyzed. And I had a uh a Power Ranger three-piece suit arm thing with rubber bands connected to my hands, right? Oh so awkward. I take blame for that. I I had because everybody was so freaked out from me shaking, you know, the the thing. Right. So I reached out my left hand, he reaches out his right hand, so I went, all right. And then he looked at my hand and the the plastic custom cast I had all over, and he went, I said, just do it, just do it.

SPEAKER_01

I tried to be gentle too, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

But uh I at that moment, I never realized how good of friends you and me would be. Even when I seen you here, I'd seen that you were super nice. You, your brother Ned, and your brother Jimmy are super nice. User gentlemen, and you're funny. But I seen you at the Dutch Brothers uh a few months back, and uh then the next time I see you was uh we were neighbors. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

You know? Yeah, that worked out good. It did. I'm I'm actually thankful to God it worked out like that. Um and and if I if I can tell the story, yeah, go on, man. I I didn't know that you were gonna be here. Um my wife actually had us that that house reserved. And when you were there, uh right next to me, at first I didn't know it, but there there were times my wife and I actually were talking about it, that I was in prayer thanking God that you were there. Um, because you were more than just uh a friend or you know, you see another traveler in the house with you, you're thankful. You know, you got company, but it was more than that. I believe that God had put us there on purpose.

SPEAKER_04

Well, every time we talk, we talk about the Lord. It's every single time. It's the same thing with you, Bob and Jim. And you know, my close-knit friends, uh we can have the worstest day possible, and we're gonna bring up scripture. We're gonna the the word of God is gonna relate in some way to our life. And um you're very humble though. You know, I'll start talking about the Lord, and you go, Well, I'm not as uh as advanced as you are, and all this and that, but you're finishing scriptures just along with me. I'll give scripture. He's like, Yeah, this it's this. And you are you you are in tune, you're filled with the Holy Spirit, and uh you do. You got a burden for lost souls, and and and you're a heck of a preacher too, man. You preached uh the the the other morning on Carl Smith's prayer line, and uh he preached on rolling with the punches, which is very fitting to his lifestyle, you know, but uh it was awesome, it was an awesome message, and I hope today we can kind of break that open a little bit, you know.

SPEAKER_05

But uh speaking of which, I've never met you before. This is my first time meeting you, and you from what I can tell, you live on purpose. You know, you're very, like you said, you're very humble, you're very cautious not to take credit for something uh that you don't believe that you should, and and you're real careful as you're going through the conversation. You can tell you bring that to your life. But for those other people that don't know you, you know, explain yourself, explain where you came from, how you got into by your families, obviously fighters, and we know Ned. Ned uh is Ned your older brother? Ned's my older brother. Ned, and he's a great guy. I love it, Ned. And uh yeah, shout out Ned. And he's a big help here in church in in Florida. Uh he's uh he's basically the pastor, but he hasn't physically took the title because again, you guys live on you're very cautious and you're very humble, and he's the same way. He's definitely a leader here. But you know, he wants to serve and he's willing to pick up the garbage like in the parking lot. Like that's the type of person he is, and you could tell this is his brother, and they're the same way. But explain, uh, explain how you got into boxing and and why you chose that lifestyle, and you know, and and what brought you to uh to where you're now.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so Ham talks about this a lot of times too, like a uh uh family trade. And I know that might sound like cheesy, but um in my life, a family trade, I have so many lines, bloodlines of fighting men, um, whether I liked it or not, that came before me. Um and and it was on all sides, all angles. Like it wasn't just one or two. Like if I looked up um ancestry.com, I can give you like a a list of guys that was nearly a dozen that I know of um that that were fighting men before me. So it was something that I guess maybe it was just born into me, it came natural. Uh, because when I was young, I was just a kid, um, I would always torture my dad to go down to the boxing gym. And at that point, I'll be honest with you, my dad he he kind of like he didn't really want to push that on me. You know, and at that point I didn't realize why, but you know, um living the life that we do, you know, it's not it's not always the easiest thing. I guess when you when you maybe when you uh you you you you take it into like a social uh depending on who you're talking to. But it's not um it it's it's not the easiest road. But I always like I would nag him all the time, take me down. So he, you know, he didn't push that on me, but um I would always be a professional fighter? No, no, my dad, uh, you know, he was always in the gym, he was in good shape. My dad was, but no, he didn't he didn't fight. My grandfather, um, old swale stewart, he was a um undefeated amateur prize fighter along with his brother JS. Um, they they were unbelievable boxers. I found out just this year that um there were write-ups about both of them that my dad hadn't even seen. And uh uh, you know, that was wonderful. Me and my dad were going through, it was actually ancestry.com. I would shout out Ancestry. Yeah, but it's amazing how you find out nowadays. I found out little clips of them boxing back in like I don't even know that the years was like the 40s or something. I don't even know, but it was unbelievable reading that. And then like it and it went deeper and it was just uh that was amazing. Like I've been doing memory lane this year, especially with my grandfather and his brother. Um, so that was uh that that was nice. But my my dad, you know, he liked to be in good shape, but he he didn't he didn't box. Um, but I always wanted to box ever since I was young. So finally I did get involved in boxing when I was really young and immediately had an amateur fight. Like there was no training, like it I think it was like three weeks in. Um the coach that we had, he said, You want to have a fight? He said, We can have a fight. I said, Absolutely, I'm in. Like I wanted to be all in. And I thought that this was like my calling, right? Like I was like, all in, this is perfect, it's all working out so great. And then come fight night, and when it came time to get in, I mean to tell you my nerves was so bad that I didn't even want to get up off the you know, the stool. And I went in there, and it's one of those things. Like, have you ever heard like um you know the saying they froze under the lights kind of a thing? Yeah, I goes in and I completely froze. Like when it was time to shine, and I had all of these envisions and these ideas that like I was, you know, this was all these things I was gonna do. Totally froze and barely threw a punch and lost the fight. Not even close, like this other Chavvy, like I mean boxed the ears off me.

SPEAKER_05

Wow, okay. This is the fight number one, right? Number one fight amateur fight. How old were you?

SPEAKER_02

I think I was 14, 13 or 13 or 14, something like that. Um, but anyways, that changed everything. My whole mindset of all these things I was gonna do and what I was gonna be. And you didn't want to do them now? Well, it it it definitely made me second guess it. Okay. I'll put it that way. So, anyways, next I took some time, you know, to think about this at 13 years old. Now I gotta rethink my life here because I had envisions like I was gonna be doing the whole Shibang. Sure. Now I gotta rethink things. And like the work truck is all of a sudden looking really good now. Yeah, it's not so hard to get a job anymore. Okay, so I go back and goes back to the drawing board and I decided that it was one of those things I wasn't gonna give up. Don't give up. Like I really did have a passion, I'll call it, for this. And I'm not gonna let one circumstance change the whole invision, right? So this time I decides I'm actually gonna train and I'm gonna prepare. So I do that. And I took most of the summer, even though I was young, I was like, I had my mind made up. That's what I was gonna do. So I was committed. So I took the summer and I prepared and I told the man, I said, I want to have another fight. And even the man was like, you know, maybe this isn't for you, kind of a thing. I was like, no, no, I said, I want to sign me back up, let's redo it. So this time I was prepared, and it was still very it was pretty hard because like the nervous system, I don't I have no idea how to explain it. It wasn't that thing was like battling against you. So even though I was prepared physically, mentally now, like it's still kind of coming against me. So I had a hard time that time too, to be honest. I lost the second one too. Oh wow. So now, but listen, I'm very, very glad those two things happened because it it changed everything. So the first time I wasn't physically ready. Now I learned that there has to be a mental readiness too. Yeah, and if I wouldn't have been through those couple of tough, embarrassing things at that time it was embarrassing, there's no shame in it now, but um I wouldn't have learned that there's preparation that takes place, yeah, physical and a mental. Yeah, more more mental than physical.

SPEAKER_05

I was just gonna say, is that 50, 50, 80, 20?

SPEAKER_02

Or more in my opinion, I don't know. I would say 90% really. It's a very, very big mental sport.

SPEAKER_05

No, I've been in the room when uh when the the hype is going on before the fight, and it is super impressive to me how that they execute that. That is really good. Because you do you you you come out there like I am a killer.

SPEAKER_04

Well, the day before you said you like to take a nap. You know, take a nap, yeah, get a little energy. Yeah, well, that does, and I bet you that's good for the brain too. You know, you get to think, do you ever like plan through like, hey, like, because I'm sure you've watched have and maybe not. Do you watch videos of your of the fighters before?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so as as as professional, the last couple of professional fights I had, one of them being that fight, it was a little different. Um, I'm still talking about like the early days. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Things things unraveled where I'd done things a lot different. Sure, sure. Like now I did, I obviously I done some research, sure.

SPEAKER_04

Well, the there was uh uh uh I I I'm not gonna mention his name, but there was a um a traveler boxer who was training with Anthony Joshua, and he really wanted to go pro. Well, he got hit in the kidneys one day from Anthony Joshua. He's never fought again. Wow, and whatever it does, you know, like you said, he got he lost the first one, he lost the second one. He didn't give up. Yeah, you know what I mean? You had to physically make yourself get up the third time. Yeah, you know what I mean? And I want to talk about that, you know.

SPEAKER_02

So, what was the third one? Well, things were a little easier to not give up back then. You know, I was younger, very, very ambitious in the in the sport. I wanted to be an athlete. So that that that that was uh easier. It wasn't easy, but it was easier compared to now, and I'll I'll get to that. But it was um third time around, I came in prepared physically and mentally, and I went on a streak of winning a lot of amateur fights. Like it it almost became it almost became a little uh little too easy because robotic, you know. Yeah, because it it it it I I kind of had figured out for what was best for me, and it and it just was working out good. So that turned into when I was still an amateur, it turned into I had the opportunity to have some bare knuckle fights. And that was when uh bare knuckle was still underground. It wasn't BKFC like you see now or BKB, like it's uh there's uh an actual sport that's legal that you can watch and buy on pay-per-view now. Well, before that was a legal sport, that same industry was working underground, and they were doing like uh uh bare knuckle fights in warehouses and were these the videos you showed me? Yes, I've seen them before.

SPEAKER_05

They say it's safer, is that true?

SPEAKER_02

Because you get cut quicker, and that's no, like because the the oh long term, because they said I seriously think that that was part of their tale when they were trying to legalize before commissions and they were like, it's not so bad. Yeah, that makes sense. Oh, it's very bad. Okay, okay, okay. No, it's not good at all. I wouldn't recommend it at all.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, he showed a video of him, and it didn't look like you even hit that hard, and he hit, and it sounded like a shotgun went off. I'm telling you, it was he break he cracked the guy's ribs, and that was it.

SPEAKER_02

You won that fight, right? They do say precision is more important in in bare knuckle because it's not oh right. So you gotta be careful. So you hit, you know, uh like a hard part you break your hand. Yeah, I had a lot of those. I had a lot of bare knuckle fights, and some of them were entertaining, some of them were just like vicious and gruesome and not yeah, but there's no record of them, right? Well, you can look them up and you can see some videos, and yeah, and but no, there was no uh legal record, official, yeah, right commissioned no, that was underground stuff. Um, the reason I got involved in that, there were some big platforms that were covering it, and I thought that that was a cool thing that might open doors. It's pretty cool at that time. There was Rolling Stones, you know, covered it. Um, there was uh Barstool Sports was there. You know, there was a couple of huge platforms that I thought like this is this will be a good door opener for the next level of so that's what I done. But I won't lie, a couple of those things were pretty rough.

SPEAKER_05

So that wasn't how was your relationship with the Lord at this time being so okay.

SPEAKER_02

So I heard Tommy Cameron say um we come from a we come from a uh a family or a group where being a Christian is just kind of like the normal, right? And that that was I was brought up in a family where my mother and father taught us, you know, the ways of the Lord and and to be a Christian, and that was just one of those things that was like a part of the package. Like kind of I don't want to butcher what he said, but he kind of explained it the right way that you know it was just the normal to be. So I figured that you know, I was on the right path at that time. I was a Christian. I would even write Bible scriptures on my shorts, or I would even share a verse, or um but that wasn't my beginning of of my I I I thought that to be honest, I wasn't saved at that time. I thought I was, but but there is a difference. Yeah. And um I I started doing the more I got involved in in that type of the fighting, I I I did I did gain a bigger platform. And um sometimes a person can get full of themselves. Like you know, you brought up how was your relationship with the Lord. Sometimes you can get um to a point where you don't need anybody else or you don't need nothing. You're kind of at the top of your, you know, and I'm not saying I was no world-class elite athlete, but at in my mind at that point, I was on a good, good enough trajectory. Yeah. So I ended up having a few profess I turned professional. I had a few professional fights. I fought on a big platform that was a uh a really great uh that was actually a great time in the Lord, and I'll tell you why. Your dad, Uncle Eddie Smith, was there. He came, it was in Delaware that we fought. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04

My brother Richard walked out with you, didn't he?

SPEAKER_02

He walked out, yeah. He was carrying the gypsy flag proudly. Yeah, no, that was a great time. I remember at that time, that was like um that was gonna be the biggest platform of my, you know, uh, of my boxing at that time.

SPEAKER_04

Because you were on the same card as Roy Jones Jr. on that fight. Yeah, I remember.

SPEAKER_02

And I remember I remember thinking like this is like the pinnacle as as as far as I've made it here, this is great. But I remember at that time there was something greater, and it was the preaching and the song services that your dad had brought to the hotel lobby, and that was that was a game changer. I remember sitting, like I was sitting right here. I got I sent you a video of it. Oh, yeah. And he was preaching, and there was a lot of travelers here, it was a lot of people in the lobby.

SPEAKER_05

So that was really important that he reached out at that moment.

SPEAKER_02

Look at the impact it made it. It made an impact, yeah. And I'll and and and when you say not a godly group, after the fight, I was still sweating. The arena was in uh the same hallway, like you left the arena, the chase center, yeah, and you leave, and there's a hotel there. I forget the name of the hotel, but it's all in one building. So you leave the arena, you walk into the hotel, and you're talking about a godly group. We leaves the fight that night and still sweating, got our bags, going back to the hotel, and there was a huge, like 30, 40 men brawl in the in the lobby. Like everyone, everyone turned into a fighter that round like it was like we were all fighting, yeah, yeah. But it was uh like it was a vicious brawl. Like there was like uh yeah, some talent in there too.

SPEAKER_04

Well, there was like a lot of ones from the old country, yeah. And I listen, I'm I'm dead serious. I think anyone from the old country can handle themselves pretty good.

SPEAKER_03

Shout out old country, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Shout out to England, we love you guys. Yeah, well, it was uh it it was something, but but to answer your question, it was a mix of all types of different people in one room. Like it was only I hate to say this, but it was only a matter of time.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, you know, so but he reminded you of the you the what your mom and dad had been teaching you, and you was kind of at a you it was really a crossroad where you was full of yourself, and now you're getting reminded of right, this is and this you could that explains your consciousness now, you know?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it really does. Well it Changed up and I'm thankful to God for it. Um, I'm thankful to God that you and your dad have been in my life at different times, and I'll get to that too, if you don't mind. But Uncle Eddie comes to the hotel and he's doing his thing, and I'm and I'm I'm actually your brother Johnny said it one time. He said, You ever look at someone and they you could just see that they've been with Jesus? He said, You can see Jesus off you. Yes, yeah. That was a great thing. He said that to me one time that melted my heart. That was a great compliment. He said, I can see Jesus off you, brother. That was a great yes. So but I seen that when I looked at your dad that time. So he's in the lobby, and there was a couple of guys sitting down, bunch of guys standing up, but he took the opportunity to pour out the love of God on everyone. And uh, I remember sitting there and I wasn't expecting that. I didn't even know he was gonna be there. And uh, and he's doing his thing, and I remember thinking like I totally forgot about the pinnacle that had overwhelmed me of what I was there to do. And I was thinking, like, this this is where it's at. There's another, there's another something going on here that you know leading to life. Yeah, well, it over it overwhelmed me. It overwhelmed the overwhelming. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_05

Wow, because yeah, you're at the moment, you're at that moment too.

SPEAKER_02

And and and ever since I was young, I was like one of those people that had, you know, like your mind made up. Like, like I talked to Richard Stanley about it. We started playing golf, and I went all in on golf, and he's like, brother, he said, You just go all in on whatever you're doing. Well, I was all in on boxing and training, that was like my all in. And at that moment, the pinnacle, this is where the love of God's coming in and the preaching of the word of God. And I totally forgot about the left side, and I'm just like consumed now. Like, there's there's and we ended up going to I I can't remember if it was the Thursday night or the Friday night, I'm not sure. But we we ended up going to the church. Oh, yeah. In in Delaware. Yeah, Cornerstone. Yeah, I was you were there. There wasn't a lot of people there at that time. It was winter, I think it was February. Um, but I remember like I was very, very thankful to be there. I wanted to get more, you know, I wanted to be filled up, like this is a good thing. Let's say that you taste it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, taste and see that the Lord is good.

SPEAKER_02

You're about to go all in. Yeah, I wanted, I wanted whatever he had.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I remember saying to your dad, I said, Uncle Eddie, I said, I I actually, in layman's terms, I'm pretty simple-minded here. I said, But here's what I do know. I said, I want what you have. And he said, Well, that's a great compliment, my boy, and thank you for that. But it's not me, it's him. And he started to explain to me. And uh, I know I'm bouncing around. We went to the church.

SPEAKER_05

Oh no, you're right on top.

SPEAKER_02

We went to the church and and then we went for food with them. I remember I actually felt bad because he's so he's so sincere. Uh we we went to there was a five guys in the parking lot. And um, at this point, my curiosity is like going now. Like I'm like all over the I got I have questions, right? And we're in the five guys, and there's a bunch of us there, but I sits beside your dad on purpose. I still want it to be filled up, I want it to be like a sponge. Like, and I remember food came, he was about to eat, and he had a burger in his hand, and I remember asking him a question. I can't even remember what the question was, but I asked him a question about the Lord in that moment, and he stopped, like he paused, and then he went on like a 20-minute sermon of explanation, you know, and giving me more than even what I asked, which I was very thankful for at the time. But I I remember looking and like how sincere and how ready was he to give that he didn't even eat, and then at that time, like 20-30 minutes had passed, and he just put it down and got, but it didn't even bother him. Like, oh no, he was filled up from a different job. Yeah, I said, I'm sorry. I said, I'm sorry, I didn't even, I didn't mean to do that. And he's like, it didn't even just rolled off me. It didn't even bother him.

SPEAKER_04

That is a real thing. That is a real thing. If you are hungry and there's no food around, right? Start witnessing to somebody. I promise you, start ministering. Yeah, give somebody the gospel.

SPEAKER_02

He said, It's okay, my boy. He said, I wasn't even hungry anyways, or something. I'm not sure. I don't I but I felt anyways, I felt bad about that. But it but but but I'm also this type of person too that that takes notes. Yeah, like I when I okay, we can go back to the gym. When you're in the gym and there's someone who has been there done that, like an elite level fighter or a champion at one time, um, even if they're older or they're not the same, sure, if they give you advice on how to train or how to fight, you take that stuff to the bank. I do anyways, and I'll tell you why. You can take it from someone who's been there done that. Yeah, you can you can absolutely listen to what they're saying. Why? Because they know not only do they know in their mind, but they physically have been there. They they have they have gone through that fire. They've gone so I personally take everything that a uh uh a fighter that's above me, which is a lot, I I take what they're saying and I and I I try to apply it. But I found that I I found that I I I use that same strategy to when it came to uh Tommy Cameron, I keep going back to him, but he said this before. He said, There has been men and women amongst our people that have been in their word for 40 plus years, and they know. So I find myself going to people like that and listening. Stop doing all the talking, and I just try to listen and take in a sponge. You can take it from someone who's been through the fire, someone who knows, someone who's already been there and done it. You know, so I I I I emulate a lot of things with life, as simple as that sounds, with going back to boxing. Like I really do believe that I've learned a lot um from things that I've mistakes that I've made, like I told you about the losing. And I find that I can take advice from people who's been there, done that. And I find that all of those things apply. You want to talk about rolling with the punches. You roll with the punches. You were the person who said it in the ministry. You can roll with the punches. If the enemy comes at you with certain things, so many things with boxing I can emulate and I can compare it to with the word of God or ministry or the things I'm trying to do now as a Christian. Um, it's like it's almost like it was more than just my own personal uh efforts or my own desires at that time. I think that I think the Lord really did have me go through maybe certain things through a sport. Yeah, because I apply it different times throughout my life now as a father, as a husband, you know, as as as a he wanted you to see defeat.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and he wanted you to see the victory, you know what I mean? But you know, it it's it's the book of judges, you know, they did evil in the sight of the Lord, you know what I mean, and then they did good in the sight of the Lord, you know, it every time you find yourself like like being defeated, being all that's training you to, okay, I I could do this, and you know, I can have victory, you know. Uh, you know, okay, I've got victory, right? But then you said you've seen my dad and you've seen something that you wanted even more than the victory. You know, so it God has put eternity in the heart of man. He's put eternity. So what an accomplishment. What an accomplishment. I I I I'll never be able to have this accomplishment, and not many people will, but we're gonna walk on streets of gold. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? Like, none of this can't even compare to being in the presence and realizing the height and the depth and the width of God's mercy and grace and love, and that's what you've seen. Yes, you've seen God's mercy, grace, and love throughout your entire life. You know what I mean? And I love how you can take that and roll with the punches. Yeah, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00

Now, you know what I mean? You you said something that reminded me of something my friend Carl Smith said, uh, shout out Carl Smith. And you said about how you you tried multiple times. Yeah, you didn't give up, you you kept at it. And there was, and there is people that you'll try, you know, uh, and they'll give up. But there's also people that they try to do things the same way every time. You know what I mean? And Carl said something to me one time. He said, a boxer, when he comes out, he has to come out at different angles. Because if you come out the same way the same time, your opponent eventually is gonna learn what you're doing and and and sock you. And he said, you know, we come out of church the same way. You know, we go and we hear it, we get pumped up, we come out in the same way every time. He said, but um, you know, we gotta start trying new things, trying something different, because if you're still going through those same things and it's you know those same and you're having those same problems, you know, you're you gotta try something new, something different.

SPEAKER_05

That's good. You know what I mean? The enemy studying you too. That's absolutely true. He's studying you, you know, your whole life. He's watching you as a wee boy, and then you you get a victory, and then he watches that and he changed tactics, and he uh that's why sometimes it's success that messes you up, and sometimes it's failure that messes you up, and not all the time is God the one behind. Like God isn't making you get defeated, but he'll use it to teach you a lesson, right? You know, right? But at this moment, you was headstrong on boxing. Yep, you're being ministered to the gospel, you're realizing there's another direction to go. And was you married at this point? Not yet. So then you start a family, yeah, and you kind of not abandon boxing, but you're you're not you're you're distract, not I can't even say distract, you're you're just living your life, your living life at this point.

SPEAKER_02

I I get married. I had now I have a beautiful wife, and I am in we I changes residencies, I leaves Canada and I comes to Baltimore. And I always the reason I went there was strictly for the church. Um, I used to go to Shepherd's Fest in Baltimore. Yeah, and I remember sitting through Shepherd's Fest and I would think to myself, what an amazing church. Imagine if this was your home church, what a what a beautiful environment. And and it was just, I was amazed. I always still am. Shepherd's Fest holds a very special place in my heart. And shout out and my wife's Shepherd's Fest is awesome. My wife's too. We're just totally all in. And Richard and Linda are very close to both of us, and uh we love them. And it's just a whole other level, in my opinion. I just think it's the greatest of all time. I think it's the goat. Shepherd's Fest is the goat.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, I have like the coolest cousins. I'm related to the coolest people in the world. I have to say, shout out, Richard and Linda.

SPEAKER_02

Richard and Linda. So we go moved to Baltimore because I decided that I was going to make Shepherd's Fest my home church. Yeah. The same idea where I was like, could you imagine? Well, I did. And you're all in at this point. We're all in. Yeah, I like this. Goes there, and I mean to tell you, and I'm only saying this humbly, on fire for the Lord. I felt like both of us were just willing and ready, and church was just everything was awesome. And uh, all in on church. And uh, I was ready to serve the Lord in whatever way. And I remember saying to, because Aunt Joan does this thing where she'll like text you maybe the night before, hey, can you do some song service tomorrow? And I remember saying to myself, or even in prayer, I came to Baltimore and I was like, Lord, I can't do much. There's not many good things that I'm good at. But if you will use me in an opportunity, help me say yes. You know, one of those things. I just wanted to be a yes man when it came to serving in church. So whenever she would text me, even if like I wasn't, like I'm not really that great at, you know, singing or or worshiping, I not worshiping, but doing song service. But I would say yes, you know, and I got a little better. And and I remember, um, I remember thinking if it wasn't for, you know, thank God I wasn't breaking glass. But if it's not for anybody else here, it's for me. Like I felt like I was getting filled up by doing standing up for the Lord. It's not an easy thing for me, anyways. It wasn't an easy thing. It was harder for me to go up there and do song service than it was for me to go and fight. Like it was that that was easier for me. Right. It was a hard thing for me. But I but I remember I remember thinking to myself, I I talked to the Lord about saying yes, yeah, I'll do it. So yeah, so it yes turned into like I I was serving in church a lot. I actually had got up and done a couple of messages, and um, through the help of the Lord, I got through them. They weren't, you know, I'm not teaching nobody there that they don't already know, but you know, I was I was at the beginning of my that's you know, I was I I took off, like I was doing my thing, and I was thankful to be involved, and I was thankful to be in the church, and I was in a position where I was worshiping God, serving the Lord, and thankful. I remember Sunday night, every Sunday night, I'd come home after Sunday night service, and I would just be thanking God. Thank you for everything you've given me, thank you for this new home and this new church for me and and these new friends, and like I was just thankful. And there came a I'm saying all of that, Ham and I already spoke about this. Unfortunately, there came a time where I forgot about all that, and that was right, all of everything I'm talking about was right around COVID, right around that 2020. After that fight, I got married. That's right, the whole world changed. Yep. And and during that time, my wife and I had our beautiful little girl Margaret, and that was my whole new world now. Yeah, I'm like the little mermaid now. It's a whole new world. I came from an army of men. I have only brothers. Uh no, I got a sister too. I get, but I'm it's all of us are men, all boy cousins, all you know, I got nephews. Like I didn't expect to be a girl dad. Um, I wouldn't change it for the world. Sure. Girls are awesome. Yeah, they are, but it just totally changed everything now. So now I'm on like a whole new learning path. But what happened was during COVID, um the hospitals were hard, yeah, no visitors, you know, they made you scrub your hands with this special thing for like thought they were gonna die before you could even go in. It was like a whole process, like everything was hard. And uh my little girl, praise God, everything's good, but my little girl was premature, and we ended up spending uh a week and a half or two weeks in the NICU unit with her, and uh because she couldn't hold her body temperature, and there was a couple other things I didn't really understand. Um but it was it was at that time when a doctor had came in and he explained to my wife and I about how she's really premature, we're gonna let you take her home. These are the precautions you gotta take. You gotta feed her every two hours, you know, all these type of things. And before I let you go, he said, I just want to remind you that not only is it a world pandemic, but it's also cold and flu season and RSV. Oh my god. And he named one other thing too, but he named a like he dropped a bomb on us. Like he put the fear in us, like it was actually too much. Like I understand where he's coming from, yeah, but I remember like this was like that was no need for that. Right. And he said, All of these combined things equals death for your little girl. Right. Speaking of it. And I was like, I heart dropped, and I looked over at my wife and she was like drained. And I was like, wow, that was really like we had our heads. We had our bags packed, ready to go home, happy, thankful, you know. And then that bomb was dropped. So obviously, you know, the precautions now are through the roof of how we're gonna avoid this happening. You know, unfortunately, this has already been said now, and this is the reality, and um go to work, come home, sanitize, you know. Helicopter. Yeah. Oh wow. We we wouldn't we wouldn't leave the house like the doctors like don't leave the house. Like, don't do nothing. So that turned into missing some church services.

SPEAKER_05

Sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And let me tell you what happened. Let me tell you what happened. Started missing some church services that started to bother me at first. And I was like, I was trying to watch them online, you know. I love church. So then that turned into and this is I'm by the way, I want to clarify, I'm totally to blame for what happened. I'm not blaming even the circumstance or the or anybody else. I let this happen. A couple of church services got missed. Then the the affecting me started to go down. Like it didn't, as shameful as this sounds, it didn't bother me as much. Sunday we roll around, church. Whatever, right? Yeah. I'm sorry, it hurts me right now to say that. Yeah, yeah. But that was the truth. Sure. Okay, so then all of a sudden, I stopped. Not only was I not serving in church anymore, but I stopped attending. And I mean, you guys know more than me, but I'm giving you my own personal when I'm not in church, when I'm not being filled, and when I'm not reading the word of God, I was really how do I say it? Like, I'm really like uh vulnerable now to the things of the world.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And I found myself slipping back into the things of the world in little ways. Before I'm listening to Christian music out to work, I remember thanking God immediately, you know, if He blessed me with work, or you know, there was a routine I was in where I was involved. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, I was like throwing some worldly music back home. Yeah, little things. And then I was like, you know, loose flips with the cursing.

SPEAKER_05

Yes. And then it's funny how it's like a progression. Yes, yeah, that's what happened to me.

SPEAKER_02

And I felt like at first, things that would bother me, now it's like the normal. It didn't bother me at all.

SPEAKER_05

And church attendance doesn't make God love you more, yeah, but not going makes you love him less. That's really that's the and that's why it slowly pulls you away. And it was all by design from what I'm hearing, even from the doctor, whether he knew he was doing that or not, you know, to be in home. And like you said, I know you see you're like you're taking the blame for yourself, but you were being set up for this, right? Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I I I I I can understand that. And then so I'm now I'm in a routine of like going through the motions. So like things are back to normal. A couple of years have rolled by. Praise God, we got two little girls now. Now I'm like the ultra girl dad.

SPEAKER_05

Is boxing out of the picture totally since the time I'm telling you. Because of COVID and your girl and stuff, too. Yeah, I just haven't done it anymore.

SPEAKER_02

You know, yeah, I got a family now. Let's go to work, concentrate on providing for your family. Yeah, so that's kind of like you know, overtaken. So now things are back to normal, I'll call it. And like we go to church now, but it's not the same for me. I'm I'm not uh open as much. I don't know why. I can't even answer that to you. Like I'm talking now about it, it hurts me to even talk like this. Yeah. Because thank you, Lord, for church. Yeah, thank you, God, for everything you've given me. Yeah, like I'm I'm reminding myself of these things, but at the time I'm just giving you the truth. I was almost kind of like numb to it, didn't bother me at all. Like there was times church services, I would check my phone and be playing where we don't eat. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And that's not a good position to be. But at that same time, was you waking up early and pre praying and reading your Bible?

SPEAKER_02

Nope. And I got a special thing. That's it. I got a I got a special thing to say about that. I I want to get to that point. There's something I really want to hit on with that. Um, I decides that I'm gonna get back into boxing. Now, about six or seven years have gone by where I haven't really done any training or boxing. In my mind, I'm still, you know, that top level that we talked about in my mind. So I says to myself, like, gosh, I loved it so much. You know, I'm still young. Yeah, like I'll, you know, give it another shot.

SPEAKER_05

It is 90%.

SPEAKER_02

I think I'll give it another shot. So I goes to the gym and I'm like, remember the Wizard of Oz? Remember the the the tin man that couldn't move, yeah. I I was like, what is going on?

SPEAKER_05

How big of a difference is I couldn't move.

SPEAKER_02

Like I couldn't, I was like, you know, like I had an envision that what I used to do. I was like, I'll give that a shot again, but that did not work at all. Like that was like uh so, anyways, that was a long journey. I don't know why I don't want to get too much into that because I do want to talk about the things the Lord has done for me, but I do want to give you that idea of how I came back. Yeah, you know, and I and I didn't want to give up in my mind. I really love this. I think I thought I thought in my mind, maybe I do have something natural that's that that you know that could help. Let's train it again, let's just give it another shot. I want to try again. Um, and I'm glad I did because the Lord opened opportunities, and ever since that came along, there's been some really big opportunities that um haven't happened yet. But I'm I I'm kind of like borderline, you know, that's some big opportunities. I'll just leave it at that. Thank God I believe that the Lord maybe opened some doors here, you know, that could lead into something I can only dream of. So praise God for that. That's great. But started training again. It was really hard. This time it was like, remember, I told you I said it wasn't so hard. It took a couple of losses back when I was a teenager, and it wasn't so hard to get back on the horse. Well, now it's really hard. I need a ladder to get on the horse. I can't even I'm fighting with the alarm clock to get out of bed now. And we're only talking like three years, right? It's been about been about five, six years since I trained. Okay, wow. So I haven't really trained. But that's a long time to take off sport. Especially if you're trying to, you know, compete at a professional level. Yeah. That's a long time to take off. That to lay dormant and rusty like you can.

SPEAKER_05

And your relationship with the Lord is kind of shaky. Yes, it is. So you're trying to, instead of going full blast into the Lord like you will, you're full blast into boxing. That's right. Yes, I am.

SPEAKER_02

That's right. And um, so, anyways, I get back up, and as hard as it is, I've made up my mind and I've committed myself again. And I'm coming home, I'm going to work, going to the gym. I'm trying to balance both. And now I'm a dad too. So like I got I got the girls work and training, and like I'm like maxed out, right? So like stressed out, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And at this point, I'm thinking, like, I can't make church tonight. Like, I'm I'm I got I got no more gas left in the tank. You know, so now I have an excuse not to go to church. Now it's even worse. Gets back up, has a couple of pro fights, hard, but I'm doing it. Now I go through a training camp in Baltimore just this past, I'm fast forwarding to now, just this past winter. And I want to say something too. Thank you, Uncle Ernie and Aunt Joan. Because I think that they seen what was going on, but they never stopped pushing me. There were times that they would I I she would ask me, Do you want to play music? And it's quiet time. She knew when to come. And she's like, you know, just let's just get back into it. And I was like, I haven't really been practicing and I said, I don't want to. And she said, she gave me this verse to be ready in season and out of season. Oh wow. And I'm thankful for both of them because they both, like Uncle Ernie, there were times where he would just want to meet me for a coffee. He didn't want to meet for a coffee. He just wanted to, he wanted to encourage me to get back into the things of God. I'm very thankful for both of them. Like God did place me there on purpose. That was a good place for me to be. He was a good shepherd. Yes. So I'm thankful for both of them. But I was still kind of brushing it off. I had more important things going on. You know, I goes to have a real training camp, professional style. Like this is like I'm back to that top now. Maybe even better. Like this is great. Right. Puts in the time, the effort, and the work. I had multiple coaches. I had a strength and conditioning, man. I had a boxing technician, man. I had a nutritionist.

SPEAKER_05

I was like, now, like, this is you've reached the yeah, right. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02

So that worked out all that worked out great for this reason, but it was also occupying a lot of my time uh for not good reasons. Yeah. You know, so I want to fast forward and get to what I'm talking about. This happened. I trained extremely hard and dedicated myself to the maximum for this. Um, it was a title fight. There was it was supposed to go 10 rounds, and I ended up stopping him in two rounds. Um how heavy was he? How big and heavy was he? Well, that actually that one you're talking about, that was one of my more comfortable. Oh, that wasn't this one? No, no, that was this me and this man were very close in weight. Okay, okay. Ham liked that I fought John Coffey. John Coffey come what happened was six, what six six? He was six, six, three hundred and twenty pounds. But it it was I wasn't meant to fight John Coffey. Sounds like a bad man. I wasn't meant to fight this man. What ended up happening, and I'll give you a quick story, was I had a couple of uh boxing is a very, very hard sport if you want to be, you know, active. Yeah, and what happens all the time, and this is very common, is you'll you'll train and prepare, then you'll go and you'll be at the weigh-in, and your opponent maybe might not show up or cancel or get injured or something might like and that happened to me two or three times. And then this one time trained, prepared, went down to Richmond. Yeah, already got the hotels for the weekend. My opponent doesn't show up, claims that he got injured. Okay, this had already happened to me two or three times, and I went back, it was a no-show. Like I drove up to Detroit one time, came back. Like, that's hard. You know, you got a family, you know, you've committed yourself. I understand. You have to believe that he did get injured, and yeah, this is well, these things have happened now. A couple of no shows. Now I'm getting deflated. Right. So goes to Richmond, the no-show happens again. The promoter says to me, like, he says, I know this has happened a few times. I know you're fighting in the cruiserweight division. I have a heavyweight here. His opponent didn't show up either. If you guys want, you know, you can fight each other. And I was like, Where is he? And he's like, Way, he's right over there. I was like, I don't want to fight this man, right? Right? This big man, this so, anyways, he's like, Well, I mean, his opponent didn't show up. I was like, Yeah, well, do you want to fight him? I was like, Yeah, right, right. So, anyways, I goes over to my dad, my dad's there, and he's like, you know, let's just call it. You know, we don't need to. I was like, you know what? A couple of travelers had already showed up. He's only a man.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I said, you know what? I said, I can't take another no show. If I don't do it, there's gonna be like I'm probably just gonna throw the towel. It's too much work, too much point. This is a carry-on now. Yeah, like I understand the potential. No, right. This is Ham's favorite ham wall kid. Right, right. Yeah, yeah. So I said, I said it's the greatest story ever. It really is. I said, okay, I said, I'll do it. I said, I can't take another no show. I gotta get the ball rolling. I can't not be active again. I'm trying to do something here. Sure. So I says, okay. So John Coffey's all teeth, signing up. Like he's gonna get his fight, too. So we ends up doing it, and my nerves were so bad against this man. I I can show you a video. This man was like a big fridge, right? Like he was way heavier than me. My nerves was already not 100% there, but I ends up I stopped him in the second round, too. Like there was something about the second round, right? Thankfully, I hit him. That's right, like a six. He's like a hundred pounds heavier than you, right? That's what I like to call it. I hit him in the sweet spot. I got uh thank God. Listen, I was thank I was back to being thankful. Thank God he didn't want to fight no more.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Let's just joll. I said, this is good. That's just so, anyways, that happened. Ham liked that story for some reason. I don't know. I'm sorry, I just think it's the coolest thing ever. It was 100 pounds heavier. Going back to the championship fight, that one ended in the second round, also. And I was a little deflated. I was like, I put all this time, money, and effort into this, and now this is over. Thankful, anyways, this was a great opportunity. A beautiful belt. What a title. At the end of the end of the day, there is a championship uh champion mindset now. This is great. This is open doors for what the whole purpose I wanted to do. All this, this is now opened the door to do all of that. And there's been a couple of major calls that that were only a dream. I didn't ever think that that would happen. And this has opened them doors. Yeah, so this is now great. I'm gonna take a victory lap. I've put a hard winter in. Yeah, it's been very, very hard mentally and physically. I'll take a victory lap. Let's go down to Florida. Okay. Comes down to Florida. I've already kind of given you the idea of my my my Christian walk right now.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

You know, it's kind of on the rocks, not 100%. So I come down to Florida, and you know, I'm definitely on a high horse. You know, this is this is good stuff. And I feel great too. I'm in really good shape. You know, now I'm in the sunshine. You know, this is this is great. My wife had um got us a house in this neighborhood. Um, it's a new house. Looking forward to it. You know, everybody's happy. They're gonna go to Disney World. Things are great. Just so happens that Hamilton is my neighbor. And at this point, obviously, I know Hamilton, but I don't know him on a personal level. Like uh, like we talked in the church that time when you had your he's never met a stranger, so his hand, your poor little hand.

SPEAKER_04

Come on, just do something. That was him.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so, anyways, that's is about as far as I knew Ham. I knew that he was Uncle Eddie's son at that time. I know that I looked up to him and I loved him very much for that time in life, but I didn't really know him on a personal level. So sees Ham now every day in the parking lot. Like obviously, we're neighbors, like I'll see him every day. And the the the only word I can use for Ham is he was so aggressive. Yeah, and what I mean by that is Ham, he was giving me the gospel, whether I wanted it or not.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, he he's kind of the starter of don't give up. Well, he didn't give up. Yeah, he don't give up.

SPEAKER_02

And and I did want to give the positive before I say, I'm not saying it's a negative, but I do want to give the positive. I'm thankful to God he didn't, because you know, I I'm back on track. That's great, and there's no better place to be than in the presence of the Lord. Yeah, amen. I'm so thankful to God, even to be here talking about this with you guys. Thank you for involving me. Sure.

SPEAKER_05

Is there a balance moving forward with Boxing and the Lord? Do you think that's I I believe so, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I I believe so. And and um I I I do think that you know you can be led by the the Holy Spirit. I'm learning that. Um, I still have these doors that have opened, and Ham has reminded me if you do have a platform, it's always good that you know you could use it. Yep, you can't. And and Ham and I are actually talking about certain things that might happen in the future that um he's gonna come on board with me, Lord willing, and we might be doing that together. So there might be uh there might be a good uh uh chance to to do just that together.

SPEAKER_04

Don't give up boxing promotions.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah so Ham's coming at me in the parking lot, very aggressive. Very aggressive, good, and you know, I'm kind of timid at this point. And it and and I it listen, it's not that I didn't want to hear it at first, it's not that. No, right, but it was like one of those things. Remember, I told you it was just a nudge, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So but then I'm I would God knows what it looked like. He's snotting deer's growing what it looks like.

SPEAKER_05

But he was but he didn't care, so aggressive. No, that's it's good. So so I'm proud of you, yeah. Both of you.

SPEAKER_02

So so he would come at me all the time, you know. And and there were times I actually tried to change the subject, but he wouldn't talk about anything else. Like now, I find that now we can talk about anything, but at that time, that's how important it is to be obedient to the Lord because that's what I needed. I didn't need to talk about anything else. I needed, I needed you to be aggressive. I needed that for some reason, I don't know why, but it was only him because nobody else would be that aggressive.

SPEAKER_00

Alex what he's doing is is is you know, he's being the word of God for you at that time. You understand? A lot of us sometimes we don't get into our word, and we stop reading our Bible. We said to yourself that you had stopped uh going to church by circumstances and whatever it was, but the enemy knows how to separate you from the word of God. Yes. Uh, and I'm gonna quote Carl again because he has all these boxing analogies, and I love them. But he he talks about the word of God as being the jab. The jab often reminds the opponent that you're there or that they're there, you know what I mean? Yeah, the jab will remind you that that, oh, I I I can get hit here. You know what I mean? So the word of God becomes that reminder in your life, you know what I mean, to to steer you. And so, you know, Ham at that time is pouring in the word of God to you, you know what I mean? And that gets that engine back going to get back to that hit the nail on that.

SPEAKER_04

Taste and see. Taste and see you're to you're tasting from it. You're you're eating it. You know, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. Bop! You know what I'm saying? You know, uh greater is he that is in me than he that is in this world. You know what I'm saying? He would do stuff like this in the parking lot. He shot a box of dudes.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, they're aggressive.

SPEAKER_06

So that's what I'm saying. Like he would come up with it.

SPEAKER_00

I actually have a picture of him on Jungle Cruise, and he's talking to Howard, and he looks like Wolverine. All the veins are popping out of his ear.

SPEAKER_04

I don't realize this. I feel like I'm calm, cool, and collected, and Jimmy.

SPEAKER_05

No, it's very aggressive. Too many red bulls. Yeah, I don't know what it is. Too many. Don't give up. Don't give up red bulls.

SPEAKER_02

So so ham's coming at me, ham style.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Another girl show you can never give up. It's one of the most important things.

SPEAKER_02

You're not like there is no rolling with ham's punches. You're taking you're taking ham's punches head on. Hey, it's sharper than any two-enged sword. They hurt. Okay, so Ham's punching the head off me. That's good. So, but but listen, I know we're laughing about that, but but but this was a major, major turning point for me. Right. And I'll tell you what how it happened. So Ham is filling me with the Word of God constantly. Like I said, whether I liked it or not, this is this is happening. So now, like, I don't know how this worked like this, but it does. The the outpouring of the Word of God and the Spirit coming from Ham started to remind me of when I was on fire for the Lord. Right. And it started to remind me of Ham's talking about things about how we should be thankful. And I was like, how did I forget? Yeah, that I I totally forgot that I was in church and I was thankful to God for everything he had given me and everything that he'd done in my life, and everything that he had, you know, laid out so easy. And I'm going to church and I'm I'm I'm serving in church, and I I've got all of these um, you know, wonderful men and women of God that have been, you know, knowledged up and filled up and ready to pour out. And yeah, there was all of these things at your fingertips in Baltimore that I had and I forgot about all of that. I don't know how, but I did. But I'm starting to get reminded, like you just said, like the engines running again, starting to remind me of older things. And Ham says this saying, and he said it so much to me that I would wake up at like six in the morning, and Ham's voice is going through my mind. He said, Wake up early, right? Read your Bible, pray and worship. That's right. Right. And it would just, he would just say it over and over, like all the time, like in the parking lot, like it before I let you go. By the way, remember, wake up early, pray, read your Bible and worship.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I don't know how we don't have a shirt that says that or something.

SPEAKER_05

And we will when you're when you're training, you know, again, good, yeah. That's that's something that you want to add to that. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04

Yes, because that's all I've done. That's all I've done. Yeah, that's all Bob does, that's all Jimmy does. Because when you wake up early, you're giving God your first fruits, and you're praying, right? You're connecting to heaven itself. When you're reading your word, right? It's it's it's feeding you, it's cleaning you, it's separating you from from the world, right? The world wants to separate you from his presence. But the word of God is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. The word of God is Jesus. He in the beginning was the word, and word was with God, and word was God. That's it. If anybody out there right now is sitting in the truck and you are you you once had a ministry, you you you you you you you feel depressed, you feel suicidal, you do anything. Get in your word, start dissecting the word of God, and it will guide you, it will direct you. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02

No, no, that's this is the type of stuff that I'm saying. It was in the parking lot, but it was but it's so good. It is, yeah. It's so good. It is. And listen, I've I've learned so many things from this man. I'm not just I'm not trying to give you credit, but but but it's true. I have to speak the truth. I've learned so much about how important it is to be obedient, about how important it is to minister to a brother who could be in need that you might not even know. You know, I I've I've been doing that now um with friends and brothers that, you know, whether they want to hear it or not, I've been trying to do the same thing. You'll reach you'll reach so many more people. It it's so important because it got me back on track. I know from personal experience that I'm back on track with the Lord and I'm not perfect, and I'm I'm trying every day and I'm I'm learning. Yeah, but I'm in a lot better place than I was, and there's no better place to be than at the feet of the Lord. You said that to me one time. I don't forget these things that you say. I know we're laughing about them, but it's true. You you pummeled them into me. And I know that it's it's only it's only God working through you, but I'm so thankful that we were they were neighbors and that he's in my life now. It's such a good, amazing friend to have, but but but to learn from too. Sure. To do that, not just to be filled up, but also to pour into other people. Yeah, and it's that that's kind of where I'm at right now. Um it's it's it's it's something that I'm learning and and well I'm thankful for you too, uh brother.

SPEAKER_04

And honestly, you know, just sitting there and talking with you, I could call you at any time. And we just even if it's not about the Lord, we could just talk and he he he just listens. You know, honestly, you know, uh you're you're a good friend.

SPEAKER_05

And uh gets nothing either.

SPEAKER_02

He's he's a yeah, he's amazing. It goes back to what I told you in the jam. If there's someone that's been there and done that, someone who knows, you don't forget to absorb it. Absolutely. Yeah, it's great.

SPEAKER_04

Well, and that's the thing too. I I you know, I just what you just said right there, I can't believe it because, and I really can't believe this because I I I was uh such a scumbag for so many years that I can't believe that I'm actually able to sit on this podcast with you godly men, and I'm able to give God glory. Hallelujah to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who can take a scumbag like me and able to minister to somebody, you know, and uh I just want to thank you, Lord Jesus, for for saving my soul. I want to thank you, Lord Jesus, for my family. I want to thank you, Lord Jesus, for everybody that is watching this podcast that can see me spit, snotter, and cry. Lord, foolish things, Father God, you will. You you'll use the foolish things to confound the wise. And anybody sitting out there right now that is depressed, you have anxiety, you you you haven't been in your word, maybe you forgot what God did for you. Start remembering. Start remembering your children that the Lord's blessed you with. Start remembering the times that you were swerving, drunk, driving home, that you could should have died. Start remembering the times that he saved you from jail. Start remembering the times that you should have been killed, should have been dead, should have been made fun of, should have been left out. But God didn't leave you out. God guided you home. God shined a light. God is putting in you right now exactly what you need. And God needs you to remember the goodness. Remember his mercy. Remember, remember his grace. Remember Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. Remember you were once saved, filled with the Holy Ghost. Remember his word. He is here, he's there, he's available. Don't neglect it. Be strong, be courageous, be ready. Get in your word. And if you're battling suicide, you're battling depression or anything, remember Jesus has never given up on you. Don't you give up. Don't give up. Don't give up. In the mighty name of Jesus.