Navigating Leaders
The Navigating Leaders Podcast is for leaders, entrepreneurs, and changemakers ready to grow with purpose. It’s hosted by Gabriel Griess, a retired US Air Force officer, CEO of Excel Medical Staffing and MedForceX, and founder of Navigating Leaders. Each episode explores what it takes to break through limiting beliefs, clarify your vision, and start really living. Grounded in faith and guided by hard-earned, real-world wisdom, Gabriel helps you identify what’s holding you back and take intentional steps toward lasting impact. Through authentic conversations and practical insights, you’ll gain the tools to lead from the inside out. It’s time to awaken your vision and live boldly.
Navigating Leaders
Episode 21: How Faith Changed Sam Trevino’s Life, Marriage, and Leadership
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What if your carpet cleaner carried a calling that had nothing to do with carpets?
In this episode of The Navigating Leaders Podcast, host Gabriel Griess sits down with Sam Trevino, a father of six, man of faith, and founder of Made Clean Janitorial Services. Sam leads with purpose, and his company motto comes straight from Hebrews 9:14. It shows in everything he does.
But before his business, beautiful marriage, and bold faith, there was a lost young man in a steel town in Indiana, drinking away his pain and searching for the father he never had.
Sam shares the moment a TV preacher stopped him cold, the beer went down, and everything changed. He talks about hearing God’s voice at a quinceañera, proposing to a woman he barely knew, and why, 30 years later, that same obedience still guides him, including raising a three-year-old at age 62.
This conversation goes deep on what it means to lead as a man, a father, and a servant, and why none of it works without God in the equation.
It ends with a prayer you won’t want to skip.
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RESOURCES
🌎 Website: navigatingleaders.com
👀 Vision Engine: navigatingleaders.com/vision-engine
📖 The Results Tree—A Proven Path to the Life You Really Want: TheResultsTree.com
⏩ Made Clean Janitorial Services: www.madeclean.solutions
⏩ Made Clean Janitorial Services on Facebook: facebook.com/MadeCleanJanitorialServices
CONNECT WITH GABRIEL
🎥 YouTube: @navigatingleaders
📸 Instagram: @navigatingleaders
👍 Facebook: @navigatingleaders
🎵 TikTok: @navigatingleaders
🗣️ LinkedIn: @navigatingleaders
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ABOUT GABRIEL
Gabriel Griess is a retired US Air Force officer, the CEO of Excel Medical Staffing and MedForceX, and the founder of Navigating Leaders. A graduate of the elite Air Force Weapons School, he has spent decades leading teams in high-pressure environments and equipping others to reach their full potential. As a combat veteran and an entrepreneur, Gabriel helps individuals cultivate self-awareness, resilience, and the ability to create lasting impact.
An internationally sought-after keynote speaker, he addresses audiences on personal transformation, strategic leadership, and veteran empowerment. The Results Tree is the framework he lives by, and when applied, it will unearth your destiny.
Are you paying attention to the people in your life? Not just friends and family and co-workers, but everybody who comes across your path during your day. Well, we've got a treat for you here today. I'm going to introduce you to a friend of mine that came through a very unlikely way, and so excited to hear his story and to dig deeper into that as we go along. My name is Gabriel Briest. I'm your host of the Navigating Leaders podcast where you awaken your vision a little boldly.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_00And we met because you show up at any time and clean our carpets. That's right. And and and a lot, right? Like I don't know if you've got any other frequent flyer people. I gotta have a punch card. We call you so often.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, it's it's always a pleasure to go as we we have a janitorial business, which we love to do that type of work and clean. Uh we are uh our our scripture is found in Hebrews 9 14 where it says we've been made clean to serve a living God. So we actually are serving the Lord as we do business.
SPEAKER_00Well, and that's how you show up, Sam. That's right. It really is. Uh thank you. And we've you've we've been together now, what, three or four years? I mean, it's been a while, maybe longer.
SPEAKER_01Right along there, yes. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's so we've got dogs and and kids, and and I'm kind of messy sometimes, you know. And so uh it's it's whether it's furniture or carpets or drapes or or whatever, um not only do you show up and do amazing quality work, but your your humbleness as you move through the house and your care and commitment to like doing no harm, doing no damage, right? Like how you you put your little booties on and you manage the cords to not scrape the baseboards, like like you are five-star across the board in everything I've come in contact with about you, Sam.
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you. You're welcome. Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00So I experience you as being massively authentic, right? Who you are is who you are, and and I love that. And and I and I experience you as very much on purpose, right? So you've taken something as very humble as being a carpet cleaner or janitorial cleaning service, and you've turned it into worship. So tell tell me about that. Tell me about how you show up and how you give through through your through your work, through your trade.
SPEAKER_01Well, I believe it starts with having uh putting yourself available, uh, giving, giving yourself towards uh whatever God wants to do. And it's yes, it is a janitorial business. Uh yes, we do clean, we do carpets and all this, but it's it's more than that. It's it's a question that uh always comes up in my head that says, why am I here? What's my what's my purpose here? Is it just to clean carpets? Is there something more? I've got to accept that. I've got to accept if there's just that or more. And so what helps me to find out if there's more is me asking the Lord, asking, you know, what would you have me to do? And so as I listen to that voice, or I'm in a conversation with someone, then it opens up that that conversation that's gonna go somewhere. Sometimes it's just in and out, right? Do the best you can uh with excellence. Uh-huh. And then the other side of it is did I hear something? Am I supposed to say something? Am I supposed to keep that? Am I supposed to pray about that? What would you have me do? And so it's never the same. It's sometimes it's just routine, sometimes it's okay. Uh God wants to do something, and I believe the Spirit of God is in this, and I'm gonna step forward and and obey.
SPEAKER_00How do you do that? How do you do obedience?
SPEAKER_01Obedience to me, in that sense, is knowing what I'm supposed to do. Uh and so sometimes that comes out of uh just a word that let's say, for example, you might say something, and uh and it it opens it up. And I say, okay, I know that prompting, I know that leading, and so uh having done that before, uh through being led by the spirit, then I will pick up on that and I would just say that in in the most gentle or uh bold way, whatever, whatever I I have to do. Sometimes it depends on where I'm at and my spirit, and my uh my feeling, you know, just uh a lot of things going on in my life, and I have to like push that aside, and I have to stay in line with with what's in front of me. And so it it it varies. It varies.
SPEAKER_00How do you find your I mean, have you always been so courageous and bold, or did you at times worry what folks may think of you?
SPEAKER_01Both. Both it comes both because you don't know. It's a step of faith. You you're gonna, I know that I've got to do this, and if I don't do it, I'm gonna miss, I'm gonna miss this opportunity. God wants to do something, God wants to say something. Uh and and that it's just a lot of times I think, what if I if I don't do this?
SPEAKER_00Was there an unlikely moment when you stepped up and had the courage to speak into something and then it you just witnessed a miracle?
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, all aside, I I have to recall this one moment outside of made clean if I can go that way. Yeah, go to the show. Well, uh one day uh when we my wife and I hadn't hadn't really got to know each other at all.
SPEAKER_00Uh this is a long time ago.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this is a while back. This is before we got married. So we're going on 30 years. Congratulations. Yeah, thank you. Uh this December 9th will be our 30th anniversary. Yeah. So uh wonderful, wonderful. Anyways, uh the Lord just showed up one day and he said to me in a ballroom. And it was where my uh my wife was there, her and her family, they they were in ministry and they operated in music. So they would go from church to church and and minister in music and uh beautiful, talented family in that sense. And uh they were at this ballroom and they were having a sweet 16, so they were there to to minister to to to play music.
SPEAKER_00To provide the music to the Quintine Era? Yes. Okay, yes. And are you are you a believer at this time? Uh have you found faith in this point? Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01I have already uh been a believer for a number of years. Okay. So uh right at that point they were playing uh musical chairs, right? And so I saw Jamie, right? And then she was wearing this uh beautiful flowery dress, right? And as I was looking at it, it's like the room just started spinning, right? And it was like a waltz, right? It's just I was like, what is happening? And then all of a sudden that flowery dress, right, just kind of blossomed, right? And then the Lord told me, This is going, she's going to be your wife. Well, that completely threw me out. I don't know what happened to me at that point. I just I was there and I was there with my with which is my brother-in-law now, right? But we were there and we were messing around with the soundboard. And as as the Lord shared that with me, I just kind of stepped back and said, I've got to go. I ran. I ran. I ran because I didn't expect that.
SPEAKER_00You ran out of the room.
SPEAKER_01I ran out of the room. I ran out of the ballroom. I got in my truck, and I just I they started to chase me down and said, What happened? I said, I just gotta go. I have to go. You know, this is anything wrong? I said, no, nothing's wrong. I just gotta go. Right. So I I I left, I got in my truck, left, went home, and on the way there, on the way to my house, the Lord says, Not only is she gonna be your wife, but you're gonna ask her to marry you soon. Right? Okay, I I didn't I hardly even, we didn't know each other, right? Uh-huh. But there, there it is, laid out. Just God was that bold with me. You're talking about boldness. Yeah, yeah. God was that bold with me. And so then uh I'm I go straight to my room and I'm I'm sitting in my bed and I'm bouncing off the walls. I'm literally bouncing off the walls. And so, what do you mean? I don't even know her. My youth pastor says we should get to know each other, uh someone that you're interested in for at least two years to get to know them before you even know who they are, right? So as that happened, uh I knew that sooner or later I was going to come to that question, right? And I needed to do it soon. Because here we go again, what I just said a little while ago. To not do it would be into be in disobedience to what the Almighty has for me, right? Or his plans that are much bigger than I even knew, right? So then it wasn't too long after that that uh I saw her. Uh at that point I was a youth pastor. So at that moment, you know, I said, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna ask her to speak to my youth, right? Because, you know, I think she is she's got this uh charisma, right? And she's a spirit-filled uh girl who who can make an impact on them, right? This is what I'm thinking. And I said, and then I said, maybe I maybe that's the day that I'll pop that question. It was that. Had you been on a date yet? No. Ooh, no, no date. Uh I know that afterwards uh we we began that stage. So she, you know, how it happened was I got her into, you know, I told her, you know, can I talk to you after she gave the Sunday school lesson, right? Uh she went into the pastor's room, uh pastor's office, and I was there. I said, with the approval of the pastor, you know, and everything was well and good. And I says, I have to talk to you, you know. I says, no, I know I did a terrible job at the Sunday school lesson. I'm sorry I wasn't pre I wasn't prepared and I didn't know, you know, I it's not what I'm used to doing. I said, that's okay, that's fine. I it's something else that I have to say to you, right? And so uh I said, this is what happened. And the Lord told me that you were gonna be my wife. And what did she say? And she just she just kind of just stopped, right? And just she didn't say a word. She began crying, right? And I said, You don't even have to answer me right now. I know this is crazy. If you think I'm crazy, please, you know, tell the pastor, so you know, and I'll never speak to you again ever. This is not normal. I don't do these things, right? And sure enough, uh, she just, you know, she just kept quiet. Little did I know that the Lord had already spoken to her. Right. And she knew she's got this gift, right, in the prophetic, that she had already kind of it had kind of added up, and and she was not ready for anything like that, right? She was on her way to uh another country to be a missionary, you know, that they were she an opportunity had opened up for her and her parents, right? Her and her father to go to another country to minister and to also uh go to school and be educated in that country uh concerning ministry.
SPEAKER_00So I take it she didn't go.
SPEAKER_01No, she didn't. In fact, a few weeks later we started that dating process, and she spoke to me and told me all these things. And I said, You don't you you have to understand who I am. I says, I know you see this right now, but I wasn't like that. I have what did you say?
SPEAKER_00Who were you? I have a past. So tell us so so tell me about that.
SPEAKER_01Well, um, a few years back, uh round when I was 28, I uh before that, I was pretty lost, you know, pretty pretty out there, uh living, as they say, the V Vida Loca. A crazy life, right? Uh a lot of drinking. I I started drinking when I was about, I guess, early in my teens, maybe like 15, right around there. And I can t I continued that uh until about 28. So all that all those years, it was just basically that. I grew up up in Indiana and a steel town called Harbor, Indiana, and I was I was an only child. So I was always longing for affection. I was always longing for being a part of something. I didn't have a father figure, right? And uh my mother and grandmother are the ones that raised me. So in that, in that uh being raised up, I kind of saw that others had fathers and mothers, and and I was missing something. So I was trying, always trying to be a part of something. So I I chose uh a family, right? And it's like they became my best friends, and it was like a family to me, you know, it was like a family to me. The only thing with that was that their father was an alcoholic. And so that was something that was going on with not only the father, but also with the family. And so I the wrong, wrong crowd, wrong family. And uh as even though I treated them as my best friends and uh we we began doing a lot of of that. And so that I believe uh took away a lot of uh, you know, the Bible says that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and to destroy. Right. So that that kind of lacking that that uh father figure, father in the home, uh, you know, it affected, it affected me. So I began to uh have an insecurity and I began to uh have uh low self-esteem. And I began to uh just think that if I don't try for something, I don't do something, then I won't fail at it. So I had this fear of failure, and that kind of led into some procrastination, right? And then as that led into procrastination, you know, everything was kind of delayed, you know, delayed in in in my uh uh growing up, delayed in my education, delayed in in uh a lot of other things and relationships, and and so at the same time I was partying a lot, so I was kind of drinking that away. Drinking that away, wrong relationships and just uh pretty pretty empty life, you know. And then one day I was uh watching the TV, right? And I was surfing through trying to find some peace, right? I didn't know where to look at it. And as I was doing that, uh you know, I had a beer in my hand and and just drinking and just trying to lose my pain, right? Uh I had a lot of pain. And then all of a sudden, you know, I get to this channel, yeah, right, and it's these uh big, uh bulky, bodybuilder looking guys, and they're uh uh they're doing all these uh tricks, right? They're blowing up like water balloons or breaking ice big blocks of ice, and they're doing the all these stunts, right? And uh this one guy, his name is John Jacobs. I don't know if you know them, John Jacobs and the power team. Okay, yeah. So he begins to say, I know there's somebody out there that's listening to this. And he says, and you've been trying to put together your life, but you keep failing at it. It's he said, it's like uh a puzzle. You have uh all these pieces, and you think that if you get this piece, which is represents education, and this piece, which represents relationship, and this piece, which represents who you want to be, and all these things, and you and you you you got them right there, and they're they're coming together. And as you the picture is is the puzzle is is creating that picture, all of a sudden all the pieces just shatter like glass. He says, This is this is where you're at. He says, And what you need to do is surrender your life. Just like us just like a criminal uh surrenders, right? He picks up his hands, he says, and he surrenders to the police. He says, That's what you need to do. He says, You need to surrender your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. So you need to ask him for forgiveness for you know where you're at, your sins. We're all sinners. He says, and you need to give him that that day, Gabriel. That day I put the beer down, right? And as if I had a cup like this, you know, and I gave it to you, I handed it to you. I said, here. I told God, God, I says, I don't even I don't know who you are, I don't know, you know when but I I need I need you. I accept you. And I gave him life. So I gave him and he took it. He took what I gave him. And that that day I got on my knees and I prayed the sinner's prayer, and I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I had not slept peacefully for a long time, wrestling, uh impatient, moody. That day I slept like a baby, and that was the beginning of my transformation. From that point on, the beer or alcohol, the partying, the lifestyle, it all went away. So that was my decision right there, from being a a boy, immature, not knowing any better for himself, living a selfish, prideful life to becoming a man. And so that's where I began. From that point on, my my parents were had already been saved for about 10 years. So they were always praying for me. They were always inviting me to church, and I said, no, that's not for me. I'm not ready. And so as that changed, that moment changed in my life, I began to go into church. I began to, for the first time, this fatherless, fatherless young man, right, began to feel the love of a father where it says God is a father to fatherless and so to know that love where I had never had that love before it was the difference between night and day it was just I found it I found the the the gold I found the the the treasure I found the the truth right in in the love of God and when I found that I said everybody that I know and I don't know will have to know this they will have to just know what they're missing if they don't have this love of God that comes through Jesus Christ. So I guess that's where my my steps begin into ministry into knowing more wanting more hearing more doing more and it and hasn't stopped and so that is pretty much where where it began before I came across that that divine appointment with with my lovely wife right there.
SPEAKER_00Well and I want to I want to point out too right you're like hyped up and excited and your eyes are glistening and you know I can I can feel the the warmth radiating off your heart right and the courage and the boldness all that stuff you're describing right which is distinctly different than the boy who was listless unmotivated not pursuing education not taking chances you know trying to live a small controlled life right so totally totally different. The other thing that came up for me that I think is really important is it's been meaningful for me and and really only the last few years have I have I sort of captured this and part of it is being a dad right and we're going to go into your family in just a second is um you know as a father to my children like I only want the best I only want to love them. I want to provide for them I want to care for them I want to challenge them to be their best I want to hold them accountable to what they their commitments are just just all of it right that that we're my wife and I are are in it for our kids' good right but then when we think about God as a father it's the same thing but perfect and and more magical and and magnified than we could ever think right is like is he wants what's written on our heart. He wants what's best for us. He wants to lavish gifts and provision and opportunity and you know and opportunities to grow right and we don't grow without a little bit of pain right so life is broken and painful like we get to go through it but on the other side is is so much more. And so as we talk about father and a father's love you have six kids. That's right right four boys through two girls and you have five of them bunched all together pretty much between like 25 and 17 is 25 and 15 so a decade of lots of kids and then and then and then a break of about a dozen years.
SPEAKER_0112 years yes and then bing here comes Ari Safari and so you're completely less than 50 but you guys have a three year old at home. Yes he's actually three and a half right now and okay and we'll be four next year. All right so 42 months anybody listening no and uh yes it it is a a wonderful surprise that just showed up and so here we are you know how that happens right how that it's not in the water Sam. Yeah it's not it's not but but those waters are still good yes but uh I know that that we didn't expect Ari uh and so it was a gift from above and so we we uh we are so it's just in awe and wonder and just bewildered and that here we are at this stage of life right where you know most of the time this would be more the grandfather grandmother stage you know even way before that and you'll be in your mid-70s at graduation yeah I've thought about those things yeah and so so we're loving it it's kind of like almost going back in a sense you know to that time so that's what I want to ask you about right so you had five kids you know and you moved them through kind of a cohort like in in in a in a more traditional way right and so you I'm sure we learned a lot from kid one to in your case kid five you know I learned a lot between kid one and kid three so what is it like now kind of going back to the beginning of parenting like who who how do you be different with Ari than maybe you were with your first son well the first son is and the last son there's a similarity okay there's a similarity because 12 years have gone by and we've kind of like it it's it's it's kind of left the building the factory's closed all the plastic toys are gone no more diapers or wipes changing to it's all that's out of the house. Exactly and so all that has just rebirthed right I mean yes it's a new and we have a wonderful son now but it's everything that comes along with with that right so you know our our my stage in life right now is like wow you know do I have it in me to to to do and and so you know interesting we we God won't give you anything you can't handle saying right we were we were uh walking into a restaurant and and Jamie and I had Ari with me right with us and so uh and as we're walking in there's uh a couple an older couple that come out they're coming out we're going in and it's just oh you know look at that baby grandparents is is grandpa and grandma day and I and it hit me right like wait a minute here you know I'm going back you know and I'm gonna share with them that I'm the dad and this is the mom you know and so I did Jamie didn't stop me I went up there and said oh okay like I said yeah okay so we walk in so yeah it's like uh I'm dad you know I'm the dad here and and so you know what don't you want to give your children you know so I believe right now we're at that stage where we're like you know you can't have enough toys and you can't you know uh I guess we're sort of spoiling him babying him more so than than I think we did before in the past with with my others and I just because it's a different level it's a different different so different.
SPEAKER_00You know we've we've wrestled with that the whole spoiling of kids and um I don't know that I don't know that if your heart is in the right place as a parent that you can spoil them. Right? I think that um the world is so scary and so uncertain and so turbulent and and that for them to have a place of safety and love and acceptance and a place for them to try things on, you know, to act out and to learn and to be challenged and um you know our kids are we're just so inspired by our children and just how amazing and and and emotionally intelligent and grounded and and connected to God they just all of it like it's like they are so much further along in life than we were at their age and so um you know there's that that little voice in your head that says don't spoil them but I mean what would you know what would our father do for us everything.
SPEAKER_01Everything literally look exactly look at all the gifts that he's given us already and and so you know we look at uh the the the treasures of of of just what he's given us life period you know just life itself and and the gifts that come along with that and and and family and and uh children of course and and so you have all these God is a good God and he he he he is an a uh God of abundance and so his giving to us is sometimes immeasurable he has no limit but he knows how to give he knows when to give he knows when to hold back he knows how to be a father and he knows how to discipline us and so he doesn't stop. He's there all the time and I think you know one of the interesting things that that uh you said to me was when I asked you what what's what's the topic you know what's the subject and you said God leadership and service and I replied to you and I said well don't they all go together? I see them as all together right because if we're gonna be the the leader right the the the leader of our homes or the leader of our children the leader in our our our marriage then then you know we better do a good job. We better do the best we can and how much good can we do without God right without without the equation that God equation or that G equation then uh we're only limited.
SPEAKER_00You're kind of a claim symbol.
SPEAKER_01Yeah that's right that's right and so it goes back to the beginning as I see it's God leadership and service. In the beginning it wasn't that way. It was it was it was God gave uh man uh woman both male and female He gave them everything right put them in the garden he gave them what they were to eat He gave them uh what they were to do He said told them go and multiply right and hope have dominion manage what I've I've go to work set before you right and do it right and then came the the Father right so when when he breathed when when God breathed that spirit into man and made him a living being right he gave him his spirit as well he breathed into him and he there was no lack in them there was no lack in both of them they had it all and God walked with them in the cool of the day God spoke to them he if God walks then they were able to acknowledge his presence they were able to speak with him conversate with him he was there he was he was the one that put them together right he was the one that did pull out that rib out of Adam and and made uh a woman you know and and and and so they lacked nothing.
SPEAKER_00We're not good when we're alone Sam Right before we're men and we're alone and we're boys we we tend to make poor decisions.
SPEAKER_01Major poor decisions for me at least me too yeah so so when that happened God's spirit left man although he still had life he God's spirit left man the the I believe the breath the the fullness the ruach uh left him in that sense and then that deficit became now because of the fall right God said out you go right by the sweat of your bra you you'll live all the days of your life and woman you're gonna have these pains right so that began a a a generation that was different from them where they had that and so this the spirit of God right in us that's God with us Emmanuel right God with us is what what makes us you know who we were purposed to be right and since that was lost you could see right after that childbirth for Eve and and everything that happened after that was was dark it started to go bad right so then when that that happened then here comes Jesus right later on fast forward he he came to restore that right he came and he he came he and he he was the leader he was the representative he was he was the the one that was going to uh put these disciples together and they later on they would be apostles but he says I'm I've got to go right after his death burial and resurrection he says I've got to go but I'm not gonna leave you alone right I'm not gonna leave you orphans you know and when he said that he says I'm gonna say we talk about gifts of God I'm gonna send the gifts right the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is going to be your comforter right he's going to be your counselor yes he's going to lead you he's going to teach you and so that's that's the leader right there that's a leader and that spirit he says I'm gonna give to you so then when they're at Pentecost they you know being obedient to Jesus right here comes the mighty rushing wind right and that's where they began to be filled right with the Holy Spirit. And as they were filled with this the Holy Spirit it turns around it goes from upside down to right side up and and people began to receive the the Israel and those that were celebrating that Passover at that time you know began to to from different countries began to uh receive that spirit that once was missing that was missing from mankind to be who we were created to be so that spirit is what uh we need that's what the world needs that's the Holy Spirit is what we need to be who we were intended to be in the first place to be the leader to be the father to be the son to be whoever he's the man to be a man that's right and so I I that gentle Holy Spirit right speaks to us you know fills us rejuvenates us comforts us to be who we need to be as a man.
SPEAKER_00Yeah right so there's so many places I want to go and we'll probably have to bring this bring you back for another episode sometime in the future if you okay with that I'm great with okay okay so I'm still gonna ask a couple more questions we're not done yet but I think we're we're uh gonna get close here so uh we both have illuminated that that uh we had seasons in our lives where we were boys so there are people listening today who are man childs right they're maybe successful business people folk or men maybe they're in college you know this works for women as well right but we are no longer under our parents' roofs we're in the world making our own way but we're living as really children so what would you say Sam to that pre-28 year old Sam how would you invite somebody to take a step towards becoming an adult I would say to them that there's a there's a a moment where you have to accept where you are you have to accept that there's something more to accept even if you have the career or you or the education or things that that seem good not that they're bad they're they're good but there's still something missing something bigger something bigger the the the deficit is where there and you know it you know there's a void and you don't know how to fill it you don't know how to get to that grand purpose of your life and I know that I know that when I looked at my life and I tried to fill it with things that we think is the American dream.
SPEAKER_01Things of the world things of the world that that that's the success that's the uh place of arrival and we come to know that through truth if you if you look at yourself and say hey it it's not it I have it and it's not it I'm still an empty I know there's more should I take on something else should I do this do that go here. I've climbed the ladder to get to the top and realize it's leaning against the wrong wall exactly exactly I said I say to you today that there's no no better way than to fill that gap that deficit that emptiness that loneliness that that struggle that even the the addictions that I had that come along in in this life can be can be gone. All that can shift all that can change if you accept the love of God and that love of God only comes it says Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but through me. And yes you know maybe you've heard this before maybe maybe you know someone who's shared the gospel the kingdom uh uh uh to you the kingdom of God but you haven't accepted it you say no I don't think that's it I'm not ready I'm telling you you're not gonna find it in in nothing else you can search the world over and try different things and you will still end up with an emptiness because that void that emptiness is for God to live to abide inside of you that's the emptiness that that happened when Adam and Eve uh fell into temptation and they they wanted to be like God and it it's impossible to be God but he had already the the the devil deceived them because they had already been that we were made we're all made in God's image and in God's likeness. So the the the feeling of his spirit the feeling of accepting Christ into your heart the the feeling that recognizing that hey you know I'm without God if I'm without God then I am a sinner and I need to repent because I've been living for all the wrong reasons. I've been living for myself I've been living to please others I've been living to get something well it's the wrong reason. God is love and he loves you with an overwhelming love and he cares for you and he wants to live inside of you can you get that reality he wants to live inside of you and walk with you one of the greatest things that I enjoy every day of my life is when I wake up I don't do it all the time but I I I lay there and I I have to be in silence for a while accepting his that he's there whether I feel him or I don't feel him but when I feel him let me tell you I reverence him and I I I encounter his his companionship I encounter his love his passion for for me right and so he loves you and he he wants this relationship with you. Will you open your heart today? Will you accept him into your heart and tell him Lord come into my life forgive my my sins I want to live as A whole person as a complete individual. I want to live the life. I want to be the leader that I was created to be in the first place.
SPEAKER_00So let's do it, Sam. Right? There's somebody listening today. Yes. Like you've just you've answered the mail, right? But we're we're kind of one step short, right? You know, you you you you said over there is the answer, right? But let's just bring the answer right here. Amen. So for the audience, right? For anybody that this is resonating with, which hopefully is all of you, right? But anybody who's who hasn't accepted Christ, right? That you've got that void, you've got that hole, you've got that gap, you've got that longing, you've got that addiction, that thing that continues to show up that causes you to stumble, right? The the sabotage in your own life that causes you to blow things up, right? Whether it's unworthiness, abuse, damage, addiction, you know, self-loathing, you know, shopping, whatever, whatever it is, how we numb, how we check out, how we look for for fulfillment somewhere other than there's a prayer.
SPEAKER_01Amen.
SPEAKER_00Right? Right. So my invitation here, Sam, is if you would to the audience, if you need to pull over or stop or you know, stop multitasking for a second, Sam's gonna lead us through a prayer here. And it's very simple. Yes. And uh it's the first step. So, Sam, would you please?
SPEAKER_01Let's pray. Father, I come to you in no other name than the name of Jesus Christ. If you would repeat after me, forgive my sins. Forgive my sins. Wash me. Wash me. Cleanse me. Cleanse me. Make me whiter than snow. Make me whiter than snow. Lord, I accept you as my Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_00Lord, I accept you as my Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_01Into my life. Into my life. Right now. Right now. From this moment.
SPEAKER_00From this moment.
SPEAKER_01And I confess. And I confess that you are Lord. That you are Lord. You are King.
SPEAKER_00You are King.
SPEAKER_01You are the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00You are the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01Who died?
SPEAKER_00Who died?
SPEAKER_01Was buried.
SPEAKER_00Was buried. And resurrected.
SPEAKER_01And now you're at the right hand of the Father. At the right hand of the Father. Intercessing. For me.
SPEAKER_00For me.
SPEAKER_01Lord, thank you for your love.
SPEAKER_00Lord, thank you for your love.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for your plan. Thank you for your plan. I accept it today.
SPEAKER_00I accept it today.
SPEAKER_01And all the days of my life. I will serve you.
SPEAKER_00I will serve you.
SPEAKER_01Help me. Help me. Holy Spirit. Come inside of me. Come inside of me. And lead me. And lead me. Teach me. Teach me. Comfort me. And show me all that I need to see. Show me all that I need to see. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well done, brother. This is green.
SPEAKER_00Um hard to follow that up, but any last words you'd like to share with the audience?
SPEAKER_01Well, I just want to say thank you, Gabriel. Okay. For this moment. I think that we encounter his spirit right now. And that he's going to do all that he wants to do through through you. You know, because your heart. We see your heart. I've seen your heart. Shortly uh uh not that long ago, right, we spoke, we were sitting in your dining room, right? And uh I wanna I want to tell you that I I see what God wants to do in in glimpses, and I've shared that with you and and Christy and the family. And I'm so excited for you. I'm so excited what God is doing. This is from the bottom of my heart, you know, that that uh great things are are going to uh great exploits, as I said before, are are before you and your family, your loving family. And and thank you for this opportunity to to share. And uh I look forward to it whenever it comes up again.
SPEAKER_00Well you're welcome, and I accept that, and thank you. And uh, although we're unworthy, we will do our best uh be the hands and feet.
SPEAKER_01That's another gift, his his grace, his mercy, right? So we're in good hands.
SPEAKER_00We are the best hands. That's right. All right, the eternal hands. Amen. All right. Well, hey, you know, what an episode. Sam Trevino, thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for your authenticity, thank you for your heart, thank you for your surrender to God and walking out your walk and sharing that with us here today. Uh wonderful you're at that uh that cane scene era and saw a beautiful girl in a flower dress spinning around and the world spun. And and uh it's it's amazing the way God will get our attention sometimes. Right, right. And uh for a young man, that's oftentimes a pretty girl. Oh my god, but we're we're better for with our with our beautiful bride.
SPEAKER_01So all glory and honor to him, yes.
SPEAKER_00Um I know there's somebody in your life that this episode that that prayer is specifically for. So take a moment, drop it into a text, forward this to them so that they have the opportunity to hear this, to hear Sam, to hear his journey, his humility and his commitment to service and uh and the invitation that awaits. And so uh so honored you're here. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you for sharing, thank you for committing and being part of the community. I'm Gabriel Grease, your host of the Navigating Leaders Podcast, where you awaken your vision and live boldly. Until next time, God bless.