And let's kinda see where he leads. Heather took that to the next level and she was like, hey, let's reach out to this person that owns this home that's not even for sale and see what they say.
Speaker 2:And probably now, more than ever, you realize how many problems can be solved with a snack and a nap. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I like to meditate on this idea of what would my life look like if I could live one day without fear.
Speaker 1:I don't wanna be just a human doing. I wanna human being.
Speaker 2:I always tell people that, like, I pray for God to humble me quickly and privately.
Speaker 1:Yeah. There you go.
Speaker 2:Yep. Welcome to the Think in Cursive podcast. I'm Brandon Leonard, I'm so excited to share with you my circle of interesting people and conversation. Please like, subscribe, and share your comments along the way. It helps our little channel more than you know.
Speaker 2:Alright. Here we go. Tyler Wilkes, thank you so much for being here today on the Think in Cursive podcast. I'm excited to have you on. Like I was saying off camera, I think the world of you.
Speaker 2:I think that, you got a heart, you got a message, and you're doing good things out here, and I'm glad to, I wanna have you on and catch up, man. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Thanks, Brandon. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Well, what's new with you? Right? What are you working on? Did I just see that you were doing like a... You do...
Speaker 2:Been doing a lot of rides, cycling, raising money?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Tell me about that.
Speaker 1:So, you know, I'm I'm in this role, started this new job in January in this role of raising support for an organization I work with. And all of my approaches led me to frustration, and I got to the point one... At one point where I was just like, you know what? I told my wife, I'm gonna go for a bike ride. I hadn't been riding our...
Speaker 1:We had our newest baby born back in May. And so we got three kids at home, and I was just struggling. And and I was like, I just gotta get out. So went on my bike and I was just praying. I was like, Lord, I need I need something that I can put my hands to, that I can put some hard work into, that is gonna provide me, you know, the ability to to maybe gain some support or gain...
Speaker 1:Just get the word out about what we're doing, and do it in a creative way. And as I'm sitting on my bike riding, sweating, feeling better already, I'm just like, oh. It was like a Homer Simpson like go kinda moment where I was just like, okay. Like, let me let me just put this out there and, you know, you know, the Lord just downloads that creativity sometimes. I think when we put ourselves in a space where we're ready to receive it.
Speaker 1:And so I was clearing my mind and I had just been praying about it, and and it was just like this concept of writing to redeem. And a lot of my passion behind and my why behind what I do is my own mental health struggles in my teenage years And just trying to help any student, any young person that I can to get out of that and find some freedom in that, that's what I was writing for. And that's not even really technically what our organization does, but that's just my why behind it.
Speaker 2:Well, tell us what your... What organization... What you guys are kinda doing right now in the schools.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I work for an organization called First Priority. We take the hope of Christ to every student, and that's our goal. And in our region, we have about 54 schools that we're targeting and with about 75,000 students. And what we do is we partner with churches to train adults and students to help them launch school clubs on their campuses so that their...
Speaker 1:Those students can share their faith with their friends. And we provide tools and we provide a strategy for that. And so that's just kinda... That's the the what and kinda the mechanism of it. But really, the reality of it is just the amount of students that struggle with mental health.
Speaker 1:That's that's my why. Do you see... Now you worked with...
Speaker 2:That's different from your previous, like, you had a bicycle ministry. Right? Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Years ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So years ago, my buddy and I, we were we were trying to just kinda figure things out and just... We were like, man, we we worked together. We were in a t shirt shop working together. He was in the design side of it. I was in the production side of it.
Speaker 1:And both of us just had a passion for cycling, we also had a passion for the Lord. And so we had this idea to take in bikes and fix them up and make them like single speed bikes even if they had gears and stuff. Because what we would see is people around where we lived would be riding bikes around, and they were horrible quality or if they had gears, they were having trouble shifting them and they were locking up on them. And so anybody that had a need, we wanted to be able to give a bike to them fixed up and also just kind of share the hope of Christ with them as well. And so it was called Recycle Bicycle Ministry.
Speaker 1:From that, we were just like, well, we don't know anything about nonprofit work, so let's start a company. And it ended up not working very well. And so it was it was a big lesson, think, for both of us. But we kind of shifted gears there and the recycle side of it kinda fell apart. And it was kinda just like, well, you know, what do you do?
Speaker 1:Shift the Yeah.
Speaker 2:There you go. Right? Well, as you've had a passion for really serving kids and helping out, and I cannot imagine going through school these days. I mean, I had a pretty wild, dysfunctional middle school and high school myself. And Yeah.
Speaker 2:In this, I don't know, post COVID world, the kids just... They're up against different challenges that we know. And Yeah. It's weird.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. It really is strange. I think that a lot of it has to do with social media, you know, in the world that you and I grew up in. We weren't trying to be in this constant performance mindset of I've gotta get the post.
Speaker 1:I've gotta try and connect to people. I've gotta try and get the the attention of this influencer or that one. And so I feel like where students think that they're connecting with people online and in groups and, you know, on their Xbox or whatever, it's not real human connection. Like it it... It's supplemental for sure.
Speaker 1:Like you can feel that community with those people. But if you don't have human connection, then you're missing that big piece. And not to mention the Internet's just a dangerous place, especially for kids. And so what I found in my own life is being one connected to Christ and having a relationship with Jesus and with a savior that I knew loved me, but also having a strong community in church really is what helped me, just kinda stay, honestly, on this earth, I think, in some instances through those tough times. And so that's kind of what I want to, through our organization now, provide for students.
Speaker 2:I can't imagine. Yeah. I just can't imagine. You know, when I was growing up, you know, yeah, AOL came on the CD.
Speaker 1:Right. You know? Yeah. And then I remember those days.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And then you had to tie up the phone line to get on the Internet. Right? Right. And then we were downloading songs and and Yep.
Speaker 2:The the beginning of the collapse. But, yeah, I remember being in chat rooms when I was in eighth grade, you know, talking with my friends. And now it's a... It seems like a whole different world out there. And and that you were saying, you know, virtual communication or community versus actual, you know, actual community.
Speaker 2:And the majority of the communication is virtual now. Right. And that is spooky.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It really is. It's How many times have you sat on a Zoom call and realized that you're not even actually looking at a person, you're looking at a picture of a person or a video of a person that's live? You know?
Speaker 2:You know, I... After COVID, I gotta be honest with you. I I got so sick of Zoom calls Yeah. And virtual meetings. I mean, we still had a group that got together every Saturday despite, you know, everybody, you know, being locked down.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And... But then they closed the gym, and I was like, that was the last straw. You know?
Speaker 1:Right. But,
Speaker 2:yeah, Zoom calls, I got so burnt out on them. And it's so funny. I was like, you know what? I'm just not gonna do a Zoom call. If anybody wants to get up, I'll meet with them in person.
Speaker 2:And and then ironically, I'm doing this podcast, which is just a big Zoom call, you know, with other people. But you and I are here. But we're in person, but everybody to you. I've had a lot of people ask, well, can you just... You know, can we do remote?
Speaker 1:I'm like, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm I'm done with the Zoom calls. Yeah. I'm like, that kinda defeats the purpose. I wanna have a face to face conversation and Yeah. I don't know.
Speaker 2:Maybe learn to listen to each other a little bit. Yeah. Well, so you're cycling all over the place. You've got this history and passion with bikes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And serving kids, serving the Lord. You're also a dad of three young kids.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Husband and dad. And you working out of the house?
Speaker 1:As much as little as possible, actually. I tried it. Yeah. But once our son was born, you know, I lost all the space Yeah. To be able to to have that room and, you know, and I don't wanna be working when I'm at home.
Speaker 1:Like, I wanna be hanging out with my kids. And so when I would do that, I'd find myself getting interrupted when I shouldn't have probably, when I should have been in work mode. So fortunately, the church that we're at, they they have offered space for me to kind of co work out of. And so I'm in this really big, almost kitchen looking area. And so they let us use the Internet and provided that space for us.
Speaker 1:I'm I'm really grateful for that.
Speaker 2:Well, I know you're a busy guy, and you've got a lot of demands. So I appreciate you carving out your time to come hang out and do this thing and catch up. You know? Let me ask you this. How are you staying playful these days?
Speaker 2:I mean, I guess you said earlier, you know, cycling just makes you feel alive.
Speaker 1:Yeah. For sure. I mean, I think that it's kind of shifted to playing with my kids. I think, like, once you have children and they're small, you realize that everything that they learn is through play. And, like, you kind of fight the the drift.
Speaker 1:I think as as adults, we wanna kind of disconnect sometimes. And at least for me, like I struggle with, you know, sometimes the amount of play being a little bit exhausting and I wanna just kind of disengage. But at that age, like, they need it so much. And so really for me, embracing playing with my kids and doing goofy voices and, you know, saying dumb things, making, you know, fart sounds and stuff even though now they do it. And I don't want them to in some of the context that they do.
Speaker 1:But, you know, I think that's really kind of how it shifted for me. But also finding that group of friends that I can just hang out with. No agenda, you know, not meeting to try and do anything except just spend time together. I met with a buddy yesterday. We just went to go grab coffee, and he was like, hey.
Speaker 1:You wanna go, like, walk around instead? And I'm like, like a date? But it was just... It was awesome because instead of sitting down across from a table trying to have a conversation in a loud coffee shop, we actually went and drove a little bit and walked on a trail and just talked that way. And I was like, man, this is exactly what I needed.
Speaker 1:You know? I think that we... You know, something that I always repeat to myself is like, don't wanna be just a human being or... Sorry, a human doing. I wanna be a human being.
Speaker 1:You know? That that human doing we wanna get in that mindset of always being on the grind, always looking for the next opportunity, the next connection. Especially like in nonprofit world, like, I don't ever wanna view conversations or people as the next person that's gonna potentially be a supporter. That's the trap I think that a lot of nonprofits fall into sometimes. Like, I just wanna have genuine connections and hear people's stories.
Speaker 1:And so kind of in that, having that playfulness of like, man, I just wanna discover who this person is, you know, and hang out with my friends, play with my kids. Every now and then go ride my bike. I actually, like, from that bike ride, I had borrowed a friend's bike and I was not fit properly for it. And the last ride I did was the one that you actually called me on. But I was, like, 62 miles.
Speaker 1:And towards the end of the ride, was like, man, my shifter on my left hand is broken. Well, turns out that I had, like, done some nerve damage to my hand. And so I've, like, taken a break until I'm healed up with with riding. But
Speaker 2:Oh, from being on it
Speaker 1:too? Yeah. Just... I was on it for so long just in the same position and trying to move around, but the bike was just... If it's not fit for your body and your dimensions, then it just wears on you.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Those long rides get real painful.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I was just like, wow. That was dumb, but it was for a good cause.
Speaker 2:Yeah. We... It is magical just being on a bike and being away from your phone again. All the activities that I I love to spend time do. I I don't know.
Speaker 2:I try to just shape my day around intentional disengagement from the phone.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, whether it's playing music, you know, get in the sauna, jujitsu, skateboarding. All things you can't do while, you know, on the phone. Yeah. It's funny how my my good buddy, Vaughn, he he worked with Verizon, with Steve Jobs to help implement the iPhone when it launched back in the day and how that was a big part of his resume. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And now he sees the damage of social media and the constant notifications. Mean He's like, yeah. It's... You know, the best thing we can do is pry it away from ourselves and disengage from that. But, yeah, you know, you talked about the, you know, disengagement in the, you know, the workspace for...
Speaker 2:In the nonprofit space. But I... You know, I I might even say that's just a human nature thing. Right? We we all wanna just kinda...
Speaker 2:You know, when we recognize patterns, right, we think we know the outcome already because we've seen this setup and allows us to kinda shift mentally. Yeah. But, yeah, I mean, it's it's like a perpetual... It's like a gravity, you know, to just kinda check out.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So Absolutely. The drift.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's that's... If nothing else, I think that this is something that this space, this meeting space can do. Yeah. It's just, I don't know, put us in a room together and see what happens.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I've I've found that genuine connectivity and people actually just having conversations is more appealing because you're... You feel like included in that, and it is like a break from the loudness and the amount of information that is being thrown at us nowadays. And it... Like like you said, like, it just forces you to just kinda slow down.
Speaker 1:And that's why I love podcasts in general just because I'm able to hear people connect and talk over something that they're passionate about.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And we're not really sponsored by anything here. Not selling anything. Right?
Speaker 1:Yeah. You're gonna have you're not gonna have the ad breaks. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, it's funny you say that because I am I am thinking about my friends' businesses that I believe in. You know? Taking ads from companies that wouldn't align with me just doesn't sound... I mean, I I have a day job. You know?
Speaker 2:So this is just kinda for fun. Yeah. Kinda curiosity play for me, really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Let me ask you this. When you're trying to help kids in the, you know, middle school or high school age space, how do you model or teach or introduce just kinda healthy socialized, I don't know, healthy gatherings? What do you... Because I feel like kids...
Speaker 2:You know, we've all met the I... The iPad kids the COVID kids that
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Can't seem to look you in the eye Yeah. And listen to you Yeah. Or communicate what they want or how they're feeling or what's going on. Right.
Speaker 1:You know? For me, creating... If if there's an environment that I'm inviting students to, I want them to know that they're seen, and that it's a safe environment for them. I can't tell you how many times I've walked into spaces or conversations or confrontations whereas like I don't feel safe and so I'm not gonna let my guard down. You know?
Speaker 1:And I think that there's a lot of aspects to that. I was a youth pastor for six and a half years, and so I was always thinking about not just... And you would see like... It was crazy. You would see different types of students come through in different seasons.
Speaker 1:So you would have the kids that were all about sports. They were on the sports teams and you would start to see them kind of come up in middle school because that's all they talked about. That's all they cared about. That's all that they shared about. You know, that was what was on their heart.
Speaker 1:And then they would start to get into high school and we'd make a shift, more activities and stuff. And then you have this group that is all about gaming. Right? And they... Whether it's board games or, know, anime or whatever, that's that's what they focused on.
Speaker 1:And it's like you start to notice, oh, this safe space is not gonna be the same in a few years for these students. How do we adapt and kind of create that? And also like just consistency too. Like having somebody that you know when you show up somewhere they genuinely care about you and they're not just trying to get something out of you. To me that's kind of that fosters...
Speaker 1:I don't know if that really answers your question, but, you know, kinda fosters that, genuine feel and also just that that connection.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. I'm just curious. You know, I... My kids are little.
Speaker 2:And before I had kids, I didn't really know how to interact a whole lot with toddlers. I've got some nieces and nephews, so I've gotten more confident over the years.
Speaker 1:But Yeah.
Speaker 2:I didn't always grow around... Grow up around babies. You know? So first of all, you know, I I quit drinking, and then I had to learn how to have fun without drinking. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:You know? And then we had kids, and I had to learn how to not just, you know, play with play with my kids and and and also enjoy life with all of the burdens and the chaos. Right. And, you know, I feel like you get that more than anybody that I've had on this thing because we're in the same season with with little kids.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I don't know, man. Nobody talked about how crazy that ride really can be with, you know, the baby blues, postpartum stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I think especially, like, as men, we don't talk about it Yeah. A lot of times. And I don't know why. It's just kind of a weird thing, I guess, guys who are just like, well, you know, I'm struggling with this, struggling with that.
Speaker 1:I don't know. Maybe it's just feelings and stuff. But yeah. I mean, it really is... You you have to...
Speaker 1:Like, I found in my own self that kids showed me how selfish I am and how mentally unhealthy at first I was. And so I... Having kids actually forced me to do a real deep dive on my own, you know, mental health and my own reactions and my own maturity, like emotional maturity, you know, because I'd find myself getting frustrated at dumb things, but it's like, wow, I'm not getting any sleep. I'm not eating well. But, yeah, to find people that are in that season as well with you, and just be like, hey, I have a kid that's throwing poop everywhere.
Speaker 1:Nope. Nothing ever prepares you for that. I didn't experience it myself. Thank the Lord. But I've known friends that have had children that were poop picassos, you know?
Speaker 1:Yeah. And it's just like the... It's like nothing in the real world actually prepares you for parenting. Yeah. You just...
Speaker 1:Sometimes you just have to go through it and have people that you can go through the mess with together.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Sure exposes your sensitivities.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah. Yeah. But, yeah, I was like you. I... I'd never changed a diaper before.
Speaker 1:I changed my oldest daughter's first diaper, and I was just like, I don't know what to do with my hands. You know? Yeah. One of those situations.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, you know, because my kids are small, now I kinda feel like that to some extent. You know, when I hang out with family that's... Or, like, family that's got middle school kids, You know? It's harder to relate to middle middle middle school kids and even high school kids
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because I just hadn't been in that season as a parent yet. Right. You know? I'm not... So I don't know.
Speaker 2:I just wonder about the long term, you know, the the residual COVID effects Yeah. Or just the interruption in community and communication and
Speaker 1:Yeah. I mean, we're already seeing some statistics start to come out that, like, this generation is struggling because of that season, and understandably. Right? Just to go from being able to play and have fun with your friends and have those connections to now all classes online. You gotta look at a teacher.
Speaker 1:Like, you know,
Speaker 2:talk to be afraid of getting sick and
Speaker 1:dying. Yeah. Yeah. And just the the fear around it absolutely just kinda shifted a lot of things, I think. But, you know, kids are also resilient.
Speaker 1:And I think that if we're intentional with how we approach kids that are that age and went through that season, some of them are adults now, have graduated and if we have some patience with them and understand kind of that season of life that they were trying to grow up in, but also just be that genuine person in their lives too. I think that it can really start to heal some of that and and reverse some of some of the damage from that that season for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, it's really cool to see people that have had personal afflictions with just tough childhood or or, you know, we've all had some kind of trauma. We've all been, you know, banged up in some way, but to turn around, heal in that area, and then help people get through their... You know, if they're walking through a similar struggle, you know, that's what it's all about, man. And I feel like that can...
Speaker 2:You know, nobody's really lost if they can over... Not if, but when they overcome whatever their challenge may be, I think that we gain authority in that space Absolutely. In that topic. You know?
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's one thing to to explain something that you have read about in a textbook and say, oh, yeah. This is how you heal through this. This is how you go through this, and this is how you overcome it. But to actually experience it Yeah.
Speaker 1:Absolutely is a whole other thing. And it's like... It's kind of like a how to guide versus like, actually, I don't know what the other option would be there, but, you know, actually having a person that isn't just reading from an instruction manual, but they're like, hey, I live this. It's like a memoir almost, you know? And you know that there's a lot more, like like, cred Yeah.
Speaker 1:When... I haven't used that word in a long time. It felt weird. There's a lot more cred though when somebody's been through something and you can... They can look back on their lives and be like, hey, this is how I got through it.
Speaker 1:This is how I overcame it, and this is how I'm victorious now.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I see you. You're not alone. Yeah. And it's gonna be okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And probably now, more than ever, you realize how many problems can be solved with a snack and a nap. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yep. Maybe a walk outside.
Speaker 2:You
Speaker 1:know? Yep. Yep. It's so funny. I'd, every time I read through the story of Elisha in running away from Jezebel and he's like, my life is over.
Speaker 1:Just take take me, Lord. An angel approaches him and says, hey. Have a snack and a nap.
Speaker 2:That's right. That's right.
Speaker 1:That's that's how you overcome that. Divine wisdom right there. Absolutely. Sometimes that's all we need.
Speaker 2:Yep. Slow down. Yeah. As we talked about that ruthless elimination of hurry book. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Such a big impactful message to me. It's just slow down. It's a walk. It's not a race. Yep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man. I like that. I... It's funny talking to you makes me wanna go ride my bike that's been hanging up in my garage for four years.
Speaker 1:I need to get it on mine too.
Speaker 2:And now I know that you could fix bikes.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Oh, well, you know.
Speaker 2:I wanna get a little clunker mountain bike to strap one of those little kid seats on so I can take my my girl Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right on the mountain
Speaker 2:bike. Yeah.
Speaker 1:The top post there. Yeah. Those are awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I'm gonna be looking for one.
Speaker 1:Yeah. We found... With our kids, we found a little two seater trailer. Nice. And so as my wife was in the throes of pregnancy and miserable and stuff, I'd take take our two older kids out, and we would just ride around the neighborhood and Nice.
Speaker 1:Yep, and just fly down the hills probably faster than I should have. But...
Speaker 2:I bet they loved it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. They did.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Oh, we grew up. We had three wheelers and we had bicycles, three wheelers, and, eventually, four wheelers. But, yeah, they... I mean, we rolled those things.
Speaker 2:You know? Probably not as young as your kids, but Yeah. Maybe six, seven. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that's when my dad got the three wheelers.
Speaker 1:Nice. And
Speaker 2:I think we learned every way that we could roll a three wheeler. And it's funny because he was in... Or he is in Southern Illinois. It's pretty flat.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, but there was this one hill. We... My brother and I made a game out of, like, who can make it up the hill on the three wheeler? And it has no front brakes.
Speaker 1:So
Speaker 2:it's back brakes only. So you're going up. And if you lose traction, then you start to go backwards. If you hit the gas, you're gonna flip. Right.
Speaker 2:If you hit the brakes, you're gonna flip. Yeah. So you got... You either gotta make it or you gotta try to successfully roll backwards down a three wheeler. Wild.
Speaker 2:Yeah. There was a lot. I can't believe we never hurt anything too bad.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. A lot of shooting too.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah? That's nice. Yeah. I grew up in the suburbs, I wouldn't... If I did either of those things, I probably would have been arrested in trouble with the law.
Speaker 1:So
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, kids are riding around on those ebikes like crazy. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And it goes so fast, and they're silent.
Speaker 2:You don't hear them coming. Yeah. I wonder how long this is gonna last.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, at the same time, though, at least they're out doing some risky things, hopefully learning a little bit.
Speaker 2:That's true.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Playing in traffic's a little bit different.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I'm more worried about the traffic aspect. A buddy of mine from college just got out of the hospital. He was hit by a car on his bicycle. Scary stuff, man.
Speaker 2:I used to ride... I used to cycle a lot on road bikes in college, and
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I moved up here and did a little bit. But, you know, when I wanted to train, it was, like, 60 miles on the week... You know, longer rides on the weekends. Yeah. It just eats up so much time.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not realistic for me in this season of life. But Yeah. Maybe when I slow down a little bit more. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Just don't ride down here.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, mean, my father-in-law goes up to, like, Cartersville.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. There's... It's it's kinda crazy because, you know, we moved from down in this area up north a little bit and more in the mountains. And I ride around on the roads and people were getting over the other side of the road just to pass me waving.
Speaker 1:I'm just like,
Speaker 2:what is this place?
Speaker 1:This is not what I remember because I was down here riding. People were honking at me, cussing me out, trying to run... Literally trying to run me off the road when it was a four lane road. I'm just like, oh, man. This is not it.
Speaker 1:But I wasn't married at the time either. And so now my wife is like, you are not doing that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think wives probably keep us from making some silly decisions sometimes. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. They raise our life expectancy for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. What what... You guys got any fun trips lined up in the next, I don't know, year or two? Anything you're looking forward to?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Nothing right now. We're trying to trying to figure out life with three. So, you know, we're just trying to... What we found recently, though, we did a day trip to Dahlonega several months back and it was just a nice...
Speaker 1:Like we left in the morning, we went and grabbed breakfast somewhere and then went to lunch. We love to go places and just eat food. Like that's... We'll spend 55 to $100 a night if we have to on a place to sleep and spend $400, you know, in food if we go somewhere. But...
Speaker 1:Yeah. So we'll just take those day trips and take the kids with us and it's a lot it's a lot more chill than taking them on vacation because something that I would say all the time with other parents is like, it's just parenting in other locations with vacations. So Yeah. So we're gonna let our kids get a little older, and we'll start traveling with them again. But, yeah, we're just really loving those day trips.
Speaker 1:So I'm sure we'll find some other small town within an hour and a half, two hours, and spend the day there and then come back, be back by dinner. So
Speaker 2:Oh, there's so many things to do. And, I mean, here in Atlanta, you can do anything. I mean, my father-in-law took ours to the butterfly exhibit Oh, yeah. Chattahoochee and, you know, with the zoos and the aquariums and the parks. We've got so many awesome parks here.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I've been trying to get my daughter comfortable on the skateboard, so she'll come with me to the skate park at Swift Cantrell.
Speaker 1:There you go.
Speaker 2:That would be cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's a good park too.
Speaker 2:It is. We never had skate parks like that growing up. We just jumped off curbs downtown and... Nice. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's nice until you're, you know, you're 16 and you're out with your buddies at night skateboarding, and then somebody puts a gun in your face and tries to steal your car.
Speaker 1:Not nice.
Speaker 2:It's great that there's a skate park now. It's nice and lit up. I was like, yeah, that would have been that would have been good growing up.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I think that the outdoor sports community in general geared towards kids is in such a better place than it was when we grew up because it was kinda the same. Now we had we had had a... There was a skate park that they had built probably when I was like a teenager and it was starting to really take off. But other than that, yeah.
Speaker 1:Now it's like, especially out here, you get mountain bike parks. Yeah. They've got they've got events for little kids. I've thought about taking our son, our middle son, and... Because he loves his Strider bike.
Speaker 1:Like, I'll go on on the trail, and he'll just take off, and he's just a natural on it. He was bombing hills at like 2.5, and we're like freaking out thinking that he's gonna crash and really hurt himself. When he gets to the bottom of the hill, he just looks back, smiles, and walks his bike up the hill, you know? But, they have... There...
Speaker 1:There's even events for, like, little kids now where you can do races. So I'm just That's pretty cool. Yeah. I'm like, what a neat way to find community.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And especially as a parent, you know, for the kids, it's just fun. But then you meet other parents that have kids the same age, same interests,
Speaker 2:and so You ever done one of those pump tracks?
Speaker 1:Yes. I'm not good at pump tracks.
Speaker 2:I never... I didn't never really ride mountain bikes or anything. I'd like to get a mountain bike, but I was learning about pump tracks for skateboards too. That sounds
Speaker 1:pretty seen some of those. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Now I don't know if there's one in Atlanta or not. But I'm sure there's one somewhere.
Speaker 1:They're putting things up everywhere.
Speaker 2:I've been trying to slowly explore all the skate parks in Atlanta, which has been kinda fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's cool.
Speaker 2:Even though I'm, like, the most, you know, pathetic skateboarder
Speaker 1:out there.
Speaker 2:The trick is you don't go at night in the prime time when all of, like, the studs are out there because the kids are so good these days. We call it trickflation.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Like, everybody's so good. It's true.
Speaker 1:Well, they have... There's no there's no risk involved also. I I did the same thing a few years ago. I got another skateboard and I was like, I'm just gonna jump back on this thing. Like, I haven't aged at all, but I was like 40 to 50 pounds heavier than when I was skating in middle school and, you know, my knees were that much older.
Speaker 2:Oh,
Speaker 1:yeah. And I'm just like... And so so much has changed and you have to refigure it all out. Mhmm. And, I was like...
Speaker 1:And I was like, I just wanted to land a kickflip again. That's all I wanna do. But I can't do it now.
Speaker 2:Well, I did learn from skateboarding, and I I like to do the sunrise thing. So I get out there, nobody's out there. It's dark. I get all padded up, and then I I ride around the bowls a whole lot. I I skate the whole park, but I'm not I'm not chasing rails or stairs or gaps.
Speaker 2:I'm just... My coolest trick is not getting hurt.
Speaker 1:There you go.
Speaker 2:You know? And I ride... But it's so fun just, like, learning how to get... You know, fly out of the bowl and land and roll out of it and get up high on the wall and, you know, do things, you know, backside, front side. You know?
Speaker 2:There's no performance metric to
Speaker 1:it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'm not on my phone. Right. You know? So I'm like, I don't know. And do think there's something to that element of of being hyper present and and the physical awareness required to not bust your ass.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, also, there's a little bit of fear.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I like to have a daily toad... I mean, maybe not a daily, but at least a weekly taste of that fear.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I don't know. It just makes me feel alive. And, you know, like I said, I quit drinking. So, like, that's kinda the the next best thing is have, you know, just complete... Completely pure play.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's... Feel like it's such a good stress relief. Like Yeah. Or when the kids and the wife are out of the house, and I I I just wail on the drums There
Speaker 1:you go.
Speaker 2:And blast something that... Some nostalgic music. I don't know what I was listening to yesterday when I was banging on the drums. The Toadies Rubberneck album. I heard that in middle school over and over.
Speaker 1:I'll have to go listen to them now.
Speaker 2:You'd hear it. You... Recognize it when you're Oh, okay. It it was on... Yeah.
Speaker 2:But maybe. I don't know. For me, it was awesome. But I'm also... I also realized there's such a circumstantial, like, lightning in a in a in a jar, like, element to how music hits you.
Speaker 2:Yeah. What you're going through, how receptive you are to it, and just how the perfect background song can shape a moment. And so I... It's funny because I've had the same My Morning Jacket CD in my CD player in my my little boombox in the garage for, like, three houses now. Nice.
Speaker 2:I'm in my fourth house, but I've had that same CD in there. And the CD player does still work. I can change the CD, but it's just been, like, my background music to every garage hang for all these years.
Speaker 1:I
Speaker 2:don't... I'm so oddly nostalgic about it that when that Circadle album blasts, it's like, oh, good stuff is about to happen.
Speaker 1:There you go.
Speaker 2:And I never get tired of it. It's just bad. Yeah. Don't know. I've never listened to one CD that many times.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:And I still love it.
Speaker 1:And it's awesome that it's not scratched up so much that you can't listen to it.
Speaker 2:Probably because I never take it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah. There you go. That's the risk. Right? The laser's not gonna do anything.
Speaker 2:It'd be the door that breaks. Yeah. Right. I got this stupid boombox off eBay that has, like, a vinyl player, a cassette, a CD, and the radio, and it looks old timey.
Speaker 1:Right? Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think I paid, like, I don't know, $69 for it. I show up, and the hinge was missing a screw. And I was like, hey. This isn't complete. You know, can I have my?
Speaker 2:Can you... Can I send this back? And they said, we'll give you your money back, but just keep it. So I was like, oh, well, now I don't wanna throw it away. So I just put another screw in there, and I've had it in there for, you know, I don't know, close to a decade.
Speaker 2:And that stupid boombox is the same one that I bring to every open house that I've ever ever done. Yeah. I just play it on a different, you know, radio or something instead of my morning jacket. But, like, that's become my good luck charm in, like There you go. Hundreds of listings.
Speaker 2:It's so funny how this free boombox has been in all of these places that have slowly, like, I don't know, have built up a career.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And... That's hilarious. So maybe that's a part of the nostalgia too.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I think that there is something too. And I've I've noticed, like, we're we're chasing nostalgia so much now. Like we even, you know, to that effect, we just bought a DVD player so that we could not be on prime video all the time trying to look for the next thing and we just have been trying to intentionally slow things down for our kids. And even like we were just like talking about having a nineties summer, you know, as much as possible, like kick our kids out, you know, during the day and, you know, they complain about the heat.
Speaker 1:My son, he got bit by a mosquito and he had a little bit of a meltdown. And I was like, oh, buddy. Come on. You got this.
Speaker 2:But... You're gonna recover from this.
Speaker 1:Yes. Apparently, it hurt really bad. But... Or maybe it just freaked him out. I mean, just the idea of mosquitoes is pretty freaky if you think about it.
Speaker 2:But Yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't want anybody to spiral. But but... Yeah. So like we have been so intentional about creating those nostalgic moments that we had even looking at like we've talked about getting a landline and allowing our oldest daughter to have her friend's number so they can call... She can call them and talk on the phone that doesn't have a screen.
Speaker 1:Right. You know, even to that, like, I feel like play for us as adults is like chasing nostalgia in some sense. And like, when we hit it, it was just like, oh, yes. I remember this moment. And it's just like, it's a beautiful thing, you know?
Speaker 1:And to be able to pass that simplicity onto your kids that are in a just such a technologically advanced world. When you think about
Speaker 2:the movies that we watched growing up, you know, every VHS started with, like, five minutes of, you know, commercials, right,
Speaker 1:for movies or trailers. Right? Yep.
Speaker 2:And I saw something where it was like, yeah, put the VHS on for your kid and make him sit through all the previews just to slow him down a little bit. You know? We're all so instantly gratified these days.
Speaker 1:You know? Yeah. I still... Like, I'll follow some nostalgia accounts on Instagram, and they'll have the ads and stuff that were before those. Like, I remember that.
Speaker 1:And some of them are embedded so deep, but it's like as soon as it starts to play it, you're just like, oh, this is... Yeah. I remember it. This this is familiar now.
Speaker 2:And it invokes an emotion.
Speaker 1:It does. Yeah. Yeah. Usually good depending on what it is. Now the Dare commercials, was always just like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:If I even look at drugs This is your brain
Speaker 1:on drugs.
Speaker 2:Yeah. With the the egg. Yep. Yeah. I do remember that.
Speaker 2:That's funny. Well, I think that program failed.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because they... It seemed like they they taught you how to do things. Right. At least that was my experience. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. And drugs were so prevalent. And, I mean, even in middle school and high school when... In South Georgia where where we were from, where we grew up, all been in Georgia.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, I'm so glad that all the dysfunction that I've walked through and recovered from now, I feel like I've got authority and confidence, and I'm no longer sensitive in those areas. Granted, I'm no longer... I'm not saying that I'm a a perfect guy,
Speaker 1:and I'm
Speaker 2:fully healed in every way. But I will say that I love when I have the opportunity to speak life into somebody.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I could pray for somebody or just say, hey. I see you. You're not alone in this. Give them a little bit of hope.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Because I do believe when people fall, when they have the the rug pulled out from under them, there's a opportunity right there to completely reinvent yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I don't know. That's probably one of the most comforting ideas of Jesus is that we're new every day. We can reinvent ourselves every day. And I don't know. That's helped me to try on so many hats in life Yeah.
Speaker 2:And not be afraid to fail. Yeah. I've never thought about, oh, I wanna host a a a podcast or... I really never thought about being a real estate agent. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Just kinda fell into my lap. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I was
Speaker 2:like, yeah. I'll give this a shot. You know? But now... I don't know.
Speaker 2:I'm just kind of excited to see where things will lead.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I think that's a lot of play as an adult too is removing... Like, still... I mean, fear is healthy, right, to a certain extent. But taking that fear and being like, hey, I'm scared, but I'm gonna do this scared because I know that this is the next step and the thing that I need to do.
Speaker 1:I think that that's a lot of it too.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you said that because I have a special relationship with fear.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And the context that... For me, I don't consider a lot of fear healthy or helpful, but it all depends on the on the nature of the fear. Yeah. You know, fear of failure is is not welcome in my home. You know?
Speaker 2:Like but I like to meditate on this idea of what would my life look like if I could live one day without fear. Yeah. Just one day. Yeah. Where every interaction I had, I had no fear whatsoever.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Probably be dramatically different.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:You know?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. I'm thinking I'm talking more like the fear of... Like that instinct of fear where it's just like, oh, okay. I probably shouldn't do that because it's dumb.
Speaker 2:Like jump out of a plane with that parachute.
Speaker 1:Yes. Yeah. This is not gonna result... 100% not gonna result well. But, yeah, I I...
Speaker 1:In my own life, thankfully, I'm married to somebody that is not comfortable with complacency. If it were up to me, you know, I'd talk about, like, between my wife and I, we're very different temperaments. Like, I'm like a Labrador, you know, and I'm just comfortable where I'm at if I have a bed, some food to eat, and, you know, get scratched behind the ears every now and then. Like, I'm good. But, you know, she's much more like a cat, and and it has actually helped me grow so much where I found myself complacent and just getting comfortable and not wanting anything to change.
Speaker 1:But she's just like, look, this is not gonna work for the long term. We need to be looking ahead and something needs to change. And so I'm so grateful for her pushing me. And, you know, even you're... You know, working with you over the past few years, it's just been kinda one of those things where it's like, you know, you saw firsthand us just kind of releasing things to God and him just opening doors that we were just like, what is going on?
Speaker 1:Like, this is wild. And at times, I'm sure you were frustrated.
Speaker 2:Man, it feel like it'd be worth telling the story because it is really a crazy story. Yeah. You know? Yeah. You wanna take a stab at it?
Speaker 1:Sure. Let's do it. Yeah. I mean, we, you know, we we had moved into a few different homes. We bought our first home in 2016.
Speaker 1:Just kind of kind of that what if question of like, hey, what if we get this house and we just do what we want to with it? And so we bought it. We waited for almost a year for the opportunity to happen and we... It was run down. I remember the first time I went and looked at this house, like my throat was closing up.
Speaker 1:And Heather, my wife, she's just like, it's amazing. And I'm like, woman, you are crazy. But, but she was right. Like we we waited and we purchased the home and we put, a ton of construction cost into it and it was built in 1910 and we had this old home that we loved and it put so much of who we were into it. And then the Lord opened the door for us to to move, to to step into ministry in Woodstock.
Speaker 1:And so we moved from that house, which is now five minutes away from the house that we own, which whatever. I'm trying not to live with regret with that. But we moved to be closer to the community and to our friends and just to be in the community that we were ministering to. And we saw so much fruit through that, and we ended up in a house in Woodstock that was 865 square feet. And it was just the two of us, and so we were fine with it.
Speaker 1:It was small, but, you know, we... Heather's also a genius when it comes to using space, every bit of space for storage that we needed. So she ended up... We ended up doing some projects in there that helped a lot too. But when we had kids, we were like a can of biscuits, like busting at the seams and I was just...
Speaker 1:And and poor Heather was like, I'm here with these kids and they are running around this entire house jumping off of things and like I'm I'm losing my mind. And so we really felt like it was the nudge for us to to kind of move move the needle forward just to see what was out there and that's when we reached out to you and just your approach was so refreshing because it was no high pressure. It wasn't like, hey, we're gonna do this thing. Let's look at this, this, and this, and, you know, you need to do this now. Right?
Speaker 1:It was, hey, let's, like, give it up to the Lord and let's pray about it and let's kinda see where he leads. And so Heather took that to the next level and she was like, hey, let's reach out to this person that owns this home that's not even for sale and see what they say. And very, very lovingly and respectfully, you were just like, hey, I don't want you guys to get disappointed. This is probably not gonna work because this doesn't normally work. It's not
Speaker 2:for sale.
Speaker 1:It's not for... They're not selling their house. But you... I don't know how much of reluctancy you had when you did it, but you still reached out to them and they were... And you approached me at church on Sunday, were like, nope.
Speaker 1:They're not gonna sell. And I was like, okay. Well, that's our answer. And what we didn't know is in that next week, they had been kind of thinking about it, and it prompted them to look and see what was out there. And a house that was not in their price range dropped was at...
Speaker 1:What was a 100 something thousand dollars in into their price range, and it was where they wanted to live. It was the amount of space that they wanted, and they were just... It was a Sunday, and then you called called me... Or no, we talked the next Sunday, and you said, hey, that actually might be an option. And I was like, no.
Speaker 1:Come on. You're messing with me, Brandon. And so the next Thursday, we looked at the house and then we we were under contract that Friday. And then it was like, well, how do we sell our house in Woodstock now? Because, you know, we were...
Speaker 1:We had talked about doing an open house And so I think it was the following weekend, you brought your boombox
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:To our our current home, played the music, and then this young couple that their lender was like, hey, you can put as much of a high offer as you want to on this, but they're probably not gonna take it if, you know, they had an FHA loan and they're like, they're probably not gonna accept your offer so I wouldn't bank on it. But, what we found out afterwards is they saw we had built a swing and we had made our front porch, kind of like this hangout area And they saw that swing and they're like, oh, this is perfect. Like, this is exactly what we wanted. And it was that swing and, they didn't even ask if we were gonna leave it, but I didn't feel like cutting the rope and trying to figure out where to work it in with the new house. And so I was like, nah, they can just have it.
Speaker 1:And that meant so much to them. And so, we showed up to closing day and it was like the Lord's hand was on every step of the process. And I'm just like, okay, God, whatever. This is insane. You know?
Speaker 1:And and that really... That took me out of this mindset of I'm a Christian, I'm in ministry, I don't need anything nice. I just should focus on having the bare minimum of everything and not expect anything higher than that. It took me from that mindset to being like, alright, Lord, like, we're gonna knock on the door and we'll see what happens, and we'll see if the door opens. And that...
Speaker 1:I think in that sense like, one, you're dealing with the fear of failure, that's no longer an option because you're just putting your faith in the Lord and trust in him. And two, it puts playback into it because that what if it fails question goes... Now turns to what if this crazy thing actually works out? And I think that we will find that we're more surprised that it works out a lot of times than than not. And so now I can't cut the grass or do anything with the weeds because we got three kids, but but it's like we just...
Speaker 1:We have made that home our own, and we're just so grateful for it. Grateful for you and the time and patience that you put in with us, you know. And it was just so neat to see the Lord's hand in a real estate transaction. That was something that I hadn't experienced before.
Speaker 2:Man, I gotta tell you, I see it all the time. Yeah. And and and that's why I kinda... I let go of Yeah. How I think it's gonna go.
Speaker 2:I'm like, I don't know. It's just gonna unfold, and it's gonna be perfect.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, yeah, it's funny. I didn't remember the the the swing bit. You know? But I do remember the buyers were also in ministry. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And and I think the sellers had... Literally, all people were in the Christian... Different Christian churches. It was wild. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And everybody agreed to do this super smooth, like, perfectly synchronized transaction with three parties and It was so tight, tricky market. Yeah. You know? And where there's still, you know, not a ton of supply. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know? Yeah. It was... It just worked out perfectly.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it always does. I mean... And sometimes, you know, perfectly doesn't mean that it's the way that I want it to go. Exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Most of the time most of the time, it does. You know? But it it is pretty wild. I've had so many of those examples, and I hope that I don't forget them.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's cool to hear it from your perspective because I forgot a lot of those details.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You
Speaker 2:know? And but, yeah, it it really is cool to see how God shows up in the deal as well. Because I... You know, it's easy to become desensitized to how emotional moving and uprooting and discerning these huge financial transactions
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Can be. But, you know, I've done, like, 400 of these now. So it's just like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You're gonna you're gonna freak out about this time. It's gonna express itself in different ways. Yeah. And if you don't have any kind of reaction, then I'm gonna worry about you. Right.
Speaker 2:Because everybody does.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know? But just know that it's gonna be okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And this is a normal part of the decision making. But, yeah, it's really cool to see. I had another one. My last listing in... It ended up in multiple offers and the perfect home just opening up at the right time.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's so cool to see how God takes care of people. And it... Honestly, and so many other examples that I don't even remember Yeah. That...
Speaker 2:I don't know. Maybe I could have... It's... It was cool. I appreciate you sharing the story.
Speaker 2:I didn't mean for it to be a commercial. No. It's all good, man. But it really is cool to see how he takes care of his.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. And I don't think it's... Yeah. I I don't...
Speaker 1:I wouldn't want you to think that it was because, you know, you... We worked with you. Like, it just... But God made me look good. Yeah.
Speaker 1:He did.
Speaker 2:God made me look good.
Speaker 1:Yeah. He did.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I really... I appreciate that. I always I always tell people that, like, I pray for God to humble me quickly and privately.
Speaker 1:Yeah. There you go.
Speaker 2:Yep. Well, because
Speaker 1:the the lengthy humbling is always a public one. Right? It's like you had you had the how many hundreds of steps before that before it's like the Lord's like, okay. Well, this is gonna happen in public now. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I think... No. I think that that the fact that you approach what is just a worldly thing, transactions, real estate transactions, and you approach it from the sense of, like, the Lord has a plan, and this isn't just something that you're buying. Like, this is your home. This is where you're gonna make memories, and you steep that in prayer.
Speaker 1:To me, like, that's what stuck out. And I think that's a lot to do with why the Lord's hand is on so many of these things is because you take that time to be intentional about prayer with it, and that's huge. Because a lot of people would just be like, yeah, let's pray about it and it'll work out.
Speaker 2:I gotta be honest. I do pray over every transaction and not just for my clients. I've... I also play pray for the other people on the other side of the deal. Yeah.
Speaker 2:That it'd be a good deal for them as well. And... Yeah. I don't know. And I and I saw this video of this guy talking to AI, and he said, summarize prayer.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And first, it was like in, you know, 50 characters or less, 10 characters, and then in one word. And the one word was surrender.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's like, there's a a load that comes off when you just say, I surrender this to you, God.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm not gonna think I can control the outcome. Yeah. Because realistically, we're we're probably in control of far less than we think.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely. You know?
Speaker 2:That is a very freeing thought for me, my friend.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You
Speaker 1:know? It totally is. And it always goes back. Anytime I hear about surrender or, like, clinging to things, I always think about king Saul and and king David. Right?
Speaker 1:King Saul thought the kingdom was his and that he was gonna hold on to it with an iron grip, and it drove him crazy. And king David was morally in some areas of his life worse than Saul, but he continuously repented and surrendered and gave it all up to God. And so now he wasn't absolved of of all of the consequences of the... Of his wrong, but at the same time, like, you just see through his life, like, God show up over and over and over. So that's that's the truth, man.
Speaker 1:Just surrendering.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And that doesn't mean fear either. It it... To me, it's the opposite.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:My favorite verse is Proverbs twenty eight one. The wicked flee, though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. Yeah. I love that one.
Speaker 1:That's a really good
Speaker 2:one. That one makes me wanna run through a freaking wall.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Just not in your own house.
Speaker 2:Right? No.
Speaker 1:Not really. Maybe next demo. Maybe like a foam wall. Yeah,
Speaker 2:man. That's good stuff. Well, I am excited for your new role. Let me ask you this. If people want to check out you, where's the best place for them to find you?
Speaker 1:Yeah. If you just go to firstpriorityncganorthcentralgeorgia.org, not .com. We official. You can see everything that that you would wanna see about our organization, what we're doing, how we do it, the strategy we have, the results. And really the the big win is like the amount of students that come to faith in Christ.
Speaker 1:Right? There's a national organization. We're a small chapter that's franchise. Right? But we had 20 students come to faith in Christ last year at first priority clubs.
Speaker 1:Nationally, 12,500 students came to faith in Christ last year. And like, that is the kingdom impact. Right? That's the eternal impact of of being able to do this and, you know, trying to figure out the grind. It's a different world than church world even.
Speaker 1:And so... But, yeah, if you... Either that or on Instagram, it's at first priority n c g a.
Speaker 2:Well, I respect you, man. I I appreciate your heart. I want to... I I pray good blessings for you this year. Sleep and recovery.
Speaker 2:Amen. Same for you.
Speaker 1:With these little kids, man.
Speaker 2:Probably some more gray hairs and a little bit more sleeplessness, but it's all gonna go by really quickly. Yeah. It sure does. Thanks for helping me to keep my head in the right spot, and... Yeah.
Speaker 2:Appreciate you. Thank you for doing this, brother.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Thanks, man. Thanks
Speaker 2:for checking out the Think in Cursive podcast. Please give us a like, subscribe, and your comments along the way. They're so important to us. For all things podcast or real estate, you can find me at Be Good Brandon dot com. Thanks for checking
Speaker 1:us out. We'll see you soon.
