From Prison to Purpose

382: A single question in a prison bunk rewired Cameron’s future: “Are you safe?” From there, everything changed. What began as a teenager’s slide into weed, cocaine, and quick money hardened into years of county time and a near-OD his own father—an EMS captain—responded to. But that stark wake-up call in a trustee camp reframed safety as responsibility: provide for your daughter, build trust, and walk a straighter road with God. The turnaround didn’t arrive with fanfare; it came with early mornings, blue-collar hustle, and thousands of small, boring, holy decisions.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Finding Church Through A Men’s Group
• 0:34 Growing Up In Church And Drifting
• 2:00 First Arrests And Teen Addiction
• 4:00 Jail Time And Hardened Identity
• 5:12 Deeper Into Dealing And Cocaine
• 7:00 Fatherhood, Sobriety, And Relapse
• 9:20 Eight Years In And Out Of Jail
• 11:20 Overdose And Family Fallout
• 13:30 Prison, Trustee Camp, And A Voice From God
• 16:10 Choosing A New Path For His Daughter
• 17:20 The Addictive Pull Of Money And Power
• 18:40 Rebuilding Trust With Parents
• 20:40 Work, Hustle, And Blue-Collar Realities
• 23:00 Reentry, COVID Years, And Stable Work
• 25:00 Reintegration With His Daughter
• 26:20 Meeting Maria And Blending Families
• 28:00 Eight People, Two Homes, One Compound
• 30:00 Leading A Big Household In Faith
• 31:20 From Landscaping To Peptides
• 33:00 What Peptides Are And Why They Matter
• 35:00 Family Healings And Word Of Mouth
• 37:00 Affordable Wellness And Big Pharma Skepticism
• 39:00 Friends’ Recoveries And Community Impact
• 41:00 Evangelism, Work, And Everyday Mission
• 51:20 Closing And Listener Text Line

Transcript

Finding Church Through A Men’s Group

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Welcome back to Pastor Plex Podcast. I'm your host, Pastor Plek, and uh with me in studio today is none other than Cameron Costello. Welcome, Cameron, to the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Welcome. Thank you, Pastor Plek.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

So let me just ask you this question like, what brings you here? How did you get to Wells Branch Community Church? Uh Kyle George. Kyle, where do you meet?

Growing Up In Church And Drifting

SPEAKER_00 0:26

So um I was working for a roofing company, went to uh I used to go to a men's group with them, and all the guys were much older. Kyle George came in with his dad one day and was like, hey, you need to come check out this men's group. Went to the at that time Tuesday morning men's group, now Wednesday morning men's group, found like the greatest community of men I've ever met in my life, and so ended up getting my wife to switch churches because we used to work we were going to different churches for a minute because I was coming here and she was going somewhere else. So finally got her to switch over and she fell in love with the community. So it's just been all right.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

So tell me then about like your talk. Did you grow up? Were you a church person growing up?

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Uh on and off. Okay. Well how said. So uh so when I was younger, I was we went to Church of the Hills. Yeah. Um Hill Country Bibles Church back in the day. Yeah, their Hill Country Bibles neighbor. Yeah. Before the Unity Church of the Hills stole their name and like went all like weird with it. But um, so I went there uh for a few years, was highly involved in everything, youth group. My mom was the kids past worship pastor, leader, director of all kinds of stuff, yeah. Um kind of their go-to woman. So definitely, you know, grew up around all that, but then kind of wanted to go my own way and do my own thing, wanted to go fit in with the popular crowd.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Uh okay, so like tell me, was there like you did family did worship at church, but what was family worship like in your house?

First Arrests And Teen Addiction

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Uh practically non-existent. Okay. Just because my dad was kind of coming to the faith. Okay. And so it was like, so your mom was like all in. Yeah, my mom was all in trying to lead the charge.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

And then he your dad was like, I'll check it out.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

At some point.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Slowly but surely he came and then uh okay, and so um talk to me about like was drugs the first thing? Was it alcohol? What was it?

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Um probably a mixture of the two. I mean, yeah, we we we drank when we were younger, and then it kind of turned into drugs after that. Really, I think it was weed up until got put on probation for the first time, and then all of a sudden you can't smoke weed anymore. How old were you when you were put uh put on probation? Uh probably like 16. Oh. Something like that, maybe 17, somewhere somewhere in there. So you you had experience at like what Travis County at some point? Or I guess. Mostly Wimpson County. Yeah, I've I have a good I have a running history in Wimpson County jail. It's kind of raised there on and off.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Okay. Awesome. Well, that's awesome. So so tell me like when you went to um jail at that point, was there any like, hey, you should turn your life over to Jesus? Or you know, what was the response from mom and dad? Like, hey, yeah, you probably needed that.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Oh, yeah. The first, yeah, definitely for sure. But for me, it was just like, cool, I went to jail. I'm cool now. Like, look at my street crib, bro. Like I've been to county jail, bro. I'm hard now. Like, oh, that is funny. I mean, so for me, it just really didn't matter. I just kind of shrugged it off, like, oh, it's just part of what's gonna go on if I want to be involved in this world. Like so you wanted to become a pharmaceutical entrepreneur? Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Okay, so so early on, you you get into the to drug running. What did what did that look like for you?

SPEAKER_00 3:42

How uh how old were you when you first started going down this road of uh probably started using cocaine at like 16? Nice. Smoking weed at like 13, 14.

Jail Time And Hardened Identity

SPEAKER_01 3:53

How did you I mean, so Churchill Hills is like, you know, it's not like in the hood. Uh like how did and this is just might be just me and my ignorance. How how is it accessible for a 13-year-old?

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Uh well, the actually the youth bass player was a meth user, and so we actually found out about meth through the bass player of the youth group at church. At church, yeah. That's and that's where it starts. Be careful where you put your kids, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Wow, wow, okay, all right.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Uh I mean, but we when we were we were already using cocaine at that point, so I mean it wasn't like he, but we had never been introduced to meth until that point, and he was like, Y'all should try this instead. And we're like, okay, you know, so wait, but 13 it was weed, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Yeah, but where'd you get weed? Is that like ubiquitous? Like everywhere all the time? For sure.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

It's at seven. I mean, I we know where you know where to go. Where do you go? I mean, and this isn't I'm not trying to educate everyone in work, but like, but I mean, like, I just don't understand how the drug system works. There's like people on the corner.

Deeper Into Dealing And Cocaine

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Friends' houses because I was my dad was still kind of an angry person. We really didn't get along very well, so I kind of avoided the whole home situation. So you went to other places to it. Got okay. Any anywhere I could be besides my own house, for sure. Okay, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

So, so you you're 13.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Would you call it a drug addiction? No, I don't think so. I think at first it was just we were just interested in, you know, having fun, like whatever it was, we were just interested, wanted to try something different, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:33

I mean Okay, so but what at what so is and this is again part of my ignorance, is cocaine addictive? Oh, for sure. Okay. So so at 16 you're doing coke. How regular? Uh pretty much daily. Okay, so would you call that an addiction? Oh, for sure. At that point, yes. So so how all right, so you're you're doing coke. Yeah. You're you're in and out of jail?

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Uh yeah. And then But not not ever for Coke. It was always for like the first like 10 times were weed. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

So but eventually, so how many how what was your like what for a week, for a month, for a year? What was it? How long were you?

SPEAKER_00 6:12

I think I have eight years of cons of time, like total, done in Williamson County jail. Okay. Over all of like some of the weed charges were like nine months, some of them were, you know, 15, 30 days. So it just depended. It kind of it had a range. It just depends on how the judge feels, kind of, you know. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

So all right. So then talk to me then about um at some point you have a daughter.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Yes. So how did that happen? Uh me and a woman got together and like how old were you? Uh I was 25, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Okay. So you're you're in and out of jail at this point still. Yeah. You are do you have like a job other than selling drugs. Okay. Like, so there's no cover. You're just like, nah, come to my house, get your drugs.

Fatherhood, Sobriety, And Relapse

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Yeah, I mean, if I did, it was for you know a week or two and I would just sell drugs out of wherever that was at until until it was no longer cool anymore, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Right. All right. So, like, what were your friends? I mean, like, tell me about the friend group that you had that that because usually I think of people selling drugs. I think of like I think of like kids in high school, how it's fun, and then all of a sudden you're 25, like you're an adult, and you're having to do adult things and people aren't very reliable.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Yeah, for sure. Is that true? I mean, yeah, for sure. No, I mean, all the people were trash pretty much.

unknown 7:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

It was pretty much a bunch of trash human beings. Right. So you have a daughter though at 25. Yeah. Do you does she live with you? Uh, yes, she did. And I because I had gotten I gotten sober for a little while, whenever and up to about to when we had me and her biological mother until we had her, and then me and her split up, and then I kind of went like off the track, I guess, after that, because I was just like, uh, I don't know, screw everything, kind of thing. Like, but so we split up, she she left. I told her, just don't come around, like, I won't ever ask you for child support or anything. Just, you know, just leave us alone. Let me just raise my daughter. Your daughter. Yeah, for sure. And the girl left. She tried to abort my daughter, actually. She she called my aunt behind my back and then asked for money for an abortion after we'd already decided we were gonna have the baby and everything, way into it. And then my aunt calls me and is like, Hey, did you know that this is gonna happen? I was like, uh no, it's not, you know, type of thing. And so, yeah, so I ended up right after she had her, I took Kylie, she left. So And and she just disappeared. I mean, she, yeah, I mean, not really. I mean, I I could find her if I wanted to, but yeah, I mean, and we she I think she lives back in Round Rock now. But yeah, she went back and moved back in with her ex-husband that she had already had two kids with that we had that we went through a$40,000 custody battle with him to get her her rights back with her kids, and then she ended up going to back to live with them afterwards, and they're back together now and happily married. I'm assuming, I guess. I mean, I don't know, I don't follow them or anything, but you know, crazy, hold on.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

I need like you can't just throw that bomb out there and just be like, nah, and then you know, so like were you with her when she was with her husband?

Eight Years In And Out Of Jail

SPEAKER_00 9:17

No, so I met her in Dallas. I was living in Dallas at the time. Yeah, and I met her, she was the manager of Journey's, like the adult store for Journey's shoes, and I was the manager for Journey's kids. Okay, and so we met, started dating, whatever. We were doing coke together and dating, and then ended up she got pregnant, we both got sober, and she's a horrible person, not on cocaine. She was cool while she was on cocaine, but other than that, I just yeah, it was horrible. So the goal was to keep her high. I wish, but not while she had the baby. So yeah. Yeah, so we were both sober. We went through that. Like, I threw away both of our cigarettes, we both quit smoking.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Wait, wait, wait. You were able to stop doing coke. Oh, for sure. So that's the part I don't understand. Like, I thought an addiction was like you would like have like your blood would curdle or something if you stopped.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

I mean, yes and no. Okay. I mean, I I went back to it after that, so I mean it didn't just quit there. So I mean So you stopped doing drugs? I'd I paused momentarily, yes. Until until your daughter was born, until yeah, a while after she was born, yeah. And then I kind of went back out and my parents stepped up and with as long as well as my little sister and kind of raised Kylie while I was out there doing your thing, doing my thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Okay, so all right, so you have Kylie, you're doing your thing, uh, and you're selling drugs. Did what stops you?

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Um prison?

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Okay. All right, so how did you get uh arrested?

Overdose And Family Fallout

SPEAKER_00 10:52

Um well, the first time I went to prison, I got arrested and then I guess I really didn't learn enough because I got out and then started making the same decisions again. And then the second time I went, um, I was on a trustee camp and I was the only person doing under like a 15-year sentence. Everybody else there was doing 15 to life. So like they everybody was like, bro, you shouldn't be here. Like, so it was kind of weird that like nobody there had ever seen somebody with uh, you know, three I had a three-year sentence and nobody there had ever seen anybody with such a small sentence, and so they were all like, Bro, you shouldn't be here. Like, this is weird, like and so with that like piece of information in the back of my mind, one night I'm laying there in my bunk and I just heard an audible voice say, Are you safe? And so like a voice in your head out loud. I mean I yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Louder than audible, perhaps. Yeah, I mean, I don't know, it was either in my head or audible, but I mean, like, it was loud. Like, I mean, it was it was definitely audible, like whether it was audible in my head or both. But I mean, I don't know. I heard, are you safe? Like loud enough that I like popped up out of my bunk and I'm like looking around, like, oh, I hope I'm actually safe. Like, you know, I am in prison, like, and look around, there's nobody anywhere. And so I'm kind of like perplexed by the whole thing, and I'm just like, okay, like, yeah, I'm safe. Like, what's up? Like, you know, because I'm like, obviously it's gotta be, there's nobody there, like it had to be God, you know. So I'm like, Yes, what's up? Like, and he was like, you know, you're my child, right? And I was like, Yeah. And he was like, you know, that means you'll never be taken from me. And I was like, right. And he's like, so I'll take care of you and look after you and bless you no matter where you take yourself, no matter what path you choose. And then I was like, well, okay, yeah, that makes sense. And then, you know, and then he was like, Is this where you want me to keep you safe? And then I start thinking, like, wow, like I really should have been sentenced to more time than I was, because I really just never got caught with, you know, any real drugs or any real like just never worked out for him. I got kicked doored multiple times by the SWAT team, uh, Cedar Park and Round Rock. Um so maybe a police career is not in your future. I wish, dude. Maybe Grayson could get me hooked up. I mean, I know the game, I know the ins and outs. I know who the I know the CI. Yeah, dude. Yeah, yeah, all right. Yeah, for for payment though. Yeah, right, absolutely. I need somebody to pay my bills first.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Yeah, but all right. So you're in jail, you kind of have this conversation with God. Yeah, it's kind of wild. And then how from that point forward, like changes.

Prison, Trustee Camp, And A Voice From God

SPEAKER_00 13:22

So when I heard when when he told me that and he was like, Do you is this where you want me to keep you safe? Like, it just hit me like a you know a brick wall. It was just like, uh no, like that that's horrible. Like, and I'm thinking about all these people that I hang out with on the daily that are doing 25-year-plus sentences that will be there for the rest of their life, you know, and that's the only option they have for their relationship with God is you know, he can only look out for them so much, but it's always going to be there, you know. He can't put them in a different situation now because of the choices that they've made, you know. And so I was like, look, if if if I get out and I can provide a roof over my daughter's head and keep food on the table for my kids, I won't have anything to do with it anymore. I won't sell dope, I won't do dope, I won't, you know, I'll be completely uninvolved with that whole game. And ever since I got out, it's been, I mean, I've I've had a job, I've had, you know, everything that I needed.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

You know, it makes it tell me like I I know this sounds like, again, I I just don't know enough to know enough. But what's the drug dealer's life like?

SPEAKER_00 14:22

I mean, for me, I was addicted to the money and the like the false power. Like, because when you're the one with the drugs, everybody's like, you know, they they want to, hey, what are you doing? Hey, what can I help you with? You know, like everybody wants to like do stuff for you. They want to be your friend, they want, you know, they want to be like in your good graces, but but it's all completely fake, right? So it's like, I guess for me, I kind of knew it was pretty much all fake, but I didn't care. I just got addicted to going out and making the money. Like, I just wanted to go out and sell drugs. Like, I didn't it was almost better than the drug was being up going out and just you know, so there was like a a sense of power, respect.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah, for sure. Um talk to me about like your relationship with your parents. How did that shift over time? I mean, were how are how are they feeling about you, you know, at 13, at 16, at 19, at 25? Like what was like how was that how was that relationship strain and and how did that I mean how'd that affect you?

SPEAKER_00 15:26

I mean, I know for sure it was breaking my mom's heart for a long time, and I know it was really hard on my dad as well. But I mean, uh, I guess it it definitely made it harder. Like I'm I it put a lot of stress on all of it and definitely tore us apart. But I mean, now coming through the backside of it, like, you know, like we have a really strong connection now, like we have a communication that we we're super honest with each other, you know what I mean?

Choosing A New Path For His Daughter

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Like, and there's just a level of like respect there, like in communication that like Yeah, because I think like when I when I think about your story, it's like usually pe and this is probably I don't know if you could attest this. The demographic that that ends up in and out of prison over and over and over again from 16 to 25, usually it comes from a single mom household, right? Not not lower middle class white people, right? Yeah, like yeah. Like for what I understand, I think your mom like runs like an incredible office of doctors or something. Yeah, like and here you are not living up to that.

The Addictive Pull Of Money And Power

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Like what what you know, like well, I mean, okay, so as we're talking about, you know, like let's talk about you know, like damaging relationships with your parents. Um so my dad was captain of Williams County EMS. Okay, and uh he's kind of a big deal, yeah. Well, yeah, and EMS. I mean, like that, they're kind of close with cops and stuff. Oh, yeah, they're right there with all the cops and the firefighters, they're all tied in very closely. Yeah. So um I'm at a friend's house in Round Rock, I end up ODing on cocaine, and then my dad shows up as the paramedic on call. So my dad comes in and finds out and finds me ODing as the medic on like literally the worst thing I could have ever imagined, right? Like, I mean, like you what could be worse for a parent, right? And so he comes in with his partner, finds out that it's me, and then you know, ha has to deal with all that. You know, they ended up making him go out. So I think he got pretty crunk with the the dude that was there because he wanted information on what was going on, and the dude tried to lie to him, is like, no, he doesn't have a drug problem, he wasn't doing drugs. And my dad was like, Look here, help me. I know he's doing drugs. Like, tell me what's going on. But so, you know, I mean, we want to talk about damaging relationships. Like so, like when you're like did your dad like did they save your life when you OD'd? Oh yeah. Uh I was I think I was coming back to like as they were kind of coming. Cause I remember seeing my dad come in the door and I was just like, Oh crap. Just I didn't use the crap word, but I mean, you know, yeah, I was just like, oh no, like this is the worst thing that could ever happen. Like, what is he doing here? Like, so how do you I forgive my again, ODing when you OD over Dells? So that's just most of the time when people OD on stuff, they will well, at least I think you die. So is that not all the time. So Cs out so I fell out and had a seizure. So you're having it like Right, yeah. So I fell out and had a seizure, and so seizure OD, not death OD. Of course. Right. Okay, yeah, completely different. But you know, so um All right, and so they call the Yeah, so the dude's house that we're in.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Exactly. Uh okay.

Rebuilding Trust With Parents

SPEAKER_00 18:28

So they get my dad finds it comes out, it ends up being my dad is the paramedic on call. He knows that I have a drug problem. He knows that I've been using cocaine, and then knows the dude's lying to him. So I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Okay, so so how'd that go over that night? Were you living at home at that point or no?

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Um, dude, I honestly have no clue what went on after that. But I mean, like at that time, were you like on that OD where your dad comes? I think I was living at home just out of just gone all the time or gone as much as possible.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

So it was like bring your dad to work day, I guess. I don't know, you know. Bring your kid to work day. I mean, like it's what a wild deal.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

I mean, your dad's I mean, I'm definitely putting my family through the ringer for sure. Like, I mean, from two uh Church of Christ raised, very straight edge, you know.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Okay. So all right. So you're you're at that point, was your dad following Jesus?

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Or what like where was he? I mean, I imagine when he first found out he wasn't following nobody. Right. You know what I mean? He was probably super mad. I don't think he was following Jesus when he showed up and found out it was me. But I mean it's like Yes, I believe he was he was yes, he was.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

All right, so he's he's doing he he's following Jesus to to an extent.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

And do you think that that upped his prayer life? I mean, like what I mean, I have honestly I have no idea what was going on with him during because I I kind of me and him beefed real hard in the beginning, so we kind of just I completely tried to stay away from and not be involved with it as much as possible.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Okay, all right. So wow. All right, so you know, your mom is like when you OD'd that night, what was your mom's response? Ah, I have no clue. You just like was she different like the next week?

SPEAKER_00 20:05

I mean, I have no clue. It's all one big blur. Yeah, yeah. One big blur. I was probably right back to getting high, didn't give a crap about you know how they felt, you know, unfortunately. That's just the reality of how it is.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Okay, so how long ago now did you get out of jail?

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Uh October 2019, I'm so like seven years. Yeah, I'm seven years. Seven years clean. Nine years, nine years clean, seven years out of jail.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

That's that's incredible. All right, so when you were in were you in prison or jail?

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Both. Um yeah.

Work, Hustle, And Blue-Collar Realities

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Okay, so when you when you were a trustee camp, what did you like because you got to kind of work out in the community or stuff?

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Oh yeah, I was super lit. So I I actually took care of a thousand head of cattle for the state of Texas. So the prison system grows all of their own food, they grow their own vegetables, they grow their own cattle, they grow their own pigs, chickens, everything. That's impressive. Yeah. So I guess when you have free labor. Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:02

All right. So so you're out, so you you learned skills.

Reentry, COVID Years, And Stable Work

SPEAKER_00 21:06

I mean, had you ever dealt with cows before? I mean, sort of, but I we I mean, we were they didn't really, I mean, it wasn't much teaching going on. Like, I mean, we learned stuff from, you know, like, oh, that was a dumb idea. Like, don't stand behind the cow. I mean Oh, well, yeah, or well, we had this one big dude came come in. He was a big country fed boy, and he like, and the first night he came in, he was like, bro, I could, we were sitting in there in the we're in prison, we're sitting in there in the workout area, and this new dude comes in, he's a huge country fed white boy, like he's just massive. And I'm like, oh my gosh, bro, and he's like, We were talking about something, and somehow we get onto the fact and he's like, Yeah, I could bench everything you could put on that bar with you standing on top of it. And I was like, No, you couldn't. And he's like, Oh yes, I can. So we loaded up the bar with about 300 pounds, and then I stood on top of it another 250, give or take, and he did like 10 reps with me on with me standing on the bar, almost put me. Through the ceiling the first time. So me and this guy, you can tell how he was built, that just little like you know, back to around the dude. So you can see, you know, five. That's 550 pounds he could bench. Yeah, yeah. He was he was insane. He he was massive. Like, literally threw me up when he went up with it. It was nuts. Like it blew everybody's mind. He so me and him are out there, we're feeding and seeding the cattle, and then he gets a great idea. He's like, hey, we got to play a game. Like, what's this game, bro? And he's like, We're gonna put the cat, we're gonna see who can put a cow in the headlock for the longest, bro. So we we get the great idea that so we get up to the one of the feeding, you know, troughs and we fill it all up with the feed and seed, and they come in to get it, and me and him just go for it, get in there and just reach over, grab it, and lock on. And Bro, I didn't realize how much muscle those things are. It's like they're all motherfuckers. It was the stup one of the stupidest things I've ever had. I mean, it just it literally flicked me off like I was nothing. But I mean, it threw me into another cow, and I like I mean, they were all packed in feeding, so it starts moving around, you know, and by the time it actually moves hard enough to move you, you you move. How long did he last? Oh, he lasted a second. Yeah, he was it was pretty cool. I was like, dude, you're you're pretty gangster, bro. Like that was awesome, dude. Like that's super redneck to the max, dude. Did you ever do cow tipping? No. Huh?

SPEAKER_01 23:17

No. Okay, so you're wow. All right, did you ever have spiritual conversations with anybody? Like, like you had that one conversation with God, but was did you ever talk about God beyond that in prison?

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Oh, I mean, I went to like church every every week. I went to because I mean I've been highly involved with like I mean, I don't want to say highly involved with God, but like even when I was doing drugs, like I knew that God was out there. I knew what I was doing was wrong, and like I knew that at some point I was gonna have to change. Like, so I mean, I tried to stay involved on the, you know, as I was doing other stuff. But it apparently like the two or two don't go together. I don't know. I didn't know if anybody else knew that, but you can't like sell drugs and love Jesus. All right, so how old was your daughter when you got out of prison? Uh the second time, I think she was it would have been 2019, so she would have been five, four? Okay. Something like that.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

So she's like four years old. Three or four, I think. And wait. That would make her like a eleven.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

No, yeah, she's fourteen, so she would have been seven.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Yeah, seven. Okay, so perfect. So so how did you reintegrate an establish relationship with your daughter after she really I mean, from four to seven, those are some big years.

Reintegration With His Daughter

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Oh yeah, for sure. And then so uh really, I mean Did she come and visit you and stuff? Oh yeah, yeah. My parents took her all the day, she always came to visit me. She'd bring a bag of quarters, we'd hang out. When I was in Travis County jail, they had like a father's program where if like you didn't get in any trouble and didn't do anything dumb, like they would, you know, they would provide and let the kids come hang out with you for like an hour and a half on like a Saturday and stuff. So Okay. Yeah. All right, so you're having Bible studies or something? You've got Well me, I mean, yeah, there's they they definitely they had church services and you know on Sundays and then did all kinds of stuff. I mean, you get involved with whatever you can at that point, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:08

Yeah, okay. So you're you're like all in on whatever. Okay, so then you get out 2019, and then soon after that, like you've you've been married for like six, or how long have you been married now? Three years? Uh six three, twenty-three. No trying to get me in trouble, bro. Not today. Almost three years. All right, let me say good, good. So so you you you you meet a girl shortly after you get out.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Uh we met in 21, so like two years after I got out.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

So so for from 19 to 21, what was oh, that was COVID era. Yeah. So you're just like existing.

Meeting Maria And Blending Families

SPEAKER_00 25:44

How did you get how did you did you live at home? Oh, so when I first got out, my parents were like, Well, you I don't know where you're going because you ain't coming here. Right. It's like, oh, okay. All right, cool. Cool. And then uh so my aunt that lives in Dallas, she was like, You can come stay with me. And my uncle owns a custom car and tent shop up there that they've been doing for like 40 something years. He's been in the same building in the same place. So went and worked for him for the first little while after I got out. Then after I don't know how many w months it was, six, eight months, maybe give or take, but my parents were fine, like, okay, you're actually trying to do right, you know, blah, blah, blah. And then they kind of worked me into letting me come back home so I could integrate back with my daughter and try to get everything, you know. Oh gosh. So you were in Dallas for two years. Uh, not for the two years, not for the whole two years. I was probably there for like six months, eight months, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Less than a year. All right. So then you you kind of do you then move in with your parents? Yeah. Uh and then your daughter is living there the whole time. Right. All right. So you've got your daughter, it's you and her, and then what happens?

SPEAKER_00 26:49

Um So we're talking about COVID. Yeah, I mean, I was I was running working landscaping, trying to integrate back into society. Okay, yeah, you're you're just doing landscaping gigs. Yeah. Do you ever go like go to the oil fields or anything? Uh so I went out and did a bunch of directional drilling for fiber networks and stuff. So I was Oh, yeah, drilling, yeah. Yeah, no, yeah, sideways drilling instead of up and down drilling, right? Wow. Yeah. Okay. So you okay, so how where do you do that? Uh we did it everywhere. No, uh, ATT has a bunch of new fiber contacts uh contracts because of all of the like the 5G and the fiber and all this stuff that's all going in. It all has to have new wires put in everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

So So we're we're with the the crowd that j generally does directional drilling, is that like clean, upstanding people?

Eight People, Two Homes, One Compound

SPEAKER_00 27:33

Or is that shout out my blue collar boys, always always clean and happy people, bro. Ever do anything wrong when they follow Jesus and go to bed early at night. What are you talking about? All right, good. Yeah. So so you're kind of an environment that's sort of challenging to stay. For sure. They were wild, they were wild and out, but at the same time, like I was, you know, a little bit older than everybody else there. And you know, I I go to bed at 8 30, so I didn't really have to worry about it at that point. Okay, got all right. So I really I really had no interest in it like anymore. Like it just doesn't like it didn't appeal to you now. When God really like that night in prison, like God literally took away my desire to use. Like I've I still go check on people that I know that are still out there in the game, that are still doing dumb stuff. Like, I still go check on them. They're my friends, right? Like, I mean, we spent a lot of years together, you know. So I go out and check on them. Hey man, how are you doing? How's your family? Do y'all need anything? You know, is everything okay? You know? Trying. So yeah, okay, good.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

So tell me about the relationship with you and your your daughter. Like, how did that progress? Like, was that challenge, like like discipline or like like that seems like that would be so hard to be kind of absent and to reintegrate, and then you've got your parents and they're they probably have a different view of how things should be ordered, and then you're like, ah, she's my daughter. Like, how did that how'd you guys deal with that?

SPEAKER_00 28:45

Uh, one day at a time. Okay. Yeah. I mean, uh man. I mean, really, it just took time. Like, I mean, it took time for her to for you know, for her to get used to me telling her what to do and for you know, actually, you're kind of an intense person. Yeah, for sure. And she's kind of shy. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

Sometimes. Okay. So like at home, she's not quite as shy as like no. No, not at all. All right. So you guys connected. Uh tell me about like a time where like it was just real sweet. Like it, like you, you finally are like, hey, we can we can do this.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

Uh probably after I met Maria. Okay. Yeah. What do you mean? So tell me that. I mean, after I met my wife, everything just kind of like God's just had everything just fall into place. Like we have a mixed family, you know, so we've all come together and it's just so.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

This is the one thing I think that people navigate all the time in our culture is blended family. So talk about the blendedness of the crazy family lifestyle you have now. The blendedness.

Leading A Big Household In Faith

SPEAKER_00 29:43

So, like you've got your daughter. So, yeah, we've got my daughter. You've got your wife. We've got my wife, got my my wife's daughter, Daisy, that's also um mine, and then got Violet, our other daughter, and then we've got my wife's younger siblings. Uh we've got her younger brother, we've got her two younger sisters.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

So And biologically, there's like two in there that are yours. Yeah. And then there's a slew of others, of children slash with all with different names. Siblings. And okay, and so how many people live at your house right now? Uh eight?

SPEAKER_00 30:23

And how big of a house do you have? Uh well, we have three bedrooms, but the garage is converted into another three bedroom. So it I mean, it's it's big enough.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Yeah, okay. So so you've got eight people living in a in which is kind of like uh you like a three-bedroom house with eight people. So you took the garage, you made that into a three-bedroom garage. Yeah. Pretty much. Okay. How many bathrooms are there? Two. Awesome. All right. So And they're all uh they're they're all girls.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

Yeah, so so you're the only man in the house. I don't see the bathroom very often.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Wow, do you just go pee outside?

SPEAKER_00 31:02

My wife will yell at me for it, but yeah. Why are you doing that?

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Like you should come to our house. Anyway, yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

I need a house full of boys for just just a weekend.

From Landscaping To Peptides

SPEAKER_01 31:12

Okay, so tell me about like the dynamics then. Like, because that can be a challenge. Like Yeah, for sure. Usually like whenever I do counseling um with blended families, okay, I've got like the the usually the biggest place of conflict is a non-biological parent with a non-biological kid. Do you ever experience any of that with no?

SPEAKER_00 31:33

That's for us, it's more the older sister becoming the mom figure, you know, to to her, because they live with us, they're like our kids. Like if we get we have to deal with all this, we deal with all the school stuff and everything. Like her mom lives with us now and helps, you know, and helps tremendously, pays most of the bill, does all kinds of stuff. She's freaking amazing. Do you have a mom in there? Yeah, my wife's mom now lives with us as well, too. That's awesome. So she had to go.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Wait, I know your mom's okay. Yeah, sorry. I was I was piecing that all together through all the all right, got it. All right, yeah, I know her. Okay, so all right, that's awesome. So you've got eight people, you've got like three generations, uh, and you're the only man there. Yeah, well, and the two dogs. And and the two dogs. I got my two homeboys. All right, and so um how did you like what when you guys got married, what were you doing to financially provide?

SPEAKER_00 32:30

How was that working out? Um, I was landscaping, my wife was landscaping with me. Oh wow. Uh we kind of had like a sober home slash second place, second chance like start kind of like on our couch at our house that we would let people, you know, that were trying to get out of prison or get clean, have a place where they could come work with us, do landscaping, you know, and have a place to sleep and all that stuff. And so we landscaped to pay the bills. We actually did really well for a while.

What Peptides Are And Why They Matter

SPEAKER_01 32:58

Okay, and then then once you was there a point where you graduated from landscaping or sold the business, or how'd that no, just got tired of it.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

I got tired of being the dude running the wheelbarrow with kids that were half my age working with us that and I'm doing double the work they are. Like, bro, you should be smoking me, bro. I'm old, bro. Like, and you should take pride in the fact that you could run circles around me.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

Okay, so so so then what did like you said, hey, I'm not not doing that anymore. I'm going to figure it out. Right directional drilling?

SPEAKER_00 33:31

Was that like where you uh Yeah, kind of, yeah, and went there too. I did some GC work. I've done a ton of G C work over the years too.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

I'll do a bunch of general contracting stuff, so Okay, so you're just kind of like wherever you find like to me, and this is this might be just um ignorance. No, because I I kind of went high school, army, seminary, church. That's been my entire job experience. Yeah. Uh before that McDonald's. Okay. So in my like, I'm thinking like to go get a job, you have to go get like you have to go apply and get you just like find work all the all over the place. Yeah, well, I mean I as if work is like growing on trees around here.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

It's not hard to find work. If you're the hardest worker there, it's not hard to find work. But I mean, I I learned construction from my dad from a very, very young age from doing roofs, you know, framing, everything. Like we've built all kinds of stuff together my entire life. So I could walk on a job site and go pick up a tool belt, I can go be somebody's cut man, or I can go, I mean, it doesn't matter what you want me to do, I can go pick up, I go run a job site. And so it's just like whenever I need to work, I'll just go get some work, you know? Whatever. I mean, that's that's encouraging.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Do you think that um man, I don't want to say this the wrong way. Do you think people when it comes to work just don't want to work?

SPEAKER_00 34:52

Yeah, for sure.

Family Healings And Word Of Mouth

SPEAKER_01 34:53

So because I mean there's people without jobs for like 12 months, 18 months, and like when you hear that, what what do you think in your head?

SPEAKER_00 35:02

I mean, I feel like most people could go if you go pull up on a construction site and go work harder than anybody else there, even if you're just carrying stuff. If you go make yourself available. Yeah, make yourself available, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Because I feel like um, and maybe this is there's a South Park episode where like the handyman is like the richest guy in town, and like lawyers are like, What do you need? I will pay you anything to fix my fan. You know, like uh have you seen that as a reality of like the blue-collar world has like overtaken white-collar world, and white-collar world is like they're they're a dime a dozen because nobody knows how to use their hands.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

I mean, I think it goes, well, yeah, but I think it goes both ways too. Cause I mean, there's if at some point the blue collar industry runs out of people that are willing to actually get out and use a shovel, right? Like they're gonna they're not gonna have anybody there. Like, I mean, they've gotta, you know, it's just I don't know, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

So talk back to like the blended family. So how have how are you guys interacting with eight people in the family? How are you leading that home in a way that honors God? And I mean, because you show up to church, you got everybody there, it looks like a circus, uh, and you know, people are loving Jesus and you're telling people about Jesus. Like, how like how are you managing that?

SPEAKER_00 36:18

Uh, by the seat of my pants. Like, I mean, sure. I mean, there's lots of struggles. I mean, especially, I mean, with so with like what's the biggest fight you guys have? Uh at this point, probably just that uh Violet does whatever she wants because she's the baby and she's spoiled and you know, she just runs the house. Like, how old is she? 17 months. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

Okay. So um, but is it is it nice with built-in babysitters?

Affordable Wellness And Big Pharma Skepticism

SPEAKER_00 36:49

Are you guys able to Oh dude? It's amazing. So not not only does so not only does her mom live with us, but my parents live in the house next door to us. Oh, wait, you live next door to your parents? Yeah, yeah. We bought we ended up bu getting the house right next door to my parents, which was a whole blessing and miracle in and of itself. So, I mean. Oh, that's crazy. Yeah. It's like a compound. Yeah, my wife had been looking for a house in that neighborhood for like a year and a half. And then the lady, the old lady that lived next door that my dad had done a bunch of help taking care of, that my Kylie had done a bunch of help taking care of. Her kids called us, like, hey, her dementia's gotten too bad. Do y'all want the house before it goes on the market? And we were like, uh yeah, for sure. Okay, wow.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

That's that's so the fact that it's kind of like having two houses in one.

SPEAKER_00 37:31

We literally tore down a bunch of I I literally ripped a bunch of fence pickets off and then cut out the two by fours so that there's literally a pathway from my back door to their back door. So the kids just I'm going to Papa's and take off out the back door and go over to Oh, that's wild. Yeah, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

So I okay. So wow, what a what a crazy deal. So you've got like the ultimate compound.

SPEAKER_00 37:55

You've got we're starting to peep the there's some more old people that live on the other side of us. We're starting to like make friends now, you know. And like, yeah, so that we can prep to get the next one.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

I don't know if we're gonna move in yet, but we're not we're just saying we're trying to get the whole street, right? Okay, got all right. So talk to me then about like what that's like having your mom and dad, having your wife. I mean, when I when I hear that, I think most um families would just like cringe at the amount of involvement of parents and in-laws and all that, but it seems like you're managing that in a way that's really positive.

SPEAKER_00 38:30

I'm not managing it, God's doing it because I would do a horrible job.

SPEAKER_01 38:33

Okay, so so now tell me what you do like, okay, you've it feels like you just go like you go outside and work comes to you.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

I mean, give or take, yeah.

Friends’ Recoveries And Community Impact

SPEAKER_01 38:43

God provides it. So what are you doing now for peptip peptides? Peptides. Talk to me about peptides. Seems like everybody's on peptides these days. I mean, peptides I think are the future of medicine. But yeah, okay. So, like, how did you get into that? How did and and talk to me about like how you even got started with that?

SPEAKER_00 39:02

Um, so after using all the drugs in my hat past that I had. You were pretty much a pharmaceutical entrepreneur before. That's yes, different, yeah, exactly. Right. Natural healing now versus pharmaceutical before. Now we're now we're on to natural stuff. Got it. Okay. So like so what's a peptide? What does it do? Uh so a peptide is just an amino acid chain. Okay. So you have, I think they're say about 300,000 of them in your body. They have have identified seven they 7,000 of them, and then they know what about 50 of them do completely.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

Yeah. All right. So it's it's very new, very well, not as new, but I mean it's newer than some of the other stuff.

SPEAKER_01 39:41

All right. So as a person who just magically finds work, and you've just now just transitioned to this, and it it seems like you've gotten your family involved, like your dad. Oh, for sure. So how is that working?

SPEAKER_00 39:51

Uh amazing. I mean, he he had problems with his his lower back for a long time, like years, and I finally got him on some peptides and literally felt the difference the next day. And then since then, it's just a after he noticed how much difference he made, he finally made my mom try it. My mom was born breach, and she's had problems with her hips her entire life because of it. And so he made her try it. Her hips stopped hurting. So both of her hips have gotten better. Like, I mean, and so it's just been like a cascade of people like our family and friends, is just I mean, it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

Everybody I think you remember you tell me someone had Hashimoto's in your family.

SPEAKER_00 40:25

Yeah, yeah. What is Hashimoto's? And then my best friend has Hashimoto's. Well, they say it's a thyroid issue, but then if you really look into it, it's really not a thyroid issue, it's a bunch of other issues that are uh that they affect the thyroid. Right.

SPEAKER_01 40:37

Exactly. So the thyroid's a symptom of the other issues. All right. So how what happened?

SPEAKER_00 40:41

Uh I mean, sh she's uh taking peptides now. She's noticed it. I mean, she's noticed a difference in her her knees and all this other stuff. I mean, we're watching people, I mean, build back stuff that they didn't think would build back. I mean, it's crazy.

Evangelism, Work, And Everyday Mission

SPEAKER_01 40:54

So you're able to like provide for your family off off all this and and and all like is that what's happening?

SPEAKER_00 41:01

Like I mean, it will be soon, hopefully. But yeah, yeah. I mean, right now I'm still doing side jobs, you know, uh on different days and different with different people doing different stuff. Just you know, whatever comes up. You just whatever comes up. God provides. There's always random stuff here and there, and I just that's what pays my bills.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

And then so it seems like um you're also doing a lot of evangelism. I see you bring a lot of people to church. A lot of people try to. So how does that happen?

SPEAKER_00 41:28

God brings people around me. I'm like, would you like to learn about peptides or Jesus today, buddy? You know? You just don't give them an option, bro. It makes it really easy.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

Okay. So, like, so tell me about like what would did you have a technique? And maybe this is the part that I don't get. Like, when you were an entrepreneur, uh pharmaceutical rep with illegal drugs, uh, did you have to have like a sales marketing strategy or did just don't get caught? Got it.

SPEAKER_00 41:56

So it's like drugs and people and have honest, honest scales, you know, and that was honest scales.

SPEAKER_01 42:01

Yeah, so you were like you had Proverbs uh and you're like, we need to make sure we have honest scales, or Proverbs 11. There we go.

SPEAKER_00 42:06

Probably should like written it on my scale, you know, so that while they were, you know.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

You could tell them about geez. Okay, so now with peptides, it's sort of the same thing. It's like you just say, I have, hey, you have a wh what's your technique? You go to the gym and be like, hey, something hurt, I got a peptide for that?

SPEAKER_00 42:19

Well, the I mean, well, the problem is is that legally you can't tell anybody that a peptide will heal anything, right? I can't tell you what it'll do for the human consumption. Right. They're not for human consumption, you know, and this is not medical advice or anything else like that. I'm not a doctor, so but yes, I mean it's crazy that it it's it's this gray market, so it's like I can't tell you, hey, this will heal your knee, but I can tell you that it fixed my mom's knee, fixed my dad's back, you know, and and all these other people that we know that are going through the same thing, our friends group and and our family, you know.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Because like six months ago, I don't know if you remember this. You were like, hey, I really want to get a job that will provide for my family, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Let me stay in town. And let me stay in town. We were you were talking about going to oil fields or something. Yeah, I was good. Well, I was gonna go back to directional drilling. Dang it. I keep saying that. Yeah, whatever it's tough enough. Same difference. Directional drilling. You're going back to directional drilling. And I'm sorry, I keep saying I feel bad. I keep doing that. In my head, it was all oil fields. So that's ridiculous. It's blue color. Yeah. So so directional drilling, and you're gonna go back to that. And you were praying, like, God, I need something to bring into my life that will allow me to provide for my family and stay involved in church and be a a father to my children and all of that. Right.

SPEAKER_00 43:28

And even more so, something that I'm passionate about, right? Because who who wants to do something that they're not passionate about?

SPEAKER_01 43:33

Exactly. That sucks. Okay, so then how did the god how did God bring that about? Um The peptides? Or yeah, I mean, how are you were just sitting there one day and like, I guess I'll try. I mean, how like this is why I always wonder like, how do people get into this kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_00 43:50

Right. Um, so I mean, I'd been to a male health clinic first and I was on TRT and had heard about some of the other healing peptides and stuff like that. Obviously. Uh testosterone replacement therapy. Oh, yeah. So not not a peptide, but the men's health clinics also are now starting to sell peptides as well. So um so I kind of first heard about it there and then kind of got interested. And then uh Sal from group started was on peptides, and then we started talking about those, and then uh my other friend Sam. Uh and Sam is a guy that you've been sharing Jesus with. Yeah, Sam's my best friend since like ninth grade. Did you guys ever do time together? No, we actually did time in completely different states at the same time. That's great. That's how close of friends we were. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll go to prison here and you go to prison in Indiana, bro, and I'll see you in seven years, right? Wow. But no, so yeah, he ended up uh we kind of he ended up going up there to like, I think to get away from everything here, and then ended up doing the exact same stuff. And then, you know, I I went to prison here, he went to prison up there. But so he he had been at through the hospital with he had fallen off, full fell off a roof, smashed his heel bone. Cause apparently the inside of your heel bone is soft, so it's kind of like a tomato, your heel bone is more like a tomato. So he imploded his heel bone, went through uh over two years, went through eight surgeries, uh, and I think two different IV pick lines for the MRSA and staff that they put in his bones when they put the plates in there before they had to remove the plates. And so after going through all this stuff and they're finally like, hey, we're running out of options, we might have to take your foot. And he was like, uh no. And so he's quit taking all the antibiotics and all the stuff that the doctors were giving him. He switched over to straight peptides. Fast forward 30 days, he goes into the doctor. The doctor's like, I don't know what you're doing, but don't stop doing it. He's like, I mean, he looks like a normal dude with a normal foot. No, yeah, he looks like a peptide poster child now, dude. I mean, he literally was in the hospital, like looking like gone. Yeah, horrible. Huge bags and circles under his eyes, sucked up, all the muscle gone, like, and now the dude's jacked walking around, you know, looking like, you know, Captain America.

SPEAKER_01 46:02

Yeah, he does.

SPEAKER_00 46:02

It's ridiculous. It is ridiculous. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:05

So, man, all right. So, talking about how how you now are following Jesus, like your do your life seems it's on this incredible trajectory.

SPEAKER_00 46:15

Yes, I mean me and Sam and Sal, we we were looking at all the peptide stuff, and it's like all these companies out here charging, you know, 15 times markup. We're like, for what reason, bro? Like, this this is not affordable. Like, yes, it's this is like the alternative to all of the crappy big pharma meds, but it's like they're they're pricing it so high that nobody in their, you know, nobody could actually afford to do enough to heal. Like, it's ridiculous. Like, so our whole goal was like, hey, we want to start a peptide company for the average person can afford to get their family healthy.

SPEAKER_01 46:48

Okay, can I go conspiracy theory? Oh, come on, let's go. Because I just I have a hard like I know big pharma's evil. I like everyone understands that got it. Yeah, but I have a hard time believing that their whole like they are on such a money train, ridiculous, we've got to keep people sick perpetually, or at least well enough to keep taking the drugs, but sick enough to keep manage manage decline. Yeah, like it I just have a hard time believing that. But you would say Oh, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 47:19

It's true. And not only that, it's crazy that 80% of our customers are nurses or nurse practitioners or so so it and not and not not young, new nurse practitioners and RNs. I'm talking about RNs that have been in the game 40 plus, yeah, 40 plus 50 years. So I mean, they understand and they will be the first ones to tell you that our medical system is trash.

SPEAKER_01 47:42

So I just have the hardest time believing that it's like how is that possible that the system is that set up against you? And now, granted, if I were to look at I could say that from the education system, the education system is built to keep people dumb because they, you know, right.

SPEAKER_00 47:56

The Rothschild said when they took it over, they want a bunch of generation of workers, they don't want thinkers.

SPEAKER_01 48:02

Yeah, so so I can see that. Yeah. But man, to say that people are trying to keep people intentionally sick, managed to cli I like the way you put that managed to client. That that's wild to me. Yeah. Um now, granted, I don't go to the hospital that much. I don't go to the doctor that much.

SPEAKER_00 48:16

In fact, but I also won't take a you know, advil Tylenol, right?

SPEAKER_01 48:20

I wouldn't take it. I don't take anything. My my wife would get mad at me, like, you're it's annoying that you're sick, take ibuprofen. I'd be like, same. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 48:29

Will you just take some advent?

SPEAKER_01 48:30

Right, all right, right. I'm like, all right, fine. So I guess I haven't I haven't needed it, I guess. Right. So I don't know of the chronic insanity. Right. Um but watching Sal, who we've had on the podcast, watching that guy that we've had on the podcast, uh share about his healing of cancer.

SPEAKER_00 48:52

That's crazy. Yeah, absolutely. And I and I was and I was right there, first person walking through it with him, like literally getting the phone calls on you know, uh one morning, and he was like, Hey, bro, I'm throwing up blood. I don't know if I'm gonna make it, you know. Like we thought he was gonna die. Yeah, we we all thought he was gonna die. Like, I mean, that's practically what the doctors told him. Like, and now he's like, In fact, we probably should check on him. I think he's having a surgery or something. He did have a surgery. I saw him at Lifetime just a few minutes ago before I came up here. He already had a surgery? Yeah, he already had his surgery, everything went well. He's got no more stomach stuff. And they removed the the the node. Yeah. The cancer node. Boom. Yeah. He's good. He's at lifetime right now doing some recovering because he was so amped after everything went so well. So but he had like stomach surgery. Yeah. Apparently they went in on his side and went in and did their little things. I don't know. I mean, I uh okay. I'm not a I'm not a cancer surgeon, I have no idea.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

All right, wow, that's wild. That's incredible. That's an incredible thing. Okay. I guess there's more to come with this, but I I just the big thing I want to know is like your journey in following Jesus. Yeah. Like to somebody that like, you know, like even the friends that you have that aren't believers, yeah, they they see the change in you. Oh, for sure. They see like you're managing eight, a family of eight on a compound in the middle of the suburbs. Uh yeah, suburban comp. How are you like what would you say to somebody that is checking out Jesus?

SPEAKER_00 50:19

I mean, check him out. He's pretty cool, man. I mean, he changed my life, right? I mean, that's the biggest thing for me is I mean, being from where I still live now, you know, 39 years later, like, there's lots of people that knew the old me that know the new me now, you know, and I mean it's you know, they can see the difference. So, I mean it's Are you able to bring people to Christ that knew you when you were not living for Jesus? Yeah, for sure. Most of the people that I think show up are people that knew me from those times.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

Yeah, and and what do you like, what's the like you see do you see them like you're just you know around you're at the store, you're like, oh my gosh, you're so-and-so from high school. Can you believe? Oh, what are you doing now? Oh, I love Jesus.

Closing And Listener Text Line

SPEAKER_00 50:59

Like, is that how that goes? Um, I don't know. I think most of the time I just love the people, bro. Like, I don't, I'm not a big like, I don't want to say like, I don't know. I I just show up and love them, bro. Like, I mean, as far as But like how do they like do they see you from afar and go, like, oh, what's going on? Like, how does it be? Well, I mean, as soon as they ask me about what's going on, I'm like, oh yeah, I'm I mean, nine times out of ten, I'm at church. Like, well, what are you doing on Wednesday morning? I'll be at church. What are you doing Tuesday night? Oh, I'll be at the church. What are you? What are you doing Wednesday at four? I'll be at the church, you know. So I mean, so for me, I mean, it's just I don't know, I just hung out with all those people. I just like I said, I kept hanging out. We're going to go see most, like a lot of the same people that I did before. It's just, I just treat, you know, I just went to go love on them, bro. Like listen to them, talk to them, find out what's going on in their situation, ask them if I could pray for them, you know, stuff like that. I love it. All right.

SPEAKER_01 51:47

So, hey, thanks so much for joining us. And uh can't wait to find out what becomes of this blended family situation that's a compound in the suburbs that is someone who's been to prison, who's had an encounter with Jesus, who is now living for the Lord. It's a wild experience. Thanks so much for sharing. Hey, thanks so much for you watching. If you got any questions, text us at 737 231 0605. We'd love to hear from you. We talk faith, culture, everything in between, from our house to yours. Have an awesome week abortion.