148: The Mindset It Takes to Persevere Through Suffering | Dylan Mandell

31:10Nick Bare:Yeah. I love it. I want to pivot a little bit. You know, like coming across the stuff you post and share online, as much as it is about the journey that you're on and glorifying God, much of your life is training to be this warrior mentally, spiritually, and physically. and that's one of the ways you know i grew up in the church central pennsylvania but i didn't know what having a relationship with the lord was was really all about so growing up my vision of christianity was that it's all like happy go lucky and jesus was like this very nice and humble and just kind person who he was and is but i now have this different view of of jesus as this warrior as this this healer and servant but also fighter and much of of your life is built around training and building your body i'm curious what that looks like for you in terms of the discipline of how you work out and how you eat and i heard you talking about on bryce's podcast that you know you grew up an athlete you and your brother both grew up athletes but you had to you had to prepare for this big surgery um that could have killed you there was a chance you weren't going to make it out of that surgery so you you trained extremely hard and you you were very disciplined in preparation for the surgery can you just share what that experience was like yeah so it was cancer number two in my life i was 19 um they basically said look we're playing the surgery the date's in about 29 days you got four weeks and some change and you gotta get in the best shape you can be in because they're going to put you under for 21 hours of anesthesia.

33:34Anesthesia. Yeah. And like they can't, they can't just do that. Like for, like for people, it's like never really an option, but they're like, look, this is, this is what we have to do. Like this procedure that we're going to do on you is, is going to, it's going to save your life if we can do it. but you need to walk in like as prepared physically and mentally as possible um and that that lit this fire in me and in hindsight that was all god-driven in the moment i i couldn't really i didn't understand that what i was feeling this motor was in was entirely the strength of the lord um but i had to get myself just as locked in as i could it was like i had a whiteboard in my garage gym which is took 29 and a 28 and 27 26 it was just i learned to get up early and every day was a 4am alarm non-negotiable i could train at seven but i i just think like the alarm is just step one if you can be disciplined with your alarm clock then you can be disciplined in pretty much everything else in your life i love when my alarm clock goes off at 4 a.m dude yeah i love it yeah i hate it by the way to speak for yourself um but i would just you know i'm not a morning person but you have to be you still have to be disciplined and so i just keep all my stuff like right by my bed in my shoes i'd like electrolytes in a bottle i'd like a like two bananas um sock shoes and like um like my ankle braces and my like leg support um and i would just ruck you know i just would go as far as i could um and then when my leg was my leg started to hurt on the trail i'd just go back and i'd just get on my bike and i'll just start biking and then i just hit the way it's hard and diet's really important so we'll just you know just be crushing food i wanted to put on as much weight as possible because you lose so much weight in recovery and from surgery that was like okay i'm gonna be as heavy as i can be in i'm gonna be in the best cardiovascular shape i can be in and i'm just gonna give my shot like give my body just a fighting chance and and we did and we did it and it was just one of those things where

36:09when i had cancer the first time I didn't know anything going in when I had to do that surgery the second time I knew everything going in and I think that was worse what do you mean you knew everything what did you know I knew what lied on the other side of those hospital doors that the most traumatic memories and experiences my most painful traumas that are buried so deep lie there yeah and you're telling me that i have to go back

36:51that's all i would think about when i would wake up early there's just those memories of just like those chemo infusions just like cycling through just those long nights the pain or just be cycling. And it just, yeah, it just drove me to be the best person I could be going in, the strongest person I could be going in. But it wasn't easy. Like everything's a battle. Like you wake up on the morning of the surgery, like you have to wake up super early, get there, sign your life away on documents and get to the pre-op room. Like getting from my house into the car because you know the car is what's going to drive you there is a battle.

37:35Driving there, it was like a 45-minute drive, just looking out the window. Everything's just circling of what you're about to go into. That's a battle. You got to go out of the car, through the parking lot, across the street, and in the hospital. That's a battle. You're in the pre-op room getting a gown on. They're rushing in, putting IVs in. um they're like have like a sharpie they're like sharpening their access points uh there was like three surgical teams that came in there was like a the like the head and neck tumor removal team there was the reconstruction team and then there was like the like the neurological team that came in and so like all these groups were coming in with all their people it's just like chaotic and all these steps is a battle in of itself.

38:31And it's the strength of the Lord is the only way you can be peaceful in the midst of that. It's the only way. And I remember going to the bathroom just to kind of pet myself up before we're about to go in. And I'm just kind of looking at myself in the mirror. and I'm just like, I looked at myself, I'm like, whatever condition you wake up in, be strong. No matter what it looks like, be strong. And I just looked at myself, gave myself a smile. I just want to like smile at myself and I walked back over and they're ready to roll. and so they just pushed me back and

39:25yeah I just I woke up in a a pain state you can't even like describe

39:36just gnarly dude looked like a car accident it's like it's just blood like pouring down my face it was like my head was resting in like a pool of blood was that another jaw surgery yeah yeah it was yeah another head surgery but they like went it's like the whole they went all the way over the scalp um so gnarly dude they took like half my quad out for that one to like for the reconstruction part um that's just been gnarly because they need what you have in your legs to reconstruct what they take out. And so like, I don't even have, I don't have a fibula bone in my right calf. And I lost like half my right quad.

40:29So I'm like fully handicapped in my right leg right now. Been doing physical therapy for years.

40:36Nick Bare:When was that second surgery? That was April of 2023. Okay. April 23. So a little over two years now. yeah about two and a half years um and i'm i'm doing good you know like any expectation a doctor gives you it's like you can shatter it we're just breaking expectations um but back to it

41:09I had really traumatic experiences from medication side effects during cancer one. Like pretty much all those pain medications caused me to have like really just awful side effects. So much so to where when I woke up in like that just car wreck looking procedure. I refused all pain meds. I said, I'm not taking what you're giving me. I'd rather feel this pain than lose myself and like hallucinate and like trip and like all these things that like were so traumatic. And so in cancer too, in that surgery, I was like, I woke up with no pain meds. and I was just sat in it. It was just, I don't feel all of it.

42:05I'd rather be fully mentally here and present with my family who's right here and feel this than have a side effect from a pain med. And so that led to like, just, just learning to be comfortable in pain. I can't imagine. Pain's a choice.

42:30how long does that last that level of intensity

42:37probably like a hundred hours a couple days

42:46couldn't speak because there's a ventilator coming out of my mouth so you could be very internal like everything's going on up here but i can't say anything I'm just laying back in a puddle of blood, looking at this tube coming out of my mouth.

43:07And like, everything's hurting, but I can't say anything. What am I going to do? Like, bang something together? You know, people don't know. And so I had to get really comfortable internally. Then when I looked at myself in the mirror before it and I said, be strong, like you had to be strong. but I was starting to learn that I couldn't do this. I couldn't be strong by myself. Like it was getting too bad. It was too much for me to handle. And so I just internally just cried to the Lord. Like that was my breaking point. That was my moment when people say, do you have like a moment when like your faith was like really forged.

43:57I'm like, yeah. When I couldn't speak under the pain, I yelled to the Lord in my mind and he heard every word and he wiped away every tear. He lit a fire in me in that moment, just like kick-started this recovery process that was like supernatural.

44:31Like I left the hospital and recovered in half the expected time. They would come in every morning for their like daily, you know, checklist of like, what can you do, what you can't do? How's your progress on these things? and like when you check, you know, like there are 10 requirements, you can go home and it's like every morning they'd come in and we're just checking boxes. It's like, how is this happening? It's the Lord. It's the Lord. And we got out of it.

45:09Nick Bare:I love this analogy of the fire and you've brought it up a few times throughout this conversation so far, which is very interesting timing because right before you got to AHQ today, someone sent me a message and it was literally said, hey man, like, because I've been more bold and public with my faith and my journey and how my relationship, my intimate relationship with Jesus Christ is making this transformation, but renewal of not just my life, but my family's life and everything around me right now. This person sent me a message that was, hey man, just keep the fire going. Just keep the fire going.

46:02And I got this message and it really just hit home for me

46:07Nick Bare:because that's our responsibility. That is the fear of God. Keep the fire, keep the fire, keep the fire. And that fire comes from being in the word, being in prayer, maintaining full surrender, being obedient. You can't let that fire die. The enemy wants that fire to extinguish and burn out.

46:41Nick Bare:of all that has happened in these i guess i'll ask the question first it's been four years roughly since you've been first diagnosed right does four years feel fast or very slow slow slow so much has happened in four years i can't even remember my life before this it's insane i can't like i i like forget i forget what my life is before and that's why like when i say at the beginning like i'm spiritually past it but man to man i'm so like ready to be done I just want to like make memories like not about this yeah you just want to live your life yeah and there's no doubt that that's not coming and so like I don't want to like say that with like a doubtful tone the Lord gives me hope and I'm deeply excited for that day when it's gone and we can just move on

48:00Nick Bare:but man i i want it to be today yeah so bad yeah i mean i want that for you i do want that for you but you got to recognize how wise you are because of what the lord has put you under i mean he tells us many times throughout scripture it's not just about knowing but it's about understanding and understanding is wisdom yeah and brother for a 22 year old dude you got a lot of wisdom i've seen a lot you got a lot of understanding yeah man you don't just you just don't see it and read it but you know it and it's very obvious thank you and we gotta have faith that he's putting you under these trials and tribulations for a very specific reason and purpose.

48:56I got a word for that. Yeah. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you.

49:09Don't be surprised. It's not a matter of if there's going to be challenges you face. It's a matter of when. and so don't be surprised but look to the one who already set you free from it what's the one who gives you hope in the midst of it it would say like just a little bit past and after you suffered a little while that the god of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in christ will himself restore confirm strengthen and establish you.

49:50There's something about suffering that's, it's not from God, but he's just so good at using it for his glory. That God, there's a man that God wants you to be. And it might be on the other side of suffering. Not suffering is again, not from him, but God is wise enough to maybe let you sit in it for a second to forge you in that to then become who he wants you to be. But St. Jeremiah 18, that God is like the potter and we're like the clay. We're just a piece of mush, piece of clay. I don't know if you know anything about like a pottery process. We get spun on a wheel and you get smacked on this thing and you get pushed into it and you get a vase, like a clay vase out of it.

50:52And that's a season that some people might be in right now. You might be in a season right now where you're going from a ball of clay into just this beautiful vase in the eyes of God. But you gotta like spin it in circles. Sometimes people might be saying, I feel like I'm spinning. You're on that wheel. some people think man i feel like there's my life it's just raining in my life you got to put water on the clay as you're as you're spinning it to form it but then it's fully molded on on the wheel but it's still just a sopping wet piece of fragile clay and if you don't do anything to it it's just gonna collapse and go right back to just being a ball and so you have to get put in the furnace and you have to heat it up and it's sitting in the furnace is what hardens and strengthens the clay into the vase that god made you into that's good and so you might look around and say i'm somewhere on that process he might turn the heat up so hot in your life because he loves the vase that he created you into.

52:11That God sculpted you into just this beautiful image of himself. And he's like, I'm going to turn the heat up in your life because I want you to stay how I created you and not fall back to where you once were. So it says, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you. man dude pressure is a privilege for god to look at me and you that one point in our life to just be just a ball of nothing and for him to say i i love you so much to the point that i'm gonna i'm gonna mold you and then i'm gonna put you in the furnace because i I want you to be something better. It's a blessing. It's such a blessing.

53:02Nick Bare:That's incredibly said and extremely visual. I think for a lot of people who don't have a strong faith or foundation or understanding, that analogy, that visualization just like really puts a bow on it. You know, as you were going through multiple surgeries, diagnosis, treatments, I'd have to assume that you were doing this in the hospital alongside other people who are also going through similar treatments or surgeries? Was there, I'm assuming yes, but was there a huge difference? Did you meet people who were going through similar journeys who didn't have God? He didn't know who he was and watch them try to navigate these trials and tribulations and just go off the rails, be lost, struggle?

54:17I've never been asked that.

54:21There's an interesting fork in the road that you hit when you have extreme circumstances. And you can either go, I hate God or I need God. And there's a lot of people who say, I hate God. How could this happen to me? I've done good things. I'm not a bad person. How could a God who's good have me go through this? And there's 99 % of people that fall this camp.

55:09and I think one of my goals in life is just to help more people in this camp come here

55:23and that there's yeah I saw hopelessness in people I saw people giving up I would hear people in other rooms like wailing all night long.

55:46He's our great comforter.

55:51And I want just the blanket of love of God just to blanket these people and give them eyes to see and ears to hear to come home. it's hard dude yeah it's it's hard because all you see is hopelessness in the patients and in doctors it feels like hopelessness is the theme of a hospital and it's mainly due to the abs and the absence of faith where faith is hope is and where faith isn't hopelessness is there and I would love just to bring more faith and hope into the hospital scene as it needs it.

56:42Nick Bare:Did you have any doctors or nurses on your team that were strong believers who incorporated faith into their practice? That is a very

56:57Nick Bare:strong observation and accurate statement that when you go to a hospital it is It's black and white. It's like, here's what we're dealing with. Here's the procedure. Here's the plan. Here are the expectations. It's all pre-calculated, pre-determined. There is an absence of faith, which leads to an absence of hope. I can assume it's really hard to have hope in a hospital because doctors and practitioners are afraid to give you hope because they don't want to get your hopes up because then they're letting you down. So they protect themselves by giving you worst case scenario as opposed to best case scenario.

57:45Nick Bare:That's tough, man. Yeah. Something I've been chewing on this month has been life and death is in the power of the tongue. What you speak matters. What you say matters. And if I'm constantly speaking the existence of cancer in my life, that's actively hurting me. And what's hard about the hospital system is like you said, like they have to say everything. They spend their time verbalizing the existence of these things, confirming the evil in your life. to get on the spiritual side of things. Cancer is an attack on my body. Cancer is not who I am. I am made perfectly in God's image. The enemy tried to take things out of my life.

58:42But in the eyes of God, I'm perfectly his son. And it's hard for me as a Christian and the enemy's taken so much from me just to like be speaking the existence of something that's just merely just an attack on me. We don't have to like go deeper into that.

59:07Nick Bare:Do you know who Chad Wright is? No. Chad Wright. Chad Wright is a former Navy SEAL, man of God. I've had him on the podcast a few times. He's a really good friend. And one of the things he says is that your tongue is your rudder. And the things that you say, you speak into existence. They will lead you mentally, spiritually, physically to those places. If you tell yourself you're weak, you will become weak. If you tell yourself you're strong, you will become strong. If you are constantly complaining or being pessimistic, that will lead you to where you go. Your tongue is your rudder, like a boat.

59:53Nick Bare:Your body is the vessel. Your tongue is the rudder of that vessel. And when he told me that the first time, that hit me so hard. Because the first time he ever showed up at BPN HQ, it was middle of the summer. And he showed up early. And I was waiting for him because we were going to record a podcast. So I'm waiting in the studio. And I see he shows up. with his buddy, Chili. And he might've been August. It was like 110 degrees here in Texas. And he's running laps around the BPN HQ. Like, what's this guy doing? He's running. And we brought him in. I was like, what were you doing? Yeah, I got here earlier.

1:00:37Nick Bare:We decided to get some miles in. So he came over and I introduced him to the BPN team. And the first thing that someone said to him when he walked in HQ was, he goes, hey, how are you guys doing? and someone said, good, but it's really hot. He met the next person. Hey, how you doing? Good, but it's hot out here today. And he looked over at me. He's like, your team thinks it's really hot. Must be really affecting him. And that's when he then told me, your tongue is your rudder. If you tell yourself it's hot, if you tell yourself it's difficult, if you tell yourself it's challenging before you even go into it, that's what you're expecting.

1:01:15Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude, that's good. yeah that's good yeah what you speak matters and people people don't control their tongues people say what they want people post what they want people are very unfiltered and i think part of being a man is is being very i think conservative in your speech calculating what you say and careful what you say. So what you say matters. I pray to be a voice for the Lord for a long time. I pray to be a minister of people, but I need to check myself because if I want to preach the word of God, then I can't be dulling the sharpness of my blade and my tongue by gossiping, by cussing, by like talking negatively by complaining yep if i do those things then i he says i've made your mouth sharper than a double-edged sword what is what i was referencing if i just go about you know being unfiltered with my tongue not controlling what i say and all the things then i'm actually hurting what i actually want to do and that's to preach the word i want to go make disciples i want to go give people this word and i i'm i'm hurting myself if i'm if i'm uncontrolled with my tongue uncontrolled undisciplined yeah talk about discipline yeah yeah man yeah discipline is everything and i think people people shortcut discipline so common discipline is to be disciplined in all aspects of your life was i think david goggins called it a part-time savage it's a bazillion part-time savages out there but if you if you want to be disciplined you have to be disciplined in all aspects of your life I'm by no means a super athlete nor do I have goals of doing that but I will be disciplined in my diet in my training in my sleep in my regimen because it helps what I actually am passionate about and what my real goals are my goals is actually ministry my callings in ministry but me being disciplined in training diet sleep in my regimen me being controlled and disciplined in what I say, how I speak to people, the relationships I have, all of that discipline leads to me being disciplined into my calling.

1:04:07Yeah. You know what I mean? Like I'm not training for anything, fine. But still train and bust your ass. You know, eat good food. Eat what God asks you to eat. You know, like set an alarm and get up because all that stuff, whether you think about it or not, adds up into the person that you are. We're a complete being. It's like a pie chart. You know, if I'm like, people don't think that what they do, you know, out of the office matters in their life, but what they do out of the office starts to impact their performance in the office. If you don't sleep good, you're not going to perform good. Like your entire life is so interconnected and the word discipline is so powerful because if you're disciplined everywhere, you're going to be disciplined in the specific ways that matter to you most.

1:05:04Nick Bare:I think this is so important to touch on. One of the things that I've said for a long time and I so strongly believe is the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. Amen. And especially in the industry that I'm in, the fitness space, I've met a lot of people who will set their alarm for 4 a.m. they'll go along 20 miles before they show up to work they'll eat all their meals but then when they show up to work they're a turd when they show up to their family yeah they're a turd yeah and i'm like dude you can't you can't be a stud in discipline in this one area of your life and then it gives you a free-for-all in grace to be a turd in every other area of your life It doesn't work that way.

1:05:53Nick Bare:Show up in the same way you do everything. That's how you build trust. That's how you're respected for being competent in what you do. People will look to you as a warrior, a leader, someone who's reliable. And I feel, and we should all feel, that is a heavy responsibility and burden to carry. The way we show up for one thing is the way we show up to everything. But so many people think that I'm disciplined in this area of my life. So that gives me grace to be lazy and take it easy on all these other areas. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah. The Bible talks about that integrity. Walk with integrity.

1:06:47like so many people are they're entirely different people in in all situations they've they come about in their day i don't know if i said that clearly people that don't walk with integrity are legitimately a different person in their office and they are outside their office people are a different person in a podcast room than they are outside a podcast room people are different versions of themselves when they interact with different people and that's like just entirely walking with a lack of integrity yeah like if i'm just some you know fitness beast and then like you know between the hours of like 7 p.m and 10 p.m i'm just like stuffing my face with with sugar it's like i wouldn't call that integrity right you know i wouldn't i wouldn't say that i'm the same person all the time um yeah it's like it's too normal

1:07:42Nick Bare:for people it really is so normalized i've been in the book of james a lot recently yeah james is that one book where every time i start reading it again and i'll read it at night before i'm going to bed it jacks me up i can't even fall asleep and in this what is there five chapters in the book of jams and as short as it is it is packed and it talks about how we will be judged if we treat the rich different from the poor and we should be treating everyone in the same way it's just like you're talking about where if you show up for one person you need to show up for that next person whether they are your brother or they are a stranger in the same exact way that is the integrity that we are speaking upon that's challenging but that's what we're being called to do that's a that's a really good word yeah like

1:08:44everyone's so focused on the titles that the world gives people after title don't care it's like we've all fallen short of the glory we need him all equally so let's walk in that humility i i used to get tied up with the titles yeah i recently talked about this um on a podcast and conversation i had with my wife

1:09:12Nick Bare:where if someone asked hey who are you who's nick bear i would say i'm i'm founder and ceo of BPN. I loved having that title founder and CEO, more so founder than CEO. That's who I thought I was. That was my identity. That is what I do. That is my work. That is not who I am. My identity is rooted in Christ. And when I made that shift, And I forgot about the worldly title that I gave myself and other people gave me. And I really accepted and embraced the identity that Christ gave me when he created me. That's when I really started figuring out who I am, who I was and who I was meant to be. That changed my life.

1:10:11Nick Bare:Yeah. He calls you a child of his. Like, how cool is that? Yeah. like in the same way that Jesus is the son of God, you get to also be a son of God. Pretty cool. Absolutely incredible. Pretty cool. Would you say right now, at this point in your life, you're on diagnosis number four. At this point today, it is November 4th. Yeah. When were you diagnosed for the fourth time? Like August. 26th, I want to say. Could you say you're at peace right now? Perfect peace. What gives you that confidence? Dude, I'm already healed. I'm already healed by the blood of Jesus. I'm healed by what happened 2000 years ago.

1:11:12And that comfort is everything. it says 1st Peter 2 24 I don't have it up he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross that we may be dead to sin and alive and righteousness by his stripes we have been healed dude he took it all he took it all sickness is to the body what sin is to the soul and he took it all for me

1:11:47I just have peace in knowing like what lies ahead we should be talking about heaven more like what an honor what a blessing like how exciting and I'm just at perfect peace with how everything's gone

1:12:15like deeply satisfied with every pain

1:12:24Nick Bare:yeah satisfied I heard this great analogy I was into a sermon when I was on the bike you know being 16 weeks into Ironman prep right now i've spent over 130 hours on the bike yeah it's been a lot of sermons a lot of worship in there and um i heard this analogy this past week that i thought was just like so powerful and um you know it was it was this pastor describing i can't remember exactly who it was so i'd love to credit him but i can't remember um people ask the question well don't i go to heaven even if I'm just a good person. And he used the analogy, say you walk up to a random person's house.

1:13:11Nick Bare:You don't know who lives there. They don't know you. And you say, hey, can I come? I'm here, I wanna live here. And they say, this is my house. Yeah, but like, I'm a good person. So you can trust me. I wanna come live in your house with you. And they say, no, get out of here. Absolutely not. Vice versa. you go to a relative's house, someone that you really know and trust and they trust you. They know you, you know them. You have an intimate relationship. You walk up to that door, you knock on the door. Hey brother, I'm here. I'm going to live here. Oh, what happened? I need a place to live. Yeah, come on in.

1:13:57Nick Bare:Absolutely. It's an intimate relationship that allows them to come live in that house, not just because they are a good person. And then the second analogy that was used in this sermon was, God calls up a buddy and says, hey, come on over to my house. I want you to come live here. And his buddy, God knows where he lives. His buddy doesn't know where God lives. So his buddy starts just driving around everywhere looking for the house of God, but he can't find it. And God says, well, I gave you the directions. You go straight on North on Main Street, you turn left on Elm, you hook a right, you make a left on Sycamore and my house is there.

1:14:51Nick Bare:God gives us the directions to his house, but so many people ignore the directions of how we get there. The direction is right in front of you. It is the scripture. It is prayer. It is faith. So it's the two things that God is calling us to do to get to his kingdom, have an intimate relationship with him and his son, Jesus Christ, and follow the directions that he has laid out for us together. And those two analogies shared, I shared with my wife, we're like, oh, that is so powerful. that is gold so it's two things that people will ignore and skip yeah that's a good word it's a good word

1:15:44I think too often we forget that God's the one who's driving that car dude

1:15:53Nick Bare:well said we all want to drive it though we think we're driving it but he is that's such a good point you know instead of me like god's like i'm holding the wheel why are you trying to grab the wheel he's like it's almost like i'm in the passenger seat sometimes trying to lean over across the dash to like crank the wheel this direction and he's like why are you grabbing the wheel it's like you're in my car I'm driving it I'm the guy yeah just sit tight in the passenger seat and just be happy that you're in the car with me in the first place man well said that was a good call there yeah it's like dude we're going where we're going it's fine we're gonna get there when we get there we're going to a place that I've already carved out for you so don't worry about where we're going and when we're getting there just sit tight and just be happy that you're in here with me so like i'm sitting here yeah it's like

1:17:04i'm just happy to be in the car with them and that's how i feel right now well brother i appreciate what you're doing and it's amazing to just see how god's working on your life

1:17:20Nick Bare:and how you are being a witness to his word.

1:17:28Nick Bare:And for 22 years old, you've gone through a lot. You've experienced a lot of suffering, but you are so wise for it. I mean, it's obvious. God is doing some, he's doing some work in your life and he's working through you. to do a lot of great work here on earth. So I appreciate you, brother. Me and this team and our family, we're praying for you.

1:18:01Nick Bare:I'm very fortunate to have had the opportunity to sit down with you and have this conversation. Thank you, Nick. All right, man. Dude, you're so awesome, bro. Thank you, dude. I appreciate you. I'm so encouraged by your faith. And we're just saying that we need more voices. we're just real people with real faith experiences i'm so encouraged by that just the outward proclamation of your faith and dude god's god's working so big for you right now oh i can feel it i'm not i'm not the same person i was a few months ago i'm not present and uh i don't i don't recognize the person that i used to be for all the best reasons for all the best reasons what are your desires like where do you want to go

1:18:55wherever he wants me to go yeah you know i think um

1:19:02Nick Bare:for most of my life i've tried to put myself in the driver's seat and take control of the wheel and feel the need to get myself there on my own. But right now I'm just being patient and I can feel God working in my life. And it's very exciting because I know this next chapter of my life is going to be such an adventure because I'm doing it through God's will. I don't know where that's going to take me, but I know it's going to take me amazing places, places that I never imagined or would have expected. And that's, what's making life so exciting right now. I don't know what I'm gonna be doing next year or in three years or in five years, but God's got a plan and I'm gonna be obedient and I'm gonna surrender everything.

1:20:00Nick Bare:And it's gonna be a wild ride, but it's because of him. It's gonna be beautiful. Like looking back, like he's telling you to like walk with a compass and not a map. you know like he's telling you just like got this compass which makes you surrendered and he's like dude just follow follow north yeah follow north and just keep walking a map like you said it's just like it's just going to direct the thing there's no real faith involved but the faith comes when you see this direction of straight north to have the faith to go and like you just said when you look back you're gonna be like that course that we just got that we just went on is so beautiful in the end but only he knows and i just like to just sit in the reality that like what's to come is in it's gonna be far more beautiful than we can even understand right now One of my favorite verses right now is Ephesians 3.20.

1:21:06I think this could be a really good one for you. It says, Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we could ask or think according to the power at work within us. Can we read that again? now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us yeah dude he is so able he loves to like he loves to take our faith and then like produce things from that that you like didn't even know were possible like you're going to take one step of faith and he's going to take that 10 miles you take two steps of faith he's going to take it like there's no telling what he can't do yeah and he thinks bigger than you do he thinks better than you do his plans are bigger and beyond even the good plans that like we think that we have like your goals for bpn for you know now until 2030, I don't make it something up.

1:22:16Like his plans are incomprehensible better.

1:22:22Nick Bare:And it's pretty cool just to think about. That's why I have so much trust and confidence for the future. Because I've put that trust and confidence in him. It's not just me carrying the yoke on my own. It's alongside of him. And that's why I know the future is bright. Very, very bright. All right, brother. Now it's time to sauna, cold plunge, train. Let's go. I appreciate you, man. Thanks, Nick. Thank you so much. You're so on. Love you, brother. Love you.