His Hands Church
His Hands Church
God Stories - Curran Phillips - Gold Medal Gymnast
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Gymnast Curran Phillips shares the journey behind the medals—from starting gymnastics at age four to winning gold at the Pan American Games. But this isn’t just a story of athletic triumph. Curran opens up about the deeper transformation that came when he realized his identity wasn’t rooted in success, but in something eternal.
Curran, what's up, man? Hey Justin. Hey. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm excited to have you. And so uh for everyone who's watching this, uh, this is not who they're used to seeing across the table. Usually it's me and Madison or or maybe Megan or someone else that works here at his hands and we're talking about stuff, but we're starting this new little series where we just have have cool people on that share their God stories. And this is a funny one for me, like to set it up. Um I met you, okay. I met you after church, what, like a couple months ago, maybe? Something like that.
SPEAKER_00I think we met at a at a His Hands University event. Okay. Okay. I guess formed fiance.
SPEAKER_01Congratulations, by the way.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Yeah, we uh uh went to that and yeah, you came up to us, we met then, and then you know, you invited me to a few events, and then something got lost.
SPEAKER_01Truly. So what happened was I invited you to this this Bible study that I'm part of on Tuesday nights, and I was like, oh man, you should come. It's a great group of guys. And then you gave me your number. You I looked back and you text me, and then I I just go, I didn't mean to, but you sent me a text, like, hey yeah, great meeting you, because we exchanged numbers. Like, I'd love to come to that Tuesday night thing you said, and just nothing, no response.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I I felt so here's actually what happened. One of the other guys that's in the group met you. I'm not sure who was, was it Keenan or someone else on the ground?
SPEAKER_00I met Casey Keenan, um Cameron and Justin. I met all those guys.
SPEAKER_01You met them separately, and they reached out to me, like, hey, we met this really awesome guy named Curran, which is a unique name. And we think you should invite him to the thing. And I was like, I actually technically already did. And I look back at my phone and I that's when I realized I never text him back. I'm really bad at that kind of stuff, by the way. I'm not super organized. And sometimes it's funny, haha, sometimes actually not. So I'm sorry. But you were cool, so I reached out and I was like, hey man, you want to come finally? And uh you did. Thank you for being really gracious about it. But it was just uh a week or so ago that you came for the first time, and I got to hear your story. And and there's one part of it that really blew me away, um, and we'll get to that. But I think your story is just it's really cool, and I think it can inspire a lot of people. And so I'll back up. Uh, we were hanging out on Tuesday night with that group of guys, and you just sort of let it slide. I was like, well, Kern, like tell us your story. And because it was your first time, and you basically started telling the story that I was not expecting about you being a uh, and you were super humble, so I'll brag on your behalf, but you being like a world-class gymnast, and you had this uh incredible career, but also had this little setback, and because of that setback, essentially God was able to work in your life in some unique ways. And as you told the story, I'm sitting there like, I had no idea this was a thing. And then I immediately went and checked you out on YouTube to make sure you know it was all legit. Sure, it was legit. And it was 100%. So, you know, the whole gymnastics thing, um, it's not your identity, that's not who you are, but I imagine it's a pretty big part of your your life. And so maybe like give us that story that you you gave to me. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, first off, I want to say for the churchgoers and his hands attendees listening that it was Easter week that I texted you. So you were busy, you had your hands full, don't worry about it. Yeah, I appreciate it. We we preach forgiveness, even you know, the lead pastor of the church. He deserves a lot of forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01I definitely I need everyone's forgiveness. I will let everyone down.
SPEAKER_00I'm not Jesus. Yeah, but we were we were joking about it. It was it was all fun. But God's timing's perfect, and we're sitting here now having this discussion. So yeah, I mean, I grew up extremely blessed in a family of four. Um we we were very close knit. Uh we loved to do things as a family, you know, grow up with a lot of surrounding, extended family around us. And my mom was actually a gymnast. She was a walk-on to the University of Kentucky. Okay. And she ended up stopping after a year just because women's gymnastics has some things to it that can some different, I guess, areas and places where it's it's difficult on women, especially back then. I'm sure um so she she stepped back and we grew up in in Naperville, Illinois. Um I started gymnastics when I was four years old. Okay. My mom brought both my sister and I, so it wasn't like, hey, son, you're you're doing gymnastics. It was both of us brought to like the mommy and me classes, the get your energy out classes, and we both did that. My sister did not like it, and uh apparently I did. Okay. And you know, do you remember that? No, I don't. Really? You're in the pretty good. Actually, the the the club coach who continued to be my coach until I left for college, he was the coach of that class. Yeah. Um, and he went up to my mom after class, like, hey, I think this kid will be good for the club team. Took both my sister and I. I enjoyed it. Um I I I poke fun at my parents and say that they forced me into the decision of gymnastics looking back just because Well, how old were you again? I was four. Yeah, I wasn't like four or four. You didn't know what you were saying yesterday. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I was like, this is fun. Let's do it. Yeah, this is fun.
SPEAKER_01This is not going to completely dominate my life for example.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. So um Yeah, then I I said yes, I wanted to do it and got on the club team, and that started the I guess 20-year journey to uh last year to when I when I stopped gymnastics.
SPEAKER_01So how old are you, if you don't mind me asking? I'm 24. You're 24. So it's weird to be 24 years old and have retired from something. Right. Most people at 24 are just starting whatever their thing is, and you've already done something to such a high level and with such intensity that you can say, I I retired from Yeah, right. And it probably isn't like uh gymnastics for fun as an adult. Is that a is that a thing? I mean, like I still play pickup basketball sometimes, but there's you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, for sure. There's not you know, I'm not gonna walk into a gym and be like, all right, let's throw on the grips, let's swing around a little bit. It's right. It's too painful. Like even when I was towards the last two years of doing gymnastics, you know, a lot of pain. Yeah. Um, because I mean you're pushing your body to an to a limit with gymnastics. Like it's one of those sports where it's super fun, don't get me wrong. And when you feel good, it's great, but it's painful, and you know, the human body isn't intended to do the movements and just the physical exertion, having the balance of flexibility, strength, cardio, fitness, all that. It's kind of like a whole bag of attributes that you need to possess as a gymnast. So and I possess none of those. So there you go. You do, you got the you got the intelligence and the uh and the jokes to keep the teammates there.
SPEAKER_01I can help I'd be good in the locker room. Hey, let's keep it good. So you did that as a kid. Obviously, you were successful at it, right? Yeah. So what was that like?
SPEAKER_00It was fun growing up. I actually, when I was super young, I was diagnosed with panic disorder and anxiety pretty early in my life, I think in third grade was when I remember my first panic attack in class. Really? Yeah, just I thought I was, you know, getting sick, maybe had a stomach bug or something, went up to my teacher, kind of ran to the nurse's office thinking I was gonna throw up. And uh my mom got me, went home, and it kind of started becoming like a uh repeated thing, a repeated event. And eventually we were like, I mean, I I barely knew what was going on at the time, but you know, my teachers and my parents and everyone around me was like, he probably has panic or anxiety to some extent. Um and I actually ended up first seeing a uh sports perform performance coach when I was eight or nine when that happened. His name's Mark Anderson. I actually still met with him to the day before I retired from masses.
SPEAKER_01Really, really. Because I imagine that the the mental component of that, the panic and the I mean that that could be a a problem.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, I actually I th my parents were really sh strategic with it and went to him specifically because he he was great at framing things in a way that I understood at the time. Right. I was very competitive, I loved gymnastics, I loved approaching it in that way. And he dealt with athletes and was, you know, sports performance. He was helping athletes get through mental blocks. But for me, and I think I was one of his first patients where like when I was in the gym, I was fine. Okay. It was when I was at school, when I was out of the gym. Interesting. Gym was kind of like my release. Gotcha. Um, so it was kind of like how can we translate what you use in the gym to real life? Yeah, which would be an inverse of what a lot of times we deal with. Yeah. It was very unique.
SPEAKER_01And uh and so you you you progressed through that, obviously.
SPEAKER_00That was a big part of my elementary school. When I got to middle school, I kind of got over it. Okay. And then, you know, I was I was starting, you get to the age where you're going to nationals and I'm qualifying for camps and these bigger competitions. And um I get to high school and no things are still trending upwards. Uh I'm still enjoying it. I've kind of like I tried baseball, I tried so I had soccer when I was younger too, and I kind of just decided I think it's seventh grade, okay, gymnastics is what I'm gonna focus on. Um and my parents were amazing. It was never like, we really want you to do this. It's like, hey, what do you think about this? Like, let's have a discussion. I was blessed by some amazing parents.
SPEAKER_01Um, and you brought that up a bunch. And so um, like if I'm sure your mom and dad will watch this, it's I'm I'm guessing. Yeah, exactly. Every time I've heard you talk about it, you have gone out of your way to thank them and just be really grateful for that, which is really cool. So yeah, I'm sure that blesses them a ton. And so high school, you're you're focusing on gymnastics completely. And then um this leads you ultimately, where did you go to college? It was Stanford, right?
SPEAKER_00Yes, Stanford. So before I get there, I actually there's a part, no, you're fine. There's a part to the story that is is kind of pivotal. Um so my junior year of high school, I actually had a relapse of panic and anxiety. Pretty bad. I think I ended up missing about 60 days of school that year. Wow. Um, spent a lot of year, uh a lot of days sitting in the the uh psychologist room just thinking about my life. And now I'm at a point where I'm old enough to where it's like you're really thinking about how your actions are influencing what's going on around you. And at that time, actually, I started I started trying to get more invested in the church. Okay. Um I had gone to a Lutheran church in sixth through eighth grade. I was in a small group with a bunch of sixth through eighth graders, and we stayed in that group all the way through. And then in the Lutheran church, you you do confirmation, we get confirmed. And after that, I agreed to take on a group of sixth through eighth graders, my freshman through junior year, and kind of leading up. Exactly. Um, and I was doing that in my junior year. I started having this anxiety, and I was mentoring these kids, and I hadn't really got involved in the it was called ignition. It was the it was a high school group basically. And I hadn't gotten involved in that, and once I started having this anxiety, I was like, I I kind of want to start going to that. And it was difficult even to to get there, but that's kind of when I started learning about like what Jesus has to offer. Yeah. I didn't know too much about him, honestly. I kind of knew a lot about you know the Ten Commandments and the law and the things that you're supposed to know as a as a Christian. Right. Um and I started learning, I think, through other people and through interacting with people what being around godly people is like. Um and that was a that was a big thing. It kind of helped me get through that. Um I started meeting with with Mark, my sports psych again, and um my psychiatrist as well at the time, but I ended up getting over that, and that was also the time where I was starting to like get recruited and and look into those things. So there's a lot of like pressures coming from different areas, and um there was a lot of moments like in my room I didn't even know like what to do to try to overcome something like this at the age I was at. And uh I would go on walks, and at the time my thing was like I'd I'd throw on a motivational, there's like these eight-minute like quotes from all these motivational speakers that I'd throw on with some intense background music, and I'd walk in the rain, I'd be like, I'm getting over this. Kind of like I'm I'm seeing like a montage from a movie kind of thing. Like you're having a daily montage. Yeah, I was like in Rocky, like walking through the rain, like I can do this. Yeah, but instead of overcoming like, you know, a fighter, I'm overcoming this like anxiety and panic that's going on in my life.
SPEAKER_01But so you're starting, had had you gone to church as a kid? Like when you I had, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so parents always took us to church. Um they they really let us figure it out. Okay. Um, and a lot of great has come out of that. And I think a lot of family structures sometimes it's very forceful. And it's it's in in my opinion, the parents' uh responsibility to lead by example, also by wisdom, but I think mostly by example and in that sense it shows the children that hey, this is how you live a Christ life, this is how you live through the lens of Jesus is by example. And that's how a lot of the times how Jesus led himself as well. So uh I was again circling back to my parents, it was we were my sister and I were very lucky, and we've gotten to a point now where we're both more invested in Jesus than we've ever been. Yeah. Now later in our life, and I think oftentimes you see children are super enthusiastic, young about Jesus, and then they get older, they go to college, they come out, and it drops off. My sister and I found the opposite. We're kind of really starting to blossom with our relationship with Jesus. And um I'm sure, I'm sure they would be like, Oh, we wish we did things differently. Um But who doesn't say that?
SPEAKER_01Oh, 100%. Yeah, hindsight's always always 20-20, right? Yeah. And so you're you're growing in your faith in high school. You had this relapse of of anxiety and panic your junior year, cause you to miss a bunch of school, but through that you start engaging with the Lord in a little bit of a different way. Yeah. And then, like you said, this is the age where you're starting to get recruited to colleges.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Which thought to be cool.
SPEAKER_00It was cool. I would say I wasn't at the time, I wasn't like an A-list recruit. I wasn't like getting all the full rides, all the offers from every school. I was getting scholarship offers from certain schools, and certain schools were more interested in me than others. Um I was I was like right below. Okay. Um, everyone was going through, and as I explained to you before, gymnastics is a pretty small community.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I didn't know that. I didn't realize that so few schools have full-on gymnastics programs. It's not like every school has one. Yeah. And you said it's getting smaller even.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. So at the time there was around 15 programs. I'm probably off, but over COVID, two of them got cut. Yeah. Two big 10 schools. So, you know, the number drops. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So there's fewer spots.
SPEAKER_00Yep, fewer spots. Which means you have to be better. Yep. Right. So most schools, like the top five schools, I'd say Stanford, Oklahoma, Michigan, are always kind of, at least for the last 10 years, have been kind of the big three. Right. And then you've got at the time, Minnesota was a pretty good one. They were one of the schools that got cut. I was looking at going there. Um, I really liked their coach and their team was cool. Um and Iowa was another one that was pretty big in the Midwest. They ended up getting cut as well. Um Penn State's another big one. Ohio State's got a program. They've had success in the past as well. Um, and then some programs are like exist, but they don't have scholarships. So like Cal has a team, but they don't have scholarships. Okay. Um, so as you can tell, uh or as you can assume, they're usually like they're not fighting for national championships just because they don't have the ammunition to bring in guys. Yeah. Um but yeah, I mean, it was it was cool. I think I'm very grateful that I wasn't like a top recruit. I think I didn't have the foundation to accept that humbly at the time.
SPEAKER_01I don't know how that would be very few people at that age could, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's like if you grow up celebrated to a certain level, it's really hard to appreciate that because it's just always been there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Okay. So you were like that next tier. Yeah, that next tier, and you know, I ended up getting a few offers from some schools, and actually one of my lower offers was Stanford, but I had a discussion with my parents, and just it was too too good of an opportunity educationally, and their team was the class of guys they recruited to, actually, one of them was my teammate growing up. Okay. So I already knew him. Um it was it it felt right. It felt like the right group of guys to be with. And it ended up being right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So you went to Stanford. What year did you start there?
SPEAKER_002018.
SPEAKER_012018. Okay. Wow. So you were in college during the whole time. Yeah, that's that's crazy. Okay, I'm sure. And so obviously I'm trying I don't know the full story. This is the most detail I've had, because you gave this in a really uh encapsulated form with the guys the other night. But I know that at some point, maybe I guess it was college, you you definitely leveled up in terms of your gymnastics, right? Because you end up being on the USA team. Or how explain that to me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Like, so I say that like when I said all the A-list recruiters, like usually you you kind of gain some sort of ego, and it's like it gets to you. The A-list recruit that Sanford got um was not like that. His name was Brody Malone, he's two-time Olympian, one of the best gyms I've ever seen. Okay. Um, gonna be the best man at my wedding, like an amazing guy. That's really cool. Um I was blessed by him. He he grew up in Georgia, actually. He grew up. In Cartersville? He went, he trained in Cartersville.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00I I forget where he was born. For some reason I think it's R I thought it was Rome, but I could be wrong.
SPEAKER_01And he was part of the the gold the gold medal team that just. That's right. Bronze medal, but um uh what did one of the guys get a gold in a Stephen Netarasi got a bronze on Palma Horse.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Yes. So we got two bronze medals. As you can tell, I am not uh You're a big gymnastics fan, you love it. You did your research.
SPEAKER_01I do remember No, no, no. I do remember we watched the Olympics, and I do remember the guys, it was a big deal that they, I guess, even meddled because it was. The U.S. men's gymnastics team is not traditionally in that category, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It was I'm a huge gymnastics fan fan myself, I guess, because I don't even remember when the last time before that was they meddled. I think it was 2004, maybe. Okay, so it'd been a long time. The drought was I think it was a 20-year drought. Yeah. Maybe it was 2008. It was either 20 or 16 years. Yeah, it'd been a while because it was a big deal.
SPEAKER_01And I thought that's probably why I'm thinking gold. Uh braun's still huge deal. Um and Brody was kind of like the kind of felt like watching it, he was sort of the captain of that group.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so and that kind of go that's a testament to who he is. He, as I talk about leading by example, he for for me and my even relationship with Jesus, he always led by example. Okay. Uh he grew up in a in a very southern home and you know, had he uh he did the rodeo for a bit growing up and actually full st he has a really cool story as well. His mom passed away when he was ten.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_00She had breast cancer, and that was a big thing for him and his family. Um he has all younger siblings, so he had to really step into a role of leadership when he was ten years old. That's crazy. Um and you can really see that through who he is. And when I got to Stanford, he was the big hot shot, the the full ride recruit. You know, he had won the junior national championships the year before, and you know, he comes in and you don't know what to expect out of these guys, and he's just the most humble dude you will ever meet. And that just set the tone for like the entirety of my of my college experience because it's like you can be as good as you can be on that team, and we were good, but you're never gonna you're not gonna be as good as Brody. That means you can't be more cocky than he is. And if he's the hum if he's the most humble guy on the team, if you're if you're not being as humble as him, you're gonna be called out on it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it makes sense. Like if if if he's the if he's the guy and he's not cocky, then what business do you have being cocky? And so you got this thing, and he was uh seems like his faith is a big part of of his life. Yes. So absolutely. So you're you're in high school, you're getting recruited, you're starting to to grow in your faith a little bit, then you end up, you know, by God's awesome design. Yeah, right. You end up here and you get a chance to be poured into and and influenced by this this really special guy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he was really cool. He was special. And we, you know, it wasn't really until our senior year, maybe after that, till we actually really started about started talking about our faith and our relationship with Jesus. And um he he always led by example too. Like, like I said, like I would watch him pray before he he ate meals. And I could just see he had a relationship that I wanted. Yeah. And he had he had a fear and awe and reverence for God. And I that really stuck with me through my time getting to know him and even today. Um but yeah, I guess, I guess getting back to kind of the end of my college experience, I I really would say I went off the deep end. Um I kind of I had a Bible in my room, but it was dusty. It wasn't opened, and uh I didn't take the time to go to church. I didn't take the time to to keep up my relationship with Jesus. And you know, I would say looking back to high school, I wouldn't know if I had that. I think I knew who Jesus was, but I don't I don't think I had that relationship with him yet.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um You may have you may have believed in him, but you didn't know him.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And uh yeah, as you say, by by God's great design, uh the summer going into my senior year of college, I saw Brody go to the Olympics because the Olympics got pushed back from 2020 to 2021. Right. I saw him go to the Olympics, and um it was motivating. I I actually, if you asked me that summer, I would have told you, yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna be done with gymnastics after this year. After college, I'm gonna move on. But it was motivating, and I started I kind of found an avenue through gymnastics terms and lingo that I won't get into, but my event ended up being parallel bars, and I kind of found an avenue and a strength point that I could capitalize on.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00So you you sort of specialized in that event? Is that what I think? I did other events as well. Right.
SPEAKER_01You do, yeah, multiple.
SPEAKER_00But I saw an avenue to like to national team, to international competitiveness. Gotcha. Through um certain skills that I started training that I was like, hmm, these are kind of working out. And gymnastics is is very like if you can find your niche, like you can be successful. Right. Um as you saw in in the Olympics, Steven Narosek, he did one event, the Palm Horse. Palm horse.
SPEAKER_01He's the guy that like doesn't have great sight, right? Isn't that his story?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, with the glasses, he only did palm horse. Yeah. That was his thing. Yeah. And uh if you if you found your your avenue, you could really capitalize on it. And for some reason, and now looking back, it it doesn't seem like it's it's a fluke. But I think by God's grace and his plan for you know, what he had in store for myself at the time, I think he was like, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna give you this now. You're not gonna know that it's me doing it, but eventually you'll look back and see. Okay. And you'll you'll see what I was doing. And I started improving rapidly. Like I that summer, um, and I I'll just I'll just kind of go through the timeline of things. That that winter I make national team. I think it's 2022. Okay. My senior year. That winter I make national team for the first time. Um, and then going to NCAA championships, I'm I went to NCAA championship on parallel bars. So you were the what year was that?
SPEAKER_01That was my senior year. That was 2022. So you were the 2022 NCAA men's parallel bars national champion. Is that the correct way to say it?
SPEAKER_00The year before, I was fifth from last, I think. Maybe third from last on the parallel bars.
SPEAKER_01In that same event. In that same event. So you go from third from last and then the the next year, you're the national champion.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Wow. What's funny about that is I I you know I have success like that, and I'm not saying thank you, Lord, after after it happens. I'm not I'm not giving him the glory. I'm not giving him thanks for what the accomplishment. Yep. I'm taking it and going about my way, continuing. Um, and you know, I start traveling internationally for Team USA. I have these amazing experiences. And that summer I'm I'm still kind of like, I don't know if I want to go to 2024. The uh qualifying event for the national team happens twice a year. So you have to re-qualify twice a year for the national team. Oh, wow. Yeah. So it's a lot of pressure.
SPEAKER_01I'm sure.
SPEAKER_00Um and in August of 2022 was the national championships, and uh I was like, hey, if if I don't qualify, maybe I'll reconsider if I want to keep going or not. And, you know, I qualify again. I'm like, okay, like let's let's keep going, I guess. We'll we'll we'll continue living in California and I'll continue training at Stanford and see where it takes me. Um so I I I do that and I started having this back issue. That's when the back issue started. Okay. Um and it actually happened right before that national championship. I think it was July of 2022. Okay. But I was able to recover quickly and compete well. But I can you I continued training and I kept getting better. I kept getting better. And that winter 2023, we get close to the qualifying event again, 2023. Um, and that January, I had a really bad back incident.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Um, where I was on the high bar, I got down and I was like paralyzed for like 10 minutes and then got up, was you know, able to drive home, get home, and I had some imaging done on my back. They couldn't see anything, like there was nothing clear of what was going on, and I like couldn't sleep at night because my back was I was in so much pain. I had to sleep on the floor for a couple days. And wow. Um, I remember calling my mom, I'm like, I don't know if I I don't know if I could do this anymore. Like I love gymnastics, but you know, there's there's a part of me that always looked forward to being done with it because it was it was painful, it was difficult. And um, you know, there's there's always a part of of success that never felt like enough. Yep. So I even I knew that if I got through and was successful, like I always knew I was gonna hit that wall.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And during that time, that's that's really when my relationship with Jesus started. Um I'd actually gotten an itch to start a Bible study with my dad's uncle that summer of the of the national championships where my back injury started. I I uh I saw him at a family reunion. I was like, hey, do you want to do a Bible study? And he's like, Oh, of course. And I had knew I'd I'd known he was really into his faith and loved the Lord, and um I want I just I wanted to learn from him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's similar to what you kind of mentioned with with Brody, it's like you saw something in this guy that you were like, I I don't have that, but I want that. Yep. And so you reached out to him and you start you were you doing that over Zoom, I guess? Yep. We were doing it over Zoom.
SPEAKER_00It was uh my my dad's uncle, my dad's cousin, my dad and myself to start it out. We were going through Matthew, and I remember asking him, like, oh my gosh, Jesus seems so mean. Like he's he's yelling at these Pharisees and he's he's teaching with authority. And I'd always just thought Jesus was, you know, he he does what he needs to do for you, and then you can kind of move on, and when you need him, you can go to him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and sometimes the depictions of Jesus, especially like uh in you know past 50 years or whatever, he's just very like placid. Yeah, it's almost like California Jesus. Yeah, just love each other. Yeah, you know, it and there is an intensity in Jesus that you see. Oh, yeah. I mean, Matthew's a great there's so many stories I'm just thinking of now. Um even there's one where it's like when he heals the man's hand in the synagogue, he knows how angry the Pharisees are gonna be. And it says that he looks them like in the eye. It's like he looks around the room and he's just locked in with these guys. Yeah. And they're locked with him, and he does it. And it's almost this act of defiance. It's obviously it's an act of love to this man that he heals, but he knows exactly what this is gonna do, and he's doing it very, very in their face. You know what I mean? He was not Jesus was not afraid of conflict by any stretch. No, no, no, no. That's something we we tend to underappreciate about him. So you're studying Matthew, you're seeing Jesus in ways you've never seen before. Yeah. But you weren't you were still doing gymnastics at the time, correct? Yes. Okay. Yeah, sorry, I went back. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00But I think the the interesting thing about that, just seeing how seeing Jesus in a different light, I think it was less about learning about that part of him. It was more about seeing how much I didn't know of him. I was like, I I need to start, I need to start reading a bit more. So then I'm starting, I'm reading my Bible every morning. That's great. You know, but I would say at that point I still hadn't given my life to Jesus. And going back to when I had that moment where I felt paralyzed and I wasn't sure if I want to continue. Um I ended up going for it. Um that winter, the the nationals that is adjacent from the one in August is in February, where you re-qualify for the national team. And I was able to get there from January. I had a great group of people around me at Stanford, and they helped me push through, and I had to take a step back in some of my my performance, but I was, you know, I was still able to make the team. Wow. Um, by the grace of God. And you requalified for the national team. Okay. Re-qualified, went on an international trip, come back, and um I'm still like I'm reading every morning. I'm I'm starting to become a little more interested in God. I'm starting to make changes in my life that um that I'm seeing the result of. Yeah. But I I'm still feeling empty inside. Like I'm still feeling like I'm chasing something that I'll never get. And my identity was still in gymnastics at the time. Right. I was starting to know Jesus, but my identity was still in gymnastics. And then this opportunity came up to move to Florida. They had recently started a uh training center specifically tailored for elite gymnasts out of college. Okay. And they also have a goal of training younger guys and raising them up to an Olympic level, but that was kind of the starting focus is to have a training center where athletes get paid to train. Um, and you're kind of in a group of of guys that are all focused on the same thing. And when I was still in California, I was kind of getting, you know, nudges from people in Florida, like, hey, like, do you want to come down and see what we have to offer? And one of the people down there was my actually my former coach at Stanford. So I already knew him. Okay. And gymnastics is a close-knit community. So I knew all the guys that were already training there as well. Um, and I went down and visited and looked into it, and really because of my back injury and everything that was going on, I kind of saw the only way that I was going to be at my best next summer, which was the Olympics, because we're now in 2023, okay, was to have the most resources around me. Um and they actually were bringing the physical therapist of USA gymnastics to work there.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Wow. So they were bringing in a lot to super high-level stuff then. Oh yeah. And Stanford had equally the same amount of high-level treatment and care, but when you're not on the team, you're limited into your to your access. Right. Because their employed, their employer is Stanford.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, to win things. Stanford things, exactly. Right.
SPEAKER_00Not to win USA things. So of course they'll treat you, but you know, after they treat everyone on the team. And that's extremely like I was very thankful for that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But at a certain point when you're striving for Olympics, that that sort of level, you you do need to make sure you're taking care of yourself to the best of your ability.
SPEAKER_01No, like you said you're pushing your body to the utter limit and probably past it, honestly, right?
SPEAKER_00So you need to be able to do that. So at that re that at that point, that was my reason for going. Um honestly, the the money was was a I guess a bonus. I wasn't focusing on that. I was like, But you were hyper-focused on Olympics. Yeah, I was I was very focused. Like gymnastics was my identity. Yeah. It was it was still what I was pursuing, it was what I was going after. And um so I moved down there and you know, 2023 was a tough the beginning of it was tough. I was off campus, I was not surrounded by all this college stimuli anymore. I didn't have those worldly distractions around me. So I had more time to think, more time to sit, be still. And that was hard for me at first because it was like, hey, look at look at this area in your life that, you know, and it it wasn't like like Christian convictions, like I was, God forgive me. It was just it was it was refining, it was reforming. And um, you know, part of that pushed me to Florida because I I felt like I needed something new. I needed, yeah, I needed to get away, I needed just a new place to be. And something that excited me about going down there is I could find a church. Okay. And I'd started doing research about churches in the Sarasota area, and I'd never found a church in California that I that I felt was the right fit. Yeah. Moved down there and um I started going to this one church, but I didn't really get too involved. And the the August Nationals come come around in 2023. Um I had a big goal of making the world championship team. And I go there and I I don't perform well. I am selected as an alternate for kind of the B team, which was sent to the Pan American Games in Chile. Okay. And I was selected as an alternate for that team. And I was really heartbroken. That was the first time in my career where I really, really wanted something. Um, and I knew I could do it. Um, I was a pretty I I I transitioned into a to a confident competitor, but that was something where I knew I could achieve like, and that was the pinnacle of the sport is the world championship team and the Olympic team. And it was tough after that being selected as the alternate for the B team. When like, you know, you're a competitor, you want to be on that A team, you want to be And you're community and you're confident that you can. Exactly. Right. Um But that moment was really when really when the whole relationship with Jesus started. That's when I when I gave my life to Jesus is after that event.
SPEAKER_01Um So after that event, what what what do you think prompted you to give your life to Jesus then? Like what was it like all these it seems like a lot of things are happening inside you? A lot of things have been building up, a lot of seeds have been planted, a lot whatever metaphor we want to use. Like you were moving in this direction, but you said your identity was still in gymnastics.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And so was it that was it that you didn't achieve that goal? Did you like, well, what now? What what what was that?
SPEAKER_00Just it was still this this lingering I won't say emptiness, just something was missing. Yeah. And I kept getting this nudge to through the church I've been going to, I kept getting this nudge to go to this group, and it was called the uh it was called Leadership Development Group, LDG. And I think the first time that they sent out a message to come, I was like about to walk out my door and I didn't go. I was like, I don't know anyone, like I'm nervous. Um and the second time I got myself to go, I got in the car, I went. I show up and I'm first greeted by this one guy, and um he's you know, happy to see me, have a good conversation. I'm like, this is cool, dude. This guy's awesome. Um we have like a little bit of worship. The leader of the group gives a little bit of a message. We go in small groups, and I was like, this feels good. This feels really good. Like I feel like I feel like I'm I'm finding something here. Same guy that greeted me, his name's Jonah. Um he's like, hey, you want to get lunch after? I'm like, dude, of course. Like I would love to. Uh so we get lunch, and then he invites me to this Bible study that one of my other really good friends to this day, Brockton, led. Um, and you know, I show up to that Bible study. And I I keep I keep just going to these things that, you know, they keep building up on each other.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And now I'm in a room of 15, 20 to 28 year olds talking about God, worshiping God, and I'm feeling the presence of the Lord. Like I'm I'm I'm getting a I'm getting a glimpse of heaven and I'm understanding that okay, it's it's it's not church. It's not it's not uh cleaning up your life, it's not following it's not religion. Exactly. It's not following religion or demands or commands, it's Jesus will meet you where you are. And that's exactly what happened. You know, he he sent me to Florida and through his spirit, which I didn't even know I had, yeah, led me to these places where I could learn more about him, embrace and all the goodness he had for not only me, but yeah, his people. Yeah. And just witnessing it, you know, and that was really cool. Um got to meet those guys, and I actually funny going back to gymnastics, I ended up getting selected for the Pan American Games team. One of my teammates had to drop out because he had a back injury, funny enough. Oh wow. Um and I went there, and this was kind of when I was like really getting involved in the Bible study. I went there and I uh won gold on parallel bars.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00That's that's a it was a pretty big deal. Yeah. Um Pan American Games is like the whole entire North and South South America. Yeah. Um That's definitely not nothing. Right? Yeah, that's huge. All that being said, I I come home from that and it felt it felt good. Yeah. You know, success feels good. And that's what's scary about success. It feels really good. But I come home and I I go back to the Bible study. And I go back to some of the the events that the church is hosting, and um there's this one moment I was driving home from one of the events and had my windows rolled down and I'm blasting worship music, and it was the freest I've ever felt. And at that time I was like, okay, Jesus, like I'm yours. Like my identity is is not in this these successes that that seem great, that feel good for a week, a month, then fade. It's in the one who, whether I knew it or not, has always been there. Yeah. Um, and after that, I things transformed. My approach to life, my approach to gymnastics itself, and my understanding of the word of what God had done in my life.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Everything transformed. Um and it was just because I said yes, and I just let them in. Um it was funny, uh, during that time too, I I recognized, and it was it was kind of scary in ways, but I I told you this, I recognized that God brought me to Florida to to introduce me to Jesus. Yeah. He didn't bring me to Florida to be successful. So I'm like, oh gosh, what do you have in store for me for right when we get to the big events that are coming up?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01So I mean, so it's just so cool to think about this that like so in a way, and hearing their story in in more detail, I'm really grateful for this because it honestly like it challenges me, it inspires me too. Um God used He gave you a gift for gymnastics, obviously. You know, and even there's a lot of people who would put in the same amount of work and effort and couldn't do what you did because a lot of it is God given ability and talent, right? Yeah. But you're you're spending your whole life from the time you're four years old, you're you're specializing in this high. hyper competitive I mean ultra competitive thing you're you're competing at the highest levels right you're winning uh national championships you're you're on the I mean you're in the you're like on the radar for the Olympic team you know you're in that level you're winning a gold medal and and it it's like I got a gold medal I'm what I'm hearing basically because I have a gold medal in my hand and this this isn't this doesn't mean as much to me as I thought it would. Because at that point you'd also had a taste of who Jesus is and you're like this is great, cool, you know I'm grateful for this but this isn't what fills me. This isn't there's something greater. And you'd already you knew what that was like the Lord had been leading you to that it's actually cool to hear that he had basically used gymnastics as a vehicle to get you to him. Exactly what I mean? And in and I think that's so amazing because oftentimes people who do have a lot of success in the world, their success is a vehicle for their own glory, for their own wealth, for their own prestige, for their own whatever and there are others who who that veh that same thing surrendered to the Lord is a vehicle A, to know him better and experience him more, but also for his glory and and to encourage people about who they are in in Jesus. And I mean it's such a cool there's so many people I think that could hear your story and be like they're chasing something. They're chasing something that they think is going to fill them and man if I could just reach this level if I could make this much money if I could accomplish X, Y, or Z, you know, I'm I'll I'll be so satisfied.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01And your story is that yeah I did it and I I got I got there I got the gold medal in my hand I'm winning the net and and no none of that compares to knowing Jesus.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That's I'll tell you I don't wake up any morning and think, oh my gosh, that that medal I won in Chile oh that's amazing. Every morning it's first thought is Jesus. It's yeah those those things fade. Matthew 6 exactly what you talked about yesterday it's those things fade. Yeah. You know don't don't store your treasures in anything here. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01For you it's a literal gold medal which is literally yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But still like one day it could be here, the next it could be on correct and um and you kind of experienced it.
SPEAKER_01You said you did you break your thumb?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah we'll fast track there because I I know I feel like we're going long but we're good. Yeah so 2024 comes around the Olympic year and I feel this overwhelming piece of of whatever happens happens. And it was kind of the first time in life that I I truly felt that I was always okay with failing. Like I I always was fine with it. I knew it was a segue to something greater. Sure. You know something to motivate me but it was a different perspective. I knew I was okay with failing because it didn't matter. It it really didn't matter. It was gymnastics. And I had already believed that God had accomplished what he needed to through gymnastics. So this is all bonus. And you know I qualified for for the USA team again in February at that uh at the nationals and winter nationals and uh I probably had the best competition in my life. It was uh it was really fun um you know I had people with cameras in my face asking me questions and I was excited more about that because I was like I want to talk about Jesus like I want to give glory to him like I want the first thing I say to be like this is all for you like I'm doing this because I want to talk about Jesus. And it was just fun. I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders because I felt free. The same feeling I had in the car as you know carries on it's every day. So you know I had the best competition of my life and you know I traveled to Germany have a great competition there. And part of the story this is this is where all this is where all the suffering begins. Yeah. Okay. This is where all the tests begin. Right around the time I was going to Germany I started having these sleeping problems. And I I hadn't told this to you but started having these sleeping problems I was waking up two, three times a night um just to use the bathroom. And I was you know it's not normal for a 23 year old at the time to wake up more than once a night. Yeah. But it was happening like consecutive days in a row and I was like hmm what's going on it kind of went up and down um and while I was in Germany I get a text from Brody's now wife. Uh she had always been trying to to set me up with one of her college friends that she thought would be good for me. Okay. Um and I get a text from her hey Kayla who's now my fiance is single and I'm in Germany competing for TMSA. I've never met her um and I was like I don't want to do long distance I knew she lived in Georgia I was in Florida I have no ties to Georgia whatsoever I was like ah let's let's give her give her my number like let's let's see let's see what happens. And uh I think actually no she gave me her number and I I send her a text for the first time on the bus at 3 a.m in Germany on the bus to the airport. Okay. Um and that's where Kayla and I's relationship start.
SPEAKER_01Okay so you were set you were set up it was the friend it was Brody's wife's friend. Yes she've been trying to do this for a while. Yes you're in Germany you're having you're doing great everything's going well so there's a connection there.
SPEAKER_00Yep okay so I meet her and fly home um and we're talking over the phone for about a month before we actually meet in person but during this time my sleep my sleeping problems progress and I'm they're getting worse and worse. And I meet Kayla and that relationship starts progressing. My sleeping problems are getting worse. I'm struggling in the gym because I'm not getting recovery. Oh yeah yeah absolutely I don't know what's going on like I'm waking up now five six times a night oh wow like some nights I'm barely getting sleep um but my relationship with her is going great like she is obsessed with the Lord she's in love with the Lord I've like prayed about a woman like her yeah for a long time to God even when I wasn't even in my faith I'm like God I want like a I want a Christian woman I want yeah someone who's gonna help me in my faith.
SPEAKER_01Um I'm married to a woman who loves Jesus way more than she loves me and that I'm that's truly should be and it's awesome. Yeah it's awesome. I wouldn't want any other way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah yeah we always just say um you know we say I love you and God loves you. Yeah. Um and always before that it's like I love you and God loves you. Yeah that's and that's it's it's always just a a reminder of of of who's first yeah you know but our relationship's growing and I'm I'm not sleeping and she's like is it because of me? Am I am I like causing your downfall right now? Oh gosh. I'm like no no you're helping me out like she was it's great before you yeah yeah yeah and she was awesome because she reinforced the she could care and she cared about gymnastics but really she could care less if I was successful or not. She honestly didn't want me to be successful at points because as I said before success is a slippery slope. No. And it's it's easy to to hang on to it super tight. And to a certain degree she she didn't want me to fail. She wasn't like hey go out there and fall and break a break a leg but seriously do it. An injury would be great. Yeah she was just like hey remember where your identity is yeah remember who you put your faith in. Yeah. And we're leading up to USA championships and basically how the Olympic team was selected is two days of USA championships, two days of Olympic trials. And all of those scores are compiled to select the Olympic team and the first day of USA championships I'm warming up and I'd had some like thumb soreness randomly leading up to it. My first turn on on the vault one of the events I was doing um I felt it crack just the first turn and uh it basically went numb for like 25 minutes. I couldn't warm up my sec the sec the next event which was parallel bars. Basically what you do is you warm up all the events and then you compete them all. Okay. Um so I didn't warm up parallel bars really at all. And then high bars the event after that those were the three events I did barely warmed up that I'm sitting in the back I'm like I don't even know if I can compete um and I actually had bought like this mini Bible um that I put in my backpack just to read during the event if I like just needed to to ground myself. And I was like flipping through the pages I'm like God help me God help me and I was more afraid of my safety at that point because basically if you don't compete a day your chances of making the team are like plummet. Right. They selected three out of the four days of competition that's how they did it. So you you had grace for one day of competition but if you don't compete one day you have three out of three but the rest of them have the perfect wipes out yeah that makes sense. But by the grace of God I end up pushing through I get I compete I do I don't do well I fall in vault pillow bars I stay on somehow high bar I fall. The next few days we're because the second day of competition's in two days so we're trying to figure out what's going on with my thumb. The next morning I'm in the MRIs um and it turns out I I fracture my thumb I have a few ligaments that are partially torn. Wow um and my coach's like all right let's see if you could try to compete on Sunday. If not we're gonna have to scratch you and petition you to Olympic trials. And Sunday I try to hang from the bar I I can't even grip it. Yeah. So it's like we we gotta petition you at that point it was like I had a horrible I got scores in for the first day of competition but they were not good scores. And then I You do with a broken thumb and then I scratch and then I scratched the second day. So I was basically off the Olympic team basically at that point. And um the sleeping problems had continued so I was dealing with that I was doing with a thumb I go home and it's hard. It's really hard I have basically a month to recover from my thumb to prepare for Olympic trials an event that I know I'm not gonna make the Olympic team so I'm basically just training to compete for fun. Just for like one last good time out on the kind of thing exactly but I'm like I'm driving two hours every day to get this treatment on my thumb and I'm going to therapy to help like my sleeping problems. It was actually up ended ended up being a pelvic floor issue. We found that out so I'm I'm working through that and um it was it was a really difficult time of suffering. And there's one moment that I'll just I'll I'll touch on because it was powerful for me. I was actually in my car one day uh I just stopped because I was driving to practice and I was just like I was broken down. I stopped I felt like I hadn't heard God's voice in a while there's so much going on yeah that I just hadn't taken a moment of silence and I did one of the things where I picked up my Bible flipped open random page and it was Jeremiah 14. Okay and in that is a uh Jeremiah he has a prayer for healing and restoration it's when Judah was in a drought and God was allowing them to go through that drought because of their I read through that prayer and at the end of it it's you know Jeremiah's like in how a lot of prayers in the Old Testament go when you read them it's like but what foreign gods can send down the rain? What foreign gods can can create the earth and all these glorification statements to God like you are a creator and then it says I will wait patiently for the Lord and he prays that in a time of suffering and a time of need and um it kind of I I started crying I'm like wow like I don't I to this day I don't know of a perfect place in scripture that I more perfect that I could go to and read in in that moment. And um I've tried it in other moments the random flipping and it's it's not like a magic if you're listening to this you're like oh I'm struggling and flip it open. But in that moment God knew in that moment that's exactly what God knew I needed um and I just had to be reminded that gymnastics wasn't my identity. Yeah it was that same thing and after that I you know I I progressed I went on I ended up competing at Olympic trials. I actually it was fun it was fun I I performed well on the events I wanted to and went out and that was kind of the end of my and what's funny about it is I think it was a year ago today that I really was my the last time I competed. Today today that's crazy. Yeah yeah okay I say June 30th yeah yeah a year ago today holy cow wow yeah man and so now you're engaged yeah getting married what would you guys have a date yet?
SPEAKER_01Yeah July 25th 2026 okay so a year from now you're gonna get married you're going to med school you're leaving soon for med school up in Michigan yeah okay so the the future is there's a lot there's a lot coming up but I'll tell you this man we'll wrap up um it's so cool hearing your story and it's mode it's so inspiring to me because I've been following Jesus for a long time I've been in full-time ministry for 20 years and I can say that um just your your love for the Lord how much you love Jesus and how excited you are to talk about him and how you're actually living out in so many ways a very literal version of what Paul talks about when he says you know all the things that I used to think were important I consider it all rubbish compared to oh yeah to knowing the Lord. Like I see that in your life and it really encourages it challenges me and encourages me. So I'm sitting here going like Lord like renew that same joy and passion. Yeah you know what I mean so I want to thank you personally because I'm I'm having moments with the Lord as you're talking where I'm like Lord I I want I I want so you we need things rekindled sometimes you know what I mean it's easy for things to get to get in kind of a rut. But I will tell you that to anyone who who listens to this I I think it'll be super helpful to him because here we have somebody who who had what so many people would dream of. I mean honestly like you know I have a son who plays basketball and and that's awesome he's going for a high level of that that's great. But I mean gymnastics like you said it's a small sport you have to be elite of the elite of the elite to ever be at the level you were and most people look at that and be like man if if I did that that would be the thing I would pin all of my identity on to like I would live the rest of my life you know telling everyone I could about what I did and who I and you're like I had that I experienced that and I can say with conviction that that does not compare to knowing Jesus. And I would I would take Jesus every day over all of that. And I just hope people who hear this know that whatever it is you're whatever it is you're going after, like yeah go after it. You didn't quit I mean you you kept doing it you did it at the highest level you you overcame the struggles and the challenges and you healed your thought and you you did it. You don't have to quit the thing that you're good at right but you don't get your your identity from it and it's not what you allow to fill you. And even if if you do, that's dangerous because it won't fill you and if it does it'll be very temporary. Yep you gave it all to the Lord and here you are man um I'm really grateful to know you and and uh likewise I guess we we have your fiance to think for the fact that you're at his hands, right? Is that how that works?
SPEAKER_00Yeah so this year has been fun I've taken a year off I got a year of deferment because of the Olympics. Yep and yeah you really learn about I've learned a lot about myself as well after it's been taken away. There's a lot of things that this year has been so valuable just being able to ask the Lord to refine me. Yeah. And continue to remold me into really letting go of gymnastics in a way. Because you kind of you do something your whole life you become you know we we adapt and become like that in a certain way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah and it's a huge it is a huge part of your story. I mean it's not like it didn't happen. Yeah. You know what I mean? May maybe talking giving the whole story this way maybe that can be part of that process.
SPEAKER_00Yeah you know yeah but there's you know you're getting praise every day in the gym like every turn good job good job great job and then you wake up and you go a week without hearing good job from someone you're like huh like this is something like I need to work through with my relationship with God. And I was very blessed that I found that before gymnastics ended. And I think as you as you said like finding your identity it also isn't a it's not overnight it's not an overnight thing sometimes some people have crazy stories where it's like in a blink of an eye like Paul wrote a Damascus in a blink of an eye his life his life changes. Yeah but for the majority of people it's a it's a slow burning walk with Jesus a slow burning path to a faith where you're like okay this is it. Took me 23 years. Yeah um but I don't find discouragement when it takes long. Yeah. It's actually meant to be that way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I had a friend that used to talk about how we build things really fast in our world now like we can build skyscrapers in months and we can do but the things that God designs grow slow for the most part. You know you look at trees they grow slowly and he said this thing to me it was like you know when God speaks through someone in like a moment you're not expecting we were literally he's he's a related to my he's married to my wife's sister. And so we were in a pool like swing with our children who were just crazy you know she's getting hit with pool noodles in the face and you're like don't run don't don't you're gonna get hurt. And in the middle of that he just says you know I think we were talking about life and while getting hit and splashed. And he just went I think it's that the things that grow slowest tend to grow strongest. You know it's like God's designed it so that the things that grow slowly tend to grow really strong. Yeah. And you know you've persevered. So even yesterday in the message that that we're given, you know, Jesus talks about the four soils and really perseverance is the thing that's the the biggest difference the the second soil there's excitement but there's no roots and so as soon as there's a challenge goes away. The third soil there's growth like legitimate growth but it just gets choked out by the things of this world. And then he says that fourth soil they through perseverance there's growth. And so you've already persevered through a lot and uh yeah how long have you been here at his hands now I think about a year. About a year I think last July was the first time I came okay well I'm I'm I'm bummed that I'm just getting to know you now but I I mean this um I'm excited to know you I consider you a friend and I look forward to getting to know you better before you go off to med school and we'll keep in touch for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah well this church is a special place. It's it's rare I think in a as you said in a world where pretty much everything you see is is opposite to the way that Jesus calls us to live. You know what are you to gain the world if you lose your soul there's there's a truth I mean there is truth to that that is truth. Definitely but also rooted in that is the the gentleness the patience patientness and the the patience and the humbleness and the way that his hands does things because you can you can believe that and go about it in that way but not allow room for forgiveness not allow room for acceptance. Yeah and um it's rare to have a place where everything that Jesus embodies and what I believe God wants out of his church is in one building. That means a lot so that means a lot. I appreciate you for what you're doing.
SPEAKER_01Dude for I'm uh I'm I'm grateful that God's used this church to change my life so it's a real honor and kind of a weird privilege to be like wait you know I didn't build this place right the family that started it did. So I it's a it's a blessing it is and uh we love Jesus very much and I your story's great man I'm really grateful to hear it and to be able to share it with other people and so man thank you so much. Yeah this has been great. All right any last thing you want to say no Jesus is better than gold yeah yeah yeah he is at that 100% yeah man this is great thank you so much thank you appreciate it