January 24, 2025 • 44 mins
Join us on a transformative journey with Jeremy Williamson, a seasoned counselor and minister whose life experiences are as varied as they are insightful. With over 25 years in leadership, Jeremy offers a narrative rich with personal growth, faith, and the quest for identity. From the quiet halls of a country school in Oregon to the vibrant mission fields of El Salvador and beyond, Jeremy's path is a tapestry of change and discovery. His upcoming book, "Not My Name," promises to shed light on the themes of self-discovery and authentic living, themes deeply explored in this episode.
We venture into Jeremy's world as he recounts pivotal moments that shaped his calling. The heart of our conversation lies in his profound relationship with his mentor Chris, who played an instrumental role in Jeremy's path to healing and self-awareness. This episode underscores the necessity of understanding deeper motivations and the transformative power of genuine friendship. Through Jeremy and Chris's shared journey, we witness the resilience of the human spirit and the enduring influence of faith in overcoming life's hurdles.
As we wrap up, we delve into a global movement where men confront generational trauma, striving for authenticity and better fatherhood. Jeremy's experiences in the Scottish Highlands illustrate the intersection of nature and soul work, shedding light on the distractions threatening men's identities today. By the episode's end, listeners are called to embrace their own journeys of healing and connection, encouraged by the constant and unwavering love of God that Jeremy so passionately shares. Subscribe, engage, and join us in spreading hope and healing through this powerful narrative.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Foxhole Symphony, a podcast about the
transformational value of men inauthentic community.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
In our foxhole.
Men are equipped to buildrelationships that foster
belonging, accountability andgrowth.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Stop believing the lie that you can thrive in
isolation and instead join us onthe journey from broken to
whole.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Hello everyone.
They call me the Maestro and weare back in the foxhole where
we actively pursue belonging,accountability and growth
through authentic relationships.
No masks, no agendas, just ironsharpening.
Iron Mark and Steve are in thefoxhole and they are welcoming a
very special guest today.
No, I can't tell you who it is.
(00:49):
You're going to have to wait.
You know what time it is.
Get comfortable, open yournotes app and let's get this
podcast started.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Hey, welcome back to Foxhole Symphony Podcast.
I'm Sarge here in the foxholewith my good friend Mark In the
foxhole.
I am in the foxhole in theflesh, my brother, I can reach
out.
I don't have to reach for thescreen.
I can actually touch you,You're warm Back for a moment.
Yeah, your warm body under thissweater and this horrid
(01:18):
snowfall that we're in Now stop.
This is New Jersey.
It's beautiful.
I'll take it A little bit offlurries.
It's a.
It's very Christmasy.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
It's taking the ick off the top.
It's coating everything, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
It's.
It's good, it's good, it's goodenough, hey, but it's great to
be with you you too, Welcomeback into the foxhole, but we
would like to say welcome toJeremy Williamson.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Jeremy comes to us on a recommendation for someone we
have come to love and trust,the author of the book Sage,
chris Bruno.
So I was talking to Chris and Isaid hey, chris, anyone you can
think of you would be a goodguest for us in the foxhole.
And he I don't think he got abreath out and he said Jeremy.
So for that reason alone, we'reexcited to talk to you.
Let me tell you what we knowabout Jeremy as a passionate and
(02:05):
kind leader with over 25 yearsof experience in counseling and
ministry.
Throughout his career, heserved as a pastor, missionary,
counselor and even internationaldisaster relief director,
bringing deep insight andcompassion to each role.
Jeremy is committed to helpingothers find hope and restoration
in their lives.
He and his wife live inSouthwest Missouri where they're
raising their three teenagelives.
He and his wife live inSouthwest Missouri where they're
(02:25):
raising their three teenagechildren.
He's the author of the upcomingbook titled Not my Name, and
Jeremy's blend of professionalexpertise and personal
authenticity make him asought-after voice on topics of
faith, personal growth and men'sissues.
Yeah, welcome to the foxhole,bro.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Bonus to whoever wrote that yeah, Sounds so good.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I think it was chat GPT Maybe, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
It's beautiful and look, there's topics of faith,
personal growth and men's issues.
You're in the right place, Amen.
You know we are unfinishedsymphonies in all of those areas
, just trying to figure out partof God's plan for our life.
So, aside from your bio, canyou give folks just a little
background on Jeremy, where youare today, what you're about?
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Yeah, so these days I live, as the bio says, in
Southwest Missouri.
My wife and we have a housefull of extroverted athletes,
teenagers that are just it'scrazy time.
So my, my oldest child is aboutto graduate from high school
and she's headed headed tocollege to play volleyball here
(03:32):
next year, and so we're life isfun and busy and full, and you
know, I actually think that thatthat might describe how my life
has been since I was like 17years old full and busy and fun.
I um, I think it's worth sayinglike I actually decided I was
16 years old and I rememberfinding out that I went to this
(03:54):
little country school in Oregon,uh, where everybody was a
lumberjack or the son of alumberjack, and that was true
about, about me too.
My dad and grandpa and greatgrandpa were all in the timber
industry and and and.
So I found out like, hey,you're seeing my senior year of
high school.
I was only going to have likeone class I had to take, and I
(04:17):
just had way too big of dreamsfor that.
I was like, wait, wait, I'mgonna spend a year of my life in
this little country school foran English class, and so that
that day I became a senior,skipped, skipped my junior year,
became a senior, ended upgraduating early and and life
has just been pretty fullthrottle since then.
It's been a pretty incredible,pretty special journey, awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Wow, and you moved directly from Oregon to Missouri
, or were there stops along theway?
Speaker 4 (04:44):
No, that's so.
So Oregon to Colorado to go toBible school, and then I moved
to El Salvador in CentralAmerica Wow.
And then to Texas on the Mexicoborder, and then to East Africa
, in Malawi, and then back toColorado and then here to
Missouri.
So just a short, just small Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
That's wild.
Where were you in El Salvador?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I live just outside of the capital city of San
Salvador and yeah little littlecommunity called La Cima.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Okay, wow, that's awesome.
How, how long were you there?
Speaker 4 (05:21):
Just over a year.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Okay, yeah, had the opportunity to do a lot, of, a
lot of ministry work, um, in inEl Salvador, with compassion,
with compassion international,and, um, yeah, I love it, just
just love it there and love thepeople to country near and dear
to my heart.
It's cool.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
El Salvador does.
It still has, my heart for sure.
Still a bunch of friends thereand my son, who's 15, my middle
child, he, uh, he wants to go dowhat I did and spend a year,
year and a half, uh, with thatsame ministry, actually in El
Salvador, as soon as hegraduates.
So that's fun.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Yeah, so I've been married for 19 years.
It'll be.
It'll be 20 years next October.
Okay and uh, we've got a 17year old daughter, a 15 year old
son and a 13 year old son.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Okay, awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So you've been a pastor and a counselor.
Help us.
Uh, so people can connect thedots back to Chris and re-story
counseling.
How do you fit there?
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Yeah, so I was.
I was pastoring in NorthernColorado.
Uh, my wife and I were leadinga church there for about seven
years and that's when I got toknow Chris and my relationship
with Chris.
Chris began to invite me intosome places that felt really
familiar inside my own soul,inside my own heart.
(06:37):
He started to invite me, justas a friend, into being curious
about some places inside of methat as I, as I started to walk
down those paths in thewilderness of my own soul, I
also realized man I was.
I think I was born to do thiswork, and so much of my life
(06:58):
makes sense now, the way thatI've engaged with God, the way
that I've engaged with people,the things that I've been
passionate about.
I just had to go to some ofthose deep places in myself
first before I realized that,yeah, this is.
I think this is what I was madefor.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
That's amazing.
I love that and you know I loveit for so many reasons, but I
think, unfortunately you know Ilove it for so many reasons, but
I think, unfortunately, youknow, so many of us go through
most of our lives and careersnot knowing that, not sensing
that, not feeling that that okay, wow, this is this is what I
(07:39):
was made for, right Like, andthat is so unfortunate.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Right Like, and that is're.
We're far from that today inone way or another.
We're not.
We're not living that, actinglike that, uh, believing like
that.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah, yeah, and that that, wow, that quiet
desperation, cause that that'sexhausting, that's exhausting,
like it, that takes a toll and,um, you know it's interesting.
What you said I want to go backto for a moment, cause you said
you know what?
What led to that discovery wasthe need to go deeper into your
(08:34):
own heart, right, like, likeChris led you on that journey.
It sounds like.
Tell us more about that.
What, what did what does thatmean?
What did that journey look like?
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Mm-hmm.
You know, when I arrived innorthern Colorado it had been
already after a decade at leastof ministry and what I didn't
realize was that I had gone outinto the world I mentioned.
I graduated high school early.
All fire, all passion.
(09:05):
We're going to win the worldfor Jesus.
We're going to like it's goingto be incredible Revival, people
getting saved.
It's going to be amazing.
That's all I knew.
And I didn't even realize thenhow the way that I was seeing
the world and the way that I wasimagining myself was through
the broken lens of what I hadcome to prove, what I needed to
prove to God, what I needed toprove to my dad, what, what, the
(09:33):
, the, the worth, um, thepresence that I needed to gain
through the things that I coulddo.
So I went into the world kindof aware, like, okay, I can do
some stuff, like I've, I've gotsome gifts, let me just go bring
those to the world and peopleare going to love me and there's
going to be a place for me andeverything's going to be fine.
And then you get into the realworld, like when I went to El
(09:55):
Salvador, man, we had a 7.0earthquake while I was living
there.
Wow, 7.6 or 7.7.
And I was supposed to be there.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
That's life changing.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
It was life changing.
So I mean there were over athousand people who died just a
mile away from my house in alandslide.
Chris talks about in the bookSage that, like this persona
(10:30):
that I've had, this person thatI've tried to be so that I can
find my place in the world, it'snot working, and I could tell
stories for hours about justways that God invited me to to
to scrape, scrape off thatpersona down to the bone and and
come back to who I actually amas a son, so that those I could
(10:54):
say so much more about that.
But in general, that that's theroad that Chris invited me down
was to start naming what'swhat's actually been true about
my story and what I've come tobelieve about myself as a result
of that.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Well, let's stay there.
I don't want to.
Let's peel that onion back alittle bit.
That down to the bone story isour favorite kind.
We all have one.
They're dissimilar but they'reall faith-filled stories.
They are ones worth goingthrough.
They are the traction, it's theSisyphean feat right of pushing
the rock up the hill, orwhatever that metaphor is.
(11:26):
Today, Tell us more about whatthat part of the journey was
like, where you, you know, gotraw exposed.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
If you can, here's yeah, if you would have met me
when I was 18, 19 years old, youwould have been like here's
this confident, probablyarrogant guy who's got some
gifts and is probably going todo something with his life.
What you wouldn't know is mymom's dad.
(11:57):
Like you wouldn't know thefamily that I came from, but my
mom's dad was a rapist and apedophile and just a completely
evil man and just a completelyevil man.
My dad's dad was a stoicEnglish, scottish lumberjack who
just had, like a lot of guysfrom his generation, had no
(12:20):
words for his kids, no affectionfor his sons.
And so here's the family thatI'm born into A mom who had
grown up in horrific abuse and adad who never knew the
affection of his own dad.
I didn't know.
That was my story and I didn'thave words to say, to share
(12:40):
about how I felt the abandonmentof my own dad and how my
experience with him over 18years led me to wonder if I even
belonged in the company of men.
Like, I knew I was a guy, butlike do I have what it takes to
be a man, williamson at that,having no idea who I was or if
(13:03):
anybody saw me or where I fit.
So I take all of that energyplus my love for God and I think
I'm going to find my name andI've got to go find it and I've
got to go become something.
And I've got to go because sofar my name had been like
unwanted maybe like unwanted butavailable for consumption
(13:28):
available for consumption.
And so God is using, like theearthquake.
And then the team that I was apart of fell apart.
So I joined another team andI'm the only white guy and
Spanish is really important partof my life, so I felt really
comfortable in that team.
But we were supposed to takeover the world.
(13:49):
And then they start telling methings like yeah, jeremy, we
hate you, we wish you weren't onthis team, nobody likes you,
and I'm just falling apart againand it goes on and on.
Then my parents divorce andthen just nothing.
Nothing in my world worked theway that it was supposed to and
(14:09):
I didn't end up being the personthat I thought I was supposed
to be.
I never found the name I guessI could say that I was looking
for.
Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
It does so?
If so, at that point, I mean itsounds like you know, I mean
your world's kind of crashingdown around you, right?
I mean you know both literally,your world's kind of crashing
down around you, right, I meanyou know both literally and
figuratively, right, I mean thisearthquake.
You know literally, and then,figuratively, you're through
your, you know your family, this, this, you know this divorce
(14:41):
and your team.
You know almost this sort of Idon't want to put words in your
mouth, but like abandonment,what, what's going on at that
point, right?
Like I mean, is this, does thislead to a crisis of faith, or
is it?
Is it?
Yeah, like I mean I'm imaginingmyself at that point.
(15:01):
But at that point in your life,where, where are you at, like,
what's, what questions are youasking him?
You know where's God in thatand you know what's that
relationship like.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
I love that question.
I remember one day our housewas kind of on the side of a
volcano since that was a volcanoand during the earthquake and
all the aftershocks smoke, andit just seemed like people were
saying that the volcano mighterupt.
And so I'm sitting alone on theroof of this house looking out
(15:37):
over san salvador, there's a bigaftershock, and I look back
behind me and the puffs of smokestart to come up and I remember
just thinking like I god, Idon't, I don't think you're
there, and if you are, I don'tthink you care about me at all.
Which was such.
It was like a familiar feelingfor me because I I remember
(15:59):
being young, I was 16 and, uh,it was my turn.
So, williamson, men hunting isa really big deal for us and I
remember it was my turn.
It's finally time for me to goelk hunting and carry my own gun
, and instead of just going tocamp but not hunting, I actually
got to hunt this year.
So we go to my uncle's house topick up the rifle that I was
(16:21):
going to use.
My uncle like it's just me andmy dad and I just can imagine us
waiting outside his door.
My uncle opens the door and hehands us this rifle and it's
this old, like pump action, 300Savage, and I noticed there's
not a scope on it.
And I look at my dad and I'mlike there's no scope.
(16:42):
I mean, if you're hearing thisand you're not at the hunting,
like ah, 16 year old is probablynot going to go elk hunting
without a scope.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
I totally get it.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Yeah, I look over my dad, I'm like this, where's the
scope?
And I just catch my dad lookingat my uncle and there's like
this little smirk on his facethat I think I wasn't supposed
to see.
And my dad looks back at me andhe's like oh, it's okay, you're
not, you're not really gonnaneed it.
And so I say that because Ifelt the same way on the volcano
(17:10):
of like okay, you don't see me,you're not here for me, I'm not
a part of this, I don't belonghere, I'm abandoned by you.
And in in both of thosesituations, my, my unhealthy
response honestly was cool,watch me like, forget you, watch
me, watch how strong I can be,I'll show you Watch what I can
(17:32):
do and not healthy.
but that was my response.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Wow, so that was your response even in that moment,
on the side of the volcano.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Both times, yeah, and I'll tell you.
So I went and I killed an elkwith that stupid gun.
And in El Salvador I joinedanother team.
I said forget this, I'm goingto go do something even harder.
And I joined a team that wasgoing to travel from Canada all
the way to the tip of SouthAmerica, preaching the gospel
sleeping on the side of the road.
You know, it was called thelast harvest and I went and did
(18:02):
something even more intense,even more crazy, because my
response to abandonment hasalways been cool I'm fine on my
own, Watch me.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Yeah, like Challenge me.
Yeah, well, when you wereasking him your last question,
what I was thinking was whenthings fell apart, literally and
figuratively, in El Salvador,we often, at moments when things
crumble around us, where do welook to first?
Home, we go home.
Yeah, home, safe homes, peoplewe know, people who love us,
(18:32):
people who protect us, providefor us, give us a place to sleep
, and you have a divorce goingon at home, so you find your.
How old were you sitting onthat roof, by the way?
18.
Okay, I was going to say 19.
Yeah, you're an 18 year old manand it's.
You know, testosterone andadrenaline are a heck of a
cocktail, right, which is kindof your.
(18:56):
Your response is I'll show you,but you're really not going
home.
You go to last harvest.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Which which home is exactly where I needed to be,
and that's that's.
That's what I've learned in inmy journey of understanding that
I'm a son, I'm a son, I'm abeloved son, and so for me to be
comfortable coming maybe myphysical home is never going to
(19:25):
be that where my parents are,but that I'm a son of God who is
well-loved and I can rest inHim that's where I needed to be.
I didn't know how to go there,though I had no idea how to get
there Right?
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Well, you had no role models that I'm aware of, not
that you've talked about Fromhome, from great-grandfather to
grandfather, all the lumberjackson one side, and then people
who were abandoning you in ElSalvador, where you thought you
were called to be at that time,which is a heck of a calling.
I mean, I I honor that.
You picked yourself up from, Ithink it was, oregon and went to
(20:01):
El Salvador not to visit, right, you moved in, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
You, you, you.
Then you know, you run off,kind of forge out on that next
journey, right, like uh, to todo it all for God, right, and
what?
What does that result in?
Like?
What does that then lead toRight?
Speaker 4 (20:22):
Yeah, it leads to more um pain.
Okay, because that I justlearned it'll never work.
It's.
It was not what I needed.
There was adrenaline, there wasgoodness.
Yeah, we slept on the side ofthe road.
I got stories of, like spendingnights on the tarmac in Mexico,
like somewhere halfway betweenTexas and Guatemala, and, yeah,
(20:45):
it was great and some of thehardest moments of my life, some
of the like most intense tearsI've ever shed we weren't
actually made to be alone orabandoned as strong as we think
we could be in that situation.
That's not who we're meant tobe.
So, yeah, it didn't work and Ifound myself, you know, took a
(21:06):
job right after that, took a jobat a church in Texas that
wanted to build a big ministryin Mexico, was already doing
great things in Mexico and justwanted to expand it.
And that's where I met my wife.
But I kept running down thatroad of abandoned, alone but
really intense and passionatewell into my married life.
There was even a guy who warnedmy wife when we were engaged.
(21:29):
He said, rachel, I just I wantyou to know that Jeremy runs a
million miles an hour and helives on his own island and
nobody really knows that guyLike he's passionate, he gets
stuff done, but find out ifanybody has ever actually known
who he is Doesn't exist.
So he literally warned my wifeabout what she was getting into.
(21:51):
Wow, she didn't listen to me.
It was a wake up call.
But I still didn't do the workuntil I until I met Chris, like
so many years later, in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Wow and so yeah, so that that's interesting and so,
as you, I guess, what led tothat meeting.
I mean, how did you, how didyou connect with Chris?
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Yeah, my wife went to a meeting for mothers of
preschoolers at a church andChris was speaking that day and
I think he was being young andscrappy and trying to build his
counseling practice, and so hewas saying yes to every
opportunity.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
I was going to ask.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
That's hysterical.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
That's how he found us.
That's hysterical though I'msorry, I look, cause I could
picture him up there, in frontof these mothers of preschoolers
Like I, can only imagine whathe talked about that day and I
have no idea.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
I have no idea.
But she came home and she waslike I think you need to meet
this guy.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
That's awesome, and so.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Chris got at work.
Chris and I start hanging outand and I'll maybe this whole
story kind of in some ways,comes to a head.
There was one night it wasprobably one o'clock in the
morning and I I was, I was withChris and we were at a men's
retreat and we just happened tofind each other.
(23:14):
We're sitting up in the loftand he's sitting across from me
and he just starts being curiousabout me and where I'm at.
And we arrive at this placewhere I'm finally able to name.
I've been by myself my wholelife because I'm terrified to
trust someone to hold me.
(23:36):
I'm terrified that.
I'm terrified of what it wouldbe like to trust that somebody
would be strong enough that theywouldn't abandon me, that
somebody would have the abilityto actually hold me.
And Chris and when I say that Iam holding all of the wounds
from El Salvador, from mychildhood, from Africa there's
(23:57):
so much we didn't even talkabout from my whole life up to
that point I'm feeling all of it.
I'm just saying, yeah, I wishthere was somebody who could
hold me.
Chris, he gets down on hisknees and he opens up his arms
really wide and I just like in20 minutes later and his sleeve
is covered in my tears and snotand I just felt for the first
(24:23):
time what what it's like to be ason and what it's like to be a
brother, who, who can be uh,weak and held and um and young.
So, yeah, I've been reallygrateful for Chris's influence
in my life, for sure, wow.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
That's.
That's such a great story.
It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
That's so awesome, man, thank you.
Thank you for sharing that andum, yeah, and just being
transparent about the pain andum, you know, you know I'm just
I'm loving that God.
Yeah, just what he orchestrates, you know and you know putting
people in our lives throughcircumstances like that.
(25:06):
You know, and you know I got toimagine.
You know Chris is talking tothese mothers of preschoolers.
You know these young, youngwomen sitting there and he's
probably asking them questionsabout their husbands and like
you know, like I mean reallyright, and uh, ah, it's so cool.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
That is so cool.
So you and Chris now, uh, youmet him first when roughly what
year?
Probably 2012.
Okay, so your 12 yearrelationship and you and Chris
and, I'm guessing others, butyou're part of the team that's
going to skull and tell us alittle about the adventure
you're going to go on in threeweeks.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
I love that.
So I get to work with Chrisboth on the counseling side of
the organization throughrestored counseling and also
through restorationorationProject, which is the
organization that's specificallytoward men.
So I love getting to do work onboth ends of that organization.
And in a couple of weeks we'retaking a group of men there's 18
men plus Chris and I andanother incredible guy named
(26:08):
Drew who's helping us lead goinginto the highlands in scotland
in january uh, intentionallyinto the cold and bluster.
Last, last year, actually thisyear, 2024 when we were there it
was like 100 mile an hour winds, crazy storms in the time of
our lives.
Um, we go there because we just, we feel like the backdrop of
(26:31):
the scottish highlands injanuary mirrors, mirrors, the
backdrop and the atmosphere of aman's soul, especially those of
us who are in the middle of ourlives, and there's so much
about that space that feels likeit's easy to meet God there,
it's easy to confront the woundsthat we're carrying there, and
(26:53):
so we'll go see some beautifulplaces that are all kind of
specifically chosen to thebackdrop, and the place or the
hike that we're doing that dayor the place we're going invites
us deeper into some of thoseplaces into our own souls and
stories.
So it's one of the many reallycool things I get to do as a
part of my job.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
And your job.
Just what is your vocation?
A vocation, what do you do fora living?
So, with Restory Counseling.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
I'm a I'm a story work coach, so I I offer care to
men and women.
I work with a lot of couples, alot of people who are ministry
leaders, so I work with a lot ofpastors who are burned out or
wounded missionaries who are inthe same boat.
I work with men who arewrestling with sexual issues, so
guys who are addicted or stuckin unwanted sexual behaviors.
(27:43):
With Restoration Project I'mthe director of experiences, so
that means, like all the cooltrips whether it's to Kenya or
Scotland or Colorado or Utah orCalifornia all the ways that we
take men and their sons anddaughters out into the
wilderness.
All the cool trips whether it'sto Kenya or Scotland or
Colorado or Utah or Californiaall the ways that we take men
and their sons and daughters outinto the wilderness to go deep
with each other and with God andin their own hearts.
(28:04):
I get to oversee all of thatgood work.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Okay, all right.
So that leads me to your bio.
Ends with.
You're a sought after voice onmen's issues, and that's what
we're about.
We are men in community.
Authentic community is our goal, right Finding-.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
I thought you were going to say we're men with
issues which we are, we are.
Everything he mentioned right,it's like a poo-poo platter, One
of each.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
But men's issues are really important to us.
We have been dealing with thosein our own way.
We are not I told you this, butI love to say it we are not
certified or trained incounseling, in theology, in
giving advice.
What we have is life experience.
We also have a lot ofexperience leading men to try
and find their authenticcommunity.
(28:51):
So I'm going to ask you atwo-part question it's a good
and a bad and that is you'redealing with all these men.
What are you seeing in mentoday or recently that lifts you
, that buoys you, that you sayyes to the gods that work in
men's lives?
And this is what I am seeing inyour experience.
I'm going to ask you theconverse question in a minute.
(29:11):
Mm-hmm, I'm going to ask youthe converse question in a
minute.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
I think so.
One author said that pain,trauma, is passed down from one
generation to the next untilsomeone is brave enough to feel
it, Until someone's brave enoughto do something about it.
That's my story.
It's been passed down to me andit ends here.
I'm not passing it down to mysons or my daughter, and I see
(29:36):
that in this generation, morethan ever before, a willingness
to go into the wild and untendedand painful places in our souls
, a willingness to be honest,more than I've ever seen before,
get with a guy who's got a lotto say, and the degree of of
(29:59):
willingness to go to hard placesand to say hard things and to
do the work is incredible to me.
And so what we see as a resultof that is family trees are
changing.
I see men my age who arekneeling down and I'll see in a
couple of months at ourfather-daughter camp in Colorado
see men my age kneeling down infront of their 10, 12-year-old
daughters, like holding herhands and offering her a
blessing from the pit of hissoul, endorsing her loveliness
(30:22):
and her fierceness and the imageof God in her.
And that wasn't even a thingwhen we were growing up.
But there are hundreds of men,thousands of men all over the
world.
I sat in a room in Kenya twoyears ago with men who live in
the slums, who were sitting withChris and I.
There was, there was 25 men ina tiny little classroom saying
(30:43):
how can we be better dads to ourkids?
How can we be better men?
It's, it's all over the world.
I think men are ready to engage, to remember who they are and
to acknowledge their wounds anddo what it takes to be whole,
and that's changing generationsAbsolutely.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
I love that, thank you.
So, conversely, given yourexperience with so many men over
the last few years, what areyou seeing that concerns you?
What real life examples do youhave in your empirical evidence?
You have things in men'scommunity that are just not
headed in the right direction.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Yeah, I think that evil has always been about the
work of getting us to forget whowe are and to hide the image of
God, like when Jesus saidyou're the light of the world.
The city on the hill cannot behidden.
No one lights a lamp and putsit under a basket.
Evil has been after getting mento do that, to hide our
strength and to hide the imageof God in us forever.
(31:43):
I think today it is so easy forman to get swept into something
like pornography online, oreven just like mindless
scrolling, which are the enemy'stools to take our masculinity
and our strength and hide itaway somewhere secret and
(32:04):
isolated and covered in shame.
And so I think today, like thenumbers of men who are addicted
to pornography are probablyhigher than ever in history,
evil has always been getting usto abandon, like bringing our
strength into the world insteadof into porn.
He's always been trying to getus to step away from the image
(32:28):
of God on us as men.
Now it just feels particularlyacute the number of men who are
stuck in addiction, whetherthat's just with pornography or,
like I said, just scrollingmindlessly on their phones.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah, two very real examples.
I'm sorry to know I walk aroundwith my badge on about.
I don't do social media verymuch.
I have a Facebook page becauseof this podcast, but that's all
it takes because I'll get stuckin there.
I'll get stuck in the reelsevery 10 second video, and mine,
truthfully, are mostly sportsand a couple of movies.
I don't venture very farbecause I guess if you click
(33:05):
like, you get more of thoseright in the algorithm.
I don't know how it works, butI've.
I've only.
It's been six months, but I cantell you there's more time than
I'm comfortable with where I'mjust scrolling through.
Yeah, they just play one afteranother.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Oh yeah, mindless scrolling is a is a an addiction
for sure.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
I feel like my brain is rotting a lot of times.
Speaker 4 (33:27):
And what?
When we're there, when we'restuck there, where are we not
Right, like when, when all ofourselves is being absorbed into
that screen?
Where is my strength and mytenderness, a kindness, where am
I not engaging in the world?
Yeah, which I think is a partof how evil wins, is he gets all
of the sons of God to be busyabout other things.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
And and the goodness of God in us is not present in
the world.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yeah, you know it's interesting.
I wanted to share, sharesomething real quickly, as you
were sharing the.
You know the story of you andChris and that loft and and you
know the, the holy moment,moment or moments that took
place there and the and thehealing that began there.
I, in some of my mindlessscrolling on uh on LinkedIn, I
(34:12):
came across a post recently,about a week ago, and it was uh,
there was a video of um, uh, ofmen.
I don't know that this was aChristian gathering or not, but
it was certainly an intensivemen's gathering and there was
work, heart work going on, therewere tears, there were, you
(34:32):
know, men holding each other.
I mean, this is, you know,similarly to what you described
and similar, similarly to whatMark and I have experienced
countless times on intensivemen's weekends over the last 15
years that are every single oneof them is is transformational
and life-changing um, both forus just to witness what God's
doing in the hearts and lives ofmen, as well as as participants
(34:55):
.
But the, the vitriol from theposter about what was taking
place in that video was soshocking to me, and the comments
, um, and it just, it just brokemy heart.
It broke my heart as I read itand I haven't come across that
(35:19):
very, very much.
I really haven't.
I've been so dialed in on theincredible work that God is
doing through ministries likeRestory and the Restoration
Project and countless others.
I mean it's so encouraging tosee God move in the hearts and
lives of men all over the worldin a way that I don't know if
it's ever, it's ever taken placein history and, um, it's
(35:43):
unbelievable.
And I come across this video andI'm like man, like it is so
heartbreaking to, to hear and tosee the, the, the, the public
shaming of what was taking placein this video, as you know, uh,
feminine and weak, and you knowall these other things, and I'm
(36:08):
going no, like, no, no, youknow, and and I just, and I just
thought like I had to just stopand pray, and you know I, I
started to write a comment, likeI started to cut, and I'm like
no, no, no, this isn't for thisis not like my battle, this is
not for social media, and I justhad to bring it before the Lord
.
But it was interesting because I, like I said, I have not
(36:29):
witnessed that very much andprobably just from a lack of
awareness.
You know, it's just not.
Those aren't the circles I'm inanymore, right, like it's been
decades, and so praise God.
But boy is the enemy still atwork, right?
I mean, boy is the enemy stillat work, and the enemy was just
all over that.
I'm thinking man just prayingfor every person whose eyes you
(36:52):
know were set on that post, andpraying against the enemy having
a foothold there.
Speaker 4 (36:58):
But yeah, I just wonder, like the guy who posted
that, yeah, you and I know, yep,the guy who posted that
actually needs that.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
There's a little boy inside of him who needs to be
held inside of him.
Who, who, who needs to be held,and there's.
I would just be so curiousabout what, what was actually
going on inside his heart, andI'd love to spend some time with
him, the guy who posted it,because I think there's, yeah,
there's, a cultural american,and it's not just american, but
it's kind of macho, like wedon't do that and yet we all
(37:31):
want to, if we're honest, right,right, but it's just hard to
get there.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Yeah, it is hard to get there.
It is hard to get there, whichis why you have intensive
experiences like you guysfacilitate and like we've
facilitated many times, becausewithout that intensity, you guys
aren't gonna just you know, getthere right Like we need to be.
I need to be, you know, shakenright, sort of awakened out of
(37:57):
my slumber.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Yeah, to your core right and that's and please take
this the right way.
You can go to Scotland and dothat, or you can go to a Mark
Menden phase one experienceright.
There's many opportunities thatGod provides for us to do that.
So I just had a small epiphanyAfter about a half hour with
Jeremy.
I feel a lot like I did after ahalf hour with Chris.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
And that is.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
I want to talk to him again, a hundred percent Right.
So, jeremy, if you don't mind,you don't have to answer now,
but we would like to have youback again and maybe take a
specific topic coming out ofyour Scotland trip and dig deep
on that.
We'll plan that togethersometime in 2025.
Before we go, though, I'd lovefor you to spend a minute
telling folks about yourupcoming book.
Not my Name is the title.
Get a chance to tell folks whatyou're going to do.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
Yeah, thank you, man, not my Name is a book about
sonship.
It's a book about what it like,who we actually are, and the
reality is we we kind of likeJacob in the Old Testament have
all of us have grown up and havebeen given names that God never
intended for us to have, andthose, those words and those
(39:09):
things that we pick up on, theylive in us and they actually
ruin our lives.
Jacob was, was never intendedto be named Jacob, which means
deceiver, manipulator, heelgrabber.
God always had somethingdifferent in mind for him and uh
, and so not.
My name is all about what it'slike to to rebel against the
(39:30):
words that are ruining our lives, to to name them, to understand
the ways that we've picked upthose false identities and uh,
and to take him to Jesus and tolet him speak a better word over
us.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Amen Love that.
Yeah, we do.
That's awesome.
When can we expect to see that?
Speaker 4 (39:48):
I springtime.
It should be spring or summerof 2025.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
All right, cool, cool .
We're looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
Yeah, so take, keep your eye out for Not my Name.
We'll be sure and keep our eyeout and pick it up and, uh, and
promote it when it comes out.
And um, it'd be a good time tohave Jeremy back.
Absolutely yeah, that would be.
That would be awesome If youwould.
If you would do that, we'd loveto have you back.
And and um, yeah, I just want toremind our listeners that you
know God is still writing yourstory.
God is still writing your storyand, um, you know, if, if
(40:26):
you're in a place where you'renot even sure what that means,
or the story that's been writtenyou need to be rewritten, I
would just encourage you toreach out to Jeremy and to Chris
.
You could visit Restorylife tolearn more about Restory
Counseling or the RestorationProject.
We'll put it all in the notes,yeah, and check it out.
These are good, godly men doinggood work and so many different
(40:50):
ways that you can interact withand engage with them as an
individual or even as a couple,as a married couple as well Some
great marriage resources, andso I just want to strongly
encourage that.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
So, jeremy, you and your lovely wife and three kids,
and I just wanted to pass onour blessings to you and your
family and say thank you yeah.
Speaker 4 (41:14):
I feel the same way you guys.
It's so good to run into othermen who are doing the same work
that God's put on our hearts,and what an honor for us, like
you said it a second ago, towatch, to bear witness to the
incredible things that God isdoing all around the world.
It's an honor to be a part ofit, so I appreciate your
invitation.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Awesome, amen.
God bless you, brother.
Please give our best to Chrisand enjoy your trip.
Enjoy your trip and be sure tolet us know how it goes.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
All right guys, I sure will.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
I'll check in.
Speaker 4 (41:45):
Peace Thanks.
Speaker 3 (41:48):
What a great opportunity to get to know our
brother Jeremy.
It's incredible to see God'sfingerprints all over his life.
You know, something that I'vebeen spending time thinking
about is the connection madebetween Jeremy and Chris.
Thing that I've been spendingtime thinking about is the
connection made between Jeremyand Chris.
It took Chris to be faithful inmany things, including speaking
to that mom's group that night.
(42:08):
Jeremy also had to step outinto faith to pursue that
relationship with Chris and theyboth had to take a leap of
faith.
That night they decided to divein headfirst into Jeremy's
brokenness and begin to journeyon the road back home to his
perfect father in heaven.
I have the sense that many outthere listening to this may
think that was okay for Jeremy,but I'm different.
(42:30):
My brokenness goes deep.
My pain is more than I can evertalk about.
Or nobody knows the weight ofthe things that I have to carry
where.
Nobody knows the weight of thethings that I have to carry.
Well, god's Word says this.
I am convinced that nothing canever separate us from God's
love.
Neither death nor life, neitherangels nor demons, neither our
(42:54):
fears for today nor our worriesabout tomorrow, not even the
powers of hell can separate usfrom God's love.
No power in the sky above or inthe earth below, indeed,
nothing in all creation, willever be able to separate us from
the love of God that isrevealed in Christ Jesus, our
(43:15):
Lord.
Authentic relationships willget you one, lord.
Please continue to use thispodcast to impact the lives of
all who listen.
I ask that you would bring hopeand healing to each and every
one of them.
Meet them right where they areand reveal yourself to them like
only you can do, in Jesus' nameamen.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it
and invite others to theFoxhole.
You can find us wherever youdownload your favorite podcasts.
Be sure to subscribe so youknow when new episodes drop, and
please rate us and commentthere too, as it'll help us get
found by others who couldbenefit.
Find, follow and like us onyour go-to social media networks
by searching Foxhole Symphonyor visit foxholesymphonycom to
(44:01):
make it super easy to find us.
Drop us a line with feedback,questions, topic requests.
Who knows, maybe you'll be aguest on a future episode.
In the meantime, prepare tomove, embrace discomfort and
just be you.
Welcome to Foxhole Symphony, a podcast about the
transformational value of men inauthentic community.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
In our foxhole.
Men are equipped to buildrelationships that foster
belonging, accountability andgrowth.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Stop believing the lie that you can thrive in
isolation and instead join us onthe journey from broken to
whole.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Hello everyone.
They call me the Maestro and weare back in the foxhole where
we actively pursue belonging,accountability and growth
through authentic relationships.
No masks, no agendas, just ironsharpening.
Iron Mark and Steve are in thefoxhole and they are welcoming a
very special guest today.
No, I can't tell you who it is.
(00:49):
You're going to have to wait.
You know what time it is.
Get comfortable, open yournotes app and let's get this
podcast started.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Hey, welcome back to Foxhole Symphony Podcast.
I'm Sarge here in the foxholewith my good friend Mark In the
foxhole.
I am in the foxhole in theflesh, my brother, I can reach
out.
I don't have to reach for thescreen.
I can actually touch you,You're warm Back for a moment.
Yeah, your warm body under thissweater and this horrid
(01:18):
snowfall that we're in Now stop.
This is New Jersey.
It's beautiful.
I'll take it A little bit offlurries.
It's a.
It's very Christmasy.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
It's taking the ick off the top.
It's coating everything, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
It's.
It's good, it's good, it's goodenough, hey, but it's great to
be with you you too, Welcomeback into the foxhole, but we
would like to say welcome toJeremy Williamson.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Jeremy comes to us on a recommendation for someone we
have come to love and trust,the author of the book Sage,
chris Bruno.
So I was talking to Chris and Isaid hey, chris, anyone you can
think of you would be a goodguest for us in the foxhole.
And he I don't think he got abreath out and he said Jeremy.
So for that reason alone, we'reexcited to talk to you.
Let me tell you what we knowabout Jeremy as a passionate and
(02:05):
kind leader with over 25 yearsof experience in counseling and
ministry.
Throughout his career, heserved as a pastor, missionary,
counselor and even internationaldisaster relief director,
bringing deep insight andcompassion to each role.
Jeremy is committed to helpingothers find hope and restoration
in their lives.
He and his wife live inSouthwest Missouri where they're
raising their three teenagelives.
He and his wife live inSouthwest Missouri where they're
(02:25):
raising their three teenagechildren.
He's the author of the upcomingbook titled Not my Name, and
Jeremy's blend of professionalexpertise and personal
authenticity make him asought-after voice on topics of
faith, personal growth and men'sissues.
Yeah, welcome to the foxhole,bro.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Bonus to whoever wrote that yeah, Sounds so good.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I think it was chat GPT Maybe, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
It's beautiful and look, there's topics of faith,
personal growth and men's issues.
You're in the right place, Amen.
You know we are unfinishedsymphonies in all of those areas
, just trying to figure out partof God's plan for our life.
So, aside from your bio, canyou give folks just a little
background on Jeremy, where youare today, what you're about?
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Yeah, so these days I live, as the bio says, in
Southwest Missouri.
My wife and we have a housefull of extroverted athletes,
teenagers that are just it'scrazy time.
So my, my oldest child is aboutto graduate from high school
and she's headed headed tocollege to play volleyball here
(03:32):
next year, and so we're life isfun and busy and full, and you
know, I actually think that thatthat might describe how my life
has been since I was like 17years old full and busy and fun.
I um, I think it's worth sayinglike I actually decided I was
16 years old and I rememberfinding out that I went to this
(03:54):
little country school in Oregon,uh, where everybody was a
lumberjack or the son of alumberjack, and that was true
about, about me too.
My dad and grandpa and greatgrandpa were all in the timber
industry and and and.
So I found out like, hey,you're seeing my senior year of
high school.
I was only going to have likeone class I had to take, and I
(04:17):
just had way too big of dreamsfor that.
I was like, wait, wait, I'mgonna spend a year of my life in
this little country school foran English class, and so that
that day I became a senior,skipped, skipped my junior year,
became a senior, ended upgraduating early and and life
has just been pretty fullthrottle since then.
It's been a pretty incredible,pretty special journey, awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Wow, and you moved directly from Oregon to Missouri
, or were there stops along theway?
Speaker 4 (04:44):
No, that's so.
So Oregon to Colorado to go toBible school, and then I moved
to El Salvador in CentralAmerica Wow.
And then to Texas on the Mexicoborder, and then to East Africa
, in Malawi, and then back toColorado and then here to
Missouri.
So just a short, just small Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
That's wild.
Where were you in El Salvador?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I live just outside of the capital city of San
Salvador and yeah little littlecommunity called La Cima.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Okay, wow, that's awesome.
How, how long were you there?
Speaker 4 (05:21):
Just over a year.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Okay, yeah, had the opportunity to do a lot, of, a
lot of ministry work, um, in inEl Salvador, with compassion,
with compassion international,and, um, yeah, I love it, just
just love it there and love thepeople to country near and dear
to my heart.
It's cool.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
El Salvador does.
It still has, my heart for sure.
Still a bunch of friends thereand my son, who's 15, my middle
child, he, uh, he wants to go dowhat I did and spend a year,
year and a half, uh, with thatsame ministry, actually in El
Salvador, as soon as hegraduates.
So that's fun.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Yeah, so I've been married for 19 years.
It'll be.
It'll be 20 years next October.
Okay and uh, we've got a 17year old daughter, a 15 year old
son and a 13 year old son.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Okay, awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So you've been a pastor and a counselor.
Help us.
Uh, so people can connect thedots back to Chris and re-story
counseling.
How do you fit there?
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Yeah, so I was.
I was pastoring in NorthernColorado.
Uh, my wife and I were leadinga church there for about seven
years and that's when I got toknow Chris and my relationship
with Chris.
Chris began to invite me intosome places that felt really
familiar inside my own soul,inside my own heart.
(06:37):
He started to invite me, justas a friend, into being curious
about some places inside of methat as I, as I started to walk
down those paths in thewilderness of my own soul, I
also realized man I was.
I think I was born to do thiswork, and so much of my life
(06:58):
makes sense now, the way thatI've engaged with God, the way
that I've engaged with people,the things that I've been
passionate about.
I just had to go to some ofthose deep places in myself
first before I realized that,yeah, this is.
I think this is what I was madefor.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
That's amazing.
I love that and you know I loveit for so many reasons, but I
think, unfortunately you know Ilove it for so many reasons, but
I think, unfortunately, youknow, so many of us go through
most of our lives and careersnot knowing that, not sensing
that, not feeling that that okay, wow, this is this is what I
(07:39):
was made for, right Like, andthat is so unfortunate.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Right Like, and that is're.
We're far from that today inone way or another.
We're not.
We're not living that, actinglike that, uh, believing like
that.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah, yeah, and that that, wow, that quiet
desperation, cause that that'sexhausting, that's exhausting,
like it, that takes a toll and,um, you know it's interesting.
What you said I want to go backto for a moment, cause you said
you know what?
What led to that discovery wasthe need to go deeper into your
(08:34):
own heart, right, like, likeChris led you on that journey.
It sounds like.
Tell us more about that.
What, what did what does thatmean?
What did that journey look like?
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Mm-hmm.
You know, when I arrived innorthern Colorado it had been
already after a decade at leastof ministry and what I didn't
realize was that I had gone outinto the world I mentioned.
I graduated high school early.
All fire, all passion.
(09:05):
We're going to win the worldfor Jesus.
We're going to like it's goingto be incredible Revival, people
getting saved.
It's going to be amazing.
That's all I knew.
And I didn't even realize thenhow the way that I was seeing
the world and the way that I wasimagining myself was through
the broken lens of what I hadcome to prove, what I needed to
prove to God, what I needed toprove to my dad, what, what, the
(09:33):
, the, the worth, um, thepresence that I needed to gain
through the things that I coulddo.
So I went into the world kindof aware, like, okay, I can do
some stuff, like I've, I've gotsome gifts, let me just go bring
those to the world and peopleare going to love me and there's
going to be a place for me andeverything's going to be fine.
And then you get into the realworld, like when I went to El
(09:55):
Salvador, man, we had a 7.0earthquake while I was living
there.
Wow, 7.6 or 7.7.
And I was supposed to be there.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
That's life changing.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
It was life changing.
So I mean there were over athousand people who died just a
mile away from my house in alandslide.
Chris talks about in the bookSage that, like this persona
(10:30):
that I've had, this person thatI've tried to be so that I can
find my place in the world, it'snot working, and I could tell
stories for hours about justways that God invited me to to
to scrape, scrape off thatpersona down to the bone and and
come back to who I actually amas a son, so that those I could
(10:54):
say so much more about that.
But in general, that that's theroad that Chris invited me down
was to start naming what'swhat's actually been true about
my story and what I've come tobelieve about myself as a result
of that.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Well, let's stay there.
I don't want to.
Let's peel that onion back alittle bit.
That down to the bone story isour favorite kind.
We all have one.
They're dissimilar but they'reall faith-filled stories.
They are ones worth goingthrough.
They are the traction, it's theSisyphean feat right of pushing
the rock up the hill, orwhatever that metaphor is.
(11:26):
Today, Tell us more about whatthat part of the journey was
like, where you, you know, gotraw exposed.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
If you can, here's yeah, if you would have met me
when I was 18, 19 years old, youwould have been like here's
this confident, probablyarrogant guy who's got some
gifts and is probably going todo something with his life.
What you wouldn't know is mymom's dad.
(11:57):
Like you wouldn't know thefamily that I came from, but my
mom's dad was a rapist and apedophile and just a completely
evil man and just a completelyevil man.
My dad's dad was a stoicEnglish, scottish lumberjack who
just had, like a lot of guysfrom his generation, had no
(12:20):
words for his kids, no affectionfor his sons.
And so here's the family thatI'm born into A mom who had
grown up in horrific abuse and adad who never knew the
affection of his own dad.
I didn't know.
That was my story and I didn'thave words to say, to share
(12:40):
about how I felt the abandonmentof my own dad and how my
experience with him over 18years led me to wonder if I even
belonged in the company of men.
Like, I knew I was a guy, butlike do I have what it takes to
be a man, williamson at that,having no idea who I was or if
(13:03):
anybody saw me or where I fit.
So I take all of that energyplus my love for God and I think
I'm going to find my name andI've got to go find it and I've
got to go become something.
And I've got to go because sofar my name had been like
unwanted maybe like unwanted butavailable for consumption
(13:28):
available for consumption.
And so God is using, like theearthquake.
And then the team that I was apart of fell apart.
So I joined another team andI'm the only white guy and
Spanish is really important partof my life, so I felt really
comfortable in that team.
But we were supposed to takeover the world.
(13:49):
And then they start telling methings like yeah, jeremy, we
hate you, we wish you weren't onthis team, nobody likes you,
and I'm just falling apart againand it goes on and on.
Then my parents divorce andthen just nothing.
Nothing in my world worked theway that it was supposed to and
(14:09):
I didn't end up being the personthat I thought I was supposed
to be.
I never found the name I guessI could say that I was looking
for.
Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
It does so?
If so, at that point, I mean itsounds like you know, I mean
your world's kind of crashingdown around you, right?
I mean you know both literally,your world's kind of crashing
down around you, right, I meanyou know both literally and
figuratively, right, I mean thisearthquake.
You know literally, and then,figuratively, you're through
your, you know your family, this, this, you know this divorce
(14:41):
and your team.
You know almost this sort of Idon't want to put words in your
mouth, but like abandonment,what, what's going on at that
point, right?
Like I mean, is this, does thislead to a crisis of faith, or
is it?
Is it?
Yeah, like I mean I'm imaginingmyself at that point.
(15:01):
But at that point in your life,where, where are you at, like,
what's, what questions are youasking him?
You know where's God in thatand you know what's that
relationship like.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
I love that question.
I remember one day our housewas kind of on the side of a
volcano since that was a volcanoand during the earthquake and
all the aftershocks smoke, andit just seemed like people were
saying that the volcano mighterupt.
And so I'm sitting alone on theroof of this house looking out
(15:37):
over san salvador, there's a bigaftershock, and I look back
behind me and the puffs of smokestart to come up and I remember
just thinking like I god, Idon't, I don't think you're
there, and if you are, I don'tthink you care about me at all.
Which was such.
It was like a familiar feelingfor me because I I remember
(15:59):
being young, I was 16 and, uh,it was my turn.
So, williamson, men hunting isa really big deal for us and I
remember it was my turn.
It's finally time for me to goelk hunting and carry my own gun
, and instead of just going tocamp but not hunting, I actually
got to hunt this year.
So we go to my uncle's house topick up the rifle that I was
(16:21):
going to use.
My uncle like it's just me andmy dad and I just can imagine us
waiting outside his door.
My uncle opens the door and hehands us this rifle and it's
this old, like pump action, 300Savage, and I noticed there's
not a scope on it.
And I look at my dad and I'mlike there's no scope.
(16:42):
I mean, if you're hearing thisand you're not at the hunting,
like ah, 16 year old is probablynot going to go elk hunting
without a scope.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
I totally get it.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Yeah, I look over my dad, I'm like this, where's the
scope?
And I just catch my dad lookingat my uncle and there's like
this little smirk on his facethat I think I wasn't supposed
to see.
And my dad looks back at me andhe's like oh, it's okay, you're
not, you're not really gonnaneed it.
And so I say that because Ifelt the same way on the volcano
(17:10):
of like okay, you don't see me,you're not here for me, I'm not
a part of this, I don't belonghere, I'm abandoned by you.
And in in both of thosesituations, my, my unhealthy
response honestly was cool,watch me like, forget you, watch
me, watch how strong I can be,I'll show you Watch what I can
(17:32):
do and not healthy.
but that was my response.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Wow, so that was your response even in that moment,
on the side of the volcano.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Both times, yeah, and I'll tell you.
So I went and I killed an elkwith that stupid gun.
And in El Salvador I joinedanother team.
I said forget this, I'm goingto go do something even harder.
And I joined a team that wasgoing to travel from Canada all
the way to the tip of SouthAmerica, preaching the gospel
sleeping on the side of the road.
You know, it was called thelast harvest and I went and did
(18:02):
something even more intense,even more crazy, because my
response to abandonment hasalways been cool I'm fine on my
own, Watch me.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Yeah, like Challenge me.
Yeah, well, when you wereasking him your last question,
what I was thinking was whenthings fell apart, literally and
figuratively, in El Salvador,we often, at moments when things
crumble around us, where do welook to first?
Home, we go home.
Yeah, home, safe homes, peoplewe know, people who love us,
(18:32):
people who protect us, providefor us, give us a place to sleep
, and you have a divorce goingon at home, so you find your.
How old were you sitting onthat roof, by the way?
18.
Okay, I was going to say 19.
Yeah, you're an 18 year old manand it's.
You know, testosterone andadrenaline are a heck of a
cocktail, right, which is kindof your.
(18:56):
Your response is I'll show you,but you're really not going
home.
You go to last harvest.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Which which home is exactly where I needed to be,
and that's that's.
That's what I've learned in inmy journey of understanding that
I'm a son, I'm a son, I'm abeloved son, and so for me to be
comfortable coming maybe myphysical home is never going to
(19:25):
be that where my parents are,but that I'm a son of God who is
well-loved and I can rest inHim that's where I needed to be.
I didn't know how to go there,though I had no idea how to get
there Right?
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Well, you had no role models that I'm aware of, not
that you've talked about Fromhome, from great-grandfather to
grandfather, all the lumberjackson one side, and then people
who were abandoning you in ElSalvador, where you thought you
were called to be at that time,which is a heck of a calling.
I mean, I I honor that.
You picked yourself up from, Ithink it was, oregon and went to
(20:01):
El Salvador not to visit, right, you moved in, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
You, you, you.
Then you know, you run off,kind of forge out on that next
journey, right, like uh, to todo it all for God, right, and
what?
What does that result in?
Like?
What does that then lead toRight?
Speaker 4 (20:22):
Yeah, it leads to more um pain.
Okay, because that I justlearned it'll never work.
It's.
It was not what I needed.
There was adrenaline, there wasgoodness.
Yeah, we slept on the side ofthe road.
I got stories of, like spendingnights on the tarmac in Mexico,
like somewhere halfway betweenTexas and Guatemala, and, yeah,
(20:45):
it was great and some of thehardest moments of my life, some
of the like most intense tearsI've ever shed we weren't
actually made to be alone orabandoned as strong as we think
we could be in that situation.
That's not who we're meant tobe.
So, yeah, it didn't work and Ifound myself, you know, took a
(21:06):
job right after that, took a jobat a church in Texas that
wanted to build a big ministryin Mexico, was already doing
great things in Mexico and justwanted to expand it.
And that's where I met my wife.
But I kept running down thatroad of abandoned, alone but
really intense and passionatewell into my married life.
There was even a guy who warnedmy wife when we were engaged.
(21:29):
He said, rachel, I just I wantyou to know that Jeremy runs a
million miles an hour and helives on his own island and
nobody really knows that guyLike he's passionate, he gets
stuff done, but find out ifanybody has ever actually known
who he is Doesn't exist.
So he literally warned my wifeabout what she was getting into.
(21:51):
Wow, she didn't listen to me.
It was a wake up call.
But I still didn't do the workuntil I until I met Chris, like
so many years later, in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Wow and so yeah, so that that's interesting and so,
as you, I guess, what led tothat meeting.
I mean, how did you, how didyou connect with Chris?
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Yeah, my wife went to a meeting for mothers of
preschoolers at a church andChris was speaking that day and
I think he was being young andscrappy and trying to build his
counseling practice, and so hewas saying yes to every
opportunity.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
I was going to ask.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
That's hysterical.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
That's how he found us.
That's hysterical though I'msorry, I look, cause I could
picture him up there, in frontof these mothers of preschoolers
Like I, can only imagine whathe talked about that day and I
have no idea.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
I have no idea.
But she came home and she waslike I think you need to meet
this guy.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
That's awesome, and so.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Chris got at work.
Chris and I start hanging outand and I'll maybe this whole
story kind of in some ways,comes to a head.
There was one night it wasprobably one o'clock in the
morning and I I was, I was withChris and we were at a men's
retreat and we just happened tofind each other.
(23:14):
We're sitting up in the loftand he's sitting across from me
and he just starts being curiousabout me and where I'm at.
And we arrive at this placewhere I'm finally able to name.
I've been by myself my wholelife because I'm terrified to
trust someone to hold me.
(23:36):
I'm terrified that.
I'm terrified of what it wouldbe like to trust that somebody
would be strong enough that theywouldn't abandon me, that
somebody would have the abilityto actually hold me.
And Chris and when I say that Iam holding all of the wounds
from El Salvador, from mychildhood, from Africa there's
(23:57):
so much we didn't even talkabout from my whole life up to
that point I'm feeling all of it.
I'm just saying, yeah, I wishthere was somebody who could
hold me.
Chris, he gets down on hisknees and he opens up his arms
really wide and I just like in20 minutes later and his sleeve
is covered in my tears and snotand I just felt for the first
(24:23):
time what what it's like to be ason and what it's like to be a
brother, who, who can be uh,weak and held and um and young.
So, yeah, I've been reallygrateful for Chris's influence
in my life, for sure, wow.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
That's.
That's such a great story.
It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
That's so awesome, man, thank you.
Thank you for sharing that andum, yeah, and just being
transparent about the pain andum, you know, you know I'm just
I'm loving that God.
Yeah, just what he orchestrates, you know and you know putting
people in our lives throughcircumstances like that.
(25:06):
You know, and you know I got toimagine.
You know Chris is talking tothese mothers of preschoolers.
You know these young, youngwomen sitting there and he's
probably asking them questionsabout their husbands and like
you know, like I mean reallyright, and uh, ah, it's so cool.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
That is so cool.
So you and Chris now, uh, youmet him first when roughly what
year?
Probably 2012.
Okay, so your 12 yearrelationship and you and Chris
and, I'm guessing others, butyou're part of the team that's
going to skull and tell us alittle about the adventure
you're going to go on in threeweeks.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
I love that.
So I get to work with Chrisboth on the counseling side of
the organization throughrestored counseling and also
through restorationorationProject, which is the
organization that's specificallytoward men.
So I love getting to do work onboth ends of that organization.
And in a couple of weeks we'retaking a group of men there's 18
men plus Chris and I andanother incredible guy named
(26:08):
Drew who's helping us lead goinginto the highlands in scotland
in january uh, intentionallyinto the cold and bluster.
Last, last year, actually thisyear, 2024 when we were there it
was like 100 mile an hour winds, crazy storms in the time of
our lives.
Um, we go there because we just, we feel like the backdrop of
(26:31):
the scottish highlands injanuary mirrors, mirrors, the
backdrop and the atmosphere of aman's soul, especially those of
us who are in the middle of ourlives, and there's so much
about that space that feels likeit's easy to meet God there,
it's easy to confront the woundsthat we're carrying there, and
(26:53):
so we'll go see some beautifulplaces that are all kind of
specifically chosen to thebackdrop, and the place or the
hike that we're doing that dayor the place we're going invites
us deeper into some of thoseplaces into our own souls and
stories.
So it's one of the many reallycool things I get to do as a
part of my job.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
And your job.
Just what is your vocation?
A vocation, what do you do fora living?
So, with Restory Counseling.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
I'm a I'm a story work coach, so I I offer care to
men and women.
I work with a lot of couples, alot of people who are ministry
leaders, so I work with a lot ofpastors who are burned out or
wounded missionaries who are inthe same boat.
I work with men who arewrestling with sexual issues, so
guys who are addicted or stuckin unwanted sexual behaviors.
(27:43):
With Restoration Project I'mthe director of experiences, so
that means, like all the cooltrips whether it's to Kenya or
Scotland or Colorado or Utah orCalifornia all the ways that we
take men and their sons anddaughters out into the
wilderness.
All the cool trips whether it'sto Kenya or Scotland or
Colorado or Utah or Californiaall the ways that we take men
and their sons and daughters outinto the wilderness to go deep
with each other and with God andin their own hearts.
(28:04):
I get to oversee all of thatgood work.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Okay, all right.
So that leads me to your bio.
Ends with.
You're a sought after voice onmen's issues, and that's what
we're about.
We are men in community.
Authentic community is our goal, right Finding-.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
I thought you were going to say we're men with
issues which we are, we are.
Everything he mentioned right,it's like a poo-poo platter, One
of each.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
But men's issues are really important to us.
We have been dealing with thosein our own way.
We are not I told you this, butI love to say it we are not
certified or trained incounseling, in theology, in
giving advice.
What we have is life experience.
We also have a lot ofexperience leading men to try
and find their authenticcommunity.
(28:51):
So I'm going to ask you atwo-part question it's a good
and a bad and that is you'redealing with all these men.
What are you seeing in mentoday or recently that lifts you
, that buoys you, that you sayyes to the gods that work in
men's lives?
And this is what I am seeing inyour experience.
I'm going to ask you theconverse question in a minute.
(29:11):
Mm-hmm, I'm going to ask youthe converse question in a
minute.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
I think so.
One author said that pain,trauma, is passed down from one
generation to the next untilsomeone is brave enough to feel
it, Until someone's brave enoughto do something about it.
That's my story.
It's been passed down to me andit ends here.
I'm not passing it down to mysons or my daughter, and I see
(29:36):
that in this generation, morethan ever before, a willingness
to go into the wild and untendedand painful places in our souls
, a willingness to be honest,more than I've ever seen before,
get with a guy who's got a lotto say, and the degree of of
(29:59):
willingness to go to hard placesand to say hard things and to
do the work is incredible to me.
And so what we see as a resultof that is family trees are
changing.
I see men my age who arekneeling down and I'll see in a
couple of months at ourfather-daughter camp in Colorado
see men my age kneeling down infront of their 10, 12-year-old
daughters, like holding herhands and offering her a
blessing from the pit of hissoul, endorsing her loveliness
(30:22):
and her fierceness and the imageof God in her.
And that wasn't even a thingwhen we were growing up.
But there are hundreds of men,thousands of men all over the
world.
I sat in a room in Kenya twoyears ago with men who live in
the slums, who were sitting withChris and I.
There was, there was 25 men ina tiny little classroom saying
(30:43):
how can we be better dads to ourkids?
How can we be better men?
It's, it's all over the world.
I think men are ready to engage, to remember who they are and
to acknowledge their wounds anddo what it takes to be whole,
and that's changing generationsAbsolutely.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
I love that, thank you.
So, conversely, given yourexperience with so many men over
the last few years, what areyou seeing that concerns you?
What real life examples do youhave in your empirical evidence?
You have things in men'scommunity that are just not
headed in the right direction.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Yeah, I think that evil has always been about the
work of getting us to forget whowe are and to hide the image of
God, like when Jesus saidyou're the light of the world.
The city on the hill cannot behidden.
No one lights a lamp and putsit under a basket.
Evil has been after getting mento do that, to hide our
strength and to hide the imageof God in us forever.
(31:43):
I think today it is so easy forman to get swept into something
like pornography online, oreven just like mindless
scrolling, which are the enemy'stools to take our masculinity
and our strength and hide itaway somewhere secret and
(32:04):
isolated and covered in shame.
And so I think today, like thenumbers of men who are addicted
to pornography are probablyhigher than ever in history,
evil has always been getting usto abandon, like bringing our
strength into the world insteadof into porn.
He's always been trying to getus to step away from the image
(32:28):
of God on us as men.
Now it just feels particularlyacute the number of men who are
stuck in addiction, whetherthat's just with pornography or,
like I said, just scrollingmindlessly on their phones.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah, two very real examples.
I'm sorry to know I walk aroundwith my badge on about.
I don't do social media verymuch.
I have a Facebook page becauseof this podcast, but that's all
it takes because I'll get stuckin there.
I'll get stuck in the reelsevery 10 second video, and mine,
truthfully, are mostly sportsand a couple of movies.
I don't venture very farbecause I guess if you click
(33:05):
like, you get more of thoseright in the algorithm.
I don't know how it works, butI've.
I've only.
It's been six months, but I cantell you there's more time than
I'm comfortable with where I'mjust scrolling through.
Yeah, they just play one afteranother.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Oh yeah, mindless scrolling is a is a an addiction
for sure.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
I feel like my brain is rotting a lot of times.
Speaker 4 (33:27):
And what?
When we're there, when we'restuck there, where are we not
Right, like when, when all ofourselves is being absorbed into
that screen?
Where is my strength and mytenderness, a kindness, where am
I not engaging in the world?
Yeah, which I think is a partof how evil wins, is he gets all
of the sons of God to be busyabout other things.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
And and the goodness of God in us is not present in
the world.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yeah, you know it's interesting.
I wanted to share, sharesomething real quickly, as you
were sharing the.
You know the story of you andChris and that loft and and you
know the, the holy moment,moment or moments that took
place there and the and thehealing that began there.
I, in some of my mindlessscrolling on uh on LinkedIn, I
(34:12):
came across a post recently,about a week ago, and it was uh,
there was a video of um, uh, ofmen.
I don't know that this was aChristian gathering or not, but
it was certainly an intensivemen's gathering and there was
work, heart work going on, therewere tears, there were, you
(34:32):
know, men holding each other.
I mean, this is, you know,similarly to what you described
and similar, similarly to whatMark and I have experienced
countless times on intensivemen's weekends over the last 15
years that are every single oneof them is is transformational
and life-changing um, both forus just to witness what God's
doing in the hearts and lives ofmen, as well as as participants
(34:55):
.
But the, the vitriol from theposter about what was taking
place in that video was soshocking to me, and the comments
, um, and it just, it just brokemy heart.
It broke my heart as I read itand I haven't come across that
(35:19):
very, very much.
I really haven't.
I've been so dialed in on theincredible work that God is
doing through ministries likeRestory and the Restoration
Project and countless others.
I mean it's so encouraging tosee God move in the hearts and
lives of men all over the worldin a way that I don't know if
it's ever, it's ever taken placein history and, um, it's
(35:43):
unbelievable.
And I come across this video andI'm like man, like it is so
heartbreaking to, to hear and tosee the, the, the, the public
shaming of what was taking placein this video, as you know, uh,
feminine and weak, and you knowall these other things, and I'm
(36:08):
going no, like, no, no, youknow, and and I just, and I just
thought like I had to just stopand pray, and you know I, I
started to write a comment, likeI started to cut, and I'm like
no, no, no, this isn't for thisis not like my battle, this is
not for social media, and I justhad to bring it before the Lord
.
But it was interesting because I, like I said, I have not
(36:29):
witnessed that very much andprobably just from a lack of
awareness.
You know, it's just not.
Those aren't the circles I'm inanymore, right, like it's been
decades, and so praise God.
But boy is the enemy still atwork, right?
I mean, boy is the enemy stillat work, and the enemy was just
all over that.
I'm thinking man just prayingfor every person whose eyes you
(36:52):
know were set on that post, andpraying against the enemy having
a foothold there.
Speaker 4 (36:58):
But yeah, I just wonder, like the guy who posted
that, yeah, you and I know, yep,the guy who posted that
actually needs that.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
There's a little boy inside of him who needs to be
held inside of him.
Who, who, who needs to be held,and there's.
I would just be so curiousabout what, what was actually
going on inside his heart, andI'd love to spend some time with
him, the guy who posted it,because I think there's, yeah,
there's, a cultural american,and it's not just american, but
it's kind of macho, like wedon't do that and yet we all
(37:31):
want to, if we're honest, right,right, but it's just hard to
get there.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Yeah, it is hard to get there.
It is hard to get there, whichis why you have intensive
experiences like you guysfacilitate and like we've
facilitated many times, becausewithout that intensity, you guys
aren't gonna just you know, getthere right Like we need to be.
I need to be, you know, shakenright, sort of awakened out of
(37:57):
my slumber.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Yeah, to your core right and that's and please take
this the right way.
You can go to Scotland and dothat, or you can go to a Mark
Menden phase one experienceright.
There's many opportunities thatGod provides for us to do that.
So I just had a small epiphanyAfter about a half hour with
Jeremy.
I feel a lot like I did after ahalf hour with Chris.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
And that is.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
I want to talk to him again, a hundred percent Right.
So, jeremy, if you don't mind,you don't have to answer now,
but we would like to have youback again and maybe take a
specific topic coming out ofyour Scotland trip and dig deep
on that.
We'll plan that togethersometime in 2025.
Before we go, though, I'd lovefor you to spend a minute
telling folks about yourupcoming book.
Not my Name is the title.
Get a chance to tell folks whatyou're going to do.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
Yeah, thank you, man, not my Name is a book about
sonship.
It's a book about what it like,who we actually are, and the
reality is we we kind of likeJacob in the Old Testament have
all of us have grown up and havebeen given names that God never
intended for us to have, andthose, those words and those
(39:09):
things that we pick up on, theylive in us and they actually
ruin our lives.
Jacob was, was never intendedto be named Jacob, which means
deceiver, manipulator, heelgrabber.
God always had somethingdifferent in mind for him and uh
, and so not.
My name is all about what it'slike to to rebel against the
(39:30):
words that are ruining our lives, to to name them, to understand
the ways that we've picked upthose false identities and uh,
and to take him to Jesus and tolet him speak a better word over
us.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Amen Love that.
Yeah, we do.
That's awesome.
When can we expect to see that?
Speaker 4 (39:48):
I springtime.
It should be spring or summerof 2025.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
All right, cool, cool .
We're looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
Yeah, so take, keep your eye out for Not my Name.
We'll be sure and keep our eyeout and pick it up and, uh, and
promote it when it comes out.
And um, it'd be a good time tohave Jeremy back.
Absolutely yeah, that would be.
That would be awesome If youwould.
If you would do that, we'd loveto have you back.
And and um, yeah, I just want toremind our listeners that you
know God is still writing yourstory.
God is still writing your storyand, um, you know, if, if
(40:26):
you're in a place where you'renot even sure what that means,
or the story that's been writtenyou need to be rewritten, I
would just encourage you toreach out to Jeremy and to Chris
.
You could visit Restorylife tolearn more about Restory
Counseling or the RestorationProject.
We'll put it all in the notes,yeah, and check it out.
These are good, godly men doinggood work and so many different
(40:50):
ways that you can interact withand engage with them as an
individual or even as a couple,as a married couple as well Some
great marriage resources, andso I just want to strongly
encourage that.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
So, jeremy, you and your lovely wife and three kids,
and I just wanted to pass onour blessings to you and your
family and say thank you yeah.
Speaker 4 (41:14):
I feel the same way you guys.
It's so good to run into othermen who are doing the same work
that God's put on our hearts,and what an honor for us, like
you said it a second ago, towatch, to bear witness to the
incredible things that God isdoing all around the world.
It's an honor to be a part ofit, so I appreciate your
invitation.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Awesome, amen.
God bless you, brother.
Please give our best to Chrisand enjoy your trip.
Enjoy your trip and be sure tolet us know how it goes.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
All right guys, I sure will.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
I'll check in.
Speaker 4 (41:45):
Peace Thanks.
Speaker 3 (41:48):
What a great opportunity to get to know our
brother Jeremy.
It's incredible to see God'sfingerprints all over his life.
You know, something that I'vebeen spending time thinking
about is the connection madebetween Jeremy and Chris.
Thing that I've been spendingtime thinking about is the
connection made between Jeremyand Chris.
It took Chris to be faithful inmany things, including speaking
to that mom's group that night.
(42:08):
Jeremy also had to step outinto faith to pursue that
relationship with Chris and theyboth had to take a leap of
faith.
That night they decided to divein headfirst into Jeremy's
brokenness and begin to journeyon the road back home to his
perfect father in heaven.
I have the sense that many outthere listening to this may
think that was okay for Jeremy,but I'm different.
(42:30):
My brokenness goes deep.
My pain is more than I can evertalk about.
Or nobody knows the weight ofthe things that I have to carry
where.
Nobody knows the weight of thethings that I have to carry.
Well, god's Word says this.
I am convinced that nothing canever separate us from God's
love.
Neither death nor life, neitherangels nor demons, neither our
(42:54):
fears for today nor our worriesabout tomorrow, not even the
powers of hell can separate usfrom God's love.
No power in the sky above or inthe earth below, indeed,
nothing in all creation, willever be able to separate us from
the love of God that isrevealed in Christ Jesus, our
(43:15):
Lord.
Authentic relationships willget you one, lord.
Please continue to use thispodcast to impact the lives of
all who listen.
I ask that you would bring hopeand healing to each and every
one of them.
Meet them right where they areand reveal yourself to them like
only you can do, in Jesus' nameamen.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it
and invite others to theFoxhole.
You can find us wherever youdownload your favorite podcasts.
Be sure to subscribe so youknow when new episodes drop, and
please rate us and commentthere too, as it'll help us get
found by others who couldbenefit.
Find, follow and like us onyour go-to social media networks
by searching Foxhole Symphonyor visit foxholesymphonycom to
(44:01):
make it super easy to find us.
Drop us a line with feedback,questions, topic requests.
Who knows, maybe you'll be aguest on a future episode.
In the meantime, prepare tomove, embrace discomfort and
just be you.
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