May 6, 2025 • 8 mins
Neil shares the powerful story of his grandfather Tommy, a real-life hero whose indomitable spirit and deep faith carried him through immense hardships while maintaining an extraordinary joy throughout his life. Tommy's response to a devastating stroke—"I'm gonna beat this, I promise you"—exemplifies the resilience that defined his life and continues to inspire Neil years after Tommy's passing.
We hope Tommy's story inspires you to cultivate indomitability in your own life and reminds you that your witness of hope can help others come to know God.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Unwritten, a podcast dedicated to sharing
the stories of the movement ofthe Holy Spirit in the world.
Today I'm your host, trevorBaraka, and on today's episode
we're getting to hear from NeilBlanchard.
When I was a kid, not all thatlong ago, I had very few
interests more consistent thansuperheroes, loved them, loved
watching movies, action figures,and I loved the storylines, the
(00:30):
fight between good and evil andthe ways that these heroes had
to grow in facing adversity.
To this day, I still lovewatching superhero films like
these, and the question I askmyself, as I feel a little bit
childish, is why?
Well, what I've come to isbecause, whether you or I like
girls and guys running around ingoofy-looking costumes with
(00:51):
mythical powers or not, we allare drawn so deeply to stories
of people overcoming struggle tolead others to the light, to
goodness, and that's why I can'twait to share with you today's
story.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Welcome to the show and listen in and that's why I
can't wait to share with youtoday's story.
Welcome to the show and listen.
In Growing up I was never muchof a superhero kid and, as
stupid as it may be, I usuallyenjoy telling people that I've
only ever seen one Marvel movieall the way through.
For whatever reason, I'm justnot that interested.
But I think I have a theory asto why I'm not interested and
(01:30):
that's because the real thing ismuch cooler than the
fabrication.
I have the real thing in mylife and I want to tell you
about him.
His name's Tommy.
Tommy was born in July of 1940in a rural North Louisiana town.
The home where he grew up is nolonger there.
It's just a patch of pineywoods surrounded by more piney
woods.
He spent his childhood playinglots of baseball, catching lots
of fish and making fantasticfriendships along the way.
He would be a rarity in hisfamily thus far and go to
(01:52):
college on scholarship, studythe human body and all of its
potential, get a PhD and have anincredible career as an
academic and as a servant.
Much later he would become agrandfather to his first
grandson me and he would be myhero, and I would call him
granddaddy In the first 30 yearsof my life.
We would spend hours in thewoods hunting whatever was in
(02:13):
season, on the water, runningtrot lines for catfish on the
lake near his home, or sittingon the back porch of that very
home that he built, rocking inour chairs and staring into the
beautiful lake on which his homesat.
Let's jump over to May of 2009.
I was in the beginning stagesof transition from 8th grade
(02:34):
into big bad high school and, tocelebrate the kickoff of
Louisiana's summer months, mybrother, my dad and I piled into
my dad's SUV and drove westfrom Lafayette, louisiana, to
Houston, texas, with Astrostickets burning holes in our
pockets.
Now, I don't quite rememberwhen the call came, but at some
point my granddaddy called me.
I figured it was tocongratulate me on my recent
(02:54):
graduation.
But every phone call startedthe same hey boy in his country
accent that he never let go of,even though he was lecturing the
college students.
Every day, he proceeded to tellme that he wasn't feeling well
and that his doctor was runningsome tests.
Now, this man, though he madehis living in academia, was made
of thick leather and hardwood,so in the rare moments that he
(03:15):
did admit to not feeling well, Ipaid attention and after 24
hours, another call came.
This time the voice was not mygranddaddy's Neil, your
grandfather has had a massivestroke and you need to get to
Shreveport as quickly as you can.
I'm not sure if I was poised onthe phone, but I certainly
wasn't.
When I received it in the backof the car, all other plans
canceled.
My dad hit the highway towardsShreveport, and what would I
(03:38):
find?
When I got there?
Because there was so muchuncertainty and the phone call
had been so short, I knew thatthere was lots of possibilities
with stroke victims.
Would he live or would he die?
Would his personality change?
Would he be paralyzedpermanently?
Would it affect his mind and,scariest of all, would he even
remember me?
When I got to the hospital, Iput on the best brave face I
(04:01):
could, which assuredly was afailed attempt.
The nurse led me to his roomand what I found when I walked
through the threshold of hishospital room stunned me.
It was my granddaddy, with agigantic smile on his face, and
his words stunned me even more.
Neil, I'm gonna beat this, Ipromise you.
(04:21):
I think about this episode of myrelationship with my granddaddy
often About a year ago and overa decade after that major
stroke.
I had to be the strong one andI got to hold my granddaddy's
hand as he passed into eternity.
I've spent the past yearreflecting on his life and I
stay stuck on a recurringthought.
You see, I told you about mygranddaddy's stroke, but what I
(04:46):
didn't tell you about is manyother things about his life.
I didn't tell you about thefact that he never knew his
biological father and hestruggled in his relationship
with his stepfather and thenlost that stepfather to cancer
after they had reconciled.
When he was still young, hewalked with a little brother
through an addiction and theneventually lost that little
brother to suicide.
There would be many otherfamily struggles, too long to
tell in this podcast, but Iconstantly ask myself how did
(05:10):
this man go through so much andstay joyful and remain a
committed disciple of our Lord?
Until his last breath, theevidence of his joy was all
around.
He couldn't help but marvel atthe beauty around him.
In the outdoors, in his home,you would find magnificent
paintings right next to hissister's incredible photography.
He was a tradesman of stories.
He could both tell them andhear them repeatedly with no
(05:32):
boredom.
He viewed sports as a fantasticmarriage of art and science and
truly admired an athletic feat.
And boy could he read books.
Next to his bed was a stack ofnovels almost as tall as me.
How could this man find so muchbeauty in a world that had
brought him suffering from hisvery first days on earth?
(05:53):
And I've only come to this, mygranddaddy, this man, possessed
a virtue that I, admittedly,don't have much of.
That's come out personally andprofessionally, but I ache to
acquire.
But for a while I couldn'tquite put a name to it, because
he had grit.
After all, he was a redneck atheart.
He had perseverance, yes, butthe better word to describe the
(06:17):
virtue that he had wasindomitability, and in my mind,
indomitability is not simply theability to get over obstacles,
but to do so with a borderline,unreasonable joy, and this is
the stuff that my granddaddy wasmade up.
He constantly had an optimisticoutlook.
He constantly had a smile for aperson that needed one.
He was bold when it came tospeaking the truth.
(06:40):
He was a man of great faith.
He could go through all of thethings that he went through
because he had an eternalperspective that made his
indomitability possible.
He knew that God had a plan ofbeauty for his life and he truly
believed that life was betterwith the hardships endured.
I have many, many memories ofour adventures in the woods and
(07:01):
on the water, but one of myfavorites that doesn't include
those things is towards the endof his life, after he had had a
heart attack in 2021, and afterhe had quietly surrendered and
joyfully surrendered his days inthe outdoors.
There was still one thing thatwe could do together.
Whenever I'd visit, there wasalways a time where we would sit
(07:22):
at his kitchen table and hewould prep the Bible study that
he led until he physicallycouldn't anymore, and I would
prep mine.
After I became a missionary, wewould get immersed in the
scriptures together.
On top of it all, and the thingthat was truly behind his
indomitability was a deeppersonal faith and, as the
letter to the Hebrew states inchapter 5, he learned obedience
(07:44):
through what he suffered.
This is what it truly means tobe indomitable, and my prayer
and reflection on his life isthat I can learn to walk through
the rest of my life like myhero, with indomitability and
with a deep, deep faith, with adeep commitment to beauty and
with a fantastic joy.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I can just picture myself in that room prepping a
Bible study with Tommy and Neiland just watching the great love
that they both had for eachother and for God.
What an awesome story ofindomitability.
My hope for you listening tothis story and for me is that we
can remind ourselves that thepower of our witness of hope,
(08:26):
just like Tommy gave to Neil,can do a lot of good in helping
others to come to know God.
Thanks so much and we'll seeyou next week.
Welcome to Unwritten, a podcast dedicated to sharing
the stories of the movement ofthe Holy Spirit in the world.
Today I'm your host, trevorBaraka, and on today's episode
we're getting to hear from NeilBlanchard.
When I was a kid, not all thatlong ago, I had very few
interests more consistent thansuperheroes, loved them, loved
watching movies, action figures,and I loved the storylines, the
(00:30):
fight between good and evil andthe ways that these heroes had
to grow in facing adversity.
To this day, I still lovewatching superhero films like
these, and the question I askmyself, as I feel a little bit
childish, is why?
Well, what I've come to isbecause, whether you or I like
girls and guys running around ingoofy-looking costumes with
(00:51):
mythical powers or not, we allare drawn so deeply to stories
of people overcoming struggle tolead others to the light, to
goodness, and that's why I can'twait to share with you today's
story.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Welcome to the show and listen in and that's why I
can't wait to share with youtoday's story.
Welcome to the show and listen.
In Growing up I was never muchof a superhero kid and, as
stupid as it may be, I usuallyenjoy telling people that I've
only ever seen one Marvel movieall the way through.
For whatever reason, I'm justnot that interested.
But I think I have a theory asto why I'm not interested and
(01:30):
that's because the real thing ismuch cooler than the
fabrication.
I have the real thing in mylife and I want to tell you
about him.
His name's Tommy.
Tommy was born in July of 1940in a rural North Louisiana town.
The home where he grew up is nolonger there.
It's just a patch of pineywoods surrounded by more piney
woods.
He spent his childhood playinglots of baseball, catching lots
of fish and making fantasticfriendships along the way.
He would be a rarity in hisfamily thus far and go to
(01:52):
college on scholarship, studythe human body and all of its
potential, get a PhD and have anincredible career as an
academic and as a servant.
Much later he would become agrandfather to his first
grandson me and he would be myhero, and I would call him
granddaddy In the first 30 yearsof my life.
We would spend hours in thewoods hunting whatever was in
(02:13):
season, on the water, runningtrot lines for catfish on the
lake near his home, or sittingon the back porch of that very
home that he built, rocking inour chairs and staring into the
beautiful lake on which his homesat.
Let's jump over to May of 2009.
I was in the beginning stagesof transition from 8th grade
(02:34):
into big bad high school and, tocelebrate the kickoff of
Louisiana's summer months, mybrother, my dad and I piled into
my dad's SUV and drove westfrom Lafayette, louisiana, to
Houston, texas, with Astrostickets burning holes in our
pockets.
Now, I don't quite rememberwhen the call came, but at some
point my granddaddy called me.
I figured it was tocongratulate me on my recent
(02:54):
graduation.
But every phone call startedthe same hey boy in his country
accent that he never let go of,even though he was lecturing the
college students.
Every day, he proceeded to tellme that he wasn't feeling well
and that his doctor was runningsome tests.
Now, this man, though he madehis living in academia, was made
of thick leather and hardwood,so in the rare moments that he
(03:15):
did admit to not feeling well, Ipaid attention and after 24
hours, another call came.
This time the voice was not mygranddaddy's Neil, your
grandfather has had a massivestroke and you need to get to
Shreveport as quickly as you can.
I'm not sure if I was poised onthe phone, but I certainly
wasn't.
When I received it in the backof the car, all other plans
canceled.
My dad hit the highway towardsShreveport, and what would I
(03:38):
find?
When I got there?
Because there was so muchuncertainty and the phone call
had been so short, I knew thatthere was lots of possibilities
with stroke victims.
Would he live or would he die?
Would his personality change?
Would he be paralyzedpermanently?
Would it affect his mind and,scariest of all, would he even
remember me?
When I got to the hospital, Iput on the best brave face I
(04:01):
could, which assuredly was afailed attempt.
The nurse led me to his roomand what I found when I walked
through the threshold of hishospital room stunned me.
It was my granddaddy, with agigantic smile on his face, and
his words stunned me even more.
Neil, I'm gonna beat this, Ipromise you.
(04:21):
I think about this episode of myrelationship with my granddaddy
often About a year ago and overa decade after that major
stroke.
I had to be the strong one andI got to hold my granddaddy's
hand as he passed into eternity.
I've spent the past yearreflecting on his life and I
stay stuck on a recurringthought.
You see, I told you about mygranddaddy's stroke, but what I
(04:46):
didn't tell you about is manyother things about his life.
I didn't tell you about thefact that he never knew his
biological father and hestruggled in his relationship
with his stepfather and thenlost that stepfather to cancer
after they had reconciled.
When he was still young, hewalked with a little brother
through an addiction and theneventually lost that little
brother to suicide.
There would be many otherfamily struggles, too long to
tell in this podcast, but Iconstantly ask myself how did
(05:10):
this man go through so much andstay joyful and remain a
committed disciple of our Lord?
Until his last breath, theevidence of his joy was all
around.
He couldn't help but marvel atthe beauty around him.
In the outdoors, in his home,you would find magnificent
paintings right next to hissister's incredible photography.
He was a tradesman of stories.
He could both tell them andhear them repeatedly with no
(05:32):
boredom.
He viewed sports as a fantasticmarriage of art and science and
truly admired an athletic feat.
And boy could he read books.
Next to his bed was a stack ofnovels almost as tall as me.
How could this man find so muchbeauty in a world that had
brought him suffering from hisvery first days on earth?
(05:53):
And I've only come to this, mygranddaddy, this man, possessed
a virtue that I, admittedly,don't have much of.
That's come out personally andprofessionally, but I ache to
acquire.
But for a while I couldn'tquite put a name to it, because
he had grit.
After all, he was a redneck atheart.
He had perseverance, yes, butthe better word to describe the
(06:17):
virtue that he had wasindomitability, and in my mind,
indomitability is not simply theability to get over obstacles,
but to do so with a borderline,unreasonable joy, and this is
the stuff that my granddaddy wasmade up.
He constantly had an optimisticoutlook.
He constantly had a smile for aperson that needed one.
He was bold when it came tospeaking the truth.
(06:40):
He was a man of great faith.
He could go through all of thethings that he went through
because he had an eternalperspective that made his
indomitability possible.
He knew that God had a plan ofbeauty for his life and he truly
believed that life was betterwith the hardships endured.
I have many, many memories ofour adventures in the woods and
(07:01):
on the water, but one of myfavorites that doesn't include
those things is towards the endof his life, after he had had a
heart attack in 2021, and afterhe had quietly surrendered and
joyfully surrendered his days inthe outdoors.
There was still one thing thatwe could do together.
Whenever I'd visit, there wasalways a time where we would sit
(07:22):
at his kitchen table and hewould prep the Bible study that
he led until he physicallycouldn't anymore, and I would
prep mine.
After I became a missionary, wewould get immersed in the
scriptures together.
On top of it all, and the thingthat was truly behind his
indomitability was a deeppersonal faith and, as the
letter to the Hebrew states inchapter 5, he learned obedience
(07:44):
through what he suffered.
This is what it truly means tobe indomitable, and my prayer
and reflection on his life isthat I can learn to walk through
the rest of my life like myhero, with indomitability and
with a deep, deep faith, with adeep commitment to beauty and
with a fantastic joy.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I can just picture myself in that room prepping a
Bible study with Tommy and Neiland just watching the great love
that they both had for eachother and for God.
What an awesome story ofindomitability.
My hope for you listening tothis story and for me is that we
can remind ourselves that thepower of our witness of hope,
(08:26):
just like Tommy gave to Neil,can do a lot of good in helping
others to come to know God.
Thanks so much and we'll seeyou next week.
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