August 19, 2025 • 11 mins
In this episode of Unwritten, Trevor sits down with Chris to talk about a profound prayer that delivered a strikingly personal message, confirming God's deep understanding and presence in a young man's life.
Whether you're a college student grappling with life's big questions, a missionary seeking to be a channel of God's love, or just curious about radical testimonies of faith, this conversation will inspire you to see God working in your own life and the powerful impact of prayer.
What You’ll Hear:
• Chris's journey as a missionary at the University of Southern California (USC), transitioning from athlete ministry to Greek life, and how he connected with Grant, a senior struggling with restlessness despite his achievements in football and fraternity life.
• The incredible moment when Chris received a specific image of Grant as a "Gladiator" during prayer, complete with details like tears streaming down his face despite a smile, and the accompanying question: "Do you feel like there's anything missing in your life?".
• Grant's stunning revelation that the "Gladiator" image perfectly mirrored his own experience as a USC Trojan football player – feeling "dead inside" and "empty" while running out to cheering crowds in his armor – leading to a powerful moment of grace and realization that God "sees you," "hears you," and "knows how you feel".
Hit follow or subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome to Unwritten, a podcast dedicated to sharing stories the
movement of the Holy Spirit in the world.
Today, I'm your host, Trevor Brekka, and on today's episode,
we're getting to hear from ChrisBonderer.
As always, I want to invite you to subscribe to the show.
As we're getting started, we're sharing new stories of God at
work in the world every single week.
And I would love for you to be the first to know and to hear
(00:27):
these radical testimonies of what God is doing so you can be
inspired to see God working in your life too.
When I think about season or moments from my life, I often
have a very visceral kind of tangible memory that's
associated with that season or that moment.
And I can still remember my first time participating in
Focus's Summer Projects program as a junior in college.
(00:48):
And I have this very specific memory when I think about that
summer of coming down from one of our various hikes and we're
when we're going down the mountain and, you know, looking
out upon beautiful Colorado. And I'm praying the rosary while
I'm feeling this beautiful crispair and I'm looking out on these
gorgeous trees below. I remember just that memory
coming to mind of how in tune I felt with the Lord in his
(01:10):
presence in nature that he created.
That summer memory shaped many of our core narratives and ways
of relating to our past. On today's episode, Chris
receives what he thinks is a powerful image and prayer for
Grant, only to see that memory come to life in Grant.
Welcome to the show and listen in.
Hey, my name is Chris. I serve at the University of
(01:31):
Idaho this year as a fourth yearmissionary.
The last 2 1/2 years I've been at the University of Southern
California and the story that I've got for you all today is
from my time there in Los Angeles.
I worked with athletes for the first year and a half and then
switched over to Greek ministry.And it was just the time of my
life. I felt I felt right at home with
the boys as a as a fight out at the University of Missouri.
(01:56):
But a majority of my time was spent partnering and getting to
know the guys of a Protestant ministry that was at the
University of Southern California.
And there was a weekly gatheringlike I got to meet a lot of the
guys that I worked with ended upin Bible study with
discipleship. And one of those guys was Grant.
And my story today is, is all about Grant.
(02:16):
So we met probably in February through a good mutual buddy of
ours named Drew. I got to know kind of what
Grant's story was. He was a senior at the time that
I met him and, and he'd played football for the first two years
at USC and walked onto the team and he had a a great time
playing for the football team. He was his freshman year, he was
pledging and he was playing football and just getting a
(02:39):
haymaker from both sides with the the freshman grind pled ship
and he survived it loved it. And about a year or so into
that, he was starting to get a little burnt out of all of the
work, all the partying, just kind of like the endless rinse
and repeat of these, these moments that just like didn't
seem to satisfy and kind of continue with that through
(02:59):
sophomore year, Junior year, decided to to quit the football
team actually, and just go full steam ahead with grades, with
parties, with his fraternity life.
And that that wasn't doing it aswell.
And so I met Grant the second semester of his senior year when
he had transitioned to trying totake steps closer to his faith
through the witness of his good friend Drew.
(03:19):
And the way that he was answering questions and, and
kind of sharing in this, this Protestant ministry.
I thought Grant would be a greatguy to have him have on board of
Bible study. So invited a Bible study he was
sharing. We got a couple cups of coffee,
went out for a drink or two, went for some walks and just
became like good friends. At that point.
He came over for a bonfire, whiskey, all that kind of stuff.
And it kind of culminated in April.
(03:41):
And I'm thinking as a missionary, like investing in a
senior April, he's not a kind ofguy who's going to be in a
leadership position by the time he graduates.
Like, is it really worth my honestly, is it really worth my
time? But I got to know, got to know
him pretty well. We were good friends.
And I figured the very least, you know, his good friendship.
There's, there's a step closer to God.
And there's this one night, though, at the end of the year,
(04:01):
all the seniors were getting prayed with in this Protestant
ministry. And I just so happened to be
next to Grant. And I had a couple of
experiences and prayer teams asking for God to give a message
or an image or a word to share. And, and I, I felt moved to ask
for ask for that for Grant. And what came to my mind was a
scene of Grant as a gladiator featuring like Russell Crowe in
(04:26):
the movie, in the chariot being driven around in circles in the
Colosseum. The crowds are just going
insane. And but it was Grant that was
this gladiator under his helmet.He's smiling from cheek to
cheek, but there's tears just streaming down his face.
And I was asking God, like, that's a pretty interesting
image. Like, well, what does that mean?
How do you want me to share thatwith Grant?
And I just heard the phrase, like, Grant, do you feel like
(04:48):
there's anything missing in yourlife?
And so we, we wrapped up the, the evening of ministry.
And as we're walking out, I, I kind of poked Grant and I was
like, hey, man, like it was awesome.
Pray for you. I actually prayed for an image
and a word from God. Do you mind if I share that with
you? And it's like, dude, of course.
And so I told him about that image and I told, I asked him
like, do you feel like there's anything missing from your life?
(05:08):
And there was a sudden change inhis face.
It wasn't, he didn't seem like mad or like super, super
distraught. He just kind of seemed
thoughtful and saw them almost Drew was there.
He didn't hear what Grant and I were talking about, But we're
just, we started like kind of messing around.
And Grants, he goes, hey, man, I'd love to talk to you about
that later, actually. And I'm like, dude, of course,
let's do it. A couple of the seniors were
(05:29):
getting together. Drew tried to try to galvanized
us and to go into a bar like right across the street.
And Grant turned to me is like, actually, dude, I, I think I'd
like to go for a walk and just kind of talk about what you'd
see in prayer. And I said, I mean, I'm down.
So we turned to Drew and we said, hey, we might link up with
you later. We're going to go, we're going
to chat for a bit. And, and that turned into like a
3030 to 45 minute conversation where Grant and I, he said,
(05:50):
dude, that, that rocked me, man.I, I, I, I feel like there is
something missing. And he kind of just unfolded
that entire story that I shared with you really about, you know,
football team pledging, getting dissatisfied with football,
getting dissatisfied with the paternity.
And he was just like, I, I neverbelieved the alumni that would
come back to campus and say, Hey, these are the best four
years of your life, man. Live it up.
Because they just, they just didn't seem like that.
(06:11):
I just, I feel restless. I feel like this just like this
isn't it. And so I tried my faith Chris
and it just like it feels like this isn't it either man.
Like why are my problems still in my life?
Why do I still feel restless? Why do I still feel like there's
something missing? I thought that trying to do
these things for God would fix this problem.
And I'm even having doubt if like if God even exists and I
(06:34):
would have been rattled. But I've been in Grant's shoes.
Like I've, I've thought those things about my life.
I've thought those things about my relationship with God.
And so I'm super grateful for like my story, having wrestled
with all those questions, being able to, to kind of comfort
Grant in this situation. And remember, there was
something he said that just rocked me because I've thought
the same thought, but it's, it'sjust something that I feel like
(06:54):
college students and everyone that's just feeling without God
in our lives. And he said, man, 65 years,
seven years is a long time to live feeling like this man, like
I just don't know if I want to sign up for that.
And I was like, this guy's playing football for AD one
campus and a fraternity life gota great job lined up.
And he's just wondering if 65 years is too long to live the
(07:17):
way that he's feeling just like this ache is is serious.
And so we're, I don't know what to say other than kind of share
my story. And we prayed a little bit and
I, we hopped in the car and I'm driving him home and he, he
circles back to that, that moment in prayer.
And this is where just everything made sense.
Our entire friendship made sense.
Like why I felt drawn to work with Grant made sense.
(07:39):
And he goes, dude, when you shared that moment of prayer, it
reminded me of a moment that I experienced on the football team
right before I quit. And he said, Chris, I love
football team. It was, it was electricity, man,
being a part of the environment,environment.
We were treated like miniature gods on campus.
And I loved game days where the coach would fire us up.
We'd run out of the tunnel. The crowds are going insane.
And there's this one day and we were walking out of the tunnel
(08:00):
and the stadium just filled. I mean, you can't hear a word
because this the crowds are justgoing insane.
And I've got my gear on and justlike my body's filled with
energy and I'm walking out of this tunnel and I just felt dead
inside. I just felt empty.
And so when you share that imageof the Gladiator and I'm a
Trojan, I'm a football team all like in the armor and the
(08:23):
weapons and I've got my footballpads on and the crowds of this
of the Colosseum and the crowds of the Colosseum at USC and me
smiling from cheek to cheek and like feeling the energy, but
then the tears running down my face and feeling dead inside.
He's like, dude, the parallels were absolutely insane.
Just fooled me with chills. And when he told me that, like I
filled with chills and the wholecar, it just felt like there was
(08:44):
a lightning bolt of grace And I was like, grant you, I don't I
don't know what God wants to say.
I have, I really don't know other than like, he can see you,
he can hear you. And not just that, but he knows
how you feel, man. He's with you and he doesn't
want you to feel that ache. He, he recognizes that you want
him. And I don't know if he's going
(09:05):
to change your life overnight, Grant, but I know that he's
here. And so we just pray for the Holy
Spirit to just like settle deeply on our hearts, like do
like you did in the Old Testament for the Israelites to
fill them with faith. And Grant and I are still still
buddies. We we've talked on occasion and
it's amazing, you know, like I left LA, he left USC and quote
UN quote, like on paper, like what was the, what changed?
(09:27):
Like really nothing. But I remember that moment every
single day before I pray becauseI, I want to think of a time
that God showed up undeniably inmy life.
And I had never heard that storyof Gran and I, I never would
have known that something like that had happened to him if God
like hadn't given them me that image in that time.
And so that's just a moment of my life.
Like God showed up profoundly tomeet a student on college campus
(09:50):
and just prove that he's a faithful father who listens to
his children and cares about hischildren.
And yeah, I just, I love sharingthat story because I hope it's a
moment of grown in faith. It like rejuvenates my soul
every time. And I hope that rejuvenates
everyone's soul as well. Thank you, Chris, for sharing
(10:11):
that story. I've been astounded throughout
my life as a missionary of just the impact of prayer out loud
with another person. And clearly in this story, Chris
is sharing just how impactful that can be in someone's
journey. And I've been able to see God
use these moments in my life to bring me to greater faith that
he's at work, that He's doing things, that he does listen, and
he does respond. So I ask you today if there's
(10:31):
anyone in your life that could use you to pray with them and
what if you just started small and asked?
God said, God help me to share your love for this person with
them and guide my prayer to be achannel to that.
What a blessing you could be to someone's life this week.
Thanks so much for listening andwe hope to see you next week.
Welcome to Unwritten, a podcast dedicated to sharing stories the
movement of the Holy Spirit in the world.
Today, I'm your host, Trevor Brekka, and on today's episode,
we're getting to hear from ChrisBonderer.
As always, I want to invite you to subscribe to the show.
As we're getting started, we're sharing new stories of God at
work in the world every single week.
And I would love for you to be the first to know and to hear
(00:27):
these radical testimonies of what God is doing so you can be
inspired to see God working in your life too.
When I think about season or moments from my life, I often
have a very visceral kind of tangible memory that's
associated with that season or that moment.
And I can still remember my first time participating in
Focus's Summer Projects program as a junior in college.
(00:48):
And I have this very specific memory when I think about that
summer of coming down from one of our various hikes and we're
when we're going down the mountain and, you know, looking
out upon beautiful Colorado. And I'm praying the rosary while
I'm feeling this beautiful crispair and I'm looking out on these
gorgeous trees below. I remember just that memory
coming to mind of how in tune I felt with the Lord in his
(01:10):
presence in nature that he created.
That summer memory shaped many of our core narratives and ways
of relating to our past. On today's episode, Chris
receives what he thinks is a powerful image and prayer for
Grant, only to see that memory come to life in Grant.
Welcome to the show and listen in.
Hey, my name is Chris. I serve at the University of
(01:31):
Idaho this year as a fourth yearmissionary.
The last 2 1/2 years I've been at the University of Southern
California and the story that I've got for you all today is
from my time there in Los Angeles.
I worked with athletes for the first year and a half and then
switched over to Greek ministry.And it was just the time of my
life. I felt I felt right at home with
the boys as a as a fight out at the University of Missouri.
(01:56):
But a majority of my time was spent partnering and getting to
know the guys of a Protestant ministry that was at the
University of Southern California.
And there was a weekly gatheringlike I got to meet a lot of the
guys that I worked with ended upin Bible study with
discipleship. And one of those guys was Grant.
And my story today is, is all about Grant.
(02:16):
So we met probably in February through a good mutual buddy of
ours named Drew. I got to know kind of what
Grant's story was. He was a senior at the time that
I met him and, and he'd played football for the first two years
at USC and walked onto the team and he had a a great time
playing for the football team. He was his freshman year, he was
pledging and he was playing football and just getting a
(02:39):
haymaker from both sides with the the freshman grind pled ship
and he survived it loved it. And about a year or so into
that, he was starting to get a little burnt out of all of the
work, all the partying, just kind of like the endless rinse
and repeat of these, these moments that just like didn't
seem to satisfy and kind of continue with that through
(02:59):
sophomore year, Junior year, decided to to quit the football
team actually, and just go full steam ahead with grades, with
parties, with his fraternity life.
And that that wasn't doing it aswell.
And so I met Grant the second semester of his senior year when
he had transitioned to trying totake steps closer to his faith
through the witness of his good friend Drew.
(03:19):
And the way that he was answering questions and, and
kind of sharing in this, this Protestant ministry.
I thought Grant would be a greatguy to have him have on board of
Bible study. So invited a Bible study he was
sharing. We got a couple cups of coffee,
went out for a drink or two, went for some walks and just
became like good friends. At that point.
He came over for a bonfire, whiskey, all that kind of stuff.
And it kind of culminated in April.
(03:41):
And I'm thinking as a missionary, like investing in a
senior April, he's not a kind ofguy who's going to be in a
leadership position by the time he graduates.
Like, is it really worth my honestly, is it really worth my
time? But I got to know, got to know
him pretty well. We were good friends.
And I figured the very least, you know, his good friendship.
There's, there's a step closer to God.
And there's this one night, though, at the end of the year,
(04:01):
all the seniors were getting prayed with in this Protestant
ministry. And I just so happened to be
next to Grant. And I had a couple of
experiences and prayer teams asking for God to give a message
or an image or a word to share. And, and I, I felt moved to ask
for ask for that for Grant. And what came to my mind was a
scene of Grant as a gladiator featuring like Russell Crowe in
(04:26):
the movie, in the chariot being driven around in circles in the
Colosseum. The crowds are just going
insane. And but it was Grant that was
this gladiator under his helmet.He's smiling from cheek to
cheek, but there's tears just streaming down his face.
And I was asking God, like, that's a pretty interesting
image. Like, well, what does that mean?
How do you want me to share thatwith Grant?
And I just heard the phrase, like, Grant, do you feel like
(04:48):
there's anything missing in yourlife?
And so we, we wrapped up the, the evening of ministry.
And as we're walking out, I, I kind of poked Grant and I was
like, hey, man, like it was awesome.
Pray for you. I actually prayed for an image
and a word from God. Do you mind if I share that with
you? And it's like, dude, of course.
And so I told him about that image and I told, I asked him
like, do you feel like there's anything missing from your life?
(05:08):
And there was a sudden change inhis face.
It wasn't, he didn't seem like mad or like super, super
distraught. He just kind of seemed
thoughtful and saw them almost Drew was there.
He didn't hear what Grant and I were talking about, But we're
just, we started like kind of messing around.
And Grants, he goes, hey, man, I'd love to talk to you about
that later, actually. And I'm like, dude, of course,
let's do it. A couple of the seniors were
(05:29):
getting together. Drew tried to try to galvanized
us and to go into a bar like right across the street.
And Grant turned to me is like, actually, dude, I, I think I'd
like to go for a walk and just kind of talk about what you'd
see in prayer. And I said, I mean, I'm down.
So we turned to Drew and we said, hey, we might link up with
you later. We're going to go, we're going
to chat for a bit. And, and that turned into like a
3030 to 45 minute conversation where Grant and I, he said,
(05:50):
dude, that, that rocked me, man.I, I, I, I feel like there is
something missing. And he kind of just unfolded
that entire story that I shared with you really about, you know,
football team pledging, getting dissatisfied with football,
getting dissatisfied with the paternity.
And he was just like, I, I neverbelieved the alumni that would
come back to campus and say, Hey, these are the best four
years of your life, man. Live it up.
Because they just, they just didn't seem like that.
(06:11):
I just, I feel restless. I feel like this just like this
isn't it. And so I tried my faith Chris
and it just like it feels like this isn't it either man.
Like why are my problems still in my life?
Why do I still feel restless? Why do I still feel like there's
something missing? I thought that trying to do
these things for God would fix this problem.
And I'm even having doubt if like if God even exists and I
(06:34):
would have been rattled. But I've been in Grant's shoes.
Like I've, I've thought those things about my life.
I've thought those things about my relationship with God.
And so I'm super grateful for like my story, having wrestled
with all those questions, being able to, to kind of comfort
Grant in this situation. And remember, there was
something he said that just rocked me because I've thought
the same thought, but it's, it'sjust something that I feel like
(06:54):
college students and everyone that's just feeling without God
in our lives. And he said, man, 65 years,
seven years is a long time to live feeling like this man, like
I just don't know if I want to sign up for that.
And I was like, this guy's playing football for AD one
campus and a fraternity life gota great job lined up.
And he's just wondering if 65 years is too long to live the
(07:17):
way that he's feeling just like this ache is is serious.
And so we're, I don't know what to say other than kind of share
my story. And we prayed a little bit and
I, we hopped in the car and I'm driving him home and he, he
circles back to that, that moment in prayer.
And this is where just everything made sense.
Our entire friendship made sense.
Like why I felt drawn to work with Grant made sense.
(07:39):
And he goes, dude, when you shared that moment of prayer, it
reminded me of a moment that I experienced on the football team
right before I quit. And he said, Chris, I love
football team. It was, it was electricity, man,
being a part of the environment,environment.
We were treated like miniature gods on campus.
And I loved game days where the coach would fire us up.
We'd run out of the tunnel. The crowds are going insane.
And there's this one day and we were walking out of the tunnel
(08:00):
and the stadium just filled. I mean, you can't hear a word
because this the crowds are justgoing insane.
And I've got my gear on and justlike my body's filled with
energy and I'm walking out of this tunnel and I just felt dead
inside. I just felt empty.
And so when you share that imageof the Gladiator and I'm a
Trojan, I'm a football team all like in the armor and the
(08:23):
weapons and I've got my footballpads on and the crowds of this
of the Colosseum and the crowds of the Colosseum at USC and me
smiling from cheek to cheek and like feeling the energy, but
then the tears running down my face and feeling dead inside.
He's like, dude, the parallels were absolutely insane.
Just fooled me with chills. And when he told me that, like I
filled with chills and the wholecar, it just felt like there was
(08:44):
a lightning bolt of grace And I was like, grant you, I don't I
don't know what God wants to say.
I have, I really don't know other than like, he can see you,
he can hear you. And not just that, but he knows
how you feel, man. He's with you and he doesn't
want you to feel that ache. He, he recognizes that you want
him. And I don't know if he's going
(09:05):
to change your life overnight, Grant, but I know that he's
here. And so we just pray for the Holy
Spirit to just like settle deeply on our hearts, like do
like you did in the Old Testament for the Israelites to
fill them with faith. And Grant and I are still still
buddies. We we've talked on occasion and
it's amazing, you know, like I left LA, he left USC and quote
UN quote, like on paper, like what was the, what changed?
(09:27):
Like really nothing. But I remember that moment every
single day before I pray becauseI, I want to think of a time
that God showed up undeniably inmy life.
And I had never heard that storyof Gran and I, I never would
have known that something like that had happened to him if God
like hadn't given them me that image in that time.
And so that's just a moment of my life.
Like God showed up profoundly tomeet a student on college campus
(09:50):
and just prove that he's a faithful father who listens to
his children and cares about hischildren.
And yeah, I just, I love sharingthat story because I hope it's a
moment of grown in faith. It like rejuvenates my soul
every time. And I hope that rejuvenates
everyone's soul as well. Thank you, Chris, for sharing
(10:11):
that story. I've been astounded throughout
my life as a missionary of just the impact of prayer out loud
with another person. And clearly in this story, Chris
is sharing just how impactful that can be in someone's
journey. And I've been able to see God
use these moments in my life to bring me to greater faith that
he's at work, that He's doing things, that he does listen, and
he does respond. So I ask you today if there's
(10:31):
anyone in your life that could use you to pray with them and
what if you just started small and asked?
God said, God help me to share your love for this person with
them and guide my prayer to be achannel to that.
What a blessing you could be to someone's life this week.
Thanks so much for listening andwe hope to see you next week.
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