In this episode:
Suicide is not an answer, it just passes the pain onto somebody else.
In this powerful conversation Jack Oosterveld unpacks his powerful testimony that almost had him end it all. Jack reveals absolute Truth and covers many areas including:
If you're going through a deep valley, default to God. You won't get out quickly, but you will get out. Grab your Bible. Go read about Joseph's life and then be filled with the Holy Spirit. Click To Tweet Jack Oosterveld
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders God intends you to be. I’m your host, Chris Granger. Let’s jump in. All right guys, it’s your meet episode of the week. Before we get into it, let’s look at our scripture just to get that cemented in. Okay? So we’re gonna look at Psalm chapter 40, verse two.
He brought me up out of the pitter destruction out of the mud. He set my feet on a rock, making my footsteps firm. Guys powerful verse right there. Go check out the spiritual kickoff if you missed that, cuz I really unpacked that. I went through that, that scripture, and I know there’s something there that some man, these are here today.
So go check that out for sure. Now this episode’s gonna be heavy, okay? It’s gonna be heavy. You go, you need to be ready for it. It’s gonna be top about topic. That, that’s, that is, uh, definitely needs to be talked about more. And that’s to, uh, around suicide. Guys, this is a, a powerful conversation of a man.
Who was on the brink, he was on the brink of making that decision and how God jerked him, pulled him up out of it. This is a powerful conversation. I, I’m actually kind talking with Jack Osterville. Uh, we get real, we get raw. Jack talks about his life changing encounter with God and how God showed up, you know, and he didn’t know.
He, he was at his breaking point, guys. He was ready. He couldn’t hang on any longer. And he’s, he talks about how, uh, his upbringing played a huge way in shaping his identity. Uh, and how sometimes that identity guys were not careful at that can really impact how we handle these, these hurdles that come at us in light.
And guys, you’re going to have hurdles. You’re going to have hardship, you’re gonna have struggles. It’s gonna happen. Don’t let that with shame and embarrassment hold you down. Jack talks about this directly, about how he was in a ditch, uh, before God, you know, carried him out of it. But he, but ultimately, Surrendering to God, uh, that gave him hope and life once again.
So it’s a, again, again, guys powerful conversation. Lots sat tearful moments, uh, with Jack in this conversation. So, so hang with us through it for sure. I think this is something there for all of us, cuz I’m gonna tell you what, if you’re leaning in and you’re trying to, to, to grow as a man, you have fellow brothers around you, you never know what these guys are going through need to be there cuz I mean, the fake you’s doing just fine.
Like, we need to be real with her, with, with, particularly with our, our fellow brothers in Christ and having conversations like this, you never know when you share an episode like, like today’s episode, how that may impact someone. So even if you have no inclination, maybe if you think everything’s perfectly fine, that’s probably a guy you need to send this to the most.
Cause there are lots and lots of guys who take their lives and everything seem to be to be going good. Take the time to care, take the kind to, to reach out and like Jack talks about at the end, hey, take the time to just build that relationship. And love starts with a relationship and that’s what our guy, our Lord wants with us.
So guys, I pray you like this conversation that it serves you well, and, and, and I know that if you just really just listen to Jack’s passion, listen to his story, you’ll find ways to connect and apply these, these areas in your life. So get after you guys enjoy this conversation with Jack Booster Bell.
So Jack, welcome to the Lion within us. How are you doing today, sir? Doing great.
03:35 Jack Oosterveld
Thank you. Thank you for having
03:37 Chris Grainger
me. Very excited to have you here. I know this is gonna be a conversation that’s gonna serve a lot of guys and maybe struggling right now, but before we get into the hard stuff that Jack, let’s just, let’s start off with something a little bit lighter.
So maybe tell, tell us a fun fact about you that may maybe not many people know.
03:55 Jack Oosterveld
Wow. Married for 44 years. That’s a, that’s a, that’s a great, uh, great number. Um, met my wife in high school, grade 10. It was grade 10. Uh, we had eyes for each other and before you know it, uh, we were friends and grade 11, I asked her if she wanted to go out with me and, uh, she thought a little bit about it.
She didn’t know completely, but I guess, uh, she liked that idea. And, uh, got married right out of high school. Okay. And, uh, we had three children. Right. Pretty quick. And uh, yeah, now we have 11 grandchildren. So, uh, yeah. Thank goodness for grade 10. Bible Institute’s high school, , .
04:41 Chris Grainger
I love it. I love it. Well, it sounds like you got a lot of, a lot of great things going on up there for sure.
And I, I, I definitely want to get into your book here today cuz. Uh, I just think there is a powerful message here that’s gonna resonate with a lot of our listeners for sure. That are, that are struggling right now. So, what, what ultimately led you to write this book, Jack? It’s one thing to go through the story, but what led you to taking it to the next step where you put pen to paper?
Yeah.
05:06 Jack Oosterveld
Couple, couple things. You know, the times that God showed up in these, during this, uh, deep valley we were in the times that God showed up, I, I I, I just never wanted to ever forget those times when I sensed his grace and I sensed his holding me and I sensed him speaking, saying, hang in there. That’s probably the most important course.
Second would be my wife, uh, pushed me into writing it. I, I did not want to write this book. I did not want to go back to what happened, and it was very, very difficult. Uh, but my wife had heard from the Lord many, many times and I just, I just couldn’t. And then sure enough, last year, I, I picked up a partial manuscript that I had done, and by the time I was just a few pages in, I was in tears because God did not forget me.
I saw his hand, whether it was in the hospital, whether it was, uh, so many areas. It was just so beautiful how he had not forgotten me. And I had put that aside and I said, okay, you know what? Let’s put it in paper. Let’s do that. And it has been a blessing to so many people who just need to know God has not forgot you.
06:27 Chris Grainger
Amen to that, Jack. So, I mean, when I was preparing to have this conversation with you, I definitely spent a lot of time in prayer and I looked up a few stats that just really, you know, jumped out at me. You know, from a, from a suicide standpoint. And, you know, it’s the 12th leading, leading cause of death in the us.
Almost 46,000 deaths in 2020 were the stats that I found. 1.2 million attempts of suicide. Yeah. And I thought it was interesting that men were, were four times as likely as women to actually, uh, wow. Walk through with it. And they actually account for 70, 70% of suicide deaths in 2020. So that all just tells me we have a real problem, you know, and it, and it’s not Christian, men are not immune to this.
There are a lot of guys out there that are just walking through some deep, deep valleys For sure. And maybe just unpack some of your story, cuz I mean, the, the title, the financial planner who didn’t kill himself, we’re gonna talk about that some too. But just, just, just give ’em a, a foundation understanding of what happened and, uh, you know, just to get ’em up to, up to speed, if you will.
Yeah.
07:31 Jack Oosterveld
I had the most wonderful occupation. I still miss it a lot. As a financial advisor, you get to get into the middle of people’s lives and you get to love these people and care for these people and. It was a, it was a marvelous thing to walk as a financial advisor and a Christian so-called financial planner because we always, we taught in so many churches on, uh, finances from God’s perspective, or finances in light of eternity.
And it was like I was flying at 33,000 feet. Man, it was the most wonderful, you know, we, it provided not only a good lifestyle, but we had friends and that, that only God could have given. It was a marvelous, marvelous occupation. And then we had one situation, you know, in, as a planner you have your, you have your clients that really have more money than most and they demand more time.
And when they do invest, they really analyze and go to their accountant or their lawyer and they confirm it. And this was that product that was, was insured completely. And it was one where if somebody had a half million dollars, it had a guarantee in it. It had a life insurance policy on it so that if, if there was any type of default, the insurance would’ve kicked in.
And it was a phenomenal product. In fact, the Alberta security, uh, exonerated that product just recently. It was a marvelous product, but it was not insured for fraud. And there was a gentleman, the other side of Canada that somehow or another had access to funds, to the funds and uh, over 200 million was taken.
And it’s hard to believe, but we all of a sudden got notice that our clients were not gonna get their dividends each month like they have been. And of course, Chris, you don’t lose it instantly. It’s a process of, hang on, next month it should be fixed. Oh, two months from now it’ll be fixed by three months.
I’m con pretty concerned, but I’m in, I sense I’m in in water that I, that, that if there’s anything that I ever wanted to avoid in my life, it is that my clients who entrusted me with their money would lose it. Yeah. I don’t know if there could be anything worse. I don’t know. I mean, what a beautiful position to be in and to help them with their taxes, help them with their estate planning, and, and then they write a, a $500,000 check to be put away into something that has a guarantee.
And then through the court process, I had 73 of my very, very best wonderful clients lose a total of 12 million. And I crashed. I was done. It was like Chris was like me getting run over by a semi-truck on the highway, and I laid on the highway dead for three years, four years, just, but, but through it all, I didn’t get mad at God.
I I really didn’t. I I still grabbed my Bible. I still studied every morning. I still wet before the king, but I’d tell you, did I ever get crushed that day? That, that very day And, and, and there’s more, because you gotta remember that when you go through this good for nothing trouble. So when you think it is really, it’s really coal being pushed into diamonds.
It’s, it’s that oyster doing that pearl, it’s that butterfly coming out of that cocoon. It’s it, you don’t know it at that time, but you just, you have to hang on to God with all you got. There’s so many times I sat. Beside my bed just sat on the side of my bed and I would just hang my head and I’d say, oh God.
Oh God, oh God. That’s all I could pray was, oh God, how come? Oh God. And it was very, very, very, very tough to believe that my clients, my friends, my pastor, my, the missionaries that, that their money would be gone. I just couldn’t, I just couldn’t take it. And I assure you, I still met God every day. I didn’t complain.
I just knew that Joseph went through crap and so did David. He went through crap and everybody goes through crap. And this is my turn to go through crap. And I don’t know how I made it, but I knew that suicide was a beautiful thing. But more than beautiful was my wife, my beautiful wife that hung with me.
That held me when I needed to be held, but more than my wife was a wonderful God who allowed us to go through these waters. And the very day that the managers came into my office and said, Jack, listen, we got a problem. We got a problem with that, with that investment. I said, why? What? What’s the problem?
And he said, well, we can’t say nothing right now, but just stop. Just stop selling it. Stop selling it. And I could tell by the tone of their voice there was something. But what was so crazy was that very day, and that was at about four o’clock that day. Well, at seven, I’m, I have to speak at a church on your finances from God’s perspective.
And I just heard, now, I didn’t know they would lose their money at that point. I did not know, but I knew there was trouble. I knew our, our clients were not going to get their dividends. And those seniors that depend on that monthly dividend check, were not going to get it that month. And that. That, that, that almost killed me.
But I had to speak that night on finances from God’s perspective, and more importantly, the spirit of mammon. That was something that God had given me. You know, the spirit of mammon and anything that you put your trust in other than God. And I was gonna speak that night on that boy. Oh, I was going to really, really give her.
And uh, so I got up there and I, I mean, my mind was totally captured with that, with the manager coming into my office and saying, we got a pro. I could tell by their eyes. I could tell by their voice. I mean, I could tell there was something, but no, I was up there. I have to speak. So I have to teach. And as I’m teaching, I got to Matthew chapter six where it says, you have to choose between money or God and Chris.
That day that, that I got to that passage. You gotta remember what state I’m in, but I’m, I’m reading Matthew chapter six, and I’m reading that passage where you have to decide between God or money, you have to decide either you hate one or you love the other. Chris, I broke down right at that podium. I wept my guts out.
I couldn’t contain myself. I had to wait until I was done. Then I started again and I busted down again. I wept like a, like, you know, one of those ugly cries that man can do. It was just an ugly cry. But I’m in front of these people. I’m bowling my gut. So, and it was God saying, Jack, Jack, listen to me.
You love money or do you love me? That’s what God wants to ask us. Do I have my confidence in my money or do I have confidence in God? That’s the question, and he’s yelling it at me. God wants to know. Jack, do you love me more? Is my freedom better than the freedom you get with money? Is my security better than the security you get with money?
I’m not saying money’s bad, but why does it capture most of our heart today? Why are we drunk with financial planning? 50 years ago, there wasn’t even financial planners like we have today. There’s so much prosperity out there that we have got. We’ve got people taking care of our money. Think of that. And at the end of the day, God still gets the last word in.
He says, do you love me more? Do you love me? Let’s start there. Do you love me? Am I important to you, Jack? You meet me every morning, but you still love your money. You still love finances, you love the security. Your happiest on payday, Jack, come wake up. Right? And that’s what I got to work with Chris. It was.
I’m on this side a dozen years already. Maybe, maybe it’s 10 years. I forget that. I can tell you it has not been easy, but it does bring you to your knees. Yeah. And what a, what a place of what? A place of beauty when you’re on your knees with the kink and you have nothing to offer but your broken life.
And he goes, wow, that’s what I’ve been trying to do, Jack. I need your broken so that I can rebuild you. You know?
16:50 Chris Grainger
Well, I, I can’t say thank you for sharing that emotional story, Jack. I mean, this is, this is what we’re here for, to, to, to be, to be real with guys. I, I am curious, how close did you get to taking that step of suicide?
17:08 Jack Oosterveld
It was serious. I had a 22 in my garden. I looked at it many, many times, Uhhuh, but I’m married and I have a wife and I have children and grandchildren, and
I thought of going to the cabin and just hanging myself in my shed. Mm-hmm. But that would’ve solved nothing because for every suicide out there, there’s 10 people that mourn greatly for the rest of their life. That’s the point. I, I, I can get free, I’ll hang myself, but my wife and my kids and my grandchildren and their children, and it goes on.
And maybe we set a generational path that maybe in the spiritual realm, may, may, maybe the suicide door gets opened and I just couldn’t take that risk. But I cried out to God. I sometimes would rebuke the devil too. No, we’re not doing that. Satan, get outta here. I’m a born and born and again believer. I believe in Jesus Christ.
He’s my, he’s my Lord. I would say things like that, I would act silly, but. It was, it was too close to my mind and I never liked that very much. Yeah. But the pain, the pain gets so bad to, to see, you know, uh, dear friends lose $150,000. This was their retirement. And because it was a guaranteed product, it had a good chunk of their money in it.
Right. But suicide is a scary thing. Suicide takes care of maybe your situation, maybe, but it does not take care of those that are left behind. And they grieve not just at your funeral, but they grieve for the next 10, 15 years. They keep saying, what could they have done? What could we have done? Right. And it happens almost every day on the news.
So we need to be bear, we need to be bearers of hope. That there is hope. I don’t know what, you know, we had a, we had an event, Chris, where we had a lot of people. And we thanked them for helping us launch our book. And, and I didn’t know what to say because this is the first time in my, I’m in front of like 30, 40 of our dear friends and many have lost their money, but they, many had come already to me and said, said, Hey, hey, hey, hey.
It was just, it happened. You know what? It, it happened. What can we do? You know, you did nothing to, to do this and, and so we don’t hold you for nothing. It’s just that’s the way it is. That’s, we’re able, we’re recovering. We’re recovering just fine. And I, and I, and I realize that, that people do recover, but that doesn’t take away the hurt within me.
So as I stood up to thank them for launching my book, God brought them instantly. Oh, there was somebody there that lost their daughter one week after she got. Jack, what do you say about that? There was somebody there whose little girl came from Tanzania. She came as a little, I think she was two years old or something.
She was as just a, she was on, she was hours from dying, but she, she was born in Canada, so she could come from Tanzania to Canada. And she got into the hospital in Edmonton and that 13 year old girl was in that audience. And I said, I said, Michelle, please stand up right there. This is the girl that almost died.
Think of what her parents went through. Think about what that lady went through and, and that other lady over here that had cancer and the other one here that lost a son, and, and the other one he says, I’ve never said this. He says, but, but, but we were just camping and, and my wife got ill. So I took her to the hospital and she said, Jack, she died in the hospital.
I had to go back to the, to the campground and tell my kids that mom’s not coming back. Oh. What I, what I’m saying is that, My, my pain is my pain. I know. And, and there’s more people out there that have pain. I’m not the only one. So quit being so selfish. Carry your pain with dignity. Know that God is in control.
Joseph’s life will give you, give you encouragement. David’s life will give you encouragement. Elijah’s life will give you encouragement. The word of God will give me everything I need, so I will not pull the trigger and I will not hang myself because we all have got to go through trouble. But I’ll tell you with God, with it, we will be victorious.
Amen.
21:31 Chris Grainger
Amen brother. Amen. And guys, let’s take a quick break. We’ll be right back.
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So, Jack, powerful story, powerful story. I do want to go back a little bit to the beginning as, as well, because you talk about that in your book about how your childhood, your relationship with your father and how that, so many times I hear guys, right, they, when, when they’re in that, that dark point, they’re, they’re, they’re becoming historians, you know, they bring up the things of the past , right?
So maybe just, just speak to that a little bit about what that was, you know, how that relationship was, how that shaped you and maybe how that started somewhat impacted you when you had this moment of, uh, of, of this difficult season, rather .
23:44 Jack Oosterveld
My dad had died in November. Oh. So October. And, and this happened the following February.
So dad was not around. Okay. Dad was not around. Um, for the last, oh, 10 years of my life, I met my dad for coffee at least four or five times a week. And, uh, we became great, great, great friends. Oh, what a wonderful, what a wonderful dad. I miss him still, but I can tell you the first, whoa. Uh, my dad was raised, raised by a father who, uh, was in a concentration camp and, uh, he was raised tough, but when things got as a teenager, well even five, six years old, I remember the, he pull outed his, his belt and it was, it was serious.
And I’m still looking for that person that invented the, uh, electric cord on that frying pan, cuz that always hurt too. That hurt on the legs. I still hear that sound. But my dad was very, very much into, he was angry and, you know, he would hug things and. You know, he hit me in the head and so I had to go get stitches and, you know, the beltings and the, you know, but I can say this now with a smile because God has healed that all that.
My dad would never have done that if he knew what he was doing. I just, I say, Lord, forgive him. He didn’t know what he was doing. I’m just lucky that I have Christ in my life and that I always have wanted to walk with God and I, I, I just believe that. I just believe God kept us during that time. But my dad, my dad was tough to live with and he ended up, He ended up becoming a great friend of mine the last 10 years because when I got filled with the Holy Spirit one night, um, I realized that the spirit of God wants to move through clean vessels.
And so I, I, I went to anybody that I had a, had a, had a bone to pick with, and I apologized and I forgave and I just went hard at that. So, so the spirit of God would move and, and not be inhibited with stuff. So one was my dad and I said, dad, I, I just want to tell you I’m really sorry for being such a tough guy to raise and, uh, for pressing your buttons.
And he hand, he put his hand across the table and he touched my hand and he said, Jack, I’m sorry to man Chris. That was one of the most precious things I’ve ever had in my life with my dad. This man who, who, who beat me as a kid for just no reasons, really. At times, he would just reach over and he said, I’m sorry too.
Well, that started a beautiful friendship. And that’s where I could say to my dad, dad, dad, tell me honestly, have you ever, ever been hugged by your dad? Come on, dad. Don’t, don’t, don’t pull the wool over my eyes. Dad, have you ever been hugged by your dad? And he thought for a moment, and he goes, he shook his head no.
I said, dad, you mean you’ve gone 70 some years and you really have not had a hug from your dad? Yeah. I said, have you ever heard your dad say, I love you, like Dad, don’t don’t BS me dad. I, I wanna know, has he, have you ever heard your dad say, I love you, son. And he said, no again. And I understood now, yeah.
When you’re not loved and not cared for and you’re not nurtured, that, that’s a big issue. And a lot of us men weren’t nurtured properly. And so the, the benefit to being not nurtured is that you need love. But you grab the word of God and God is loving and you get to let him impart his, his kindness and his love into you, and all of a sudden you get to be a different person because the spirit of God can take hold of broken men more than he can take care of people that are so proud.
But my dad and I had a precious time, so I was at his bedside when he died. Yep. I was there. I got the call. Dad’s not doing well. He’s in bed. He’s, he’s moving onto glory. I got on my knees and I said, Lord, I said, he’s gone through enough pain now. Now Lord. Touch him. Touch his body. I pray. And I got up and I looked Dad in the face.
I said, listen, now we’re all here. We love you. It’s time for you to go on the other side. Time for you to go see Mom. Come on Dad. That’s enough now. Come on one minute later he died and we had such a time of prayer. We sang that song as a family. Yep. It was a beautiful thing and just a, just a bridge to something.
Chris, you know, only a couple years ago, God showed that picture to me of me beside my dad and I wept hard on his chest after he died. But I was laying on that bed in a vision. God showed me and he was weeping beside me and he was weeping beside me and I thought, who would weep over me? You know, them are profound words.
Chris, who, that’s what happens when you’re deep down in a hole. You just, who would weep over me? Who would love me? But he wept in Jesus said, Jack, I love you. And he said, I’m so sorry you lost your income. I’m so sorry you lost your, I’m so sorry you lost your career. I’m so sorry you’ve gone through that and I kind of thought, well, why didn’t you just change it?
I didn’t say that because it was such a holy moment that God allows us to go through very, very hard times to be the man that God called us to, which is humble and open for his spirit to move. And it wasn’t that he was not moving in those early days, cuz I could, I could tell you 10 things that happened in our meetings that were only of God, but from a personal point, the exterior is not half as important as the interior.
And God works on that interior a lot. And so I, I love my dad. We buried him and I, I still think of him almost every day, but what a, what a beautiful thing to have forgiveness and to, for me to reach out and hold his hand and say, I’m sorry to.
30:06 Chris Grainger
That’s a guy, Jack. These, these are very impactful stories. I mean, so many times guys, when you, when you hear that they, they never have that, that takes a real, that’s, that’s a man right there to be able to lean into his father and, and apologize and, and for him to come back.
And it just sounds like those last years were just absolutely glorious. The relationship that you were able to have with him and to be there for that final moment, you know, it’s just, it, it just really speaks to, uh, who you are and definitely shaped you, no doubt. So, I’m, I’m curious, as we, as we move forward, let’s keep talking a, a around the crash.
When it happened and everything happened and you had your identity so much, you could just tell when you were telling your story, so much of your identity was tied up in being that financial planner. Uh, that’s who you were as a man at the time. And, and, uh, so many times when you talk to guys, I, I talk to ’em all the.
What do you do? We go straight to our work, , we go straight to our career, right? We just talked about what we do as a career versus having our identity in Christ, and maybe just walk us through that when that crash happens and we have that identity tied to the wrong thing, how that can impact us.
31:13 Jack Oosterveld
Yeah. I didn’t know what was really wrong, except what was wrong was before me.
I didn’t understand, uh, identity. I really didn’t. I was a Christian man. Come on. I taught Christian material. I have a Bible. I read my Bible and, and during this time, I, I was clocking in 30 years of speaking Sunday mornings at a retirement lodge. You know, every Sunday morning I would be there at nine o’clock and I’d speak for a few minutes, 15, 20 minutes and pray with the old people.
And some guy gave me that. He, he called me to help him. One time, I thought, well, okay, I’ll come and help with these older people. Well, he got sick. And I had to go, I , I stayed there 30 years and thank the Lord for covid a cuz I finally got a way to get outta that. But man, I tell you, that was a long haul.
And so during my time of going through this crisis, every Sunday morning, I gotta speak something. I gotta say something. So I always was in the ward. I always had to figure out, I mean, Chris, if you gotta speak, you gotta prepare . Yeah. So that was, but so as, as you walk with God, I think you’ll see that he really doesn’t care about your service as much as he cares about our friendship, our service is good, but to love them with all our heart and with all our soul.
That that’s really where the rubber meets the road. Because I, I once had a guy say, well, just love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might and do anything you want. I thought, well, that has some variance that that has some value. I think so. Just love God with all your heart.
Well, I didn’t really know, but it was through God appearing. During this crisis that started to rebuild my, my identity, that God is in control, that God is sovereign, that he knows what I’m going through. He knows every tear. He knows my anger. He knows how badly I’m, I just fight inside about this whole situation.
But it was coming back. My, my doctor put me with a psychiatrist and I thought, doc, come on Doc. That’s crazy. He’s one of my clients and, and he knows I do Christian seminar and I, I gotta go see a psychiatrist. That’s ridiculous. But he’s my doctor and I, I needed help. So I got together with a psychiatrist and Chris, we talked more about quoting and, and about having fun than anything.
He said, go on holidays. You have strong faith, you’re a good. Go. So I did, I did squatting and I took some time off. And when my wife and I went to Hawaii, when we came back from Hawaii, I got sick enough that I got to be put in the hospital for the very first time. I never been to the hosp, never had to go to the hospital.
And they kept me for two nights. Maybe it was three cuz I had blood poisoning, but I had not forgot God, I, I loved him. I told him he knows what’s going on. Right. That night. That night in the
34:24 Chris Grainger
hospital. Yeah. Jack, real quick, before we get, get into that night, let’s take a quick break. We’ll be right back for our listeners
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All right, Jack, so you’re right here. I want, I wanna make sure we give due time to this hospital story, cuz this was a very impactful p part of your book. And I definitely know this is a, there’s some, there’s some really powerful things you’re getting ready to go through. So you, you, you’re in the hospital here.
Walk us through that. Well,
36:23 Jack Oosterveld
I was in the hospital and, uh, it was now later on in the evening, it was night, it was dark out and uh, I sat on the side of my bed looking out the window and out that window I could see I was on the fifth floor of the hospital so I could look over the city and I saw all the lights, all the lights, glittering and.
I got that old HB in my head that says, let the lower lights be burning sand a beam across the wave. It’s a beautiful old Hym. And I’m, and I’m humming it. I’m humming this song and I’m having a good time, you know? And then all of a sudden it’s like God showed up and I was taken back quickly by it, but I just leaned over and I looked at all those glittering lights.
I said, God, where are you? Where are you Lord? Where have, where are you? And then all of a sudden, there he was. He says, Jack, I’m here, Jack, we’re all here. And I said, ha, have you been here in the last couple years? That’s what I said, Chris , because I was taken back and the pain had been so great for those first two years, right?
I said, well, well have you been here the last two years? And he says, I’ve been here. I said, well, can I, can I ask you a question? And he says, of course. I said, he said, why do I fear so much? Why am I so fearful? And I feared the people, I feared what was going through. I was full of fear. He says, Jack, as long as you fear man and not fear God, you will always be fearful.
You can’t fear man. Fear me Jack. And that was like Sav on my, on my burn. It was, it was a precious words. And I said, can I ask you another, another question, Lord? And he, he said, of course. And I said, and I took a little bit of a breath cuz I know I could ask God anything cuz he’s God. And I said, could you take my life tonight?
Lord, could you take my life tonight? Lord Chris, that’s what I ask God. Wow. And if he said Yes, I would’ve loved to have gone home. I can’t carry this burden of pain. And then he got up off his throne, put his two hands on the sides, and he stands up and takes a huge breath and says, no. And I felt the breath go past my face that day.
And I knew that to take my life was not going to happen because he had something in store for me that I’m not sure what it was. But I’d tell you I had confidence that God knows what I’m going through and that he sees my tears and he knows. And I thought, oh God. And so for probably an hour and a half I talked to God.
It was so, it was beautiful. My wife came in and I was in tears. She grabbed a pad out right away quickly and wrote everything that I could remember what I had asked God And my, uh, my pastor had come in and he says, Jack, he says, that’s really important. You’ve heard from the Lord. He says, hide that in your heart.
Yeah. So anybody that came in that day, I told them what God had said. I told ’em. So it was a beautiful day. And that night I went to bed again and I said, Lord, what a day. What a day to sense your glory. What a day, Lord? To know that your presence is real, even though you go through trouble. Yay though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for that.
Work with me. And he prepares a table in the presence of my enemies. Oh God, what a God we serve. So before I went to bed, I said, Lord, could you just show me one more thing before I go to sleep? Lord, could you just show me one more thing? ? And that, that, that, that started to really bring identity back into my life because the walk with God is my identity, not with the walk of man, but the walk with my circumstances.
So here it comes. All of a sudden I’m walking with the Lord down a hallway in a hospital and I look and, uh, To my right are is very dark, and there’s two that are sitting, laying on a gurney. I said, Lord, what is that? He says, those are people that walked in the flesh. They didn’t walk in the spirit. Mm-hmm.
It was so heavy. I just kept walking. I didn’t wanna say nothing. Wow. That was, wow. And as I walked up, Chris, this is going to sound funny, but I’m going to tell you what I, what I saw, okay. In front of me, we’re walking, we’re walking, and I see a man about my size in a pair. In a diaper. In a diaper. I’m looking, and I didn’t wanna ask the Lord what that was because it looked like about my size, and I didn’t want him to tell me that I was a big baby as a Christian.
I didn’t wanna hear that. No, no, no, no, no. So, I, I, I kind of forgot, didn’t say nothing. And the, and the Lord said, Jack, what you’re looking at is my church. He says, that’s my church today. They haven’t passed very much. You gotta go through tribulation. If you wanna be born again, you gotta go through tribulation.
If you wanna walk in the spirit, you gotta go through trib. You can’t hide from tribulation. You gotta go through deep waters in order to learn how to swim with me like God is so, God is with us. As Daniel was in the lines in, and Joseph was in that pit and Elijah was at that brook, God is still God today as he was in the Old Testament.
So I passed by this guy that that’s in diapers, , and I walked past it and now we’re in front of this beautiful sea, beautiful water. I said, Lord, what is this? And before I could get outta my mouth, this guy in diapers dives in Ka push, makes a big splash, and I look, and inside the water I could see clearly.
Under the what be was being transformed. I could see he was turned and I watched him until he came out at the other side and he was a great warrior for God, . He came out, he was transformed. I said, Lord, what is that? He says this, Jack, you continue swimming in my gospel and you’ll become a great warrior for me and Chris that did it for me.
I knew the secret of life was to abide in him. I just thank God for that. That is so powerful. Just stay in the gospel, understand the good news. We’re saved, we’re reconciled, we’re redeemed, we’re justified. Them are big words. Just understand we’re loved and we’re free. Right.
43:09 Chris Grainger
Amen, brother. I mean that, that is, that is a powerful story for sure, and it’s so many Christians these days, Jack, when you talk about with the diaper, we, we have a lot of baby Christians out there and they, and they show up every Sunday.
Well, maybe, what are the stats now? Twice a month, you’re considered a dedicated Christian. If you come to church twice a month and we show up and we just say, feed me, feed me, feed me. I’m so tired of, feed me, feed me, feed me. And to get that, that vision of wearing the diaper, jumping in through the, to the water, the, the living water, right.
And coming out of it a warrior, that’s what I try to unbelievable to tell all these guys that I, that I’m able to blessed and fortunate to, to be around is like, you guys are warriors. Quit acting like babies. And, and that to be a warrior though, you’re going to go through, through a battle, warriors aren’t meant to just sit on the side.
You’re, you’re supposed to fight and you’re gonna fight. Yeah. And Satan’s gonna attack, but the only way you’re gonna be prepared is you have to, like you said, just be soaked in it. Just soak yourself in the gospel. Man. I, I just, what a powerful story, Jack. My gracious. I mean, so at that point, were you still in a hospital or you, or were you le had left at this
44:20 Jack Oosterveld
point?
No, that was, that was the second day when I said, Lord, could you show me one more thing?
44:26 Chris Grainger
And your point about, as long as you fear me, you fear, as long as you fear man, you’ll never fear me. That’s the point that I highlighted that in your book. I, I circled it. I wrote it down. I was like, we better talk about that because so many guys out there particular, you know, we’re, we’re, we’re, we’re thinking about the, the other guys out there that we’re worried about too much what’s going on and around us versus our relationship with our father.
Man, you gotta get that right. Yeah,
44:54 Jack Oosterveld
yeah. He wants friendship more than he wants service. Hey
44:58 Chris Grainger
man, man, that is some powerful stuff right there, Jack. Yeah. So let, let’s, let’s, let’s take another quick break. We’ll be right back cuz I want to keep on, unpack this a little bit further.
Let me ask you a real personal question. Who are your five closest friends? Are they pulling you closer to God or further away? I know some of many guys that said, man, I ain’t got five friends. You know? Okay, I get it, man. It’s hard. It’s hard to make those true connections. So what we did at the line with innocence, we started a community.
That community is where brotherhood happens. It’s where guys come together. So guys, if you, if you’re struggling right now, if you feel a little bit isolated or alone, you need to hop in the community. You’re gonna find brothers there that are gonna come alongside you, that want to help you. Wherever you’re at, wherever you’re at.
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So, you know, let’s go to Jack. You’re outside of the hospital. Let’s talk about your steps towards rebuilding and, and I’d love to hear, you know, how that worked for you, cuz definitely you were in a dark place. God, he was there. He showed up. You had this, this, this moment. Now let’s talk about what do you do from there?
47:22 Jack Oosterveld
We put one step in front of each other, Chris. Um, I had a lot of coffee time by myself with, um, a great book. I started memorizing scripture just so the devil couldn’t get in because we’re open to the enemy when we’re discouraged. And I have to say, depression was pretty rooted, pretty solid, and, uh, didn’t want to be around people.
I would never go to the shopping mall again. I would never walk around in public again. I was full of shame when I would walk, so I would put my head down. I would never look around anymore. And, uh, depression had me, but there was times that God spoke up clearly and we went to Seattle to, uh, watch a baseball game.
I’d never been to a pro baseball game, so it was in Seattle and it was against Seattle and Tampa. And, uh, remember that sometimes when you’re in trouble you just bump along. You just bump along and just be happy to bump along. Just, that’s just the way it is. It’s just doesn’t come easy sometimes. Right.
And, uh, it was at the ballgame that something really special happened because Felix was pitching and I had no idea much about what a perfect game is. But I had called my brother about the sixth inning in Edmonton. I said, George, guess where I’m at. He says, ah, you stinker. He says, man, I was in last summer.
Isn’t that a beautiful stadium? Ah, man. It’s beautiful man. Yeah. He says, who’s pitching? I said, Felix. He says, what’s the score? I told him, he says, Jack, he’s trying to pitch a perfect game. You’re kidding? I said, what’s that? So he started telling me, and he says, Jack, I just put my tools down. I’m going home to watch it.
that’s how much he loves baseball too. So he, he, he’s a, he’s a craft swim. So he put his tools down and next thing you know, eighth inning, now everybody’s standing and clapping. Like, I have no idea what’s going on. It’s just, I, I just didn’t know what perfect game was. Anyhow, of course, by the ninth inning, if there was rafters in that place, they’d be hanging from.
It was so noisy. And then, then on that last pitch, when nobody got to first base, oh my God, the place. It would not end. Chris, we jumped up too clapping. I knew what now. I was clapping about. We were yelling and screaming, and I can’t believe this. Unbelievable. You can’t believe that everybody around me was just completely, completely.
They lost it. And out of that second God spoke into my heart and said, Jack, what you’re seeing is prophetic for your life. I thought, oh. I leaned over to my wife. I got close to her ear and I said, honey, honey, God just spoke into my heart. He said, this is prophetic for our life. I don’t think she could hear me.
That’s how loud it was. It wasn’t until the next day that I shared with a guy that I was at the game, and he goes, what? You were at the game? I said, yeah, that’s the first game you’ve ever, ever been to. I said, yeah. He says, it was a perfect game. I know. He says, you know the chances of you being at a perfect game at your very first game, I said, I don’t know.
I guess so. So I went home and I did a bunch of study and stuff like that. But what was so cool is that the Lord was saying, oh, he says, Jack, every day that you live is perfect. I’ve ordained every day that you’ve gone through. I’ve ordained it. Come on, Jack. Come on. Come on. Read your Bible. You know what?
It isn’t always the happy life. It’s not always the life to have the most money. It’s not the ha, it’s, it’s not. Listen. In order to build character, you’re going to have to go through some troubles. That’s why, that’s why James says, count it all joy when you go through various trials. But he says, that day was prophetic for you.
I’ve not forgot you. You got a future coming at you like nothing, but you’re going to have to take care of this time you’re in and keep coming to me. Anchor yourself to me. Don’t anchor it to your circumstances. They will go. But I will never leave you, Jack. I love you. That was a great breakthrough. That was a great breakthrough.
I knew that every day of my life was in his hands every day. Yes. I’m 64 now. I can’t believe I made 64. It happened 10 years ago. It was, it was February of 2012, I guess. Yep. So it’s 10 years and has the 10 years been fun? No, they haven’t been. Have they been good? I look back and I see that God has not forgotten me one second of any day, and he carries me.
He knows it’s okay. And I’m not the same man I used to be and I’m not the man I’m going to be cuz God is working in me. Amen.
52:33 Chris Grainger
Amen. At that brother. Amen to that. And you’ve, you’ve mentioned several stories now, and you, there’s been a comp, there’s been a, a, a, a thread in each one of these stories that I wanna make sure we touch on.
And it’s your wife. And how she has been there. You know, your, your, your partner. You made that covenant to God. They’re with you. So why don’t you talk about the, the relationship with her and how just responding through all these trials sounds like she was always just speaking encouragement to you. Mm.
53:07 Jack Oosterveld
Well if you look at the book Chris, you’ll see every chapter ends with a prayer for my wife. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think a lot of it has to do with the way you’re raised, Chris. I think the first five years determines a lot of a, of a man’s life, a woman’s life. First five years. My wife was raised by a wonderful father.
She, uh, I don’t think ever got licked once. I don’t think she was talked down to once. I don’t think her spirit got crushed once, I don’t think so. She, uh, was always a happy-go-lucky in school. She laughed a lot, still laughs a lot. She cares much for me. Um, To say it’s been easy for her is a, is a lie. Cuz it hasn’t, it has been hard for her to, but even as we speak right now, I look over and I see her in the word, she’s in the word she’s praying for us.
She has a good relationship with God too. I think she has created to, to take care of me. Chris, I think that’s how it was, , just to take care of me, . And that’s sometimes how it is. You know, you sometimes marry opposites. Um, she, she’s been sweet. She’s been sweet all these years. She never deserves to be talked hard too.
You know, I think that’s probably, if I could change something in my life, it would be to talk kindly to my. I think our tongue does a lot of damage. Most divorces happen because of the tongue. It all starts. So you know what I always say? One of the gifts that Paul forgot, one of the gifts is duct tape.
Duct tape over your mouth saves your marriage. It saves lots of issues. So I’m just blessed to be married to a, a lady that is loved so greatly, I love her with all my heart. And I would say that it’s been hard to live with me a lot of times. The last 10 years I haven’t been nice. I’ve been inverted, quiet, didn’t say much argumentative, but I get to meet the Lord daily and he, he deals with that cuz you’re not perfect, Chris.
We can’t be perfect today. I, I have still lot to work through and I’m, I’m not ashamed to say it. I, I’m happy I got lots to work through because, His word sustains me. He says that he prepares the table in the presence of my enemies and the Holy Spirit guides us. And he, you know, I’ve said sorry to my wife so many times, I don’t think she’s had to say sorry to me once, you know, I’m rough, I’m rough with my mouth.
I’m rough with my, my attitude. I’m rough with. And so I, and I taught marriage classes too. I taught marriage. Oh yeah, yeah. Great. I taught marriage Boy. But come live with me, Chris. Yeah. Live with me while I go through the troubles. God has lots of work to do yet in this man. But I’m blessed to be married 44 years.
45 in July. And uh, yeah, what a marvelous thing to be married. What a marvelous thing to be married.
56:24 Chris Grainger
Amen. And I tell you, I I, it resonates with me very well, cuz I mean, for, for. Hosting the, the lion within us and talking about these things and you know, we give tips every week to be better husbands and dads and fathers and things like that.
Yeah. And I tell my wife all the time, I said, yo, I’m a fraud in many ways where , I, I can teach this stuff up, up, up one side, down the others and it resonates with guys. And I have guys that give me feedback all the time on the impact it’s making in their marriage. And I look at my wife and I’m like, how you doing?
I suck. Like it’s terrible. Like I, I should do such a better job than, than I do with you, you know? And, uh, so , I appreciate your, your, your honesty there because I’m just trying to be real with you and, and real with our listeners cuz like, you know, we we’re just too broken centers. I mean, it sound like we both married very well and, uh, you know, it’s just, uh, you gotta just no credit that, that tongue is very powerful and we have to be careful of that as men.
Because as men we could, we’re the thermostat man. We, we set the temperature in our houses, you know, And, uh, man with the words make a very big difference. So j I really appreciate you going there. Yeah,
57:33 Jack Oosterveld
it’s tough. I wish I could be a better wish. I could be a better man. Well, we’re, we’re getting there. I love the fact that God takes broken men and he puts us back together and maybe it’s an eternity.
Maybe it’s just earthly training for heavenly reigning. I don’t know. But I do know that he loves us and that he’ll care for us and he’ll get us through. He just always does.
57:55 Chris Grainger
Amen. That why We’re gonna take our last break, guys. We’ll be right back.
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So Jack, we’re kind of approaching the end of our, of our time together. I wanted to to ask you one thing in particular around, uh, for, for the men out there who are listening and how can they be proactive, uh, by checking on our fellow brothers out there. Cuz you know, we have brothers in Christ and this is what we try to serve at the line with Dennis.
And there’s so many guys that are going through real life issues and that’s leading down to a path that heads to destruction. So what can we be doing as man to be proactive, to make sure that. That we’re checking in with our, with our brothers out there. Because you never know. You just never know. Yeah.
You know, cuz fake you. They are. That’s always doing good. Right? So we need to get to the real you and, and, and, and check in with our guys. So just any advice on how to do that with your fellow, fellow brothers in Christ? Yeah.
59:22 Jack Oosterveld
See, make sure you’re plugged into him. Make sure you’re plugged into the king.
Make sure you are anchored to the king. If you really want to make a difference, you gotta work. You gotta start with the king. Let him impart wisdom into you. Let him impart joy. Uh, make sure you, make sure you know how to laugh. Good. Make sure you know how not to criticize just because he’s on his third marriage and you still got your first wife.
Just forget it. It’s just the grace of God. You know? So what? One guy has 500,000 in the bank and you have meth? Forget it. Quit comparing. Take your eyes off, man. So you have to be plugged into the source in order to bring light. First of all, next thing, remember that God is a dump runner. I mean, my dad and I picked up a whole bunch of wood from the dump one time.
And it was many years later, he said, I think that’s a good word. My dad was a furniture builder from Holland. Anyhow, he, he picked up this wood and many years later he put together this absolutely beautiful coffee table that I have over here to my right. And, and, and, and that, that wood, if dad would not have picked it up, it would’ve been underneath a golf course.
that’s what they do with the golf course, right? Yeah. And so that wood would’ve been rotten, but God restrained, he goes into the dump and he takes us, let’s go and look for those that are broken and let’s, let’s believe that God can take that clay, that is, that that is hard and busted and crumbling. And, but God can, God can soften it with his word and, and next thing you know, just to have them believe that God is still at work and, and he can take that which is broken and make it into something beautiful.
So how I do it is I, I take buddies for coffee a lot. I never bring up spiritual things very much. I just have a good time with them. I become a friend. I become a friend with them, you know, just to, just to love them. And you know, they always want to talk about eschatology, about the coming of the Lord. Oh, I’m tired of that.
I’m looking forward to the Lord coming. Don’t get me wrong, hang on. But why don’t we just talk about men and in our words, and can we just watch what we say to our wives? How’s your sons doing? How’s your daughters doing? You know, just general stuff. And man, make sure you got a few jokes in your pocket too.
Just have fun reaching up. Building bridges is really, really important. Not always talking theology that they get that all the time, but how about just coming and playing some cards? Why don’t not just say, come on, let’s go for coffee. This week I picked up a guy, I said, Hey, I’m heading into town. Hey, you wanna hop in?
I said, let’s go have a coffee at Tim Horton’s. Oh, that’d be great. He says, well, we had such a nice time at Tim Horns and there always a conversation after a little bit cuz they know we’re believers, they know we’re Christians. All of a sudden you get this door. So making bridges over to them. But I think the mouth is the biggest thing that most men would agree with.
And so it’s a fun discussion and it’s really, we laugh a lot too when we talk about the things we shouldn’t say. And uh, so building bridges, being plugged into the king, right, and being the mouthpiece for those that just need a word of encouragement and a good laugh. Amen.
1:02:41 Chris Grainger
Amen. Jack, this has been wonderful.
I’m not gonna let you go there real quick. I love to do with you. We call it our feeding time. It’s our lightning round. So if you got, if you’re willing to play, I won’t the throw a few questions at you just to let the listeners know a little bit about you outside of your story. This is not tied to the, to the, to the book or anything, but it’s a fun way we like to try to end each show.
So are you willing to, to, to play with us? Let’s do it. All right. So what’s your, what’s your favorite hobby?
1:03:07 Jack Oosterveld
Favorite hobby is, uh, quoting.
1:03:10 Chris Grainger
Quoting. Okay. All right, . That sounds like a lot of fun. Yeah. So, let’s see. Don’t kick you. You can eat one meal every day and you can only have this thing, you only get to eat this, but you have to eat it every day.
What’s that meal going to be like? You sushi. Sushi. Really? Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Okay. The best. Okay, .
1:03:34 Jack Oosterveld
Love it.
1:03:35 Chris Grainger
Love it. So what’s your, uh, what’s your all-time favorite movie? What’s
1:03:40 Jack Oosterveld
the one where, uh, they’re in prison and, uh oh. Shawshank, Josh Shank Redemption has to be one of my favorite. Yep. There you go.
There
1:03:49 Chris Grainger
you go. So what’s a, what’s a new habit that you’re trying to create? Oh my goodness.
1:03:57 Jack Oosterveld
A habit. I’d like to earn some income. . Okay. A habit. A habit of going to work because I, I’ve default, I, I was a concrete finisher before I became a financial advisor, so I’ve defaulted back to the familiar, which is a real problem cuz you don’t want to birth an ish meal.
But I, I do pour concrete, but because it’s winter, I have four or five months off. So I’d like to create a habit of going to work every i that Dutch in me, I really like working. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, so I, I, yeah, I’d like, I’d probably like to create the habit of maybe going to work. No. Maybe that they, maybe I don’t even know what I want.
Yeah. I, I think that, how about create the habit of going on holidays? I kinda like that too, but that costs a lot of money. Uh, Bev, do you got something to share? What create the habit of, uh, of laughter. There, there, every day we get to laugh. Hard. . There you go.
1:04:56 Chris Grainger
There you go. Amen. Well, let’s, let’s go with your, the last question here and the lightning around.
What’s one thing that you hope the listeners out there remember from our conversation today, Jack?
1:05:06 Jack Oosterveld
Yeah. One thing. Wow. If they’re listening and they’re going through a deep valley, default to God, you, you won’t get out quickly, but you will get out and, uh, default to God, default. Grab your Bible, go read about Joseph’s life, and then be filled with the Holy Spirit.
And learn to hear his voice and to recognize it so that you’ll be amazed at how good he is. Yeah. A default to him. Amen.
1:05:45 Chris Grainger
Amen. Well, Jack, before we, before we let you go, where do you want the guys to go to get a copy of your book? Where can they go connect with you to learn more about you, your ministry, things like that?
So just, I want to give you open, open floor here. Where do you wanna point ’em?
1:05:59 Jack Oosterveld
Well, the Amazon, Amazon will actually have the book. Yep. Uh, you know, uh, you can get on Amazon for, I think it’s 99 cents right now. You can get the book, so you should run and get one, I guess. But whoever gets it, please send, please read it and put a, uh, comment down, a review.
That’s really important. If we can get enough reviews, then uh, Amazon will probably put our book, uh, in a different category, possibly. But, uh, our website is ww dot jack in bev.com and our email is hello jack inbev.com. Okay. Yeah, we’d love to hear from you. And, uh, yeah, we just believe that, uh, if, uh, if, if I can get through anybody can get through.
There you
1:06:48 Chris Grainger
go. Well, we’ll make sure we put all the, the contact information, it’s synced up in the show notes for you listeners out there, so be sure to go to the show notes there. Uh, we’ll have a link for Jack’s book as well. Uh, but Jack, anything else you’d like to share with us today on the line within us?
1:07:04 Jack Oosterveld
Well, I think if that, there’s two verses that really, really touched me. That’s Isaiah 64 4 where it says, who is this God who works on behalf of us? Who, wait, who is this God who works on behalf of those who wait. So as you wait, be quiet. Take the word sit and let it incubate because God is at work. It says God is at work.
When we wait, number two of course is, is Psalm 20%. Horses, some believe in char in horses, but some trust in chariots in horses. But I trust in the Lord God.
1:07:38 Chris Grainger
Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, Jack, it’s been an absolute honor, sir. Thank you so much for sharing your story and it’s definitely big impact conversation, and I know it’s gonna serve many of others out there.
Well, so just praying blessings for you and Bev in the future,
1:07:54 Jack Oosterveld
sir. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Chris. You have a great day. Pleasure. Yeah, my pleasure.
1:08:03 Chris Grainger
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That’s the line with then us slash book to learn more.
So guys, I told you it was a powerful one. I did not lie to you. This was a powerful one. I knew it was gonna be, uh, one of these conversations that was just gonna move a lot of people. So I pray that was you. I pray you were moved in this, you know, God showed up. God showed up, and he always does. Hope is real.
We need to remember that, that hope is absolutely real and we just can’t be the baby Christians. And I love how Jack and I we went there, we, we talked about that. You know, it’s not just about feeding. You know, it’s about serving, doing, but doing outta love out of our friendship. Uh, cuz if we have a God who wants to be there with us, he, he wants that relationship.
Well, you just have to let him in. You know, and I’ll just tell you, there were so many things about, you know, that Jack talks through becoming a warrior jumped out for sure, being that bridge. But that ultimately our default, that default setting. It’s gotta be God guys. It’s gotta be God. So if you’re at that point, maybe, you know, you’ve been there and you’ve considered suicide, you considered ending it whatever way it looks like a lot of guys, they get, they choose the gun path or choose the, uh, uh, hanging or, you know, a lot of car wrecks out there are not accidents.
They’re, they’re in very intentional guys. Remember with, for, for everyone that’s taken, there’s at least 10 that are, that are left breathing, if not more. So just think about that. Then think about, you know, what you’ve gone through. Could P put you in a great position to do the work for him and save someone else?
Because like, like Pastor Jovi says all the time, the alarm clock and the empty tomb, that’s two ways to know that God’s not done. He has the purpose for you. You just have to lean in and do the work. So if you’re blessed to have a heart beating, breathing air today, listening to the line within us, I know it may seem like the walls are com are just closing in and Satan’s attacking your marriage may be in shambles.
Maybe your finances are just completely outta train wreck, whatever it is, your kids are just acting out. You don’t know what to do anymore. That’s not the answer. The answer is not this suicide. It’s not the answer you need to understand. You know, we’re gonna go through these hardships the same way that goal is purified through the fire so you can be purified and do the work that he’s called you to do.
So a question I want you to think about this week. What are you turning to? If you hit rock bottom, if you hit rock bottom, what are you gonna turn to? My prayer is that it’s the gospel and that’s what you turn to. So guys, this is again, powerful episode this week. I pray that you shared this with others. I hit that share button, hit that light, hit that, uh, review force.
That makes a big difference. And guys, you need to be surrounding yourself with other men that are believers, that are pulling you closer to God that you can be real with. You hear me say all the time, fake you’s doing just fine. Leave that guy alone. We need to be real. If you don’t have that group of men, we have it here.
We we’re ready at the line within us, our community. It’s growing. We’re serving. We have events, guys. It’s all about being for each other. The iron is sharpens iron and it’s, it’s real. It’s being vulnerable. So check out the lion within.us. 30 days, jump in for free. Let’s have a conversation. If you’re struggling right now and this conver and this episode hits you, hits you really personally, the line within us is here.
Take that step, take that action, go to the line within us, starts your 30 day free trial. Let’s just have a conversation. And you know what the li you may find out that, you know, the line within us is not what you need right now, but during that 30 days, I wanna talk to you. I wanted and give you some encouragement.
I just wanted to just let you know that to, that you’re loved, that there’s others out there that have gone through the, the similar things that you’re going through. And you’re not alone. You’re not alone. So guys, again, the line with us will love to hear, to, to have you be part of this community. Hit us up.
Uh, love to connect with you. Connect with us on Instagram, Facebook. That’s the two primary areas where we try to spend some time just sharing with others. And guys, again, share this out with others. So come back on Friday. I got some really good tips that I think you’re gonna enjoy on our Fun Friday episode.
So prayerfully, we’ll see you back then guys, get after it. Have a great day. Don’t forget to unleash the lion within.
Understanding Suicide:
- “We need to learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of someone who is feeling suicidal.” (10:53 – 11:00)
- “Suicide is not an individual problem, it’s a societal problem.” (05:13 – 05:21)
Overcoming Suicidal Thoughts:
- “There’s no shame in asking for help, there’s no shame in being vulnerable and admitting that you’re not okay.” (16:28 – 16:38)
- “Some people, when they talk about suicidal thoughts, they’re actually trying to ask for help without directly asking for help.” (09:02 – 09:15)
Finding Hope and Healing:
- “Suicide prevention is not just about preventing someone from killing themselves. It’s about helping them to find a way out of the pain that’s causing them to feel that way.” (32:46 – 33:02)
- “You have to be able to forgive yourself for feeling the way that you did and forgive others for not understanding.” (36:21 – 36:32)
- “It’s important for us to know that our stories matter, and that we’re not alone in our struggles.” (46:57 – 47:08)
Wisdom that every man needs to know:
- “The most important thing is to never give up hope, because there is always a way out of the pain, and there is always help available.” (52:21 – 52:36)
- “If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, please know that you’re not alone, and that there is help available.” (53:02 – 53:14)
Resources:
- Jack’s Website
- Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline website: suicidepreventionlifeline.org
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