Pod Insights The Nick Bare Podcast 148: The Mindset It Takes to Persevere Through Suffering | Dylan Mandell About this episode Today I sit down with 22-year-old Dylan Mandell, who is walking through his fourth cancer diagnosis with unshakable faith in Jesus. We talk trials, daily prayer, Scripture, surrender, and the strength of family as Dylan shares why he believes his healing was already paid for on the cross in full.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
06:13 Facing Cancer with Faith
11:27 Dylan's Journey: From Diagnosis to Faith
15:24 The Role of Family and Upbringing
31:22 The Importance of Discipline and Preparation
41:41 Choosing Pain Over Medication
44:31 Miraculous Recovery
45:09 Keeping the Fire of Faith Alive
49:50 The Potter and the Clay: Embracing Suffering
57:48 The Power of Words and Discipline
01:06:38 Living with Integrity and Faith
01:10:31 Finding Peace in Faith
01:18:56 Trusting God's Plan
01:22:52 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
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Transcript 11,740 words · 2 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:06 Nick Bare? Today on the podcast, we have Dylan Mandell. Dylan, welcome, brother.
0:12 Speaker 01 Thanks, Nick.
0:13 Nick Bare? Thanks for making the trip.
0:14 Speaker 01 Yeah, man.
0:15 Nick Bare? All right. So there's a lot that I, I want to talk about today. And, um, you know, before, before we hit record,
0:26 Nick Bare? this happens a lot of time on the podcast. We sit down before we even start recording and we start just like diving right into it. There's a lot of just energy I can feel between us right now. And I know that that energy is being driven by our faith, our, our love for, for Jesus and what he's been doing in your life for, for quite some time. And what he's been doing in my life as of recently.
1:00 Nick Bare? And I know that that is going to drive this powerful conversation today.
1:04 Speaker 01 I'm feeling it. I'm like getting stirred up right now. This is good.
1:09 Nick Bare? You know, when we were talking before we started recording, it kind of shifted where I wanted to take the beginning of this episode. So I want to ask you the question.
1:21 Nick Bare? How strong are you on your own by yourself as Dylan?
1:28 Speaker 01 Dude, I'm a nobody. I'm a nobody. And
1:35 Speaker 01 when I'm not with the Lord, I'm the weakest ever. I'm like the most broken person. I'm the most scared. I'm, I'm crying first.
1:47 Speaker 01 I'm quitting first. I'm scared first. And then when I'm walking with the Lord is, is what people see. You know, people see me online. They think that I'm just some strong dude. There's a lot of strong people in this world, but I'm not one of them and I'm not with the Lord. The Lord is my strength. The Lord is my motor. That like, it's almost like when I got baptized in the spirit like two years ago and then like became believer. I started reading his word. It was like,
2:21 Speaker 01 It was like this fire got lit inside of me that wasn't my own, it's all Him. Um, yeah, I think
2:31 Speaker 01 the Spirit of God has unlimited power, unlimited potential. And He can work things in people when they become like surrendered to that. If you open yourself up to say, Holy Spirit, I need you, God, I need your power, I need your strength. I can't do this on my own. He will provide you what you need. But people need to be humble enough to ask for it.
2:57 Nick Bare? I find that super powerful, and I think people need to hear that because
3:05 Nick Bare? for those of us who come across your social media posts and your personal online, I would just assume that you are always strong. You are always on. And I think some people might see that and think, oh, I don't have that strength. I don't have that courage.
3:25 Nick Bare? But what I'm hearing is in the reality, when you're not in the Word, when you're not following the Lord, you're just as weak as everyone else. We all are. Weak in the absence of the Father.
3:37 Speaker 01 Yeah, and it's like the more I've walked with the Lord under trials, the more I've realized that you need to be in His Word daily. You need to be praying often and always. Like, I'm praying like 24/7, like in the car, in the shower, when I wake up, when I go to bed. When I'm with people, I like to lay hands on people. It's like you have to be praying always. You have to be reading His Word. I feel like the days that I like play the card when I'm too busy is when fear starts to trickle in. When I play the card, oh, I got too much on my plate, is when I might get a little anxious before I go to bed. And I've just noticed that it's so correlated, like
4:23 Speaker 01 walking with the Lord and the strength that you see, it's like
4:29 Speaker 01 they're so parallel because the source of the strength is Him. It's not like he never changes, it's not like he's never like pulls back because he actually lives inside of you, but the only variable is our awareness of him. And what the enemy wants for you is he wants you to be distracted. You know, like you being busy is not a sin, busyness is not a sin, but the enemy might pump your schedule so full that you might not have time to even look to him or see him. And that's in his eyes a win.
5:06 Speaker 01 And so our awareness of the Lord is such a variable. And that if you are looking to him always, it's like what you can achieve in that full surrendered and awareness to him, it's like there's no ceiling to what you can and cannot do.
5:22 Nick Bare? Yeah, I want to come back to distraction at some point.
5:25 Speaker 01 Yeah.
5:26 Nick Bare? Because I think that is like the distraction from the enemy is such a powerful, I'll use the word powerful tactic that is wrecking so many people, us included on a daily basis.
5:46 Speaker 01 Yeah.
5:48 Nick Bare? I do want to share a piece of scripture before we go into the next point, but as I was preparing for this conversation today, as I was telling you before we started recording, a few words were just like on my mind. One is warrior.
6:06 Nick Bare? Two is persevere or perseverance. And the third is suffering. Now you are fighting cancer for the fourth time right now. And how old are you?
6:19 Speaker 01 Twenty-two.
6:20 Nick Bare? Twenty-two years old.
6:21 Speaker 01 Twenty-two.
6:23 Nick Bare? And you're in your fourth diagnosis of cancer.
6:26 Speaker 01 Yeah.
6:27 Nick Bare? James 1, 2 through 4. You got it pulled up?
6:33 Speaker 01 This is such a good word.
6:35 Nick Bare? Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters. Whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. I've also pulled Romans 5, 3 through 5.
7:02 Nick Bare? But also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance. Perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us. And lastly, I have Proverbs 3, 5 through 6. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. And all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." So right now, at 22 years old, battling cancer for the fourth time.
7:44 Nick Bare? And what sort of mental health mindset are you at right now? How are you feeling about this most recent diagnosis?
8:02 Speaker 01 I think spiritually, it's a non-factor for me. But I think personally, I'm like so ready to be done.
8:13 Nick Bare? Tired?
8:14 Speaker 01 Yeah, I'm like, "I will live. This will not hurt me. I am fully born again by the Spirit of God." St. Galatians, "I've crucified the flesh. I'm living for Jesus. Cancer cannot touch me." But man to man, I'm tired, bro.
8:38 Nick Bare? I bet.
8:38 Speaker 01 I'm tired. I'm like, I'm deeply excited just to move on. Yeah, man, it's... Glad you mentioned James 1:2. "Count it all joy."
8:59 Speaker 01 What a difficult ask that is.
9:02 Nick Bare? I mean, I can't even imagine.
9:04 Speaker 01 Like, it's not even saying, "Count some." Count, count the stuff that you want to be joyful as joyful. It says, "Count all."
9:14 Speaker 01 I think James 1:2 is one of those verses that like you read it and you're like, "This is not written by man, but this has actually got influenced." "What man in the right mind would write, 'Count it all joy,' but him?"
9:30 Speaker 01 And I read that and I'm like, "You're telling me that, that I get off these Zoom calls and
9:36 Speaker 01 with the doctors that are back in California and like, you're telling me I have to be joyful then too?" Yes, that's what it says. And the reason that we can be joyful in everything that we face
9:50 Speaker 01 is because it's already been paid for on the cross.
9:54 Speaker 01 That that would be, counting everything as joyful is an impossible statement and it's an impossible ask unless it's already been done and fully sealed by the blood of Jesus on the cross.
10:07 Speaker 01 Like, I can sit here and be joyful because everything I could ever need was paid for 2,000 years ago on the cross.
10:18 Speaker 01 The world thinks that there's cancer in my body.
10:22 Speaker 01 Fine, let them. But I was healed 2,000 years ago on the cross. And I've been, been, I've been healed for 2,000 years. And so
10:35 Speaker 01 I sit in that. That's where, that's where I sleep at night.
10:40 Speaker 01 I sleep like a baby at night. Because I just, I just soak on the truth that everything that I could need, including healing, has already been paid for in full. His blood covered it all. And me and you, her children, get to just inherit it as a gift.
11:01 Nick Bare? That's amazing.
11:02 Speaker 01 It's like, how beautiful is that?
11:06 Speaker 01 And so spiritually, I'm so beyond cancer.
11:12 Speaker 01 But selfishly, I'm just like, I want to be done.
11:15 Nick Bare? I get it, man. I get it.
11:18 Nick Bare? I, like I said, I can't imagine, and I feel for you. Especially a twenty-two-year-old man. You were, how old were you when you were first diagnosed?
11:27 Speaker 01 I was eighteen.
11:28 Nick Bare? Eighteen?
11:28 Speaker 01 Yeah.
11:30 Nick Bare? How did, how did? How did you come across that diagnosis? Were you feeling something? Did you go in for a checkup? How did that happen?
11:37 Speaker 01 Yeah, it was like numbness in my lip. I was like driving and I was like, why is my lip like numb? Felt like you just got like, at the dentist, like a lidocaine shot or something. I'm like, why is my lip numb? Felt I needed like my wisdom teeth out. You know, went to the wisdom tooth doctor and they're like, hey, man, you got a bigger problem than just a wisdom tooth issue here.
12:01 Speaker 01 And so like he showed there was like a tumor just growing through the jaw.
12:06 Nick Bare? Through like MRI or x-rays?
12:09 Speaker 01 Yeah, so he, it was like in the dentist's office, did like a 3D thing, 3D scan. And they're like, look, I'm not, I'm the wisdom tooth guy. You know, you gotta go, you gotta go get this checked out by someone else. And yeah, I did the biopsy, confirmed that it was, it was disease in the body and my whole life changed. And I will say though, like, my story is not a cancer story. It's not like a sob story. There's like, my story is a faith testimony.
12:40 Nick Bare? Yeah.
12:41 Speaker 01 It's a testament to the Lord's goodness. You look at me, I'm not, I'm not defined by what's attacked me. I'm defined by the blood that covers me. I'm defined by Him and not cancer.
12:56 Speaker 01 I think the hardest part about posting faith in testimony online is that people make my identity what's been attacking me and not who covers me.
13:07 Nick Bare? Yeah.
13:08 Speaker 01 And I think when I tell you I'm excited to move past it, I really am. Like, I want people to see me as Dylan, the child of God, the minister to people, and not Dylan, you know, the person who had unfortunate circumstances.
13:22 Nick Bare? I should, I love that you say that. That you don't want your identity to be Dylan, the kid who had cancer four times.
13:31 Speaker 01 Yeah.
13:33 Nick Bare? But at the same time,
13:36 Nick Bare? that is testing your faith. That is part of what is producing the perseverance and the hope. And people see that. And no matter what they're going through,
13:49 Nick Bare? they're like, well, look at Dylan's hope, look at Dylan's faith, look at, look how strong he is through the Lord. He's not playing victim. He is a child of God and his faith is so strong. I mean, I see that, I'm like, what do I have to complain about?
14:09 Nick Bare? God's working in Dylan's life, God's definitely working in my life.
14:12 Speaker 01 Faith is a superpower. It's, it's probably the most important thing that anyone could ever have. If you have faith and nothing else, could do anything.
14:22 Nick Bare? Yeah.
14:24 Speaker 01 You know, faith is surrender. Like, I look around this world and all I see is pride. I see people thinking that they're so good themselves, that they can do everything on their own willpower and their own strength. And God says, no, no, no, if you actually, if you're humble enough, because humility leads to awareness. If you're humble, then you become aware of Him. And then He says, no, no, no, through me, you can do all things.
14:50 Speaker 01 I can do some things on my strength, and you can do many things on your strength, but you can't do all things by yourself. But you can do all things through Him. You can do all things through Him. And I could have never gotten up out of those hospital beds without Him. It's His strength.
15:08 Speaker 01 And I'm just here to testify to that truth.
15:11 Nick Bare? When did you find God? Like, when did he enter your life? Was it prior to that first diagnosis or was it throughout the journey of battling cancer?
15:23 Speaker 01 A little bit of both. Um, I grew up believing in God and then through cancer, I, I learned to fear God. Uh, my grandma's a prayer warrior. She'd be praying over my brother and my little sister. So like my childhood was like getting prayed over. Went to like youth camp, all the things.
15:41 Nick Bare? I heard you talking about that on Bryce's podcast.
15:43 Speaker 01 Dude, she is a prayer warrior. She's a prayer warrior.
15:47 Nick Bare? That's amazing.
15:48 Speaker 01 Like when I would get babysat by her, she'd just lay hands on us and just pray.
15:54 Speaker 01 But then I went to TCU and then there's a really good college ministry at TCU, got plugged in and really learned to like fear the Lord, get convicted of sin, have this passion to pursue him and not just the, the temporary pleasures of the world. My whole life changed then. Because when I went through cancer the first time, did chemo and radiation and like all that. And I didn't really fear God then. And that's when I really saw who I really was without him.
16:29 Nick Bare? And who was that?
16:30 Speaker 01 When I did chemo, like I, I would just lay there and just cry. I would just, they'd, they'd be pumping it through my chest or it's like they have a port. And I would just cry during infusions. Like.
16:45 Nick Bare? Cause you were scared or because it was painful?
16:47 Speaker 01 I was just scared. I just was like sad. Um, didn't have a lot of hope. Like I just look in the mirror and I didn't recognize who I saw. Like you're, you know, like 60 pounds lighter. Your head shaved. I just had a surgery done on my jaws. Like it was just like, we're just crying. I didn't, you know, like I didn't recognize who I saw.
17:14 Nick Bare? Mm hmm.
17:17 Speaker 01 And I was really broken and sad when I was just, I felt alone. And then I finished chemo, beat cancer the first time, and then I just went all in on the Lord. I was like, there's something more here. There's, there's hope in Him. And my grandma had built me such a faith foundation that I didn't even know that I had until I started to pursue Him. I started reading the Word and I'm like, man, I actually know a lot of this. So it's just been prayed over me my whole childhood.
17:52 Nick Bare? That's incredible.
17:53 Speaker 01 Yeah, I'm like, wait, I've heard that before.
17:55 Nick Bare? Plant seeds.
17:56 Speaker 01 Plant seeds. And that's like, I think this is kind of a side note in the faith, but sometimes like, God just wants you to just be planting seeds in other people. You know, like, you don't have to like, you know, save somebody in one conversation, but you can plant a seed in somebody. Like especially in college, right now, like just planting seeds in kids. So you never know where that can go. But there were just so many seeds that were planted in me that really blossomed after cancer won.
18:27 Nick Bare? That's been, that's been kind of like me and my wife's approach with our kids right now. Cause my daughter's three years old. My son's one. Yeah, initially I tried taking an approach with my daughter of teaching her who, trying to teach her who Jesus was. And I'm telling her about the Holy Spirit and like, Jesus loves you. She's like, I don't love, I don't love Him. I don't want the Holy Spirit within me. I'm like, all right, maybe you're a little young to understand this. Our approach now is planting seeds. But I have a question for you, which is a selfish question because one of the things my wife and I talk about is when our kids have to go to college one day. You know, the, the hope is that they get plugged into the right group of friends.
19:12 Speaker 01 Yeah.
19:13 Nick Bare? And a lot of that is based off of the way we raise them and it's our responsibility to plant those seeds and introduce them to the Lord and build that relationship. When you started going to TCU, what made you make the decision?
19:29 Nick Bare? Because this was before getting diagnosed, correct?
19:32 Speaker 01 Um, I was a senior in high school when I was first diagnosed.
19:36 Nick Bare? Okay.
19:37 Speaker 01 Finished chemo and then went to college right after the cancer won.
19:40 Nick Bare? Okay.
19:41 Speaker 01 Yeah.
19:42 Nick Bare? So that, so then when you went to TCU, you've went through that experience. I'm assuming that that was part of the genesis, if you will, of what led you to getting plugged into ministry.
19:54 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah.
19:58 Speaker 01 I grew up fearing my parents. And I think we need to talk about that more.
20:05 Speaker 01 Like you said, like your daughter can't like comprehend this, but she can comprehend respecting you. She can comprehend having a healthy fear of you. And a fear of the parents, a healthy fear of the parents just transitions to a beautiful fear of God. And that's like, that's the transition. And I've noticed that kids that don't grow up fearing repercussion, fearing consequences for their wrongdoing, are people that, you know, kind of spiral. But if you grow up more disciplined and structured, saying like, no, I'm your, I love you, I'm your parent. Um, I'm a parent before, I'm your best friend.
20:50 Speaker 01 A healthy fear of the parents transitions just to like, just an awesome fear of God. And I grew up, you know, it sounded like I was afraid of my parents, but I like, I never wanted to like disobey what they told me to do.
21:05 Speaker 01 And then I heard the gospel message like more consistently when I was like 18 and 19. And it just like clicked, it just made a lot of sense.
21:14 Nick Bare? Can you share some of the things that your parents did growing up that? Facilitated this healthy fear?
21:21 Speaker 01 Uh, my dad was just a strong dude.
21:23 Nick Bare? Okay.
21:24 Speaker 01 Yeah, I just didn't wanna like, yeah. Uh, if you gotta yell that, you know, it's just like a few like just, just real like chew outs. You know, he comes home from work like, just like give you, give you a good yell.
21:38 Nick Bare? Was he a, like a godly man growing up?
21:40 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, I grew up in the faith. Um, you know, like,
21:47 Speaker 01 I think like I, I saw like some kids I grew up with and their parents were their best friend and they just said yes to everything and like, it's good to say yes to your kids, but like, if you said be home by 11 or no, no, no, you want out this night, you can't go out with your friends this night. It's like, that's healthy.
22:05 Nick Bare? Mm-hmm.
22:05 Speaker 01 It's not restricting, it's just healthy. Um, then I never want, like if you told me, you know, hey, I need you to like take out the trash or need you to like go to the basement and like, do some things like before I get home from work, like it just gets done. Um, I don't know, I think that's just super healthy.
22:23 Nick Bare? So that healthy fear of your parents created a healthy respect, uh, of your parents as well?
22:30 Speaker 01 Yeah.
22:31 Nick Bare? How would you describe what it means to have a fear of, of God, fear of the Lord? Because as I've shared,
22:39 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
22:39 Nick Bare? That on my, on my platforms, a lot of people I've realized don't understand what that means.
22:46 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
22:46 Nick Bare? They go, why should you fear God?
22:48 Speaker 01 Yeah.
22:49 Nick Bare? How do you, how you describe that?
22:51 Speaker 01 Fear of God is awe of God, just in awe of Him. I just like,
23:02 Speaker 01 I would say in Romans eight 31, like for if God is for me, who could be against me? It's me grasping that in full. Like if I'm walking with the Lord, I'm just in awe of His power and His magnitude. That like there's no fear that I can't, I can't achieve something with Him because I'm just in awe of the glory that He carries.
23:25 Nick Bare? Mm-hmm.
23:26 Speaker 01 Fear of God is also me just highly respecting His ultimate judgment.
23:37 Speaker 01 Like he's, he brings justice.
23:41 Speaker 01 And if you're not under the blood of Jesus, it's like there's consequences and he's the eternal, he's the eternal judge. And so fear of God is like, I, I respect his authority and his power and his position so much to the point that I'm willing to get myself in straight. I'm gonna get my act together for it.
24:01 Nick Bare? Yeah.
24:02 Speaker 01 You know, um, I'm not saying like be afraid of God, but just walk in this like all of his power in this just high respect for the authority that he has.
24:13 Nick Bare? His, his wrath has so much power.
24:16 Speaker 01 Dude, no one can escape it.
24:18 Nick Bare? And, and, and I mean, once I felt the, the fear of God, I truly understood it. It's like, I bow down on my knees and worship the Lord.
24:33 Speaker 01 Yeah.
24:35 Nick Bare? I don't know if you've ever come across Pastor Joby Martin's stuff. Uh, he's someone that I've been following for a little bit now and he just released a new book. It's called Stand Firm and Act Like Men.
24:48 Nick Bare? And, and maybe you saw Pastor Joby Martin, you'd probably love him because like he's, he's a Jack dude. He's got tattoos. He like, he's a, he's a man's man, thick Southern accent.
25:01 Nick Bare? And he talks a lot about how like one of the most dangerous characteristics of, of men or, or boys today is that they have pride.
25:12 Nick Bare? And that the manliest of men that he's seen are the guys in the front row of his sermons during worship on their hands and knees, hands lifted high, bowing down to God. He's like, that's a man. And so many men who think they're men are like, no, that's weakness. No, no, no. That's the fear of God. That is, that is worshiping the, the all of God. That's a warrior. That's a leader. That's a man.
25:44 Nick Bare? There's this incorrectly perceived notion of what a man is today. And I think, man, you can't be a man without God.
25:55 Speaker 01 It's the opposite of what the world's telling you.
25:59 Nick Bare? Yeah, it's honestly like the way that God thinks is not the way that we think. He actually oftentimes thinks in the exact opposite way. Like he says, in order to go high, you must go low. All right, like if he like he makes examples like if if I go to you in like in biblical terms, like wash your feet, like that's a sign of respect. That if I put myself in a servant position for you, that mean in his eyes, I'm going as high and as glorious as possible. He says that you must give to receive. Like his thinking is so inverse and like it's not. Yeah, I mean, it's not a surprise that like what a real man is, is to actually be the
26:41 Nick Bare? most humble and the most surrendered. That's not about being a man in the world is is how much you take on yourself. But a man for the kingdom is how much you give away to him.
26:56 Speaker 01 Mm hmm.
26:59 Nick Bare? I was driven by worldly ambitions for for much of my life. And I pursued, as I was telling you earlier, performance and achievement and gathering and collecting of things and wealth and and worldly abundance. And the more that I gathered, the emptier I felt. And I was like, man, there's, there's gotta be, there's gotta be something I'm missing. So I would listen to another self-help podcast. I would read another self-help book. I would try a new business tactic.
27:43 Nick Bare? And all of these things, which I've now come to realize were transactional, were leading me in the worldly pursuits of what is a distraction from the enemy. And until I started following the one word, the truth, I then stopped pursuing transaction and I experienced transformation.
28:08 Speaker 01 So good.
28:09 Nick Bare? That's what was powerful for me. Yeah, man, it's, it's in, in.
28:16 Nick Bare? After experiencing that, and now being able to see, like, the only way I can describe is I was blind and now I see. And I just want, I want to tell everyone, because I don't, I don't want you to miss out on this. I don't want you to.
28:32 Nick Bare? To feel this, this huge just calling to share, to this is like, this is what I've witnessed.
28:41 Nick Bare? And I want you to experience and witness the same thing. And that's, that's what you're doing with your platform too. And that's what's so amazing. That God is putting you under trial and testing your faith.
28:57 Nick Bare? And
28:59 Nick Bare? as much as you are being put in a position of suffering after suffering after suffering, your faith and obedience and full surrender. Man, dude, that is, that is, that is what people need to see. That is absolutely incredible. And dude, I'm like, I'm, I'm so proud of, of what you're doing. For 22 years old, the amount of wisdom you have is incredible. Incredible. Yeah.
29:33 Speaker 01 I'm getting kind of choked up right now.
29:42 Speaker 01 It says right here, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial.
29:47 Speaker 01 In the verse you just read, my translation says steadfastness.
29:54 Speaker 01 That steadfastness in its full effect.
29:58 Speaker 01 That you may be perfect, complete, and lacking nothing.
30:07 Speaker 01 I don't care about clicks or, or worldly achievements. Couldn't give a rip about a follower account or who you think you are in this world. I care about Him.
30:23 Speaker 01 I'm a scared public speaker. I'm an introvert of heart. I prefer to be just in a small group with just four people or in a prayer room by myself than on a stage with a microphone. But the Lord has changed my life so much to the point where I'm going to face my fears because I want to tell you about it.
30:45 Speaker 01 The Lord's worked in my life so much to the point
30:49 Speaker 01 that I don't care about anything else except I just want at least one person just to hear the good news of the gospel.
30:57 Speaker 01 This gospel is so, it's such good news. It's like the best news.
31:05 Speaker 01 And I'm going to give my life for it.
31:09 Nick Bare? I love it, man.
31:10 Speaker 01 Yeah.
31:10 Nick Bare? I love it.
31:13 Nick Bare? I want to pivot a little bit.
31:16 Nick Bare? You know, like coming across your, the stuff you post and share online, as much as it is about the journey that you're on and glorifying God, much of your life is, is
31:33 Nick Bare? training to be this warrior mentally, spiritually, and physically.
31:42 Nick Bare? That's one of the ways, you know, I grew up in the church,
31:49 Nick Bare? central Pennsylvania. But I didn't know what having a relationship with the Lord was, was really all about.
31:58 Nick Bare? So growing up, my vision of Christianity was that it's all like happy-go-lucky and Jesus was like this very nice and humble and just kind person who he was and is. But I now have this different view of, of Jesus as his warrior, as this healer and servant, but also fighter.
32:27 Nick Bare? And much of of your life is built around training and building your body.
32:34 Speaker 01 Hmm.
32:35 Nick Bare? I'm I'm curious what that looks like for you in terms of the discipline of how you work out and how you eat. And I heard you talking about on Bryce's podcast that, you know, you grew up an athlete. You and your brother both grew up athletes. But you had to you had to prepare for this big surgery.
32:55 Nick Bare? That could have killed you. There was a chance you weren't going to make it out of that surgery. So you you trained extremely hard and you you were very disciplined in preparation for the surgery. Can you share what that experience was like?
33:08 Speaker 01 Yeah, so it was cancer number two in my life. I was nineteen.
33:14 Speaker 01 They basically said, look, we're planning the surgery. The date's in about twenty nine days. You got four weeks and some change. And you got to get in the best shape you can be in. Because you're they're going to put you under for twenty one hours.
33:33 Nick Bare? Of anesthesia.
33:34 Speaker 01 Anesthesia. Yeah, and like they can't they can't just do that like for like for people. It's like never really an option. But they're like, look, this is this is what we have to do. Like this procedure that we're going to do on you is is gonna is gonna save your life if we can do it. But you need to walk in like as prepared physically and mentally as possible.
34:02 Speaker 01 And that that lit this fire in me. And in hindsight, that was all God driven. In the moment, I I couldn't really I didn't understand what I was feeling this motor was was entirely the strength of the Lord.
34:20 Speaker 01 But I had to get myself just as locked in as I could. It was like I had a whiteboard in my garage gym with just a twenty nine and a twenty eighth and twenty seven, twenty six. It was just, I wanted to get up early and every day was a 4 a.m. alarm, non-negotiable. I could train at 7, but I, I, I just think like, the alarm is just step one. If you can be disciplined with your alarm clock, then you can be disciplined in pretty much everything else in your life.
34:51 Nick Bare? I love when my alarm clock goes off at 4 a.m., dude.
34:53 Speaker 01 Yeah.
34:54 Nick Bare? I love it.
34:54 Speaker 01 Yeah. I hate it, by the way. Just speak for yourself. Um, but I would just, you know, I'm not a morning person, but you have to be, you still have to be disciplined. And so I'd just keep all my stuff, like wrapped in my bed and my shoes. I had like electrolytes in a bottle. I had like, like two bananas, um, soft shoes and like, um, like my ankle braces and my like leg support.
35:20 Speaker 01 And I would just ruck, you know, I just would go as far as I could. Um, and then when my leg was, my legs started to hurt on the trail, I'd just go back and I'd just get on my bike and I would start biking and then just hit the weights hard and uh, diet's really important. So we'd just, you know, just be crushing. Food, I wanted to put on as much weight as possible because you lose so much weight in recovery and from surgery. That was like, okay, I'm gonna be as heavy as I can be in. I'm gonna be in the best cardiovascular shape I can be in. And I'm just gonna give my shot, like give my body just a fighting chance. And, and we did. And we did it. And it was just one of those things where
36:09 Speaker 01 when I had cancer the first time, I didn't know anything going in.
36:16 Speaker 01 When I had to do that surgery the second time, I knew everything going in. And I think that was worse.
36:23 Nick Bare? What do you mean, you knew everything? What'd you know?
36:26 Speaker 01 I, I, I knew what lied on the other side of those hospital doors.
36:32 Speaker 01 That
36:35 Speaker 01 the most traumatic memories and experiences, my most painful traumas that are buried so deep,
36:44 Speaker 01 lie there.
36:45 Nick Bare? Yeah.
36:47 Speaker 01 And you're telling me that I have to go back?
36:51 Speaker 01 That's all I would think about when I would wake up early. It's just those memories of just like those chemo infusions, just like cycling through, just those long nights, the pain. It would just be cycling.
37:07 Speaker 01 And it just, yeah, it just drove me to be the best person I could be going in, the strongest person I could be going in. But it wasn't easy. Like, everything's a battle. Like, you wake up on the morning of the surgery. Like, you have to wake up super early, get there, you know, sign your life away on documents, and like, get to the pre-op room. Like, getting from my house into the car, because you know the car is what's gonna drive you there, is a battle. Driving there was like a 45-minute drive, just looking out the window. Everything's just circling of what you're about to go into. That's a battle. You gotta go out of the car, through the parking lot, across the street, and into the hospital. That's a battle.
37:49 Speaker 01 You're in the pre-op room, getting a gown on. They're like rushing in, putting IVs in. They're like, have like a Sharpie, they're like Sharpie-ing your access points. Uh, there's like three surgical teams that came in. There was like a... The, like, the head and neck tumor removal team. There was the reconstruction team, and then there was like the, like, the neurological team that came in. And so, like, all these groups were coming in with all their people. It's just like chaotic, and all these steps is a battle in of itself.
38:31 Speaker 01 And it's the strength of the Lord is the only way you can be peaceful in the midst of that.
38:38 Speaker 01 It's the only way.
38:41 Speaker 01 And I remember going to the bathroom, just to kind of pep myself up before we're about to go in, and then just kind of looking at myself in the mirror.
38:53 Speaker 01 Just like, I looked at myself and like, whatever condition you wake up in, be strong.
39:01 Speaker 01 No matter what it looks like.
39:06 Speaker 01 Be strong.
39:08 Speaker 01 And I just looked at myself, gave myself a smile. Definitely like smile at myself and I walked back, back over and they're ready to roll. And so they just pushed me back and
39:25 Speaker 01 Yeah, I just, I woke up in
39:28 Speaker 01 a pain state you can't even like describe.
39:35 Speaker 01 Just gnarly dude.
39:39 Speaker 01 With like a car accident. It's like it's just blood like pouring down my face. It was like my head was resting in like a pool of blood.
39:51 Nick Bare? Was that another jaw surgery?
39:53 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, it was. Yeah, another head surgery. But they like went, it was like the hole, it went all the way over the scalp.
40:04 Speaker 01 So gnarly dude. They took like half my quad out for that one to like, for the reconstruction part.
40:14 Speaker 01 That's just been gnarly. Cause they need, they need what you have in your legs to reconstruct what they take out. And so like, I don't even have, I don't have a fibula bone in my right calf. And I lost like half my right quad. So I'm like fully handicapped in my right leg right now. Been doing physical therapy for years.
40:37 Nick Bare? When was that second surgery?
40:38 Speaker 01 That was April 2023.
40:41 Nick Bare? Okay.
40:41 Speaker 01 April 23.
40:43 Nick Bare? So a little over two years now.
40:44 Speaker 01 Yeah, about two and a half years.
40:48 Speaker 01 And I'm, I'm doing good, you know, like
40:53 Speaker 01 any expectation a doctor gives you, it's like, you can shatter it. We're breaking expectations.
41:03 Speaker 01 But back to it.
41:09 Speaker 01 I had really traumatic experiences from medication side effects during cancer one. Like pretty much all those pain medications caused me to have like really just awful side effects, so much so to where when I woke up in like that just car wreck looking procedure, I refused all pain meds. I said, I'm not taking what you're giving me. I'd rather feel this pain than lose myself and like hallucinate and like trip and like all these things that like were so traumatic.
41:55 Speaker 01 And so in cancer two, in that surgery, I was like, I woke up with no pain meds. I was just, I just sat in it. I was just, I'll feel all of it. I'd rather be fully mentally here and present with my family who's right here and feel this than have a side effect from a pain med.
42:17 Speaker 01 And so that led to like just
42:21 Speaker 01 just learning to be comfortable in pain.
42:23 Nick Bare? I can't imagine.
42:26 Speaker 01 Pain's a choice.
42:31 Nick Bare? How long did that last? That level of intensity?
42:37 Speaker 01 Probably a hundred hours.
42:40 Speaker 01 Couple days.
42:46 Speaker 01 Couldn't speak because there's a ventilator coming out of my mouth. Seems to be very internal. Like everything's going on up here. But I can't say anything. I'm just laying back in a puddle of blood, looking at this tube coming out of my mouth.
43:07 Speaker 01 And like, everything's hurting, but I can't say, I can't say anything.
43:12 Speaker 01 What am I gonna do, like? Bang something together, you know, people don't know. And so, I had to get really comfortable internally.
43:22 Speaker 01 Then when I looked at myself in the mirror before it, and I said, "Be strong," like, "Be strong."
43:29 Speaker 01 But I was starting to learn that I couldn't do this. I couldn't be strong by myself. Like, it was, it was getting too bad, it was too much for me to handle.
43:44 Speaker 01 And so, I just internally, just, just cried to the Lord.
43:49 Speaker 01 Like, that was my breaking point.
43:52 Speaker 01 That was my moment, when people say, "Do you have, do you have like a moment when like, your faith was like, really forged?" I'm like, "Yeah." When I couldn't speak, under the pain,
44:04 Speaker 01 I yelled to the Lord in my mind, and He heard, He heard every word.
44:11 Speaker 01 And He wiped away every tear.
44:16 Speaker 01 He lit a fire in me in that moment. Just like, kick-started this recovery process that was like, supernatural.
44:31 Speaker 01 Like, I left, I left the hospital and recovered in half the expected time. They would come in every morning for their like, daily, you know, checklist of like, "What can you do, what you can't do, how's your progress on these things?" And like, when you check, you know, like,
44:52 Speaker 01 there, there are ten requirements, you can go home. And it's like, every morning they'd come in, we were checking boxes. It's like, "How is this happening?"
45:02 Speaker 01 "It's the Lord."
45:04 Speaker 01 "It's the Lord."
45:07 Speaker 01 And we got out of it.
45:09 Nick Bare? I love this analogy of the fire.
45:14 Nick Bare? And you've brought it up a few times throughout this conversation so far, which is very interesting timing because right before you got to HQ today, someone sent me a message and it literally said, hey, man, like, because I've been more bold and public with my faith in my journey and how my relationship, my intimate relationship with Jesus Christ is, is making this
45:44 Nick Bare? transformation, but renewal of not just my life, but my family's life and everything in my, around me right now. Uh, this person sent me a message that was, hey, man, just, just keep the fire going. Just keep the fire going. And I got this message and it really just hit home for me. Cause that's our responsibility. That is like, that is the fear of God. Keep the fire. Keep the fire. Keep the fire. And that fire comes from being in the word, being
46:23 Nick Bare? in prayer, maintaining full surrender, being obedient. You can't let that fire die. The enemy wants that fire to extinguish and burn out.
46:42 Nick Bare? Of all that has happened in these, I guess I'll ask the question first. It's been four years roughly since you've been first diagnosed, right?
46:55 Nick Bare? Do these four years feel fast or very slow?
46:58 Speaker 01 Slow.
46:59 Nick Bare? Slow?
47:02 Nick Bare? So much has happened in four years.
47:04 Speaker 01 I can't even remember my life before this.
47:08 Speaker 01 It's insane. I can't like, I.
47:14 Speaker 01 I like forget.
47:17 Speaker 01 I forget what my life is before. And that's why I like when I say at the beginning, like, I'm spiritually past it.
47:26 Speaker 01 But man to man, I'm so like, ready to be done.
47:31 Speaker 01 I just wanna like make memories, like, not about this.
47:35 Nick Bare? Yeah, you just wanna live your life.
47:38 Speaker 01 Yeah.
47:40 Speaker 01 And there's no doubt that that's not coming. And so like, I don't wanna like, say that with like a doubtful tone.
47:48 Speaker 01 The Lord gives me hope.
47:51 Speaker 01 And, and I'm deeply excited for that day. When it's gone and we can just move on.
48:00 Speaker 01 But man, I, I want it to be today.
48:03 Nick Bare? Yeah.
48:04 Speaker 01 So bad.
48:04 Nick Bare? Yeah, I mean, I want that for you. I do want that for you.
48:09 Nick Bare? But you gotta recognize how wise you are because of what the Lord has put you under. I mean, he tells us many times throughout scripture. It's not just about knowing. But it's about understanding. And understanding is wisdom.
48:25 Speaker 01 Yeah.
48:27 Nick Bare? And brother, for a 22 year old dude, you got a lot of wisdom.
48:31 Speaker 01 I've seen a lot.
48:32 Nick Bare? You got a lot of understanding.
48:34 Speaker 01 Yeah, man.
48:35 Nick Bare? You don't just, you just don't see it and read it, but you know it. And it's very obvious.
48:44 Speaker 01 Thank you.
48:44 Nick Bare? And
48:47 Nick Bare? we, we gotta have faith that he's putting you under these trials and tribulations for a very specific reason and purpose.
48:56 Speaker 01 I got a word for that.
48:57 Nick Bare? Yeah.
49:00 Speaker 01 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you.
49:09 Speaker 01 Don't be surprised. It's not a matter of if there's gonna be challenges you face, it's a matter of when. And so, don't be surprised, but look to the one who already set you free from it. Look to the one who gives you hope in the midst of it.
49:28 Speaker 01 It would say, like, just a little bit past.
49:33 Speaker 01 And after you've suffered a little while, that the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
49:50 Speaker 01 There's something about suffering that's... It's not from God, but He's just so good at using it for His glory.
50:00 Speaker 01 That God... There's a man that God wants you to be.
50:06 Speaker 01 And it might be on the other side of suffering.
50:11 Speaker 01 Now, suffering is, again, not from Him, but God is wise enough to maybe let you sit in it for a second, to forge you in that, to then become who He wants you to be.
50:25 Speaker 01 It's in Jeremiah 18, that God is like the potter and we're like the clay. We're just a piece of mush, a piece of clay. Not if you know anything about, like, a pottery process. You get spun on a wheel, you get smacked on this thing, and you get pushed into it and you get a vase, like a clay vase out of it. And that's a season that some people might be in right now. You might be in a season right now where you're going from a muck, from a ball of clay, into just this beautiful vase in the eyes of God.
51:04 Speaker 01 But you gotta, like, spin it in circles. Sometimes people might be saying, "Man, I feel like I'm spinning." You're on that wheel. Some people think, "Man, I feel like there's... It's just raining in my life."
51:18 Speaker 01 You gotta put water on the clay as you're spinning it to form it.
51:23 Speaker 01 But then it's fully molded on the wheel, but it's still just a sopping wet piece of fragile clay. And if you don't do anything to it, it's just gonna collapse and go right back to just being a ball. And so you have to get put in the furnace.
51:43 Speaker 01 And you have to heat it up. And it's sitting in the furnace is what hardens and strengthens the clay into the vase that God made you into.
51:54 Nick Bare? That's good.
51:57 Speaker 01 And so you might look around and say, I'm somewhere on that process. He might turn the heat up so hot in your life because he loves the vase that he created you into. That God sculpted you into just this beautiful image of himself. And he's like, I'm gonna turn the heat up in your life because I want you to stay how I created you and not fall back to where you once were.
52:27 Speaker 01 So it says, "Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you."
52:33 Speaker 01 Man, dude, pressure is a privilege. For God to look at me and you, that one point in your life to just be just a ball of nothing. And for him to say, "I love you so much to the point that I'm gonna mold you and then I'm gonna put you in the furnace because I want you to be something better."
52:57 Speaker 01 It's a blessing.
53:00 Speaker 01 It's such a blessing.
53:02 Nick Bare? That's incredibly sad. And extremely...
53:09 Nick Bare? Visual.
53:12 Nick Bare? I think for a lot of people who don't have a strong faith or foundation or understanding, that analogy, that visualization, just like really puts a bow on it.
53:27 Nick Bare? You know, as you were going through multiple surgeries, diagnosis, treatments, I have to assume that you were, you were doing this in the hospital alongside other people who are also going through similar
53:47 Nick Bare? treatments or surgeries?
53:50 Nick Bare? Was there a
53:53 Nick Bare? I'm assuming yes, but was there a huge difference? Like, did you, did you meet people who were going through similar journeys? Who didn't have God? He didn't know who he was? And watched them try to navigate these trials and tribulations? And just go off the rails? Be lost? Struggle?
54:17 Speaker 01 I've never been asked that.
54:22 Speaker 01 There's an interesting fork in the road that you, that you hit when you have extreme circumstances.
54:32 Speaker 01 And you can either go, I hate God? Or I need God?
54:39 Speaker 01 And there's a lot of people
54:42 Speaker 01 who say, I hate God. How could this happen to me? I've, I've done good things. I'm not a bad person.
54:53 Speaker 01 How could a God who's good
54:56 Speaker 01 have me go through this?
55:01 Speaker 01 And there's 99% of people that, that fall this camp.
55:09 Speaker 01 And I think one of my goals
55:13 Speaker 01 in life is just to help more people in this camp come here.
55:23 Speaker 01 That there's, yeah, I saw hopelessness in people.
55:28 Speaker 01 I saw people giving up. I would hear people in other rooms like wailing all night long.
55:46 Speaker 01 He's our great comforter.
55:51 Speaker 01 And I want just the blanket of love of God, just to blanket these people. Give them eyes to see and ears to hear to come, to come home.
56:05 Speaker 01 It's hard, dude.
56:07 Nick Bare? Yeah.
56:09 Speaker 01 It's, it's hard. Because all you see is hopelessness.
56:15 Speaker 01 In the patients and in doctors. It feels like hopelessness is the theme of a hospital.
56:25 Speaker 01 And it's mainly due to the absence, the absence of faith. Where faith is, hope is, and where faith isn't, hopelessness is there.
56:36 Speaker 01 And I would love just to bring more faith and hope into the hospital scene. It needs it.
56:43 Nick Bare? Do you have any doctors or nurses on your team that, that were strong believers? Who incorporated faith into their practice? Because that is a very
56:57 Nick Bare? like strong observation and accurate statement that when you're in a hospital, it is very, it's black and white. It's like, here's what we're, here's what we're dealing with. Here's the procedure, here's the plan. Here are the expectations. It's all pre-calculated, predetermined. There is an absence of faith. Which leads to an absence of hope. It's, it's, I can assume it's really hard to have hope in a hospital. Because doctors and practitioners are afraid to give you hope. Because they don't want to get your hopes up. Because then they're letting you down. So they protect themselves
57:41 Nick Bare? by giving you worst case scenario as the case to, as opposed to best case scenario. That's tough, man.
57:47 Speaker 01 Yeah.
57:50 Speaker 01 Something I've been chewing on this month has been, life and death is in the power of the tongue. What you speak matters. What you say matters. And if I'm constantly speaking the existence of cancer in my life, that's actively hurting me. And what's hard about the hospital system
58:13 Speaker 01 is like you said, like they have to say everything. They're, they're, they spend their time verbalizing the existence of these things, confirming the evil in your life. To get, to get on the spiritual side of things,
58:30 Speaker 01 cancer is an attack on my body. Cancer is not who I am. I'm made perfectly in God's image. The enemy tried to take things out of my life.
58:42 Speaker 01 But in the eyes of God, I'm perfectly His son. And it's hard for me as a Christian.
58:50 Speaker 01 And the enemy's taken so much from me.
58:53 Speaker 01 Just to like, be speaking the existence
58:59 Speaker 01 of something that's just merely just an attack on me.
59:04 Speaker 01 We don't have to like go deeper into that.
59:07 Nick Bare? Do you know who Chad Wright is?
59:09 Speaker 01 No.
59:11 Nick Bare? Chad Wright is a former Navy SEAL, man of God.
59:19 Nick Bare? I've had him on the podcast a few times. He's a really good friend. And one of the things he says is that your tongue is your rudder. And the things that you say, you speak into existence, they will lead you mentally, spiritually, physically to those places. If you tell yourself you're weak, you will become weak. If you tell yourself you're strong, you'll become strong. If you are constantly complaining
59:44 Nick Bare? or being pessimistic, that will lead you to where you go. Your tongue is your rudder, like a boat. Your, your body is the vessel. Your tongue is the rudder of that vessel. And when he told me that the first time, that hit me so hard.
1:00:03 Nick Bare? Because he, the first time he ever showed up at BPN HQ, it was middle of the summer. And um, he showed up early and I was waiting for him because we were gonna record a podcast. So I'm waiting in the studio and I see, he shows up with his buddy Chili. And it might have been August, it was like 110 degrees here in Texas. And he's running laps around the BPN HQ. Like, what's this guy doing? He's running. And um, we brought him in, I was like, what are you doing? Yeah, I got here early, we decided to get, you know, some miles in. He came over and he uh, I introduced him to the BPN team.
1:00:44 Nick Bare? And the first thing that someone said to him when he walked in HQ was, he goes, hey, how you guys doing? And someone said, good, but it's really hot. He met the next person, hey, how you doing? Good, but it's hot out here today. And he looked over at me, he's like, your team thinks it's really hot? Must be really affecting him. And that's when he then told me, your tongue is your rudder. If you tell, if you tell yourself it's hot, if you tell yourself it's difficult, if you tell yourself it's challenging before you even go into it, that's what you're expecting.
1:01:15 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude, that's good.
1:01:18 Nick Bare? Yeah.
1:01:19 Speaker 01 That's good. Yeah, what you speak matters. And people, people don't control their tongues. People say what they want, people post what they want. People are very unfiltered. And I think part of being a man is, is being very, I think conservative in your speech, calculating what you say, and careful in what you say. So what you say matters.
1:01:47 Nick Bare? Mm-hmm.
1:01:48 Speaker 01 You know, like, I pray to be a voice for the Lord for a long time. I pray to be a minister of people. But I need to check myself because if I want to preach the word of God, then I can't be dulling the sharpness of my blade in my tongue by gossiping, by cussing, by like, talking negatively, by complaining.
1:02:17 Nick Bare? Yep.
1:02:18 Speaker 01 If I do those things, then I, he says, I've made your mouth sharper than a double-edged sword. What is what I was referencing.
1:02:28 Speaker 01 If I just go about, you know, being unfiltered with my tongue, not controlling what I say and all the things, then I'm actually hurting what I actually want to do, and that's to preach the word. I want to go make disciples. I want to go give people this word. And I'm hurting myself if I'm uncontrolled with my tongue.
1:02:53 Nick Bare? Uncontrolled, undisciplined.
1:02:55 Speaker 01 Yeah. Talk about discipline.
1:02:57 Nick Bare? Yeah.
1:02:58 Speaker 01 Yeah, man. Discipline is everything. And I think people
1:03:07 Speaker 01 shortcut discipline. So common.
1:03:13 Speaker 01 Discipline is to be disciplined in all aspects of your life.
1:03:18 Speaker 01 Was, I think David Goggins called it a part-time savage. There's a bazillion part-time savages out there.
1:03:29 Speaker 01 But if you want to be disciplined, you have to be disciplined in all aspects of your life.
1:03:34 Speaker 01 I'm by no means a super athlete, nor do I have goals of doing that, but I will be disciplined in my diet, in my training, in my sleep, in my regimen, because it helps what I actually am passionate about and what my real goals are.
1:03:46 Nick Bare? Mm-hmm.
1:03:47 Speaker 01 My goals is actually ministry, my calling's a ministry. But me being disciplined in training, diet, sleep, and my regimen, me being controlled and disciplined in what I say, how I speak to people, the relationships I have, all of that discipline leads to me being disciplined into my calling.
1:04:06 Nick Bare? Yeah.
1:04:10 Speaker 01 You know what I mean? Like, I'm not training for anything, fine. But still, train and bust your ass. You know, eat good food. Eat what God asks you to eat, you know? Like, set an alarm and get up. Because all that stuff, whether you think about it or not, adds up into the person that you are.
1:04:31 Speaker 01 We're a complete being. It's like a pie chart. You know, if I'm like, people don't think that what they do, you know, out of the office matters in their life, but what they do out of the office starts to impact their performance in the office. If you don't sleep good, you're not going to perform good. Like, your entire life is so interconnected, and the word discipline is so powerful. Because if you're disciplined everywhere, you're going to be disciplined in the specific ways that matter to you most.
1:05:04 Nick Bare? I think this is so important to touch on. One of the things that I've said for a long time, and I so strongly believe, is the way you do one thing is the way you do everything.
1:05:14 Speaker 01 Amen.
1:05:15 Nick Bare? And especially in the industry that I'm in, the fitness space. I've met a lot of people who will set their alarm for 4:00 AM. They'll go along 20 miles before they show up to work. They'll eat all their meals, but then when they show up to work, they're a turd. When they show up to their family, they're a turd. And I'm like, dude, you can't, you can't be a stud and disciplined in this one area of your life. And then it gives you a free-for-all in grace to be a turd in every other area of your life. It doesn't work that way. Show up in the same way you do everything. That's how you build trust.
1:05:59 Nick Bare? That's how you're respected for being competent in what you do. People will look you as a warrior, a leader, someone who's reliable. And I feel, and we should all feel, that is a heavy responsibility and burden to carry. The way we show up for one thing is the way we show up to everything. But so many people think that, well, I'm disciplined in this area of my life, so that gives me grace to be lazy and take it easy on all these other areas. No, no, no, no, no.
1:06:38 Speaker 01 Yeah. The Bible talks about that integrity. Walk with integrity. Like...
1:06:48 Speaker 01 So many people are entirely different people in all situations they come about in their day. I don't know if I said that clearly. People that don't walk with integrity are legitimately a different person in their office than they are outside their office. People are a different person in a podcast room than they are outside a podcast room. People are different versions of themselves when they interact with different people. And that's like just entirely walking with a lack of integrity.
1:07:17 Nick Bare? Yeah.
1:07:18 Speaker 01 Like if I'm just some, you know, fitness beast and then like,
1:07:25 Speaker 01 you know, between the hours of like 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM, I'm just like stuffing my face with sugar. It's like, I wouldn't call that integrity.
1:07:34 Nick Bare? Right.
1:07:35 Speaker 01 You know, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say that I'm the same person all the time.
1:07:40 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's like, it's too normal for people.
1:07:43 Nick Bare? It really is.
1:07:43 Speaker 01 So normalized.
1:07:45 Nick Bare? I've been in the Book of James a lot recently.
1:07:47 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:07:48 Nick Bare? James is that one book where every time I start reading it again, and I'll read it at night before I'm going to bed, it jacks me up. I can't fall asleep. And in this, what is it, five chapters in the Book of James? As short as it is, it is packed. And it talks about how we will be judged if we treat the rich different from the poor. And we should be treating everyone in the same way. It's just like you're talking about where if you show up for one person, you need to show up for that next person, whether they are your brother or they are a stranger in the same exact way. That is the integrity with that we are speaking upon.
1:08:34 Nick Bare? That's challenging, but that's what we're being called to do.
1:08:37 Speaker 01 That's a, that's a really good word.
1:08:40 Speaker 01 Yeah, like.
1:08:44 Speaker 01 Everyone's so focused on the titles that the world gives people.
1:08:50 Speaker 01 F your title.
1:08:51 Nick Bare? Mm hmm.
1:08:52 Speaker 01 Don't care. It's like we've all fallen short of the glory. We need him all equally. So let's walk in that humility.
1:09:02 Nick Bare? I, I used to get tied up with the titles. Yeah, I recently talked about this.
1:09:09 Nick Bare? On a podcast and conversation I had with my wife. Where if someone asked, "Hey, who are you? Who, who's Nick Bear?" I would say, "I'm, I'm founder and CEO of BPN." I loved having that title. Founder and CEO. More so founder than CEO. That's who I thought I was. That was my identity. That is what I do. That is my work. That's not who I am. My identity is rooted in Christ.
1:09:45 Nick Bare? And when I made that shift, and I forgot about the worldly title that I gave myself and other people gave me. And
1:09:58 Nick Bare? I really accepted and embraced the identity that Christ gave me when He created me.
1:10:05 Nick Bare? That's when I really started figuring out who I am. Who I was and who I was meant to be. That changed my life.
1:10:11 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:10:13 Speaker 01 He calls you a child of His. Like, how cool is that?
1:10:18 Nick Bare? Yeah.
1:10:20 Speaker 01 Like, in the same way that Jesus is the Son of God, you get to also be a Son of God. Pretty cool.
1:10:28 Nick Bare? Absolutely incredible.
1:10:29 Speaker 01 Pretty cool.
1:10:31 Nick Bare? Would you say right now, at this point in your life,
1:10:35 Nick Bare? you're on diagnosis number four?
1:10:39 Nick Bare? At this point today, it is November
1:10:43 Nick Bare? 4th.
1:10:43 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:10:44 Nick Bare? When were you diagnosed for the fourth time?
1:10:47 Speaker 01 Like, August 26th, I wanna say.
1:10:54 Nick Bare? Could you say you're at peace right now?
1:10:56 Speaker 01 Perfect peace.
1:10:59 Nick Bare? What gives you that confidence?
1:11:03 Speaker 01 Dude, I'm already healed.
1:11:06 Speaker 01 I'm already healed by the blood of Jesus. I'm healed by what happened 2,000 years ago. And that comfort is everything.
1:11:16 Speaker 01 It says, um, 1 Peter 224. I don't have it up. He himself barsons in his body on the cross, that we may be dead to sin and alive in righteousness. By his stripes we have been healed. Dude, he took it all. He took it all. Sickness is to the body what sin is to the soul.
1:11:42 Speaker 01 And he took it all for me.
1:11:48 Speaker 01 I just have peace in knowing like what lies ahead. We should be talking about heaven more.
1:11:56 Nick Bare? Mm-hmm.
1:11:57 Speaker 01 Like,
1:11:59 Speaker 01 what an honor. What a blessing. Like, how exciting. And
1:12:08 Speaker 01 I'm just at perfect peace with how everything's gone.
1:12:15 Speaker 01 Like, deeply satisfied with every pain.
1:12:25 Nick Bare? Yeah, satisfied. I heard this great analogy. I was in a sermon when I was on the bike. You know, being 16 weeks into Ironman prep right now. I've spent over 130 hours on the bike.
1:12:39 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:12:40 Nick Bare? It's been a lot of sermons, a lot of worship in there.
1:12:44 Nick Bare? And, um, I heard this analogy this past week that I thought was just like so powerful. And, um,
1:12:53 Nick Bare? You know, it was, it was this pastor describing, I can't remember exactly who it was. So I'd love to credit him, but I can't remember. People ask the question, well, don't I go to heaven if I'm just a good person? And he used the analogy, you know, so you walk up to a random person's house. You don't know who lives there. They don't know you. And you say, hey, can I come? I'm here, I want, I want to live here. And they say, this is my house. Yeah, but like, I'm a good person, so you can trust me. I want to come live in your house with you. And they say, no, get out of here. Absolutely not. Vice versa, you go to a relative's house.
1:13:38 Nick Bare? Someone that you really know and trust, and they trust you. They know you, you know them, you have an intimate relationship. You walk up to that door, you knock on the door. Hey, brother. I'm here, I'm, I want to live here. Oh, what happened? I was, I need, I need a place to live. Yeah, come on in, absolutely. It's an intimate relationship that allows them to come live in that house. Not just because they are a good person. And then the second analogy that was used in this sermon was, um, you know, God, God calls up a buddy and says, hey, uh, come on over to my house, I want you to come live here.
1:14:22 Nick Bare? And his buddy, he, he, he, God knows where he lives, his buddy doesn't know where God lives. So his buddy starts just driving around everywhere, looking for the house of God. But he can't find it. And God says, well, I gave you the directions. You know, you, you go straight on, north on Main Street, you turn left on Elm, you hook a right, you, you make a left on Sycamore, and my house is there. God gives us the directions to his house. But so many people ignore the directions of how we get there. The direction is right in front of you. It is the scripture, it is prayer, it is faith.
1:15:06 Nick Bare? So it's the two things that God is calling us to do to get to his kingdom. Have an intimate relationship with him and his son, Jesus Christ.
1:15:17 Nick Bare? And follow the directions that he has laid out for us together. And those two analogies shared, I shared with my wife, we're like, oh, that is so powerful. That is gold.
1:15:31 Nick Bare? So it's two things that people will ignore and skip.
1:15:37 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's a good word.
1:15:38 Nick Bare? Mm hmm.
1:15:39 Speaker 01 It's a good word.
1:15:45 Speaker 01 I think too often we forget that God's the one who's driving that car.
1:15:53 Nick Bare? Dude, well, well said. We all want to drive it, though.
1:15:57 Speaker 01 We think we're driving it, but he is.
1:16:01 Nick Bare? That's such a good point.
1:16:02 Speaker 01 You know, instead of me like, God's like, I'm holding the wheel. Why are you trying to grab the wheel? He's like, it's almost like I'm in the passenger seat sometimes trying to lean over across the dash to like crank the wheel this direction. And he's like, why are you grabbing the wheel? It's like you're in my car. I'm driving it. I'm the guy.
1:16:25 Nick Bare? Yeah.
1:16:27 Speaker 01 Just sit tight in the passenger seat. And just be happy that you're in the car with me in the first place.
1:16:32 Nick Bare? Man. Well said. That was a good call there.
1:16:36 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:16:36 Nick Bare? Yeah.
1:16:38 Speaker 01 It's like, dude, we're going where we're going. It's fine. We're gonna get there when we get there. We're going to a place that I've already carved out for you. So don't worry about where we're going and when we're getting there. Just sit tight and just be happy that you're in here with me.
1:16:55 Nick Bare? Mm hmm.
1:16:58 Speaker 01 And so like, I'm sitting here. Yeah, it's like,
1:17:04 Speaker 01 I'm just happy to be in the car with him. And that's how I feel right now.
1:17:09 Nick Bare? Well, brother, I appreciate what you're doing. And
1:17:15 Nick Bare? it's amazing to just see how God's working on your life. And how you are being a witness to his word.
1:17:26 Nick Bare? And
1:17:29 Nick Bare? You're 22 years old. You've gone through a lot. You've experienced a lot of suffering.
1:17:35 Nick Bare? But you were so wise for it. I mean, it's obvious. God is doing some, he's doing some work in your life. And he's working through you
1:17:49 Nick Bare? to do a lot of great work here on earth. So I appreciate you, brother.
1:17:55 Nick Bare? Me and this team and our family were praying for you.
1:18:00 Nick Bare? I'm very fortunate to have had the opportunity to sit down with you and have this conversation.
1:18:07 Speaker 01 Thank you, Nick.
1:18:08 Nick Bare? All right, man.
1:18:09 Speaker 01 Dude, you're so awesome, bro.
1:18:10 Nick Bare? Thank you. I appreciate you.
1:18:11 Speaker 01 I'm so encouraged by like your faith and we're saying that like we need more voices, more just real people with real faith experiences. I'm so encouraged by just the outward proclamation of your faith and dude, God's, God's working so big for you right now.
1:18:30 Nick Bare? Oh, I can feel it. I'm not, I'm not the same person I was a few months ago. I'm not.
1:18:35 Speaker 01 Present.
1:18:36 Nick Bare? And I don't, I don't recognize the person that I used to be.
1:18:45 Nick Bare? For all the best reasons.
1:18:48 Nick Bare? For all the best reasons.
1:18:49 Speaker 01 What are your desires? Like where, where do you want to go?
1:18:56 Nick Bare? Wherever he wants me to go.
1:18:57 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:18:58 Nick Bare? You know, I, I think
1:19:02 Nick Bare? for most of my life,
1:19:06 Nick Bare? I've tried to put myself in the driver's seat and take control of the wheel and feel the need to get myself there on my own. But right now I'm just being patient. And I can feel God working in my life.
1:19:25 Nick Bare? And it's very exciting because I know this next chapter of my life is going to be such an adventure because I'm doing it through God's will. I don't know where that's gonna take me, but I know it's gonna take me amazing places, places that I never imagined or would have expected. And that's what's making life so exciting right now. I don't know what I'm gonna be doing next year, or in three years, or in five years. But God's got a plan, and I'm gonna be obedient, and I'm gonna surrender everything. And it's gonna be a wild ride, but it's because of Him.
1:20:03 Speaker 01 It's gonna be beautiful, like, looking back. Like, He's telling you to, like, walk with a compass and not a map. You know, like, He's telling you just to, like, got this compass, which makes you surrendered. And He's like, dude, just follow, follow north.
1:20:20 Nick Bare? Yeah.
1:20:21 Speaker 01 Follow north and just keep walking. A map, like you said, it's just like, it's just gonna direct the thing. There's no real faith involved. But the faith comes when you see this direction of straight north, to have the faith to go. And like you just said, when you look back, you're gonna be like, that course that we just got, that we just went on, is so beautiful in the end, but only He knows. And I just like to just sit in the reality that, like, what's to come is in, it's gonna be far more beautiful than we can even understand right now.
1:21:00 Nick Bare? Yeah.
1:21:01 Speaker 01 One of my favorite verses right now is Ephesians 3:20. And I think this is, this could be a really good one for you. It says, "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we could ask or think, according to the power at work within us."
1:21:20 Nick Bare? Can you read it again?
1:21:23 Speaker 01 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us.
1:21:32 Nick Bare? Yeah.
1:21:33 Speaker 01 Dude, he is so able. He loves to be like, he loves to take our faith and then like produce things from that that you like didn't even know were possible. Like you're gonna take one step of faith and he's gonna take that 10 miles. You take two steps of faith, he's gonna take it. It's like there's no telling what he can't do.
1:21:57 Nick Bare? Yeah.
1:21:59 Speaker 01 And he thinks bigger than you do. He thinks better than you do. His plans are bigger and beyond even the good plans that like we think that we have. Like your goals for BPN for, you know, now until 2030, I'm making something up. Like his plans are incomprehensible better.
1:22:22 Speaker 01 And it's, it's pretty cool just to think about.
1:22:24 Nick Bare? That's why I have so much trust and confidence for the future. Cause I've put that trust and confidence in him.
1:22:33 Nick Bare? You know, it's not just me carrying the yoke on my own. It's alongside of him.
1:22:43 Nick Bare? And that's why I know the future is bright.
1:22:48 Nick Bare? Very, very bright.
1:22:52 Nick Bare? Our brother, now it's time to sauna, cold plunge, train.
1:22:55 Speaker 01 Let's go.
1:22:56 Nick Bare? I appreciate you, man.
1:22:57 Speaker 01 Thanks, Nick.
1:22:57 Nick Bare? Thank you so much. Love you, brother.
1:23:00 Speaker 01 Love you.
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