Encounter and Live
A Bridger Church Podcast
Encounter and Live
Get in the Truck Segment: Tucker Berens
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Welcome to Encounter and Live, a Bridget Church podcast. Bridget Church is a light for the world to encounter Jesus and live life in him. We pray that this podcast becomes an additional resource for you as you live life in Christ. Thanks for taking the time to listen today. Let's lock in.
SPEAKER_02All right. We're going to pick up our brother Tucker. He'll tell you his story in just a second. But welcome to uh an episode of Encountering Liv. Get in the truck. Get in the truck segment. There he is. What up, Hoss? Get in the truck. What up, dude? How's your morning? Good. How's yours? Good so far. We already talked a little bit about our about our animals. Tucker had his Tucker had his dog poop in the crate. He had to clean that up this morning.
SPEAKER_05Yep. Yeah, bro.
SPEAKER_02But you also said you worked out?
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02What workout? What what do you do?
SPEAKER_05Uh it was just at the house. It was like uh body weight, like full body workout. Yeah. Just quick and quick and dirty and done.
SPEAKER_02Quick and dirty and done. Do you work do you do that like a few times a week or what?
SPEAKER_05Uh I try to do it uh a few times a week, yeah. Sometimes, depending on if I'm traveling or whatnot, and how tired I am after that. But season's around the corner.
SPEAKER_02So I've been thinking about that a lot. Because uh, you know, moving out here from the southeast, it's just different. It's different hunting. Yep. And it's good, it's very good, but you gotta be in shape, bro. Yeah, you gotta be. If bear bear season taught me anything, it's like you gotta be in shape.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Best be in shape.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, dude, thanks for hopping in and just um like being willing to get in the truck and ride. The whole concept, just as by way of refresher, reminder, of why do we call this get in the truck? Well, uh, some of the best ways that I've been discipled or that I've had the opportunity to disciple others, uh, will usually be in the form of riding somewhere. Uh, like play playing golf, you're you're with somebody for three hours in a golf cart, and you're able to have conversations. Or, you know, when I was young in ministry, I'd hop in the truck and drive to hospitals or drive to see people with uh one of the other pastors who mentored me on our staff, and that meant a lot. There was a lot of like shaping and molding of my own heart, and uh so the method of discipleship is just like get and get in and go with, like as you were going, make discipleship, make disciples. Um so that's where the whole concept of getting the truck segments came from. And so as we are going down the road, I thought, we'll pick Tucker up, we'll have a conversation. But tell me a little bit about yourself, man. Like, you got here in the valley before I did, so you've been living life, loving life, loving people up here. But how did you get here? Yeah, what do you do here?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so uh worked for Stika uh and worked for them out in Georgia. So they moved me out here last August. No July last August.
SPEAKER_02In Georgia, it's is Atlanta?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Is it did you work at the store they had at the battery?
SPEAKER_05Yep. Nice. Yeah, so I worked there. Place of sick. Um and uh Yeah, that's what brought us out here. Uh my wife and I was kind of dreaming was always make it out west eventually. Just never knew how it was gonna happen. Yeah. Sick it did it, so sick and did it.
SPEAKER_01Fuck. Do you enjoy your time there?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, it's fun. Um I like all the people we work with and team me up together there. My job in particular is kind of just about having fun most of the time. Yeah. Um so I've had a lot worse jobs, but uh don't miss stuff.
SPEAKER_01Sure. Sure. Now your wife's name is Heather. How long are you how long have you been married?
SPEAKER_05We're going on this December will be our sixth year. Six years? I guess we're oh five and a half years, I think. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's great, man. How'd you meet?
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_02How did you know she was the one one? Yeah.
SPEAKER_05She was uh we went to church together down when we lived in Florida. Um you lived in Florida? Yeah. Where at? Uh like the Tampa area. Oh, okay. Uh where you met her. Yep. Yep. So we we I guess we met each other when we were like, I don't know, 12 and 13 or something like that. She had a massive crush on me, and I couldn't care less. Of course we did. All I wanted to do was fish, so I didn't care about anything. All right. Um, but yeah, met there and then started dating, I guess. And I mean, we weren't we were too young to date, but we started dating in middle school.
SPEAKER_00Hmm.
SPEAKER_05So, uh, and then just stayed together since then.
SPEAKER_02She was your one and only, dude. That's one for one, dude. So my wife's name is also Heather. And it was kind of similar. Like, she came to our church in middle school. Yep. Uh, I went and visited her with our youth pastor. It's a whole nother story about what visitation is. We became friends, started dating when she turned 16. Uh-huh. And the rest is history. Yep. So marriage is awesome, man. Marriage is awesome. So five years, almost six years in. What would you say has been like the greatest season of your marriage?
SPEAKER_05Uh I don't know. I mean, it kind of sounds cliche, but like whatever season we're in, just making the most of whatever we're doing. Yeah, man. You can, you know, we look back on like the early years of our marriage five years ago. Like, that was fun once we were young. We're still trying to figure it out. Um, but I don't know if there has been like a like a favorite part. It's just kind of like an ongoing favorite part. Yeah, dude. Um, so but it's been it's been a blast. I mean, it's hard. There's been some rough times that are not ideal. But it wouldn't change them because it's developed us into who we are now and and who we are together.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, dude, marriage is a great responsibility. It's like God gave you as a man, like I would say, and I'm trying to teach my my boy this, he's only eight years old, but it's the difference between a boy and a man, I would say, like it just kind of hones in on responsibility. And whenever men grow up, they're given responsibility. One is a family, dude. You're you're responsible. And uh to hear you say, like, the season we're in, whatever it is, the best one, that's good. That's good, man. That's good. So tell me about how you became a Christian. You grew up in church, yeah. When did you decide to follow Jesus?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so grew up in church. Uh parents, pretty much both families, Christian. Uh grew up going to church every Sunday since I can remember. Um grew up in like Sunday school. Uh trusted Christ when I was like five or six. Um, just kind of like uh just seemed like what you did back then. Like you're just young, you don't fully grasp it, but you had the idea of it. Um and then really, I would say probably when I was about 13 or 14, like fully realized exactly what it was. Um kind of was living like the the Christian way for X amount of years, but never fully understanding it. Um and then come about middle school, kind of realized like, oh I don't know if I ever like really understood it. Sure. Um so I guess like rededicated my life or just really started working hard on actually believing in what I believe in understanding when I believe in it. Um so but yeah, yeah, great, great upbringing. My parents were phenomenal. Um kept us in church, made sure we went to church, mission trips, all that fun stuff. You got siblings? Yep, yeah. I have an older sister. Um and uh yeah, she's she still lives down in Florida. She's got two kids down, or I guess they just moved to North Carolina, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. Awesome. What about you guys? You gonna have any kids soon, later?
SPEAKER_05We want to have kids soon. Um I always joke, I gotta I gotta kill some more things before I start having kids. So understood. We got some we got some trips we still want to go on. Uh but no, we we always kind of planned like five years in. We we started having kids and then we five years ahead like now it. Yeah. Kind of looked at each other and like, do you want kids now?
SPEAKER_02Like, wait a minute. I'm following Yeah man. Does she does Heather go with you on the trips? Hunting with you, doing all the stuff? Oh sticker trips you gotta make.
SPEAKER_05She she goes on some of the stick of trips, um, work for like her her job permitting things or she can get off. And then hunting trips. Most of the time, she doesn't she used to archer home with me a lot. She doesn't archer that much anymore. Uh depending on what it is, she'll like to go just like watch, be a part of it. Um, but her bread and butter is waterfall on her. Like, she'll go on any doctor piece hunt that I go on.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome. Uh I have never done it.
SPEAKER_05It's phenomenal. I look forward to it.
SPEAKER_02You gotta take me. Let it be known, let it on the record. Tucker's gonna take me duck hunting. Oh well. I've never done it.
SPEAKER_05It's a blast. It's and I want to do it. Arguably one of I would I've I've been blessed enough to chase a lot of animals, and it might be my favorite one.
SPEAKER_02Do you eat them?
SPEAKER_05Oh yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I know a lot of people, they just they love killing ducks, they just don't have a taste for ducks. It's just because they don't know how to cook them right. That's usually the excuse, period. Yeah. If for any meat, for any animal, it's like, dude, you just ain't cooking it right. Yep. So I probably I've had duck hits. It is for sure probably because I didn't, it wasn't prepared right, but it felt like this is gonna be an acquired taste.
SPEAKER_05There, if you breast them out, I don't cook the whole duck or the legs just because wild duck, not like a ton of fat on them. Later season you can get them with some good fat, but other than that, you breast them out, throw them in a cast iron with some salt, pepper, and butter, and just serum on either side. Sounds good. Eat them, it's like a mini steak.
SPEAKER_02So you've already said like a mini steak. You've already said uh you came to Bozeman. I can't remember if you said how many, like how long have you been here?
SPEAKER_05Uh we've been here since last August, like pretty much a year now. I think it was a year exactly.
SPEAKER_02You got here about the same time I did.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I thought you were here before I was.
SPEAKER_05No. No, it's it was a year exactly, I think, to like today or yesterday.
SPEAKER_02Oh wow. So we got here August 21st, somewhere in there last year, so we're coming up on a year. You got here right before we did. Yep. How did you find your way to Bridger Church? How did you hear about it?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so we uh working at Sitka, uh Ali Ray is um one of my coworkers' bosses, whatever you want to describe it as, but uh she uh invited us to uh Bridger, when y'all were at Best Western. The hotel days. Yeah. So um new, like I said, yeah, new Alley through uh work. I think Matt Jacob through work. Um Jacob through Alley typically. Yeah. And uh so they invited us to to come to one of the one of the services that we know we're doing like once a month or week or something like that. So went to one of those. Um and it was good, kind of struggled beforehand, you know, going around trying different churches. Uh but uh just kind of like the bridger and like the atmosphere like the people.
SPEAKER_02Um and uh you ever been a part of the church plant?
SPEAKER_05Uh no, no, we haven't. Um our church we went to in Florida was was decently established. Um and they're starting to kind of send people out to go plant churches, uh, which is great, but never been part of the start of a church at the beginning.
SPEAKER_02Sure. Now, in your church in Florida, how long were you in Atlanta before you came here? Four years. Four years. Did you go to a church there?
SPEAKER_05Yep. Yep, we had uh a church we went to. Um it's called Southcrest, but there in Unit. Um kind of a wild story about that is so Jacob, Alex's husband, was an intern at that church. I don't know how many years ago. Nine years ago, ten years ago. And my best friend Levi that I met when we moved to Georgia was in Jacob's farm.
SPEAKER_00Oh well, yeah.
SPEAKER_05So that's cool, huh? So I didn't didn't learn that until it came up and we took Jacob death hunting. Uh with Levi. And they were kind of stumped about a fish or something. Yeah, they hadn't seen each other.
SPEAKER_02Now is Levi Levi still a Georgia? Yeah. Got it. Yes, sir. Yep. Dude, that's cool. So on the church thing, do you find that like going to church, like, why do you find it important? Like, we need to be a part of a church.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean, it's you know, it's written to us told us told to us at the Bible to go fellowship with other believers. I think there's a big argument from people that say, like, oh, you don't have to go to church in order to appreciate what the Lord's done or worship God. Um, which I understand not kind of a lot. For so a lot of times I'll be taking my days and go hunting. Yeah. Um, but I think it is important to get around like-minded individuals and like-minded believers and support each other that way. Um, you don't know what people are struggling with whether going through it. You saying hi to them on a Sunday or whatever can can't be helpful to them. Um so it's just saying I look at it as like, you know, the church isn't a building, it's a body of believers. So whether you are gathering with them at a church building, or you're going on a ruck like we did the other week, or you're sitting in a duck line with them. Um, I think it's all part of the same process of getting together and worshiping the Lord together. But I think there is a there is a reason and an importance to going to a building. You know, everybody in there kind of, I always say like locking in and being dedicated to like, hey, we're here, we're learning, we're worshiping. Um so I think uh it's important, you know, it's written in the Bible, kind of told to us, and it makes sense for the growth of the body.
SPEAKER_02And we say it all the time, you know, it's not just a place you attend, it's a family you belong to. Yep. And there is a certainly a sense of belonging with one another, to one another, for the sake of accountability, mission. Uh, I certainly always want to lead from a sense of sending, going, like we're on mission, but also from a sense of depth. Because I want I want people to encounter Jesus as we live life on mission. I also want people to live life in him as we live life on mission. And so I hope that you and Heather don't just sense like this is where I attend as much as you do this is where I belong. Like our our family is on mission together. So here's another question. Why do you love Jesus? I may have made a mistake here by going this route. Going down the construction here. Yeah, I didn't even realize there's construction. Figure it out. But it looks like it's about to turn into some pavement ending madness. So we'll see.
SPEAKER_05Why do I love Jesus? Um I mean, there's there's a lot of reasons I would argue like why don't people love Jesus, but um why do I love Jesus? Um just started and died on the cross for my sins. Um and it's through him that I'm able to have everlasting life. Um just like the the sacrifice part. Because I my human brain can't wrap its head around that process.
SPEAKER_02For sure.
SPEAKER_05Um But yeah, he he's given me a path to everlasting life, he's he's given my wife and anybody choose to trust in him.
SPEAKER_04Um that's probably the biggest thing. Um and then the sacrifice that he made is because I personally would probably never be able to do that.
SPEAKER_02For sure. Um now here's the like gospel truth behind it. You can atone for your own sin, it would just be in hell, separated from God, which sucks. Which is why the gospel is a beautiful thing. The good news is Jesus did for you what you can't do for yourself, yeah, you know, and you don't want to do it for yourself. Like it's a beautiful exchange. Here's another, like, kind of a second layer to that question. All right, so you love Jesus because he's shown you grace, because he loved you first. How do you love Jesus? Like, do you sit do you sense like I I hear you say, you know, I love him because. But do you sense that everlasting and abundant life that he's given you? Do you actually like I guess feel it? Does my question make sense?
SPEAKER_05Like, yeah, yeah. Um yeah, I would say I would say a lot of the times we'll take it for granted or forget about it just because life as life gets in the way, uh, your priorities change, you just get busy in general, and you forget to appreciate what he's given you, um, what he's done for you. Uh I like the the place that I feel it the most is when for me is when I'm hunting. I would say like you don't have to hunt, but just get outdoors, watch the sun come up, watch the sun go down. Those are some of the most beautiful things I've seen. And in those moments you realize, like, wow. I agree. Like, you know, I I don't know what the Lord's plan for me is, um, but I trusted in in Christ, and it's through him that like I can live this life knowing that you know I have more of these sunsets down the road, whether it's in heaven or or not. Um so I would say that's where I feel it the most. How I how I show it. Um just try to just try to walk the Christian life. Um try to spread the gospel as much as I can. Try to I would say like I don't know, I guess, yeah. It's kind of a hard how to show it, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Same question. I mean, yeah, how do you how do you love Jesus? I think that Jesus kind of shed some light on that a little bit when he was like, one, their love for one another, two, their obedience to his command. Is how the world will know that you love Christ. And uh in what ways are you seeking to be obedient? And what can you sense the voice of God in your life? These are all questions I regularly like think about and ask of myself. It's like Man, can I sense the nearness of God? Is the world too loud right now to me to where it's just drowns out? Because God's always speaking. It's not like we need to turn his volume up. Well, actually, what we need to do is like turn the other stuff down. Yep. Because we're so distracted. Can we hear what the good shepherd's saying? And man, when it comes to loving him and how we love him, it's just like doing what he says. Doing what he says. Is there something in your life right now that you feel like God's teaching you? Whether it be from scripture, stuff you're reading, just a season you're in?
SPEAKER_05I would say maybe the season I'm in, but it seems seems to be like a continual thing that I'm learning. Um just like big on patience right now. Okay. I think a lot of the times we in our minds create a timeline of certain things where we have our plan of how things will go. Um it can be for anything from small, I would say like minute things to like large life plans, whatever. A lot of times we're like, okay, we're gonna do this, this is how it's gonna work, this is gonna plan A, we're gonna follow it, hit the bullet points, and that's how it's gonna work. Uh and I kind of operate like that sometimes. Other times I'm just kind of like, yeah, we'll just see what happens. I don't really care. But I'm I'm I think I will I know that I'm being taught multiple times throughout the past couple years, and like some pretty big ways of just patience in Lord's timing. Um it's always funny. We I feel like sometimes we find ourselves creating like this ultimatum. Being like, well, you know, Lord, like if you do this, I'll do this. Yeah, like I'll do this. Just just make sure that you also do this. Um so yeah, just patience. Patience is a big deal, dude. Yeah, it's the worst one to learn, too, because it's not the easy part.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, wait till you have kids. Oh, yeah. It's gonna be uh not just a test, but it'll reveal the lack of it in your life for sure. Kids will. Yeah, patience is the fruit of God's spirit in you. You know, Paul would tell the Galatians fruit of God's spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. Patience is uh more than just like the I don't want to wait in traffic type of thing. You're talking about long seasons of life. You know, you're talking about, and Paul would say the gospel's taking root in your life, and as it takes root, like it digs down deep, fruit is born upward. One of those being patience, like waiting on the Lord. Because of what you believe about the gospel, it's actually growing in you into patience. It's awesome how God works. And I've heard it said a bunch from people like, hey man, don't pray for patience, because yeah, God will do something in your life and require patience. I would say if it is something that you sense that you're lacking, yeah, dude. Ask God for it. Ask Him to dig those roots deeper of what you believe about the gospel so that you can bear patience in your life. Because it's not just fruit born in your life that you're like, wow, man, I can taste and I can see that God is good. But could be people that you're working with that also sense it in you. Could be your wife who sees it in you, and she's able to like taste and see, like, man, the Lord truly is good because I can see it, you know. God is working out this fruit of patience. So that's cool. That's cool. I would say probably the same, dude. A little bit of that going on in my own life, dude. The construction on these roads is real. I guess it's because uh in the summertime, dude, they gotta get it in where they can get it in around here. Yeah, gotta get it in. So, all right, question about scripture. Who would you say uh in the old testament is like one of your favorite people in the Bible? Problem. Probably Moses is up there. Moses? I like Moses. I like Nissan Moshe.
SPEAKER_05He's just like he's stubborn. It's kind of kinda relate to him in certain ways.
SPEAKER_02Alright, what ways is he stubborn?
SPEAKER_05Uh, you know, like he's talking to the Lord about just you know, whatever. Um he's just always like kinda doesn't want to do it. Yeah. Um, like he, you know, he's told to go to King Egypt and and tell him certain things, and he's like, Oh, I don't speak well. You know, sent Aaron. It's like I can see myself doing that. They're like, Dob, I don't want to do that. Like, but Aaron, I bet he'll do it. Yeah. Um, and just even like like slapping the rock. We didn't have to slap it. Kind of like maybe shove on a little bit. I don't know. It's just kind of like stubborn and like relatable, I guess.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Moses is the man. Who else would you point to and be like, all right, I like him or her?
SPEAKER_05I mean, there's I guess trying to think. Like the big ones, like Noah. I think he's cool. I think he's way more faith than I would ever have. For sure. Um what about David?
SPEAKER_02100%. You like David? David's a dog. David's a dog. David's a dog. David's my dog. Yeah, he uh he had quite a bit going on. So this week in our stories of faith series, we're looking at the life of David. And there's so much. Like if if you were to just, it's hard to pick one area of David's life and just focus on that for 40 minutes, you know, in a sermon. But when you read, when you're getting towards the end of Hebrews 11, kind of where we anchor our anchor ourselves, when he talks about like time would fail me to mention Gideon, which we talked about last week. Uh there's a few other Barak, Jeffel. And then it gets to David and Samuel. And you're like, dude, where yeah, of course time would fail you because there's so much to say about David. Yep. A dude who was seeking the heart of God, chosen and anointed to be the king of Israel. Well, like years before he would actually become the king of Israel, took off running for his life from the current king of Israel who tried to pin him to the wall with a spear.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_02Wrote the Psalms, you know, like he was mighty in battle. The dude was a warrior. He became king, one of the greatest kings in all of Israel. God made a covenant with him. So much we could focus on. But we're actually gonna do, and you may be like, well, that's kind of a bummer, but I think it is one of the most important parts of David's life, is we're gonna focus on the portion of David's life where he's on the run from King Saul, who's trying to kill him. It was during that portion of his life that he wrote a particular psalm, Psalm 57, uh, where he's in a cave uh hiding by himself because Saul is like pursuing him and trying to kill him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And so the reason I think we'll we'll land there, we are gonna land there, is because uh if you keep reading in Hebrews, it's uh you know, it talks about things that these people did, one of which is escaped the edge of the sword. So I've got like a I don't know, kind of a deeper burn question for you as you follow Jesus. Because like these aren't just like flannel graph Bible, oh that's cute stories, yeah. As much as they are events, and they're put in scripture for us to like look at, oftentimes identify with, and then grab truth from to apply to our own lives, right? It's like the word is living, it's active, sharper than a sword. Have you ever been in moments in your life where it's like these are cave moments, man? It feels like I'm on the run for my life. And yeah, man, has that ever happened to you?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, um, I would say probably the most the most notable one. I guess there's two mostly. Uh when I was like eight or nine, uh my dad got deployed to Afghanistan. So he's gone for about a year. We were living in Ohio at the time. Uh came back, they got orders for Florida, so you moved down to Florida. We stayed in Ohio. Um, so you know, you're ten years old. You think this is the world's over if you move. Across town, let alone like across the country. Um so that was one moment. And again, not really understanding why, just kind of like a little mad about it, but then being stoked by the beach or something like that. Uh, but probably the biggest one that I like really struggled with. Um would have been when uh so Heather and I had just gotten married. Uh we lived at the property I worked at as like a maintenance man. Um we had like a camper re-renovated. That was there. Uh I worked there, she worked down the road. And I was working there for probably eight months. Uh, and then got called into a meeting, and they pretty much just let me go because they didn't need me anymore. Um so that was uh Monday, my final day was Wednesday. I was leaving on a mule deer hunt the Thursday. Um and freshly married and lost where we were gonna live because we had to move off the property. Uh lost my job, and was just kinda extremely confused. Just didn't know, did not know what to do. Um went on the hunt, ended up getting really nice wheel deer. Um and uh came back, and I remember like the whole flight back. Um just a different layover. I'm just I'm calling everybody out there. Like, hey, like this happened, you know, we gotta move the camper. Do you have a spot we can put it? Do you know anybody? Um because they gave me like 30 days to get it off. And at the time, that was in like September. So like all the snowbirds have taken up all of the spots for all the campers. So there's not options. Um just stressing about that. Like I was I was freaking out. Um and Heather was freaking out. We just didn't know, like, like, okay, I guess we're gonna move back in with our parents, like, I'll find a job somewhere, I'm gonna do something. Uh, then I got a call from like a one of my buddy's friends in Georgia, um, Luke Ayers. He runs a nonprofit out there. Uh and he calls me and heard about what's happening with me through David, because David and I were guiding a backpacking trip during like right after this, because I was going up in guiding trips just to make money. Yep. And so Luke calls me out of the blue, and we're just talking, he's giving me some advice. He's just okay, you gotta let it go if you need anything. It's like I really just don't know what to do right now. Like, been married for eight months, and boss, where we're gonna live, we got you know, 14 more days at this point to move and find a place to live, and I don't really know where we're going. And then at the end, he's like, Well, like, I think you'd be awesome if you came and worked for me up here in Georgia, but I can't guarantee you have a job, can't guarantee where you live. You have no paycheck right now. But solid. I think you would do good. Um and he runs a nonprofit working, but like we call them troubled youth. They're just they're not troubled, they're just kids that have to raise themselves. But uh about an hour south of Atlanta. And they had an outdoor therapy program, uh, after school program, mentorship program, uh and uh working primarily in the in a certain community in Newton, Georgia, uh called Chocolate. Um so I went and talked to Heather. It's like hey, so like Luke told me this, like he doesn't have a paycheck and doesn't really have a place for us to live. But he said we should go move to Georgia. And so we talked about it, prayed about it, and kind of looked at each other like I mean, what else do we have to lose? Like, you lost your job, we lost where we're gonna live, might as well try it. So caught him, took what was the job, it wasn't really a job, it was just an idea. Yep. Uh moved up there without the camper because we didn't have a way to pull it. So left that down in Florida. Um moved out there on the drive up there, loop, um, was able to find us finding right now like part-time. Stayed in a guest bedroom for like two weeks and then moved into like the studio apartment that was provided housing from one of the other donors. So uh long story short, it was neither of us would have ever imagined that we were gonna move out of Florida ever, let alone within eight months of being married. Uh to a town we'd never been to. I'd never been to Newton. Didn't know where it was, didn't know anybody there other than Luke and my buddy David. Um so that was a big island. That was uh this doesn't make sense to anybody, which means it's probably right. You know? Um and just trusting. We're like, alright, God, like we're gonna go here. And uh if we shouldn't do it, they'll probably let us know, but if we shouldn't do it, it it might work out, you know. So that was kind of one of the bigger eye openers we had, and through that we kind of made us a lot more laid back after that. Right. Yeah, I mean it can't get much worse than that.
SPEAKER_02Dang man, there there's so listening to you, there's a lot of like I'm just thinking about my own life. There's a bunch of similarity in your story and ours. Uh but let me ask you this. So in those moments, like you lose a job and a place to live, and you've got a wife, new wife, yeah, you know, and it's like I am you feel you feel screwed. You feel like I'm on the road of my life, you know?
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You're also a believer.
SPEAKER_05Yep.
SPEAKER_02So like how do you how did you have faith? You know, you seem like we we talked about this, let me let me just set this up. We talked about this on a podcast, the last one, I think, maybe the one before that, about personality types. And some people have these personality types that are faith just comes easier, it seems like.
SPEAKER_05Yep.
SPEAKER_02Uh for me and for you, I'm just a super laid-back dude.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like, uh nothing really rattles me. I can get rattled, but nothing like is gonna just ruin my life. You know? And I say that, God willing, nothing, you know, I don't want to just take on uh some heavy burden because God's like, all right, let's see, let's try it out. But how do you you're laid back, it's cool, but how do you have faith in those moments? How did you?
SPEAKER_05No, it was hard, and honestly, at the beginning of it, I was pretty mad. Um, you know, like why you do it, like, you know, we go through a stage of like, why I don't deserve this. What what what did I do? Why are you doing this to me? Um, so I would say in the moment I didn't have faith.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Um there is a there is a moment that that just kind of like broke down. I think it was like right. It was either the day Luke called me or the day before. I was going home, pick mail up, because we still had our mail going to my parents' house. And I was in the driveway and just had like a breakdown moment. And it just was like, whatever, God. Like, do whatever you want. I don't care anymore. Um, I can't do anything. Whatever you want. You want me to be homeless with my wife, whatever. I don't care. We'll figure it out. You'll provide for us. And it was either that day or the following day that Luke called me. And I don't I've never met Luke. He and I his number wasn't saved on my phone, but it's like, you know, it pops up like might be. Luke Airs. Trust me. And I was like, I why the heck is he calling? Like, I don't know who that is. Um so, but no, and me, I didn't have it. Um, I had that breakdown moment, and I think naturally I'm I'm pretty laid back. I don't get like I don't get rattled by too much. Uh I think some people would say I'm too laid back and probably should care a little bit more about certain things. Uh me too, bro. But uh, no, some people comes easy, some people it it doesn't. Thankfully for me, I'm I I have the ability to like not care too much and know that it'll be taken care of. But that's through like those big moments of learning, like, oh well, there's really no point stressing because that worked out. Right. And you know, we we might overcome bigger things than that, or or that might be the biggest thing that we over. I don't know, we'll find out. But um it's kind of like a learned skill that uh is not super fun to learn, but once you learn it, it's like it's a fine, it'll be alright. It's alright.
SPEAKER_02No, it's a it's fascinating to me, man. Like, I I know people, I can think of people right now who they're just walking life and it's like their world is blowing up around them. You know? And sometimes it's like, man, you made a stupid decision. Other times it's like, when is this gonna let up? Like, how in the world? Um, even like if if life is happening to you, I just got an email, prayed with a guy uh from our church who literally just sent in an email and said, Hey, can you pray for us? Like we it feels like we're in this season of grief because death just surrounds us. Like this person died, that person died. And it's it's one of those things where it's like you feel like you're running for your life, or you feel like you're running to find life.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And you're just like, My God, you know, and it it's fascinating to me people who can walk through that, like David, yeah, and find themselves in a cave by himself, crying out to the Lord, and still choosing to pray, praise, and thank God for his steadfast love, even when it feels like there is no steadfast love. And I think the deepest thing that I'm trying to teach myself, that I'm trying to teach our church through this stories of faith series room, is not like you can accomplish great things, and you all you have to do is just have more faith. As much as it is like, let's remove the the feeling that we think faith gives us and actually anchor ourselves in the truth, regardless of how we feel, and regardless of circumstances, like the the circumstances you may find yourself in. Like right now, you're not in that, what you just described to me. Right now, I'm not in that. I've certainly gone through those seasons where it feels like, God, where are you? You're just getting hammered. Getting hammered, yeah. Just left and right, can't catch out. And I've certainly been there, but I'm not there right now. But some people we're walking with as a church are. And it's not like I'm just trying to stare at them going, like, hey man, just have more faith. Or talk to me when you get out of this hole.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02As much as it is, I'm gonna get in there with you, I'll get in the cave with you. Because one of the cool parts about David's story is this is cool. The Bible says in I think 1 Samuel 22, without opening it, that David's in the cave on the run from his life, and men from all over hear he's in this cave and they come to him. And it says there are men who are in debt, men who were just broken, distraught. All these people come to David because he's the king. They know he's gonna be the king. And it just it's a picture of like gospel people just coming to the king together. Even though he's in a cave. Even though, and so it's a picture of like people are walking through this suffering in our church. We're not just waiting on him to come out of the cave. We're actually saying, I'll get in there with you. And what I'm trying to do is just remind them of what's actually true, not letting our like souls and our hearts be defined by the depth of the cave as much as it is the truth of who God is. And he is a sustainer and he does have steadfast love. But do you think, here's a here's a deeper question, do you think that that season of your life actually taught you something? Did it make you better?
SPEAKER_05Oh yeah. Um well you know, and you have what I would say is like you get married young, you're a provider. You like you provide, that's what you do. You work hard, you know, you have your place to live, your first like home. And both of those things are taken away. It's kinda you I learned quick. Well, I guess probably not as quick as I could have. I was well, maybe a little more stubborn, it took a couple weeks, a few weeks. But, you know, you learn like, no, I don't, like, this isn't mine. It's the Lord's, the Lord's given given it to me, but the Lord provides for us. Um, and we, you know, we got through that whole situation. We the Lord still provided for us, whether it was opening up doors for me to be able to go guide trips or do side work or something in that in those that short amount of time, those couple months. We weren't like other than stressed about where we're going, we the Lord still opened doors for us to to be provided. Um so yeah, I think I think you can learn from every situation if you have you know the right mindset on it. Um whether it's good or bad. Unfortunately, I think sometimes some of the best things that you learn develop more from are the bad hard times. Yep. Uh that's why I wouldn't change any of the hard times that you know Heather and I or just myself has been through, just because it develops you, you learn from it, you grow closer to the Lord. And uh you just learn, you learn more. Um in those times it's hard to like think about that because you're like, oh, I wish this didn't happen, this changed, or whatever. Yep. Um but I think if you if you go in with well, you don't even have to go in with the right mindset, but you come out of it and talk to the Lord about it, talk to the Lord while you're in it, at some point you're gonna He's gonna reveal what the purpose behind that is. And it might not, you might not ever find it soon. It might take years and years and years to realize, like, oh, like this happened. And this kind of makes sense. Uh but no, yeah, it's we we definitely learned from it. Um it wasn't easy, but I'm glad we went through that now. In the moment, not so much.
SPEAKER_02For sure, dude. I I would wholeheartedly 100% agree that nobody wants to experience crushing, nobody wants to experience loss. Uh Chuck Swindah has this really good sermon that he delivered, I think, at a catalyst conference. And it's I think it's just called Save Room for the Crushing. Because if God is going to use someone greatly, uh he may crush him deeply, him or her. And so these see I think what I am learning, and what I want our church to learn is like, especially as Western Christians who live in one of the greatest parts of the world, in the greatest country in the world, you know, here in Montana, we've got all of our comforts, man. And we try to avoid suffering like it's a plague. Now, I'm not saying don't, you know, don't go look for it. Yep. But whenever, whenever it does come, because it will, when you do feel like you're on the run for your life, it could be a time of preparation as you go through the crushing for something that God wants to do in you and through you, as he did David, because he would become king and he would continue to be this great warrior king that for the rest of the Old Testament, all of the kings were compared to him, like their father David, because he was a man after God's own heart. And by the way, he was still a man who committed adultery and murdered somebody when he was king, but he was still considered a man of God's own heart because of the way that he repented, because of the way that he confessed and repented. And so I don't know, man. I just I I've my heart is with, as a pastor, as like a shepherd, is with people who are walking through those seasons, whether it be diagnosis, whether it be loss, whether it be they're like asking God, please provide the job, the next thing, living with parents, walking through loss after loss after loss, uh seasons of waiting. What is God doing in those seasons? He's not just like trying to beat you down as much as he is molding you, shaping you into the image of Christ. That's what that's what Romans 8 is. It's like his great purpose for you is to become more like Jesus and to make disciples. One of the greatest teaching moments that a disciple maker can have is what he has been through. Experience is a great teacher, evaluated experience is a better teacher. Not just teaching or telling somebody what you've been through as much as it is, have you actually thought about it? You know, have you actually thought about the thing that God taught you that you can now teach somebody else? Suffering ceases to be suffering when it's redeemed. All suffering is redeemable, all of it. And so, in what ways as a church, I would encourage you, like as a listener, if you're sitting here going, Ah, it's me. Hey, what is what is God teaching you? What is uh God teaching you? So, man, I'm I'm really grateful for you. I'm grateful for your time. It's an honor to be able to do this, not just this segment with you, but life here with you. Life's better when life's done with other people. And I look forward to all the duck hunts, I look forward to all the discounts that you would give me. Uh sick. I love it. Uh but no, dude, like here's here's the God's honest truth. Uh, just a quick story to end. When I think about discipleship, when I thought about our time that we were gonna have together, I instantly thought about the way that you helped me at tack a few weeks ago. Yeah. So I was at Total Archery Challenge. Um on the first day, I blew up my bow. Uh I I need to write a chapter in bow hunting for dummies of always put an arrow in your bow if you're gonna sh if you're gonna pull the trigger, right? Well, it's a long story, but I I blew up my bow. I go to the tents, you know, TAC is awesome. They got all these vendors there. Go to um I got a gas string. What was the company that was there? Um might have been gas. I don't I don't remember what the name of the company was, but I get a new string put on, go to the range, sitka's there. And I see, I already knew I'd been talking to Allie, she was there, he was there, and this brother, like I'm shooting at these targets with a new string, okay? And it was a better string than the one I had on, so it was shooting faster. And I'm at 20 yards, I'm like hitting the target. At 30 yards, it's a little off. 40 yards is way off. 60 yards, I'm missing altogether. Well, did you know that sin is missing the mark? That's that's what sin is. It's falling short. It's like I have shot an arrow and it did not hit the target. This brother, he's there at the range and he's like, hey man, let me help you. So we start shooting, and he's I mean, you ran a bow shop or something at one time.
SPEAKER_05I worked at a bow shop for a while. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So he's like adjusting my sight. He's just like, all right, shoot it again. All right, here's what we're gonna do, you know? We're gonna set it here. He's adjusting the sight, shoot at the 60-yard target. I hit the target. I'm like, wow, okay. He's like, all right, now it's right at right to left issue. We can fix that in a second. This this brother goes and talks to some rando, gets me a new sight tape for my HHA, and puts it on, and he's like, You should be square to go shoot the course the second day. Sure enough, dude. I only lose like two arrows the rest of the day. He lost one the range trying to side in. I did on the course. Yeah, no, I lost two at the site, at the at the range. Oh, okay. Yeah, blew up two arrows trying to fix it. So when I think about what you did that day, that is like just a good picture of what it means to walk with a brother, what it means to disciple. It's like, hey man, you're missing the mark. Let's adjust the site. You might need to put new sight tape on it, like realign, get let's get this right so that you can go shoot the course. And man, I think about that and our time together, and I was like, man, I'm so grateful. One, I was super grateful for your help because I went out there and actually was able to enjoy day two. Uh, it sucks, man. You go to tag, you start losing arrows. It's like, this is not fun. Yeah, dude, when you're hitting targets, just bam, bam, bam, bam, it's like, oh, this is awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh, and I have you to thank for that. But it's a good picture of discipleship. And so I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful we get to go to church together. I look forward to many, many more things to come, the hunting trips, all of it. And uh my qu my last question to you is how can we as a church be praying for you and Heather?
SPEAKER_05I'd say like just kind of trying back to that patience thing. You know, we're always on our own timeline. We want it done according to when we want it done. It never happens like that. Um, so yeah, I'd just say just patience. And then just marriage in general, it's hard. We're doing pretty good, but you know, there's always gonna be times that just isn't fun. Yeah. Um, so I want to say patience in those times as well, but it's not fun. Um that's probably what I'd say. Just patience.
SPEAKER_02I would uh echo that. Whenever you pray for me, because I know you do morning and night. Uh I'm just kidding. But I would say anytime anybody asks me, how can I pray for you, I always, always, always say, pray for my marriage. Uh, not that it's on fire, but I always want it just to be better. Yep. Uh I can be a tool as a husband, man. I can be just a I can, man. Be selfish. Yep. And prideful. And it comes out often in the way that I speak. It can come out in my tone. I would say pray for my kids as well. Uh, and then just pray for wisdom on all of the things that are ahead of us, leadership, wise, church, and all that. But let me pray for you as we wrap up. Is that cool? Yeah. God, thanks for Tucker. Thanks for Heather. Thanks for the time that we've had. Uh, conversations like this are great reminders of how desperately we need you as men, as husbands. God, I pray for him and his marriage. I pray that it is sweet that you would make it sweet because of the love they have for each other, the love they have for you. I pray that you would remove, remove any root of bitterness that may be there from arguments that happened two weeks ago. And Lord, I pray that Tucker would love his wife like Christ loves the church and gave himself up for her. And that that that would be mutual, that there would be submission, that there would be respect, that there would be love, and uh just make the marriage sweet. He prayed for patience. Lord, may the gospel dig deeper roots in his heart, soul, mind, and strength as he loves you, so that patience is more and more evident. Whatever season of waiting he's in, would you reveal what you want to reveal to him? And would you show him who you are? Just the faithfulness of who you are, the unchanging, steadfast love that you have for him. Um you remind him that his will, your will for his life, uh will always have more to do with who he is than where he is or the job that he would have, but the change that you're creating inside of him. So, God, I love you. I'm grateful, and I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Right on, my dude. Sweet, appreciate it.
SPEAKER_03Thanks for joining us for this episode of Encounter and Live. If you have any questions, need care, or would like to reach out to us, please visit Bridgetchurch.com. We can't wait to meet you at our next gathering. Until then, Jesus peace, big love, and give a live life in him.