1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:09,000 Speaker 1: Hello, friends, Welcome to Story Behind podcast. This is the 2 00:00:09,039 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: show for people who love hearing a good story and 3 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: who believe the world could use more positivity. We're the 4 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:18,919 Speaker 1: team behind God Updates and God Too, and we hope 5 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:22,919 Speaker 1: these weekly short stories will brighten your day. 6 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 2: Fellow bus drivers jump into action to save coworker having 7 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 2: a medical emergency Written by he the Rigamann, read by 8 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 2: Duly Provost. Fellow bus drivers jumped into action to save 9 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 2: a coworker who was having a medical emergency. The day 10 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:41,880 Speaker 2: started like any other. School buses lined up, engines, humming 11 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:44,839 Speaker 2: kids about to spill out into the afternoon, But in 12 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:48,560 Speaker 2: a single moment, everything shifted. Bus driver for the Grove 13 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 2: City Southwestern City School District, Aiming concor noticed it first 14 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 2: the way a bus had veered off course and landed 15 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 2: in the grass where it didn't belong. And I can 16 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 2: just imagine her mama heart catching in her chest, that 17 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:04,399 Speaker 2: instinct we carry as women who have spent years watching 18 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 2: over little lives. Something isn't right. When she called for 19 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:11,119 Speaker 2: help another bus driver, April Wallace, didn't hesitate. She ran 20 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 2: an Oh, friend, don't you know that kind of running, 21 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 2: the kind that doesn't wait for permission, the kind that 22 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:19,400 Speaker 2: doesn't calculate the cost, the kind that just moves because 23 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 2: love is louder than fear. April reached those heavy, air 24 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 2: powered doors and started pulling. Thirty long seconds of pushing, prying, 25 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 2: fighting against something that wouldn't easily give away. But she 26 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 2: didn't stop. So I ran around the front and pried 27 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 2: the doors open. April said, I just kept pulling until 28 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 2: I could wedge my body in between them and then 29 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,840 Speaker 2: get into the bus. Inside that bus was someone who 30 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 2: needed her. And when She's finally forced the doors open 31 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 2: and climbed in, she sat beside her coworker in the 32 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 2: middle of a medical emergency, steady and present until help arrived. 33 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 2: Amy and April didn't wake up that morning thinking they 34 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 2: be heroes. They were just doing what they do every day, 35 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 2: showing up, working hard, caring, responsibility, loving people in the 36 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 2: middle of the ordinary. And yet there it is courage 37 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 2: wrapped in everyday clothes, strength hidden inside routine, heroism that 38 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 2: looks a whole lot like a woman who refuses to 39 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 2: walk away. I cannot be prouder of my two drivers. 40 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 2: Jessin Hagenstein, Southwestern's transportation coordinator, said, I push safety driven, 41 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 2: and in that moment they were safety driven. They did 42 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 2: not think twice about what they were doing. Being a 43 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 2: hero isn't about headlines. It's about showing up when it counts. 44 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,840 Speaker 2: It's about loving people well in the middle of the unexpected. 45 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 2: It's about choosing action when fear would be easier. And maybe, 46 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 2: just maybe the same courage that carried April onto that bus, 47 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 2: in the same courage God has placed inside of you, 48 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 2: and you don't have to go looking for it. It's 49 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,520 Speaker 2: already there. She's clothed with strength and dignity. She can 50 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 2: laugh at the days to come. Proverbs thirty one twenty five. 51 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 2: Entrepreneur with down syndrome turns passion for grilling into a 52 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,960 Speaker 2: global barbecue sauce brand written by had The Wriggleman read 53 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 2: by July Provost. An auger venure with down syndrome turns 54 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:13,079 Speaker 2: a passion for grilling into a global barbecue sauce. The 55 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 2: kitchen smells like onions and something deeper hope, maybe TJ. 56 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 2: Watch Matthew, just a little boy then standing on tiptoes 57 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 2: with a plastic chopper in hand, a damn cloth draped 58 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 2: over his eyes, determined to keep going even when it's dung. 59 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 2: His head barely reached the counter, but his joy it 60 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 2: filled the whole room. And maybe that's where it started, 61 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 2: not with a business plan or a brand, but with 62 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,160 Speaker 2: a boy who simply loved to create. Years later, that 63 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 2: same boy, Matthew, now twenty nine, almost thirty, stands as 64 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 2: the chief sauce officer of Matthew's Bonfire Barbecue Sauce bottles 65 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 2: of Carolina Gold and Blueberry Chipotle, traveling farther than anyone 66 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 2: once thought possible, across the country, across oceans, into places 67 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 2: his younger self couldn't have imagined. And I can almost 68 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 2: see TJ standing there watching an unfold, remembering the voices 69 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 2: that once said he couldn't, and the quiet, steady whisper 70 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 2: that said maybe he could. Matthew has down syndrome, but listen, friend, 71 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 2: that's not the headline of his life, just one thread 72 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 2: in a much bigger story God is writing, because what 73 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 2: defines Matthew isn't a diagnosis. It's his grit, his joy, 74 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 2: his willingness to keep showing up and starting the pot 75 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 2: literally and figuratively, until something beautiful rises. His brothers never 76 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:21,159 Speaker 2: lowered the bar for him. They loved him too much 77 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,160 Speaker 2: for that. They expected him to rise, to try to stretch, 78 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 2: and he did, faithfully and full of passion for his sauce. 79 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:29,479 Speaker 2: And isn't that what we pray for our own children, 80 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:31,680 Speaker 2: Not that the road will be smooth, but that they 81 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:33,840 Speaker 2: will be strong, not that life will be easy, but 82 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 2: they will believe they belong in it. And then there's Tessa, 83 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:40,119 Speaker 2: Oh sweet Tessa. Their love story reads like something tender 84 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 2: and brave late night facetim calls, poems spoken over glowing screens, 85 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,919 Speaker 2: laughter echoing through ordinary moments. Both of them are living 86 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 2: with Down syndrome. And yet what you see first isn't limitation, 87 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:53,840 Speaker 2: it's love, it's connection, it's too heart saying we were 88 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 2: made for this too. Matthew doesn't just make sauce. He 89 00:04:56,839 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 2: makes space for others to believe. Again, he uses his 90 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,719 Speaker 2: plotform to advocate, to remind the world that people with 91 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:07,280 Speaker 2: intellectual disabilities are not sized stories. They are leaders, creators, dreamers, 92 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:10,479 Speaker 2: image bearers of a God who doesn't make mistakes. And 93 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 2: somewhere I imagine a mom reading this, tired, hopeful, maybe 94 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:17,280 Speaker 2: carrying quiet worries about her own child's future, wondering if 95 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 2: the world will make room for them, wondering if their 96 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,280 Speaker 2: dreams are too fragile, too far out of reach. Let 97 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 2: me gently tell you this the way TJ's life is 98 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:29,039 Speaker 2: telling us now your child belongs here, Their gifts matter, 99 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:32,360 Speaker 2: Their story is not smaller. It's just unfolding differently. And 100 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 2: God is not limited by what the world labels us 101 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:38,200 Speaker 2: less than Because Matthew, he didn't just build a barbecue 102 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 2: sauce brand. He built a reminder that no dream is 103 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 2: too big, that no life is without purpose, that sometimes 104 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 2: the most beautiful stories are the ones the world almost overlooked. 105 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,360 Speaker 2: And now he's dreaming again of opening a smokehouse, of cooking, 106 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,160 Speaker 2: of loving Tessa, of living fully in the life God 107 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:56,160 Speaker 2: has given him. And maybe that's the invitation for us too, 108 00:05:56,640 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 2: to believe a little bigger, to hope, a little lader, 109 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 2: to trust that even he is especially here, God is 110 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 2: still writing stories that sizzle with purpose and overflow with 111 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 2: grace Ephesians two ten. For we are God's hindiwork created 112 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 2: in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared 113 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 2: in advance for us to do. 114 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to Story Behind podcast. 115 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: We're really glad you joined us for this week's story. 116 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:30,719 Speaker 1: To see photos and videos that may have been referenced 117 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:33,600 Speaker 1: in this episode, check out the links and the show notes, 118 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:37,039 Speaker 1: and if you enjoyed what you heard today, subscribe to 119 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: our podcast and please tell a friend about us. We'd 120 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 1: also love it if you'd rate us and leave us 121 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 1: a review. It really does help more people find us. 122 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 1: Story Behind is a Salem Web Network production.