WEBVTT - Ché Ahn - Oct 16 - 9:00 am 0:00:00.340 --> 0:00:04.460 I was like, why wouldn't I do this? And unfortunately, 0:00:04.540 --> 0:00:08.930 I did it. And because of that decision and everything 0:00:08.970 --> 0:00:12.670 that came with that, once the market hit, it was 0:00:12.770 --> 0:00:15.950 like dominoes. And I lost everything. 0:00:16.090 --> 0:00:19.080 I love what you said about how we cope with 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.220 our hurt. We nurse, rehearse, recurse. Nurse for me is 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:23.939 the victim mentality. Exactly. 0:00:23.940 --> 0:00:24.900 100%. 0:00:24.900 --> 0:00:27.260 Rehearse is the shame. And then the curse has to 0:00:27.300 --> 0:00:30.020 do with blame. Blame God, blame people, right? Or even 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:30.660 blame yourself. 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:35.040 Looking at my life in certain times of my life 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:38.820 and saying, I thought that I would be further at 0:00:38.860 --> 0:00:42.140 this point in my life. Learn quick obedience. When God 0:00:42.180 --> 0:00:44.200 tells you, just do it. When God tells you, sow it, 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:47.000 sow it. Quick obedience will pull you out of a 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:48.140 pit so fast. 0:00:48.220 --> 0:00:51.510 Hey everyone, welcome to The Honest Podcast. Our main goal 0:00:51.550 --> 0:00:54.560 here is to reach and impact as many people as possible. 0:00:54.700 --> 0:00:58.940 So please like, subscribe, but most importantly, share this with 0:00:59.020 --> 0:01:01.870 as many people as you can who you think it'll encourage. 0:01:01.970 --> 0:01:30.710 We greatly appreciate it. And now onto the show. Erwin. Cheers, man. 0:01:30.770 --> 0:01:31.550 My friend, Gabe. 0:01:32.140 --> 0:01:34.720 Erwin Guevara. Is it Guevara? 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:36.940 It's whatever you want it to be. 0:01:37.020 --> 0:01:38.340 You roll the R's? 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:40.440 Little R there. Guevara. 0:01:40.540 --> 0:01:40.960 Guevara. 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:42.399 Okay. 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:44.270 Well, I actually wanted to start first. First of all, 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:46.870 thank you for being with us and being at the table. 0:01:46.890 --> 0:01:48.570 It's such a blessing to have you. I know you 0:01:48.630 --> 0:01:51.450 and I personally are getting to know each other. One 0:01:51.470 --> 0:01:53.490 thing we have in common is that both our wives 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:54.800 are from Brazil. 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:55.260 Yeah. 0:01:55.380 --> 0:01:58.250 My wife is Korean-Brazilian. Yours is Brazilian-Brazilian, right? 0:01:58.270 --> 0:01:58.690 Yeah, yes. 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:01.670 Where were you born? And tell me a little bit 0:02:01.710 --> 0:02:02.170 about your history. 0:02:02.190 --> 0:02:05.690 Well, you actually took my opening statement about our wives 0:02:05.970 --> 0:02:06.770 being Brazilian. 0:02:06.790 --> 0:02:07.710 We were on the same page. 0:02:07.730 --> 0:02:09.630 Yeah, we were trying to give away our secrets. And 0:02:09.750 --> 0:02:11.610 if you're a single man, maybe go to Brazil. 0:02:11.990 --> 0:02:15.230 Yeah, exactly. He who finds a Brazilian wife finds a 0:02:15.270 --> 0:02:16.590 good thing. 0:02:16.620 --> 0:02:20.860 We're blessed. Yeah, actually, I'm an army baby. So, I 0:02:20.900 --> 0:02:23.940 was born in Stuttgart, Germany. Yeah, my father fought in Vietnam. Oh, 0:02:23.940 --> 0:02:27.110 I didn't know that. And so, yeah, so my background 0:02:27.250 --> 0:02:31.490 is my parents are from Peru, but my dad, in 0:02:31.550 --> 0:02:34.570 no relation to the fact that he was stationed in Germany, 0:02:34.620 --> 0:02:37.380 but he is half German. So I have a quarter 0:02:37.410 --> 0:02:39.180 German in me. Amazing. 0:02:39.220 --> 0:02:42.760 Now, do you speak a little bit of German? Nothing. Okay. No. Nine. 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:43.240 Nine. 0:02:44.060 --> 0:02:48.120 Hot dog. You speak Spanish, right? 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:48.560 I do, yes. 0:02:48.580 --> 0:02:51.640 So you speak English and Spanish. My Spanish, by the way, 0:02:51.660 --> 0:02:55.310 is from just learning in school, but my wife... I 0:02:55.450 --> 0:02:57.210 guess it's going to be like most about your wife, Dave, 0:02:57.250 --> 0:03:00.269 but she speaks five languages. So when I first married her, 0:03:00.830 --> 0:03:04.690 I was a little overwhelmed just with the linguistic skill 0:03:04.710 --> 0:03:07.680 that she has. But that's amazing. So you were born 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:10.639 in Germany and then did you move? 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:14.120 Raised in the Northeast in Long Island, New York. So 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:16.140 I was there until I was about 13 years old. 0:03:16.340 --> 0:03:20.810 And then we moved to Florida and basically, you know, 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:24.220 grew up in Florida, middle school, high school, college. Yeah, 0:03:24.260 --> 0:03:28.060 I met my wife there, got married, and got saved 0:03:28.100 --> 0:03:31.520 there in ministry and everything. So that was really our base. 0:03:31.860 --> 0:03:34.380 Most of our family is in Florida. 0:03:34.470 --> 0:03:37.050 So when you say you met your wife in Florida, 0:03:37.270 --> 0:03:39.370 you said at school. So was this during your college 0:03:39.390 --> 0:03:40.090 years you guys met? 0:03:40.150 --> 0:03:44.090 I got saved while I was in college. And so 0:03:44.410 --> 0:03:48.020 when I found a church and plugged into the youth ministry, 0:03:48.060 --> 0:03:50.410 my wife was one of the leaders there. But we 0:03:50.430 --> 0:03:53.830 didn't connect. I actually visited the youth group with a 0:03:53.870 --> 0:03:59.010 girlfriend that I needed to actually not date because I 0:03:59.050 --> 0:04:00.120 was going to serve the Lord. Sure. 0:04:00.190 --> 0:04:01.980 I know what you're talking about. 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.860 And my wife became the receptionist of the church. And 0:04:04.900 --> 0:04:07.619 then when God called me, I became the youth pastor. 0:04:08.260 --> 0:04:10.619 And so, and then that's when we, you know, God 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:13.160 really spoke to us and dealt with us that we're 0:04:13.180 --> 0:04:14.780 the ones for each other. So it was really a 0:04:14.810 --> 0:04:15.410 cool story. 0:04:15.590 --> 0:04:17.450 That's amazing. How many years have you guys been married 0:04:17.490 --> 0:04:17.870 for now? 0:04:18.070 --> 0:04:21.010 Man, it's, my wife doesn't want to tell this because 0:04:21.070 --> 0:04:23.349 it reveals her age, but I will say it. But 0:04:23.470 --> 0:04:25.950 in July, we'll be married 28 years. 0:04:26.110 --> 0:04:26.690 Oh my goodness. 0:04:26.770 --> 0:04:27.250 Isn't that amazing? 0:04:27.270 --> 0:04:31.830 Congratulations. We just celebrated, not just, but by the time 0:04:31.870 --> 0:04:36.060 this is airing, it'll be almost 12 years. So it's 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.250 just time flies, you know, and it's just incredible. But 0:04:39.930 --> 0:04:43.810 so you grew up obviously moving around because military family 0:04:43.970 --> 0:04:46.930 a little bit, right? And then raised in Florida, met 0:04:46.950 --> 0:04:49.290 your wife in Florida. How did you make your way 0:04:49.450 --> 0:04:53.110 over to California, completely opposite side of the United States? Yeah. 0:04:53.170 --> 0:04:58.950 So ironically, a very similar story to your dad. Really, 0:04:59.010 --> 0:05:02.830 really funny how it's very, very similar. But We were 0:05:02.870 --> 0:05:06.190 in Florida. We were pastoring a church in Boca Raton, Florida. 0:05:06.810 --> 0:05:09.039 If anyone knows anything about Boca Raton, it's a very 0:05:09.140 --> 0:05:13.359 beautiful city, affluent city right on the coast, gorgeous, no problems. 0:05:14.300 --> 0:05:18.380 All our family's there. Everything's going good. And I actually 0:05:18.420 --> 0:05:22.140 get a phone call from one of my intercessors at 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:25.419 the church. And her name happens to be Joanne as well. 0:05:25.670 --> 0:05:28.030 And so I'm in the church parking lot and I 0:05:28.050 --> 0:05:30.730 get a call and it's Joanne. And she says, this 0:05:30.810 --> 0:05:35.390 is literally what she says. She says, Pastor, I'm going 0:05:35.410 --> 0:05:38.680 to tell you something, but I want you to let 0:05:38.710 --> 0:05:42.020 me finish before you cut me off. I'm like, what 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:44.360 is she going to tell me? And this is what 0:05:44.380 --> 0:05:47.200 she says. She says, there's a church in Los Angeles. 0:05:47.900 --> 0:05:52.250 Pastor died. And it's a mess. There's like three people 0:05:52.290 --> 0:05:54.150 that thought they should have been the pastor, so there's 0:05:54.190 --> 0:05:56.490 been a split. But there's this core group of people 0:05:56.510 --> 0:05:58.550 that are really hungry for God. And she says, I 0:05:58.589 --> 0:06:01.849 think you'd be awesome for it. And I was just like, 0:06:02.410 --> 0:06:05.050 I literally, I stared at my phone. I'm like, what 0:06:05.070 --> 0:06:07.630 is this? Like somebody punking me or something, you know? 0:06:08.930 --> 0:06:11.190 And so I just was like, I said, Joanne, I said, 0:06:11.330 --> 0:06:14.089 I'm your pastor. And I was like, I don't know 0:06:14.150 --> 0:06:17.360 anyone in LA. And so, and as I'm saying that 0:06:17.390 --> 0:06:20.520 to her, the Lord drops in my spirit. This is 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:22.660 what he says to me. He said, there's water in 0:06:22.700 --> 0:06:26.460 that well. According to Genesis 26, when Isaac began to 0:06:26.540 --> 0:06:29.520 re-dig the wells that Abraham had dug, and the Lord said, 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:35.020 there's water there. And I wasn't interested at all. Like, 0:06:35.060 --> 0:06:37.020 it didn't make sense. But I just said, hey, look, 0:06:37.060 --> 0:06:39.120 because I have a heart for pastors and leaders. And 0:06:39.740 --> 0:06:42.339 I just said, hey, I said, you know what? Tell 0:06:42.380 --> 0:06:44.880 these people that we'll go on our own dime. They 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:46.880 don't need to give us anything. But I have a 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.630 word for this church. Set it up. We'll just go 0:06:49.670 --> 0:06:53.310 to L.A. and bless them. And, you know, Gabe, we 0:06:53.370 --> 0:06:55.730 went there. We got there on a Friday. 0:06:55.750 --> 0:06:55.830 Okay. 0:06:56.690 --> 0:06:59.330 And I started having these funny feelings like, you know, 0:06:59.390 --> 0:07:03.180 something's going on. This is weird. And I had this 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:05.020 word of the Lord for this church. We get to 0:07:05.060 --> 0:07:08.820 Sunday morning. And you know this as a pastor as well, 0:07:08.860 --> 0:07:13.740 as a communicator. I spoke like 19 minutes. And I 0:07:13.780 --> 0:07:17.210 gave them the word. And these people are crying. They're 0:07:17.270 --> 0:07:20.590 like the Holy Spirit's moving. They were like ready to 0:07:20.690 --> 0:07:23.090 close the doors like there's no hope for this church 0:07:23.130 --> 0:07:25.910 and everything. And the word was there's water in this well. 0:07:26.700 --> 0:07:30.830 And so we preach. And I specifically told their leadership, 0:07:31.070 --> 0:07:32.670 you know, before we were coming, it's like, hey, I 0:07:32.690 --> 0:07:35.810 don't want to have any awkward moments. Can you let 0:07:35.850 --> 0:07:38.370 them know that I'm not interested in the job? I'm 0:07:38.410 --> 0:07:40.390 not going to be their pastor. I mean, I literally 0:07:40.530 --> 0:07:42.850 did this up front before I got there, you know, 0:07:42.870 --> 0:07:46.300 because I wasn't interested in it, you know. And, you know, 0:07:46.330 --> 0:07:49.160 by Sunday, I started having these weird feelings. And my 0:07:49.220 --> 0:07:52.460 wife knows what it feels like to hear from God 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:55.280 and then just get up and go. I just didn't 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:57.510 have it in my heart to To put her through 0:07:57.530 --> 0:08:00.270 that again, I was like, if this is God, because 0:08:00.290 --> 0:08:01.650 what I was feeling, I was like, God, you're going 0:08:01.670 --> 0:08:04.560 to have to deal with her. So just to end 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:08.200 this is that we were at Budget Rent-A-Car on Monday morning, 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:10.740 returning the car, waiting for the shuttle to take us 0:08:10.780 --> 0:08:13.600 to the airport to go back to Florida. And I 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.580 grabbed my wife's shoulders and just square looked at her. 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.800 I said, what do you think? And she started bawling. Wow. 0:08:19.900 --> 0:08:21.860 And she said, I feel like the Lord is calling 0:08:21.900 --> 0:08:26.090 us to L.A. And we moved everything. I handed my 0:08:26.130 --> 0:08:30.190 church over to a pastor in the Dominican Republic. He 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:34.760 moved his family over there. And they're thriving. They're doing great. Incredible. 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.140 We've been here. And the Lord has just been doing 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:41.400 crazy things and got connected with you. And the move 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:45.219 that's happening at Harvest Rock and everything is just amazing. 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:50.770 Incredible. What an amazing transition that really required so much faith. 0:08:51.710 --> 0:08:52.130 Because. 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:55.860 Here you are, just the word of God coming to 0:08:55.900 --> 0:08:59.820 you and saying, you know, to move all the way 0:08:59.860 --> 0:09:03.100 across the country. And it wasn't like you were already 0:09:03.140 --> 0:09:06.960 in transition or just starting. You had an established church ministry. 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:12.059 What I love about your story is that you knew 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:14.660 that in order for that transition to take place, as 0:09:14.730 --> 0:09:16.800 big as it was, that your wife had to be 0:09:16.850 --> 0:09:19.490 on the same page. And it was the confirmation that 0:09:19.550 --> 0:09:23.420 she gave you that kind of, made the decision final. 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:26.540 And here you are. And of course, God, we'll talk 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:28.740 a little bit more about what he's currently doing with 0:09:28.780 --> 0:09:30.880 you and your wife in terms of church and ministry. 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:35.160 But what an incredible story. So what's interesting about your 0:09:35.220 --> 0:09:39.020 story and how it's similar to mine is I also 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.620 grew up in ministry or was in ministry myself, pastoring. 0:09:43.490 --> 0:09:46.510 My transition in terms of ministry is a little bit different, 0:09:46.550 --> 0:09:49.050 but I can relate. And one of the things I 0:09:49.070 --> 0:09:53.850 just wanted to talk to you about today was just 0:09:53.910 --> 0:09:56.480 like in life, but I think in ministry, it's a 0:09:56.500 --> 0:09:59.550 little bit different. And I'm open to hear what you 0:09:59.590 --> 0:10:03.660 have to say about it, but talking about expectations, you know, 0:10:03.740 --> 0:10:07.740 expectations from people or that you have in people or 0:10:07.820 --> 0:10:10.280 that they communicate to you that they're going to do 0:10:10.420 --> 0:10:13.609 something or follow through, but then you have expectations in 0:10:13.630 --> 0:10:16.330 the Lord, right? Things that you feel like God has 0:10:16.390 --> 0:10:19.260 promised you. And I know that you and I in 0:10:19.300 --> 0:10:24.719 preparation for this conversation, we're just talking about how disappointment 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:29.980 often comes and maybe even discouragement, disappointment and even depression 0:10:30.300 --> 0:10:34.880 can come when those expectations, certain expectations are not met 0:10:36.010 --> 0:10:39.689 or people fail us. Right. And so just wanted to 0:10:39.730 --> 0:10:40.610 get your take on that. 0:10:41.220 --> 0:10:42.740 Yeah. 0:10:42.780 --> 0:10:43.000 Yeah. 0:10:43.020 --> 0:10:45.739 I'm glad you're asking because, you know, I feel like 0:10:45.780 --> 0:10:47.760 sometimes I feel like when I look at my life, 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:50.730 it's like a country song, you know what I'm saying? 0:10:50.780 --> 0:10:54.210 It's like, it's like, you're like the ups, the downs, 0:10:54.250 --> 0:10:57.209 you know, like someone killed your dog, but then like 0:10:57.270 --> 0:10:59.390 someone brought you puppies, you know, I'm just, I'm using 0:10:59.410 --> 0:11:02.290 an example, you know, just, just something funny, but, but 0:11:02.410 --> 0:11:05.630 it's just, yeah, it's just, I think that The one 0:11:05.730 --> 0:11:09.750 thing that I would love to encourage our viewers, and 0:11:09.809 --> 0:11:11.720 I feel like the Lord will minister to them, is 0:11:11.750 --> 0:11:16.479 about unmet expectations. And so let me just put that 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:20.520 in a certain context because people will fail us, life 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:23.200 will fail us, all these different, but this is the 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:27.120 part where I had to do some processing and find 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:33.700 healing and find, I would just say, maybe a new 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:37.969 path in my mindset. And that was looking at my 0:11:38.070 --> 0:11:42.210 life in certain times of my life and saying, I 0:11:42.270 --> 0:11:45.570 thought that I would be further at this point in 0:11:45.610 --> 0:11:49.270 my life. And that's what I want to address as anyone. 0:11:49.790 --> 0:11:52.570 And here's the funny thing about that. That is not 0:11:52.610 --> 0:11:55.910 a certain age where you look at. Maybe when you're older, 0:11:55.970 --> 0:11:59.650 you might like, you start thinking about those things. But honestly, 0:11:59.830 --> 0:12:02.630 that could be at any time. You could look at 0:12:02.650 --> 0:12:05.360 your life And you could just be like, hey, you know, 0:12:05.860 --> 0:12:08.420 I'm not where I thought that I would be. 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:13.140 So would that be under the category of expectations for yourself, 0:12:13.179 --> 0:12:14.670 like personal expectations? 0:12:14.690 --> 0:12:18.170 Yeah. And that comes, and if we're all honest with 0:12:18.230 --> 0:12:21.730 one another, that always comes in comparison with other people. 0:12:22.210 --> 0:12:25.109 The bottom line is like, there's two ways, and in 0:12:25.170 --> 0:12:29.439 my opinion, there's really two major ways that you're going 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:34.349 to feel maybe some insecurities or some doubt or some man, 0:12:34.429 --> 0:12:37.050 I don't measure up in this season of my life. 0:12:37.110 --> 0:12:40.150 And that is A, comparing ourselves to someone else and 0:12:40.210 --> 0:12:42.970 really the voice of the enemy, right? Because he's always 0:12:43.010 --> 0:12:46.750 going to attack, you know, make us feel a certain 0:12:46.770 --> 0:12:49.370 kind of way where we're not valuable. We feel like 0:12:49.410 --> 0:12:50.609 we're less than, you know. 0:12:50.630 --> 0:12:51.830 Disqualified. 0:12:51.850 --> 0:12:52.790 Yeah, disqualified. 0:12:52.809 --> 0:12:53.130 Yeah. 0:12:53.230 --> 0:12:55.910 And I've had to process those things. 0:12:56.190 --> 0:12:59.770 So what you're really talking about is expectations that maybe 0:12:59.830 --> 0:13:03.370 you put on yourself or standards or goals that you 0:13:03.890 --> 0:13:08.060 feel like you should personally achieve that are not necessarily 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.440 achieved or attained. Is that what you're talking about? 0:13:10.460 --> 0:13:13.660 Yeah, I think that in life what happens is that 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:18.500 what I'm about to say is not age specific. So 0:13:18.740 --> 0:13:20.970 it could happen when you're younger, it could happen through 0:13:20.990 --> 0:13:23.230 periods of life, but where you look at your life 0:13:23.990 --> 0:13:26.870 and you thought that maybe you'd be further along than 0:13:26.890 --> 0:13:31.690 where you're at. And I feel like that insecurity or 0:13:31.710 --> 0:13:34.770 that comparison, if you want to say, for me, I, 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.559 in my opinion happens two major ways. And I really 0:13:37.620 --> 0:13:40.620 feel like it happens where, um, like obviously we're in 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.199 a social media world where we see people and they 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:46.559 only post the best things about everything going on in life, 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:47.380 the greatest things. 0:13:47.420 --> 0:13:47.599 Right. 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:49.900 And then you look at your life and you're like, well, man, 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:51.980 I'm not going on that vacation or I'm not this 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:54.300 or whatever. But, but really what I want to hone 0:13:54.380 --> 0:13:57.810 in on what I feel to encourage the viewers is, 0:13:57.830 --> 0:14:00.840 is that place in life where you come in and, um, 0:14:01.690 --> 0:14:04.090 You just look at your life and you're just like, man, 0:14:04.130 --> 0:14:07.329 I thought I'd be further along. And you know, the enemy, 0:14:07.410 --> 0:14:10.120 the second voice that comes is not only people or 0:14:10.170 --> 0:14:13.740 the insecure comparisons of people, but the enemy begins to whisper. 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:17.260 It's like, hey, you're less than, you're not enough. Look 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:19.960 at this. They have more money than you. They're further 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:22.280 along than you, all these kinds of things. And so 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:26.060 hopefully in this conversation, we can encourage some people to 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:28.580 just break out of that funk, you know? 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:28.950 Absolutely. 0:14:28.990 --> 0:14:29.660 Yeah, yeah. 0:14:29.980 --> 0:14:33.000 Well, for you, I'm sure there's many different examples you 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:36.460 can give on how that has affected you. And I'm 0:14:36.500 --> 0:14:39.390 assuming that you've had to go through your journey of 0:14:40.010 --> 0:14:42.830 dealing with those feelings, dealing with the lies of the enemy, 0:14:42.910 --> 0:14:45.730 dealing maybe even with shame or, like you said, comparison. 0:14:45.750 --> 0:14:48.910 So what are some of the most significant ways in 0:14:48.930 --> 0:14:51.810 your life as you reflect back? where that has applied 0:14:51.850 --> 0:14:55.390 to you, just not where you need to be at 0:14:55.450 --> 0:14:55.790 in life? 0:14:55.890 --> 0:14:59.110 Probably backing up a little bit. So if I use 0:14:59.150 --> 0:15:02.860 my dad, who was the major influence, him and my mom, right? 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:05.660 Thank God they're still married. As a matter of fact, 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:09.560 even before we jumped on set today, they're heading to 0:15:09.620 --> 0:15:12.820 Peru and some time off and stuff like that. And 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:15.320 so I was just setting some things up for them. 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:19.330 So they're still married, still together, both still alive. Thank you, Jesus, right? 0:15:19.770 --> 0:15:22.870 But my dad was my hero growing up. I mean, 0:15:22.950 --> 0:15:27.090 he's such a hard worker. He taught us in life 0:15:27.130 --> 0:15:32.330 that nothing's ever free. We saw my dad work late 0:15:32.370 --> 0:15:35.410 at night or go to a university at night, and 0:15:35.450 --> 0:15:38.270 he would just make things happen for our family. And 0:15:38.350 --> 0:15:42.290 so just an immigrant coming from Peru, and everything. And, um, 0:15:42.930 --> 0:15:46.630 so looking at him and seeing how his business or 0:15:46.670 --> 0:15:49.700 the family business took off and was successful and he's 0:15:49.750 --> 0:15:53.140 retired now and all those things, you know, watching him, 0:15:53.260 --> 0:15:57.160 his successes, then you, then, then to fast forward, to 0:15:57.300 --> 0:16:01.320 answer your question, something that happened to me was, um, 0:16:01.500 --> 0:16:04.700 so before Oh eight, before the real estate market crash, 0:16:05.100 --> 0:16:06.920 you know, I mean, at one time we had like 0:16:06.980 --> 0:16:10.100 six different homes and, uh, we were doing. 0:16:09.900 --> 0:16:12.660 Your whole family or no, me, me and my wife. 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:16.640 Yeah. We just had investment properties. And so we were rolling, 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.930 like we would, uh, uh, had a little construction crew, uh, 0:16:20.190 --> 0:16:23.770 together doing some rehabs, right. And flipping properties and all 0:16:23.810 --> 0:16:26.890 that was working with some attorneys and buying like properties 0:16:26.990 --> 0:16:29.880 at like 50, 50 cents to 70 cents on the, 0:16:30.070 --> 0:16:33.090 on the dollar and then flipping them, that kind of stuff. 0:16:33.610 --> 0:16:37.030 And so, um, So yeah, things were going great and 0:16:37.450 --> 0:16:41.290 you see the gains every month. And I'm going to 0:16:41.330 --> 0:16:43.270 make a good point that's really going to help a 0:16:43.310 --> 0:16:46.120 lot of people. But I had a man of God 0:16:46.500 --> 0:16:50.700 that was in my life and I heard him tell 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.380 another buddy of mine, we went to the same church, 0:16:54.040 --> 0:17:01.470 tell him months before everything crashed, said sell everything. And 0:17:01.550 --> 0:17:04.670 he definitely was a loud voice because he had 20 0:17:04.670 --> 0:17:07.750 different companies, very successful businessmen. So it's not like he 0:17:07.790 --> 0:17:10.030 didn't know what he was doing. I only had one company. 0:17:11.090 --> 0:17:15.119 And I was looking at the gains per month and 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:17.040 I was like, why am I going to sell? I'm 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:20.979 making every month and had renters and properties and all 0:17:21.020 --> 0:17:25.100 this kind of thing. And Gabe, when that market hit, 0:17:26.859 --> 0:17:31.610 what happened was is that I was literally– like probably 0:17:31.710 --> 0:17:34.390 months before the market hit, I was standing in front 0:17:34.430 --> 0:17:39.350 of a property and my friend was looking for a property. 0:17:40.130 --> 0:17:42.530 And so my friend said, I'll buy the property. So 0:17:42.550 --> 0:17:44.050 he was going to buy the property off of me. 0:17:44.090 --> 0:17:47.850 He says, if you do the rehab. Okay. So I'm like, cool, 0:17:47.890 --> 0:17:49.969 I'm going to make the money on the sale and 0:17:50.030 --> 0:17:52.810 I'll make money on the rehab. But the Lord told me, 0:17:52.850 --> 0:17:56.550 don't do it. And I look and I'm sitting there 0:17:56.730 --> 0:18:00.770 on the phone, on the curb, looking at this house, Tampa, Florida. 0:18:02.130 --> 0:18:07.420 And I was like, why wouldn't I do this? And unfortunately, 0:18:07.500 --> 0:18:11.880 I did it. And because of that decision and everything 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.640 that came with that, once the market hit, it was 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:20.250 like dominoes and I lost everything. I'm talking about I 0:18:20.270 --> 0:18:23.950 lost my primary residence. I lost every property. 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:25.180 All six properties. 0:18:25.300 --> 0:18:30.219 All six properties, my primary residence. And this is the 0:18:30.340 --> 0:18:33.220 lowest that it got. I want you to hear this. 0:18:33.260 --> 0:18:36.100 And this is good for someone to hear this. I 0:18:36.140 --> 0:18:40.180 pulled up the U-Haul, loaded everything that I owned into 0:18:40.220 --> 0:18:44.880 this 24-footer, right? So now I have nothing. My life 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:50.139 is in this U-Haul. And to have enough money for 0:18:50.180 --> 0:18:53.960 the gas to drive down to South Florida from Tampa. 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:58.220 Listen to this. I took my stove and my refrigerator 0:18:59.880 --> 0:19:02.200 and took it in my truck to a place that 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:05.410 I had bought so many appliances for. You think this 0:19:05.510 --> 0:19:09.030 guy would have compassion. I bought so many appliances. I 0:19:09.050 --> 0:19:16.030 gave him so much business. And literally he gave me $ 50. 0:19:14.140 --> 0:19:16.090 From my stove and my refrigerator. 0:19:16.270 --> 0:19:18.810 Which you took because anything at that point. 0:19:18.890 --> 0:19:22.070 I needed gas to get down. So I lost everything. 0:19:22.609 --> 0:19:24.590 Oh my goodness. But here's the thing that I want 0:19:24.609 --> 0:19:27.470 to say. This is so important for someone to find 0:19:27.570 --> 0:19:31.430 healing and to start the track back into some form 0:19:31.470 --> 0:19:34.300 of health and stop looking behind you. And that is this. 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:37.760 Is that own a mistake that you made. Like you 0:19:37.820 --> 0:19:40.260 made a mistake. Like in my situation, I know the 0:19:40.300 --> 0:19:42.700 Lord told me don't do it. He told me don't 0:19:42.780 --> 0:19:45.540 do it. And I did it, I was looking at 0:19:45.580 --> 0:19:49.170 the number, you know, there's a saying, pigs get slaughtered. Right? 0:19:50.260 --> 0:19:52.080 at the gains. I was looking at all the money 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:54.239 that was coming in every month. And I was like, well, 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:58.140 why wouldn't I do this? You know? And so, so 0:19:58.300 --> 0:20:03.550 that disobedience, um, created a domino effect that I could 0:20:03.590 --> 0:20:07.050 not pull myself out of. And so, so what happened 0:20:07.410 --> 0:20:10.580 is that, um, um, I feel like I could look 0:20:10.619 --> 0:20:13.740 at you now and I don't feel bad about this anymore. 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:17.340 But I know in that process, Gabe, I lost two 0:20:17.420 --> 0:20:21.260 years of my life. Two years of... Because I was 0:20:21.300 --> 0:20:25.060 doing ministry too. I lost two years of furthering things 0:20:25.140 --> 0:20:29.400 in ministry. I lost two years of my life that 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:32.840 I know that I can say, that decision cost two 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:36.520 years of my life. Gone. Just like that. And here's 0:20:36.540 --> 0:20:39.360 the thing. But I can now... through the process that 0:20:39.380 --> 0:20:42.740 I went through with those unmet expectations, looking at my life, 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:45.800 it's like, I can't believe I'm 30-something years old and 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:50.850 I lost everything. And you start comparing yourself. The first 0:20:50.869 --> 0:20:52.690 thing I had to do is like, you know what, Father, 0:20:52.730 --> 0:20:55.570 I made a mistake. I'm so sorry. You weren't the 0:20:55.609 --> 0:20:58.429 cause of that. You warned me. You even told me 0:20:58.490 --> 0:21:01.369 don't do that deal. And I did the deal. And 0:21:01.390 --> 0:21:03.890 so I was like, so first thing is like, forgive yourself. 0:21:04.930 --> 0:21:05.609 I made a mistake. 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:06.620