Charlie Mike The Podcast
Charlie Mike The Podcast
Healing Hearts and Building Community
Discover how a spiritual awakening led to the creation of Warrior Spirit Texas, a nonprofit dedicated to nurturing those who serve others. In this deeply moving conversation, founders share their journey from success-driven lives to a purpose centered on healing the hearts of veterans, first responders, educators, and those in recovery.
Their story begins with a simple act—donating a brisket for a veteran program graduation—that unexpectedly blossomed into a calling. Through their vulnerability, they reveal how personal transformation shaped their mission to help others find peace, purpose, and healing through journaling, breathwork, peer support, and community connection.
Visit warriorspirittexas.com or find them us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to learn more about how you can support our mission.
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This is Charlie Mike the podcast Veterans helping veterans. Talking about things happening in the veteran community, Things we've experienced and overcome, such as addictions, PTSD, depression, legal trouble, and we also promote veteran-owned businesses. If you're talking about it, we're talking about it. This is Charlie Mike the podcast.
Speaker 2:I think when we made the change to listening to more podcasts instead of watching TV and things like that, it's like you just you get so excited and you get and you hear things you're like, oh my gosh, I want to meet that person or I want to listen to more of that person.
Speaker 3:Y'all listen to a lot of podcasts. Oh yeah, Absolutely. So what comedy? Or like motivation, A mix of everything Like spirituality comedy.
Speaker 2:some of the news stuff I don't watch like regular regular news because that can get a little scary.
Speaker 4:Yeah, sean Ryan, sean Ryan. Yeah, sean Ryan, he yeah. Sean Ryan he's motivation no no, sean Ryan is an ex-CIA contractor.
Speaker 1:His name is Seal and what he does, is he exposes like secretive stuff?
Speaker 3:in America.
Speaker 4:Yeah, like he had this one girl on. I can't remember her name, but she was about. Yeah, you can pull it, get comfortable.
Speaker 4:She was speaking about the border and cartels and where they're at now and like how they see and view America and stuff like that. So it was pretty cool. I mean, he does a lot of also like secreted stuff, like UFOs, what the government knows about them. Okay, okay, what is your belief on that man? I'm I think we're too arrogant. I'm it's too arrogant not to think there's other beings besides us right, yeah, now do you think this like?
Speaker 3:I know I met some people that that say sky, some say ocean, some say I think it's probably both.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think, I think we're in a world protected world.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of bumpers.
Speaker 4:That we have on us right now I just think we're infantiles. The evolution of spirituality? Yeah, man.
Speaker 3:I had this one guy from NASA on one time and he's like ask me anything. Like you know, we did a little conversation and he was doing a interview on somebody else's podcast and I was just filming it. So after he gets off, the mic's done and I'm like, all right, man, it's me and you here, aliens, real. He got like six, six cameras on him. He's like what do you think? I said?
Speaker 4:He's like hmm, yeah there's too many, too much history. Too much history, I mean. And the more you read the Bible, the more you're like, oh, I can see it. I can see it, you know yeah.
Speaker 3:It's a lot and I started watching a lot of history and I've always been like a history history fan, you know but it's just the things that they find. How was this made?
Speaker 1:you know what I mean. How was this?
Speaker 3:made so many years ago and it doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and you know it can be overwhelming to try to figure out everything and that and I went down this a lot of rabbit holes doing that and then, in the end, it's like I believe, I believe a lot of things, but it doesn't affect the way I live or the way I move forward. Again, the basis for me is to be evolved as Jesus is, but we're in the 21st century, so it looks a little different, right?
Speaker 2:I guess he heard you and William's whole conversation about Jesus. Huh.
Speaker 4:Probably yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's good.
Speaker 3:You know what's funny is? I don't stay in on william's podcast unless I find something interesting not not to talk it, I'm just saying like I have to find that individual interesting, and that was one of the ones where I was like, hey, you mind if I too yeah, william was like, this was awesome like it's good because he came home all fired up too, so that's great, that yeah, because then you're well, then I'm like driving home, I'm like what did I say?
Speaker 2:See, I started out in radio, so it's like always nice to get up front. So if this isn't live, you could be. This could be edited If you can you know we would have to say, hey, if you mess up, it's okay.
Speaker 3:Right, right, and it makes people a lot more comfortable. Yeah, especially Right, we've done some lives yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, please yeah.
Speaker 4:So tell us your handle and give us your DJ. I forgot what it was. You were a DJ. Yeah, ashley Steele, that's what it was.
Speaker 3:Ashley.
Speaker 2:Steele, I'm back in Louisiana. Yes, that's, I have a journalism degree, so that's us right on radio I. I, yeah, I absolutely loved it, but I went from, like you know, the power like 70s and 80s weekend to like love songs and dedications, you know.
Speaker 3:I heard it, yeah, so you know what it brought back.
Speaker 1:There's a.
Speaker 2:Delilah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So Delilah, she was good. That's what I heard instantly so yeah, it was fun so why did you quit? I felt like I wanted more into writing, so I changed over into the newspaper and started doing that, and then that brought me to Texas and, yeah, the rest is history.
Speaker 3:So from Louisiana to Texas, and I spent some time at radio in Kentucky as well. Wow, texas. And yeah, the rest is history.
Speaker 2:So from from Louisiana to Texas, and I spent some time at radio in Kentucky as well. Wow, so yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, tell me a little bit about you guys. There's a lot I want to ask, but you know, if you see me looking down at the iPad, it's notes, it's not surfing. I'm not checking my Facebook, oh no.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:So tell me a little bit about you. I want to know who you are, your history, your you know. Give me some, give me some info.
Speaker 4:All right. So I came honor free, born and raised in Texas for the most part For my first, the first decade of my life, I was. I was a military brat, so my dad was a airborne ranger. He passed away when I was 10 years old, so graduated from Texas City High School, went to college for a couple of years, enlisted in the Army, served three years in the Army infantry in Fort Lewis, got out, went to college, wanted to make the American dream happen, so I became a chemical operator and I did that for about 10 years. You know, got married, kids, good life, good life. Changed careers to training and consulting and safety. Been doing that since about 2007 on various consulting roles safety management, leadership. So I mean I still do it. Now I have a part-time job where I do consulting and training for DECRA.
Speaker 4:So, yeah, that's me, a couple of years ago, had a spiritual awakening, walked out of my life, walked in, you know, just walked in faith to find a different purpose, or find my purpose. Took me about, probably about a year, maybe a year and a half into that walk, warrior Spirit was born, our non-profit. I met her late, well, mid to late, well, mid 2003. She was living in College Station. Still, she was teaching and we, you know, we just kind of hit it off, started talking about a lot of, you know, our experience in life. You know, of course, we our experience in life. You know, of course, we're grown-ups, you know we're, we're, we're half a century old and you know we're talking about our lives and stuff. And there was just a pull to, to service that we had. And, you know, we, we did, we did some healing, both of us, each other, healing on each other.
Speaker 4:And in I guess early 2024, we drafted a journal, because journaling in our life was part of the heap right, revealing who we really are trying to be, who we are. So we published a journal, just put it on Amazon. It was kind of like a bucket list kind of thing. So we published something and put it on Amazon. It was kind of like a bucket list kind of thing. So we published something and put it on Amazon. And somewhere in between I guess March, april time frame, we were approached. Well, I had donated a brisket to a nonprofit that was having a graduation of some veterans out of their equine therapy program.
Speaker 3:And.
Speaker 4:Anne Henderson, she probably knows. Oh, oh man, that's how I learned about you guys. Yeah, she told me so. She was returning the, the big crock pot that I'd had delivered to her for the, for the brisket, and she was over and they started talking. She used to be a grant writer. Ashley was a grant writer and was looking for a grant writer. Then she started talking. We have a new program with equine therapy that we're implementing at journaling, but we don't know what we're going to do.
Speaker 4:We're like oh we just published a journal. So we developed a four hour, a two day, four hour class that we, that we started doing and from there we just said, well, we can start a nonprofit. Didn't know what we were going to, didn't know what we were really getting into, but we knew that service was going to be the root of it. So everybody that has a servant's heart that's one of our tagline a servant's heart, warrior spirit a servant's heart is, you know, people that serve others.
Speaker 4:So you know, we looked at veterans, first responders, responders, teachers, people in recovery or people that support recovery, people in recovery, and just young adults, you know. And so we were our youth and we were looking to just nurture those servants hearts, because we all want to go save the world but we can't. They're there and there's already people that are saving the world, that are helping right. So we wanted to nurture those people, to help those people to continue on, because it's easy to get bitter right when, when, when you're, when you're serving and and you're and there's no, you're not getting I don't know fed or you're not getting.
Speaker 4:You know, sometimes you can feel like you're being taken advantage of okay so just to show gratitude to those people that serve, you know again, to nurture the hearts and to really know why. You know, in the Bible it always talks about remembering your first love, right, Christ. So remembering, you know. We just want people to remember their first love of service and continue their journey. So, yeah, that's where we're at. We made a year in. May we made a year at War Spirit in May. You know, this year we're looking to not to be a little bit more focused and intentional.
Speaker 4:We have a few things on the burner In the pipeline.
Speaker 2:In the pipeline, there we go yeah.
Speaker 4:So we're looking for ways to support the nonprofit online. We're looking at different products. I'll share this where we're looking into ai assisted therapy. We're with, we're going to call it warrior spirit companion. It's, it's, it's in, it's in the works. Don't want to get in too many details about it because we haven't developed.
Speaker 2:We're still in development it's just things that complement what we're already doing, because as you're doing it you see gaps in services or you see things like, oh, this will be great. And then something gets put in your path and it all just kind of comes together and so we're finding the things that. So you have this wraparound of services and the whole person, the physical, the mental, the emotional and the spiritual.
Speaker 3:That's amazing. Tell us a little bit about yourself spiritual.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. Tell us a little bit about yourself. I was born and raised in a very, very small town in Louisiana and absolutely loved it, grew up with a younger brother and a younger sister and graduated from high school, went to college in journalism thinking, oh, I'm going to be on the Today Show where I'm going to be. You know the journalistic aspirations there. But I always enjoyed getting to know people, understanding why people do what they do, you know, featuring stories about people that maybe others didn't really know about, those kind of unsung heroes, and so I did a lot of that with when I did become a journalist. A newspaper journalist focused a lot on first responders, why they do what they do, why they get into it. So at first I did. When I graduated I started out in radio.
Speaker 2:And that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:It was a lot of fun. I can imagine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly Giving away things, concerts, all that kind of fun stuff. But I knew that I had more, and so I made the switch over to newspaper and found my space in crime journalism and that's what brought me to Texas.
Speaker 3:So crime journalism, and that's where I was, what brought me to texas. So crime journalism, give me an example.
Speaker 2:I've been in the middle of a standoff, you know those kinds of things where oh, it shouldn't be brian college station. There's not a ton of things that happen there, but it's a college town.
Speaker 4:It is a college town, so yeah, we had.
Speaker 2:You know people stealing pigs from you know people stealing pigs from the.
Speaker 3:A&M vet. Yeah, like to eat or just to breathe? No, just a prank. Oh yeah, good questions. So we had.
Speaker 2:I mean we had silly things, but we also had you know, we had some drive-by shootings that I was able to be out there and just talk to the family.
Speaker 2:So just kind of bringing the human aspect to the story and then, also the first responders, because people have that tendency to be always be scared of the police. But I wanted to showcase, like, why they do what they do and some of their, their stories that they wanted to share. And so I really enjoyed my time there and I I did a lot of work in spotlighting domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, animal abuse. But I became really close with the director of the domestic violence shelter and so she said, hey, we have this, this grant that we just got, and we're going to create a prevention program. Would you want to come work with us and create that? And I was like, absolutely so. It was a way to find a voice and to use the writing and use my voice for something, for a great need, for a great cause, and I just fell in love with advocacy and did work in domestic violence and sexual assault and child abuse at the state level, at the national level.
Speaker 2:I lived in California and Arizona and then came back to Texas eventually and after a while I started feeling that kind of burnout that he was talking about was that kind of serving burnout and just that. There I felt like God had something different for me and it came in the form of education. And so it was like, okay, I want to be a teacher, I want to be an advocate for kids in a different way and basically be the adult that I needed when I was their age. And so that's what I did, and I taught for 10 years and it was great because my son was in school at the time and so I got to be on his schedule and got to meet some amazing kids through teaching and through coaching track and so just of all ages, and so I feel like sometimes I got more from them than they got from me, but it's a great way just to see the world through their eyes, and so it was rejuvenating, it was refreshing to do that.
Speaker 2:And then I decided I wanted to get out of that and go back into working for myself and doing grant writing full time, and so that's what I thought I was going to do.
Speaker 2:And then, when I did leave, that's when the journaling came up and the nonprofit was born and he's kind of like he shared, and it was great because it was always something I thought I would love to have my own nonprofit or I would love to do something, and I saw this need for teachers, and especially for youth. All the anxiety, and I just thought we got to do more, because, as a teacher, the school districts would be like, oh, here's some food or here's some of this, you know, but like something more for them, cause I saw people really struggle and so I just felt like everything fell into place God but everything in our path, god but him in my path, somebody that wanted to serve others and love others just as much as I did, and it just all came together and I'm just so incredibly grateful for it because I've already, you know, still teaching, just in a different way, and still helping people find their voice.
Speaker 3:And that's amazing. That's amazing when you said you started your journey to, I guess, to religion through religion. What did that journey look like? Was it something like so in my mind? I you know, I know veterans this might be totally off subject, but like an ayahuasca journey Is that something similar and you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to.
Speaker 4:So well, I've always been a christian. Right, I grew up a catholic, straight away from catholic, did non-denominational church churches, but never really was planted in church. I mean, in the military I was there. There were some very, very, very divine intervention things that happened when I was in the military that I could not say God was taking care of. So I went to church faithfully. But when I left the military I stopped going to church as well. I just couldn't find a church, so I stayed away. I tried to.
Speaker 4:Every now and then I would go, you know, but it wasn't just part of my life. I struggled with the Bible, with understanding religion, but when the spiritual awakening happened to me, it was like I had to give love to them. That's all I could explain, you know. That's just what the message was Go, give love to the world. I didn't know what it meant, I didn't know what it looked like. I knew I was going to go on a spiritual journey. That's all I knew. And it was like walk in faith and let it unravel. And a lot of things happened. That again that I can't explain divine intervention, how things lined up they were. But I was on a spiritual path and the spiritual path. You know, like we would say like new age stuff, right, but everything went back to the teachings of jesus. So I'm like, well, I'm gonna go back to the source, right? So I, so I stepped back into religion, started going to church, struggled with the bible, struggled with christians, struggled with church and probably about man.
Speaker 4:This was just last year, sometime after we started the nonprofit. I was talking to a psychologist, a Christian psychologist, and I told him man, I've always had struggled, you know, with church and all these things. And he says, you know, if you just stay Christ-focused, you know, nobody ever leaves church because of Jesus, right, he goes. It sounds like you have a Christian problem and not a Jesus problem. So I started to study and it was like, what does Jesus say? And that's how I approached reading the Bible. Well, everything I read in the Bible, I said, well, what does Jesus say about this? And it helped me refine my, you know, like find my passion again for becoming a disciple.
Speaker 4:You know, I'm very cautious sometimes of saying I'm Christian, because I do what Jesus says, I follow what Jesus says, you know, and up until maybe last week, maybe two weeks ago, I always struggled with Paul and his epistle, you know. So I'd go to Bible studies. I was out there putting myself, out there, going to Bible studies, doing recovery programs, doing everything to try to understand the nature of God and why people say the things they do. Why does the Bible say this when Jesus said? Why does Paul say this when Jesus says this? Why does the Old Testament say this when Jesus says this?
Speaker 4:And you know, I kind of sell my own reconciliation of how what the Bible is and how I believe in the Bible and yeah. So again now, I don't believe Jesus is exclusively for Christians. I think Jesus is for everybody, you know, and it's their own journey and I can't tell anybody about their relationship with God, because I know my relationship with God and that's it. I don't know anybody else's, but I can guarantee you, if you follow and do what Jesus says, you'll create a relationship with God.
Speaker 2:And that's a basis of two. Like our say, our tagline is grow, give love, and that's what we live by. It's. It's so, it's part of the way of Jesus.
Speaker 2:Way is to grow give love, and so my, my spiritual journey was kind of all over the place. My mom was catholic and my dad was baptist, so I grew up going to two different churches and so I saw it was pretty confusing for a kid because they were so different, and I think what I noticed is there were a lot of judgment. I noticed a lot of like when my parents got divorced, the Catholic church turned their back on her, so I got really upset about that. There were a lot of things I didn't understand because I thought, well, aren't we supposed to just love each other? Aren't we supposed to get along and love each other? And so there were things, and there were things in the Bible that I didn't understand as well. When I was a teenager, my best friend was Pentecostal and so I went to church with her and I love it because the pastor was like, I don't care if you, you know, like, because some of the traditions are you don't cut your hair, you don't make it. He had a son our age, he did not care, he wanted you to be in there and listen to the message he wanted you to learn, and so I really that really resonated with him and I'm so appreciative of him, brother Hennigan, and so I learned a lot about unconditional love in that church and acceptance, and I really that really resonated with me.
Speaker 2:And, of course, you know, as you get older, the journey for me was like more like this. It was, you know, sometimes I would be closer and be in the church and sometimes I was kind of doing my own thing and and just for, for whatever reason, and started to go into non-denominational churches whenever, whenever I grew I guess I grew up, grew up, became an adult and had had my son but I always felt like there was something missing, something I wasn't quite understanding, something that didn't feel as authentic. And, you know, some of it could have been the church, some of it could have been Christianity, some of it could have been just me, because I wasn't yet as healed as I could be, and I think that there was a part of me that felt like if I tried to get really close to God, that he would be disappointed in me because I wasn't perfect, and so that comes from childhood trauma. So, in the spiritual journey, my son went off into the military in 2021. He went into the Navy and was like this is your adventure. And he's like, okay, now, mom, it's time for your adventure. Like yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:And so I think the spiritual journey is a part of that adventure, sort of reading everything. And then when I met Gabe, I found that kindred spirit of somebody that likes to look at everything that you know your heart is with Jesus but you're open to listening to different things and to reading different things, and kind of it goes back to journalism as you walk all the way around the story, and so you want to walk all the way around something to try to understand it and to meet someone that had the deeper questions or the deep feelings or the deep thoughts. I was like, oh wow, it's not just me, you know somebody else that has these questions. And so shortly after we met before we'd even met in person he said hey, you want to tell I'll go for it.
Speaker 2:He said I don't know. I said, hey, you want to go for it. He's like I don't know, I'm on this spiritual, you know journey in this path and I don't know where I'm going to be next week and I'm here. But he's like but if you want to walk with me? And immediately, god just was like, yes, walk with him. And so I was like yes, I'll walk with you.
Speaker 3:And hey, that's still walking.
Speaker 4:I remember where I was. I was. I was at the dike. It was I would go and watch the sunrise. It was one of my routines on this was at the dike, I would go and watch the sunrise. It was one of my routines on this journey at the dike, watching the sunrise and the water. And I was just like I need to be straightforward with this woman because I don't know, I ain't got no house, I have no plans, I didn't have anything, but yeah, so that's what it was. I don't know where I'm going, didn't have anything, but yeah, so that that's what it was like. I don't know where I'm going to be at tomorrow, next week or next month. I'm just walking a journey. I'm walking a path of faith. If you want to walk with me, you can. If you don't, I understand, because you're not, you're not getting a, you're not getting a full, whole person right now. You know I was on a journey and it was. I look back, man, it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 2:How far?
Speaker 3:we've come. Have y'all always been like this chill, like I don't know? You got like a chill vibe, I don't know, and we again, we've matured together spiritually. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you know honestly, honestly I don't know well, for me, the, I have more peace now that then I had in years past. Anxiety was just something and worrying about the future. And you know, thinking about past that makes you worry about something in the future, and then being a parent and everything else. But and I think part of it is is our journey and part of it is is is being with him and and and what we teach others about, about peace, about being the, the I call it being detached from the outcome, and I used to worry so much about what was going to happen or what wasn't going to happen or if it's going to happen this way. And when I stopped doing that, I found like a great sense of peace and that's what I want for everybody. So it's like what we, what we have. I'm just like I want that for everybody.
Speaker 4:I want everybody to feel peace and everybody to feel love, and that's when I get excited and I get all in my spirit and just you know, I mean, and we do get the advantage of age as well, right, yeah, I mean, we've lived a life already and you know, we know what's good and we know what's bad, and when you don't worry about tomorrow, you don't worry about next week and you let things just fold out, it's just like wow.
Speaker 4:I didn't realize I didn't have to work so hard to make my future. It's more like I'm a very charismatic call it charismatic Christian, but I'm the person. I believe in manifestation. I believe in speaking your future. I believe I mean it says it in the Bible. I believe in miracles. I believe in speaking your future. I believe I mean it says it in the Bible. You know, I believe in miracles. I believe in all these things. I believe we've barely tapped into who we really are, and once we're able to let go and shed this world, those things start to occur. You know, they start to manifest. It's really, really crazy.
Speaker 4:I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I had to get over was early last year. I lost my job and I was like you know what I need? A couple of months off. Let me just take a couple of months off to come up. And I'm like well, man, I need retirement, though how am I going to retire? You know, how is a nonprofit going to help me retire, and how is a nonprofit going to? You know what money am I going to use? And the money I had saved up. It was like am I supposed to use this?
Speaker 4:You know, god was like you know, you started walking in faith and, like you've, I've been taking care of you for the last year. Well, I've been taking care of you your whole life. Why are you going to care about you know? Why are you worried about what I'm going to be doing in 15 years? Just walk in faith, right? So a very big testament of the faith was to say okay, I'll let you take care of my finances, I'll let you take care of me. You know I'll be the good steward of it, but you just show me what you know.
Speaker 4:I will do what you want me to do and the basis of our life is the nonprofit is sowing into the kingdom of heaven, is getting the words and the teachings of Jesus out there. That is what we do. Everything else comes and that's how we live life, and it's kind of like I liken it to you know when you're taking your kids bowling and they put the gutter bumpers up.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Well, that's what the nonprofit is. Is the gutter bumpers of us staying focused on the kingdom of heaven, because I believe you can have the kingdom of heaven on earth right now. We can experience it, just like we can experience hell.
Speaker 3:So yeah, that's a. I don't know where the question was but I'm kind of. I have a question that's probably I don't know, it's a little on. I just want to know your opinion and again, if this doesn't, if, if y'all feel some type of way after I asked, with, with, with everything that happened this weekend in in in Texas, you know the loss of them, a lot of. You know it's a lot of young young children.
Speaker 1:Is it?
Speaker 3:is it normal or is it right to kind of question faith? Because, you know, if I kind of woke up and had a thought and I like to consider myself a religious person I don't know if religious is the right word Spiritual, spiritual, spiritual person, but you know, I had questions. I wanted to know why. You know, I don't know if I'm asking the question correctly.
Speaker 2:No, you see, I mean, I've been watching a lot of it, and I've been watching a lot of it on the news and just because I like to find the rescue stories and the good stories and just to be aware, and so, you know, I've seen people in news stories and seen people in clips and things saying, like you know, I'm wondering why God we watched this morning he said why God allowed this to happen, but I have faith that something good is going to come from it, and so I've seen a lot of people react in different ways. It's incredibly tragic, but it's incredibly tragic and as a parent, as a mom especially who's had a child that's gone off to camp, you think about that and you start reflecting on that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, I go back to what I believe in. I believe our lifetime here is a blink of an eye in eternity, right right. So the Bible says we will return to God. So we've been with God before and we'll return to God. I also believe that our God is a hands-off God and you know, jesus teaches, always teaches, about sowing and reaping. So what we sow, we will reap, good or bad. I'm not saying that. You know, somebody sowed into this flood will reap good or bad. I'm not saying that somebody sowed into this flood and this tragedy that happened. But again, I believe God's a hands off God and everything he does works for good and we're all God's children and we'll be back with him.
Speaker 2:I guess for me, when I started watching it and listening to it, I didn't ask, like why did this happen? I just asked what good is going to come from it, because God always works everything for good. I've experienced that in my life personally and I've experienced it in the work that I've done in domestic violence and child abuse and sexual assault, and I've seen that he always works things for his good. So that's what I'm focused on.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's a tough subject when you know, parents are looking at children, yeah, but you know again I use the Bible as a foundation. What I believe.
Speaker 3:So let's change the subject a little bit. I want to know okay, Warrior Spirit, you said you're a Euro. Tell me what the logo represents.
Speaker 4:first, so, okay, so the logo is like a steel heart, right, and it's supposed to show power, right, strength and resilience. And then inside is the, is the flame that burns. That you know that. You know I'm thinking of flame, I'm thinking the desire, flame of god, the flame of the Holy Spirit, the desire to do good, to do that it's exposed because sometimes, you know, our heart can be calloused up, you know. But we do have to be tough, we do have to be tough mentally. I believe you have to be in your convictions, right, and you know, for a long time, I, you know, my conviction was success, my conviction was overcoming, you know. But there's, there's a different conviction now, right, and my conviction is serving, and I still think you still have to have that, that warrior's heart, right, but don't forget the softness. I wanted to, I wanted to just contrast the hardness and the softness, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. You can get discouraged in doing good and I know in the Bible it says not be discouraged, don't be weary in doing good. But I've seen it, I've experienced it in working in the nonprofit and working in education that people can become calloused up or burnt out or just otherwise not taking care of themselves. And that's something that we actually do as part of Worry. Spirit is we do teach self-care, and so I've done that with people who work with kids. I've done that for teachers and that reminder, because we have to remind ourselves to take care of ourselves but also making sure that other people are as well, because that's how to keep that softness on the inside, that's how to keep your strength and your softness and balance is taking care of yourself.
Speaker 3:So what are y'all doing that's going to prevent the burnout? Because I know a lot of nonprofits, especially a lot of certain servers. You know, servants, Servants.
Speaker 1:Servants.
Speaker 3:That's what I meant you know, kind of like they get burnt out. So is this something y'all are doing different? Because I'm not saying that's going to happen, I'm just saying like oh, for us to not get burnt out.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, I don't. Well, being a veteran, I didn't realize how many services or free things are out there for veterans, right? So we work with Skeleton Crew. They're a close partner.
Speaker 1:I go sailing with them, teaching me how to sail.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we do equine therapy. We, you know we ride horses. We're with the horses. What else do?
Speaker 2:we do, we spend a lot of time in nature. We do a lot of hiking and walks and things like that in nature, because that's definitely refreshing.
Speaker 4:But we do go on retreats with other people. Actually we're doing a White Oaks retreat in the fall. She's doing one, I'm doing one. They're separate.
Speaker 2:And they're for veterans and first responders and then their spouses, so they have one for women and one for men.
Speaker 4:So yeah, we practice what we preach, yeah, that's what we do. But I'm telling you like and music.
Speaker 2:I say music because we do a lot of concerts, and a lot of concerts with our family, and music to me has always been just music is therapy, art is therapy.
Speaker 3:Who's your favorite?
Speaker 2:artist. Brandon Lake is my favorite artist right now what about you, man?
Speaker 4:I get so many we. I have to go with JJ Gray. I love Brandon Lake too, but JJ Gray, who's this other guy? We just seen him. Bingham Ryan, bingham, ryan, bingham but we're gonna go see, yeah, oh, ben Fuller. We went to go see Ben Fuller at a church and that place it turned into worship. It became revival.
Speaker 2:Pretty much it was like the Pentecostal revival yeah.
Speaker 4:But we're going to go see Brandon Lake on the 25th in Austin.
Speaker 2:I've been looking forward to that. But our music taste is pretty random, kind of all over the place. I still love my 80s music.
Speaker 4:You know it's still like my 70s groove music and yeah, so so I do want to share what we did, which is because you had mentioned something earlier. So we we provide breathwork classes and we did a breathwork class a few weeks back for an organization it's called cloud break and it's like a transitional homing low-income home homes for people in houston and I. So again, we did this breathwork class and you know I was kind of nervous because you know people are kind of you don't know how they're going to react, right, right, right. And the thing is is that you know it is. It can make you feel silly, but in the end I think it gives you peace, it gives you wholeness, it helps you recognize yourself, right. So I'll let Ashley share some of the things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the director. She emailed me and they had a huge inspection the next day. So everybody was kind of a little nervous about it. So it came at the perfect time and she said, wow, she goes. I haven't slept that well in weeks and she was like and everything with the inspection went great and so it was great to be able to give that to them, because they gave us the opportunity to teach journaling classes and teach things to the residents, so to be able to do something for them was fantastic, and the fact that they got so much out of it because I love breath work absolutely- yeah, but yeah, that's one of the those woo woo things I mean it works.
Speaker 4:I mean it works.
Speaker 2:It works for us at least yeah, and there's some like even the journaling classes turn out to be just fellowship, just conversation, and I'm always thinking, I thinking I need to write that down, what that person said. Or, like one of the older gentlemen said, we were talking about gratitude and he said I'm grateful that God has given me the ability to see things from other people's perspective and I thought that is a gift, but it's not something you think, oh, I should be grateful for that.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so there's so much wisdom out there and I think this has been a way for us to grow as well. Personally, in doing what we do is because we learn so much from others and then other people like Ann that are out there doing the work. I mean, she is one of the most biggest cheerleader. Yes, absolutely, and what they're doing out there with the Young Adults with Special Needs and with the Veterans Programs are just outstanding.
Speaker 3:She's amazing. Yeah, I had the chance to sit down and talk with her for a little bit and she's just yeah, wow, yeah, yeah. So what do y'all give me some other programs that y'all do with Warrior Spirit? And why Warrior Spirit?
Speaker 4:Why Warrior Spirit? Why the?
Speaker 3:name Warrior Spirit. Yeah, why the name?
Speaker 4:Again, it's you know. I believe you have to have that warrior spirit to be vulnerable, to help people, to show love and compassion. Growing up I mean, I hate to stereotype us like I do, but Hispanic males Army veterans, I'm talking about my feelings.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:You know, I have to make it masculine. It's a war spirit?
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 4:But it's, yeah, I mean that's.
Speaker 3:No, it's badass, I like it. Yeah, yeah. So when Ann was telling me about you guys, I started to hit the website and started looking around and I was like I'm going to reach out to them, I need to get them on the show.
Speaker 1:So you know, I'm all about learning about different profits.
Speaker 2:You you know doing awesome things in the community so I noticed y'all, y'all help, y'all reach out to veterans as well as first responders. So why so? I'll let you talk about population. I can speak to the education youth.
Speaker 4:But so I was when I was a chemical operator. I was a first responder at the chemical plants, firefighter, chemical operator. I was a first responder at the chemical plants, firefighter, emt, high angle rescue. So I did those things, you know, within like nine or 10 years of me being a chemical operator. I also volunteered as an EMT for League City for two years and I just seen how these people were, you know. I seen how first responders were. You know some. You know I don't want to, I don't want to talk too much about it, but I mean that you know they have a different personality, they have a different sense of humor.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:They, you see where they. They try to cover up some, some things where you know we've. They do a lot of similarities to veterans yeah, I mean especially with the humor, the yeah, I've seen a lot of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was something I had to get used to when I was a crime reporter, because I was like, are these guys?
Speaker 2:joking you know, and then you, when you understand why and that's that's one of the reasons why there's such a population close to my heart is having worked with them and then worked in crime victim services for so long that you see what they go through and how it affects them. And having to switch gears and go home to a family and leave work behind I think that's difficult for anybody that's serving others is to be able to switch gears and even in a solid education too, to be able to leave that at, and even I saw it in education too to be able to leave that at work and not take it home with you. And, of course, educators and youth were a big population that I wanted to focus on just from having had that experience, and I saw so many youth, especially girls, struggling with anxiety, struggling with depression, struggling with self-harm, and it's just a different childhood than I mean, a different, I guess, environment growing up in with the social media and the digital world.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's a little bit different for them, and so I think the pressures are, you know, are higher than they were when I was younger.
Speaker 3:I definitely see that, especially the whole online bullying. You know higher than they were when I was younger, so I definitely see that, especially the whole online bullying you know, things things like that people people, bad people, ruthless
Speaker 2:yes, yes, they, yes, they are. So it's, it's nice. I mean, I feel like what we're doing now in the peer support aspect of working with people individually, is similar to probably what we did in our other jobs. It's just now we're doing it like, with intention, with focus. We've done our training in the state of Texas. They you can become mental health peer support specialist and recovery peer support specialist, and the difference is and this is what I love is is that the person that you're working with knows that you've been through something similar than what they've been through. And I mean, for me, if anybody's ever been to a therapist, I would rather talk to somebody that understands than somebody that's just gone to school to get a degree. Nothing against it, nothing against counselors.
Speaker 2:But we've seen a really big response in that and I have, like, I have a young girl that I'm working with now and she's just made great strides and she's just absolutely amazing and so it's so I look forward to it. I look forward to it to seeing and we just do our Pierce, where we walk around the park, spend time outside, and it's amazing so to be a part of somebody's life in that way.
Speaker 3:It's crazy that you say that, because I feel the same way. When I I was, you know, I hit six years sobriety and clean. So throughout that journey in the beginning I got in trouble and I was doing the whole counseling, probation officer therapist thing. I still do, but not because I have to now, but it's just I never really took to heart, unless they experienced it the way that that it was.
Speaker 2:if you, if like when it came to drugs and alcohol, like you can't because you read that shit, you know, you know what I mean come on, come on, you know and and and, beneath it all it's trauma yeah, I mean just that's just what we've found in in our journey and in healing and and and then in in educating ourselves, in studying, is that the root of so much comes to, to childhood trauma, and comes to three big, major things that we were talking about yesterday were abandonment, unworthiness and Lack.
Speaker 4:And lack and so A lack, a lack mentality, right, not thinking there's ever enough. So you're hoarding your money or you're just a hoarder? Yeah, so it's those types of things, and there's a sense of freedom in letting go of anything, like not owning anything. I remember I was reading this, I was reading something, and there's a king and a guy. And a guy walks up and says, hey, I'll take a room. And he goes this is, this is my castle. Like well, I'll take a room. He's like this is not a hotel. He's like oh well, who lived in this place before you did? Oh, my dad did. Okay, who lived in it before your dad? Oh, my grandfather did. Are you sure? It's not a hotel?
Speaker 1:you know what I'm saying yeah.
Speaker 4:So it's like you know why do you own? I mean, and I mean again, that's just a society we live in, right, you have to own things. You know the american dream, buy a house, you know, right.
Speaker 2:So you know there's a there's, there's certain lack, that fear that gets. I think it's instilled us, especially with the retirement thing. You to make sure you have enough of this. You got to make sure you and and for me it was like I think that's why I saved up the nest egg for so long and I kept thinking well, just in case of an emergency, what if something happens? And that's just not a good, healthy way to live.
Speaker 4:And and of no, no, you're going to use that for good. And so there you go. Yeah, there's a practice that we do with gratitude, right, and you know it's identifying, recognizing what you have, it's appreciating what you have, right, and then it's allowing for the next things to come. And allowing for the next things to come is the hardest thing to do because I'm still learning how to do it, but she has a great story on how this happened.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, so when I was a teacher, name any school districts. But, when I was a teacher so I took a job to teach music. So I was like okay, this is great, this is going to be fun.
Speaker 2:And they said well, you know, we don't have an art teacher, now Would you teach both? And I was like, ooh, okay, that's kind of intimidating. I'm not the best, but my mom was an art teacher. So I'm like, oh, this is my great opportunity. Like, oh, and we see that you've done gifted and talented. Oh, would you mind doing our gifted and talented classes too? And then track coaching and everything else.
Speaker 2:And I started feeling resentful that I was being asked to do so many things, but yet there was no additional. You know, the salary was no bump, there was no stipends for anything. And so I just realized you know, it's just like just got really upset about it. I was like I feel like I'm being taken advantage of. But I stopped and kind of was like OK, I've got to change my mindset, you know. And I started looking at it as this is an opportunity to create my own program. And so for art they didn't have a curriculum, so I got to create what I wanted to create. And so I reached out to my mom and I was like you know, do you have any ideas? Do you have anything like from when you taught? And so I would go to her house and she would teach me all this stuff. She had all these materials, all these things. She would teach me things and I would go back and I would teach the kid and then tell her, hey, look this. Or send her pictures. This is what happened.
Speaker 2:this is great and I realized, by appreciating that opportunity, like my mom and I became a lot closer when we've always been close but like we were spending time together and talking art and doing art and and she was teaching me, and then that reinvigorated her because she's retired and so it's like she got to kind of break out her all of her skills and things again, but it did. It really brought us a lot closer and then I thought, okay, I was making way for that next thing to come. And that's what came and I'm so grateful for it. I taught art for two years and I still do art with kids now and I'm just grateful for that. So kind of just changing your mindset to gratitude you never know what's going to come.
Speaker 4:I mean again, we published that journal. We didn't know, I mean but that if it wasn't for that journal we wouldn't have this nonprofit what's the journal called it's in your bag, I was going to get it on. Amazon.
Speaker 2:No, you got it right there it's.
Speaker 4:It's called I am because of the great I am, and it's it's really about finding your, it's back, finding your. You know the, the divinity in you, right, your holy spirit, the christ, whatever you want to call it finding the godliness, and it's because of god that we have it. I mean, in the bible tells us, tells us. So you know, in the front there's like 20 pages or so of some guidance, faith, peace, joy and gratitude. That's what we, you know, stay, you know kind of talking about, to focus on. But we also talk about a mental model in there and why we do and say the things we do. So we say and we say and do these things because of our thoughts and emotions. But what are our thoughts and emotions come from? Our thoughts and emotions come from our past experiences, current situations, beliefs and values.
Speaker 4:So you know, in the class, this is what we teach in the class. So we start to break down. You know well, we actually have a different class as well, called trigger discipline, and we really go down into the weeds with that. You know, what experiences do you have that trigger you now? What were they Right? So we we tell a funny story where she had just moved in and you know she was leaving half-empty bottles of water all over the place and leaving doors open and lights on and stuff, and I was like man, this is starting to really bother her right man, everything you just said.
Speaker 3:I'm living my life right now, bro, so this is starting to really bother her.
Speaker 4:So I'm like, but she's over there, happy, nonchalant, she's good. I'm like, but she's over there, happy, nonchalant, hey, she's good. I'm like, oh well, I guess it's my problem, right. So I started to like, well, why do I feel that? I mean, I did this to my kids as well, you know like, hey, close the door, turn the light off, you know whatever. But when I started to think about you eat all my food, Couldn't be wasteful, right, Got got a whooping one time for leaving the door open at my friend's house. So all these things that had happened when I was a kid, you know those. That's why it shaped who I was right. So I sat down and I said, hey, listen, I told her my issues. I said but this is why, like you're, you're fine, it's my problem, right. Right, One of the things right, If you have a problem with somebody, it's not theirs, it's yours. So I mean, and we talked about it, but you know, it's just, I mean, and that's just a little tongue-in-cheek kind of thing.
Speaker 2:But you know, there's other things I did stop doing it.
Speaker 3:Did you?
Speaker 2:Well, way he approached it was like, oh, I don't want to trigger him, so I'm gonna be better about that. I did that because I was raised the same way and I was like, oh, I'm an adult, now I can do whatever I want. I can leave the bottles everywhere I can, you know, just not even thinking about it, you know, but it made me want to, to, to not trigger him, and so now I take great joy when he leaves something. I'm like, oh, are you done with that coffee cup? You?
Speaker 2:know, so it's become like this little funny thing for us. But it is.
Speaker 4:it's like a little tongue-in-cheek example of kind of like things that trigger little things that can do that, I mean we introduce it like that and we allow the veterans or the first responders to you know journal or start to write down what kind of triggers they have.
Speaker 4:And you know, let them think about it, because there are, there are things that you know can can trigger a bad, you know, anger, you know and, and we still, and it still happens to us and we know what, what they are. It's just, it's it's hard to change old habits, or it's hard to change your ways, when your body also remembers.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Right, you know, like remembering that you said, six years sobriety, how long did it take you to be able to go to into a bar and grill just to go eat and not want to drink, or like feel comfortable to go into a bar and grill Right To where you didn't have to have a drink. So you know, our body remembers these things. It took me, and I'll say like last month was the first time in years I was able to sit at a bar, have a diet soda and eat lunch, because I was the same way, like while I'm at the bar I should be drinking if I'm at the bar, right. So you know, breaking those things off, which, again, my, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 4:I don't know if I'm like an alcoholic addict. I never really put those labels on myself. I just didn't speak that over myself a lot. I mean, I knew I had some issues I like to binge drink and recreational drugs and stuff like that but I didn't know if it was really a problem. But once I figured out those were the symptoms of a root problem, it broke off those were the symptoms of a root problem.
Speaker 4:It broke off. So I may have a drink every now and then some wine or a few drinks when I go to a concert or something, and that's it. It's not that bender I used to go on anymore, he's not escaping from anything anymore.
Speaker 2:Yeah there's nothing.
Speaker 3:I'm running from anymore man, yeah, when did you realize that you were able to do that, able to like just okay. So you, I don't want to, I don't want to label you either, but you were doing a consistent drink, yeah, yeah yeah, you were doing consistent drinking and then now you're able to go to a concert and have just a couple. At what point did you test that?
Speaker 4:There's a lot of failures.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh shit, I know man yeah.
Speaker 4:And not that it's perfect every now and then. So for me now, it's not the bender that gets me. It's like if I wake up and I have a headache or if I have experience. I've overdone it, I've sinned against myself, I went against my conviction. So that's what keeps me in check now, because I don't want to feel the regret the next day.
Speaker 4:So you know I'm not saying it's perfect or anything I still do believe one day I'll probably not ever drink again, but you know. But the thing is is that, and you know, previously I never seen my life without drinking and now I can because I'd quit for a few months, you know. So you know, and it takes that body, you know, it takes your body a while to get sober, even if you have. You know, if you want to say, you know, like a relapse or whatever, and again a relapse for me would not be having a drink.
Speaker 4:A relapse for me would be to going up in there.
Speaker 2:Yeah have a beer, yeah yeah, and in the early part of our relationship I could kind of sense that too. I could be like, okay, we need to get out of here, because I can tell that he really wants to have a drink.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was like the uncomfortable. It was the uncomfortableness.
Speaker 2:I could feel how uncomfortable he was and I think feel how uncomfortable he was and so, and I think it helps with anything that either one of us battles, when you have somebody that's that supports you, that understands that may not have walked the same path I haven't walked the same path that he has but she's not a drinker either, so that held up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, there you go, yeah, just just a bad sweet tooth.
Speaker 2:I'm a really bad influence in bringing sugar and diet soda in the house. I love you all the way around.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:No matter what, and not having had that, you know since childhood, I don't have the expectation to be perfect. It'd be perfect to be loved, yeah.
Speaker 3:That's how I grew up. Oh, I see.
Speaker 2:And so to have somebody that's just like hey, no matter what, and that's just going to help.
Speaker 3:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:That, yeah, no matter what, and that's just gonna help. Yeah, that's awesome, that's amazing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, very lucky, very, very blessed. Hey hi, so y'all been together for it'll be two years in july so two years and one year ago y'all started the non-profit in yeah, may 24, so yes, I think we it took us.
Speaker 2:For me it took a while to like working from home, but working from home. Yeah, the distractions, but just finding that like what our strengths are. And so I, you know, I want to do this this way, you know, and so, and then you're trying to figure that out. So, yeah, there's a little bit of that like until you find your groove.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I'd always been one of those worker bees you tell me what to do, I'll get whatever done. You know just kind of like get stuff done kind of thing. And so it's like I'm taking somebody's vision and putting into place, and so he was more of the visionary, so it kind of like that was good. But then, like for me, I have a tendency to like I want to do everything and so he's really good about pulling me back and going. You don't have to.
Speaker 3:Right, right yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm like, well, then you better do so. Yeah, but yeah, I think with any job, yeah, there's that learning curve, but especially when it's your spouse, yeah.
Speaker 3:So when it comes to the nonprofit warrior, spirit.
Speaker 1:How does?
Speaker 3:it. What are some of the challenges that y'all have experienced so far?
Speaker 2:I think the challenges I mean challenges with any nonprofit right now is fundraising.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Is finding out what's going to work for us and what you know how we should focus on the development aspect and the sustainability. So that's always a challenge. Focus on the development aspect and the sustainability so that's always a challenge. And then also making sure, like you said, not to spread everything too thin and to find the focus you know, because you come in and you're like I want to do this, I want to do that, I want to do this, and I told you that's kind of how I am, so finding that focus, and then I think that's kind of it's a challenge, but it's a good kind of challenge, yeah, and then I think that's kind of it's a challenge, but it's a good kind of challenge, yeah, I think yeah.
Speaker 4:So we offer two classes, you know core classes that we have. We do breath work and we do peer support. And then of course we support all the other nonprofits. We're partners with any nonprofit that wants us to support and that's the biggest thing. With Skeleton Crew we kind of did customized classes because again, they're dealing with veterans, with PTSD and they're going out sailing on a boat, you know so you know, conflict resolution we did you know, we did a class for them on that, so again one of the challenges too and this kind of came up in one of our classes with veterans was like getting them out the door into whatever it is that's going on.
Speaker 3:What do you mean?
Speaker 4:So we were at a this was an equine class that we did and we're around the table just talking and you know, I don't know. We were having a conversation and one veteran says man, it was, I was looking for every excuse not to show up today. Another veteran says yeah, I came 30 minutes early just to see if I really wanted to come or not, you know. So he was out. We seen him when we drove up. He was outside just going back and forth like driving back and forth.
Speaker 4:So understanding. I guess there was another person that actually it was Joe. You know, joe Palacios, I do yeah yeah. So he was like that's, you know he goes. When he like he brought it up later, he was like yeah, you know it's hard to get veterans out of the house, because he went to one of our classes too and he was trying to get one of his friends to come. He's like he couldn't get him to come out.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So I don't know, and I don't know if that's just a veteran thing or if that's just. You know, all people that that are going to a place that they're going to maybe vulnerable, or they may be triggered and may have an emotional episode or something. So I don't know. It's a tough thing when I first started doing the journaling class to kind of break down the walls and let people start talking. It was intimidating to me as well because a lot of them were, I say, older, they were probably the same ages. But to make, to create that dynamic, so there's comfort there, right. So but again, in my experience professionally, I did a lot of coaching and training professionally too. So I had that back, I had that experience. But to do it for the emotional reason was, you know, was again a little intimidating. But as time, you know, the more vulnerable I was, the more vulnerable came. So that's, that's the model, you know, like under, you know, knowing the struggle, and like for me it became a place of healing as well.
Speaker 4:You know when, when a veteran says, yeah, man, beer, alcohol is just an aspirin for us, you know, and I'm like, you know, okay, but just making things real simple. Or you know another veteran saying well, you know, we stay mission focused. If there's not a mission, what are we going to do? Right? So you know, hearing these things and reflecting back on my life, it was you know I'm like, wow, that's how it was. You know it was. You know I'm like, wow, that's how it was. You know, it's like, you know, very success oriented. I was raised that way as well you know, right, right, right.
Speaker 4:You know to. You know, accomplish goal, accomplish goal, accomplish. You know, find your discipline, go forward, get what you're going to do. So I had always lived that way and I used to get picked on. My friends used to joke with me because I was like hey man, what's your five-year plan? Because that's how I lived. I lived with five-year plans. Oh shit, you sound like William now, but I mean that's that's the way it was.
Speaker 4:If I wasn't, if I wasn't, you know, improving or having a success, then then then I wasn't, I wasn't being who I was. But you know, I was looked at as success in attaining something, whether it was a better job or a degree, or a house or a car. And now I mean, I don't live that way no more. I know what's going to happen and my relationship with God's going to get closer. People are going to see God through me. I'm going to influence, I'm going to help, I'm going to raise other people up so they can be the best that they can be. Those are the things that I know they're going to happen. It's just a matter of time. You know it's just staying. You know my mission it's staying, mission focused.
Speaker 4:Still is to spread the good news. You know, and it's you know, jesus came to show us how to overcome this world, you know. So we, you know, that's what we want to teach. You know I'll say this and then I'll be quiet, but I would say, you know, to find God is a journey of self-discovery right, because it's us that we're fighting with to understand who God is.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, I'll stop. So so I know, like how, how would you approach that veteran that doesn't want to come out of the house, or first responder? Because, you know, one of my favorite things is always saying like I came, I saw, I had anxiety, I left.
Speaker 2:You know like I see that yeah.
Speaker 3:And I do that often.
Speaker 2:Even family functions. You know what I mean. Or you'll say, okay, you'll RSVP for it. Now, I don't know.
Speaker 3:I'm just going to let it go.
Speaker 2:Oh, I've done it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah. So there's a trigger in there for some reason. Right, there's past issues or past ways. You've dealt with it, because I understand the anxiety of going to a place and how I got over it. Well, I would drink.
Speaker 4:So, it would make me relax, right? I tell a story. When I was at my first high school party, I was like maybe 15 years old or something and there was an older kid there, right, I was nervous, but I started drinking and started loosening up and then people started liking me and then people were talking to me and everything else. So it became a go-to for me to drink when I was uncomfortable. But what would I say for people that have a hard time coming out? You just have to face. You know, for veterans, you signed a blank check to serve in the military and you could have died. I promise you you're not going to die. If you get out, if you leave your house and you go to one of my classes or go to a function that we're at, you know you're not going to die Again. You know first responders. They put themselves in harm's way. You're not going to be. You know you're not going to die.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:I guess it's like what was that on the? What was that I? What was that on the? What was that? I can't even remember the hangover where that guy said but did you die? Oh my God.
Speaker 2:I think sometimes too, having things, having events where spouses can come I know we've had events where we've had equine and journaling and classes where we have, like, veterans and spouses, and I think that that helps with some people coming because they have their partner already with them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, 100%. It's kind of like a comfort blanket, I don't know, right right, something similar, yeah Right.
Speaker 2:And just, and then when we, when starting any of the classes, just starting with like you don't have to share. If you want to share, that's great, but if you don't like, this is for you.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:This journaling, so this is for you. So if you don't and eventually you know you end up with people- sharing as well.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah and.
Speaker 4:I think you know it's always like you always want to keep those relationships within life habit. You know, because you you see some. I don't want to call them breakthroughs, but when somebody realizes like, their eyes will light up and they're like oh or when they experience something another experiences, and it's like their eyes will light up and they're like, oh. Or when they experience something another experiences it, it's like, okay, I'm not the only one, but yeah, so those are the communities we try to cultivate, we try to create, even with people in recovery.
Speaker 2:And the coolest thing is to watch some people exchange numbers at the end of the class and you know that they've made a connection there and that they're going to end up.
Speaker 3:you know being friends and stuff, so that's always so y'all work with veterans, first responders and the youth we do have you and educators, and then individuals in recovery man. That's amazing, that's a. That's a lot. That's a lot. Can you? Can you share a story of anonymous, of course, of a way that you see that you've impacted someone's life?
Speaker 2:what I think well she shared or maybe a turnaround, yeah she shared the young lady that she right peer support with, which is yeah, and the biggest compliment is is her family member saying like, telling me oh, she just, she enjoys her time with you, she loves you because you accept her for who she is, and that, to me, is the greatest compliment.
Speaker 4:So there's been a couple. There's this one lady that she was in recovery and she reached out. Well, she was in a rehab facility and then she got out. She wound up reaching out to us. She's doing amazing things now she has a ministry and helps people and it's amazing. But she had reached out, sat down with us and and we were I think I was like struggling, I was having a hard time dealing with some and we're, you know, over tacos at a Mexican restaurant and she has me bawling. I'm crying like a baby because she's like how do you, how did you? We're, you know, over tacos at a mexican restaurant, and she has me bawling. I'm crying like a baby because she's like how do you, how did you know this?
Speaker 4:you know, but you know again, she's a very faithful woman but, what made us reconnect was her husband was having a bout of like anxiety. It was, you know. So he was like you know, I don't know what's wrong with me, you know it's he just retired and stuff. Too quiet. Yeah, it was too quiet and she remembered what you know, I taught in class. You know, you know the quiet. Sometimes we're afraid of the quiet because we don't know what to do. Our mind can start racing. But the quiet is peace and you have to come to terms being at peace sometimes, right. And so she told him and he's like I don't know what you're talking about, you know, I don't know whatever, who this guy is or whatever. So hung up, like a few hours later she was, he called her back and was like I don't know who this Gabe is, but he may, he may be on to something.
Speaker 3:Like that. The light came on and it helped them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it helped them and she's one of those that has remained in our life and I absolutely love it because it's just easy. You don't often see the ripple effects. You don't often see what happens to people when they leave your class, and so to have somebody to come back and to share and then to feel like we get so much more support to you and then to watch how she's pouring into others and to be able to drive up north and go see her ministry is just incredibly powerful.
Speaker 3:That's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Jesus. So what do y'all see? What are the future plans for Spirit Warrior Spirit?
Speaker 4:excuse me. So again, we were working with AI assisted counseling. We're looking into holistic healing alternatives to offer through the nonprofit man this came upon me this past week. Is is a follow me ministry Follow me 419. I think I'm going to do through a warrior. Warrior spirit, just focused on the teachings of Jesus, accepting all.
Speaker 4:The men's ministry yeah a men's ministry which was really influenced from, so I do a prison ministry. I've been going for over a year, did a Celebrate Recovery with them, fixing to graduate like 40 people from this program. And the relationships. You know what I've learned from them. You know symbiotic relationships, you know going back and forth but they're just this real fellowship and you know I'm I'm hoping to you know, maybe start a ministry.
Speaker 4:Maybe people that are in, you know were, were incarcerated, that get out. You know, I'm hoping to. You know, maybe start a ministry. Maybe people that are in you know were incarcerated that get out. You know, help them with if they want to start a ministry or they're struggling in their life, in the transition, you know, give them something to focus on, which is, you know, follow me, ministry 419, which is all about just what Jesus says to do. You know, jesus did not come to be served, he came to serve. So those are the things that are on the horizon. See how they're going to pan out. But yeah, you know, maybe in another year.
Speaker 4:I don't believe we were made to run this whole nonprofit. I don't think we, you know, I think we were creating a space for like-hearted individuals to put in a warrior spirit. Let them run it, let them do it. I mean, that's where, ultimately, I think it's going to be, because you know it's it's. I don't want to say it's about legacy, because it's not really about legacy. It's about nurturing the hearts. You know it's about nurturing the hearts, so when it's time to harvest, there people are able to give you know, I think it's the more like the classes we've done.
Speaker 2:I did a self-care class and that has led to like another speaking engagement, and so these kinds of things come up, but then the ideas that we get from others as well. So it's not just like, hey, I think, what about this or what about that. It's like we're not just bringing ourselves, but we're listening to the people that we fellowship, we're listening to the people that we teach the classes with, and so one of the ladies was talking about that there's no support group for women with anxiety in a specific area, and she was like I really like to see something like that happen. And so I think about those things and I'm like you know what I really like to see something like that happen.
Speaker 2:And how can we make that? How can we work with our partners to make something like that happen? So finding out what people, what people really need and what's not out there now, and how can we make that happen? And that might not be I not be. I may not be able to do that, but I may be able to. We may be able to have partners that can make that happen, and so I think that's something that's going to be an ongoing thing with us all the time is how to tap into that community, and that's yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think, more than anything else, it's a movement of God happening. I think we are again evolving spiritually as a world. We may be on the front end of it, the middle of it, I don't know, but it's. You know, something's changing, because it changed in me. There's no denying that. Something just flipped in me that said this is what you got to do. Now, and I, and I believe a lot more people are getting that call. I don't know, you may have experienced too. So it's a, it's a shift in the world.
Speaker 3:That's amazing. So, with, with, with warrior spirit, okay, so how do people find you? What is the best?
Speaker 4:contact. So we have a website warriorspirittexascom.
Speaker 2:We have our— Say it again we want to do the social media stuff. Oh yes, we're on Facebook, instagram, linkedin. Haven't quite gotten to TikTok just yet, I'm working on that.
Speaker 2:That's something that Anne is really good at at Rainbow of Hope, and so she's teaching me. But for the most part, we do a lot of networking, a lot of community events, but people have found us through the website, through social media, through our partners. People have referrals that way, but we're easily accessible through email, through phone. I'm the keeper of the calendar, so yeah, but yeah, so it's. I think we've been really fortunate. We haven't really had to do a lot of like advertising or anything like that. It's just kind of people have come into. That's good.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah. Well, we really last year we really sowed a lot of seeds and we were really busy networking yeah, networking. So we've taken a step back and let the seeds that were sown come to harvest. And you know, again people are calling us. We're still doing a little bit of networking, but again we're we're being a little bit more intentional on funding, right.
Speaker 3:So with you know there's we.
Speaker 4:We always talk about four streams of funding, and non-profit and services is the one we're working on right now so we're gonna see. We're gonna see how that goes, because you know, I don't want to have to worry about the money piece, right, yeah, so we'll, we'll see how it works out. We'll see how it works out.
Speaker 2:You know, people, people give monthly donations subscriptions and it's awesome, and they can donate through the website. Yes, yeah, we have monthly giving levels or one-time giving levels as well, and you can see what you support as well. So it's at different levels.
Speaker 4:If you're a corporate donor, you're giving $12,000, $24,000. I mean you're going to get like my services throughout the year if you want. I mean because again I'm a safety leadership guy. So implementing programs, training, if you want to have self-care, teach OSHA classes, I'm OSHA outreach trainer. So again, corporate donors would actually get access to me for some events. I think it's like one or two events a month when you're at that $24,000, $12,000 level.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:So what events? Do y'all have any events coming up or anything that y'all, anywhere y'all be within the next month or so?
Speaker 2:We have a fundraiser that's in the works for the fall with one of a group that we belong to, but we don't have a date or anything like that yet we're actually being sponsored in Pearland or Sugarland.
Speaker 2:Joe, it's a board game, right? Oh, that's right. The brawl, yes, you have the Comic-Con, those kinds of things. All. Yes, it's a. You know, you have the comic-con, those kinds of things. Well, this is all for like, for board games and and I think there's some virtual aspects to it as well. But we're one of the beneficiaries, so when people buy the badges, people buy the tickets to, to get into the games, then a portion of that comes to us and so things like that are just absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2:we've done some profit shares, we did one with Gringos, and so it's just finding these little creative ways to fundraise. And then it also does wonders for community awareness as well.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we haven't had one big, great event yet. I think we're still trying to figure it out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because everybody has a golf tournament, everybody has a pickleball tournament now.
Speaker 4:I still don't know what that is. Pickleball is amazing.
Speaker 2:Oh, I spend half my time chasing the ball, so trying to find something that's a little different. I think that's what the group is talking about is something that's unique it's not just a dinner so something that can really bring our partners together as well, we did an awesome, we took part in an awesome fundraiser on fourth of july the freedom cruise so you go out and keep on a boat and watch the fireworks for fourth of july.
Speaker 4:That was pretty cool uh, with jake.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, you know, jay, he's, he's an amazing dude too, yeah it was a great experience.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so there's a lot of fun things and a lot of creative things and, like you said, just kind of that's what we're going to be focusing on now is that sustainability, because we're here, we've grown so much, there's so much more to be done, and so just keeping that sustainability, keeping that going so much more to be done, and so we're just keeping that sustainability, keeping that going yeah, well, you guys and I appreciate your time and thank you for coming on.
Speaker 4:Thank you. So any way I can help you guys, be sure you know okay oh, you bet yeah anything I'm, I'm here for you, guys man, I actually I might, I might take you up on that.
Speaker 3:I'm oh shit, you're not supposed to no, I'm just messing with you yeah, so I don't again with the, with the follow me 419 ministry.
Speaker 4:Again, this just came up like this past week and I don't I'm I'm still kicking around how to launch it. I think I want to do videos first, kind of get a gauge where people are, you know, before we start having a place and meet place or maybe maybe having a round table or something, and like filming the round table to see what this, what the ministry, is going to be about yeah so maybe something like that, but yeah, but again, I'm still kicking around ideas on how that looks, because I really want it to be.
Speaker 4:You know, again, everybody's that anybody can come, just you know, just like Jesus said everybody come and and let's just talk about you know how we can change ourselves first and then be a change for others. You know help others change as well. You know again and again, it's the, it's the service piece, it's the service Appreciate that, and anyway I can help you if you want to do it.
Speaker 3:Man, if you ever thought of just launching it through a podcast, that's something we can do too. Amen.
Speaker 4:All right, all right, yeah into that. It's something me and you can talk about offline. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, sounds good. Sounds good Awesome.
Speaker 3:All.
