1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,600 Hey, pursuers. Welcome to the Pursuit of Calling podcast, where my goal and purpose is to provide 2 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:16,120 the strategies and tools needed to successfully discover and pursue your God-given calling. 3 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:22,400 I'm your host, Thomas Carney, and in this episode, I sat down with Jeff Dorena. Jeff 4 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:27,000 is an author, a speaker, a pastor, and we dive into his testimony about how he came 5 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:33,880 to Christ, and also he dives into why it's extremely important to share your testimony 6 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:39,160 with others. It's one of the most important things that you can do. So to hear more about 7 00:00:39,160 --> 00:00:43,280 that, keep on listening for the episode. But real quick, I just want to say, if you liked 8 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:48,000 this episode, if you've been liking the podcast so far as you've been listening to the other 9 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:52,040 episodes, go ahead and follow on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen to your 10 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:56,200 podcasts. Make sure notifications are on and make sure to give a five-star review. We don't 11 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,560 need the one-stars. Like David Ibsy said, you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything 12 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:06,680 at all. All right, guys, see you in the episode. 13 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:17,280 All right. Hey, guys. Welcome to the episode. And so I'm sitting here with Jeff Dorena, 14 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:18,280 and I said that right, right? 15 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:22,080 Absolutely. Great job, man. You did that great. 16 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:30,800 All right. And so I found Jeff through his podcast. I was doing some research on who 17 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:38,080 was out there talking about pursuing one's calling. And I found one of his episodes where 18 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:48,080 he was talking about really looking for your bent. I think that's how you phrased it. And 19 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,800 I found that pretty interesting. So let's do a couple of more of your episodes and decided 20 00:01:51,800 --> 00:02:00,000 to reach out. And but I see Jeff though, he's also an author, a speaker, and he has his 21 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:08,680 own podcast called Men Unplugged. So that R obviously, I just mentioned that. But yeah, 22 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:13,560 it's been pretty cool. As you know, guys, I've been reaching out to a couple more people 23 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:23,240 to really get more of a kind of, you know, open up this platform to more people and help 24 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:28,280 others with who they're calling. So Jeff, why don't you give for those who don't know 25 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:32,000 you, because a lot of men just won't know who you are. Why don't you give a little bit 26 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:36,760 of background on who you are? 27 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:41,360 Well, first of all, thank you so much, Thomas, for having me as a guest on the show. This 28 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:46,960 is awesome. I'm looking forward to it. And for those of you here, the Pursuit of Calling 29 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:52,520 audience, I just want to say, hey, my name is Jeff Jarena, as Thomas said, and he said 30 00:02:52,520 --> 00:03:00,280 it right. Great job. And so for me, if I hopefully I won't go too long on this answer here, but 31 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:04,560 the most important thing to know about me is that I'm a sinner saved by grace. It's 32 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:12,000 the most important thing. My life was radically transformed about 22, 23 years ago when I 33 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:18,000 placed my faith in Jesus Christ. And I grew up in church, Thomas. I grew up in church, 34 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:22,880 but I never heard the gospel. And I kind of grew up thinking it was this workspace mentality, 35 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:26,440 like if I did good, I was going to go to heaven. But if I did bad, and I've done a lot of bad 36 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:31,360 things, still do, right? Hopefully I'm not as stupid as I used to be though when I was 37 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:36,400 younger. But I used to think if I did bad things, I wasn't going to go to heaven. It 38 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:42,000 was this workspace mentality. And then somebody shared the gospel with me 23 years ago, and 39 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:50,200 I understood grace. And it was in that moment, understanding grace, I had a radical testimony. 40 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:54,600 I was severely depressed for four years, had suicide thoughts for four years in my life, 41 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:58,920 did not want to live. And it's one of the stories that I share and that I speak to audiences, 42 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:04,480 whether that's churches, whether that's organizations, whether that's schools or whatever, is really 43 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:09,120 to help people understand that if God loves you, then you know what? You can accept yourself 44 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:15,440 as you are. And it's really that going through that understanding that Jesus loves me, and 45 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:20,720 because of that I can accept myself. And so when I placed my faith in Christ 23 years 46 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:28,400 ago, what happened was I wasn't depressed anymore, suicide thoughts went away. It was 47 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:33,120 like this radical conversion. It was a miracle. It truly was a miracle. And I didn't need 48 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:38,520 any more OCD medications, didn't need any more antidepressant medications, none of that, 49 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:44,840 Thomas. Just Jesus Christ radically transformed my life. And when that happened, I started 50 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:51,280 running to God instead of running away. And since then, I've been blessed to speak to 51 00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:57,120 a lot of different audiences, do a lot of group and individual coaching, write books, 52 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:02,600 have a lot of different online courses and the Mental Plug Show. But I think for me, 53 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:08,280 the biggest thing is I'm married. I've been married now coming up this year, 16 years, 54 00:05:08,280 --> 00:05:15,520 have two children, a daughter and a son. And my daughter's older, okay? She's a teenager. 55 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:20,560 My son's a little bit younger, but he's the reason, he's seven years old, he's the reason 56 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:28,040 I've been drinking caffeine for seven years now. He's just like massive energy. And so, 57 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:33,760 I'm 53, so if you do the math, I got married very late in life. So if you do the math and 58 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:39,600 if I sound tired today, Thomas, it's because I am, because they keep me on my toes. But 59 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:45,480 you know, really just to round it out, when I came to know the Lord, that's when really 60 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:51,360 the Lord gave me my purpose and that was really what I do now, okay? And I'm sure we'll get 61 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:59,200 into that. But you know, I run a couple of businesses and I used to work, I was a CEO 62 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:04,920 at a nonprofit company and used to work as an executive at a Fortune 500 company. But 63 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:09,640 none of that compares to the relationship that I have with Christ and the calling that 64 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:14,720 He's given me now. And so, hopefully, that helps you and your audience to kind of understand 65 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,480 where I was and where I am now. 66 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:27,600 No, thank you for all of that. But I want to say, it's not gonna, like, you can, you 67 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:33,320 don't have to worry about being too long-winded. If I have to cut you off, that's very rare, 68 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:41,040 as most of my listeners know. So I think it'll, like, really, we're here to learn from you, 69 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:46,840 we're here to gauge whatever, gauge from your experiences, how we can apply them to our 70 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:50,840 lives. So I appreciate you giving all the details. 71 00:06:50,840 --> 00:06:52,880 Thanks, brother. 72 00:06:52,880 --> 00:07:02,200 For sure. So now that we know a little bit more who you are, and with this podcast being 73 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:05,800 The Precursive Calling, which you kind of touched a little bit on this, but let's talk 74 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:09,640 about your calling a little bit more in depth. How would you describe your calling? How would 75 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:11,560 you describe what your calling is? 76 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:16,400 Yeah, I love that question because, you know, as a guy, and I don't know if most of your 77 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:22,760 audience is men or men and women, but I can just speak here as a man that, you know, a 78 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:27,920 lot of times we place our identity on our calling and what our title is and things like 79 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:36,180 that. And what I had, what I realized was when I came to know the Lord 23 years ago, 80 00:07:36,180 --> 00:07:41,800 that there's a bigger calling here and the biggest calling that we all have as born again 81 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:50,040 believers is to know God and to make him known. Okay? And I say that because part of my calling, 82 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:56,640 excuse me, kind of cough there, part of my calling here, I'll just tell you what my mission 83 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:04,020 is, okay? And then we'll kind of bracket out or kind of go down a little bit off of that. 84 00:08:04,020 --> 00:08:10,640 But really my main goal or vision here is to help believers, help men and women and 85 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:17,200 youth strengthen, share and live out their faith. Okay? Now, the share part to me is 86 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:22,240 when I came to know the Lord, I had never heard the gospel. And when I did that, I was 87 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:27,320 like, whoa, I was so excited for what Jesus Christ literally did for me. He literally 88 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:33,600 saved my life physically and spiritually. And so when that happened, I was so zealous 89 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:40,080 to tell everybody about my testimony, about how Jesus Christ radically transformed my 90 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:46,880 life. But when I would go tell people what he did for me, my testimony, everybody, a 91 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:52,880 lot of people would say, well, how do I get this free gift of salvation? Here is the problem, 92 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:57,180 Thomas. I would say, I don't know, I guess you get severely depressed for four years, 93 00:08:57,180 --> 00:09:01,480 you have suicide thoughts for four years and you have everything go bad in your life, you 94 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:07,200 lose all this money and you don't have a job, I guess that's what happens. And I was like, 95 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,800 no, that can't be the answer. That's not the answer, right? So I didn't know how to share 96 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:20,560 the gospel. So I asked a lot of pastors, I'm an ordained pastor, asked a lot of pastors, 97 00:09:20,560 --> 00:09:26,920 asked a lot of individuals that had been Christians more than me. And you know what? Most of them 98 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:33,680 said they had never done it. Pastors, Thomas, pastors, this was troubling to me, didn't 99 00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:38,140 even know how to share their faith. And I said, whoa, wait a second. So I went on this 100 00:09:38,140 --> 00:09:43,080 two or three year mission, this quest to figure out how you share your faith, how do you share 101 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:49,060 it in a simple, natural way. And so from that, that's one of my books, the first book I wrote 102 00:09:49,060 --> 00:09:53,760 about seven years ago, it's called Faith Without Fear, How to Share What You Believe with Confidence 103 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:59,260 and Power. So what that book does and that training that I learned, it teaches believers 104 00:09:59,260 --> 00:10:07,160 a simple, natural way to share the gospel to anyone at any time, okay? Regardless of 105 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:12,400 how much they know, whether or not they think they have the skill set of evangelism, whether 106 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:17,880 or not they think they have a radical testimony or not, because it doesn't matter. And so 107 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:23,040 that really is, I would say, one of the key core components here of my mission is to help 108 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:29,200 believers share the gospel in a simple, natural way, okay? How do you do that? How can you 109 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:34,720 do that every time unapologetically, okay? How can you do that passionately? And so that's 110 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:39,560 what I teach individuals to do, in groups, churches, schools, whatever. So that's the 111 00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:47,600 first part. The other part, strengthen their faith. I think for me, you know, I'm 53 years 112 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:51,880 old now, I got to get my faith strengthened all the time. And one of the ways that we 113 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:57,280 do that is through the Men Unplugged podcast, okay? So we have guys like Kevin Sorbo, Josh 114 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:02,280 McDowell, Gary Thomas, Brian Bosworth, big name guys that you would know come on the 115 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:07,800 show. We talk about stuff to help men and women, okay, from a biblical point of view. 116 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:11,000 And then I have a lot of the episodes of my own content, like I think you were talking 117 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:15,520 about the one about, I talked about how to determine your bent, right? And determining 118 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:22,240 your bent is really how God designed you. How has God wired you to live out this life, 119 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:29,200 your life, right here on earth, right? How does He design you to glorify Him and bring 120 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:36,880 others more closer to Him and live out your purpose? That's really what bent is. But the 121 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:44,360 strengthen your faith part, to me, is getting other people, like your show right here. This 122 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:50,160 is a great resource, Thomas, for people because you're bringing people on. You know, there's 123 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:56,560 a lot, the thing for me, you got me rambling here because you got me talking too much. 124 00:11:56,560 --> 00:12:02,200 But here's the thing, I think a lot of us, most of us have something that's very valuable 125 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:08,360 to say. The unfortunate thing is with so much noise out there in the world, a lot of people 126 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:14,320 will never get heard. And so what I say is that your story is the most important thing 127 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:18,840 to share, your testimony. And that's one of the things I teach people how to do in that 128 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:23,680 book in the training, Faith Without Fear. Now we go back to the strengthen your faith, 129 00:12:23,680 --> 00:12:27,680 I think a key component here is strengthen your faith is number one, you got to spend 130 00:12:27,680 --> 00:12:33,560 that time with the Lord. And I'm always trying to do that. But in addition to that, what 131 00:12:33,560 --> 00:12:38,440 I found when we originally started the Men Unplugged podcast, I think we started like 132 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:43,880 six or seven years ago, guys were telling me, Jeff, why don't you start a show for men? 133 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:49,640 And I said, well, guys are going to get tired of hearing me multiple times a week. Maybe 134 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:53,840 they can do it once a week, but multiple times a week, they're going to get tired of doing 135 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:59,760 that. So I realized the best way to do that was through an audience, a vocal majority, 136 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:04,440 so to speak, where I get other men talking about the same thing, maybe in a different 137 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:09,440 way from different experiences, wisdom, what they've learned, whatever. And this is kind 138 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:14,120 of what you're doing. So that's how the Men Unplugged show started. And the key component 139 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:21,080 there was to help men and women strengthen their faith. Okay? So the other one I said, 140 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:24,640 strengthen, share, live out their faith. I think when you get those two components right 141 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:29,560 there and you know how God has designed you, you're bent, you're calling, and both of all 142 00:13:29,560 --> 00:13:34,760 these three things are working together, what's happening is you're living out your faith. 143 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:36,760 Does that make sense? 144 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:37,760 Yeah. 145 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:41,480 I hope it makes sense. 146 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:49,280 So what I'm gathering from that, at least, is like you said, you're helping people to 147 00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:59,920 strengthen, live, and share out their faith, and how they can do that through their God-given 148 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:04,840 bent. It's not going to be the same way in everybody. Not everybody's going to do it 149 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:09,800 the exact same way. Like you said, you have other people on your podcast, other people 150 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:16,560 on your show that have different experiences. I like to use the phrase, we're all given 151 00:14:16,560 --> 00:14:18,280 different tools in the toolbox. 152 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:23,000 Right, exactly. Well, there's something I can add here I think that maybe would help 153 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:27,280 your listeners in terms of calling. I can bring it up now or we can bring it up a little 154 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:28,280 bit later on. 155 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:30,100 Go for it. 156 00:14:30,100 --> 00:14:37,280 This is something I had to learn early on. I don't think I caught this until I placed 157 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:43,800 my faith in Christ. And the reason why is before that, I was working at a Fortune 500 158 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:49,200 company. I got out, my undergraduate was in business. You'd have thought at the time, 159 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:54,840 and I was getting promoted very quick. I was making a lot of money, I was working telecommunications. 160 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:59,480 And you'd have thought though, that would have been the heyday of my life. That would 161 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:05,240 have been the glory days, so to speak. But what happened was I got in a severe car wreck, 162 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:11,280 I flipped my car, the whole left side of my body. What happened was the car flipped over, 163 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:15,760 other side window busted through. And this is a testimony that I have on my website at 164 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:21,320 jeffjarena.com. You go to jeffjarena.com, just go to about, you can watch part of my testimony, 165 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:28,240 this is part of what I share. But anyway, the whole, what happened was when it flipped 166 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:33,600 up in the air 10 feet, turned over, okay, because it hit a column underneath 635 in 167 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:38,280 the tollway in Dallas. I can show you to this day the mark on that column that it hit. It 168 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:44,040 hit that column, tilted over, and when it did that, it hit the ground. My left side's 169 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:51,000 now facing the road. The left side driver's side window busted through. That impact caused 170 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,480 my left hand to get off the wheel, off the steering wheel. The whole left side of my 171 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:59,960 body and my left hand drug about 100 feet on the asphalt. You can imagine. When I was 172 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:07,120 going like 30 miles an hour, okay? That hurt. Hurt very bad. But I got this scar, I don't 173 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:10,840 know if we're on video now, but I had this scar on my left hand. Okay, you can't see 174 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:17,000 it now. But what happened was the enemy used that, Thomas, to tell me I wasn't worthy enough. 175 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:21,320 I wasn't good enough. I was a black sheep of the family. I wasn't lovable. I could never 176 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:26,080 measure up. I wasn't good enough. Whatever you do isn't going to matter. Okay, so I was 177 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:33,040 buying all these lives from the enemy. Okay? So at that time, all that happened, I was 178 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:39,440 getting promoted. I was making more money. But what was happening was I was feeling miserable. 179 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:46,120 I had a lot of shame, a lot of body shame. And so I got depressed. That's when the depression 180 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:52,000 kicked in. Severe depression, suicide thoughts every day of my life, antidepressant medication, 181 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:56,080 all these different things. Nothing helped. And then I heard the gospel. Somebody shared 182 00:16:56,080 --> 00:17:02,640 that with me. And it was in that moment that I finally realized my identity, my purpose 183 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:08,000 doesn't matter from this day forward if I make money or not. So I say all that to say 184 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:12,840 this. In that moment, and probably, I don't know, probably several months after that, 185 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:19,840 because I was out of work. I didn't say that part. I was out of work at that time. Actually, 186 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:24,600 after that wreck and then about three or four years later of that whole suicide, suicide 187 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:28,880 thoughts depression, after that four year period, right before I heard the gospel, I 188 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:36,440 had lost my job. This was back when 2001, the stock market was tanking, everybody was 189 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:42,580 laying people off, I couldn't find a job. And I had basically no money left. Whatever 190 00:17:42,580 --> 00:17:49,080 left I had left in my bank account was almost done. And I basically was at the last thread 191 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:55,480 of the last rope of my life. That's when I heard the gospel. And I think Thomas, that's 192 00:17:55,480 --> 00:18:01,800 when the Lord knew that was the only moment for me because I was so pigheaded and stubborn 193 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:07,960 and prideful that I could actually be paying attention and ready for it. Because there 194 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:13,560 was no other hope. That's all I knew. That was the only one left. So I heard the gospel 195 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:19,920 and it's when I finally realized that, hey, my identity is in Christ. And what I think 196 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:25,440 is very important and this is what I teach individuals, men and women, is that when it 197 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:32,400 comes to purpose, when it comes to calling, I want to get this very key point here, because 198 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:38,640 I don't ever hear this said. I think I may be the only one saying this. Your purpose 199 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:46,360 does not always equal profit. You got to remember that. Your purpose, your calling does not 200 00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:54,600 always equal profit. Now, I kind of had to swallow that pill myself because the apostle 201 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:59,320 Paul talks about he had tent making so he could share the gospel, things like that. 202 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:04,280 I have two businesses that I run and one of them I've been running for about 23 plus years 203 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:13,200 now. But that in a way allows me to write books, do the courses, do speaking engagements, 204 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:17,600 do the podcasts, do these groups and have this membership site, do all these different 205 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:22,080 things because if I didn't have in that one business, we work two to three months a year. 206 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:27,080 That's all I do. In fact, we're about to kick it up right now. But if I didn't have that 207 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:33,040 business, I wouldn't have the flexibility, the time and the financial freedom to do the 208 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:39,160 stuff that I want to do, to glorify the Lord and actually to deepen my relationship with 209 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:44,160 Christ as well. 210 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:52,280 Wow. I really like that you said that because that purpose does not always equal profit. 211 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:58,720 I think you even display like they're not necessarily hand in hand regardless because 212 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:02,440 a lot of people will say, I've had a lot of people on the show who have talked about it, 213 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:05,960 like where your purpose, your calling goes with you wherever you go, no matter what you're 214 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:12,240 doing. You're calling, and you can tell me what your thoughts are on this, like your 215 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:16,560 calling isn't necessarily a thing that you're doing, but it's the lifestyle that you're 216 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:17,560 living. 217 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:26,040 Yeah, I like that. I do like that. Yeah. Well, again, I think our calling here, it says this 218 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:33,480 in scripture is to know God and to make Him known. I think as a believer in Christ, if 219 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:39,320 you can just do those two things, I think the other stuff is going to work itself out 220 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:46,000 because however God has designed you, you're bent. However, whatever skill sets He's given, 221 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:53,880 your past experiences, your innate abilities, whatever. And I actually have on the website, 222 00:20:53,880 --> 00:21:00,200 the jeffterina.com, I have a specific page that you can go to to help find your purpose. 223 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:07,880 There's even a personal assessment that you do that identifies 41 unique traits about you 224 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:12,180 that will help you to be more centered towards your purpose. And then I have the spiritual 225 00:21:12,180 --> 00:21:17,160 gifts test that I do and all this different coaching, but those things are on the website, 226 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:24,360 okay? You can go there. We can get into that more in a little bit. But what I found is 227 00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:30,960 go back to that, the calling. It's to know God, to make Him known, but you live that 228 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:37,360 out. The way that God has us do this, each one of us, is how He specifically wired us, 229 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:42,560 those skill sets, those things that you love, that you're passionate about, that you love 230 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:47,540 to talk about, that you love to do, your innate abilities. Like, let me give an example. My 231 00:21:47,540 --> 00:21:53,560 dad is a CPA. When I got out of high school, I was like, okay, I want to get a business 232 00:21:53,560 --> 00:22:00,000 degree. So I went in, I was going to go do accounting. And I was doing really good in 233 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:05,040 the first couple of accounting classes. And then I got to cost accounting, and I'm like, 234 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:11,080 whoa, what is this stuff? This makes no sense to me. But my dad understands it like the 235 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:17,220 back of his hand, because he just loves numbers. And the way he looks at numbers are completely 236 00:22:17,220 --> 00:22:22,380 different than the way that I do. So that cost accounting class was the class that got 237 00:22:22,380 --> 00:22:28,280 me to go, you know what, I'm more of a management guy. I'm not an accounting guy. And so the 238 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:35,140 point is, if I would have gone that route and been an accountant, I would be miserable 239 00:22:35,140 --> 00:22:39,560 because that's not my bent. You see what I'm getting at? 240 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:40,560 Okay. 241 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:47,640 Okay. But doing something like managing or speaking or coaching or teaching, that's more 242 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:54,580 my bent, but at the same time, you may have to do different things just to fulfill that 243 00:22:54,580 --> 00:22:59,280 calling or that purpose that the Lord's given you. That's kind of what I'm saying. 244 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:09,560 No. Okay, good. Thank you for clarifying. I kind of want to go back to, you mentioned 245 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:14,720 like, you mentioned the car accident you had, and that's when the gospel was displayed to 246 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:21,120 you. And that's whenever you started to, I guess, in these terms, first taken with the 247 00:23:21,120 --> 00:23:25,040 term bent, that's when you really started to understand what maybe was like the start 248 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:34,520 of that journey. So like, how did you get from like, how did you get from where you 249 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:38,720 were at that moment to not just where you are now? Like, how did you even start? How 250 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:41,440 did you maintain any resilience from that point? 251 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:48,720 Man, that's a big word, resilience, man. That is a virtue that I talk a lot about. And I'm 252 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:55,000 sure in your podcast here, you've got a lot of guys that are business owners, entrepreneurs, 253 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:59,800 and they will tell you right now that, and even freelancers, they will tell you right 254 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:05,160 now that if you don't have resilience or perseverance, you're not going to succeed. You've got to 255 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:07,200 have that. 256 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:15,500 So let me see if I can answer the question here, because when I placed my faith in Christ, 257 00:24:15,500 --> 00:24:20,260 I was good with the salvation thing, okay? I remember the guy that shared the gospel 258 00:24:20,260 --> 00:24:29,040 with me. He said, okay, I placed my faith in Christ, and then probably a couple weeks 259 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:33,240 later, he was a Christian counselor, okay? So a couple weeks later, I went back and he 260 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:39,320 said, okay, now what I want you to do is I want you to go share your story, your testimony 261 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:44,720 of how Jesus saved your life. I was like, no, I don't want to do that. I'm good with 262 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:52,040 the salvation thing. And the reason why is I did not share this part, but when I was 263 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:59,000 severely depressed and I told you about the scar on my hand, I wore long sleeve shirts 264 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:07,160 every single day, 365 days for four straight years. And I live in Texas. I'm talking about 265 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:12,360 even in the Texas heat, Thomas, I was wearing a long sleeve shirt. I would put a bandaid 266 00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:21,080 on this scar. I would wrap the scar with the bandage. Why was I doing that? Some people 267 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:26,660 could say it was vanity. Well, no, it's a thing that I had at the time called body dysmorphic 268 00:25:26,660 --> 00:25:32,160 disorder. And really what it is, is any little cut, scratch, whatever on your skin, on your 269 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:36,120 body, you think it's the worst thing ever. It looks like a mountain. It's the ugliest 270 00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:42,040 thing to you, right? This is one of the things I speak about as well. And so a lot of people 271 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:46,680 call that the broken mirror because the mirror is your worst enemy because you will see every 272 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:51,260 flaw in yourself that other people are like, what are you talking about? There's no problem. 273 00:25:51,260 --> 00:25:58,580 But to you, you see it as you're the ugliest person around. And that's not true. Okay? 274 00:25:58,580 --> 00:26:08,360 So I had really bad road burn. And to me, the only fix for that was to get surgery, 275 00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:12,680 to have this scar cut out. I went to five plastic surgeons and five of them said no. 276 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:18,520 Finally, one of them said, he said, I'm going to take care of it. It's going to be fine. 277 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:28,280 When he did that, it got worse. And the depression just, it kicked into maximum overdrive. Okay? 278 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:34,560 When you add all that together, now I'm going there. The counselor shares the gospel with 279 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:41,360 me. I've got no hope. I hear that. And then he said two weeks later, now I want you to 280 00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:46,040 go and tell people your story. And he said, I want you to go to big groups. This is what 281 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:49,800 I want you to do. Not just one person, but I want you to go to this group. There's going 282 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:54,160 to be hundreds of people and I want you to get in front of them and tell them. I'm like, 283 00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:58,920 no, I don't want to do that because I still had the bandage on. Right? You know, it says 284 00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:03,440 in scripture, it says, although you're a new creation, Paul talks about you're a new creation 285 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:09,000 when you place your faith in Christ, you're a new creation. However, the old ways, your 286 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:14,480 flesh is still there and you've got to work through that, right? The process of sanctification. 287 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:18,520 You've got to battle through that. Your old mind, the old way of thinking, right? You've 288 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:23,360 got to take thoughts captive to Christ. Well, that sounds great, but you've got to get in 289 00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:27,760 the habit of doing it every day because remember, for four years of my life, I was believing 290 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:33,640 one way and then even my life before that, I believed a certain way. So now I've got 291 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:38,760 to retrain my brain, think a different way and it doesn't just happen, you know, like 292 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:43,840 that overnight. You've got to continue to think that way and take those thoughts captive. 293 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:52,200 So I said, no way, I don't want to do that. And he said, okay. So I went in again for 294 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:59,240 the other visit a week later or maybe two weeks later and I said, okay, I guess I'll 295 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:05,520 do it. I'll give it a try. And he said, okay, here's where you go. And I went and that's 296 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:12,760 when I first started to share my testimony and I share my testimony and you know what 297 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:17,520 everybody said? Take the bandage off. Let's see it. I was like, what? You know, I usually 298 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:21,200 imagine how red I was in my face, you know, sweating. I'm like, no, I don't want to do 299 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:26,920 that. They said, no, we want to see. Took it off and they go, dude, we still love you 300 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:32,720 as a brother in Christ. That's right there. The more that I shared my testimony, the more 301 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:38,320 that I exposed the lies that I was believing from Satan, the more I realized God does love 302 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:44,080 me. Other people do accept me, accept me. And if that's the case, I can accept myself 303 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:51,120 right now, even though I may not agree with all of it. And so then that's how I started 304 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:57,600 speaking, teaching. And then years later, that's how I started the podcast, all these 305 00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:05,040 things adding up. And then through that, learning how to share the gospel, teaching people how 306 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:11,040 to share the gospel, first writing the book. And then I'm realizing all through this time, 307 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:17,920 in 2020, you know, actually 2020, remember all that famous year, 2020, we had everything 308 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:23,520 get closed down. I realized there was so much noise, actually a year before that, there 309 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:31,520 was so much noise in the world, right? Distractions, hurry, busyness, information. I'm like, you 310 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:38,120 know, how do we break through that stuff? And so that just through speaking, through 311 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:43,480 running the podcast, just through my own life, my own stories, that's how the second book 312 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:48,480 came out, Cut Through the Noise, How to Remove Distractions and Connect with God. Okay, now 313 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:54,040 we've got a couple of books since then. But all this stuff here, anytime you write something, 314 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:57,640 and you'll probably know this, anytime you write something, there's always an element 315 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:03,760 of that in your own life. And you want to help others learn from that because your own 316 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:08,560 struggles. And that's really what I do in the books that I write. So, I'm hoping that 317 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:14,600 you can kind of understand how I got from point A to where I am right now. 318 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:24,080 Yeah, I think a lot of it definitely is from the people around you that God's around you 319 00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:29,200 with to push you and to break you out of that shelter that you can then become the person 320 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:37,400 that He created you to be. I think that's like we talk again, like on this podcast, 321 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:41,960 community comes up a lot. I think that's probably what your counselor seemed to be pushing you 322 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:50,040 towards within just opening it up, but also entering into a community and being vulnerable, 323 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:57,800 being vulnerable with them so that, because he didn't know how they would respond, but 324 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:04,800 he had a pretty good idea knowing what kind of group he was sending you to. 325 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:10,360 Yeah, I think what's big on the community, I think that's missed a lot, is it's the component 326 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:16,360 of the acceptance part. It's realizing, okay, I'm not going to sit here and say that I have 327 00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:24,680 his best buddies with everybody in that group and vice versa, but there were people that, 328 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:31,680 let me say it this way, everybody accepts you for who you are because they realize, 329 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:37,960 hey, they maybe had their own issues, although maybe different, they still can accept you 330 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:42,320 and then you accept them. I think that's a big component of community. It's not just 331 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:47,460 about finding your people or your peeps, what they say, but it's really about finding a 332 00:31:47,460 --> 00:31:54,600 place where people accept you and don't judge you. I think that for me was massive when 333 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:57,120 I saw that. 334 00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:08,080 That is really interesting. I want to thank you again. I keep saying thank you, but I 335 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:13,120 also want to thank you for coming here, sharing this story. I know you've probably shared 336 00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:20,840 this story a bunch of times at this point, but I appreciate you sharing it with us. The 337 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:33,520 next thing I want to jump into is, so through your journey, you went from fighting 150 feet 338 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:41,880 in a car accident to now speaking, writing books, and all these things. Through all of 339 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:51,040 this, was there any point that you measured this personal progress or this personal development 340 00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:54,840 as you were working towards living in your calling? 341 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:56,640 If that makes sense. 342 00:32:56,640 --> 00:33:02,060 Let me see. I don't know if I'm understanding that question. You're saying that my measuring, 343 00:33:02,060 --> 00:33:12,640 how far I've come in relation to calling, is that what you're saying? That's okay. I 344 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:18,560 think I know what you're saying. Are you saying that how far I've come, am I looking at that 345 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:22,840 saying okay, I'm actually living out my calling? Is that what you're getting at? 346 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:23,840 Yeah. 347 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:35,400 I think so. I think anybody that really wants to continue to improve, and I'm like that, 348 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:40,240 a lot of people say type A personality, I'm definitely that. I'd say I'm type AAA. The 349 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:46,240 Lord's wired me that way. I've always been somebody that wants to go out there and try 350 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:53,640 something first, not afraid. I do have fears. I will say that, but I'm not afraid to try 351 00:33:53,640 --> 00:34:00,080 things new and to get out there and fail. That's what I've realized here when it comes 352 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:07,560 to pursuing your calling, your purpose, whatever you want to call it, that you can't be afraid 353 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:14,540 to stumble. You can't be afraid to fall short or you can't be afraid to fail because if 354 00:34:14,540 --> 00:34:21,580 you do, you're never going to even take a step forward. You're never even going to attempt 355 00:34:21,580 --> 00:34:26,800 to try to do something. I don't know if you can see this or not, but on the back here 356 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:32,680 is a picture of, I think it's a little picture, it's one of my favorite characters from the 357 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:37,800 Star Wars movie. It's Yoda. I do a Yoda impression. I'm not going to do it today, but I do a Yoda 358 00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:44,080 impression. I love that little green guy. He's just so cool. Jedi Master Yoda. He has 359 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:51,760 this saying, he says, do or do not, there is no try. I love that because I know you 360 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:56,520 have to try, but if you're going out there with the mentality that I'm going to try and 361 00:34:56,520 --> 00:35:02,880 if I fail, it's okay, then you're already losing. You've already lost. I have the mentality 362 00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:09,520 of do or do not. I know that if I'm doing something, I have to be trying it. It's just 363 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:15,480 a different twist in mentality. With the do or do not mentality, I'm already in my brain 364 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:21,760 saying I'm going to succeed. If I don't, it's okay. I'm going to learn something from it. 365 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:27,400 As long as I learn something from it that will help me the next stage, step thing I 366 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:33,560 do, then okay. If I don't learn something from it, then I failed. That's what I tell 367 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:37,200 my kids all the time and I'm sure listeners here, if they have the kids, they're always 368 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:40,880 going to tell their son or their daughter, hey, when you fall down, what do you do? You 369 00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:47,640 get back up. That's just what you do. When I look at it that way, are there things that 370 00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:56,360 I wish I was doing that I'm not doing enough? 1000%, absolutely. Is that frustrating to 371 00:35:56,360 --> 00:36:02,020 me? Yeah, it is frustrating, but I got to look at the other things and go, okay, I look 372 00:36:02,020 --> 00:36:08,460 at where I'm at now and look at where I was 23 years ago. Then when I started the podcast 373 00:36:08,460 --> 00:36:14,880 about seven years ago, I'm like, wow, I had no idea that I could be where I'm at now to 374 00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:23,800 where I was then. Does that make any sense? When I look at it from that perspective, Thomas, 375 00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:32,400 I'm realizing that I'm number one trying, I am doing my calling and yes, I always want 376 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:38,640 to do more because I don't ever want to get content. Because if I'm content, then I'm 377 00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:43,000 never going to try to grow. I'm never going to try to help other people. I'm never going 378 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:48,040 to try to make an impact. I'm always asking this and maybe this is the wrong prayer or 379 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:53,520 maybe it's the wrong thing to ask, but when I came to know the Lord 23 years ago, I said, 380 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:58,840 put me where you want me to make the most impact. I don't care who it is. I don't care 381 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:03,320 who doesn't like me. I don't care what people say about me. I want to be able to make an 382 00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:10,720 impact and make you known. I will tell you, a lot of times I wish I didn't pray that because 383 00:37:10,720 --> 00:37:18,000 especially now in the cancel culture where we live today, man, I can tell you certain 384 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:21,760 places don't like me. YouTube doesn't like me. YouTube has taken down some of my shows 385 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:29,000 before because I talk about Jesus. But you know what? Here's the thing. If I'm not doing 386 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:34,840 that, if I'm not standing up for something, then I'm standing up for nothing. And I'd 387 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:39,840 rather stand up for Christ because he stood up for me. Okay? That's kind of where I'm 388 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:44,360 at. I was preaching there. I could tell. I'm going to calm down. 389 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:52,120 No, you're good. You're perfectly fine. I did like the one thing you said about failure 390 00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:58,480 was essentially if you don't have it learned, if you try and you fail and then you learn 391 00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:05,080 nothing from it, that's the true failure. And I think that's something I mentioned to 392 00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:10,760 you before we started recording that I want to get my Maxwell leadership certifications. 393 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:17,800 I read a lot of his books and look into him a lot. But he has a book called Sometimes 394 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:32,680 You Win and Sometimes You Learn. And to me, I also had somebody else on this podcast previously, 395 00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:40,360 a friend of mine, Lee Hanyo. And for him, the way he saw failure was the only time you 396 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:45,480 fail is when you don't actually start. So I feel like maybe two, four, where you don't 397 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:51,360 actually start and you don't actually learn something from what you did if you failed. 398 00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:56,920 And so I think it's just a food for thought for the listeners to think about that. There's 399 00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:01,720 always something to learn even if you feel like you didn't necessarily reach the market 400 00:39:01,720 --> 00:39:08,160 you were aiming for. And then you can try again and try again, fail, possibly fail again, 401 00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:10,480 but learn something new, keep going. 402 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:16,760 Exactly. Well, and you know what John's saying there is that when you fail, you can learn 403 00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:23,280 more. The potential to learn more is greater. But I would kind of tweak that. I'm sure he's 404 00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:26,880 talking about in his book, but I would tweak that. What he's saying is say that, you know, 405 00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:30,800 even when you win, you're learning. I mean, you should be. You should be learning both 406 00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:36,040 ways. But if you look at it, when you're winning something, you're doing it well and there's 407 00:39:36,040 --> 00:39:42,600 a tendency to take it for granted. Okay. But we've all got to sit back and reflect. And 408 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:49,720 yeah, so who likes to fail? Nobody likes to fail. That's not fun. I mean, man, I can tell 409 00:39:49,720 --> 00:40:00,360 you that I told you there's two businesses that I have. And one of those is a Christmas 410 00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:05,960 lighting business. Paul talks about the thorn in his flesh. That is the thorn in my flesh. 411 00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:10,760 And if my customers hear this, this is going to be bad news for me. But the reason why it's 412 00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:14,360 the thorn in my flesh is, you know, it's a lot, it's, you know, two to three months a 413 00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:21,440 year. It's a lot of work. But at the same time, it's a lot of work because that's my 414 00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:28,360 harvest time. Okay. I look at those Christmas lights as crops. So every light we put up 415 00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:33,880 is like a crop and we got to do that two to three months. And I'm getting probably about 416 00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:38,960 four to five hours of sleep a night. Okay. But I'm working it. So I don't have to do 417 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:45,160 anything else the rest of the year for the most part. But at the same time, I've turned 418 00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:51,120 that around. Now I had all these videos for almost 20 years that I finally put together 419 00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:55,540 in a course about a year or two ago called Christmas sites for profit. And it teaches 420 00:40:55,540 --> 00:41:00,220 people how to start a Christmas lighting business, do the installs, do the design, do the estimating, 421 00:41:00,220 --> 00:41:06,120 do all that stuff. And I realized, Hey, I can turn in the experience I have with the 422 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:09,760 installations and how to start the business, how to run and how to hire guys and marketing 423 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:15,320 and all these different things. And now, and now use this as part of my calling. And that 424 00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:22,320 is to coach, to train, to teach, to help others. Okay. And I, and here's the thing, Thomas, 425 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:28,720 that thing was sitting there. That course was sitting in my phone for over 15 years, 426 00:41:28,720 --> 00:41:34,360 all the videos. And I finally realized, wait a second, what am I doing here? Part of my 427 00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:39,360 purpose is to help people. Why can't I help them professionally and not just spiritually 428 00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:43,680 and or personally? Why can't I just do all of it? And so that, I think this is a good 429 00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:48,400 point here for the listeners is when it comes to calling, you got to look at it all from 430 00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:52,880 different areas. Maybe part of your calling, a big part of it is professional. Another 431 00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:58,200 big part of it is personal. And another big part of it is spiritual. I say, if you can 432 00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:03,800 try every little avenue, maybe one component is a little bit more, but the more that you 433 00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:09,520 try to hit every one of those little areas, the more fulfilling or fulfilled you're going 434 00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:15,760 to be. Right? And so the other one that we do is we have a web design business and that 435 00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:21,840 has been pretty cool. But I say, you got to make sure that whatever you're doing, the 436 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:26,200 calling, the bent, all that is, is pushed through. And I would add another one, your 437 00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:28,520 passion. What is it that you love to do? 438 00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:41,280 That's good. Yeah, no, that's some passion is huge. I think the, like, what do you love 439 00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:47,720 to do? I like to think, what do you love to do? What are you good at? And then what is 440 00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:52,040 the intersection between the two? And that's a lot of times whenever people are trying 441 00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:55,120 to figure out what they're meant to be doing, that's a good intersection point to look 442 00:42:55,120 --> 00:43:04,800 at. Absolutely. Absolutely. But the, I think that, I mean, that goes through everything 443 00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:12,800 I personally had prepared, but there's just a couple final wrap up questions that I wanted 444 00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:21,360 to ask you before we officially wrap up. When it comes to, let's say, discovering your 445 00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:26,760 embed or personal growth, which is a lot of what this podcast is about, what kind of resources 446 00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:31,840 would you or have you typically recommend to people? 447 00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:36,000 That's a good question. To me, I think, you know, big part of that is you got to find 448 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:39,840 out your spiritual gifts. I think that's big, especially if you're a believer. You got to 449 00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:45,520 know that because that kind of steers you in the right way. And the other thing is I 450 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:50,160 talked about passion. You know, what is it that you love to do? What is it that you find 451 00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:57,000 yourself talking about the most? Okay. So one of those, I'll just say this, one of the 452 00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:02,120 resources, if you go to my website, you go to jeffjarena.com, go to there, there's a 453 00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:06,560 button, big button that says get started. You're going to look at training programs, 454 00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:11,360 private coaching, books, public speaking, free newsletter. Then I have some other free 455 00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:16,480 tools and resources. So if you kind of just go through that site, there's even a specific 456 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:21,040 site jeffjarena.com forward slash purpose. I'm pretty sure that's what it says, forward 457 00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:27,520 slash purpose. But if you go there and it's J-E-F-F J-E-R-I-N-A.com. But if you go there 458 00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:36,240 guys, you're going to look at some coaching. Also you can download, I've got a, it's a 459 00:44:36,240 --> 00:44:42,000 very quick read. It's probably 40 pages, probably take you about 30, 40 minutes to read. It's 460 00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:46,680 the first book that I wrote years ago and I kind of give that, well, I give it out when 461 00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:51,440 you sign up to the newsletter, so to speak, but it's called 10 Steps to Power and Purpose. 462 00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:56,360 And so with that, I kind of identified based on my own experience and through coaching 463 00:44:56,360 --> 00:45:01,160 others, these 10 steps that really help you find and live out your true calling. And if 464 00:45:01,160 --> 00:45:06,140 you go through there, those steps, and then it kind of will mention some other resources 465 00:45:06,140 --> 00:45:12,360 in there, I would say that's the best thing to do. Okay? And that's on the books page 466 00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:20,940 on the website. But then also for me, I will tell you in terms of scripture, one of my 467 00:45:20,940 --> 00:45:27,860 favorite books of the Bible is Philippians. I love that. Book of Joshua, he's so big on 468 00:45:27,860 --> 00:45:34,320 leadership and then obviously Proverbs, wisdom. Because I think to me, wisdom is the foundational 469 00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:41,680 virtue that all the other virtues rely on. And I'm talking about perseverance, resilience, 470 00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:49,720 integrity. What are some other ones? Courtesy, leadership, all the initiative, all these 471 00:45:49,720 --> 00:45:56,800 different things you're going to need to help determine your calling, but it all leans on 472 00:45:56,800 --> 00:46:03,960 wisdom. Okay? And then there's another book that I read that I don't want to say necessarily, 473 00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:07,920 that helped me in terms of finding my calling, but it definitely helped me connect with the 474 00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:14,440 Lord in that time, is there's a book called The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother 475 00:46:14,440 --> 00:46:20,400 Lawrence. Take you about, I don't know, an hour to read. But that's one of my favorite 476 00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:24,500 ones to read. So again, go to JeffTorino.com, you're going to see all the books, all the 477 00:46:24,500 --> 00:46:31,560 resources that you got there. There's, what, I got to think there's three to five books 478 00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:36,520 on that website that I've written, the training programs, the speaking stuff. And guys, some 479 00:46:36,520 --> 00:46:40,600 of this, I have courses that you can actually take right there as well. And the purpose 480 00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:45,800 stuff and then the coaching. So I hope I didn't mention that too much. I just, I've spent 481 00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:50,820 a lot of time on this stuff and this is kind of what I do is help people find, discover 482 00:46:50,820 --> 00:46:55,800 their bent and then live that out. That whether it's through the courses, the training and 483 00:46:55,800 --> 00:47:03,640 or the specific one-on-one or group coaching. Yeah, no, for sure. And no, I would expect 484 00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:09,000 nothing less from someone that has their own platform, have things to help people out. 485 00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:14,840 I would definitely expect you to, you know, promote your own content so that more people, 486 00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:19,600 that you can help more people out. Yeah. And then they can just, I would say when they 487 00:47:19,600 --> 00:47:25,160 go to that site, they can register or subscribe to the Men on Plug podcast. And then I have 488 00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:30,760 two YouTube channels, one's that's more personal, faith driven and one that's more business 489 00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:38,760 oriented. So they can go there and yeah, I can't believe I'm promoting YouTube. Why 490 00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:50,640 would I do that? But I do have the YouTube channels. And then as the, well, I actually 491 00:47:50,640 --> 00:47:57,480 have two more questions there, but now you've been on the show though and you kind of understand, 492 00:47:57,480 --> 00:48:04,280 get a little bit of an idea of what I'm about, what the show is about. Who would you recommend 493 00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:10,920 as a guest for the show? Man, I'll tell you, that's a good question. I'll tell you, one 494 00:48:10,920 --> 00:48:16,880 of my favorite ones was Josh McDowell when he came on the show. I don't know if you guys 495 00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:21,880 know him or not. He wrote the Ford for my first book, great show. I think that was the 496 00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:29,720 only show I ever did that was FaceTime. We have issues with technical stuff and you know 497 00:48:29,720 --> 00:48:34,200 how sometimes you just got to work through it. And that was the only time I did one FaceTime. 498 00:48:34,200 --> 00:48:40,640 It was one of the best ones. So I would definitely say Josh McDowell. And then obviously Kevin 499 00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:44,560 Sorbaugh. I think he's a good guy. Now here's the thing. I can't give those info out. They 500 00:48:44,560 --> 00:48:50,920 told me not to do that. So you got to research those for yourself. But Kevin's been a guest 501 00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:56,720 on my show twice and he was really blessed to him, endorsed one of my other books. So 502 00:48:56,720 --> 00:49:03,420 I would say those two guys, if you really want to get some fired up stuff that are guys 503 00:49:03,420 --> 00:49:08,720 that are going to speak in to this stuff, I would say definitely those two guys. 504 00:49:08,720 --> 00:49:19,160 Great. Thank you. And then how can people, if they want to maybe look into more of your 505 00:49:19,160 --> 00:49:24,960 services, they can go to your website and is that the best way to contact you? 506 00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:31,920 Yeah, just go to JeffJarena.com. There's a contact page there. There's the courses, the 507 00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:37,320 books, all that stuff. Now I know a lot of the young guys now, they like the links page 508 00:49:37,320 --> 00:49:41,640 or the bio links page. So I actually created one here. Now this is a stretch for me. I'm 509 00:49:41,640 --> 00:49:46,120 53 years old. So I created this page. So if they want to go there, I don't want to give 510 00:49:46,120 --> 00:49:50,760 them a different call to action, but if they do want to go there, go to JeffJarena.com 511 00:49:50,760 --> 00:49:58,560 forward slash links. That's J E F F J E R I N A dot com forward slash L I N K S. You're 512 00:49:58,560 --> 00:50:03,000 going to see all that stuff there. You'll probably see, I think I got a two book bundle 513 00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:09,400 discount that guys they can get right there. And so yeah, so they can get that as a discount 514 00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:18,220 here for you guys as a, as a, as a, your audience. So great. All right. Well, well, Jeff, thank 515 00:50:18,220 --> 00:50:24,240 you for being on the, being on the show. Again, thank you for your yes. Really definitely 516 00:50:24,240 --> 00:50:30,440 appreciated it. And thank you everyone for listening to this episode of the pursuit of 517 00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:36,360 calling podcast. You can go ahead and share it out on Instagram, Facebook, and don't forget 518 00:50:36,360 --> 00:50:40,400 to leave a five star review wherever you listen to your podcasts. All right. See you next 519 00:50:40,400 --> 00:51:03,840 time.