Welcome to the God's Goodness podcast, where our mission is to encourage as well as highlight
God's goodness and modern-day miracles.
We are your hosts, Josh and Shelley Hankins.
Tonight we have with us a special guest from church.
His name is Joey Swidrack, and he's going to lead us in a little prayer.
And let's just start off there.
All right.
Father, we thank you in Jesus' name for this opportunity tonight, this time right here
right now.
Just the three of us in Budn, gathered together.
I have a conversation, and let people know your goodness.
Holy Spirit, we ask that you lead me and us into what you would have us say tonight.
We thank you in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So, the Holy Spirit asked me to ask you on this episode, because my husband, he got to
know you a little along the way with doing men things.
Oh yeah, a couple of venture fasts, some men's breakfasts.
Yeah, and he says you have a really cool story to tell, and it could just share God's
goodness just by you telling what God turns messes into messages.
So, let's hear about your mess through this message.
I always wonder where to begin.
I know nothing about you.
Like, I know a little bit about you.
So I was raised, I guess, in a Pentecostal family.
Back then, I think, as I look back, like a little bit of, like, law-ish Pentecostal family,
we did go to an assembly of God where our pastor was on literal fire during his sermons,
like, Pastor B times 10.
I was raised around God, around, you know, knowing the Lord.
I do remember when I was 12, riding home from buying speakers with my dad in the van, and
saying a prayer with him, accepting Jesus into my heart.
And then, from then, I don't remember anything until, like, I now have just had sex.
I've started drinking and smoking, and I think that's about a year later.
So all that around the time I was 13, 14.
And then I just continued to really go my own way.
Knowing that God was there, occasionally talking to him.
I was kicked out of youth group for smoking.
Was it smoking?
Yeah, cigarettes.
Yeah.
That they knew about.
So yeah, like, all that really just continued on and on.
But I was never, like, a bad kid or a bad person, moms and dads like me.
But it sounds like you had a hole that you were trying to fill, like a lot of us do.
Like, there was something missing.
Yeah, but I don't think I ever thought of it like that.
I think I was just doing what, you know, my friend and I were smoking together.
We'd go hiking, we'd go camping, we'd build bonfires, and we'd hang out.
And he was four years older than I was, so we were drinking beer and doing whatever.
Gave into the flesh.
Definitely.
And then I got into the restaurant and bar business.
Actually, Wendy's at like 14, 15, 15, 16.
And then as soon as I could wait tables and all that, yeah, I was working in these places
that had a lot of alcohol and everybody was drinking.
And I was able to drink because nobody asked me my age or anything.
Yeah, I had lots of experiences.
And I wouldn't trade any of it because, I mean, I lived in, so I'm from Cleveland,
Go Browns.
That was for you.
First, like, 18, 19, 20, working downtown in all those bars and restaurants.
And then I moved to Miami for a year, almost a year, which I worked for another restaurant
down there.
And we had a cocaine dealer that sat on our stoop.
So whatever we wanted was what we had to do is walk out our front door.
Yeah.
So pretty much every libation was open to you.
And all of our friends were the higher ups and all the restaurants down there.
So we got in every door for free or every back door for free.
Then came back to Cleveland for a few years.
And now I know God had his hand in this, but even though I wasn't with him or following
him, my cousin and I, we've always done these things together.
Usually my cousin's big idea.
And I'm like, okay, let's do it.
All right.
Miami was one.
We did a road trip across the country and back for a month.
That was his idea, but we had a great time together.
So growing up, he's absolutely my best friend, Josh, miss his name.
I pray that one day he does listen to this.
Like I do pray for him almost every day.
So after that, yeah, a couple of years, two years back in Cleveland and I was sitting
on my couch.
I love this story.
Sitting on my couch, actually at my mom's house visiting my mom and I was watching the
Cleveland Indians game hanging out with mom and the phone rang.
And I think this was before cell phones or maybe flip phones or something.
I don't know.
But so I went and answered it and it was my cousin and I was like, Hey, what's up?
And he's like, Hey, I'm in Chicago.
He's like, you need to move here.
I was like, Oh, okay, let me think about it.
You know, I was like, give me a week or two and I'll think about it.
Of course, immediately I'm like, I think I should be going to Chicago.
Like I was probably already made up my mind as soon as I hung up the phone.
But following Sunday, same thing.
I was at my mom's and I went to pick up the phone to call him and there was no dial tone.
And I said, Hello, and it was him.
And I said, Shut up.
I said, I'll be there in two weeks.
Now I literally like just went back to work for two weeks, made like 500 bucks and moved
to Chicago, packed up my car.
And yeah, that was a great experience.
Every single person I met there was just awesome people.
Like it was definitely God's hand on it, but he wasn't very in it, I should say, because
I was again, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, my roommates were all musicians, all stuff
like that.
So I was there for I think almost 13 years.
I would have stayed, but I was like, I don't want to be in the restaurant business anymore.
I got out of bars and restaurants.
I went to work for Op-Belly Sandwich Works.
But yeah, I worked for them for five years and I was rapidly growing with them.
I was opening new stores.
I was working at corporate office store where they do all the testing and all that and where
I bounced around.
It seemed like I would be sent to stores to help fix small problems, get help get them
on track or back on track, stuff like that.
And at that point, I was after five years of that, it was like 60 hour work weeks and
you're not making the money as a bartender.
So there's a lot of other restaurants and bars in between all that 13 years in Chicago,
but they offered me a position and it would have been like the biggest craziest store they
had.
But I know that people go there, they either die or they go on to really succeed.
But I had cake, man, like where I was.
I had good staff.
My bosses were like the corporate bosses.
I would see corporate every single day.
I'd see the owner, like they knew my name.
So I would have gone somewhere regardless if I would have chosen that or not.
So they offered me to go to this store and my next step would have been like having my
own store.
And this is 30s now.
So yeah, we skipped a lot.
But it's still the same Joe.
It's the same party and every night, you know, like, yeah, my body obviously will get to
that didn't like me after a while.
So when I turned them down, it was actually my dad had just passed and I did not want
to take that responsibility and I did not want to live that life at that store because
it was twice as much as what I was already doing.
So I wanted out.
So again, my cousin at this point has now left Chicago with his soon to be or with his
new wife and moved to Mexico.
I had been down there once with them.
They went to a little town in Mexico, say Alita, hey, say Alita.
So I was like, well, there's really not much, you know, going on.
I had a relationship that I had before that did not work out.
So I was like, hey, let's get out of Chicago.
Let's go.
So me and my dog packed up and said, we're going to Chicago.
Well, down to Mexico, wasn't that easy.
Left Chicago back to Cleveland for six months to work with my cousin land floor, blah, blah.
Ended up by the time I was done with that, we'd spent most of the money partying, going
on the road with my cousin and all his guys working in different towns.
So when I left, I left with enough money and got down to Mexico was down there for beautiful
place.
Awesome.
My dog ended up, but Bert, that's Bert, ended up coming down a few weeks after I did.
And yeah, we hung out on the beach.
I was working for an Italian restaurant in Mexico, which was weird, but cool.
I totally get it.
I went to a Chinese restaurant in Germany.
It was the best Chinese I've ever had.
Best pizza down there and like not that place, but pizza places we would go.
Yeah.
But yeah, you're on the beach every day.
It was great.
And it was nothing but fun in the sun, lots of tequila.
And yeah.
So after two years of that, I was like, this is probably not a place that I can stay because
I will probably end up drinking myself to death.
I'm sure I said that to myself, but didn't want to admit that.
So went back to Cleveland.
Ten years, 34 to 44 back in Cleveland.
That was like 2010.
Again, all my friends there, they're all younger than I am.
I'll still not know what they're doing in life.
And partying.
That's what we did.
Well, I know at this point, like mom didn't want me around my sisters.
They would hang out, but didn't want me like living around them or things like that.
So I need to be honest about it because I don't know how honest I've really been with
myself.
I think there was a point where like nobody wanted me around.
Like did your sisters have families at that point?
Yeah.
Like I said, for a couple months, my one sister, I stayed in their basement just because I
think I was coming back at that point and really had nowhere else to stay.
And then I think mom's basement for a while.
And then mom moved out with her who's still boyfriend, 15 years.
They moved down to his house.
So I had her condo for a while.
Then oh yeah, cause Josh decided, oh, unfortunately got a divorce and decided to move back to
Chicago.
So he was like, Hey, I'm in Chicago again.
You should come.
And I have a feeling like somebody said I wasn't doing well.
And like it was like, Hey, come to Chicago, like maybe I can help.
Right.
Like, and I know like I wasn't making a ton of money.
I think at this point I was now delivering pizzas for a big pizza company and not doing
the work that I had been doing in the restaurant business management and like the stuff I should
have been doing.
I just didn't want to do it anymore.
And I do remember for a few years, like Lord, just give me the next step.
Show me the next step.
Like, how do I get out of this?
But I just could never decide like what else or not just decide, but I had nothing else.
Like, what else could I do?
I wasn't taught to do anything else.
I here and there, I did some painting job in Mexico.
I did start a painting company to work in the summers when I wasn't doing the restaurants.
That was heavy duty work in the summer heat.
And yeah, I wish I would have pictures of all that because I feel like what were you
doing again?
Flip phones, no good cell phones for pictures.
Yeah.
So I went back to Chicago for about six months and I went to work at a restaurant to help
them out.
They were really great concept.
And I don't know if they're still there or if they've opened other stores, but it was
called Taco in a Bag.
Legit, like, taco shells in a bag and whatever they had just dumped in there and you ate
it with a fork.
It was great, but they were open until like four in the morning.
So like, I would go to work, come home, take care of the dogs.
My cousin was actually working on the road, so he was only home on weekends.
The place we were living in, he was trying to sell, so it had to be perfectly spotless
with two dogs in there, especially when people were coming.
And I couldn't be there when people were coming to look at it.
So all I did was drink and go to work and take care of the dogs.
When the dogs needed to go out, we'd go for big walks.
I mean, still did the things I needed to do, but after that, I was like, all right, this
isn't working out.
My cousin's like, I've sold the place, I'm moving to Indiana, so I'm like, okay, what
am I going to do?
That's so fact-cleave-ing.
That's just number four, number three.
So yeah, that is the point where definitely nobody family-wise wanted me to live with.
That must have been rough, you know, knowing that they loved you, but at the same time,
feeling that the activities you were doing were detrimental to the family.
But I don't think I realized it at that point.
Now, though.
But yeah, now like, yeah, because I know the strain, like my sister, my younger sister
and I, I'll get there.
Anyways, so okay, so the years are like kind of squeezing together when I get a little
lost here and there's reason why that, and I'll say that in a little bit, but I end up
coming back on the way back.
I'm like, who am I going to go live with?
So I call it my cousin.
Hey, me and my dog are coming back.
And my dog at the time is a crazy white lab who sheds like a snowstorm you're following,
right?
So there's two guys living in a house and my cousin and our friend Jordan, what's up,
guys?
They probably will listen to this and they probably have more like better stories about
this than I do, but I'll get through that quick.
So yeah, like I went and I was there, so there was two, maybe three of us even at that point
in a two bedroom house.
I decided the back porch room was going to be my bedroom and that's, and it was great
little spot, but, and I went and lived with them.
And again, we're all still partying.
So we're just working and partying, working and partying.
And with them, I started gaining weight like crazy.
I started not really caring about too much.
I think I was a little upset, depressed about Chicago and, but all of a sudden, like I look
in the mirror like, and I'm like, what?
That's not me.
Like, you know, I'm talking to somebody and I'm leaning the countertop because I don't
have energy to stand there.
I start conversations just like this.
And I'm out cold in the middle of the sentence.
One time I had pulled up to a stoplight and fell asleep, bumped a guy in front of us.
Yeah, was going to get away with it, except for we pulled off the road into the fire
department and just so happened to police officer pulled in and didn't get in trouble.
I think I got a ticket for that.
Gas pumps.
Started falling asleep, getting back into my car after pumping gas and just falling asleep.
So turns out it's not just really tired.
It's sleep apnea, which I had for years because I've had girlfriends wake me up in the middle
of the night saying, you've stopped breathing.
So, but I didn't know what it was forever.
So yeah, that kind of got pretty serious.
And then, you know, conversations with my mom, she's like, why don't you go to the hospital?
Why don't you go to the hospital?
Well, I started seeing a doctor and he kept saying, you got to quit drinking.
You got to quit smoking, you know?
And then here, here, this will help you sleep, right?
And after probably that was the maybe the first year I went in to see the doctor, my
cousin wife.
So my cousin worked there and they had a little baby.
And it was her first day back and I branded into them and I'm like, oh, baby, I, you know,
meeting my second cousin, I guess.
And I stuck my head like inside of her little carriage and she took a picture of the two
of us.
And my head was so big, like I'm like, something is wrong here.
So I go again, conversation with mom.
She's like, go to the ER, something's not right.
And I went and I went in and signed in and all that stuff.
They said have a seat.
I woke up 12 hours later.
Nobody had come checked on me.
Nobody had seen me.
I'm like, at that point, I'm like, I got to go have a cigarette.
So I go outside have a cigarette come back in and I'm like, you know, I've been here
for a really long time and I think you forgot about me.
And she's like, oh, I'm sorry, blah, blah.
So a few minutes later, they, and at this point, I'm just angry.
They come and they take me into the back and they said, well, we're going to have to do
this and you're going to be here for a while and blah, blah, blah.
And at this point, I'm angry and I just, I want to leave.
I want to drink and I want another cigarette.
And that's not happening.
So a little while later, they're like, blah, blah, blah, and I'm like, I'm leaving.
They're like, if you leave, this is going to happen and you know, you'll have to go
through this and that.
And I'm like, I don't care.
I'm just, I'm not even signing out.
I just left.
I don't know how I got back home, but I did.
And then I think two weeks went by and mom again, I'm like, mom, take me back.
Just dropped me off.
So I walked in, had my last cigarette outside and I went in and I sat down and told the
lady my name.
I remember saying my last name and woke up three days later in ICU.
Oh, wow.
Right.
So my sister's beautiful.
My sister Julie, she's my older sister.
I have a younger sister, Amy.
She was, unless it was a dream, like she was sitting right there in my face as I opened
my eyes.
And I did, I asked her, I think yesterday, like, is there anything about the hospital
like that you want to tell me about?
Like anything that I maybe don't remember.
And all she could say was, I wish I would have found out who the nurse was because she
did something.
I think she gave me something after my sister asked like, this was at a point.
So I woke up three days later, but during those three days, what I was told was it was
like time, like tell your family to come say goodbye.
Yeah.
So I didn't know this for a little while after like, so thank you nurse from the hospital.
If you ever hear this, you had a lot of tattoos and I can't remember what my sister said about
your hair.
I want to say it was fentanyl like they gave me or something like that that like kept me
alive for another day and so then I woke up on my own to my sister's face and from ICU,
they put me in a smaller room when they moved me out of ICU.
My cousin was there.
My cousin came from Mexico to say goodbye to his best friend and like, I'm so fat, I'm
364 pounds.
And this is, yeah, not now.
No, yeah, not now.
I think it was like 70% water gain.
I had, so I'll run through the list that I remember.
Adema, I believe it's called, which is swelling.
My legs were before the hospital.
I had gotten them wrapped because they were all damaged and they were so swollen that
they had developed scabs and bleeding splitting open.
So sleep apnea.
I had congestive heart failure, COPD.
And one of the big reasons why I was falling asleep was often my oxygen level would drop.
The reason why I passed out in the hospital after telling her at the emergency room after
telling her my name was my oxygen level would drop to about 10.
Wow.
So I think 92 to 98 is about right.
They like 95 and above.
But if you're 92, I wouldn't worry about it.
Why don't you get below that and you start having organ failure and bad things happen.
I'm pretty sure something had to be wrong with my liver.
But I don't remember them specifically saying like, you need a liver transplant or anything
like that.
So, yeah, I had some interesting roommates as I was in the hospital for six weeks and
would have been in there longer, but my insurance ran out.
But while that was going on, so when I woke up at the hospital, like obviously it took
a day or two to even think about it.
First thing I wanted was a cigarette.
So dummy me was like, I'm not going to be able to get a cigarette.
Somebody get me a patch or something.
Oh, I mean, dude, you're out for three days.
Just quit, right?
That's what I'm thinking today.
Yeah, eventually I got my cigarette and during my six weeks they had take my little oxygen,
take outside and bomb a cigarette from somebody.
But I had no desire for alcohol.
Absolutely none.
And when I thought about it, I didn't crave it.
I didn't want it.
I knew like that point.
Thank you, Lord, for waking me up.
Thank you.
Every little bit I still wanted to smoke some weed, you know, because I was uncomfortable
and I remember like weed will make me comfortable.
But I didn't for the six weeks that I was in there, ended up like after.
So I'll get to that.
Some interesting roommates.
I mean, nurses, they probably weren't as mean as I made them out to be.
So thank you all just going through all that and not wanting to be there.
Like I'm sure I was not very nice.
So I knew like the only way I'm alive right now is because of the Lord, because of God.
There's only one way, right?
So there was stipulations for me to be able to leave.
Like I had to lose a certain amount of weight.
Like I was on oxygen and they said oxygen the rest of your life.
Yeah, I don't see any in your house.
No.
Well, you're breathing it.
So I meant like tanks, tanks, concentrators.
And since the day I left the hospital, I have not been on it.
I did continue to do like treatments for I think another couple of months and I got bored
with it and.
And do you take any treatments now?
No.
Which is pretty phenomenal.
I don't know anything about COPD.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
That's pretty phenomenal.
I do have an inhaler that's like a rescue and every once in a while I'll take it.
And it's usually more like a hot day or something like that.
And well, COVID wasn't, I wasn't dying, but didn't help with the lungs.
No.
Okay.
So six weeks and after the six weeks, I went to the second, I say most dangerous, homeless
shelter.
This is when I knew nobody wanted me.
We're still in Cleveland.
And the hospital was in Cleveland, all that stuff.
So insurance ran out.
They said, you have to leave.
And it had been brought up to me by my aunt, by Janice, my aunt Nancy, Janice's a wonderful
woman who's been part of our family.
As long as I can remember, we call her Aunt Janice because she's that close to us.
I love you guys and thank you because I know you'll definitely hear this.
And my mom, they would visit all the time.
They started telling me like, you're going to have to go to some kind of place because
you're not living with us.
And my sisters were like, you're not living with us.
And I'm like, there's no way.
I'm not going there.
You know, so finally I had lost, I think maybe 40 pounds of the water weight and I could
walk like a quarter mile without.
That's tremendous.
Yeah.
So that was the stipulations of getting out of there.
So I think I went and stayed with mom for like two days before I had to go to my new
permanent residence at this homeless shelter.
I mean, it is a city mission.
I think they're affiliated with the city mission here.
Not sure.
I should know.
I do go to the thrift store here.
So there's my kickback to them.
Does that go often?
We're talking.
Yeah, so this is now on the east side of Cleveland.
East side of Cleveland is known for, well, it depends on what part, but east side of
city proper Cleveland is inner city, lots of gangs, drugs, all that stuff.
I am not the same color as everybody else.
And I was told that.
So there was maybe four white guys, the rest were black.
All of them either coming off a crack, coming off a heroin, coming out of prison, everything
from rapists to murderers to somehow they're not in prison and they're now in this place.
My aunt, I can't remember how she knew the guy who was like the director of this place.
So I shouldn't have been allowed in.
Like other places it was like, or getting too close to the holiday.
So they're already full.
Like this was like my last place to go.
Otherwise I'd have been on the streets.
And they, I never talked to the guy, he just told my aunt to tell him to show up, we'll
take him.
And nobody said, Hey, you need to be sober.
Nobody said you need this.
And I like the night before was like, I'm out of that.
I'm out of the hospital.
I'm at mom's.
Let's smoke some weed.
So I go there the next day, get dropped off and I'm like, I'll see you later.
I guess this is what's happening.
And the first thing they do is give you a drug test.
Well, you go in like it's bulletproof window, bulletproof door.
They come and let you in to a room full of guys.
The other side, I mean, all the guys that are staying there are in this room.
So they get to like, check out the new guy walking in.
Well they take you through it to the bathroom so you can immediately pee, you know, and
there's your drug test.
I'm like, nobody told me this, failed it and they wanted to be like, kick me out.
Like right then and there, like five minutes later, they're like, you just failed for,
you know, failed your drug test.
You can't stay here.
We don't allow people to come in here.
I'm like, well, so and so.
And luckily, well, obviously not luck, but God, right there was like, you know somebody's
name, like say the name and they're like, well, how do you know him?
I'm like, my aunt knows him.
Aunt Janice.
So they let me stay.
So I was there.
I don't even remember how long, but I'm an unlikable person.
I'm friendly.
So I made a few friends.
I agree.
Totally.
My life wasn't being threatened.
There was one, one who did not like me and he let it know, be known a couple of times.
So I stood up, you know.
So I think standing up to like one of the biggest guys in the room, like other people
are like, all right, cool, leave him alone.
But that was nothing but like, well, not nothing, but they, it was a Christian organization.
So every morning you have some kind of service, a word of God, some worship and, and you know,
you go and eat, then you go take a class and then lunchtime and then service on and on
the day, you know, dinner and service at night.
So every day was like that, but it was all classes, geared tour, like not alcoholics.
Still, no desire for any of that.
And at that point, like I didn't want to smoke weed anymore.
I didn't, but everybody smokes cigarettes.
So it was, and like, I'm not on oxygen.
I do not have an ox.
I think I showed up with an oxygen tank and they gave me, yeah, I'll actually a bypass.
I couldn't do the CPAP.
That was the worst experience ever.
You never get a test.
Shave your head first.
Shave your head first because I glue that stuff to your head to check your body and that
was not fun.
So yeah, I've survived that and I actually spent Thanksgiving dinner that year with all
the homeless guys at a big homeless church dinner and then went and spent the day with
the homeless downtown and then went to another homeless shelter to get to know a bunch of
people.
So like I was a legit homeless and becoming a homeless guy staying at a shelter.
And after a while, so they do offer like a way out for people, but these are people who
don't have like any life experience as far as jobs go, things like that.
Like I felt like I don't need to do that.
I don't need your 12 month class to get out of here and go get a job.
I'm overqualified because you had to wait tables and serve drinks.
I could have done that or go back to managing all that, which that's coming.
Yeah.
It got to a point where I'm like, well, every day, like somebody's name gets called and
you're, so there's like step ups.
Like at this point, you're sleeping every night in a room with a hundred other guys,
a fold out cow, like an army cot that you put away every night and set up every night.
Super comfortable.
You're lucky if you get a blanket.
You're lucky, you know, like you're sleeping on your clothes and all that.
And do laundry once a week, which half your stuff gets taken.
That was fun.
It was like a couple of weeks into it and I'm like, why is my name not getting called?
Why am I, I know so and so like I'm friends with all the guys who have moved out of here.
Like, and I thought about it.
I was like, well, I don't want to do that.
Do I go and say anything to anybody or do I just sit here until I can figure a way out
of here?
And pretty much it came to that point where like, they forgot about you just like that.
Yeah.
So, and all of a sudden one day is like, I think I actually went and said, all right,
well, I got to get out of here.
Let me at least take a class or can I get out and get a job or part time something or
other.
And so I'm still like, there's no exercise.
There's nothing like that, but I am loving the services.
I'm loving the worship nights.
There are days where I'm spending right after service and I don't care who's walking by
me on the cement steps on my knees after praying and thanking God like for bringing me out of
there, but now get me out of here.
Right.
So, right before Christmas, like they weren't going to let me out for Christmas because
I wasn't at that point with them.
I'm like, wait, I've been here for this long, you're not going to let me out.
I'll return tomorrow.
I've got nowhere else to go.
And I did say something to somebody and they're like, well, we're kicking you out because
you're 30 days or whatever, 60 days is up.
Like, I'm like, well, nobody came and talked to me about doing the work program thinking,
okay, get me another week in here.
So because I haven't figured it out yet.
And they said, okay, well, then I was like, started taking like a class with a bunch of
rehabilitating drug people and I'm like, this isn't me.
I don't need this.
I don't need to be here.
And of course I did, but not in the same sense as they did like heroin addicts.
Like, yeah, that's, I need like somebody to talk to me about alcohol if I needed anything.
But at this point, I still am not, I have no desire and to this day, it doesn't matter
where I'm at, what I'm doing, what I'm around.
I don't have the desire for it.
I don't have that gut feeling like I need a drink.
I need, so God, and this is six years later.
So I was like, all right, I'm out of here.
I like somehow tired of trading smokes and scratching off lottery tickets.
I got to get out of here.
But the way God provides even to have my cigarettes or a dollar for a scratch off every single
day that I was in there and nobody giving me money, like I'm not earning money every
day.
How is this happening?
Right?
$15 can go a long way.
So call mom.
I'm like, mom, I got to get out of here.
Like these people are like, they should all be in prison.
I've seen some good stuff happen with a lot of guys in there and God coming through for
a lot of guys in there.
So I know it was a good place and I know the work that they do is great.
And I did keep in touch for a little while with a few guys, but they just disappeared.
But so I get to go to mom's house.
So mom's like, yeah, okay, fine.
Living the basement.
So the basement's been lived in by me.
My sister's like, so it's like, it's pretty comfortable down there.
So I set it up and bed down there and that kind of stuff.
So I'm getting healthy.
Like, and my mom and I feel like they kind of needed me, like I needed them for the time
being.
Like I was over there.
I was cooking for them every single day.
And across the street was a gym, plant a fitness.
So I joined plant fitness and went and every day I'd go to plant a fitness, whether I was
just getting on the treadmill, but this time, 60 pounds gone.
So working at it, working at it.
I don't remember the weight that I got to by the time I left mom's after six months,
but it was definitely under 300.
So I start looking for a job as I'm feeling like I'm healthy enough to do that.
What am I going to do?
Like, all I can look for is restaurant stuff.
That's all I know.
So I ended up, like, I think it was in a newspaper, which is really weird because at this point,
I mean, we're, this is only six years ago.
So you think you'd be online or whatever.
And there was an ad for like a camp host type person, like this little place.
I hope it's still, it is still there.
I hope it's the same owners.
I'm not really sure, but Firefly Beach Resort on Lake Erie, this awesome little place.
Campers had these little cabins, a couple acres, like right on the lake, and they had
a bar restaurant.
And I told them, like, part of my story, like, I do not want to work in your bar, but I will
come and take care of people because I do that well.
I can cut grass, all that stuff.
So after a few interviews and in the wintertime, this was still in the winter.
So right after Christmas, I got the job.
So I'm all excited.
And I got it like a month ago.
I get nice and healthy, be able to do all this stuff.
And I move out to this place.
I buy a camper.
Like a Mary.
I love you.
Thank you.
My friend Mary threw me like 15 or 1700 bucks to buy this broken up camper that basically
got dropped off by the guy who owned it that just towed it there.
And I fixed it up.
It made it really nice and made the outside of it really nice.
And for the next year, I was living in this camper on the lake and doing what I thought
I was supposed to be doing.
So I'm like, all right.
I'm like, God showed me like I can do something else.
And then about a month into it, the guy that they hired to reopen this bar restaurant is
a flake.
And I'm sorry, Eric, if you ever hear this, I hope to God you're sober now.
And I hope that you found Jesus because you are terrible.
So he can't handle the whole thing.
So they asked me if I'd run the bar, run the bar.
I'm like, sure.
I need to make money because you're not paying me enough money.
Ended up being a fantastic summer.
I'm behind the bar the whole time.
I'm helping in the kitchen.
I'm like, basically the place just becomes mine, which is kind of how, you know, been
before my atmosphere, my bar.
Any temptations come while you're doing that?
No, no.
It was not crazy, but I see it now, like I know it was God because I had no desire,
but I did have an opportunity to tell some of this testimony to people sitting at the
bar in that area.
It's all like summertime community.
So people are there either every day or they're in for the weekends with their kids.
So like, I got to meet and become friends with all these people.
I don't really talk to anybody anymore because I'm here.
I can't believe I'm here.
Last place on earth.
Stealer country.
Last place on earth, but God definitely has a plan.
So yeah, I was running this place.
Tiki bar kind of atmosphere.
So a lot of fruity mixed drinks, some lots that I never made before.
So I actually would be like, taste with the straw.
Does this taste like it's supposed to?
Or, you know, like, does this taste good?
You know, making stuff up didn't bother me.
Never, you know, like, oh, I'm getting a buzz.
No, it wasn't like that.
It was like, whatever.
Stocking beer one time and we had only cans at one point.
Can dropped and hit something in the cooler and exploded.
Shot into my mouth.
So that was like, yeah, that was the only alcohols.
And then one time my sister gave me some cold medicine and forgot that it was, and I was
like, what was in that because my whole face just lit up on fire.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I forgot that's the one with the alcohol on it.
Yeah, so yeah, it's been four years, I think now since I smoked pot once around the fire
with I won't bust Jack, but the people I love.
We don't judge, but we understand that others that might listen might.
Now they don't, whatever today and everybody's smoking weed in this world.
Nobody cares.
When it helps people with their pain and it does and the CBD is amazing.
And I knew that a long time ago.
And yeah, I mean, with cancers from, you know, all kinds of different things.
And I think it's, it's, you know, it's a plant.
God gave us at some point, man, just turn it into something that wasn't supposed to
be.
Yeah, it just freaked me out.
Like I was sitting there.
My, the people I was with put on love to do their little live streams on Facebook.
So hey, everybody, we're sitting by the fire.
I was like, turn that thing off.
I was super paranoid.
I was like, I don't need this anymore.
I don't need it anymore.
And I don't think that I've tried since then.
So through it all.
Yeah.
And then Pittsburgh.
He's like, Hey, I've been talking to Uncle Larry.
You want to go check out his roofing business in Pittsburgh?
I'm like, well, I'm like, it's a way out, right?
It's not the bar business.
And it's winter now in a place that only survives in the summer.
So yeah, let's go check out.
I have been in Pittsburgh now, I think five years.
This is the first time I've been in Pittsburgh.
Check out, I have been in Pittsburgh now, I think five years this January.
And as soon as I got here, I found a church and I did at the, you know, after the homeless
shelter, find church and really start to look at towards the Lord.
And the difference between me then and now is only because of him and completely set
free.
I do not have COPD.
I do not am not affected by congestive heart failure.
My heart pumped perfectly.
Praise Jesus.
Still no problems with the liver blows away.
I do not have a problem sleeping.
I do not snore anymore.
I do not wake up in the middle of night gasping for air.
So I say I'm healed from all of that sleep apnea, all of that.
That's great.
Completely healed.
Of course, you know, I owe it all to him.
Absolutely all to him.
Do you ever wonder like maybe God is giving you the Noah treatment?
Like it seemed like he forgot about you, but then he remembered.
Like I, a little bit like I think about that, like why?
Well, what I want to know is why?
Like I, and I remind, but I don't want to know, but I know that's what has built my
faith and why I can wake up every day and know that God has something better for me
is because why did you bring me through all of that?
Let me do all that for myself and, and almost lose my family, almost lose, you know, everything
and beyond the streets and not know it.
And then here I am today sitting here and I'm a big part of my church.
I'm a leader for middle school kids.
I am part of our men's ministry.
I'm a, you know, it was a greeter.
It all started with greeting.
Everybody become a greeter, especially if you're new at a church.
It's a great way to meet people.
I wasn't going to do any of that.
I got, I got suckered in the children's ministry and you love it.
You know it.
So like the Lord has absolutely blessed me and working for four years with uncle Larry,
he taught me enough to go out on my own.
I'm just started my second year with a roofing, siding, gutters, uh, saw fit, fascia, all exterior
home improvement, painting company.
It's not where I want it to be, but he keeps showing up through it all.
Every time I want to say, why am I doing this?
He says here.
Have you ever heard the phrase, it's an old phrase that one often meets his destiny on
the road.
He takes to avoid it.
I think you could replace destiny with God.
And one often meets God on the road he takes to avoid him.
God is our destiny.
And so when you were at these moments and you're wondering, you know, why did I go through
this or why?
That's because you were avoiding him and he still met you on that path.
Absolutely.
I think it's wonderful that he created us for relationship and that he wanted you so
much that he refused to let you ruin it for him.
Right.
And he's still refusing.
Yeah.
For all of us.
It's just like when you gave your heart to him, when you were, was it 14?
12.
12, that he took it seriously, even though you couldn't honor it then.
And he held you to that standard the entire time and brought you back to him.
What do they say?
If you're in his hands, nothing can take you out of it.
Pretty awesome.
It is.
It is pretty awesome.
Joe, you want to thank you so much for being on our show tonight.
I really appreciate you.
I love you.
It was an instant connection when I met you.
Absolutely.
That person.
Even though you talk so much.
My goodness.
I said so much, not too much.
You guys are all in for a treat for the rest of these podcasts.
We're in for a treat for the rest of our lives, don't we know you?
Me too.
I am blessed to know you both.
Absolutely.
And I thank you.
Thank you.
And thank God for this opportunity.
Absolutely.
Thank you.
I appreciate you taking the time to have us over and recording with us and sharing this
testimony from that mess into a message.
Wonderful.
And if this episode has blessed you in any way whatsoever and you just feel reminded of
somebody comes to your mind, if you could share it with them, that would be a blessing.
God works through all of us in little ways.
You don't have to do a whole podcast or a sermon to help somebody, but just you thought
of them, here's a podcast.
You might like it.
So if you could do that, that would be wonderful.
And we appreciate you taking the time out of your day to listen to us and we'll talk
to you next time.