Welcome to the God's Gunness podcast where our mission is to encourage and highlight
God's goodness in modern-day miracles.
We are your hosts, Josh and Shelly Hankins.
Today we have with us a special guest.
We have Charlie Roso with us today and he is going to share some things that the Holy
Spirit told him to share and we'll have him open us with an opening prayer.
Now this guest, let me just start off saying, is actually somebody, another person that
my husband knows better than I do.
So we're going to get to know Charlie a little bit better today and so now we'll have you
open us up with that opening prayer.
Lord God, thank you for today, allowing you to bring Shelley and Josh into my life, but
more importantly, allowing her to do such great things in what she's doing.
Remarkable thanks.
It's amazing to be part of something and truly to be honored to be here today, but more importantly,
Lord, thank you for blessing both of them and allowing them to bless others in their
lives to do what they really do.
Lord God, please guide us in the right path with your love and grace.
Again we do everything in your name.
Amen.
So where would you like to start, Charlie?
First I would like to say thank you both for having me today.
I truly mean it, that it's an honor.
When you called me and asked me to come on your show and talk, I was very honored.
I've taken back.
You don't get that every day in my line of work, of course, for others that don't know.
I am the chief of police.
I'm a local police department near.
And to be part of this, to be able to speak to people about leadership and faith and how
that applies to me and many others goes way more than just my job.
It's everyday life.
You know that people sometimes just look at others and say, I need to follow somebody
or I need to look at somebody as the leader.
I think a lot of times they forget that they're a leader.
They're a leader at home as a mother or a father, husband and wife.
We lead every day and it's all in how we lead and what we do.
But I think the most important thing is no matter how you lead in life, it's how you
lead with your faith that gets you through the day because you're going to have good
days and bad days.
And I've had many of them and I can tell you that if I truly didn't have my faith, I honestly
believe I don't know how I would get through most of my days.
I get challenged a lot.
I might deal with some of them, the worst of the worst situations, the gruesome situations,
the things that most people will never see or have an impact on.
I watch my officers as myself over the years and it's hard as a leader to watch some of
your own people struggle and see some of the things that they see and watch the general
public not really understand that this is a huge effect on them.
They're struggling and they have to go back out and continuously do their job and do it
with a smile and try to move forward.
And I think as a leader for me, I have to be able to talk to them and touch them in
a way that it's not as I'm commanding them as a leader because that's a different type
of leader.
I think it's more I have to be a leader to be there to help them when they fall, to
be there for them to guide them.
I truly feel that what a true leader is, we're all servants at some point, but I think that
you have to act as a servant before you could even do anything.
And that's the truth.
I look at a lot of factors in my life, both personally and both professionally.
And if I truly didn't have my faith and guidance, I wouldn't be the person that I am today.
And that's the truth.
And Jesus led by example and he had that servant-hearted leadership mentality led by example.
So you mentioned a leadership style of directing people and just telling them what to do.
But I've always associated that with being a boss, or you boss people around.
And so you're saying that the leadership of good leaders is actually someone who leads
by serving his people.
And the boss is the toxic.
I want to sit here and take credit for all you guys doing those hard work and blame you
when you don't get it right.
Whereas a leader would bolster his people, would be there to give them the credentials
when they did well and take the blame when they did poorly.
Just clarifying that's what we're...
I got that all buttoned up.
You know, you're 100% right.
A true leader is somebody that leads by example.
And you have to know how to lead from the front and the back.
Yet many times you have to know just in anything in life that sometimes you have to use all
the people around you and their attributes to say, hey, I need you to step up and do
your part and know as a leader that you have to step back.
But more importantly, you have to know that it's not about like you said, being the boss.
Is by bringing that mentality to the table to somebody, you lose them.
And true leaders should be mentoring the person they're with.
I'm trying to, an example using my line of work as a chief, I'm looking to mentor the
people below me to take my spot and them to mentor the people below me to take theirs
and so on and so forth.
And that's what a good leader does.
He doesn't try to take the credit for everything.
He doesn't want to be the best.
He wants to be able to do, in essence, I want whoever's leading.
I want them to be better than me.
I want them to go on to do better things than me.
I want them to know what I had on the table, different than Pastor Pete passing the torch
over to Pastor Luke.
It's he's passing over what his legacy is to here, but now it's time for Pastor Luke
to take his turn to do what he needs to.
And I understand everybody has to do their own turn and do things different.
So I think that a true leader is exactly what Josh had said.
It's not a boss.
It's someone that knows how to lead and be a good servant as well.
I like how you mentioned it.
When you said it and described the good leader, I just kept thinking that's what a parent
should do is want their child to be better than them, to have more opportunities to be
better equipped for the decisions to make when they're older so that they have less
surprises that they are just in a better place physically, emotionally, spiritually than
you are.
Not making the same mistakes you did, even though they probably will because they will
probably want to learn the hard way like you did.
Oh yeah, that's the only way I learned the hard way.
Yeah, no, I agree.
That's why I said good leaders are parents, they're brothers, they're sisters.
That's where it starts.
The mentoring starts at home.
I mean, like my oldest daughter, she looked my youngest one looks up to her.
So in some sense, she's leading her and bad examples can go down the wrong path.
So I think as a father, as a husband, I'm at home, I try to be the best leader, but
I work together with my family, I work together with them because I feel we all lead as a
team together.
And at times she was ever in the group, maybe the person that needs to step up to be that
leader to go a little further.
But I think we all lead and mentor in different ways.
It reminds me, when I was in Mary Kate, they teach that when you help enough people rise
to the next level, they'll actually help you rise to the next level too.
So everyone gets to win when others are winning.
So how has faith and leadership and faith tied together?
How does that help you as a police chief?
How does that help you as a father?
How does that help you as a husband?
I think overall, being that I found my faith, it really is a testament when you're working
and we'll just use my line of work and then we'll talk about it at home.
But at work, most leaders, when things don't get done, it's immediately let's go to this
place, let's go the next route.
And I think I've always been that leader that wants to hear more about what's going
on.
But I think because of my faith, being able to understand that we all make mistakes and
we all go down the wrong path and we all have challenges in our life, that I implement what
I learn and what I read in the Bible to how I work.
And basically it builds the framework on the kind of character I am and essence to my officers.
And I think to them, they see that and they don't respect the fact that they have to go
down a certain way because nobody wants to have to listen to something, but they respect
me as a person.
And in turn, they respect me as a leader because they know that if something goes wrong, I'm
going to be there at the beginning and I'm not leaving until the end.
And they know they can trust me to go into any battle.
And that's very important.
I think a boss is a boss by title.
That's what it is.
But when you have your colleagues and others that don't think kindly of you, that don't
like you.
And in essence, as a leader, you're not always going to have things that people agree with.
But I'm very open minded with all of my officers and I tell them, I want to hear what you have
to say.
I bring them in and talk to them and see what's going on.
I don't wait once a year to do it.
Every so many months I bring them in, how are you doing at home?
What's going on in your life?
Is there anything I can do to help you out?
I remember that these people that I'm working with aren't just servants at work, they're
servants at home.
I don't need them to just be able to do their job at home.
I want to make sure they're doing their job at home as well.
I want to make sure they're happy in both places.
So I do worry about my staff.
I do worry about them.
And at home, as a father, as a husband, my wife is very strong in her faith and she keeps
me going and she keeps me in check at times and says, hey look, we're veering off-bath
here on something and it brings me back to center.
So having that strong foundation at home, I believe you have to have the, if you're
at home, your wife or whoever you're with, but more for your wife, they've got to be
as strong in the faith as you because you need that level, that balance in the whole
dynamic or it just doesn't work.
They can see your blind spots, things you're not aware of.
You're like, oh wait, I'm messing up.
Yeah, I mean, God calls the wife to be the helper, right?
And it's not a derogatory spot.
It's not a tertiary spot.
It's not a subservient spot, but it's a very key role, right?
He calls the wife to be a helper.
He calls the Holy Spirit as a helper.
Jesus as a helper.
God himself calls himself a helper.
So like your wife is right up there with the Holy Trinity as far as what God thinks you
need with help.
Do you find that because of your job, because of the things that you see, that makes a huge
impact sometimes on the faith that your wife has to help bolster?
Like you see some things you're like, man, your wife has to build you back up in the
faith because of your job.
Oh, absolutely.
I would have to say that my wife is definitely by rock for sure.
She, she's always, she's the first one to, to get me going and then she'll be the first
one to call me out on something too.
She'll tell me, Hey, look, this is not right.
And I think a lot of times, even when I'm questioning certain things, maybe I'm dealing
with it.
I might run into a work that sometimes she helps me come back to center and say, you
know what, you might want to relook at this again.
I think you're, you might not have given yourself enough time to look over the situation, but
you might be acting too on the impulse here.
You might need a minute and a lot of times she'll, of course, the fact is that she'll
want to do prayer time.
She's going to want to bring me in for prayer.
She's on the prayer team here at the church and she's just pray on it.
Let's talk about it.
And I can tell you that it's never failed that if I seem to step off path or something
gets challenged, I look at her and she, she gets me back on path again to say, Hey, look,
let's revisit this again.
So yes, my wife is a very key person in my life and I don't know where I would be without
her.
That's for sure.
And the grace of God, I thank him every day that, that he brought her to me because without,
without him, I wouldn't have her.
It sounds like without her, you wouldn't be here either.
That's true.
She's the, that's, she's the one that actually got us to where we were here today.
She pushed us in the right direction and everything else fell right where it needed to be.
Yeah.
She's, she's very important to my life.
God is number one, but my wife is number two and my kids are right there with her.
She's just an amazing woman, an outstanding person.
Incredible.
So what is the most influential thing that God has called you to share about leadership
with us?
I think the most influential thing that God's taught me about leadership is that we're all
human and that no time and no time do I have the right nor anybody else have the right
to judge anybody.
It's not my place to judge anybody.
In my line of work, yes, we see what's black and white, someone commits a crime or whatever
it is.
My job is to enforce the law, but my job isn't to judge the person for their actions.
That's not my place.
That's only God's.
And I think so many leaders that aren't real leaders, maybe just bosses, as we would say
Josh, but I would say that most leaders that act in certain ways tend to judge.
They're going to pass judgment because they're in charge or they're the boss and this is
what we got.
And I think a lot of times you're not looking at it for face value.
You're not doing your due diligence because a good leader will go the extra mile for anybody
to see what they're made of.
We also know there's times that unfortunately, depending on the circumstances that things
do happen where people have to be removed from their jobs or wherever else, but those
are why there's set roles and guidelines that you follow at work and those things too, but
I'll never judge somebody.
I think that's where my faith is very strong is that I'm not going to judge you or anybody
because it's just not my place to or will I ever.
Has that ever been hard for you to not judge?
Every day, every single day that I go to work and watch what goes on there, the things that
we go through and people want action, they want to know what you think.
They want to know your opinions and the meetings that I go to, a lot of them want that as well.
And it's very hard because I have to be open minded when I speak and let them know that,
hey, look, you know, that sometimes you don't want to hear the horse truth, but I'm not
going to judge this person even though we know what the person did or what's going on.
I'm not going to judge them.
A lot of times when I bring my faith or my opinion on faith into that matter or into
that room, I do get a lot of negative feedback sometimes because people were like, hold on
here, where are you going with this?
And I just always explain I'm not going anywhere with this.
All I'm simply saying is that-
Don't get sued for your opinion.
Right.
All I'm saying is that I know the good book and I work on it every single day and I know
what I know and I'm not telling you that you have to do the same, but I'm not going to
judge somebody based on what we have here.
That's not my job.
Nor is it anybody's job for that matter.
But I think that's a challenge.
Josh, for so many people I work with because they figure that we're the judge and the jury
when we know it is what it is.
And I think that gives them a very wrong perspective for law enforcement because we're not that.
We have to enforce laws and that's what we do.
Judges do their judging based upon the laws and that's where things get a little varied
because they're put there for a reason to get bad people maybe off the streets so they
don't hurt others.
But at the end of the day, my ultimate thing isn't to judge anybody.
I know for my job in EMS that TV shows can make a false expectation for the people that
you serve.
Do you find that's true with TV shows and media that paints a false idea of what a police
officer should represent, what a police officer does represent and how a police officer is
supposed to conduct themselves?
I think the TV shows, they have enough advisors on there that they're either LE personnel
that try to teach the individuals and I've worked with them in the past with various
things and sometimes if they don't like the shot or the way it looks, they have to change
it to give the dynamic a little bit more of an effect for people to watch.
So some of the stuff is realistic, some of it's not, but I get why they're doing that
but ask for the media now.
That's a whole other situation.
I think that I would really like to see a different bridge between law enforcement and
the media.
They paint a bad picture sometimes because if they don't get the answers they want when
they want, they just draw their own conclusion and I think a lot of times a lot of the media
just doesn't realize we can't give them all the information right now.
We're still researching things, we're still conducting information, we're still doing
a lot of things but the media, it's numbers to them.
It's all about how much can we get it out before this news channel or this station or
this whoever, it's sometimes I think that it's just like any other job.
You have good reporters and you got not so good reporters.
The good reporters will wait it out and work with you to the end because they want to get
the right story out there and others it's just about the ratings and the numbers and
they really don't sometimes care about what departments or officers or whoever it is that
they heard along the way because some of the things they report I won't say is untrue
but it's not all of the truth.
And those are challenges that we face and I work with our media outlets all the time
and I'm blessed that we do have them because they're there to help us with many other things.
So it's a challenge.
I won't lie to both of you, it's a challenge that I think law enforcement as a whole.
It's every day something we deal with in the media has a perspective I think sometimes on
the way we do things but we're trying to change that.
I really think that by the grace of God I think that down the road things will change
and the ones I work with do seem like they care.
Did you always have a faith when you were a police officer?
Did you as a kid, did you find Jesus while you were work?
Was there a moment that happened?
You're like, wow, I really need Jesus?
When did you find the faith through this?
No, I didn't always have my faith.
I was a young kid or a young officer.
I was like everybody else.
I wanted to go out and I just did whatever and had a good time and it worked and went
out like everybody else and probably went to the bars and clubs and lived a life like
most people do that don't live within their faith.
Lose your faith along the way with many things.
Many years back my oldest son's mother passed away from an incident and I was really tested
by that.
I think on the job I was tested because you just lose everything when you lose somebody
like that and that was back in 2011, I believe 2012.
And at this point I had a girl that I was dating and she had a three-year-old son at
the time and there was an accident that happened and she was taken from me and there were a
lot of un...
So your wife and a girlfriend?
No, I didn't get married.
I've been married about seven years now but this happened back in 2011.
I think it was, yeah, real 2011.
So she had a three-year-old and I adopted him when she passed away from this accident.
It was challenging this first couple of years because I was battling with my faith a great
deal because like anybody would and it was later, I want to say probably just a couple
of years back that a good friend of mine, Dave Kalamazko, he was a police officer, came
in later in life.
He was probably in his, I want to say in his fifties, coming as a police officer which
is very unheard of and he worked in an agency local to mine and he only worked about a year
or two.
He was a police officer and a police officer in the pre-jure.
And Dave very strong in his faith and he just latched on to me and he just kept on telling
me, you've got to get you back to where I need you to be.
And he got me back, I think, to where I needed to be in my faith and it laid the groundwork
with me and my wife.
I met my wife of course already and we were together but like any other marriage or trials
and things along the way in life, then Dave really made an impact on me and my wife already
found her faith and she just, that just was a good pour over with her and him and I just,
it led me in the right direction and right after that I want to say I became the chief
of police of one of the agencies and it was just a remarkable honor to be able to go back
to a department that I started at and be able to do what I'm doing because I was so strong
in my faith at that point that I realized that now anything's possible.
And there was no limitations at this point because I went from where I was like many
others to where I'm at now and I just, I knew that it was all by faith.
So it really was.
How did Dave know to pour into you?
How did Dave know that you were the guy that needed a mentor?
How did Dave know that you had a connection with Jesus that needed repair?
Like how did he know?
It was so funny because when I would talk to Dave and he was one of those, crops are
very rare that he would go out and he would be mentoring people on the street.
Like he would, on every call, he would try to find a way to whatever and he was just
a remarkable man and he would always tell me, you got to get strong in your faith.
Charlie said, you got to.
He goes, it's the backbone of everything.
And he'd look at me and I'd tell him what's going on in my life and various things and
he's, we got to get you back up there.
He goes, once you get there and he goes, I'm telling you, you're going to find out that
it's, he, what he always told me, you're going to find out it's easy selling at that point.
He goes, because once you get in, he says, anything's possible.
He says, you're going to deal with so many trials and so many tribulations in your life.
He goes, you're going to deal with so many things.
He says, and I can tell you, I've been all over the world and he was.
He was been, that I can't, he's been to various countries, to Israel.
He's preached all over the world and he had no, really no reason to really come into law
enforcement.
He just wanted to do it and when he came in, he says, I asked him, I said, why did you
want to come into this line of work?
He says, it's just like anybody else to help people, but I want to be able to get out there
in the streets and help people a little bit different from a police standpoint.
And I didn't really get that till I seen him in action.
And I remember I seen him the one day on a call in a neighborhood that maybe it's not
too kind to others.
And I remember him saying to me, we're going to save some of these people, watch.
And I remember I looked over at him and I'm like, oh, that's a pretty bold statement.
And I just watched him in action, how he was and just talking to people and I'm mentoring
them and just basically talking about the good word.
And I'm thinking, and everybody's listening, they're like taking in, like he got their
attention.
And I'm like, these kids are some of the ones we were dealing with are some of the worst
of the neighborhoods and he's actually got their attention.
And I'm thinking, wow, like he's got something here.
Like I've worked 20 some years in the job and I don't think I've ever had people look
at me like that.
And I knew at that point this guy is a special guy.
Like I need to sit with him.
I need to talk with him.
Copy the rate, Kat.
I got to absorb what he's saying to me because he's got it and he did.
And because of him, he made my faith stronger, but he helped me with so many other things
as well.
And I just think that God puts people in your life for reasons.
Absolutely.
And he did.
Absolutely.
Sounds like Dave is one of those people.
That's why I was asking.
It sounds like this is something God needed you to have, right?
Because of all the partners of all the people he could have worked with, right?
The one person that was so receptive that now you're a police chief, now you're married
is someone that grounds you back in the faith after you get to see some horrific things.
And in EMS, I probably see half of the horrific things that you do because we don't get involved
in the violent stuff, right?
But we do get involved in the medical stuff and police are on scene for those as well.
And you got distraught family.
You've got all sorts of weird situations that can't be described in any other way except
horrific and to go home and have that person to ground you is significant.
So God has provided you a grounding.
God has provided you a means to increase your faith by having an example, right?
What was that one phrase?
It's go out and preach the gospel and follow those fails, use your words, right?
So this guy is being Jesus to the neighborhood and he caught their attention.
But it sounds like he caught yours too.
He most certainly did.
And I for one am very grateful that you are here now because of the actions of your wife,
the actions of Dave, because it allows, because in order for all this to happen, you had to
have had Jesus in your life somewhere, right?
So you let him in once and he never let out.
Like he kept his foot in the door even when he tried to shut me in it.
And then he allowed other people to get in your life so that door is not wide open in
him.
And I'm just very happy that you're here.
I'm very happy that you are an effective member at our church, that you're an effective man,
our man for a men's ministry.
I think I'm really, really happy to know you.
And it's not because I want you to give me a ticket or anything.
I get out plenty of them.
You know, I'm asking you now we get out of them, but it's, it's.
I'm the one who needs your help.
It's literally if you were not a police chief, you would still be Charlie and Charlie is a
man of God.
And you might be a little farther in your faith if you were a police chief because you wouldn't
have as many things holding you back.
As funny as that sound, it's a difficult thing.
And I'm just really personally very glad to know you.
I'm very personally glad that I get to see you.
And I'm always relieved when I see you because I know that you're well.
I know that when I see you that all is well.
And it's a very comforting feeling.
Like when the wife is waiting up all night for her husband to come home from work.
So I see you in church on Sunday.
I'm like, yes, he made it another week because your job isn't as easy as mine.
And, and granted, I'm not saying my job is easy, but yours is harder.
I have a long shot and the, because of media coverage, because of the way they like to paint
things, people don't go out of their way to be mean to me when I'm driving an ambulance.
Right.
If they were mean to me, it's just because they're a jerk anyway, but people will go
out of their way to be mean to law enforcement.
I've seen it.
I've seen it at people's houses.
I've seen it other places.
So for you to have the desire to continue to serve in a community that, and it's not
all of them, right?
It's not everybody, but it only takes one person to give you a bad day.
And so I am really proud that you continue to serve your community, that you continue
to strive to allow Jesus to love in and through you, even though sometimes it may not happen,
but you strive for it.
I'm very happy to know that your wife is your grounding rod, that she is your lightning
rod.
So when you have that day that's just like nothing else, that she takes that from you,
right?
I'm very happy that you had a mentor that was like Paul the apostle for you, right?
Like he's out there preaching the word and you're like dumbfounded looking at this guy,
watching all these hardened kids, dumbfounded looking at this guy.
I think it is so amazing the things that God is doing in your life.
And I can't wait to see what else he's going to do.
And I have one of your children in the children's ministry at this church.
And let me tell you, your child is a blessing.
Thank you.
It's just full of life, funny, obedient, right?
It's just a treat to have your child in class.
And the granted it's only once a month, but I couldn't take it anymore.
We all have our limits.
Yeah, some people can't do it at all like me.
I'm so humbled guys that I have you both and many others in my life.
And I really honestly can tell you that it wasn't for the people that I met in my life,
the people that have guided me in my life, the people that have been there for me in
my life.
I know that's all through God.
And like I said before, I'm not passing judgment on anybody.
But what I can tell you is that just sometimes being tested every day on various things,
I realized that it's part of what I am and who I am and what I do.
And staying humbled and being appreciative for the things that I have, being grateful
for where I'm at is a lot.
Being able to get up and go to work and be able to get up and be strong in my faith,
be able to get up knowing that the area that I'm around is a safe place to be.
I know many don't have that, a roof over my head, many other things.
I'm blessed for everything in my life and all the challenges that get thrown my way.
I know that others that I work with aren't so blessed.
And that's why I try to bring that faith in, planting that mustard seed in at work because
I know our wellness is the one that gets challenged the most.
Clearly, it always worries my wife to see many others.
We have the highest statistics for everything.
We have the highest suicide, highest drug use, the highest divorce rate.
We have the highest of every category.
And that's because the stress is so high.
So I do worry about the people that work with me and many others because you just don't
know what's going on in someone's life all the time.
And that's why I said, that's why you can't pass the judgment because you don't know
what's going on in someone's head.
And that's why I try to strive to get them wellness training, wellness help.
I think a lot of them, it's getting them in their faith because that in itself could be
wellness enough to get you back to center.
I'm not saying that's always going to be the case for everybody.
That's big to me.
It's important.
When I go into work, I don't just check in.
I can't speak for others, but I'm not one of those guys that just checks in and that's
it.
You don't see me for the day.
I'm involved in all of my workers' lives.
I know what's going on.
I'm involved in the department.
I'm involved in my family.
I'm involved in everything in my church, my community.
I'm involved because I want to be there to help.
I want to be there for them because that's what we're really here for.
We're here to help each other.
And when we lose sight of that, then I think we have a big problem.
There's days I'm not going to be my best and that's why I need the others around you.
The other day, I will go back the other day when I came into church.
I wasn't at my best.
I'm going through some family things with my mom and that.
And Josh seen it.
He's seen it as, hey, you don't seem like yourself today.
And I said, hey, I'm going through some things.
He came over and just gave me a hug and I'd say, but you modify, say a prayer for you.
And I said, absolutely.
And then my mom came in, it's a battling breast cancer and we prayed on her too.
It's things like that make the difference.
It's the little things we do in life that people don't realize that are the biggest
impact in my in a day.
So that little act of what you did was so, it meant so much to me.
Josh, it really did because people don't do that a lot anymore.
Those are important things to me.
So that's why I am blessed that I have people like you and Josh in my life because that's
what sometimes gets you through today.
You're not always my wife, but I believe it's the people you surround yourself around.
That leads me to my question.
I was thinking of Josh listened to the Holy Spirit and it prompted him to do something.
He took action.
And there was a story that you shared at the men's breakfast that I heard a little bit
about and I was hoping that you could share it with the audience.
I know it doesn't have to do with leadership, but it does deal with leading rather following
the Holy Spirit and his promptings.
And there was a time where you felt compelled to check on this house.
Yes.
There was a, sorry, I let that slip.
There was a situation.
It's a cool story.
Actually many years ago on a department that I'm with, that was the chief, believe it
or not.
I worked with him many years ago and believe it or not, I want to say maybe it might have
been Christmas Eve in the morning or it might have been Christmas day in the morning.
I think it was Christmas day in the morning.
And it was a house that was not far from where the station was.
And there was a call from, I believe it was the family member that lived in maybe California
or Florida and wanted to do a wellness check.
Now we get a lot of those calls.
People will call you, look in, the medics will be there, there's nothing shelling, you
just leave.
The doors are locked.
It doesn't look like there's any issues.
You're not going to break the door down unless it's absolutely necessary.
So I remember it was pretty cold out.
So it was out on the roadways all around the house and I remember walking around the house
and it was an older style house and clearly you guys can see I'm not the tallest person
in the world.
So some of the windows on the side, I can look in the best I could.
And I remember I walked around the house and I came to the front and I'm like, all right,
there's really nothing showing.
It's no different.
I called in and I'm clear I'm back on the road.
I'm available.
So I started to drive down the road a little bit, not much.
I remember I just stopped and I said, maybe I'll just do one more check.
It's Christmas.
Let me go back and just to make sure.
So I went back, I walked around the house again, still nothing.
I remember I was standing on the right side of the house and I remember there was an old,
you guys remember, there's old wooden salt boxes.
I remember the ones you lift up, you put salt in, there were like old wooden salt boxes
where they used to keep salt in.
And I was like, there's a window right there.
Maybe I'll just jump on top of that salt box and I'll look in the window.
So I remember I looked in the window and I could see the doorway.
Okay.
And I didn't see much and I'm like, I don't really see anything.
I remember I'm trying to look the best I can with my hands and it's freezing out.
And I looked in and all I can see very vaguely was I think I see the back of a foot.
I'm like, no, that's not what it is.
I looked it again.
I remember I said to myself, man, is this, there's someone in there.
And then as I said that, I can see the foot move and I'm like, that's someone's foot.
Someone's down on the floor, I think.
I remember I called back on the radio.
I said, before I said, I'm going to be back out checking on the house again.
I came to the front.
I said, and at that time I think we just had our own dispatch.
I don't think it was not about one.
That was just a normal dispatch.
And I said to him, I said, I'm back out at the front door.
I think there's someone inside.
I seen a foot.
I'm going to take the door in.
The medics were already arriving on scene.
I kicked the door in and we went in.
There was an elderly man that was laying on the floor feet away from a phone, but he
couldn't get to it.
And he was there for over a day, maybe a little longer.
They weren't sure.
And the house was an ice box.
It was freezing in there.
And I can hear the messages on the machine.
The old recording machine failing.
There's Colin.
Hey, is there anybody there?
Pick up.
Is there anybody there?
Pick up.
Anybody there?
Pick them.
Just kept calling and calling.
He just couldn't get to the phone.
It's like that commercial help.
I'm calling and I can't go.
Right.
So he was literally right there.
And I remember the medic at the time looked over me and said, they got him prepped up
in the ambulance.
He was on his way.
And this was one of many incidents in my career that I can remember.
And I remember him saying to me, he didn't have much time, but the radio was going.
He wouldn't have made it.
And I remember saying to myself, wow, that's why we do it.
It's moments like this that make it all worthwhile.
All the complaints and all the yelling and all the things.
Like you had said earlier, Josh, it's like when I hear something good come down the pike
about my gosh or say, do something, I let him know.
Like I put it out there.
Like I make a big deal out of it because it is those things that are big because it's
all the other stuff.
Yeah.
And it was by truly looking back, it was the grace of God that allowed me to think, hey,
you know what?
You need to go back there.
There have been many times throughout my career, personally in it at work where I should have
went left and went right and so on.
It was just him guiding me.
Just him being in back and me telling me this isn't your path.
People, when I was overseas at Afghanistan training, he got me home.
And I know that everything I do, I know is a challenge every day when I go in.
I know Monday morning when I go back into work, it'll be a challenge of things and problems
and complaints, but I look at them as opportunities.
It's opportunities that one of those issues, whatever, I might be able to turn into something
positive.
It's a win for me always.
And that's what gives me the ability to be so blessed and humble is that I know that I
have an opportunity every single day to maybe make an impact on someone's life.
And just happens to be in the position that I'm at sometimes, I get a little further reach
and I appreciate that.
And God put me there.
I also know that He can take me from there.
So I take advantage of who I have around me, if that makes sense.
Yeah, it makes perfect sense.
He is faithful for a little, being in charge of a little, but he is faithful with a lot,
is in charge of a lot.
And you have this position and you're faithful for a lot and you're going to be in charge
of a lot.
And when you start dropping the ball on that, then he's going to take it away.
But it doesn't sound like you're anywhere close to that yet.
It sounds like you're really leaning into him.
I know that not every day is a perfect day.
I know that not every day you are the best representation of what you could be because
I work in emergency services too.
And I know that some days are more challenging than others, but I'm very glad that you know
who is the Father.
I'm very glad that you know who the Son is.
I'm very glad you know that you are Spirit-filled.
It really does make a difference.
Do you have anything else you want to share with us today?
Well, I wanted to read a passage that I had, but I wanted to make sure I got the right
one and just two parts here.
It's Matthew 20 verses 25 to 28, but I'll just highlight it.
It says, Jesus tells His disciples that leaders should not exercise authority over people.
Instead, whoever wants to become great must lower himself to be a servant.
Leaders realize that serving others is the only way to lead with a pure heart, free of
pride and prejudice.
And I think about that because God stewards us.
He gives us the gifts to what we have to do.
I do believe that we have the opportunity to influence many in our lives.
So I think that just by keeping that in mind allows me to keep doing what I'm doing every
day.
And all I plan on doing is one step at a time and helping one person at a time.
And wherever that leads me, I'm okay with.
There's some good guidelines to go by for sure.
Thank you for being with us and sharing your perspective and your stories.
I appreciate that.
And I hope the listener appreciated it as well.
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