What Went Down in Africa? - When You Look Backstory | 014

1
00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,840
This is what I kind of describe
as my Moses moment.

2
00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:07,760
I literally was like, I'm not
your guy, God, there's got to be

3
00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:12,120
somebody else.
And God's response was you're my

4
00:00:12,120 --> 00:00:15,400
guy for testimonies.
Welcome to When you Look where

5
00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:19,360
ordinary people share their
extraordinary experiences and

6
00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:22,440
you get to decide, was it
coincidence or God?

7
00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,000
What's up everybody?
It's Mick from when you look.

8
00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:30,040
This is the back story to how
when you look came into

9
00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:32,720
existence.
Ready, Let's go.

10
00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:37,040
Do you know anybody that has a
thing like a thing thing like

11
00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:40,040
it's their thing.
The type of thing that's like so

12
00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:45,640
much them or so deep into them
or they're so into it, this

13
00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:48,880
particular thing that they might
even start a nonprofit over it.

14
00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:53,360
Well, I didn't have a thing
'cause I'm not the kind of guy

15
00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:58,360
that has a thing.
And yet at some point in 2018, I

16
00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:04,760
was given a thing like all of a
sudden, out of nowhere inside of

17
00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:11,240
me, I had this thing, and this
thing was testimonies.

18
00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:14,320
Now, I didn't know what that
meant really.

19
00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:21,040
But along with testimonies came
this verse, this Scripture, this

20
00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:28,680
Bible verse of Revelation 12/11.
They triumphed over him by the

21
00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:32,720
blood of the Lamb and the word
of their testimonies.

22
00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:37,880
And they did not love their
lives so much as to shrink from

23
00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:42,840
death.
That's what got put in me,

24
00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:48,480
deposited if you will, at some
point in 2018.

25
00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,160
And I'm like, this is weird.
This is a thing.

26
00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:56,480
I don't have a thing.
I'm not a thing kind of guy.

27
00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,800
And now I have this thing
testimonies.

28
00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:04,200
So I sort of put it out of my
mind and I thought, OK, well,

29
00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,120
this is not going to be a thing.
This isn't that big of a deal.

30
00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:11,000
And it just stayed there and
it's stuck around.

31
00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:14,560
And it's stuck around to the
point where I was like, man,

32
00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:19,200
this is like a thing.
I might actually have to even do

33
00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:23,000
something with this thing.
So I remember having a

34
00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,680
conversation with my wife.
She was super pregnant with our

35
00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:30,080
twins at the time.
And I remember explaining to

36
00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:33,800
her, I'm like, honey, this is
not normal for me.

37
00:02:33,920 --> 00:02:38,920
You know, I'm not the guy with
the thing and this is the thing

38
00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:43,320
and The thing is testimonies.
And I think maybe, just maybe,

39
00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:47,720
I'm the guy who's supposed to do
something with this.

40
00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:53,400
And that was just totally crazy
to me.

41
00:02:53,800 --> 00:03:00,320
In late 2019, I get asked to go
on a mission trip to Niger,

42
00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,720
Africa.
And leading up to the lunch

43
00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:08,640
where I got asked to go on this
trip, my wife and I had sort of

44
00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:12,800
rehearsed that I was going to
say no to this person because I

45
00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,000
knew this was coming.
This person that I had lunch

46
00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,720
with, when you have lunch with
them, it's almost always going

47
00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:23,920
to include a request that you go
on a mission trip to Niger,

48
00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:26,480
Africa.
And I was at a point where I was

49
00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:28,560
like, I'm not going on this
trip.

50
00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,440
And we as a family, we're at a
point where we were like, I'm

51
00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:38,920
not going on this trip because
we had nine month old twins and

52
00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:43,600
a six year old at home.
So it didn't make a lot of sense

53
00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,560
from our perspective for me to
be going halfway around the

54
00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,440
world for a week to go on a
mission trip to Niger.

55
00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:57,160
Well, at that lunch, it became
crystal clear to me that I was

56
00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:03,280
going to Niger.
In fact, as Michael slid across

57
00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:09,200
the table, the dates for the
trip, I literally knew as I saw

58
00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:14,720
them because they were February
of 2020, I knew that I was

59
00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:18,720
supposed to go.
So I get home that evening after

60
00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,120
having lunch with Michael, and I
say to my wife, I'm like, hey,

61
00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:23,920
we got to talk about how the
lunch went.

62
00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:25,680
And she goes, yeah, that'll
probably be quick.

63
00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:30,040
And my response was, whoa, not
so much.

64
00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:33,320
So we sit down.
I tell her the whole story.

65
00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:36,360
She knows that we were both
aligned going into this, that

66
00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:42,120
the answer was not only no, but
no, no, no, there's no way I'm

67
00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,880
going.
And yet I explained to her I

68
00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:51,840
knew I was going.
In fact, I used the word

69
00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:56,480
inevitable because if that's
exactly what it felt like, it

70
00:04:56,480 --> 00:05:02,000
was inevitable no matter what.
It seemed like I was going on

71
00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,160
that trip.
And my wife's response was,

72
00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:09,920
well, that's the Holy Spirit.
So we planned accordingly as a

73
00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:11,640
family.
We got the right support that we

74
00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,120
needed for her for me to be gone
for a week.

75
00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:20,520
We fundraised, and I'm in Niger,
Africa in February of 2020.

76
00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:24,000
So the way those trips go is
you're doing ministry work

77
00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,840
throughout the course of the
day, and then after dinner and

78
00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:31,560
late in the evening you're up on
the rooftop of the building that

79
00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:34,440
we were staying in, essentially
debriefing the day.

80
00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:38,960
And the mission group that I was
with, which is Effective

81
00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:42,320
Ministries, Inc, put some
information in the description

82
00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:47,160
about that and link below.
It was commonplace for the

83
00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:52,920
rooftop experience to be a
really important part of of

84
00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,840
people's experiences while on
those mission trips.

85
00:05:56,840 --> 00:06:00,680
And the typical debrief would go
something to the extent of each

86
00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:04,040
person that was on the trip
would be talking about their

87
00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:06,880
high for the day, their low for
the day, and maybe some other

88
00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:09,600
observations.
And then after we had done that

89
00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:16,880
as a full group, we would then
break out into our individual

90
00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:22,760
spaces on this rooftop and each
person would spend some time

91
00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:25,840
talking with God.
And then we would all come back

92
00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:29,800
together and debrief that if
there was anything major that

93
00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:32,720
occurred.
And then we would head basically

94
00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:37,360
back inside to go to bed.
So we're a handful of days in,

95
00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:43,560
we're on this rooftop debrief,
we've done our normal stuff, and

96
00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:47,040
we're now moved to our
individual spots.

97
00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:53,000
And that is where I had what I
consider to be a face to face

98
00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,680
encounter with God.
So here's the deal.

99
00:06:56,040 --> 00:07:00,080
I didn't in any way shape or
form see God, but I consider it

100
00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:06,640
to be face to face because it
was me and him and I was fully

101
00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:11,600
enveloped in Him.
I was completely consumed by Him

102
00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:14,760
and so I knew where I was.
This wasn't some type of out of

103
00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:18,280
body experience.
I could see as I would glance

104
00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:22,720
every once in a while, that in
in the dark twilight ish that,

105
00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:25,240
you know, other people that I
knew, of course, were on the

106
00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:26,880
rooftop.
And they were, you know, many,

107
00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,160
many feet or yards away from me
because it's quite a substantial

108
00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:35,040
rooftop for maybe a total of a
dozen people to be on.

109
00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:40,600
But for all intents and
purposes, it was me and God.

110
00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:46,320
And he tells me in this
encounter, you're my guy for

111
00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:51,320
testimonies.
And my response to him was, I'm

112
00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:54,160
not your God.
This is what I kind of describe

113
00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:58,400
as my Moses moment.
I literally was like, I'm not

114
00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,760
your guy, God, there's got to be
somebody else.

115
00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:06,440
And God's response was you're my
guy for testimonies.

116
00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:12,360
And I'm like, I'm not your guy.
There has to be somebody else.

117
00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:18,880
And on the third round of this,
he's like, you're my guy for

118
00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:23,520
testimonies.
And at that point, I relented.

119
00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:25,960
I mean, what other choice would
I have had anyway?

120
00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:29,440
But initially I told him, no,
I'm not your guy.

121
00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:31,600
And then I said, no, I'm not
your guy.

122
00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:35,320
There's got to be somebody else.
And then the third time, I'm

123
00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:41,799
like, OK, I have no idea what
this means, but I'll do it.

124
00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:48,360
And this all occurs through
prayer and conversation and

125
00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:51,520
spoken word out loud as prayer.
You know what?

126
00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:56,120
I'm on my means on this rooftop.
And I can specifically,

127
00:08:56,240 --> 00:09:02,560
specifically remember that the
song Waymaker was being played

128
00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:06,080
and I think it was the Leland
version of Waymaker.

129
00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:12,960
But that was on as I was having
this crazy, crazy, wild

130
00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:17,640
encounter with God where he says
you're my guy for testimonies.

131
00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:21,120
And I have what I felt like was
my Moses moment where I'm like,

132
00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:24,240
can't be me, It's got to be
somebody else.

133
00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:29,720
So as I mentioned at the end of
these breakout times, these

134
00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:33,400
individual times, we'd come back
together to debrief.

135
00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:37,320
And I'm thinking to myself, I
can't tell anybody about this

136
00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:43,160
because I don't want this to
seem prideful or arrogant that I

137
00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:50,520
just had this crazy, wild, fully
enveloping experience with God

138
00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:54,120
because there's no way anybody
else did.

139
00:09:54,960 --> 00:10:00,600
So we come back together in the
debrief and you know, Michael,

140
00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:05,560
who was leading at that point,
opens things up and basically,

141
00:10:05,560 --> 00:10:07,880
you know, ask for people to to
share.

142
00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:13,240
And I'm like, I'm definitely not
sharing about this and I'll just

143
00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:15,600
take a sit and wait kind of
approach.

144
00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:20,280
See how this goes basically.
So this woman, Bonnie, speaks up

145
00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:26,040
immediately and she starts
describing this absolutely mind

146
00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:31,720
bending, fully enveloped
experience that she had with God

147
00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,600
literally at the exact same time
that I'm having mine.

148
00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:39,000
And I know that this is
occurring because I knew her.

149
00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:42,800
I was at that point more than
acquaintances because we'd spent

150
00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,680
the last number of days doing
mission work together in a

151
00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:49,880
foreign land and I knew exactly
where she was, which was not

152
00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:52,520
that many feet or yards away
from me.

153
00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:57,120
And that at the exact same time
that I'm having, as mentioned,

154
00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:03,120
this enveloping face to face
encounter, she's having the same

155
00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:09,200
type of thing with God.
So she tells her story and it's

156
00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:12,520
amazing, and somebody else tells
their encounter and their

157
00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:16,480
amazing story.
And I didn't share that night

158
00:11:16,560 --> 00:11:23,240
what happened with me, but what
was crystal clear to me by the

159
00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:30,400
Holy Spirit really revealing it
was that God is so much bigger

160
00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:36,080
than I thought He was.
Because here I was experiencing

161
00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:41,200
this one to one exchange with
him where I was completely

162
00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:44,520
enveloped in Him and completely
consumed.

163
00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:51,520
And yet He was capable of having
that same type of experience

164
00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:55,920
with the not just me.
And I knew ultimately that that

165
00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:59,280
was occurring at the same time
based on the stories that the

166
00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:05,360
other folks were sharing.
So I agree and say, OK, I am

167
00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:07,880
going to move forward with
Testimonies.

168
00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:11,240
I have no idea what ultimately
this means.

169
00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:17,000
I came back from that Niger trip
and through prayer, it seemed as

170
00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:22,120
if I was supposed to spin up an
app, a Testimonies related app.

171
00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:26,920
And so I spun that up in a pilot
version and it really didn't

172
00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:31,040
take flight.
So lots of things were going on

173
00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:34,280
in that period of time.
This was now full blown COVID

174
00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:38,520
because we are now not February
of 2020, but we're March of

175
00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:41,400
2020.
And so while the app got stood

176
00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:44,600
up, nothing really happened with
that and it all kind of fizzled

177
00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:50,560
out in 2023.
The idea really re emerges in

178
00:12:50,560 --> 00:12:53,200
the form of a podcast.
And so I reached out to my

179
00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:57,960
sister because she was hosting a
live radio program at the time.

180
00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,720
And I said, why don't we both Co
host this?

181
00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:03,960
We can have a male perspective,
we can have a female

182
00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:06,040
perspective.
We'll interview folks.

183
00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:07,880
It'll be great.
And she said, yeah, let's

184
00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:11,240
explore it.
So we filmed a pilot episode.

185
00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:13,800
We got a sense for how this
might flow.

186
00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:18,360
And as she and I were having
many brainstorming conversations

187
00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:23,880
around this time, I am telling
her about the story that I

188
00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:28,880
dubbed 6052, which ultimately
ended up being episode 1 here

189
00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:32,640
for When You Look, which dropped
on April 7th, 2025.

190
00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:39,360
And she's telling me about this
other crazy story involving 2124

191
00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:44,360
and 2421, and that ultimately
became Episode 7.

192
00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:47,440
And we're having this
conversation.

193
00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:51,920
I'm emphatically sharing about
6:05 two, and she's emphatically

194
00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:58,040
sharing about 2421 and 2124.
And I said to her, I'm like, God

195
00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:04,200
is in all of these stories.
And she goes, yeah, when you

196
00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:09,480
look.
And that is exactly how the name

197
00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:13,400
was born.
Because at that moment I knew

198
00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:19,120
that's it.
So when you have a name and you

199
00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:22,080
want to go public with a name,
what do you do?

200
00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:25,680
You go to the Internet and you
try and find the domain name.

201
00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,920
And that's exactly what we did.
And whenyoulook.com and

202
00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,600
whenyoulook.org, we're all
taken.

203
00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:34,680
So we thought, OK, maybe we
could do when you look

204
00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:37,680
podcast.com.
Well, we didn't really like that

205
00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:41,560
idea.
And so ultimately in 2023, for

206
00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:47,360
many reasons, the wind falls out
of the sails and that was the

207
00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:54,160
end of the the whole thing.
But in 2025 it re emerges and I

208
00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:58,360
am writing some notes about how
can we more effectively

209
00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:01,360
communicate with the men at
church.

210
00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:04,960
And I wrote podcasts with a
question mark next to it.

211
00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:10,080
And my thinking was maybe we
need a podcast to create some

212
00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:12,720
engagement and communicate
effectively with the guys at

213
00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:15,880
church.
It's truly just literally an

214
00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:18,720
idea.
And at that moment, as I'm

215
00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:25,720
writing podcast, what then came
to mind was when you look and I

216
00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:32,640
immediately dismissed it because
as mentioned, whenyoulook.com

217
00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:35,040
and whenyoulook.org, we're not
available.

218
00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:40,200
So it really made no sense for
me to put any more thought into

219
00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:43,960
that.
But something prompted me and I

220
00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:46,880
thought, OK, well, I got a
little bit of time here to

221
00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:52,760
myself.
I'll ask ChatGPT for some other

222
00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:56,840
ideas.
So I asked Chat DPT, what are

223
00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:59,840
some other podcast names that
are kind of like when you look

224
00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:03,800
and it spit out ten of them and
I didn't like any of them.

225
00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:10,000
One of them seemed like remotely
interesting and I don't even

226
00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:15,440
remember what it was.
But I went then to godaddy.com

227
00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:20,240
and put in that particular
domain name and I don't even

228
00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:23,720
remember if it was available or
not because I didn't really even

229
00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:24,960
care.
I didn't really even like the

230
00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:26,920
name.
I was almost going through these

231
00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:33,520
actions for literally no reason,
but then at that point I'm like,

232
00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:36,720
well, I'm already here, meaning
I'm already on godaddy.com.

233
00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:41,520
I'll just check again to see if
when you look is available.

234
00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:47,600
So I type in whenyoulook.com and
I kid you not, it's available.

235
00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:52,840
And I'm like, man, that's weird.
So I type in whenyoulook.org and

236
00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:56,280
that's available.
And I'm like, this is crazy

237
00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:03,000
because this definitely wasn't
available in 2023 and as I had

238
00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:06,400
recalled, not only was it not
available, but there was

239
00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:10,640
actually a website for it.
Now my memory may or may not be

240
00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:14,760
correct on whether or not there
was a website, but for sure

241
00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:20,880
those domain names in 2023 were
not available and in early

242
00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:27,480
January of 2025 they were.
And then 5 minutes later they

243
00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,200
weren't because they were then
registered to me.

244
00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:33,920
The fact that the domain names
were available at that point in

245
00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:40,640
January of 2025 was green light
number one for the when you look

246
00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:44,440
show.
And at that point I'm like, man,

247
00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:47,960
OK, well this could be
something, this could actually

248
00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:50,160
be something.
So I should probably put

249
00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:54,080
together a bit of an overview,
bring this thing to life

250
00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:57,360
essentially.
So I created a one page document

251
00:17:57,360 --> 00:18:00,520
for it to really kind of sketch
out what it would look like.

252
00:18:01,360 --> 00:18:06,640
And I'd already had a lunch
scheduled with a buddy of mine

253
00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:10,000
named Justin.
And as we sat down to eat a

254
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,080
couple of days later after all
of this went down with the

255
00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:17,360
domain name and I began to put
this one pager together, we're

256
00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:19,640
kind of just chit chatting like
we normally would at the

257
00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:22,320
beginning of a, you know, lunch
conversation.

258
00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:25,800
And I said to him, I was like,
hey, starting this podcast.

259
00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:30,240
And here's an overview of it.
And so I handed him the one

260
00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:33,120
pager.
And the reason I did that was I

261
00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:35,520
was like, I'm not a guy with a
thing.

262
00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:39,160
And for me to sit down across
the table for my buddy and be

263
00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:42,200
like, yeah, I'm going to start a
podcast is probably something

264
00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,000
that he would have, or really
anybody that knew me would have

265
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:49,560
just literally laughed.
And so I gave him the one pager

266
00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:52,720
essentially just his evidence of
like, I'm really not kidding

267
00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,840
when I say this.
Like, this is not really pie in

268
00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,240
the sky.
I think I'm going to actually do

269
00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:00,000
this.
And I said to him, I was like,

270
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,200
OK, look, this is going to be a
video podcast.

271
00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:05,800
And dude, you know everything
there is to know about pretty

272
00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:08,720
much everything, especially in
the AV world.

273
00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:14,600
So save me 25 or 40 hours worth
of research and just tell me

274
00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:18,080
what I should buy.
So he starts in with he's like,

275
00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:20,400
OK, well, first thing is you're
going to need a microphone.

276
00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:23,800
And I'm like, OK, I, I, I know
that, Justin.

277
00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:27,000
OK, Like, I'm not, I'm not that.
I'm not that dense.

278
00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:29,120
And he's like, you're going to
need a camera.

279
00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:31,760
And I'm like, I got that one
too.

280
00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:34,480
You know what I mean?
And so we were laughing our way

281
00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:37,240
through this, but then he starts
rattling off all of these

282
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:41,040
specifics, and I am feverishly
taking notes.

283
00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:44,600
And so he starts telling me
about shore microphones and

284
00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:48,440
about DSLR cameras and the lens
that you're going to need and

285
00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:53,520
this, that and the other thing.
And then he stops and he looks

286
00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:59,840
at me and he goes, you know, I
have all of this.

287
00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:05,400
I'll bring it over next week.
We'll set it up together.

288
00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:08,640
You try it out.
You use it as long as you need

289
00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:13,440
it.
And I looked at him as he's

290
00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:18,680
saying this, and I knew at that
exact moment that that was Green

291
00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:24,480
light #2.
God was taking away any bit of

292
00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:31,040
initial financial expense to
start this, because cameras,

293
00:20:31,120 --> 00:20:34,880
mics, all of that are thousands
of dollars.

294
00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:37,960
And not that we didn't
necessarily have that, but that

295
00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:40,160
was going to be a conversation I
was going to have to have with

296
00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:43,680
my wife.
And he took all of that away.

297
00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:48,360
And so a week or so later,
Justin comes over, we set it all

298
00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:52,400
up and we have literally
everything that we needed from

299
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:57,000
the hardware in order to be able
to launch When You look.

300
00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:02,120
Which again was Green light #2
Now, when you look had always

301
00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:07,680
been at least in my plan to be
something that I did sort of off

302
00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:10,960
the side of my desk, meaning I
was fully employed in the

303
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:15,680
workforce.
I have a family, wife, 3 kids,

304
00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:19,040
life, house, all of that type of
stuff.

305
00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:23,560
And so while I was very intent
on glorifying God through the

306
00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:28,040
When you Look show, it was
always going to be sort of a on

307
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:32,600
the side type of thing for me at
least that was my plan.

308
00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:39,760
Well, God changed things with my
employment at the end of

309
00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:42,280
January.
And so I was going to be moving

310
00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:46,640
from one employer to another.
That totally blew up.

311
00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:52,800
And it was crystal to my wife
and I that ultimately this

312
00:21:53,000 --> 00:22:02,480
blowing up was God's plan.
And so we together agreed that I

313
00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:07,120
was going to step out of the
traditional workforce, at least

314
00:22:07,120 --> 00:22:11,120
temporarily, and leave the
organization that I was with

315
00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:16,800
because ultimately moving to the
new company, despite signed off,

316
00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:20,480
her letter blew up.
And it was just crystal clear to

317
00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,400
us that it was God who blew it
all up.

318
00:22:24,120 --> 00:22:27,640
So my plan was I was going to
move from employer A to employer

319
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:31,920
B, continue to do when you look
off the side of my desk.

320
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,480
And then it turns out that God
had a different plan.

321
00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:39,840
So on January 24th, which was
the last day of my employment

322
00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:43,360
with the company that I was
with, I called my buddy Joe,

323
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:47,280
told him the whole situation.
And he congratulates me of all

324
00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:49,880
things when I told him, hey, I'm
unemployed.

325
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:56,280
And he says let's do a three day
fast and see what God has in

326
00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:59,640
store for all of this.
I'm like, OK, cool, let's do it.

327
00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:04,200
So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of
the following week was the plan

328
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,720
for the three day fast.
And now because I was

329
00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,400
transitioning from one employer
to another, or at least that was

330
00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:12,800
my plan, and then all of that
blew up.

331
00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:15,920
And because I'm the breadwinner
in the family, I'm like, I'll

332
00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:19,720
work my contacts and
relationships and do everything

333
00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:23,040
that I can to try and secure new
employment.

334
00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:28,920
And so that Friday I'm working
on contacts and those types of

335
00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:30,640
things.
That Saturday.

336
00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:35,400
I did a bunch of reaching out
that Monday and that Tuesday.

337
00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:38,560
And so I've reached out to lots
and lots of people essentially

338
00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:41,520
just kind of beginning to get
feelers out there for new

339
00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:44,400
employment.
And so Wednesday morning, which

340
00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:48,960
is the beginning of day three of
this fast, my wife says to me

341
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:53,080
that morning, she says, hey, I
think you've done enough.

342
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,120
Meaning I don't think you need
to keep looking for work right

343
00:23:57,120 --> 00:24:01,360
now.
And transparently I gave her a

344
00:24:01,360 --> 00:24:07,160
look like, you're out of your
mind until I have a paycheck, I

345
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,280
haven't done enough.
So we talked about it a little

346
00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:12,360
bit.
And she's like, no, I think you

347
00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:13,680
have.
I mean, you've reached out to a

348
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:18,720
lot of people and you know, like
God's got this and I'm like,

349
00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:23,080
look, until I have a paycheck, I
haven't done enough.

350
00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:27,560
So there was a tiny bit of
tension here, 'cause she's like,

351
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:29,600
I don't think you have.
I'm like no way.

352
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,280
Like no way, no way, no way, no
way.

353
00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:37,640
So because we both knew that I
was in the midst of a three day

354
00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:41,040
fast that and and we had a
little bit of a rhythm at that

355
00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:44,360
point that like kind of like
after the morning family

356
00:24:44,360 --> 00:24:48,080
breakfast routine was done, that
I would go upstairs and I would

357
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:51,560
pray.
And so I said to her, I was

358
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,440
like, all right, I'll pray about
it.

359
00:24:55,880 --> 00:25:02,560
So I went upstairs and as I was
praying, God literally gives me

360
00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:07,960
three bullet points.
Sit and wait, complete

361
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:14,360
surrender, full trust.
And what was so crystal clear as

362
00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:20,400
it related to sit and wait meant
stop looking for work.

363
00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:25,240
And I mean it was crystal.
I knew exactly what he meant.

364
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:29,720
It was very clear with all of
this because ultimately during

365
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:33,400
that fast, he had been
incredibly responsive,

366
00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:38,320
incredibly available, and I was
getting all kinds of amazing

367
00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:44,640
answer to prayer and insight and
clarity from God during this

368
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:48,440
particular fast.
So the sit and wait was crystal

369
00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:51,000
clear.
Stop looking for work.

370
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:55,440
So later that morning after I'm
done praying, I end up going

371
00:25:55,440 --> 00:26:01,960
down back to my wife to say what
every guy loves to say.

372
00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,800
You were right, honey.
So I told her the story, explain

373
00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:12,840
how it all went down and God was
making it very clear that I was

374
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:19,080
to stop looking for work.
So I spent the next three or

375
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:25,400
four days squirming.
Squirming because I'm an action

376
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:29,280
oriented guy.
I'm supposed to, as far as I'm

377
00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:32,960
concerned, have a job.
I don't have one of those.

378
00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:37,720
And he's told me he being the
God of the universe has told me

379
00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:41,080
sit and wait, stop looking for
work.

380
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:46,880
And then after a couple of days,
I start asking him, OK, it's

381
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,280
been a couple days, can I start
looking for work now?

382
00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:54,440
It was sort of like me as a 5
year old being in time out.

383
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:57,000
It was like, OK, the five
minutes up, can I get up off the

384
00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:00,720
steps or can I get up out of the
time out chair, can I get out of

385
00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:04,680
time out, please and go back to
looking for work?

386
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:10,080
No response.
So I asked him, Probably went

387
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:14,240
down like every other day.
It was sort of like easing back

388
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:16,560
into this because he was crystal
clear, like stop looking for

389
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,240
work.
And then it kind of got to every

390
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,120
day and then it went back to
every other day.

391
00:27:22,120 --> 00:27:26,080
And at certain points I would
ask, can I start looking for

392
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,280
work now that closed end
question.

393
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,400
And then eventually I'm like,
OK, hmm, I haven't heard from

394
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:34,200
God.
I'm not getting any response

395
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,560
about any of this.
Maybe I'll ask it a different

396
00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:41,400
way.
So I asked and I was like, what

397
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:46,920
is your plan for me God, which
is totally just code for can I

398
00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:53,920
start looking for work again?
And after about 3 weeks, so this

399
00:27:53,920 --> 00:28:02,200
would now be late February,
during prayer, the Holy Spirit

400
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:09,720
said to me, quote, shut your
mouth and stop asking me about

401
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:15,360
this in prayer.
Sit and wait means sit and wait.

402
00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:24,840
End Quote.
Now that was amazing because

403
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:29,560
first and foremost, the God of
the universe was that crystal

404
00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:34,320
clear with me because that's
what I needed to hear.

405
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:39,080
Shut your mouth and stop asking
me about this in prayer.

406
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:44,920
Sit and wait means sit and wait.
And then it also became clear

407
00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:50,120
that I had basically been
disrespectful because I

408
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,040
continued to ask and continue to
ask.

409
00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:56,560
So I immediately repented,
immediately repented.

410
00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,640
And I thanked him for his mercy
in that he shared with me

411
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:06,200
exactly what I needed to hear.
And I was sorry and apologized

412
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:10,280
and repented and confessed.
Like I'm so sorry that I was

413
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:14,840
disrespectful with this and
thank you for the clarity that

414
00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:18,840
you've given.
And so from that point forward,

415
00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:24,720
I didn't ask him.
And every time I started talking

416
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:31,640
to people about when you look,
people that I fully expected

417
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:33,720
would have a response that would
kind of go like this.

418
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:37,760
That's cool.
You know, just completely

419
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:41,400
dismissive or even like you're
going to, you're going to do

420
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:44,320
what?
Every time I talk to people,

421
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:50,240
their response went like this.
I got a story for you.

422
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:54,040
Like without hesitation.
I mean, some of these people

423
00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:58,280
were acquaintances, like meaning
people that I barely knew,

424
00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:03,320
barely knew, having no idea any
of their back story, anything

425
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:06,080
along these lines.
And their response was, I got a

426
00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:09,120
story for you and I'm thinking,
OK great, fine.

427
00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:12,800
So I would say, well give me 10
seconds, like tell me your

428
00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:14,440
story.
What does this sound like?

429
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:20,120
And then 5 minutes later I'm
picking my jaw up off the floor

430
00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:24,600
because people have told me
these stories that are

431
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:31,200
absolutely mind blowing.
The blowing up of the new job,

432
00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:35,960
the additional clarity from God
of sit and wait, meaning stop

433
00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:40,160
looking for work.
And then sort of this knowing in

434
00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:43,600
that whole process that I want
you to work on when you look.

435
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:49,480
And then every time I talked
with people about the podcast,

436
00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:57,080
their response was I have a
story was a series of the third,

437
00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:04,640
the 4th, the 5th, and countless
more scenarios of green light,

438
00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:10,000
green light, green light.
So the podcast launched publicly

439
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:15,360
on April 7th, 2025.
We did a launch party on April

440
00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:20,800
11th, which was entirely God's
idea because I asked him, how do

441
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:23,880
you want this thing to, to, to
launch?

442
00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:25,800
How do you want this thing to
grow?

443
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:32,040
And he said launch party.
So we had the launch party and

444
00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:38,760
we now have well over a dozen
episodes that are public.

445
00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,840
We have so many more that have
already been recorded.

446
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:46,920
And the stories, friends, are
mind bending.

447
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:50,800
And the things that God has
planned, well, He hasn't

448
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:55,400
revealed them to me, but I know
for sure they're going to bring

449
00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:59,360
Him glory.
To that, my friends, is how When

450
00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:04,120
You Look came to be.
It's been crystal clear to me

451
00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:09,520
and my family that all of this
is exactly what God wants me to

452
00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:12,520
be doing.
And it is my intention to be

453
00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:17,040
obedient to Him and to do what
it is that He wants me to do.

454
00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:21,960
So thanks a bunch for listening.
I genuinely want you guys to

455
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:24,640
weigh in in the comments.
Tell me what you think about

456
00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:27,960
everything that you've heard.
It's a wild and crazy story.

457
00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:31,760
And man, there's so many
different additional details

458
00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:34,760
that I left out.
So weigh in in the comments and

459
00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:37,960
let me know what you think.
And then do me a favor and

460
00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:43,640
subscribe, share this, share
other episodes because these are

461
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:49,440
all stories for His glory.
Until next time, God bless.