Old Man/New Man Podcast - Michael Braddock & Stephen Canup

It's time to put off the old man, which is corrupt, and to put on the new man, which is created in righteousness and true holiness. It's the Old Man, New Man podcast with host, Stephen Canup. Well, thanks for tuning in. Welcome back to the Old Man, New Man podcast. I'm Stephen Canup, this is my friend, Michael Braddock. We're gonna hear from him here in a few minutes, have a good conversation. The Bible says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, that's my old self, and all things have become new. And if you've given your heart to Jesus, something like this transition is in process, even in your life. And I tell people all the time that even though that's a pretty dramatic outward change, the inside change is much more dramatic even than that outer change. So, God is good all the time, and He's the only one that could change me, and if He can change me, and if He can change Michael. He can change me, He can change all of us. He can change all of us, that's right. All it takes is a little, a lot of submission. That's right. That's right, a lot of power from the Holy Spirit. Amen, amen. Amen, yeah.

So, we're just gonna have a conversation today about Michael. Michael, so you've been to prison. Yes, I've been to prison a few times. Five times, you told me? I've been locked up five times, but I've been to state prison once, and I've been to federal prison three times. Okay. Yeah. All right, so. So, the second time in the, well, the first time in the state, it wasn't actual prison, it was like a safe pee. Yeah. I was 21. Court-ordered. Court-ordered safe pee, I did nine months. Yeah. Yeah, so. I'm familiar with the facility in Lubbock. It's the Lubbock County Court Residential Treatment Facility. That was the first place I was locked up when I was 19. Lubbock County Corrections Facility. Lubbock County Corrections. Yeah, it was no less than 30 days and no more than two years. I did 13 months.

Oh, did you? Yeah. Okay, well, let's start. What was your family life? What was your growing up? How did things progress up until about the time where you went in? Steven, I had a great childhood, and I had a great family. I was raised in the church. I was, well, I'm non-denominational now, but my family, my dad, my mom, we went to the First Assembly of God in Leveland. Okay, Leveland, Texas. Leveland, Texas. It's where I'm located now. Yes, sir, me too. It was a Pentecostal church, and like I said, everything was great. We were growing up, good family, and I was in sports, basketball. Baseball, my dad was my coach. Were you a shortstop? What was your position? I was a pitcher. I was a left-handed pitcher. My dad was a lefty too. Okay. He had built a little mound in the backyard, and he'd always get out there.

I remember him telling me, hey, throw me some heat. I was eight years old and a left-handed pitcher. Well, I thought I was throwing fast, but it was probably only like 40 miles an hour, but I did good. I mean, like I said, my childhood was awesome. A lot of people don't even have a chance to ever play catch with their dad and stuff. No, they don't. But I know there was a point in there where things began to be a little bit more challenging for you. Right. I mean, the night that I was nine years old, still remember it clearly to this day that my dad come walking into the bedroom and was hurting real bad in the center of his stomach, and he was leaning over, telling my mom, we gotta go to the hospital. We gotta go to the hospital. Mind you, he was only 36 years old. 36? 36. And let me back up a little bit. So like I said, I was raised in a church-going family. What I knew about God at that time was love. Yes. So I just wanna make it clear real quick. I only understood God as being love.

So the night my mom took him to the hospital, and I went to my cousin's house, and I just had an awful dread on me that night. I just felt, I kinda knew that I was going home. My dad wasn't gonna be there. Really? Yeah, and whenever, it was about 11.30 p.m., my uncle, my mom's brother, loaded me up, and took me home. I walked in the door, and my mom's sittin' on the couch, crying. And she told me, she goes, Michael, I said, where's dad? And she goes, he went to go home to be with the angels. Man. Man. And how old were you? I was nine. Oh, wow. Yeah, I was. What a shock. It was a shock. I mean, it devastated me. I was okay with it at first. You know, I was like, okay. But where it got bad is- How do you even process? How does a young- Yeah, a nine-year-old, man, yeah. I'm sorry.

So when I went back to school a week later, you know, where my sadness turned into- Anger was when I'd hear all the other kids talk about their dad. Yeah what they was doing with their dad and it would just bring back memories of What my dad would do with me, right? and said that um That sadness turned in anger real quick Were you angry with God angry with God all that anger? I'll come at that a little bit Oh, I did and that well, I'm gonna get into the whole the whole story about it. You know as a um Throughout the years, you know, like I said, I would uh, I'll be getting in fights at school you know, I would just like pick a fight with anybody that was started talking about their dad and really and My hated being called the B word, you know, like I think it's meant to even mention it a bastard in the Bible Yeah, I hate it. It's an illegitimate. It's an illegitimate child. It is and but you weren't able to I wasn't illegitimate No I hated that word anyway Cuz I got in a fight and got suspended from school from a kid calling me a bastard really And then it turned as time progressed in in the in the fifth grade. I would sit there And I and I know I was under spiritual attack just from the depression the anger the sadness. I started self mutilating Oh, I would take the eraser from the school and I just Wow erase the skin off my arms Hmm, and they would call me in the counselor would call me in to come talk to me Right and asked me if everything was gonna be is everything. Okay, and the whole time I'll be writing my dad's name on the desk and she never once looked and what I was doing with my hand Oh, she's only just looking at me and I would just lie to him and smile. So yeah, I'm okay But I wasn't I was on the outside. I put on a show but on the inside I was dead Yeah, I was dead and you know, it's still a note to this day, you know, I miss my dad because where it turned into Hatred towards God was cuz I started questioning my mom and everything. I was all how could a God of love take away

Let my dad die when he was supposed to teach me. Yeah how to be a man. I mean, were you the oldest child? No, I was um, it's just me and my brother. Yeah, my brother was 14. Yeah. Yeah, so so you were questioning your mom with that and how would how would she respond to that? That's a hard question Didn't have no. Um, I mean who has an answer for that just God knows, you know Only only God knows and maybe one day you'll have the chance to ask him, you know, and that's for a nine-year-old That's really hard. Uh, sure, you know to accept but My mom's I just want you to be okay. Are you okay? But I was watching my mom cry and the whole family Suffer and I was like man, how how could God be a God of love? Mm-hmm and as like I said, I'm here did I and when I was sharing at the prison when I told them guys about the little Creature remember what did you remember that a little bit about? Oh, I was 11 years old and I was getting ready to go Cruise the drag in leveling, you know, there's nothing else to do But you go to the Sonic and back down to the car wash. I bet some of you turn around Yeah, I bet some of you can identify with small-town USA small town. Yeah level and Texas only 13,000 people. Yeah. So what do you do? You decide you were fixing to go? Yeah, we was gonna it was summer And I remember it distinctively. I never left my mind. I was uh, I was 12 years old 12 I wasn't like I was 12 and I was walking out Fixed to get in the truck and a mosquito landed right here and I was getting ready to kill it and it just fell over Dead. I was like, hmm. Hmm. That's weird. Yeah, it wasn't until 28 years later that I've got the revelation on what that was. Oh, yeah, you're gonna get to that. I'm gonna get to that Okay, so be sure you stay tuned. Yeah, I'll get to that. That is a that is it wasn't until this last prison I remember now Years old I heard that. Yeah, I was 40 years old and I'll get to it. But anyway from After you know as time goes by, you know, I mean the pain and the sadness It was there but there was more hatred and bitterness and yeah got in my first time I got drunk I was 12 years old Wow got drunk and then Smoked weed for the first time when I was 14 You know, I did cocaine when I was 16

Put a needle in my arm when I was 18 and that was methamphetamine And that was my drug of choice from the time. I was 18 all the way till I was 40 Yeah strung out on methamphetamine, you know, and in in my 20s And in and like I said through the years and after my mom got with a guy named I don't want to his name's Ricky I won't say his last name. No just for privacy sake though, but man that was the awfulest person That she could have got with you know, it just after losing my dad then she got with him How were you then I was 12 12 and they didn't turn in 13 and man So like he came to live there they were living together yeah, he came to live at the house like a stepfather He was he was my you know, my There was times that he was okay, but yeah, every time he got drunk or whatever, man, he'd beat my mom be here, I mean Cops have been called to our house so many times, you know for for them fighting and then yeah I've seen her stab him Then there's not there be food all over the walls blood all over the walls and I'd have to you know sit there and help clean it up and just the stuff that I a lot of you know, a lot of people Have really traumatic Situations at home that they were faced with when they were young and it It affects you now. I have to say I did not have that but I know a lot of people have right and so I mean Just back to the anger and the hatred and stuff like that. So what I started new, you know drugs it Turned me how I had a criminal mindset, you know I Learned you know, I learned how to cook methamphetamine and then from there it progressed a counterfeit money, you know Everything that I was doing though was not directed toward anybody but God You know in Romans 1 it talks about being turned over to a reprobate in mind. Yeah, and That's exactly what was going on with me. And this is crazy and some of you probably can relate Either you're consciously doing or unconsciously doing it, but my pain and my anger and I figured through my actions My stupid actions that I could punish God the way I acted. Yes for losing my my father

Yes, you know what? I mean? I said, okay, you know if you're really my true father, you know what I'm gonna punish you I'm gonna hurt your feelings. Mm-hmm for acting like this Wow. Yeah, so I had no respect for no authority No Romans 13, you know, all authority is given unto man is by God You know what? I mean? So if it had anything to do with authority figures or anything like that I was disrespecting you weren't going I was only I was I had a had a mission. I was like, yeah punish God. Yeah Wow Yeah Everything like I said everything I'm sure you're not the only one. Oh, I'm sure I'm not I'm sure a lot of you you guys you women can relate to that You know, I mean either you're consciously doing or unconsciously doing but if you're carrying around Unresolved pain and hurt, you know a lot of us I did I'll speak for myself. I directed it toward God You know, let me ask you a question. This is a little bit off. So I want to get back to To this right here, but a while ago you said meth was your drug of choice It was and I've heard people say that before I've even said it I suppose before but I Wonder do we actually we chose it at first but then from there on it chooses us It's almost like it's almost like I don't want to keep doing it But it's like I have to do it or I I don't want to put it down or it's the only thing that makes me forget You know, how did that work out for you? Well, I've never been diagnosed with ADHD or ADD, but I here's the thing. I know as soon as I didn't like methamphetamine Yeah, it was just my mind wasn't bouncing all off the walls. Even my mom. No, I could Nobody nobody. Yeah, it calmed me down. Oh, really? It wasn't having me bouncing off the walls and doing stuff like that a lot of times. It's the opposite. I was focused Oh, really? Yeah, I was just I was focused on the wrong thing. I was focused on criminal behavior I never did how I could perfect this counterfeit money. You know, it says in God we trust. Okay, okay, you know Just the whole anger. So you were really into counterfeiting. Oh, yeah I've been to federal prison twice for it for that for the once the the first time I got 37 months and then I went back on a violation for a dirty UA and then the second time See the the feds they'll send it you off a guideline chart and only had a possession of it though I didn't have a printer or nothing like that the first time but I had

72 uncut sheets when I got pulled over and then like just I don't know if you're not familiar with the feds But maybe some of you guys are though. They they might be They send it you off a guideline charge. You got a your level of fence level falls over here Then your criminal history is on top. Yeah, and so my guidelines are only carried 18 months in the judge's. Oh, no, no, no No He goes on the second time for the this last time last that when I went down when I was 40 He goes no. No 18 months is not enough. I'm giving you 42 months. Oh, well, but I just looked at it you know now that I'm when I got serious with the Lord and when I'll get to that, you know is a Whatever time you get and this is for you guys take it as that's the time that the Lord can use to rid you of The world to prepare you for the world not to be a part of the world Oh, I like you have ears to hear you'll you'll understand what I mean by that. It's good because it's the time Say again what the time to rid you of the world to prepare you for the The world not to be a part of the world, even though you're a part of the world, but you know what I mean? Not the lifestyle. So if we look at our time in the right way, it can be used for good, for good, for God, right. Is what you're saying. But though all the other prison sentences I had, though, I had no intention that I was getting, I knew what I was going to get right back out and do the same old thing. Maybe I can perfect this money better, you know, maybe I can, you know, you couldn't, you couldn't buy the pills no more to you can, but you have to show your ID and stuff like that. So I just moved on from trying to cook methamphetamine to I'm a perfect this counterfeit money. And so, and I was like the whole time in prison, just talking to the other guys, it's been in there, you know, just finding out new ways on how to be more manipulative, more criminal. So I won't get caught. But there's one thing about it though.

He sees and he'll shut you down. If he has a plan for your life, come on. He will shut you down. Shut you down. Thank God. He shut me down. Yeah. Oh, I had it. So go on with your story. How did that, how did all that happen? So like through all the years, through my twenties, my mom would always tell me, Michael, let's go to church. And I went with her a few times, but I would just sit there like, whatever. Right. I was still mad. You were just appeasing her and you're still mad at God, you know, just a piece. Well, I think a lot of people can relate to that. Yeah. I mean, you just go on with the flow, trying to, trying to please others, but where the real change comes is when you get serious with yourself and with God, when God, it takes a broken person. And I was broken this last time I went down. Now, why, why were you more broken that time? Just cause you were older or what? Because you know, just. You were sick and tired of being sick and tired. Before I got put right after, um, I got busted, I bonded out and I was just, it was just a matter of time for the feds came and picked me up. I remember I was strung out that day. I just left my mom's house and she, I just, the look on her face, she goes, Michael, when is it ever going to stop? When's it ever going to end? And it broke my heart looking at her, you know, she cried, she was crying and I left that day and I got right down from the stop sign from where I live at. And I just broke down and started crying. I said, Lord, I know you're real. I do. I know you're real. I know none of this happened by chance. You know, um, what a Psalms 19 say the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament, his handiwork. I said, please do something with my life.

If you have a plan for my life, shut me down, do whatever you got to do with me. The next day I was arrested. Wow. But you, you spoke that from your heart, crying. You had a conversation with God from your heart. That's what it really boils down to. So often anybody that's listening. Yeah. Cause you know, we finally, if we, when we finally come to the point that we have a real conversation with God from our heart, that's, it's like, it's like God says, okay, now I can, I can work with you now, you know, because you're ready to work with him. Right. So, so they arrested you the next day? Yeah. I got arrested the next day. I got arrested the next day. And you know, and my mom was a praying woman. She never stopped praying for me. And I'm so thankful for that. I still have her right now. She's 70 years old and I still have her. Yeah. She's, she's a blessing. She's a, she's a firecracker. She's a little short redheaded woman. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But she, she's been such a true blessing. She, she never gave up on me. And if any of you have family that don't give up on you, come in, love them, cherish them, you know, almost, almost everybody has somebody praying for you. And even if you don't think you have somebody praying for you, I bet you do. I bet God appointed someone and you just don't know who they are yet. But I remember my mom prayed for me a long time. My brother, well, all my family prayed for me, I'm sure. But, uh, my brother Rick, uh, who had been serving the Lord the longest, I think, he had prayed for me a long time before I got saved and I was 57. So it took me longer to wake up really than, than it even did you. So, so you get arrested, uh, this, this you're talking about the last time and you were about 40 then. I was 40. I was 39 just turning 40. Yeah.

Got arrested and went to the Lubbock County jail. That's where, you know, the, if you got a federal charge, they, they don't, you don't go to these small towns. You go to a bigger detention center. And then from there, the, uh, the Lubbock stopped being a federal holdover. Then you go to like, uh, where's it at? I can't remember where, where they sent me, but it was a smaller jail. It was kind of like the Hockley County jail. It was real small. Yeah. It wasn't to Hoka. Well, it doesn't, it doesn't matter. I don't, but anyway, I mean, that's where I got one of those. little handheld Bibles. The little Gideon Bibles? Yeah, the little Gideons. And I started skimming through. I really didn't understand what I was reading. I started in Matthew. Yeah. You know, you're gonna be spiritually, as long as you're serving Satan, doing the things of the world, you're gonna be spiritually blind to God's word. Amen. So when you went in with a little bit a different heart change, though, this time. I did. And when you picked up that Bible, did it make more sense to you this time? What did you find? Here's where they were in it. If you want me to go ahead and get into the whole,

the little creed, the mosquito thing. I just want you to tell your story. But I don't, I'm probably interrupting you. No, no, you're fine. It wasn't until, let's see, I got a 42 month sentence and I was still like on the fence with it. I'd read a little bit. I was going to church, you know. Part of me still had ties to the world. Like, man, I think I can get this money thing figured out where I can actually, really, this is what I was thinking, that I could actually print enough money to burn off and go somewhere where I could just. Right. Because I was spending, I was taking it in Lubbock, cashing it in on these little gift cards. You know, just not to give glory or anything like that. But, you know, I had it. We always think we won't get caught. Oh, yeah. We always think we won't get caught next time. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. And I kind of had reservations in my mind to be like, you got it pretty much perfected now. So you were kind of on the fence in county. You were still on the fence kind of with God? In the feds, in prison. Already in feds.

I was at Fort Worth, Fort Worth this time. The last time, the first time I was in Segalville, the second time I was in El Reno. And this last time I went to Fort Worth. And so, you were kind of open to God, but you were still kind of one foot in the world, one foot. Yeah, one foot in the world. Describe that, what was going on there? Because there is a point, and I want you to get to that, but leading up to what was happening before you finally got real with God? Okay. And what did that tell you? Called home and talked with mom, and I could hear something in her voice. And I said, tell me what's wrong. She goes, I got breast cancer. Wow. Boy, right there, it broke me right there. And so, after we got off the phone, I just walked over to the bookshelf, I was crying, and I just grabbed a random spiritually book, and I started reading it. Halfway through it, the guy that wrote the book, he says, this is how I know God's calling was on my life. The same thing that happened with me with the mosquito happened with him. What? He says, yeah. He says, when he was younger, he said,

this is how I know God's calling was on my life. A mosquito landed on the same arm, right arm, and he got ready to slap it, but it fell over dead. I was like, man, that happened to me. The exact same thing. The exact same thing. And you're reading this in this book. And I was like, Lord, I said, show me what I've done. Where am I going wrong? I know I do this, I did that though, and it was all towards you. And then he started showing me all my sins, all the hurt that I've created, everybody that I've hurt, him, how I've just left him high and dry. You know what I mean? I have. I was, and then I went to the pastor at the prison. I asked him, I wanted to be baptized and give myself to the Lord. So the Lord allowed the Holy Spirit to bring back to your mind things, basically to repent of. Everything that I've done. Yes. To repent. So it was a spirit of repentance that he granted you. The Bible says that he grants us a spirit of repentance so that we can repent. Right. And so that's basically, your heart was to repent.

It was. To God. It was, and it was all, you know, in tears, you know, with the pastor. First, you know, he led me to Christ. I was crying. I asked him in my heart, I was broken. And that's what, God can work with somebody broken because he's the potter and we're the clay. Amen. And so the way I look at all this time that I was out, you know, I always questioned why I didn't die. There'd been times that I put myself in some sketchy situations. A lot of us have, man. Where I should have passed away. Speaking of that, I forgot about this. When I was 18 years old, my 18th birthday, my brother had come pick me up and say, hey, let's go have a beer. It was him. My brother was a driller on a drilling rig. They just got off Morning Tire and this was like 8.30, nine o'clock in the morning. And they already had beer in the truck. I guess, you know, when you're working Morning Tire, you know, on a rig, you can have your beer, but he already had two cases of beer. And then something told me, don't drink that much. I had to drink one beer.

So we drove to White River. I don't know if any of y'all have ever been to White River, but it has kind of like- canyon walls, and my brother had an old Jeep Cherokee. My brother's already buzzed up, he worked on that long, and then he was just downing them. So he starts hauling butt, and you're only supposed to go 30 miles an hour. I remember looking at the speedometer, he was going 60 and coming up around this curve. And all I did was hold on like this, and next thing I know, we're back on four wheels. My brother's leaned over here, the guy that was sitting behind me's in the back, the dirt man was outside on the dirt. I was the only one that didn't get hurt out of that. And I was like, how, I should have. So y'all had a wreck? Had a wreck. Oh, wow. My brother hit a canyon wall going 60 miles an hour. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. 60 miles an hour. Did they live, were they okay? Yeah, they were lonely, yeah. They had to call the ambulance, and I got to ride in the ambulance, but my mom had us up there. Yeah, that's a good example of how,

even when we're not serving God, sometimes I think God knows the plan He has for us, and sometimes I think He has guardian angels that protect us even when we're not even serving God. He does. What is it, Jeremiah 29? For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for your life, the thoughts for a future and a hope. I believe that. Amen. That's true with me and my lifestyle, and I'm just so grateful that the Lord never struck me down because before I went back to prison, in my arrogance, I'd rigged up a shot of dope, just mad at the world, mad at Him, and I said, here, this is for you, and stuck it in my arm and did it. I was blessed. To try to OD me. Just to make Him, to hurt Him, just because I was still carrying around that pain. My dad's been gone, I'm 46, and he died when I was nine, so that's 37 years. 37 years. I carried that pain around for a long time. So you got baptized. I got baptized. You came to the end of yourself, like the prodigal son. I was the prodigal son. And you came back to God.

You turned around, so take just a few minutes and describe what was that like the rest of your time in prison, and I want to get to what's life been like since you got out? Man, it was the best, Stephen, it was the best feeling I ever did. After I came up out of that water and gave my life to the Lord, the Scripture opened up to me. I could understand it. And that's the one thing about the Lord. When you're serious, and you're broken, and you give your life to Him, if you don't understand the Word, when you surrender, He'll give you that spiritual understanding and that discernment, because that's what you're crying for. That's right, it comes from the Holy Spirit coming to live in you, right? That's right, that's right. And so the last year and a half of prison was good. It was great, I was free finally. Yes, free even while you were still locked up. Even in there, the thoughts of the reservations that returning back to that lifestyle, they left. That was all the enemy planting those seeds in my head. Oh, you're good at that, keep on doing it. Like you're, I was saying, that's the wall of shame right there, right?

I had my wall of shame too, you know? So you decided you weren't going back to your old way of life even while you were locked up, after you gave your heart to Jesus? After I gave my heart to the Lord. You made a decision, is I'm gonna do it your way, God? Is that what happened? That was it, I said, Lord, like Romans 12, what does it say? Do not be conformed to the things of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That's right. It's a daily thing, especially out here in the world. You know, prison, you got your, you know, you know how prison is, you're there right now, you know how it is, you know? You got your temptations in there, you can get involved in drugs, you're gambling, whatever. I stayed away from all that. Yeah, what? I stayed away from the tickets, the football, the, you know, I stayed away from everything. I surrounded myself with guys that were in the word around other believers that wanted to make a change. Yeah. So what else? And I got ridiculed. Yeah. I got ridiculed for it, you know? Of course, you're gonna get ridiculed.

Oh, you're just doing that because you're in here, oh, now you're a, you know. Bible thumper. Not a holy roller. Holy roller, yeah. By no means, I'm not a holy roller, but I believe that word. Yeah. Because that word has power. Amen. Because it's changed me, and I've been out, I got out October 26 of 22. Okay. And this has been the, I'm almost been out three years. It's been the best three years of my life, you know? Since then, I've gotten my CDL. Really? Now, how did you get your CDL? That's what I was gonna say. If anybody's interested in getting your CDL, if you're from Texas, if you get out, you can go to the Texas Workforce Center. It's called the WIOA program, but the only things they'll require is that you gotta have a valid driver's license, social security card, your original birth certificate, and you'd had to be registered with Selective Services. And if you're working a job, you have to be low-income. Because when I went to the halfway house,

I was working at the Embassy Suites. I was doing laundry. It didn't matter to me. I didn't care. You just wanted a job. Man, I had peace. It didn't matter what I did. Normally, I've been in the oil field all my life on drilling rigs. And so, I didn't care. It wasn't beneath me because of... So, a lot of states, of course, this will be broadcast over in different states, but I bet a lot of states have similar programs. Similar programs. So, they helped you get your... They paid for my CV. Did they pay for your school? They paid for it. It's a $6,000 school. But what they did was, I didn't look into it until I was getting close to getting out of the halfway house because I was on a leg monitor on home confinement. I'd get to go back and forth to work. So, the last month, I started looking into getting my CDL. I'd already studied up for it previously. And I'd had my permit in the past, but I was still drugging and stuff like that.

And I never got around to go taking my road test or anything like that, which I wouldn't have passed it anyway. My mind was so clouded with dope. Yeah. Previous times. Yeah, previous times. I had my permit in 2016. Oh, okay, your permit. But I got locked back up before I could ever do the road test because I failed two UAs and my probation officer sent me back. Yeah. So, you were able to get your CDL. But that's the last thing I was going to say. If you go through the Texas workforce and you're working a low-income job, they're going to require the last six months of your pay stubs to make sure that you're low-income. Right. And if you work a job that's paying $16 an hour and above, they're not going to pay for it. Pretty much $13 is the cutoff where you're low-income. And I prayed about it and it was a great thing. This is why I think that the Lord allowed it to happen because I've gotten so much closer to the Lord out there on the road. Oh, really? I'm out there by myself.

I listen to sermons. So, you're driving over the road now. Driving over the road. Well, did it take you long once you had your CDL? Did you get a job right off the bat? Not right off the bat. It took two months and it was from a friend of mine. Her name was Jessica. So, you got to be persistent. She was already driving with her son and he was getting ready to go out by himself. And it was just a blessing that she was having trouble backing. She goes, Michael, I need you to come out here with me because I need you to back. So, you were team driving? Team driving for, we team drove together for four months and then she left and got a local job. And then I was out there all by myself. Okay. Yeah. Praise God. I got on October 15th of 23. Yeah. Yeah. And now you're doing that full time? Full time. Amen. I stay gone like 30 days at a time. Yeah.

Yeah, it's a blessing. But like I said, that's where I've gotten closer to the Lord. Well, now there's a lot of temptation on the road. There is. Oh, yeah. So, how do you handle that? And, you know, there's temptation everywhere. I know, talk about the oil field. There's lots of temptation in the oil field, but there's temptation everywhere you go. Every job you ever get, you've got to learn how to say no. Right. To the enemy. You do. While you're locked up. Yep. So that it continues. So, you were talking about, you know, running tickets or whatever, you know. Just doing what you're doing. Doing drugs in prison. Like doing what's up in prison. You know, here's the thing, we got to learn to say no in there. Yeah. And if we're really going to serve the Lord, we need to start serving the Lord in there and not expect, well, I'll do this until I get out

and then I'll straighten up. No, that's not going to work. Because the enemy, the temptation is going to be there. It is. And if you're not already in the habit of wanting to please God, right? Right. Then, you know, it's more likely that you're going to fall. So, you're under temptation. I mean, temptations are everywhere. How do you, how has the Lord taught you to, you know, when temptations come or resist temptations or what do you do with your time? You're out there by yourself a lot. I've only had one guy come up to me and ask me if I wanted to smoke a joint with him. And I told him no. I said, I've given my life to the Lord. I've been to prison, man. I said, that's not the way to go. And I kind of shared a little bit of my testimony with him. And he apologized. He goes, man, I'm sorry. I should have never asked you that. Because I told him about my life, that I was strung out on drugs and stuff like that. Gave you a good chance to tell him. Yeah, it did. And I just, you know, it wasn't that long. It was probably like three or four minutes, you know.

And I told him what it did to my life, you know. I told him, alcohol and weed lead me to. doing other things, it always leaves me to putting a needle back in my arm, and he apologized, and then I've had one girl that was out there trying to, you know, get in the truck with me, and I told her no, and I tried to talk to her about the Lord, she wasn't trying to hear that, she burned off, you know, she wasn't trying to hear it, she went on to the next truck. So I've only had two temptations since I've been out there, but the best thing to do is just hurry up and tackle it right off the bat, don't give room for the enemy, because the enemy's going to use your weaknesses against you, and he already knows what they are, you best believe that, and don't trust your heart, because the Lord tells you in Jeremiah 17, nine, that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Don't think that you always think that your heart's in the right place, you better submit, run to the Lord, right then. You know, I can tell you've learned a lot of scripture. Oh, yes sir. Do you work, what do you do to, what do you do on the road to keep yourself in the Word, or keep yourself positive, because I know the enemy can put,

he can put thoughts in our mind and say, you know, no one would know, I could go over here and check this out, or for me it was porn, you know, I could stop in this triple X thing, no one would know, you know, that's the way the enemy works and stuff, but you've got to be proactive, knowing that occasionally some kind of thoughts like that are going to pop in your head. Oh, of course, it's human nature, you know what I mean? We're, here's the way I look about sinning, you know, what I'm, I think the only time we're not really prone to sin is when we're asleep. Right. And maybe even then, our dreams, we're probably sinning, doing something stupid, so. We've got to be on our guard, don't we, yeah. Yeah, of course, you know, a temptation has, came in my mind, you know what I mean, I just. But what's your routine on the road to help you stay positive and stay in God's direction as opposed to the world? Soon as I, usually I'll get loaded up in the morning around nine, 9.30, if I have to tarp, I get it tarped, and as soon as I get out of traffic, man, I got like a 2,300 mile drive ahead of me, four day run. Yeah. And you get on that open road, like I said, I listen to a lot of Billy Graham sermons. Do you? A lot of Perry Stone.

Yeah. Francis Chan. Yeah, I like Francis Chan. I listen to them, and then the times where there's not much traffic in front of me, I have a, where I can put my phone right there and I can read the Bible from my phone, just read as I go, just a little bit at a time, you know. Right, right. So yeah, I have, I focus on scripture. You must, now do you, do you intentionally try to memorize a few verses, or? I do. How do you do that? I do, I can try to spit all Roman six out to you right now. Well, I don't think we, we're not gonna take time for that. Okay, yeah, I pretty much, the Lord says I'll write. I like to memorize scripture, that's why I asked about it. I think it's important. Right, you know, because Philippians, what does Philippians 1.6 says? That he who has begun a good work in you, the Holy Spirit, will continue to do it until the day of Jesus Christ. Amen. Philippians 1.6. Yeah. Well, yeah, I can tell, and because I've heard your testimony in prison, he's gone with us

two or three times, haven't you, in the prisons? Two times. Yeah. And so, I knew that you are, you know a lot of scripture. Yes. And, you know, that's part of, you said that, you know, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I believe it's the Word of God that we apply to our lives, and we begin to meditate on the Word, and that that Word just becomes part of us. That's right, I mean, when the enemy comes, and you don't have no scripture to back it up, you're gonna lose the war, at least him. Yeah. The way, from my personal experience, I have to battle it with, you know, scripture, because that's what the Lord left us, is his Word. And that's what Jesus did when he came out of the wilderness. He used, to each of those three temptations that we're told about, he used a specific, a scripture specific to that temptation, he used that to counter the enemy, to counter the devil. Right. And what you're saying is that we need to know ahead of time if we have a weakness in whatever area, you know where your weaknesses are, that the enemy knows where your weaknesses are. Sure does.

We need to have a verse that when that temptation comes, that we, the Bible says submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. So, to me, if I have a temptation, and I have a verse, and I'm out of my mouth, it's like, I've made a, say I'm tempted with lust, I've made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully upon a woman. That's Job 31.1. And as I'm, and I need to hear, even if it's a whisper, you know, sometimes you need to preach to yourself. And as I'm submitting to God, the enemy hears that, and it's like, oh man, he is submitting to God. And when you submit to God, you are resisting the enemy, and he does have to flee. He does. But if you don't submit to God, just resisting the devil, he's not required to flee. Right. It says, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. Draw near to God, and he'll draw near to you. Right. You know, one of the most baffling scriptures that I really, that blew my mind, is like, you know, we all got to have a job. You know, we do. We got to have a job, support our families, you know, to make it out here. But the Lord Jesus in Matthew 6, 33, he told us, he never told his disciples, go seek ye first a job application here or there. No, he says, first seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all the other things will be added unto you. Yes. It will.

Yes. So. That's what you're learning. That's what you're living out. Yes. And I know me, and I don't know about any of you, but I am my own worst enemy. Not the spiritual forces around me, because, you know, the day we have to stand before God, we can't blame it on the demons or blame it on Satan. That's right. He's going to say, you're the one that made the choice. You can't say, oh, well, he, no, you're the ones that are going to be held responsible and accountable for it. Amen. I am. Amen. That's right. The whole time I was out ripping and running from the time I was 18 to 40, I was my own worst enemy. Yeah. I think that's true for a lot of us. Nobody or anybody around me that either told on me or, that was my, I still put myself there. It's my fault. That's right. And it's important that we come to that conclusion, because a lot of times we're trying to blame others and everything else. So that's part, I think, the first part of coming to God is to accept responsibility for our actions, for our decisions. So as we get ready to close this up, is there anything you've left out of your testimony that you think you need to throw in here at the end?

Or is there any advice maybe that you can give the men or women that are maybe watching this right now? Yeah. If you're, if you're kind of, I hear a lot of people say, oh, Jesus isn't God or anything like that. Let me tell you something. Jesus is God. And there are times that he says, I am, you know, how, how he told Moses, you go tell Pharaoh, you tell him I am sent you, Jesus says, I am the bread of life. I am a lot of the world. I am a, what else? I am, let's see, I'm the bread of life, a lot of the world, resurrection in the life, the door of the sheep, the good shepherd. I am the way, the truth and the life. And I am a true vine. Amen. You know, that's, that's in John, it's spread out through the whole gospel of John. And just on a serious note from me, I've spent 10 years off and on my life in prison. And I don't, I'm not trying to be rude when I say this, but if you got any reservations of getting out and doing the same thing, thinking you're going to cheat this person or manipulate, found a better way to do it, you know, the best thing to do is just write a letter to the parole board and tell them to keep you there until you're ready to get serious. Until you're serious, until you're broken, the Lord won't be able to work with you. You're going to keep repeating the same thing over and over again. And one of the best things that I did for myself, and it probably sounds crazy is I had to forgive the Lord for the death of my father, even though I didn't understand at that time, death is a part of life. My dad just left early, you know, forgive yourself, forgive the Lord. Get on your feet, man, and you're going to struggle. Don't be afraid to take chances, as long as they're the right chances.

You know, you're going to fall down, you're going to make mistakes. Get up, dust yourself off, keep moving forward. Repent again. Repent. Yes, that's a constant. You're going to live a life of repentance. And you know what, the Lord, that's an important thing, what you said. You said, forgive the Lord. Of course, the Lord could never do anything wrong that would require forgiveness. What you mean by that is so key. It's so important, because what you mean is, I need to repent, Lord, for holding that against you, because I realized I was wrong, and you were right, and I'm not going to question you, and one day maybe you'll show me more. But that's the point we've got to get to, is that we need to release that anger, and we need to realize that, you know, God, He says, my ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts, and when we're surrendering, when we finally get to the point that we surrender and we begin to trust Him, then at some point you do, you have that conversation with God that says, Lord, I'm not, I realize I was wrong even for doing that, you know. So yeah, in a way, that's forgiveness. God, but of course God can't do anything that you would require forgiveness, so to speak But it's such an important point that point in points you made because I think a lot of people Hold that against God, you know and And blame God when we should sometimes we should blame The world the flesh and the devil and sometimes it's just we live in a fallen world and things happen Yeah, but it's so important what you said is so important. Yeah get in the Proverbs. I love the book of Proverbs Find out what what the Lord's wisdom is, you know Find out what the Lord hates in Proverbs 6. See there's six things that That he hates actually seven that are abomination to him, you know a proud look lying tongue Hands that shed innocent blood feet that are swift or running towards evil a heart that devises wicked Plans one who sows discord among the brethren in a

False witness who speaks lies. Amen. Yeah, I can tell you've been working on your scripture Me going you get it in your heart, you know that way and it's gonna be tough when once you're released The world is gonna hit you like a ton of bricks. Yeah, you know the demands of the world parole probation You know your family, you know the ones that you know, you can't don't Don't tell yourself you got to do it for them This is what I told myself for a lot and I always feel I got to do it for my son this and that when I'm a broken promise after promise after promise once I started doing it for me serving him Everything else around you will fall into place. Amen. It's so important It will God restores relationships that you thought never could be restored and it at some point We didn't even think we wanted them restored. Yeah, but if we give God time he can he can work on people's hearts And if we humble ourselves and ask forgiveness from them what those we've offended so well, this has been go ahead Another thing I've been out three almost three years and I'm still single I'm still waiting for the Lord to bring that right person into my life. Don't rush into a relationship Amen, especially if they're using smoking anything that's gonna lead you back to a temptation. That's right. Don't do it man run I don't care what you feel about them. Even if the you know, just run run and you know, and we see that a lot is in and there's three things that Will will bring a man or a woman back to prison, but I'm speaking of men right now is Drugs alcohol and the wrong woman the wrong woman and for a woman it'd be drugs alcohol and the wrong man Oh, man, so, you know, that's so important and Please take that to heart. So that's what it goes back to the heart is deceitful above all things. Don't Don't lie to yourself because the way you think you feel for somebody because feelings and things change all the time, right? If you and what does this say in Isaiah 40 31 that those that wait upon the Lord shall have their strength renewed They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary and walk and not faint. Amen. Amen Well, I didn't tell you I was gonna do this But as we get ready to close out, would you like to pray us out? I will pray us out. Okay, y'all ready? I'm ready. All right. All right Lord, thank you for always giving us another day. That wasn't promised to us Lord. Thank you for your mercy your grace Most of all, thank you for your sacrifice that you provided for all of us father. Thank you for sending your son It was such a blessing. Yes, Lord. Thank you for opening up my eyes

Yeah Thank you for giving me a chance to come back home to you And Lord for all for all all the ones that are still locked up Lord and the ones that are broken hurt sad Questioning what to do Lord, you know, let Lord just come to him You know, I know you're already at the door knocking on their hearts Yes I pray that they would let you in and when they when they let you in that you'd give them knowledge wisdom understanding discernment You know keep their family safe Lord's and the time that they're doing now Lord. It's it's not Forever and there's a reason for it because everything happens for a reason This modem and shape them into you've called them to be yes Lord and we thank you again in Jesus name Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, thank you Michael. Yeah, that's a great conversation. Yeah. Hey, I just pray that you guys will think about all the things Michaels and Michael threw out a lot of advice there and it's all real solid and Thanks for tuning in and I'll see you next time. God bless y'all You You