WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.840 Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim 2 00:00:05.840 --> 00:00:10.440 truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. Hey everybody, you might find 3 00:00:10.440 --> 00:00:15.280 this to be a very interesting podcast sitting down with a U.S. Navy seal, having 4 00:00:15.280 --> 00:00:19.760 spent as time for our freedoms. And now he's out and about fighting a new fight 5 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:26.120 and it could very well involve you. So stay tuned. I think there's gonna be awesome. 6 00:00:26.840 --> 00:00:33.320 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. 7 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:38.600 Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in 8 00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:44.520 Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying 9 00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:50.680 amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what 10 00:00:50.680 --> 00:00:53.960 God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 11 00:00:55.560 --> 00:01:01.160 Well everybody, we have a great guest with us today and I've actually looked forward to this 12 00:01:01.160 --> 00:01:09.320 because to hear what he has to say and to see what he has to do before him is something that 13 00:01:09.320 --> 00:01:18.360 is just in his willhouse. It's always something that God has put upon him to be a doer of what is 14 00:01:18.440 --> 00:01:24.520 right, what is good. And we're going to be talking today to Chad Williams. And we're excited. 15 00:01:24.520 --> 00:01:29.240 The Chad is awesome to have you here. Thank you so much for having me on. So what I want you to do, 16 00:01:29.240 --> 00:01:34.680 I want the people to get to know you on several fronts. I mean, just globally and we'll talk about 17 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:41.960 that. But by the time we come to the end more specifically, what I would say locally. Of course, 18 00:01:41.960 --> 00:01:47.000 you know what I'm talking about regarding this. But give us a little bit first introduction. 19 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:54.920 Who in the world is Chad Williams? And with that, I'll just tee it up. If anywhere that you 20 00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:59.880 miss something, I'm going to say, but tell them this. Okay. But who's Chad Williams? 21 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:05.800 I think probably one of the big highlights of former US Navy seal. And most people watching 22 00:02:05.800 --> 00:02:10.040 probably know it a Navy seal is, but there was a time where back home a girl asked me if it meant 23 00:02:10.040 --> 00:02:17.240 that I worked at SeaWorld or something as she put it. But my most might know, 24 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:22.200 it's actually an acronym and it stands for our areas of operation. We operate in the sea, 25 00:02:22.200 --> 00:02:27.880 in the air and on land. And the last deployment I was involved in, we're out in Iraq and we were 26 00:02:27.880 --> 00:02:32.840 given the task of hunting town men that make suicide vests and roadside bombs. And these are 27 00:02:32.840 --> 00:02:37.560 real awful characters. You know, oftentimes the guys that manufacture these suicide vests aren't 28 00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:43.240 very motivated actually be the one to strap it on themselves. In fact, they have such a difficult 29 00:02:43.240 --> 00:02:47.960 time finding somebody to volunteer to raise their hand for that position. And one instance, 30 00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:52.200 they couldn't find anybody. So what they resorted to doing is they went and they found two 31 00:02:52.200 --> 00:02:57.640 mentally handicapped women and strapped these vests onto them as they pushed them off into a crowded 32 00:02:57.640 --> 00:03:02.920 marketplace. And they watch from a distance as they set it off with the remote killing these women 33 00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:07.400 and obviously so many more. So it kind of gives you an idea that type of characters that were 34 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:12.200 up against. And I remember the last operation I was ever involved in. We're going after a man that 35 00:03:12.200 --> 00:03:18.360 was an Iraqi police been by day, but bomb maker by night loading up the vehicles. And I'm kind of 36 00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:23.560 going all the I know over all the I knows the checks in my mind. I know where this guy lives. I know 37 00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:28.200 how we're getting in. I know my weapon is headspace and time. I got the 50 caliber machine gun in front 38 00:03:28.200 --> 00:03:32.040 of me. And for those of you that might not know, let's just say that's a weapon that could really 39 00:03:32.040 --> 00:03:36.600 reach out and touch somebody that will. Yeah. Looking through that green little world. And then 40 00:03:36.600 --> 00:03:41.960 I thought to myself, and I also know this is it. This is the final operation, which also means just 41 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:47.160 a matter of days from now, I'm going to be back in my hometown, Huntington Beach, California, 42 00:03:47.160 --> 00:03:52.120 surfing in the ocean. But what none of us really knew about that night was that we were actually 43 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:57.800 being set up the entire time to get thrown into the absolute worst circumstances we'd been in on 44 00:03:57.800 --> 00:04:02.760 this entire deployment as we found ourselves set up on an ambush. And now suddenly we're engaging 45 00:04:02.760 --> 00:04:07.800 in this gun battle for our lives. And it truly was the sweet was it was it was it late or did 46 00:04:07.800 --> 00:04:12.920 somebody expose your operation? It was the source of information that we believe that told us about 47 00:04:12.920 --> 00:04:18.120 that Iraqi policemen they get paid for that information. We I think that we saw he saw an 48 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:23.000 opportunity to maybe double down on that. And he perhaps back channeled the information around 49 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:28.280 to that Iraqi policeman that hey, they're they're coming for you. So he was set up with his 50 00:04:28.280 --> 00:04:33.800 buddies. He was waiting for us and we're taking effective fire from three different direction 51 00:04:33.800 --> 00:04:37.720 directions, meaning the rounds are being very effective. We're in this gun battle for our lives. 52 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:43.480 And it was the team's ability to operate as united front to shoot, move, communicate, do what we 53 00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:48.120 do best that led to a pretty obvious conclusion. I'm I'm here. I'm standing alive before you. Sit in 54 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:52.840 alive before you. But it's also worth remembering that it doesn't always work out that way. 55 00:04:52.840 --> 00:04:56.600 That's right. You know, we need to remember that our freedoms aren't free. And when you consider 56 00:04:56.600 --> 00:05:01.080 the costs, what are they paid for in one could save paid for in the currency of our our soldiers 57 00:05:01.080 --> 00:05:05.160 blood on the battlefield. Right. And they're certainly spiritual truth and application to that as 58 00:05:05.160 --> 00:05:09.400 well, because we know eternal freedom isn't free. It's paid for in the currency, the safest 59 00:05:09.400 --> 00:05:15.400 blood at the cross. Amen. Wow. You know, this is crazy. I wasn't going to mention this, but what 60 00:05:15.400 --> 00:05:23.960 you just said, I just finished today a new book and it goes off to the publisher now. 61 00:05:24.600 --> 00:05:30.120 In the last closing argument that I make as a commissioning in this book and the book is 62 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:36.040 entitled or I think I think the title of the book will be something like bold faith. But I end 63 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:42.360 and I was inspired driving out of San Diego over the bridge to Coronado. I looked to my left and 64 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:50.280 there was the USS Michael Montsoor heading out. Yes. And I saw that and that was actually the 65 00:05:50.280 --> 00:05:56.680 inspiration for the end of the book that I just finished today. And I went through his last few 66 00:05:57.480 --> 00:06:05.160 hours of his life. Right. And Ramadi and how it was nothing for him in an instant trained as a seal 67 00:06:05.960 --> 00:06:13.240 to cuddle that grenade that they threw up under the roof and it hit him in the chest. He dropped 68 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:21.800 to the deck. He curled up around it, took that blast and saved his navy seal brothers and a couple 69 00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:30.120 of Iraqi soldiers as well. But the point is in the end and you just said it is that selfless love 70 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:35.800 is exactly what Jesus Christ did for us. There's a part of the divine. People often think about that 71 00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:40.600 that when you're in battle like that you're giving yourself to the point. You're in a foreign land 72 00:06:41.400 --> 00:06:48.280 you're wondering if anybody knows where you're at on the planet and it's very selfless because 73 00:06:48.280 --> 00:06:54.600 you are engaged to not only hopefully walk out at the end of the day alive but to preserve the 74 00:06:54.600 --> 00:06:59.480 freedoms of your nation. Very few people realize that they, you know, you said in the matter of 75 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:05.000 days you'd be back home surfing at the pier. Right. A lot of people don't realize that for people to 76 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:11.800 be serving at the pier today or to being at the mall or going to work or are having a day off 77 00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:17.080 is because there have been people just like you. It's very easy to take for granted. I certainly 78 00:07:17.080 --> 00:07:22.120 did at a young age surfing at the pier as a kid. I think the wake up call for me, it took 79 00:07:22.200 --> 00:07:27.640 you know, junior year in high school. That's when 9-11 happened and that's when I began to realize 80 00:07:27.640 --> 00:07:33.400 that freedom isn't just some built into life. This is just the way it is. Default position. 81 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:39.400 That there really is evil out there that lurks. It's a spirit of evil. You know, it's that desire 82 00:07:39.400 --> 00:07:44.600 to steal, kill and destroy. It's the desire of the terrorists. It's those that just sometimes want 83 00:07:44.600 --> 00:07:50.440 to watch things burn. And one of the things about Mikey's story that some people don't know, Michael 84 00:07:50.440 --> 00:07:55.880 Monsour, the one that jumped on that hand grenade, is that he had the opportunity to save himself. 85 00:07:55.880 --> 00:08:01.000 That's right. I read it. He was closest to the exit. It was just a step pivot away. 86 00:08:01.560 --> 00:08:05.480 But he could have saved himself. He yelled out grenade to those guys so that they could take 87 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:10.440 some form of cover as he threw himself over the top covering it absorbing the blast on himself. 88 00:08:10.440 --> 00:08:15.960 And I think that's a picture of what Jesus did at the cross. You know, Jesus was never in trouble 89 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:21.480 or in the crosshairs of God's judgment. You know, we were really in the impact zone of where the 90 00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:27.640 consequences of that shrapnel is coming. You know, but Jesus, in a sense, he didn't cover a hand grenade, 91 00:08:27.640 --> 00:08:32.840 but what he did cover, he covered the consequences of our sin at the cross, you know, so that we could 92 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:36.920 live. So that grenade was never Mikey's problem. It was all the other's problem. And sin was never 93 00:08:36.920 --> 00:08:42.040 Jesus's problem. It's always our problem. But what a picture of John 1513 greater love has known 94 00:08:42.040 --> 00:08:47.800 than this one that lays down his life. First friends. Absolutely. Yeah. I think, again, 95 00:08:47.800 --> 00:08:52.440 I think it's divine like even though we are fallen creatures, I like to, I like the way CS Lewis 96 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:59.080 looks at it is that there's still enough residual of God's of God's image in us where 97 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:07.400 there is this act of selfless response. You know, it's amazing. People might you might be thinking, 98 00:09:07.400 --> 00:09:12.040 I don't know if that's true or not. You know, I mean, if you're at the beach, for example, 99 00:09:12.040 --> 00:09:18.440 and you see a little 10-year-old out there drowning, you're going to get up and go. You're just 100 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:24.280 going to get up and go. I can't imagine anybody sitting on the shore, you know, letting this little 101 00:09:24.280 --> 00:09:30.360 guy drown. There's just something within us. Well, that's something. Think about it. That's something 102 00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:38.520 is what we got from our God. I mean, he from the beginning predetermined that when man would fall, 103 00:09:38.520 --> 00:09:43.800 he would die for us. That's right. Absolutely epic. Think about this too. It's actually criminal, 104 00:09:43.800 --> 00:09:47.640 if you sit there and watch somebody drowns, to praved indifference. That's right. You know, 105 00:09:47.640 --> 00:09:53.000 you have the ability to do something about it, but you don't. And kind of in a similar way, 106 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:57.960 there's even been, you know, self-aclaimed atheists that have noticed there's something similar about 107 00:09:57.960 --> 00:10:04.280 that in Christianity. Penn Gillette, he made a video, gets the revival. And he says, you know, 108 00:10:04.280 --> 00:10:08.680 look, I'm not a Christian, but he questions Christians. He says, how could you believe that there's 109 00:10:08.680 --> 00:10:13.800 a heaven and a hell, or that some people could get everlasting life and others might not. And you 110 00:10:13.800 --> 00:10:17.960 think it's not really worth telling them about this because it might make things socially awkward. 111 00:10:18.520 --> 00:10:22.760 He says, how much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not 112 00:10:23.400 --> 00:10:27.960 tell them about it? And he says, if I believe the truck was coming at you and you don't believe 113 00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:31.720 the truck is coming at you, he says, there's a certain point where I will tackle you. And he says, 114 00:10:31.720 --> 00:10:36.040 and this is more important than that. So we say, hey, look, Christian, I don't believe what you 115 00:10:36.040 --> 00:10:41.240 believe, but if you believe it, wow, that's right. How much do you have to hate somebody? Because if we 116 00:10:41.240 --> 00:10:47.320 take Jesus' words at face value, we are looking at a drowning world. And a lot of them don't even realize 117 00:10:47.480 --> 00:10:52.200 the current that they're in. But we know that left to their own, they are going to drown, 118 00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:57.320 they go down. And we have the life-saving message. We could be those life guards to share that 119 00:10:57.320 --> 00:11:02.440 message. It's exactly right. You know, I'll help one day. God doesn't say any of us are guilty of 120 00:11:02.440 --> 00:11:06.840 that depraved in difference. And I think the principle is there in Ezekiel 3 where he talks about 121 00:11:06.840 --> 00:11:12.200 the son of man. He says, when I give you a word to warn the wicked, to flee from their wicked way, 122 00:11:12.440 --> 00:11:17.240 and you don't share it, they will still die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require 123 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:22.600 at your hand. But if you do share it, and they don't turn, at least your hands are washed. 124 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:30.040 You're exactly correct. Blow the trumpet of warning. So HB being home growing up on the coast, 125 00:11:30.040 --> 00:11:37.880 in the waves, in the water. I'm just curious, I'm asking this, how much of that childhood played 126 00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:44.440 into you being a successful seal? I think it was extremely helpful because I was very comfortable 127 00:11:44.440 --> 00:11:49.000 in the water. You never get comfortable with the cold, but you know, nothing about being tossed 128 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:54.600 around in big waves like that. That's my playground right there. And I had the opportunity to be 129 00:11:54.600 --> 00:11:59.960 mentored by the most extraordinary Navy seal there ever was. I mean, I'll say Scott Helvinson. 130 00:11:59.960 --> 00:12:04.600 He's the youngest man to ever make it through seal training. He completed the program at 17. 131 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:09.080 He's a world champion penathaly. He's the fastest seal on the seal training obstacle course. 132 00:12:09.080 --> 00:12:13.480 He was the only man to beat the beast on a TV program called Manverse Beast. He raced a 133 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:19.000 chimpanzee through an obstacle course and pulled ahead of this monkey on the monkey bars. I mean, 134 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:23.800 you can't make it up any better. In normal cases, that's not a big deal. Let's say I beat a monkey, 135 00:12:23.800 --> 00:12:30.360 but this is a big deal on monkey bars. Oh, yeah. I took the monkey bars from the monkey. 136 00:12:30.360 --> 00:12:35.480 And so you could imagine what it's like for him to be mentor. I mean, he really took me under his 137 00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:41.240 wing. Well, it was kind of a funny setup. It really was supposed to be something that was 138 00:12:41.880 --> 00:12:46.440 intended to discourage me from going after becoming a seal because it makes sense. You know, 139 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:51.400 I literally dropped out of junior college. I told my dad bad news, good news, bad news is I'm 140 00:12:51.400 --> 00:12:55.880 failing all my classes. And of course, he wants to know his dad, okay, what's the good news? Well, 141 00:12:55.960 --> 00:13:00.760 I'm snapping my fingers saying, that's all right, dad. I'm going to be a Navy seal. And he's looking 142 00:13:00.760 --> 00:13:05.160 at me thinking, all right, you know, he's talking to me, saying, son, you know, you haven't, you 143 00:13:05.160 --> 00:13:09.480 haven't shown the discipline it takes to make it through the local community cars. And now you think 144 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:15.720 you're going to go be a Navy seal. And I'm like, yeah. So he ended up contacting Scott Helvinson. 145 00:13:15.720 --> 00:13:20.440 I don't know how he got a hold of him. He tracked him down. He found them. But the request 146 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:26.600 was I want you to meet up with my, meet up with my son. And if you're willing, you know, I'm asking 147 00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:32.600 you to please just beat this desire, becoming a seal out of him. He has no idea what he's getting 148 00:13:32.600 --> 00:13:38.600 involved in. And so he replied and his reply was an email. And this was the only thing that I 149 00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:43.240 saw before I went and met up with Scott for the first time is this email. My dad says, hey, 150 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:46.920 so you want to be a seal? I'm like, yeah, dad, I want to be a seal. He goes, great. I set up a 151 00:13:46.920 --> 00:13:51.320 workout for you with the Navy seal. Check out my computer screen. And all I see in the email is 152 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:56.760 can Chad come out and play tomorrow? So I'm thinking like, hey, like dad, you met some guy off the 153 00:13:56.760 --> 00:14:01.480 internet who says he wants to play with me. And now you're arranging this meeting in a beach parking lot 154 00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:07.320 in Oceanside. Yeah. And he goes, he's a seal son. So I go meet up with them. And I mean, he looks 155 00:14:07.320 --> 00:14:10.840 the part, he looks like something Michael Angel, look carved out. You know, he's pointing his finger 156 00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:16.120 me, you Chad, like, yes, sir. All right, Bubba, I was Bubba from that point forward that day. Get on 157 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:21.000 over here. Long story short, he sends me off on a run out into the wetlands and says he's going to 158 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:25.400 catch up with me. Well, about the time when he should be catching up with me, he's not there. 159 00:14:25.400 --> 00:14:30.680 So I start thinking of myself, maybe I'm too fast for this Navy seal. He can't catch up on the 160 00:14:30.680 --> 00:14:36.200 run. How old are you? I was like 19 at the time. That's a typical thought of a 19. I can take that guy. 161 00:14:36.200 --> 00:14:40.360 I was thinking the names of my friends, I was going to be bragging to that day, 162 00:14:40.360 --> 00:14:46.200 how the Navy seal never caught up, you know, my buddy Brian, my buddy Mark. But I look back over my 163 00:14:46.200 --> 00:14:51.160 shoulder and then it's like a scene out of Terminator 2. I mean, he's got the knife hands coming down 164 00:14:51.160 --> 00:14:56.440 this trail after me. And there's no keeping that distance. He closes in like a K9 lit out of the 165 00:14:56.440 --> 00:15:01.320 back of a squad car. And as he brushes past me and I think that's it, he's going to leave me in the 166 00:15:01.320 --> 00:15:06.200 dust. That's where he turns around. And he basically just knocks me into the dust of the ground. 167 00:15:06.200 --> 00:15:11.080 He's punching me in the stomach. I've got the wind knocked out of me, dirt poofing up all over. 168 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:15.800 He's jumping on top of me and just ragged all of me. He's got me by my shirt. And I still have 169 00:15:15.800 --> 00:15:21.320 that sound in my head of just the threads of my shirt, ripping and feeling the spit fly out as he 170 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:25.960 screaming in my face. And you got to put yourself in my shoes for a moment. You know, the only 171 00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:31.480 Intel I'm operating on at this time is some guy. My dad met off the internet. I'm thinking human 172 00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:38.440 predator like this guy's got me in the yeah, yeah, you want to come out. So I'm just thinking just 173 00:15:38.440 --> 00:15:44.200 survive live. But then he said these words that really changed everything for me. I would say in 174 00:15:44.200 --> 00:15:50.360 life. He says, you want to be a Navy seal. You better stay three paces behind me. Something about 175 00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:55.880 that moment, everything just clicked. It was like time stopped. And I got this clarity of thought. 176 00:15:55.880 --> 00:16:00.200 Like this is it. And this is for real. And this is one of the most defining moments in my entire 177 00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:05.800 life. If I quit right now, I will forever be a quitter. Like the way I respond here is going to 178 00:16:05.800 --> 00:16:11.080 affect the trajectory of the rest of my life. That's awesome. And so I felt it just well up in my 179 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:17.000 heart. Like I rather die than quit. That's right. You got up. He said it one more time. Three paces, 180 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:21.960 turns, takes off. And I'll just say what took place on that trail for the next handful of miles. 181 00:16:21.960 --> 00:16:27.080 Looking back after having gone through seal training, which you suffered greatly in seal training, 182 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:32.840 I've never suffered so much as I did on that trail in a singular workout. I shouldn't even call 183 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:37.560 it a workout. It was a beat down session. Then this encounter with this Navy seal, Scott Helvenston. 184 00:16:37.560 --> 00:16:43.080 But I hung in there. And when we finally got to a point where he wrapped it up, he circled it up. 185 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:46.840 I mean, he looks like he wants to fight me. I'm thinking no direct eye contact. I don't want to 186 00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:51.880 set this guy off. I'm just use your peripherals, keeping him over there. He breaks his really 187 00:16:51.880 --> 00:16:56.360 awkward tension by pointing at me and saying, if we would have gone another mile or two, 188 00:16:56.360 --> 00:17:00.040 would you have stayed with me? And I just told him what came from the heart. I told him, Scott, 189 00:17:00.040 --> 00:17:04.440 I'll die before I quit. And it was from that moment forward. I mean, everything changed. He's 190 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:08.920 going great. You want to meet up again from the workout tomorrow. And I'm thinking, buddy, 191 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:13.160 are we going to address the flashback you just had on the trail? What was that all about? 192 00:17:14.040 --> 00:17:19.960 But I found out over lunch two months later, him, my dad and I about the whole setup. I learned 193 00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:25.720 the back story that that was all intended to really just kind of break me of that desire 194 00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:29.880 of becoming a seal because it didn't seem like I was taking it seriously. It's kind of like 195 00:17:29.880 --> 00:17:33.560 Christianity. If you can be talked into Christianity, you can be talked out of it. 196 00:17:33.560 --> 00:17:39.000 Exactly. In fact, whenever I meet a young guy that wants to be a Navy seal, I try and talk 197 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:43.720 him out of it. And if I could talk him out of it, it's really not for him. If I give him all the 198 00:17:43.720 --> 00:17:48.120 reasons not to do it. And he's still like, no, I still want to do it. Then I'm like, all right, 199 00:17:48.120 --> 00:17:52.280 let's start getting together and train. That's awesome. Yeah. So you served on seal team one 200 00:17:52.280 --> 00:18:00.120 and seven. You did that from 2004 to 210. Yep. It all started in no four. By December of 2005, 201 00:18:00.120 --> 00:18:06.200 I was getting that trident pendant of my chest or the happiest, most fulfilling moments of my life. 202 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:11.720 There was really a lot on the line in terms of becoming a Navy seal. One of the things that 203 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:17.560 happened along the way was really a conversation with my mentor Scott as he was taking an opportunity 204 00:18:17.560 --> 00:18:21.960 to go overseas one last time to Iraq. It was only going to be a couple of months. He was leaving 205 00:18:21.960 --> 00:18:26.760 about the same exact time I'm leaving off for boot camp. He's leaving just before I leave. 206 00:18:26.760 --> 00:18:30.840 So on this phone conversation, he says, all right, junior, I'm about to go do this thing. He's 207 00:18:30.840 --> 00:18:35.240 referring to going off to Iraq. And he says, I want you to know something though that I've never 208 00:18:35.240 --> 00:18:40.280 told anyone I've ever trained before. He says, I know you're going to make it through seal training. 209 00:18:41.080 --> 00:18:45.960 That ended up being the last conversation that Scott and I would have with each other. And just 210 00:18:45.960 --> 00:18:51.160 a handful of days later, he was on a TV screen. But this time he's not competing on Manverse 211 00:18:51.160 --> 00:18:55.720 Beast. It's a smiling picture of him. And I remember just kind of rubbing my eyes trying to figure out 212 00:18:55.720 --> 00:19:00.040 what Scott doing on TV right now. I thought he's an Iraq. And that's when I see in the lower 213 00:19:00.040 --> 00:19:05.640 third of the screen, his birthday, followed by a dash. And it says March 31st, 2004. And before I 214 00:19:05.640 --> 00:19:11.480 could process the obvious meaning of that, it switches from a smiling image to graphic video footage. 215 00:19:11.480 --> 00:19:16.680 It's him and three others that are lifeless in the streets of Fallujah with the burning vehicle 216 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:22.280 in the background, which was the vehicle he was in. And what it happened was his group was set up on 217 00:19:22.280 --> 00:19:27.240 an ambush. And these insurgents had videotaped everything that they were doing to him and these 218 00:19:27.240 --> 00:19:31.960 others. As I'm watching these scenes now, being played of him, you know, having rope wrapped around 219 00:19:31.960 --> 00:19:37.160 his legs and dragged through the streets hung upside down from the Freddy's River Bridge. And then 220 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:42.840 this mob is chanting and celebrating in Arabic. They're chanting with English subtitles. Fallujah's 221 00:19:42.840 --> 00:19:48.040 the graveyard of Americans. Fallujah's the graveyard of Americans. Needless to say, I'll never have 222 00:19:48.040 --> 00:19:52.360 the words to describe what that moment and all the surrounding moments were like one of the things 223 00:19:52.360 --> 00:19:57.560 in our seal creed though is that it says that we are forged by adversity. And that is something that 224 00:19:57.560 --> 00:20:03.720 I've continued to live by. And I think there's biblical truth to that as well is that you don't get 225 00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:08.200 to pick the adversity that you go through like Joseph and the Old Testament never is like, yeah, 226 00:20:08.200 --> 00:20:11.880 I'll sign it for that one. Have my brothers abuse me and then throw me into human trafficking. And 227 00:20:11.880 --> 00:20:17.640 then yeah, falsely accused throw me into prison. You know, but his duty still is to remain faithful 228 00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:22.520 instead fast to the Lord. He never allowed those things to knock him down in such a way to where 229 00:20:22.520 --> 00:20:27.240 people just point their finger and go, wow, yeah, he's out for the count. He's never resurfacing. 230 00:20:27.240 --> 00:20:31.240 We don't get to choose the adversity or the storms that we go through, but we always have a choice 231 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:36.200 in terms of how we respond. Do you allow it to be a weight or a wing? Will it sink you or will you 232 00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:41.800 find a way to get back up or what we call in the teams to be forged by adversity? It's very case 233 00:20:41.800 --> 00:20:47.080 by case, but I'll just say in that particular case, that forging process began for me when I 234 00:20:47.080 --> 00:20:52.600 remembered my mentors last words. It became so much more important to do this in honor and memory 235 00:20:52.600 --> 00:20:57.400 of him. So I wrote his name on the inside of my hat as a constant reminder and a motivation to 236 00:20:57.400 --> 00:21:01.320 make it through. And that's really part of our seal creed as well. In the worst of conditions, 237 00:21:01.320 --> 00:21:06.600 I'll rely upon the legacy of those who have gone before me to steady my resolve to guide my every 238 00:21:06.600 --> 00:21:10.840 deed. We think of men like Mike Montsoor, I think of my mentor Scott. And that's true for the 239 00:21:10.840 --> 00:21:15.960 Christian life because we could look to the cross and consider what Jesus did, you know, on our 240 00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:22.840 behalf. It's amazing. Paul told Timothy, you need to prepare yourself on paraphrasing 241 00:21:22.840 --> 00:21:30.200 Timothy because you need to wage the good warfare. No man putting his, putting his gear on and 242 00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:37.800 moving forward will ensnare himself on the affairs of this life. Nobody, nobody takes on the battle 243 00:21:37.800 --> 00:21:44.280 with their Xbox in their hand or, or, you know, Rubik's Cube or Plato. It's about life and death. 244 00:21:44.680 --> 00:21:50.600 Isn't it amazing? What if the Christian community globally? What if the church today 245 00:21:51.560 --> 00:21:59.400 took that kind of seriousness that what you're speaking of because what we're talking about is 246 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:04.680 actually even more serious. We're not just talking about somebody losing their life. We're talking 247 00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:10.600 about somebody losing their eternal life without Christ. That what the church is fighting for and 248 00:22:10.600 --> 00:22:16.680 against is this incredible battle that's fought out in the invisible, but it's manifested in the 249 00:22:16.680 --> 00:22:23.160 physical. I just think that it's a tragedy that we live in an empathetic age right now, just like 250 00:22:23.160 --> 00:22:31.160 you said where people don't understand where their freedoms come from. Our, our faith is a verb, 251 00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:39.080 it's active Christianity does, it doesn't talk, it does. And there's so many lessons that, 252 00:22:39.720 --> 00:22:47.000 or parallels that what you're saying is the Christian life. So, so we made it through the teen part, 253 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:54.920 this was the baptism into the pursuit of the seals. So you went down, you, you went and signed 254 00:22:54.920 --> 00:22:59.160 up. I mean, you just don't sign it to be a seal. You went and signed up in the US Navy or the 255 00:22:59.160 --> 00:23:05.160 Marines. Which one was it? The Navy. And you go down the recruiters office at that time. They had 256 00:23:05.160 --> 00:23:10.440 a program called the seal challenge program. They don't promise you make it, but they promise you 257 00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:15.400 a shot at it. And so that's kind of how it is. I mean, the majority of people don't make it. It's a 258 00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:20.760 win-win I think for the Navy because if they want to get recruits into the Navy, if this guy doesn't 259 00:23:20.760 --> 00:23:24.520 make it through seal training, it's fine. We'll get them on a ship somewhere. We'll put them somewhere 260 00:23:24.600 --> 00:23:30.280 that he's needed. And if we do produce a Navy seal, then we just produce a Navy seal. Yeah, so it's 261 00:23:31.240 --> 00:23:36.360 a way to, you know, many are called, you know, in a sense, you are chosen. You know, Nero is the 262 00:23:36.360 --> 00:23:43.720 gate and difficult is the way. So out of 173 guys in my class that all said, I'll die before I quit. 263 00:23:43.720 --> 00:23:48.760 Only 13 of that original class number is still standing there for graduation day. And I remember 264 00:23:48.760 --> 00:23:52.920 looking up thinking, you know, Scott, we did this, you know, because I had his name written on the 265 00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:58.520 inside of my hat as a constant reminder and a motivation. And my thought process was, you know, 266 00:23:58.520 --> 00:24:02.280 when I was suffering and having to dig deep in hell week, you know, you're up for five and a half 267 00:24:02.280 --> 00:24:06.120 days. You get four hours of sleep. That's not per night. That's it for the five and a half days. 268 00:24:06.120 --> 00:24:10.600 You're running over 200 miles. You're hallucinating. I grew up watching Ninja Turtles and I'm seeing 269 00:24:10.600 --> 00:24:16.040 Donatello in the water and places and, you know, you're just, you're going through it. I would look 270 00:24:16.040 --> 00:24:21.320 at his name and I think to myself, you have to take me out of here in a body bag before I ever 271 00:24:21.320 --> 00:24:26.920 have voluntarily get up and quit on that name. And people that quit, they have to ring a bell 272 00:24:26.920 --> 00:24:33.720 three times in front of all of their peers. It's just not happening. And so it didn't happen. 273 00:24:33.720 --> 00:24:39.320 And that day did come where I graduated and became a seal. And, you know, it was one of the 274 00:24:39.320 --> 00:24:43.560 happiest, most fulfilling moments of my life and so many more lessons to come after that. You know, 275 00:24:43.560 --> 00:24:48.840 one of the lessons that I learned soon after is, says a quote by Christian philosopher. He says, 276 00:24:48.840 --> 00:24:53.160 one of the loneliest moments of man will ever experience is when he's achieved that which he 277 00:24:53.160 --> 00:24:57.560 thought will deliver the ultimate. And in the end, it lets him down. And what he's referring to 278 00:24:57.560 --> 00:25:01.800 right there is something I believe every listener or viewers familiar with, at least to some 279 00:25:01.800 --> 00:25:06.680 degree, it's just that human condition, that idea that I'm not quite fulfilled with where I'm at. 280 00:25:06.680 --> 00:25:09.880 And, you know, what do you want? I guess I just want a little bit more. 281 00:25:09.880 --> 00:25:14.920 Always a little bit more. Yeah. So we just, we bind to this belief that we are lacking something. 282 00:25:14.920 --> 00:25:19.960 But if I could just accomplish this goal or this achievement, the status, then I'll be satisfied 283 00:25:19.960 --> 00:25:25.560 or fulfilled. And it's a constant chase. It's like a vicious cycle. You get to a moment where you 284 00:25:25.560 --> 00:25:30.440 taste success. You eat it up. You're satisfied. But then you get hungry again. You chase it more. 285 00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:34.280 You're thirsting after something new. You get there. You drink it up. You're satisfied for a moment. 286 00:25:34.280 --> 00:25:39.240 You get thirsty all over again. And then there's those that finally get to a point where they can't 287 00:25:39.800 --> 00:25:44.600 conceive of a next thing to do because they've arrived at the last run of the latter. There's always 288 00:25:45.080 --> 00:25:49.240 I could always go up from here. You know, but a certain point you can't say I can go up from here 289 00:25:49.240 --> 00:25:53.480 because you're at that last run. You're at the peak of the mountain. And so many have come to this 290 00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:59.240 conclusion. I think of, you know, even Jim Carrey, you know, he says, I wish that people could 291 00:25:59.240 --> 00:26:03.640 become rich and famous and have everything they ever wanted so that they would know that it's not 292 00:26:03.640 --> 00:26:09.080 the answer. I think C. S. Lewis nails it though and he points out that if I find within myself 293 00:26:09.080 --> 00:26:13.880 desires in which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I 294 00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:19.160 am meant for another world. And Jesus put it best. He says, what's a prophet of man if he gains 295 00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:23.880 the whole world, but in the end loses his soul. I had my version of gaining the whole world to 296 00:26:23.880 --> 00:26:29.400 becoming a seal, but my soul at that time was not oriented correctly. It wasn't right with the 297 00:26:29.400 --> 00:26:33.960 creator. Right. And so I mean, the lesson here is that if you don't have any peace with your 298 00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:38.360 creator, you'll never experience any peace while you're here. It's possible. So I'm a member of 299 00:26:38.360 --> 00:26:43.320 seal team one. And on the outside, it seems like I really got it all together. But inwardly, 300 00:26:43.320 --> 00:26:46.520 I think I was probably more miserable at that stage of my life than I've ever been. 301 00:26:46.520 --> 00:26:53.560 Isn't that something? Which, by the way, Wall Street, for example, the higher the building, 302 00:26:54.440 --> 00:27:00.600 the corner office, the greater chance of suicide. I did not know that. Well, all the money, 303 00:27:01.080 --> 00:27:06.200 all the status, everything I've gotten in that same exact feeling. It's human nature. Without 304 00:27:06.200 --> 00:27:12.600 Christ, we're absolutely emptied. And so at what point did you come to Christ? How did that happen? 305 00:27:13.560 --> 00:27:19.080 March 14, 2007. Night I'll never forget. Greg Laurie was sharing the message at night at a 306 00:27:19.080 --> 00:27:25.080 second Kings chapter five. Second Kings chapter five, Old Testament text. So this is all over it. 307 00:27:25.080 --> 00:27:31.160 So you're a see of the viewers act to do the Navy seal. Yeah. You said 2007. Yeah. So you're an 308 00:27:31.160 --> 00:27:36.280 active seal. You go to a Bible study. Member of seal team one. I'm going to get to the Bible study. 309 00:27:36.280 --> 00:27:43.560 Only to make family feel better. There you. Okay. Yeah. At that time, I was there was if anyone 310 00:27:43.560 --> 00:27:47.800 ever accused Chad Williams out there on the streets of being a Christian, there's not enough evidence 311 00:27:47.800 --> 00:27:53.240 to convict. You know, I would claim to be a Christian. That's my label on the outside. That's on my 312 00:27:53.240 --> 00:28:00.440 dog tag. Nothing about my life, you know, was evidenced by it. And so family was getting concerned, 313 00:28:00.440 --> 00:28:06.440 you know, because I was going out and drinking into an oblivion, you know, black out and just real 314 00:28:06.440 --> 00:28:11.240 foolishness. It's personal robbery. But I would look at it at that time as if it was something to laugh 315 00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:16.280 about and brag about. And everything really just came to a head one night where I needed to get 26 316 00:28:16.280 --> 00:28:21.160 stitches and my knuckles for a thing I don't remember. So I'm being confronted by family saying, 317 00:28:21.160 --> 00:28:24.600 look, if you're going to come back home to Huntington Beach, which I was coming back home often, 318 00:28:24.600 --> 00:28:29.960 because, you know, Coronado is not that far away. They said, you're not welcome here anymore. 319 00:28:29.960 --> 00:28:35.880 And so it was some tough love that I needed. And better to break your mom and dad's heart. 320 00:28:35.880 --> 00:28:40.920 I mean, they're precious people. They're always praying for me. I would hear them praying for me. 321 00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:45.560 And this is just where my heart and soul was at that time. I would interrupt them. I would hear 322 00:28:45.560 --> 00:28:49.880 them in their room praying for me. And I'd throw the door open and back, what are you guys doing? 323 00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:55.480 You don't need to do that. Don't worry. I'm not an atheist. I believe in God. Okay. Me and Jesus were 324 00:28:55.480 --> 00:29:01.240 good. But the truth was I wasn't at all. And so they're like, we're worried for you. You need 325 00:29:01.240 --> 00:29:06.200 the Lord. And I was convicted by that. But I wouldn't ever let them see it. Of course. Yeah. 326 00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:12.360 So I had regret over sin, but I wasn't repentant of it genuinely. I had no intention of really 327 00:29:12.360 --> 00:29:17.240 stopping. And so one night it all really came to a head where they're confronting me. They're 328 00:29:17.240 --> 00:29:21.000 saying, look, you're not welcome here anymore. I was coming into the house and the truth is I had a 329 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:25.400 keg of beer stashed in the garage that I was getting ready to go get that I'd stolen with some 330 00:29:25.400 --> 00:29:32.040 friends from a beer fest, just a couple nights before. So I thought I'll play my cards. I don't 331 00:29:32.040 --> 00:29:36.520 want to force my way through. I'll agree to go with them to this church thing that they want to go 332 00:29:36.520 --> 00:29:40.200 to. It's a midweek thing that's happening at Calvary Coast to Mesa. It was supposed to be a 333 00:29:40.200 --> 00:29:44.680 throwback to the big tent revival at that time. They're renovating the main sanctuary. So 334 00:29:44.680 --> 00:29:49.000 there's no chairs in the sanctuary. So they had a big tent out with chips on the ground. I remember 335 00:29:49.080 --> 00:29:52.840 the worship music was a little different than I recall church being like, because it was a guy 336 00:29:52.840 --> 00:29:58.440 Dennis Acajini and dressing all black finger stuff, you know, pickin' and I'm like, this is 337 00:29:58.440 --> 00:30:03.000 kind of interesting, but I'm still looking at my watch. I just suffer through it. I'll get through 338 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:06.200 this. I'll punch my card in to go into some church thing. It's like they did it through the seals. 339 00:30:06.200 --> 00:30:11.960 I can do it to you soon. And it'll be over and then my folks will go to bed and I'll fall off 340 00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:16.280 their radar. They'll be so happy I went and then I'll go out and I'll do what I really wanted to 341 00:30:16.280 --> 00:30:21.080 go do that night. Go party. Go drink with some friends. Second Kings chapter five, the story of 342 00:30:21.080 --> 00:30:24.920 a soldier by the name and name and I'm thinking great. Well, if I met some church thing, at least I 343 00:30:24.920 --> 00:30:31.000 get to hear a story about a soldier. It's interesting because like Jesus, he says, you know, if you knew 344 00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:34.920 the scriptures, you would know that they testify of me. It's obviously talking about, you know, 345 00:30:34.920 --> 00:30:40.040 the law and the prophets here. The gospel message is all over this. I got saved by an Old Testament 346 00:30:40.040 --> 00:30:45.000 text. And so, name and he's this commander. He's had great success in battle. He's got this 347 00:30:45.080 --> 00:30:49.800 entourage of men that highly respect him. He's really got it going on. It sounds like he could have 348 00:30:49.800 --> 00:30:55.160 been a seal. Had there been a seal during his time, but he had leprosy. And Jesus specifically 349 00:30:55.160 --> 00:30:59.160 looking back said, nobody during the time of name and it had ever been healed of leprosy. 350 00:30:59.160 --> 00:31:03.480 That's right. And so now circle back and picture name in life like this, if you would so much 351 00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:07.720 for all that success. And there's a little girl telling them, you should go, there's a river. 352 00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:13.560 Yep. It is real. She's the unsung hero. She's the evangelist in this story that had the boldness 353 00:31:13.560 --> 00:31:18.040 to speak up and say, if only my master were with the prophet, it was in Samaria. He would 354 00:31:18.040 --> 00:31:23.160 heal him of his leprosy. It's almost like I think like hearing about an experimental treatment. 355 00:31:23.160 --> 00:31:29.080 Like doctors have tried everything. We're so sorry. But there is this one experimental treatment. 356 00:31:29.080 --> 00:31:34.600 Like all your help grabs onto that. And you don't care what it costs. Like let's give it a try. 357 00:31:34.600 --> 00:31:38.920 If it's for a loved one, I'll empty out the bank account. I think that's name and mentality. He 358 00:31:38.920 --> 00:31:43.480 has to ask his king. If it's okay if he goes, he gets a letter. He says, go. It's any 359 00:31:43.480 --> 00:31:48.360 me occupied territory, 150 mantra. He's bringing the equivalent of millions upon millions of dollars 360 00:31:48.360 --> 00:31:53.080 in gold, silver, peril. He gets there to the door and he doesn't even come to the door. 361 00:31:53.080 --> 00:31:57.560 Just sends a servant that relays the message. It says, go dip yourself in the Jordan River seven 362 00:31:57.560 --> 00:32:02.440 times when you come up. Your flesh will be restored to you. You'll be clean. Well, what happens is 363 00:32:02.440 --> 00:32:08.520 his name and does not do that. He's proud. He becomes furious. He's turning. He's leaving 364 00:32:08.520 --> 00:32:13.000 in a rage. He's venting out loud. He wouldn't even come to me to speak to my face. 365 00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:17.080 And that's what his expectation was. He should have come out. And it makes sense. I mean, 366 00:32:17.080 --> 00:32:21.000 you watch. The flesh is sane. Yeah, I get it. It's almost proportional to the more important 367 00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:25.000 of a person you are back then, the farther they come out to greet you. I mean, the welcoming 368 00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:28.680 party at least should have been on the porch. You know, for Jesus, it was outside the city gates 369 00:32:28.680 --> 00:32:32.520 when they thought the Messiah kings come in at least for a name. And they should have, you know, 370 00:32:32.520 --> 00:32:36.440 this guy won't even give him a face to face. So he could probably just about have his head. 371 00:32:36.440 --> 00:32:41.160 And before he does something like that, he's leaving in a rage. But the thing is, if he leaves in 372 00:32:41.160 --> 00:32:46.520 this rage and continues in that direction, it's terminal. He dies. And his real issue isn't the 373 00:32:46.520 --> 00:32:51.000 leprosy. That's just a surface he's symptom of a much deeper issue going on. It's the pride. 374 00:32:51.080 --> 00:32:59.240 That's what's really killing him and his men that he's with. They come running up to him. 375 00:32:59.240 --> 00:33:02.280 They're pleading with them. They're saying, name and look, you know, if this guy came out and 376 00:33:02.280 --> 00:33:06.520 give you some big, great thing to do, you would have done it. But to him, it seemed like foolishness. 377 00:33:06.520 --> 00:33:10.360 And they're great wisdom from his men and they loved him. They spoke that no doubt because they 378 00:33:10.360 --> 00:33:15.160 loved him. They care about him. They cared about him. And it seemed foolishness to him. And that's 379 00:33:15.160 --> 00:33:18.600 kind of how the preaching of the cross says to it says in the New Testament, the preaching of the 380 00:33:18.600 --> 00:33:21.960 cross is foolishness to those that are perishing. He looked at that water and thought, I got 381 00:33:21.960 --> 00:33:26.280 better water than I'm from. If I could just wash it off when I go wash it off back where I'm from. 382 00:33:26.280 --> 00:33:32.760 Exactly. But something that those guys said, God uses it. It gets through. And that's how it is. 383 00:33:32.760 --> 00:33:37.000 I think for us is, well, I've had people say things to me. You know, my parents praying right 384 00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:41.880 behind their door, or I've had little remarks made by Christians, when I wasn't a Christian, 385 00:33:41.880 --> 00:33:46.600 that set off almost like a butterfly effect in my heart and in my mind, things that I couldn't 386 00:33:46.600 --> 00:33:53.720 put my head on my pillow at night without thinking about it obsessively. And if things that God 387 00:33:53.720 --> 00:33:58.120 used, and I go back to those people, I think of one Navy SEAL, he's a Christian ministry now. His 388 00:33:58.120 --> 00:34:03.480 name is Jeff Bramsted. I tried to get him to recall that he told me once that God will not work with 389 00:34:03.480 --> 00:34:09.800 you until he, you give him an empty template to work with Chad. That rocked my world. Well, I go 390 00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:15.000 back years later to let him know just what an effect that had on me and how that played a part in 391 00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:21.240 my salvation. He goes, I said that. Like, yeah, you said that. Are you sure that was me? 392 00:34:21.240 --> 00:34:24.840 Like, I know exactly where we're standing when you said that. He goes, that doesn't sound like 393 00:34:24.840 --> 00:34:30.520 something that I, I want to put it that way. I'm like, dude, that was you. Apparently, that's what God 394 00:34:30.520 --> 00:34:35.400 did with your mouth. That's right. And so God could use it so powerfully. God's using so 395 00:34:35.400 --> 00:34:39.560 powerfully these words of these men that care about naming. Come on, name and look. I think this is 396 00:34:39.560 --> 00:34:44.120 where God began to get through and name and realizes it's not the water that's going to fix me. 397 00:34:44.120 --> 00:34:48.440 It's true. I do have cleaner water on from. But what's going to fix me here is it's going to be 398 00:34:48.440 --> 00:34:54.920 the God of Israel. He's going to do the heavy lifting. If I simply am faithful, if I'm just faithful 399 00:34:54.920 --> 00:35:00.040 and go out and dip those seven times, he'll be faithful. Brown water, he's going to do his thing. 400 00:35:00.040 --> 00:35:05.320 He comes up that seventh time and then the Hebrew, the picture is he had brand new skin like that of a 401 00:35:05.320 --> 00:35:10.920 baby. Yeah. And I remember just having my world rocked by that, listening, relating with name and 402 00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:15.480 then it got so personal as it's pointed out that, look, just his name and as a certain man on 403 00:35:15.480 --> 00:35:21.000 the outside, who are you in front of your friends? Who are you in front of your co-workers, your 404 00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:25.960 family? And that was me. I wear the armor of being a seal. But at that stage of my life, inwardly, 405 00:35:25.960 --> 00:35:30.680 I felt like I was more miserable than I'd ever been. But I don't let that out. I don't wear that 406 00:35:30.680 --> 00:35:35.960 on my sleeve, just like you cover up any kind of vulnerability. I'm sure name and covered up his 407 00:35:35.960 --> 00:35:42.360 leprosy. But it felt like, man, I'm just being totally exposed right now. I am this dead man 408 00:35:42.360 --> 00:35:48.680 walking like name and the real issue here is this pride. I put everything into becoming a navy 409 00:35:48.680 --> 00:35:53.640 seal thinking that's going to deliver the ultimate and only God can really deliver the ultimate 410 00:35:53.640 --> 00:35:58.040 because he is the ultimate and anything else you put in that place is really just an idol and it 411 00:35:58.040 --> 00:36:03.640 will leave you hungry and thirsty for more. And so this condition, name and had this leprosy 412 00:36:03.640 --> 00:36:08.360 spiritually speaking, all of us apart from God are like spiritual lepers. We're all spotted and 413 00:36:08.360 --> 00:36:12.680 blotted and blemished in sin. And just like name and couldn't do anything to get the leprosy off 414 00:36:12.680 --> 00:36:18.360 of himself, there's nothing that we can do to get sin off of ourselves. But if we're faithful, 415 00:36:18.360 --> 00:36:23.560 God will be faithful to do the heavy lifting, not by dipping into a Jordan river. But what God did 416 00:36:23.560 --> 00:36:29.240 is he dipped his son down into the world. That's Jesus to live that holy perfect sinless life. So 417 00:36:29.320 --> 00:36:34.600 not for one split second that he ever sined. So he's holy. He's pure. He's without blemish. 418 00:36:34.600 --> 00:36:41.000 And the picture that really hit me that night was that Jesus at the cross traded skin with you and 419 00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:47.640 I pictured it the leprosy, the spiritual sin. He took it all on himself so that I could be switched 420 00:36:47.640 --> 00:36:53.640 and lavish with God's grace and mercy, died in my place at the cross and conquered death, 421 00:36:53.640 --> 00:36:59.160 rising again, you know, which was his vindication that he's no blasphemer. He truly is who 422 00:36:59.160 --> 00:37:06.040 he claimed to be the son of God. And it just clicked. I got it that night and it hit me and I 423 00:37:06.040 --> 00:37:11.240 responded and all I could say is the scriptures are true. If any man being Christ, he's a new creation. 424 00:37:11.240 --> 00:37:15.640 You know, old things pass away, behold, all things become new. And my outlook, one of the things I 425 00:37:15.640 --> 00:37:20.920 immediately understood is while I still am a seal and I will finish out this time as a seal on 426 00:37:20.920 --> 00:37:26.440 the seal for Christ, but also I want to be a part of sharing this message because while I might be 427 00:37:26.440 --> 00:37:31.640 able to save somebody's life on the battlefield, perhaps if we're fortunate enough, eventually that 428 00:37:31.640 --> 00:37:37.400 person will die. But if you save somebody's soul, you save them for all eternity. So this is the 429 00:37:37.400 --> 00:37:42.440 much more important battlefront is getting involved in ministry as silly as it might seem to the 430 00:37:42.440 --> 00:37:48.280 rest of the world. You know, I want to go all in on this over here. And so from that point forward, 431 00:37:48.280 --> 00:37:56.040 I was all in, you know, for Christ. Well, let's let's do this. The battles, the battle is not over. 432 00:37:56.040 --> 00:38:04.680 It's a different battlefield right now for you. And you don't quit. You are watching the 433 00:38:04.680 --> 00:38:11.640 soul of your country, the soul of your state, your county, your city in the crosshairs of an enemy, 434 00:38:11.640 --> 00:38:18.680 ideology. And you're you've prayed and you've decided to do something about the next chapter of 435 00:38:18.680 --> 00:38:25.080 your life. Tell us what is it? So that hometown I'm always looking forward to get back home too. You 436 00:38:25.080 --> 00:38:29.480 know, while overseas hunting to Beach, California, surfing in the ocean, it's not only the town I was 437 00:38:29.480 --> 00:38:34.280 born and raised in, but I'm raising my kids there now. And you start paying attention a little bit 438 00:38:34.280 --> 00:38:38.920 more to your surrounding environment, you know, when you're raising your kids up. And I've come to 439 00:38:38.920 --> 00:38:43.560 the realization that unfortunately, you know, a lot of these pastime favorite places, what makes 440 00:38:43.560 --> 00:38:48.920 hunting to beach so great, they're beginning to a road away. And it has everything to do with the 441 00:38:48.920 --> 00:38:53.800 leadership, not only at the city council level, but then even beyond that, you know, the leadership 442 00:38:53.880 --> 00:38:59.480 in our state. And, you know, California, unfortunately, is kind of the laughing stock. It's a joke. 443 00:38:59.480 --> 00:39:03.960 I travel the nation and I tell people I'm from California and you can hear the grounds in the crowd. 444 00:39:03.960 --> 00:39:08.280 Chucky lane. But I'm proud to say that I'm from Huntington Beach because Huntington Beach is 445 00:39:08.280 --> 00:39:13.880 almost like a light that shines in the darkness. And I think of, you know, the gospel of John, 446 00:39:13.880 --> 00:39:18.040 how it talks about, you know, Jesus being the light of the world, how he came into the world, 447 00:39:18.040 --> 00:39:23.240 the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness could not overcome it. There's a little spark 448 00:39:23.240 --> 00:39:29.480 in Huntington Beach, California. And there is a metaphorical darkness in California that is 449 00:39:29.480 --> 00:39:34.600 trying to extinguish that light. And it comes down from the state, you know, from Sacramento, 450 00:39:34.600 --> 00:39:40.040 from the governor. Right. He's trying to extinguish that light, but it seems like for such a time 451 00:39:40.040 --> 00:39:45.800 like this, we have our community taking a stand. Yes. And for me in a big way, I mean, this is part 452 00:39:45.800 --> 00:39:50.600 of the mandate of being a Christian, it's Jesus Sermon in the mount that we're supposed to be salt. 453 00:39:50.680 --> 00:39:55.640 And we're supposed to be light. You know, meat, if it's just left to itself, what's going to happen? 454 00:39:55.640 --> 00:40:00.040 It's going to rot. It's going to decay. But the salt is a preservative. And the Christian is 455 00:40:00.040 --> 00:40:05.240 supposed to be that preservative in the world. We're supposed to be active. This is part of loving 456 00:40:05.240 --> 00:40:12.440 our neighbor as ourselves. Yeah. And so opening my eyes to the erosion and the rot that's happening 457 00:40:12.440 --> 00:40:16.440 in Huntington Beach. But I don't want this for my children. Well, it's not time to take off. 458 00:40:16.520 --> 00:40:21.720 Nothing against people that do that leave the state, you know, like governor Newsom is the number one 459 00:40:21.720 --> 00:40:27.400 U-Haul salesman year after year. He left it off, but it's an absolute fact. It's very true. Yeah. 460 00:40:27.400 --> 00:40:33.560 I think it's a joke. It's for it's for real. Those words hit one day downtown where I just kind of 461 00:40:33.560 --> 00:40:38.280 saw how things are just really falling apart in Huntington. The words that that go, you know, 462 00:40:38.280 --> 00:40:42.200 all that's required for evil to try it is for good men to stand back and do nothing. 463 00:40:42.840 --> 00:40:47.320 I got hit with that and I thought somebody should do something about what's going on here. 464 00:40:47.320 --> 00:40:51.560 And it wasn't long before I put myself in the crosshairs of those words like, oh, you think so. 465 00:40:51.560 --> 00:40:57.640 Well, how about you? And it wasn't a very big logical leap from, you know, I served my country. 466 00:40:57.640 --> 00:41:02.680 I'm willing to do some civic duty, you know, as well. And I'm willing to do this for the sake of 467 00:41:02.680 --> 00:41:07.400 family and friends and for the sake of faith, faith family and friends. Those have always been, 468 00:41:07.400 --> 00:41:12.680 you know, really my motivators that that thing that gets uncommon desire really working in my life. 469 00:41:13.480 --> 00:41:19.640 And so it really sparked right there for me that day when I saw just the drastic changes in erosion. 470 00:41:19.640 --> 00:41:25.320 And then completely unsolicited and just past her joe pedic from Calvary Chapel, the harbors. 471 00:41:25.960 --> 00:41:29.720 He calls me and he wants to pray about something. I don't know what it's about. I'm already thinking 472 00:41:29.720 --> 00:41:34.840 about running for city council. And he says, I want to pray about you considering running for city 473 00:41:34.840 --> 00:41:39.640 council. And I'm like, who put you up to this? He goes, what do you mean? And I'm like naming names. 474 00:41:39.640 --> 00:41:43.000 It's so-and-so or so-and-so. They say something. Did they tell you to do this? He goes, no. 475 00:41:43.640 --> 00:41:48.440 This is just what the Lord said on my heart. And it was after we went into a little private prayer room 476 00:41:48.440 --> 00:41:53.960 and we prayed about it. That was really the beginning of it right there. Just going into it full swing. 477 00:41:53.960 --> 00:41:59.080 And so I'm running for city council in Huntington Beach. And what we're trying to do is, you know, 478 00:41:59.080 --> 00:42:04.280 we're trying to take a stand for righteousness in that town and we are up against really the state 479 00:42:04.280 --> 00:42:11.240 on it. You know, it's true. The state has come after you, the city, the city. For those of you who 480 00:42:11.240 --> 00:42:17.160 don't know, Huntington Beach, there are pockets, believe it or not, in California that are 481 00:42:17.160 --> 00:42:26.760 little gems of freedom and love and faith and flag. And Huntington is one of those places. It's a 482 00:42:26.760 --> 00:42:35.880 unique place. But it was incredibly targeted by Gavin Newsom during the COVID circus. 483 00:42:36.680 --> 00:42:44.280 And it has continued to be, as if I remember right, the state tried to mandate low income 484 00:42:44.280 --> 00:42:51.800 high density housing. Huntington Beach said, wait a minute. We have a, we've got a persona here 485 00:42:52.760 --> 00:42:59.320 of the city that is legendary. And we're not going to have some outside cowboys come on in. 486 00:42:59.320 --> 00:43:03.320 And the city stood against the state. They're still standing against the state, which is one of 487 00:43:03.320 --> 00:43:11.160 the reasons why I love that city. But you're running and you're running with several other 488 00:43:11.160 --> 00:43:18.920 guys with Lord willing to take the city council. And this is your fight. This is your battle. 489 00:43:18.920 --> 00:43:26.360 Listen, elaborate, but they tried to discredit him. Chad sent me photos of his, his 490 00:43:27.080 --> 00:43:34.760 signs being vandalized. He's being hated by some really messed up people, which tells you that 491 00:43:34.760 --> 00:43:40.920 you should vote for Chad. If these crazy balls are against him, then that tells you how to vote. 492 00:43:41.880 --> 00:43:50.280 But what can people do, Chad, give us, give us some, what can we do initiatives for us, 493 00:43:50.280 --> 00:43:55.800 motivate us? Right. So number one, you know, if you live in Huntington Beach, I need your vote. 494 00:43:55.800 --> 00:43:59.800 And not just myself, but those two others that I'm running with. So it's easy to remember. 495 00:43:59.800 --> 00:44:05.240 We're, we're referred to, we've been coined the HB3. So it's Don Kennedy, butch twining and myself, 496 00:44:05.240 --> 00:44:10.120 Chad Williams. We also have a city clerk that will operate as our air support. That's Lisa 497 00:44:10.120 --> 00:44:13.800 Lane Barnes. Awesome. So it's so important that we get her elected as well. 498 00:44:13.800 --> 00:44:18.040 The way that my team got set up on that ambush, it had everything to do with back channeling 499 00:44:18.040 --> 00:44:23.000 of information around to the enemy. There you go. As we speak right now on our city council, 500 00:44:23.000 --> 00:44:27.960 we have three that are not friends. They are foes. They are friends with Governor Newsom. 501 00:44:27.960 --> 00:44:32.680 They don't advocate for Huntington Beach in Sacramento. They advocate for Sacramento in Huntington 502 00:44:32.680 --> 00:44:38.600 Beach. And they know strategically what our city attorney is going to do before he does it 503 00:44:38.680 --> 00:44:44.200 because that information that he has to share is obligated to share with the council gets back 504 00:44:44.200 --> 00:44:49.160 channeled from those three up to Sacramento so that they could keep hitting them off at the past. 505 00:44:49.160 --> 00:44:54.440 And it's like we're being set up on an ambush. And so we need that united front on the council. 506 00:44:54.440 --> 00:44:58.600 That was what led to mission success when my team was set up on an ambush. We had the united 507 00:44:58.600 --> 00:45:03.480 front. And so right now we have these three traitorous foes that are sharing this information. 508 00:45:03.480 --> 00:45:07.320 So we have an opportunity. Here they are. They're trying to sell us out. We have an opportunity on 509 00:45:07.320 --> 00:45:12.360 November 5th to vote them out. And so if people love Governor Newsom, hey, these, 510 00:45:12.360 --> 00:45:16.520 these three, they love Newsom. And so you could remember them. They are the Newsom three 511 00:45:16.520 --> 00:45:22.040 some. They go with them. But if you don't have love for Newsom and his policies that have destroyed 512 00:45:22.040 --> 00:45:27.000 California and you really want change, you know, like we're not politicians. We're hometown 513 00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:30.360 patriots. hometown boys. That's right. And we're trying to take a stand for righteousness. 514 00:45:30.360 --> 00:45:35.160 You're not amazing about what you're saying. And please everybody get this. And you might say, 515 00:45:35.560 --> 00:45:41.640 I'm watching from St. Louis. It doesn't matter. The very same similar scenario could be 516 00:45:41.640 --> 00:45:46.200 playing out in your town. What are you going to do about it? That's why for us to preserve, 517 00:45:46.200 --> 00:45:54.200 listen, some go to war and some don't. But we all go to war for truth when we vote. 518 00:45:55.240 --> 00:45:59.880 Okay. This is, and by the way, it is a gift given to us in this republic that we live in. 519 00:45:59.960 --> 00:46:06.600 That we have the Christian I'm talking do has the responsibility to vote because people 520 00:46:06.600 --> 00:46:12.440 died to give us that freedom to vote. And we cannot take an opportunity or a talent given to us 521 00:46:12.440 --> 00:46:18.280 by God and bury it. Read the Gospels. Read what Jesus says about that. It doesn't go well. 522 00:46:18.280 --> 00:46:22.600 When you have a chance to make a difference, you have to do that Christian. Don't sit it out. 523 00:46:23.240 --> 00:46:28.840 So the thing is, here's Huntington Beach, a bubble of liberty and freedom. In fact, 524 00:46:29.400 --> 00:46:34.840 one of the most amazing things, I mean, there's so much about Huntington Beach. But one of the 525 00:46:34.840 --> 00:46:40.040 one of the things, I don't know if you're aware of this, you probably are. But the air show, 526 00:46:40.040 --> 00:46:48.120 Ashkosh, Wisconsin air show was the biggest air show in America forever until the great Pacific 527 00:46:48.120 --> 00:46:55.720 air show and Huntington Beach, California. It's epic. It's just the spirit of that city. Now, 528 00:46:55.720 --> 00:47:03.800 here's the thing. If you live in that city and Chad, his name and butch, twining and Don Kennedy, 529 00:47:03.800 --> 00:47:13.880 and the HB three show up on your ballot. You should vote to preserve and to advance this hometown 530 00:47:13.960 --> 00:47:20.520 spirit that is Huntington Beach. If I remember right, you guys have the biggest 4th of July parade 531 00:47:20.520 --> 00:47:26.840 west of the Mississippi, right? That's right. And it's old school awesome. It's incredible. But 532 00:47:26.840 --> 00:47:32.040 what do people, where do they go to support you to help you? You've been sued. You've been attacked. 533 00:47:32.040 --> 00:47:37.480 That's right. They're trying to do everything to stop you. I've had to spend about $10,000 in court, 534 00:47:37.480 --> 00:47:42.680 go to Superior Court three different times, just simply defending the dignity of the fact that, 535 00:47:43.080 --> 00:47:51.160 I am a Navy SEAL veteran. They wanted nobody to know that I have anything to do with being the 536 00:47:51.160 --> 00:47:56.920 SEALs. And so they've tried to sue me over it. They used a guy that is convicted of so many crimes 537 00:47:56.920 --> 00:48:02.040 to be the proxy to sue me so that I can't really fire back because he has no assets to go after. 538 00:48:02.040 --> 00:48:06.520 It's law fair and it's happening on a local level. And so here's the biggest help that you folks 539 00:48:06.520 --> 00:48:14.600 can really perform on is the big difference maker of outcomes when my mentor was ambushed 540 00:48:14.600 --> 00:48:19.320 and my team was ambushed. It's the same in put SEALs. It's an ambush. The difference of outcomes 541 00:48:19.320 --> 00:48:23.640 had everything to do with the resources that we had behind us. Unfortunately for my mentor, 542 00:48:23.640 --> 00:48:27.640 when they were supposed to have armored vehicles because of budget cuts and money reasons, 543 00:48:27.640 --> 00:48:31.640 they didn't have armored vehicles. They're supposed to have heavy weapon machine guns, 544 00:48:31.640 --> 00:48:36.120 but because of money reasons, they didn't have the heavy weapon machine guns. All these things 545 00:48:36.120 --> 00:48:39.800 they should have had, but they didn't have, while they're out there on the front lines. 546 00:48:39.800 --> 00:48:46.200 So you have the skill set there, but they don't have the armory, the weapons behind them to actually 547 00:48:46.200 --> 00:48:51.560 allow them to shoot, move, and communicate to perform to their ability in a very similar way. 548 00:48:51.560 --> 00:48:56.520 That's kind of what's taking place on this sort of battlefield in Huntington Beach is that I'm 549 00:48:56.520 --> 00:49:00.680 going to the front lines of the battle. My SEAL team, when we are ambushed, we had all those 550 00:49:00.680 --> 00:49:04.920 things that we needed. We had the heavy weapon machine guns. We had the armory, and it gave us 551 00:49:04.920 --> 00:49:09.640 the tools for success. So we're going forward to this front lines battle and folks that are 552 00:49:09.640 --> 00:49:13.320 watching right now that aren't from Huntington Beach, you have the opportunity to function as that 553 00:49:13.320 --> 00:49:18.680 armory. You could provide the resources. You could provide the ammunition as it were by supporting 554 00:49:18.680 --> 00:49:24.280 the campaign so that myself and my teammates have what we need in order to fight that fight, 555 00:49:24.280 --> 00:49:28.840 so that we could be that united front that fights to victory. And so you guys could go to my 556 00:49:28.840 --> 00:49:33.640 website. It's pretty easy to remember. Hopefully we'll get a little lower third here. It's 557 00:49:33.640 --> 00:49:41.400 Chad4hb.com. If you go to Chad4hb.com, you'll find a link that you can click, says donate now, 558 00:49:41.400 --> 00:49:47.000 and that would really be the biggest support. And I really do need that help. Like I said, my 559 00:49:47.000 --> 00:49:52.600 opponents, they have outside help. They have unlimited help coming from the outside and really hurting 560 00:49:52.600 --> 00:49:57.720 me and hitting me hard, taking me to the courts. And so if the Christian community stands up, 561 00:49:57.720 --> 00:50:02.040 you know, it gives me that help. It would just really provide what I need to fight it out on 562 00:50:02.040 --> 00:50:06.840 the front lines of that battle. Yeah, absolutely. Everybody want to encourage you. And you don't have 563 00:50:06.840 --> 00:50:12.040 to be a citizen of HB to help. In fact, if you're a veteran, I think you ought to, you ought to help 564 00:50:12.040 --> 00:50:19.080 this guy out, man. But I tell you what, locally, please make sure you register to vote. Please 565 00:50:19.080 --> 00:50:25.880 make sure you do vote and vote early. I do believe in California. Voting begins October 8th. I 566 00:50:25.880 --> 00:50:34.840 think it is early October start and vote early. But by all means, make your voice count. This is how, 567 00:50:34.840 --> 00:50:43.000 you know, we change governments in this country by the stroke of a pen. We don't use bombs and guns. 568 00:50:43.000 --> 00:50:47.720 At least it's been like that for 250 years. I don't know how much longer it's going to stay like 569 00:50:47.720 --> 00:50:52.600 that, but we live in crazy times. Man, we got candidates getting shot at. I mean, this is a wild, 570 00:50:52.600 --> 00:50:59.320 wild world, we're in right now. We need to take back our God-given freedoms. Now, look, 571 00:50:59.320 --> 00:51:03.240 you and I hope Jesus Christ comes back today, but we're fighting like he's not coming back for 572 00:51:03.240 --> 00:51:09.160 100 years. And by doing that, by the way, we stay ready and trained up to expect him. And at 573 00:51:09.160 --> 00:51:17.640 the same time, doing the right thing. So the website again, chad4hb.com. And this is a war that we're 574 00:51:17.640 --> 00:51:22.840 in. I love CS Lewis's quote. He says, enemy occupied territory. That is what this world is. 575 00:51:22.840 --> 00:51:28.680 But Christianity is the story about how our rightful king has landed. You might say in disguise. 576 00:51:28.680 --> 00:51:34.840 And now he's calling us all to take part in his great campaign of sabotage verbatim. Good job. He 577 00:51:34.840 --> 00:51:42.120 just, he just nailed Lewis verbatim. And that's perfect. Excellent. So you guys get out there and vote, 578 00:51:42.120 --> 00:51:47.720 vote hb vote for chad. And go to his website, please. So, God bless you guys. 579 00:51:52.440 --> 00:51:58.360 This Jack Hibbs podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported. 580 00:51:58.360 --> 00:52:05.560 Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more 581 00:52:05.560 --> 00:52:07.720 and stay connected.