Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
E. 35 More Than Music: Kenny Barnwell’s Story of Courage, Faith & Moving Forward
20 Plays1 month ago
What happens when your entire life changes in an instant?
In this powerful episode, I sit down with Kenny Barnwell—a keynote speaker, author, and survivor who spent over two decades touring with music legends like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and the Jonas Brothers. But one life-altering moment on tour in Monterrey, Mexico—when he was attacked by cartel—changed everything.
This conversation is about:
🔥 Surviving the unimaginable
🔥 Rediscovering your purpose
🔥 And using your pain to fuel your mission
Kenny shares how that moment of fear became the spark for something bigger—his calling to help people move forward no matter what life throws at them. He now brings his true story of resilience and redemption to stages across the country to remind others what they’re capable of when it matters most.
If you've ever felt stuck, afraid, or unsure of your next move—this episode will move you in the best way.
DONT MISS HIS NEW BOOK: Comes out on August 25:
Connect with Kenny at kennybarnwell.com
LETS CONNECT
- Share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it.
- Subscribe & leave a review—it means the world!
- Instagram @itsdanielle.thats.me
- Get Your Free 7 Day Journal. Thank you for supporting my podcast! It means so much to have you as part of this community. Remember, you are seen, you are valued, and you are right on time.
2025: YOUR Comeback Year Starts NOW!
Click HERE to join the movement through Activation with Life Vantage
This is more than just a weight-loss journey- it's about reclaiming your health, confidence, and unstoppable energy. Learn how Life Vantage's natural GLP-1 activator can help you crush cravings, boost your glow, and thrive like never before. Ready to make 2025 your best year yet?
Let’s Stay Connected: Subscribe to Oh, There You Are for weekly inspiration, empowering stories, and actionable steps to unlock your potential. Don’t forget to leave a review and share this episode with someone who needs a reminder that they’re never too far gone to change their life.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Purpose
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey friend, I'm so glad you're here. Welcome to oh There You Are. This is the podcast for anyone who's ready to step out of the shadows of self-doubt and into the life they've always dreamed of.
00:00:13
Speaker
I'm your host, Danielle, a wife, mom, and registered nurse who spent way too long believing my voice didn't matter. But guess what? It does, and does yours.
00:00:25
Speaker
If you've been holding back, waiting for the perfect moment, or telling yourself you're not enough, this is your reminder you are more than enough.
Podcast Structure & Listener Encouragement
00:00:35
Speaker
You've always been enough.
00:00:36
Speaker
Everything you need is already inside you. In this space, we're going to push past fear, stop hitting snooze on life, and start going after what we really want. Each week, I'll bring you solo episodes and interviews with people who had the courage to go first so that you can go next.
00:00:55
Speaker
So grab your favorite drink, settle in, and let's go. And hey, don't forget to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode because we're just getting started. And remember, you're not late.
00:01:08
Speaker
You're right on time. And I can't wait to see where this journey takes us.
Introduction to Kenny & His Background
00:01:14
Speaker
Hey, friend. Welcome back to all There You Are. Today, I want to introduce you to Kenny Barnwell.
00:01:21
Speaker
He is a keynote speaker, author, and a survivor on a mission to help audiences keep moving forward no matter what life th throws their way. Over 20 years, Kenny, he traveled the globe putting on concerts with worldwide renowned known artists like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Jonas Brothers.
00:01:41
Speaker
But it was one life-altering moment that when he was attacked by cartel while on tour in Monterey, Mexico, that changed everything. Now he brings this true story of survival to stages across the country, not just as a motivational speaker, but as a moment that reminds people what they're capable of when it matters most.
00:02:02
Speaker
Kenny, he lives in Nashville with his wife and two kids.
Kenny's Early Challenges & Music Industry Journey
00:02:05
Speaker
He's the founder of Cruise Fire, author of multiple music business books, And still kind of hopes he gets that cast on Naked and Afraid one day.
00:02:15
Speaker
So if everybody gives a warm welcome for Kenny. Welcome. hey thank you so much, Danielle. i appreciate that. And i I'm not sure about the Naked and Afraid part anymore, man, after that last experience that I had. No, I'm kidding. I mean, it's a pretty wild show. I watch that all the time. And I'm like, how do they get to NERV?
00:02:34
Speaker
Like stark naked. Do you know things crawl up inside your body? Like that's what worries me the most. Yeah. And I'm like very fair skin. I know that y'all can't see me right now, but I'm very fair skin, red beard, you know, and so um would probably burn pretty quickly, but I still want to do it.
00:02:50
Speaker
I don't know, man. I just, have I have the courage to totally try it. Hey, I mean, what you're about to tell us you, I believe you can do absolutely anything. So yeah.
00:03:01
Speaker
I just want to honor your story and want to let you kind of take us and start whichever part of this journey that you want to bring us in and kind of see how it develops from there.
00:03:12
Speaker
Okay, sure. Well, I know that um you and I spoke a little bit about this already. And, you know, most of the time when I when i kind of mention this to people, i give them obviously the cliff notes version because it's it's pretty crazy. It's almost unbelievable.
00:03:28
Speaker
Yeah. had i not gone through it myself. um But I'm not really sure where best to start. I could start kind of like what brought me down there in the first place.
00:03:39
Speaker
Well, I mean, what do I mean, your heart, you're here to share a purpose, right? And you said that you have, you know, you're here to share your heart and you're on a new journey. yeah If you want to give us a quick backstory. Yeah. Maybe how you got to Mexico, what were you, you know, there and doing. I mean, we kind of said it in your intro um and then can tell us like what happened and where your next journey, you know, is taking you next.
00:04:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. You know what? I'll, tell I'll start here. I've always been a fitness guy and I've always been someone to like put myself through intentional hard things. And I think it was because of how I grew up.
00:04:14
Speaker
Um, And I'll just, in that context, I grew up on a little dead end dirt road in Villa Rica, Georgia, about 45 minutes outside of Atlanta to deaf parents. My parents couldn't hear.
00:04:27
Speaker
And so I learned a lot from them of what it meant to, you know, kind of take ownership of your life, not victimize yourself and really just make something of yourself. um However, when I was about 14 and a half years old, my parents went through a a divorce. They kind of, I was the last of five left in the house and they sat me down and was like, son, we're getting a divorce and you need to choose which parents you want to go to.
00:04:52
Speaker
And to be honest with you, I didn't choose a parent. I just chose the town that I had grown up in. okay And i know that hurt my mother because she was headed in one direction. My dad was staying in the town. And, but while they were all finding themselves, I ended up finding drugs and And I dropped out of high school at about 15 and a half years old.
00:05:14
Speaker
And I went down to Jacksonville, Florida, which was where we had spent summers growing up to visit my great grandmother. um so it was the only other town that I knew outside of of my little town. And I just I went down there on my own and started to get really strung out on drugs. And I found myself by the time I was 15 and a half homeless.
00:05:33
Speaker
Wow. And from 15 and a half to about 17 and a half, I just bummed around working odd in jobs and really just kind of living day to day.
00:05:44
Speaker
um Pretty, pretty bumming, obviously. But I met an entrepreneur that I was doing some work for and he saw some potential in me. Love it. And we, he was so excited about getting these couple books.
00:05:56
Speaker
He was like, let's go to Borders. I've ordered these books. I've waited weeks for them. And he was so excited about these books. And, you know, at the time I like, I read a little bit, but I was just kind of like, whatever, I'm into my guitar. I'm into music and I'm.
00:06:08
Speaker
basically into drugs. Like that was it. That was it. You know, i was a teenager and ah he goes, I'll tell you what, I'll give you 20 extra dollars per book. If you read these books, he knew that they were going to plant some seed in me and 20 bucks back in the late nineties was like, and you know, not too bad. It went actually a pretty long way. Yeah.
00:06:27
Speaker
And so I did. And they did plan to see these books was who moved my cheese. You ever heard of that one, Danielle? um I think I heard a leadership person share about it, but I actually have never read it though. Well, that's exactly right. It's a leadership type book. It just kind of helps you realize that you're not a victim.
00:06:44
Speaker
You know, you you can like really take ownership of your situation, regardless of what you lose in your life. And I and i had clearly lost that stability as a young teen. And the second book was Rich Dad, Poor Dad, which was kind of like that investment mentality type book, pretty popular
Kenny's Career Transition to Author & Speaker
00:06:59
Speaker
book.
00:06:59
Speaker
But they planted a seed in me. And from that moment on, I started to raise my standards. I ended up buying this, saving up $1,000 to buy a van. So I ended up having a stable place to live. Yeah. And I went back to my little town outside of Atlanta to to get away from the drug scene in Jacksonville to get my life in order. And I met this lady and she was like, I can get you a job in the music business.
00:07:26
Speaker
And I was like, the music business, what is that all about? She's like, well, you know, you could help set up concerts or trade shows or, you know, fashion shows or corporate events. You could work backstage with audio and lighting and video and work with bands. And I was like, and they pay you to do this?
00:07:41
Speaker
You know, like that seems like a pretty dream type of job. And I was like, well, I don't have any college degree. i' I'd finally gotten my GED. And she was like she was like, no, no, you just, you know, you start at the bottom and work your way up. i was like, oh, OK.
00:07:54
Speaker
And so I ended up getting when I was 18 an opportunity to work as a stagehand in the music industry, which is like a laborer that helps set up concerts locally. And from there, I just, I found my tribe. I found my people. I ended up finding my my purpose in the in the music business.
00:08:12
Speaker
And what's so crazy about the music business, Danielle, is you don't need a college degree or a certificate or anything like that to become an audio engineer, a lighting designer, video engineers, or what I ended up becoming in the event business is what's called a backline technician. you ever heard that term before, backline? and No. No.
00:08:33
Speaker
Okay, well, so i mean <unk> I'll teach you teach you something because i'm I'm looking at you now. I see the guitars in the background yeah because I know that your your husband and your son plays guitars.
00:08:45
Speaker
Well, backline is all of the music instruments that on the stage. So that's the actual name of the department. okay Any technicians that take care of like guitars, drums, keyboards, things like that are backline technicians.
00:09:00
Speaker
And about a year and a half as a stagehand, I find, man, backline is my passion because I play guitar. That's pretty much the only thing I had with me in my van was my guitar. And I ended up specializing in backline. And by the time I was not quite 20, I had gotten my first tour.
00:09:18
Speaker
So exciting. yeah I got my first one. I used to, I like to always say like, I went from living in my van to an even bigger van on a tour bus, you know, yes but, um but like, I just went after this dream and I ended up spending a little over 20 years traveling the
Surviving the Cartel Attack in Mexico
00:09:37
Speaker
world with some of the, the biggest artists in the world. Me, the guy that, you know, grew up in rural Georgia and lived in my van.
00:09:43
Speaker
and so, and so It was not obviously easy to kind of climb that mountain of of dream, so to speak, yeah to to put a little hint for the future. but But, you know, through all of that experience, you know, i really started to to kind of pinpoint Why I was successful, which was because I really focused on myself about raising my standards and bettering myself and taking ownership of my life despite where I came from.
00:10:15
Speaker
yeah and And so I intentionally sought out what they used to call it self-help, but now it's called personal development. Yeah, yeah you got it. But I still love the self-help thing because I did need to to help myself through all of this trial, you know? Absolutely. You can only meet so many people who are going to help you along. But if you don't try to put any effort or help yourself, then you're not going to be successful at it.
00:10:39
Speaker
Yeah, well, that's right. Yeah, exactly. And I ended up creating wild success in in my in my industry. you You mentioned I wrote books. And Crewspire, by the way, is a career life and coaching coaching and training business specifically for event and touring crew. And I've helped hundreds of people do what I've done over the years.
00:11:02
Speaker
And in fact, that's kind of what led me towards this this Mexico experience that I was going to share here. i um I've been wanting to last five years of my touring career really make a plunge into full-time authoring and coaching and speaking.
00:11:19
Speaker
But the road has a way of pulling you back. You know, and I would probably say the same thing with any career, you know, anything that you're so used to, like you're used to making a certain income level or certain like industry that just you keep falling back into this, this industry. Now, don't get me wrong. It's an amazing industry, but now I have kids.
00:11:38
Speaker
Yeah. Well, it's safe and it's comfortable and it's familiar. So, yeah. And, you know, I was good at it. And of course, again, the, the, the pay is really difficult to beat, um, in the traditional job, uh,
00:11:52
Speaker
realm, I guess. And but plus my wife, um her and I met on a tour. My wife's a professional dancer and we met out on tour with Ariana Grande, traveled the world with each other. And so she also understood that like touring is a career, not a job.
00:12:09
Speaker
You know, it's a it's a different type of thing. And but still, I'm like, um I'm like, I just want to go and try to make this leap to go into this new career. And so I remember last year I'm flying to Mumbai, India to do Lollapalooza, Mumbai.
00:12:25
Speaker
like You know, just life on the road. Yeah. No big deal. But I'm flying to Mumbai and I finally like I had this just this kind of divine, you know, intuition, self-talk experience on the airplane out there. Like, how many more shows do do I need to do?
00:12:47
Speaker
Like, how many more shows am I going to do before I make this leap to go and like start my next phase of my life, my next mountain, so to speak? And, um, and so I landed in Mumbai, get to the hotel. I called my wife. I said, I'm putting in my notice with the band I was with.
00:13:05
Speaker
And i was like, but don't worry. It's not like going to be two weeks from now or 30 days from now. Like I'm going to do like at the end of this kind of bulk of the tour, there's like last shows are Mexico. And they then they'll go off to Europe, you know, a few weeks after. But I'm not going to do Europe. I'm going to end in Mexico. I'll give them plenty enough time and us plenty enough runway to prepare for this.
00:13:26
Speaker
And of course, my wife's a big, you know, I mean, we're a team, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And so we go through, you know, the year and I get down to South America and I get down to Mexico or, i you know, on the South America tour, we get down to Mexico and the tour manager's coming to me. He's like, you know, Kenny, like if you just want to remove your your notice and just just stay the last two months, do Europe with us.
00:13:51
Speaker
Like it's just two months, you know, you've done 20 plus, it's just two months. And I started to kind of entertain it, to be honest with you. called my wife. I'm like, what does that look like if I just did the next couple months?
00:14:02
Speaker
yeah You know, it's just two months in Europe. And she's like, you're doing it again. You know, like the road's pulling you back again. And I'm like, you're right. you know You're right. And so I'm like, nah, got to stick to my guns. But but I'm like, I didn't 100% say no to the tour manager.
00:14:19
Speaker
And we did our couple shows in Mexico City. And remember I was mentioning I love to do hard things. Well, This last part of the tour, before headed off to maybe my my new career, I was like, I'm going to do for a second time through the program 75 Hard. You ever heard of that program? Yes, I have. Yes.
00:14:40
Speaker
You ever done it? um i did the soft. I couldn't do the full hard. Yes. Well, I've done it actually multiple times. okay and And so it's it's very difficult to do, obviously. That's the whole point of the program. It's not a fitness program, although fitness is part of it. It's a mental toughness program. 100%.
00:14:58
Speaker
If for your listeners that don't know what 75 hard is, you can look it up. It's a, it's basically a mental toughness program where you have to do five things every single day. You do two 45 minute workouts.
00:15:10
Speaker
One of them has to be outside. Hint, hint. hu and You have to read 10 pages of a nonfiction book. You drink a gallon of water. You stick to some sort of nutrition diet. You take a progress picture of yourself and no alcohol.
00:15:22
Speaker
Yeah. And I love doing it on the road because, you know, 75 hard is hard enough, like when you have a structured schedule. But imagine traveling the world trying to fit it all in. when do you find the outside and find your surroundings and all of that? You just got to figure it out. And I had been doing it all. You know, I'm outdoor running around South America and all these different places. I was like running in Mexico City. And so that morning we wake up in Mexico City.
00:15:46
Speaker
This is August last year. Okay. And we wake up in Mexico City. I was like, well, I'm not going to be able to go outdoors like I had been doing to do my run. So I'll just wake up real early, go to the gym, and then that way i can get down to lobby calls because we're flying to Monterey.
00:16:02
Speaker
and And so I did just that. I woke up super early. Did my first indoor workout. We fly to Monterey and we didn't make it back to the hotel till about like 530 in the evening.
00:16:14
Speaker
Well, I had been to Monterey, you know, a bunch over the years. In fact, I was there not long before this trip. And the airport ride um to the hotel for Monterey, it's like it takes about an hour and it's through these mountains around through the city. And Monterey is absolutely beautiful. it's It's like super mountainous for your viewers. It's like think California style mountains, you know, very rocky, you know, like thorns and cactus and aloe. And just like it's it's really tall mountains, like beautiful.
00:16:46
Speaker
And it's a very rich city, too. Like on one side of the mountain is like. like high-end skyscrapers and like Gucci stores and like really nice ah tourist area. Then on the other it's like old Mexico.
00:16:58
Speaker
Okay. And, um but I was like, man, I want to go hiking. You know, I was like Googling hiking trails and all of that. And I make it to the hotel. was actually asking the production person that was with me. I was like showing her one of the trails that I want to hike in. She's like, you know, you would never make it back in time before dark. And you definitely don't want to be on the trails after dark.
00:17:16
Speaker
Yeah. And so I was like, ah, okay. i was like, well, I guess I'll just go for a run next to the hotel, you know? Um, so I go up to my room, dropped my bags and I called my wife and I'm looking out the back window of my hotel room. And I see this trail that goes up this back mountain Ridge to like a dirt road up top.
00:17:35
Speaker
Yeah. And I'd seen it last couple times I was there, but like this time I'm like, I'm watching it as I'm talking to her on the phone and I'm watching, I'm like, you know, I'm just seeing like everyday people go up this trail. People like families, old people, people in scrubs that clearly were working down at the hospital in the valley. And it looked to me like it was just like a local commuter trail that like the people that lived on the other side of the mountain ridge, instead of traveling all the way around the mountain, they just hike up and over and go work in the tourist side in the valley below.
00:18:05
Speaker
And then they go back up to ah go back up home. And was like, well, that'd be perfect. Like it's still sunny out. It's like, you know, 615 in the, in the evening time, it doesn't get dark till probably about seven or so. And, and I was like, that'd be perfect. So I was like, putting on my running clothes, I'm gonna go outside and do my 45 minute 75 hard workout.
00:18:22
Speaker
so five hard work out Oh, man. i was like, I'm just going to go do my quick run, come back, take a shower, draw you know, and then go to dinner with the guys.
Spiritual Guidance & Survival Journey
00:18:31
Speaker
Now, I always go out for a run. I'm the fitness guy. Like, I always do this. So it's like anybody that saw me leave or or is getting my running clothes on, they're like, that's just Kenny.
00:18:42
Speaker
There he goes. There he goes. and You know? And I text my wife. i was like, Hey, I'm going out for my run. talk to you later. Sometimes we, we try to have rules where it's like, um make sure I say goodnight to the kids or, or, um, say goodnight to her, but she had fallen asleep. So, you know, by the way, she didn't even know that, uh, this experience happened. And, um,
00:19:03
Speaker
I ended up putting on my running clothes. All I had with me was a water bottle, my phone, my my ah hotel room key, and my my wireless headphones. And that was it. Just some like running shorts and a t-shirt.
00:19:16
Speaker
And I was pretty pretty hungry too because I hadn't eaten and since breakfast. You know, your mom doing keto diet at the time on 75 Hard Plus. Remember, I woke up super early in Mexico City. Yeah.
00:19:27
Speaker
And so i go to hike up this trail, even past some of those locals, by the way, going up this hiking trail. It took about 15 minutes to get to the top of the mountain. And then I, you know, walked up the road, probably another 150 yards or so just to get a little bit more elevation, turned around and I started taking pictures of the valley because it's absolutely beautiful. I mean, the whole valley, you can see all the skyscrapers and like it's stunning. You know, there's my hotel ah block and a half away, by the way, it's right there. Yeah.
00:19:57
Speaker
And I finished taking my pictures, took a pano picture and go to turn around. And I'm walking back to the trailhead when all of a sudden this motorcycle pulls up right up on my right side, like steep mountain on my left.
00:20:14
Speaker
And then I'm on the dirt road and they pull up right up next to my right side. And like the guy in the back of the motorcycle, like motioning for my phone and they're, they're, you know, hollering at me in Spanish. I don't speak Spanish, but they're hollering at me motioning for my phone.
00:20:27
Speaker
And I just kind of play dumb. I just pointed to my headphones. Like I'm listening to um podcast, you know, listening to something, held up my water bottle like I'm on a run. And I just kind of kept walking a little bit faster. Yeah.
00:20:40
Speaker
You know, respectfully, like, oh I'm good, you know, and then just kept walking. And then all of a sudden, one of those guys was like had jumped off the motorcycle and was walking really fast right next to me, motioning for my phone.
00:20:54
Speaker
And at that point, it kind of startled me. And I, you know, like taken aback and I look back and the other guy had parked the motorcycle right in the middle of the road. And he had jumped off, grabbed a small boulder and was running at me.
00:21:09
Speaker
Oh, my goodness. And he throws the boulder and like I ducked and it almost hits my head. I duck and my first instinct was like, I'm out of here, man. Like, screw this. I'm out of here. I got kids. I'm not going to let these these guys jump me or whatever.
00:21:26
Speaker
And so I start taking off running. Now, mind you, these are men, teens. And I start taking off running for my life. And the one guy's, you know, kind of hot on my trail, but I'm clearly faster than him.
00:21:37
Speaker
And I'm trying to make it back to that trailhead because i was going to quickly slide down, like do whatever I could to evade these guys. yeah Because, you know, the mountain's pretty treacherous. outside of this trailhead. Again, thorns and cactus, like you don't just go on this mountain.
00:21:51
Speaker
And so I'm running, running, running, steep mountain to my left. And all of a sudden, another boulder comes flying by my head. This time it kind of clips my left ear and it calls me to tumble on the dirt road.
00:22:02
Speaker
when I did that, ah my phone busted, went everywhere. My water bottle busted and my my headphones popped out. And of course, I land on my hands and my knees really hard. And of course, if you've ever fallen on dirt road before, yeah gravel in your knees, gravel in your hands. So I'm like, I go to pick myself back up as quick as possible because I know the guy's on me.
00:22:24
Speaker
And I look back and here comes two more matching motorcycles with two guys apiece on them. hauling ass towards me. Wow. And I just, my immediate thought was, this is, this is probably the cartel.
00:22:39
Speaker
Cause you know, they, they talk about it to us as we're traveling about the different, you know, situations we could run into. And when I saw the matching motorcycles and and the guys hauling butt towards me, I thought, man, these guys, they're not going to like, they're not going You know, take me probably they're probably just going to erase me because this stuff's going in your mind. Like you hear about the cartel. They ah behead people. they they They make Americans disappear all the time.
00:23:08
Speaker
And I was like, I got two babies at home. You know, got two kids at home. And so I jump back up, I'm running for my life. And all of a sudden I hear the gunshots.
00:23:18
Speaker
I hear the first gunshot and I'm like, that's it. That's all it took. As soon as they shot once, my instinct was to leap off this mountain.
00:23:30
Speaker
And I'm going really fast forward. And of course the mountains really steep on my left side. And so when I jumped off the mountain, kind of frontward sideways, I go to try to land and it just snaps my femur.
00:23:45
Speaker
And I roll about 30 feet and slam into this cactus. wow And of course, you know, I'm like covered in cactus and I heard the snap. I screamed, you know, out loud. And of course, I also yelled like, I've got kids. Like I yelled this, you know, that was what was on my heart. and And I go to try to stand back up. And of course, this immense pain rushes over my body because I've got this broken hip and it causes me to fall again.
00:24:12
Speaker
and I break my forearm, my left forearm. Yeah. And I roll another 10, 15 feet. I pull myself into this thorn bush and I'm like, kind of compose myself for a minute.
00:24:24
Speaker
And I'm like, what the heck? Like, this is insane. You know, like they're after me. And and i hear like the other motorcycles finally show up on the top of the dirt road above me. I'm about 45 feet down the mountain at this point in this treacherous kind of area, all these thorn bushes.
00:24:39
Speaker
I'm hiding in the thorn bush and I hear like a couple of them go down to that trailhead in front of me because I was maybe like another 80 yards or so. And i look through the thorn bush and I see a couple of the guys,
00:24:53
Speaker
like start to make their way down to see where I had landed. Cause they hadn't seen me. Yeah. They didn't see where I had rolled. And I was like, man, i don't know what to do.
00:25:04
Speaker
Like, what do I do? Like if, if I move, maybe they'll, they'll hear me. And if I don't move and they find me, they're just going to kill me right here. Like, is this how I die? Like I was thinking about my wife. I was thinking about my kids. I was so sad for them that I had gotten myself into this situation And they had no clue. Obviously, here I am.
00:25:26
Speaker
Here's dad down here with a broken hip and broken arm. Like I was just on a run. And i just prayed to God. I said, God, Please, God. I said, please tell me what do I do?
00:25:39
Speaker
And right at that moment, Daniel, I got goosebumps. Right at that moment, this hummingbird flies right in front of my face and starts feeding on one of the flowers on this thorn bush.
00:25:51
Speaker
And in my mind, I'm like, wow. That is so beautiful. At the same thought, I'm like, God, you are such a comedian. Yeah. Showing me this beauty in this chaos. i was like, said, God, please tell me what to do.
00:26:05
Speaker
And I said, if I said, if you want me to live, please, God. Show me what to do. And at that moment, Danielle, this butterfly, this monarch butterfly flies right by my left side of my face.
00:26:17
Speaker
And I just hear this loud voice yelling at me saying, follow the butterfly. wow And with this divine strength, I just put my right hand down.
00:26:30
Speaker
ah put my left foot down and I just drug myself from the thorn bush that I was in followed this butterfly into an even denser thorn bush that was kind of like conjoined, but right in front of me, I drug myself through it. And of course it's ripping me to pieces, but there's like a hierarchy to pain, right? yes Like,
00:26:49
Speaker
I rip, I'm, you know, ripping my way through this thorn bush is, you know, quietly, but as like hard as I could with the, with considering my situation. and then the butterfly lands on the inside of the thorn bush, not startled by me at all.
00:27:03
Speaker
And I just crouch in there in about a minute and a half later, one of the guys comes around the bush and I'm like my, course of course my heart's beating. I'm like,
00:27:15
Speaker
You know, I'm like, just like, just like scared, you know, fight or flight. And like, I just heard this voice and I'm like, had to trust I'm following this butterfly into this dense thorn bush. yeah and by the grace of God, he they didn't see me. They didn't find me at that moment.
00:27:35
Speaker
And I'm sitting in this bush and I look across the valley And across the valley, I see the bottom of the sun touching the top of the mountain in the valley in the distance.
00:27:49
Speaker
And I just had this intuition, like I gotta wait till dark. I'm gonna have to sit here until dark, till the sun goes down. Cause if I move anymore, they're probably gonna see me, you know, I'm in this covered area and I'm just gonna sit here until dark.
00:28:05
Speaker
wow And to be honest with you, that's when the craziness started. but You're like, this is nothing yet. Oh, man. Like, obviously, that's insane that that that happened. But like, Danielle, I ended up and I'll obviously share details about what happened next.
00:28:25
Speaker
But I spent 12 hours on that mountain. wow Wow. 12 hours dragging my broken body down that mountain. with my broken hip and my broken arm. In fact, I looked at my arm and assessed the damage and like my arm, like the bone was pushing out, not like through the skin, but it looked like I had a dislocated shoulder or elbow. And so I just went like snap and I snapped it back into position. Little did I know i was like, you know, just resetting like my bone. But i at that moment, you know, it just hit me like, like my family.
00:29:03
Speaker
You know, i just thought about my kids and my wife and I was just like, so sad, you know, that I had gotten myself into this situation. i just, in fact, throughout the whole descent, I was just, I would find myself sobbing sometimes, you know, literally crying for them that they're, that, you know, my wife's husband and, and, and my kid's dad got themselves in this situation that, you know, at that point, those guys were still hunting me. In fact, they hunted me for like three hours at the start of that.
00:29:34
Speaker
You know, would just hear them like could just hear them. Yep. and I heard them on the trailhead. i knew that they had obviously gone down to the street level to see if I would pop out, you know, and wait.
00:29:45
Speaker
And of course, those other two guys up top were looking to see where I might have rolled the motorcycles. You could hear them up at the top of the road cruising up and down to see if they could see me from a distance.
00:29:56
Speaker
And as soon as it went dark, I started to move. You know, I just like heard the voice again, say, keep moving forward. you know, and I would push myself. Sometimes I would scoot on my butt until the, until the rash got so bad. And then I'd flip on my side until that side got so rashed up.
00:30:15
Speaker
I found myself sometimes on my stomach, on my, on my front, upside down, sideways, you know, obviously my right side with the broken hip was, was I couldn't lay on that side, you know, but like I was doing everything in my power to kind of push through and it's like rocks,
00:30:31
Speaker
thorns, aloe, cactus. And of course in my mind, I've watched enough discovery channel in that area to know that there's tarantulas and scorpions and rattlesnakes and you know, that stuff's there, but like, I'm just like, look, I got to keep moving forward. And I would get to like an area of this mountain where I was trying to make it around like some tree or over a log or around a rock or something and my hips not go in and I'm in crazy pain. I can't walk, obviously.
00:31:01
Speaker
And and then I would get to a point where I would just give up. Like I would lay my head back in the thorns and I would just be like, they're going to have to like send a search party or something tomorrow. Like I just can't move anymore.
00:31:14
Speaker
I can't figure out how to get around this thing, you know? and And I don't know, maybe 15, 20 minutes would go by. and Danielle, the craziest thing I would, in my mind, i would see a vision of myself making it through this challenge.
00:31:30
Speaker
And then at that moment, I would hear this loud voice, the same voice that told me to follow the butterfly. It would yell at me, keep moving forward. And it would like wake me up.
00:31:41
Speaker
And then I would get this divine strength. And I would do that challenge just like i saw in my vision. Wow. And I would make it through this obstacle and I would keep going. And this would like repeated all throughout the night. But what was really difficult was the steepness of the mountain and the closeness to the hotel.
00:32:02
Speaker
Like the hotel is a block and a half away. Yeah. And I literally could see my hotel room on the ninth floor. Like my windows open. I saw my water bottle sitting on my table. I knew it was my window.
00:32:13
Speaker
And there it was, but it might've well been a million miles away. Yeah. Like it would take me sometimes, I don't know, maybe two hours to go 15 feet, you know, trying to get through this, this treacherous terrain. And like I said, they hunted me the first few hours, but at some point of the night they, they must've went back to dinner or saw or left, you know, and gave up the search efforts. Maybe the couple of guys were still at the bottom.
00:32:37
Speaker
All for cell phone. Yeah. Or maybe they thought, you know, here's this gringo up here taking pictures in our area. Well, but here's what I didn't know until later. I found out later that that neighborhood on the backside of that mountain range is actually one of the most dangerous favelas in the entire neighborhoods in the entire of Americas.
00:33:01
Speaker
And it's like Monterey sits in the state of Nueve Leon, which is just south of Texas. And so it is like cartel land. You know, and apparently it's one of the oldest cartel neighborhoods.
00:33:15
Speaker
Come to find out that, you know, maybe the speculation was that those three guys were the lookouts for the backside of that neighborhood. And they were like, who's this guy up here taking pictures? Is he yeah is he part of the Federale or something?
00:33:29
Speaker
You know, stand understand and of course, if I would have been found, they definitely wouldn't have let me live. You know, those, those guys are notorious for just like taking care of you. They definitely weren't going to carry me off that mountain. I was broken.
00:33:44
Speaker
No way. No way.
Recovery, Faith & Spiritual Transformation
00:33:46
Speaker
You know? And, um, I would see my hotel. i would see like the front of the hotel. And at first i was just like, okay, there it is. I can make it. I can make it. But eventually because of the pace that I was moving, i would start to get so overwhelmed that that i could I could see the hotel, but I would start to get overwhelmed. So I had to shorten the goal.
00:34:10
Speaker
You know, my personal development kicked in yeah and I started shorten the goal. I'd be like, okay, if I could just make it to that next rock, if I could just make it to that next tree, make it to that next bush. There was this wall that I was trying to make it to that. That was like a backside of a compound of one of the houses.
00:34:26
Speaker
was like, if I could just make it to that wall and I would do this, I would shorten the goal. But of course, every time i would end up, you know, so into the work of dragging myself and then my scabbed up and broken body and cactus and all that stuff that's like in me that I would give up, you know, Kenny would give up, but then God yeah would be like, here's how to do it.
00:34:51
Speaker
Keep moving forward. He'd wake me up, give me the divine strength. And then i would move forward. And I knew it was God in this descent down this mountain because It was palpably God, you know, the the gifts that I would give him, like, for instance, and i'm um I've got it right here, actually. Here's my room key that was in my pocket, by the way.
00:35:13
Speaker
one And here's this rock. OK, you can see it for your viewers. It's a very thin or for your listeners. It's a very thin rock ah from the mountain in Mexico. and if you could see it this rock fit perfectly on my hand i didn't carve this rock out i found this rock because my hand was getting so eaten up from the rock and the thorns and the cactus and everything on the the base of the mountain that i needed something to help like protect my right hand so i could push off yeah and this this rock shows up and i'm like man this thing fits my hand perfectly And of course the whole way I'm, I'm like giving God gratitude. Like, thank you, Lord, for that. I'm still alive. Thank you. I didn't hit my head, you know, on the, on the fall. Like I'm so grateful for this rock, but then frustrating things would happen. Like I would lose the rock. Like the rock would fall out of my hand and it would roll down the mountain. Like yeah I lost my rock.
00:36:06
Speaker
But then Danielle, this rock, I'm getting goosebumps again. This rock kept showing back up. Yeah. It kept showing back up, showing back up. Like it it made it the entire 12 hours with me.
00:36:18
Speaker
And so naturally I have it with me. I have it here as a reminder. and your fingers fit perfectly around it. it was Perfectly. It's made for the ridges in it. like Crazy. It's amazing. Isn't that amazing? Yeah. I can even still see some of the the greenery from the...
00:36:34
Speaker
Yeah. From the aloe and stuff. And it's so crazy. And and ah I would get gifts like that, like the rock. um There was like this um tire with a pole in it. That was a gift. I was able to hold myself up at one point, a bucket, a bin. Like there was these gifts, I called them along the way that I knew that God was giving me.
00:36:54
Speaker
And I was so grateful for them. And I and I kept thanking God in between the sadness of, of getting myself into this predicament and the fear of like, are they waiting on me?
00:37:06
Speaker
And, um, and so I'm, I'm making it through, you know, I'm shortening the goal. And then once when the mundane movement of shortening the goal would get too much for me, I would look up at the hotel again, just to kind of get re-inspired, like, okay, I've made it. So it's this blend of like looking at the vision, but then like keeping with the goal type thing, you know?
00:37:25
Speaker
and I would move towards this wall. I'd finally made it to this wall where that, that tire with the concrete and the pole was sticking out up at the middle. And I pulled myself up onto it enough to like stand up on my left leg and let the blood run down my right leg. Cause of my hip being broken. And I was just standing there on the side of the mountain side. was probably about two o'clock in the morning.
00:37:49
Speaker
And I knew this because as a Boy Scout, when the moon was high in the sky, that's like midnight, right? Yes. And so it was a little past midnight, and I'm standing there up on this pole. I'm up on one foot. I'm just feeling the breeze against my face, and I'm hearing the neighborhood dogs in the distance, and they had been barking all night, you know, of course.
00:38:09
Speaker
And I look behind me up towards the top of the mountain just to kind of reflect about like how far I'd made it. At this point, I'm about two thirds of the way down. i was at the backside of this wall of this house that was right on the street level, but it was like a compound, is like a large compound of a really tall concrete a wall with barbed wire around the top.
00:38:30
Speaker
And I'm standing there and I look up at the top of the the road and I'm reflecting and I see what looked like like back porch lights turn on on some of the the houses, but they look like floodlights shining down the mountain. And I hear the dogs start to pick up and and I was like, just kind of looking up there.
00:38:48
Speaker
And then all of a sudden those lights, there were six of them, ah ha start to move down the mountain my way. And I was like, oh my God, was like, that's them.
00:39:01
Speaker
Like, are they, do they see me down here? Like I was kind of exposed that it was dark in the middle. Like I was wearing black. i was like, do they see me? And so like, I went to go try and like, basically continue on really quickly.
00:39:13
Speaker
ah But of course I didn't get to like sit down because I just couldn't balance myself. And I come crashing back down again on my, my left shoulder. I'm like, ah, you know, this scream lets out and I get back down on the ground to drag myself. Cause my hope was that I could hop.
00:39:29
Speaker
I like, if I could just like hop along the wall, but the hop was an insane amount of pain. Like I couldn't even hop. You know what i mean? but i It takes a lot of energy to do that too.
00:39:41
Speaker
Oh, so much energy. And, and so I'm back down on the ground. Here comes the six floodlights with dogs. And I was like, this is them. Like they came back out because they realized that I never came out yet.
00:39:55
Speaker
you know And so my mind, I'm like, well, I can just follow this wall, this concrete wall all the way down to the street level because I remember seeing this compound on the street level. And I'm on the the treacherous side of the wall where there was like really dense foliage and all of this. And because on the other side of this compound is the trail.
00:40:14
Speaker
And so and knew I couldn't go back that way, obviously. yeah And so I was like, well, I'll just go along the wall. And so I got about five feet down the along this wall. And all of a sudden there was this kind of dip, like a gully.
00:40:30
Speaker
And I'm looking down this gully and there's like trees all over it. And it is completely dark. I'm like, I can't even see the other side of this thing. And I'm like, if I go down there, um might not be able to get back out.
00:40:42
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And so the only option I had was to kind of go around this gully on the top side. And so I go around the top side of this gully. I'm dragging my body, dragging my body. And here comes the floodlights even closer.
00:40:55
Speaker
And the dogs are getting louder, even closer. And I'm like, I've got nothing else in me. And I pull myself up into this thorn bush because I'm like, I've got nothing left in me. And I flip over on my back and I'm laying there looking up at the sky. I cover my white logo that's on my black T-shirt.
00:41:13
Speaker
And I'm like, they're getting closer. i was like, I can't outrun a dog. I'm like, this is it. Like they're going to, they're going to find me. And I just prayed to God. I said, God, please.
00:41:24
Speaker
I said, This can't be it. was like, I feel you with me, God. I said, please, Lord, please like don't let them see me. Don't let them find me. Please, God, i please let me get back to my family. I will do anything. I will give you anything. I will do i will give you my life, God.
00:41:41
Speaker
yeah And one of those guys and the dog
Perseverance, Lessons & Sharing the Story
00:41:45
Speaker
was like 10 or 12 feet from that bush. And Danielle, they did not see me. Oh, I do not know how, but I'm laying there. I could hear the guys breathing.
00:41:56
Speaker
I could hear him very loudly yelling to the other people in Spanish. And then they just walked by me and went the other way. I'm like, this is crazy.
00:42:07
Speaker
Because maybe they knew like nobody can go down that wall area. Like no way he's going over there. Right. But I was right there. like right under their nose.
00:42:18
Speaker
And, and I waited there probably on my back about 45 minutes to make sure that they were really far. I flip over and I dragged myself a little bit more. And this, this got really difficult because like I had nothing left in my body. i was like, my mouth was like sandpaper, you know, I was so parched. I was so starving.
00:42:38
Speaker
You know, i was just like emotionally beat. I was just so drained. And I'm at the top of another gully. But this time, because I could see the wall, but this time I could actually see the other side of this gully because the moonlight was shining through the trees.
00:42:54
Speaker
And I was like, there's the wall. was like, I could actually go down this gully and come out the other side. And then I could literally see that it it extended on. like down towards the street level. i was like, yeah I might be able to make it out this s way.
00:43:08
Speaker
And so I'm like, I'm doing this. And so I ended up sliding myself head first down this gully. And right when I did, ah look over and there's like this patch of aloe, a bunch of aloe plants. I'm like, Oh, like this. I'm like, I'm going eat some of this aloe. But right when I go to look over, there is a huge snake.
00:43:33
Speaker
Like I'm talking the size of a baseball bat, oh like stretched along this aloe, like in the aloe leaves, just stretched flat. And it was not startled by me.
00:43:44
Speaker
and I was just like, uh, I'm just passing through Mr. Snake. Like I'm talking to this thing and I'm like, you know, I'm just, but I'm just like, I'm, if this is how I like, screw it, you know, like, yeah.
00:43:58
Speaker
And so it, Daniel, it took me almost three hours to make it past that snake and out of that small, short gully to get to the wall on the other side. But during that time though, I cracked some aloe and I was eating this aloe and it was nourishing me. And course in my mind, I'm thinking there's banana spiders probably living in these things and like all this stuff's running through your mind. I'm don't care. that's right I've been through so much, you know?
00:44:22
Speaker
And so, but something like about aloe, I think aloe has like this protective mechanism because when you eat aloe, it's nourishing, but the gel like just like dries like hairspray or something.
00:44:34
Speaker
And it just like dried me out even worse. But I was nourished enough from an energy standpoint. yeah And I kept going along the wall. I got another gift, which was a five gallon bucket. I was able to sit up on and lean my back against the wall and feel the breeze. And at this point, it's starting to get twilight. I knew I was like, I need to get off this mountain.
00:44:56
Speaker
and And onto the street level because maybe they're down there, but at least before daytime, before somebody can see me, you know, like I need to have the cover of night to at least be able to try to make it back to the hotel. And I ended up getting one more gift. I'm i'm there at the last 10 feet. And the last 10 feet of this was like really tall, thick grass, but like a 10 foot steep drop to the sidewalk.
00:45:21
Speaker
But what was so crazy was there was half of a plastic bin just sitting there enough for me to like stick my head and my shoulders into and have it split the grass and slide me down perfectly.
00:45:35
Speaker
That's amazing. And so I put my back down because I was on my back this time. Like my whole body's ripped, you know, from from dragging myself for 12 hours. And I put my back into this bin. I slide down. And right when I did, coincidentally, it happens to be, this car was coming down the street and it goes and makes a turn and it faces its headlights right at me. Like it was like kind of turning around in the middle of the street, yeah like randomly, but right where I was coming out of the woods.
00:46:04
Speaker
Yeah. And headlights on me. And I make i look at make eye contact with the driver and the passenger seat guy. There were like six construction worker guys. They were all wearing construction vests.
00:46:14
Speaker
Obviously going to work. They made a wrong term. But the here I was, this ripped up gringo, right in their headlights. They looked at me. And then they just backed up and kept going. In my mind, I thought they probably know what's up that hill.
00:46:26
Speaker
Yeah. You know, they were probably like, screw this. We don't want to be involved in this. And so I get down to the street level. Cars are like starting to to pass because the the city's starting to wake up. It's sun starting to come up, but the sun hadn't came up officially.
00:46:40
Speaker
And I was like, still had to go two and a half blocks to the corner and then another block and a half down kind of an incline to the hotel because obviously I didn't come out at the trailhead.
00:46:51
Speaker
Yeah. And i get I pulled myself across the pavement of the asphalt, you know, to get across to the to the other side of the street, which really was difficult because, you know, had to do it when the cars weren't weren't coming. And then, of course, you know, my body against the the concrete was so bad.
00:47:09
Speaker
And I get to the other side of the sidewalk. I'm like, I don't know going to do this. But what was crazy was another gift. Just on the two blocks of the sidewalk, like literally not on the other side, not before it, not after it, but the two blocks of sidewalks from where I was to the corner, there was this layer of hay.
00:47:29
Speaker
Like, like randomly, like it looked like it should not have been there, and but there was a layer of hay that softened my pool, gave me enough slide to where I could actually do it. And it, it honestly, it took me about 45 minutes to go those two blocks.
00:47:46
Speaker
And of course, some cars would pass and I would kind of cower, you know, because I would be scared because I'm thinking, I don't know who's who. And then, of course, every time I would get closer to the corner, I was also getting closer to that trailhead.
00:48:02
Speaker
because it was across the street where I needed to go. And I was so scared. It was very, very frightening to go, even though I knew that God had me and I felt that and I knew that he wanted me to live. And this was a God experience. That's the only reason why I was making it.
00:48:18
Speaker
The human, the side of me, it was like, they could, this could be it. Yeah. Yeah. And I make it to the corner right across from the trailhead. And I'm seeing some people start to kind of come down to work and I'm trying to yell for them. Like I can't talk very loud because my, my voice, I'm like, yeah,
00:48:35
Speaker
o And nobody, you know, is coming towards me. And finally, this young guy is like on speakerphone on his iPhone talking. And I like yell as loud as I could. Help me.
00:48:46
Speaker
Help me. It was crazy saying that, you know, coming out mouth. And hoping speaks English, right? And able to help you. Yes. Right. Just somebody could hear me or see me. And then, so the young guy kind of like was startled, taken aback. He crosses the street towards my side. He didn't want to get close to I said, look, I know I must look crazy. Luckily he's like, yes, sir. What's going on? You know? And I was like, okay, he speaks English. was like, listen, I know I look crazy. You don't have to help me up. You don't even have to touch me. I was like, but look, can you go to that hotel? That's a block and a half down and tell them one of their guests was attacked and
00:49:21
Speaker
And he can't walk and he's up on the sidewalk. And he's like, I will be right back, sir. And so he goes down there. And about seven, eight minutes later, they they finally brought this hotel vehicle to come retrieve me.
00:49:33
Speaker
That was one of the most scariest seven, eight minutes because there I was right across from that trailhead. Yeah. And out and vulnerable, like vulnerable. And there were people that actually were coming down the mountain to work that did come out of that trailhead, which was, which was very scary.
00:49:50
Speaker
Um, but the hotel finally came and I'm in that vehicle. They can't take me down. They give me water and soda. And they contacted the the band that I was touring with the management team and, um, the, the, their security, uh, of the artists that I was with comes down And of course the tour manager and the artist security, they were just like white as it goes. Like, Oh my gosh, Mr. Positive.
00:50:13
Speaker
Here's Kenny in the back. Like this happened to him. and so they give me my phone. They give me the security guy's phone to call my wife. And I knew she wouldn't answer because this she doesn't know the number, you know, and I call her and it goes to her voicemail. And I said, baby, said, it's me.
00:50:32
Speaker
I just was attacked. I'm okay. I love you. I'm going to the hospital. And I just broke down. Like I just broke down it was just, you know, I almost died, you know, and the shock of it all. And I was just like, I was so grateful, but like, I was so sad for her, you know?
00:50:52
Speaker
And for my family, they had no idea. and you know, I don't know if any other men was thinking would be thinking like that, but like, I was just so sad and I just broke down and it finally, this wave of emotion hits me and I break down and I just start crying. And I was, I was so blessed because, you know, the artists I was with, they ended up after going to the Mexican hospital and,
00:51:13
Speaker
Of course, I didn't trust anybody at that point. I didn't, you know, I didn't tell the police anything. I didn't tell the hospital anything. Like, I'm just like, I say nothing, you know. The artist ends up sending a medical jet to fly me out of the country, bring me back to Tampa. I had an emergency hip transplant and metal in my arm. And they were so shocked that I did not die on the mountain because of the fact that, like, it's one thing breaking your hip, but there's main arteries that run through there. Yes, absolutely.
00:51:41
Speaker
And they were like, you could have had an aneurysm. Like, it's one thing breaking your hip. We tell people, if you break your hip, like don't move because like there's main arteries that run right through that area.
00:51:52
Speaker
And they were like, you drug your body 12 hours. I'm like, you have no idea, man. You know, you have no idea. I was like, by the grace of God, I made it down. I'm like, and of course, you know, ever since I'm like, I'm telling everybody that this is, this was a God experience. Like God is the reason why I made it off the mountain.
00:52:12
Speaker
You know, and just keep hearing this song in my head. Hey, look, God, I made it. I know. Hey, look, God, I made it. No doubt.
00:52:23
Speaker
That's a good one. sorry oh yeah I'll use that one for my keynote. Oh, man. But, um you know, and and it's funny and I won't I won't talk too much about recovery. I know we have time here, but, um you know, in recovery, it's funny. I gave my life to God on the mountain that night and and our relationship got closer for sure.
00:52:43
Speaker
um You know, but like I hadn't really like accepted Jesus in my life at this point, really. And but but God for sure. And you would think like when you know God saves your life like that, like things would be good.
00:52:56
Speaker
But in recovery, i didn't realize like I would be hit by grief so hard. You know, i lost a part of me on that mountain. And, you know, i just started to go through this dark period in in my life after there at a short probably 90 days or so after this, where it was like I wasn't good.
00:53:18
Speaker
And I wasn't telling my wife I wasn't good. I was trying to be the man around the house with this, you know, trying to learn how to walk again and, yeah you know, trying to build my business and trying to keep the house together and keep things in order and try to still be the man and still watch the kids and, you know, still try to like do fitness and exercise. But I'm like not giving myself time or grace. And I ended up getting to a point to where um i was I got like angry and short with my children and in a depressive state, you know, because I thought, well,
00:53:47
Speaker
well I'm saved. And I'm like, I'm going through this. What's going on? Why is this darkness here? And, um, that that's when I, I actually started to turn towards Jesus and I ended up getting baptized. And I think I was telling you a little bit about that, but like, you were yeah like right when I, I got baptized, uh, I came up out of the water, Danielle, and the darkness was gone.
00:54:12
Speaker
Hmm. like, like supernaturally, like just like the mountain that I was experiencing, by the way, most people are trying to climb mountains in their life. I was trying to get down one, yeah you know, but like, just like the mountain that experienced recovery was its own mountain. And I was not giving myself this, this allowance to, to give myself the time and the grace and all the things, but Jesus gave it to me.
00:54:39
Speaker
yeah and And I've just been following Jesus ever since. And, and you know, he's my king and and, you know, not just my savior, but my Lord. and And I'll tell you, by the grace of God, I'm here talking to you today. And I feel like God brought us together for that ah reason as well.
00:54:56
Speaker
Yeah, I just, I just, yeah, just being open and being willing and to share. You just never know whose paths you're going to cross. You never know who's going to need to hear that story of just trusting. That's what I hear. It was a story of trusting and you were truly beaten down.
00:55:12
Speaker
And how do you come up on the other side of that? And like you said, with the grace of God, like he showed you the way, but did you trust and did you believe? And you did. and now you get to tell others. Yeah.
00:55:25
Speaker
And now I get to to share his glory with others. You know, there, there is ah a bit of, you know, taking the leap when it matters most in your life. I had to leap off that mountain, you know, and, and I also had to surrender and and trust and follow that butterfly into, you know, what ended up being an even denser thorn
Closing Thoughts & Listener Engagement
00:55:45
Speaker
bush, you know, yeah was like, sometimes when you surrender, it gets harder.
00:55:50
Speaker
It is not always easier. Yeah. And just like everything you've done prior to that, though, like all of your hard mental training and your fitness training and everything you did, like yeah that was all self-driven, you know, that you had no idea what it was preparing you for.
00:56:05
Speaker
Like, man and that's it. It's just so crazy. So you just never know. It's so important to learn to live in the present. And to embrace it and learn all that you can, because you just don't know what's on that other side.
00:56:18
Speaker
so I just, it's just, no. Yeah. Well, and, and I'll tell you, there's just so many lessons that I, that I knew that I needed to share. and it was one of those things where it was like, God was like, Hey man, if your homelessness, if all of the hardship that you went through prior to this is not going to get you off the road and go share your, go share your spirit and your light with others.
00:56:40
Speaker
This is the, this is the story you must tell. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's like I told you, I think this platform is here because I was supposed to use my voice for some reason. And you're just like, why? Why would I start a podcast, you know, like to do these things? And again, it was so that it could be a safe place for other people to share their voice.
00:56:58
Speaker
So yeah, that's why we're here meeting each other. Well, and and I love it so much, man. There's just there's just one thing that I would love to leave your audience in that case with is just that no matter how hard it gets,
00:57:12
Speaker
You know, like you are a lot stronger than you think you are when it really matters most. You know, when it really matters most, man, it's like you just have to to keep moving forward.
00:57:25
Speaker
You know, you just have to keep moving forward. Amen. Amen. Well, I am so grateful that, again, paths did get to cross and that you are here standing upright.
00:57:35
Speaker
um And you're just so easy to talk to. I know I'm like looking into the camera and just been leaning in. I nobody can see that, but just leaning in and just feeling, I don't know, like even warm on the inside and just like, what's he going to tell us next?
00:57:49
Speaker
You know? so Well, I'm so grateful for you, Danielle. I'm grateful for the people that are listening to this. And yeah, thank you so much for allowing me to share. You're welcome. Well, I'm going to say something funny because that's what I am. But my husband wrote a letter to Jelly.
00:58:06
Speaker
So if you ever see Jelly Roll out there, you tell him now because he's telling everybody how he loves Jesus, that there's some great people who would love to help him spread that news. Hey, you never know. He might be on your show one day.
00:58:18
Speaker
Oh, be so I just had to say that. So planting seeds, Danielle. That's right. That's right. I'm always forward thinking, right? But again, thank you. Blessings to you and your family and all your future endeavors on your new book that'll be coming out.
00:58:35
Speaker
And we'll make sure that we share that stuff in the show notes so that they can continue to follow your journey. And again, many blessings to you. Thank you. You're welcome. Thanks so much for hanging out with me today on Oh, There You Are. Remember, everything you need to step into your power is already inside of you.
00:58:54
Speaker
So keep going, friend. You've got this. If today's episode inspired you, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new one. And I'd love to connect with you over on Instagram.
00:59:04
Speaker
Find me at it's danielle.thats.me. Drop by say hi let me know what resonated with you or just share your journey. And before you go, I've got something special for you.
00:59:17
Speaker
I'm offering a free seven day journal to help you start tapping into your potential and build that mindset shift. It's designed to guide you through the steps of unlocking your power.
00:59:27
Speaker
You can grab it in the show notes below. Let's take this journey together. All right, friend, go make it happen. And remember, you're not late. You're right on time.