The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Why This 19-Year-Old Thanks God For His Wheelchair | Jamey Carrington (EP 208)

Episode Date: July 13, 2026

Why This 19-Year-Old Thanks God For His Wheelchair | Jamey Carrington (EP 208)

What do you mean when you say that Jesus is healed? Jesus can heal my body, but if he doesn't heal my heart, what good is it? I see this as protection, not limitation. You lit your wheelchair on fire. That's kind of an exaggeration. That's not really an exaggeration. The wheel is completely on fire. I make that video like super viral.

5 million likes! 145 million views. If a man bust through that door rang out in the 9mm and decides he has beef with you, I got two words for you. Good luck. But I can pray for you. I am quite literally forced to my knees to be humble. Does God need to make calm our waters or does he just need a better sandwich?

He might say, God feels so distant right now. Where is he? I'll tell you where he's at. He lives inside of you. How close do you want to be? Hey, before we get into today's episode, I want to share two quick things with you. First, if these videos have meant anything to you, if they've encouraged your faith or helped you see the gospel a little bit more clearly,

I just want to ask you to subscribe. A lot of people tune in every single week and haven't hit the button yet. It only takes two seconds and it helps us keep putting these conversations in front of people who need them. And the second thing, this one I've honestly been really excited to say. I'm officially announcing our ministry's biggest live event to date, Open Heaven Live podcast tour. It's happening November 8th this year at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas. This is going to be a night centered around worship, faith, real conversations, and genuine community.

I believe God is going to move in a powerful way and I would love for you to be in the room. Tickets are on sale right now. you can head to bricecroffer.org slash tour or just click the link in the description below. And please only get your tickets through my official site or that link below. I recommend not buying from random resellers online. I believe this is going to be a really special night and I hope to see you there. All right, let's get into the episode. What's going on, guys?

Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryson. Today, I'm with a special guest. We got Jamie Carrington here. How you feeling? What's that, man? I'm doing great. Dude, thanks for coming on.

Before we get into your story, I want to kind of know who is Jamie outside of the wheelchair. Who are you? I don't get very far outside of it, but physically speaking. But I don't know, man, I'm a pretty normal guy. Like, I mean, we've been here for, I don't know, 30 or 40 minutes. You know by now, I'm a very normal, normal guy. I like Star Wars.

I like creativity. I like messing around. I think at heart, I'm a I'm a servant. I'm a servant not only to Christ, but to people. Because servitude is such a big part of my life because it's centered around me and my family, my entire family are servants to me. And for people who aren't Christian,

that sounds really weird. But it's not, and it's a beautiful thing to be servants to one another. I'm sure you've had to learn about that. your marriage. I'm serving one another. Yeah. But I think I'm just, I mean, I think I'm funny, casual.

I like to serve fearful. Be as nice and be as closely resembled to Jesus as I possibly can. Yeah, that's amazing. Well, obviously, you know, from being around you and your family and your friends, I mean, you guys have the heart of Jesus. And I love when you laugh and the jokes you make and things like that. obviously we get a inside peak to your life. I mean, what was fate like for you?

I mean, what was your relationship with Godlike growing up? Well, it wasn't what it is now. It was very, you know, back and forth. Like, okay, you say you love me. You died for me. You gave me this beautiful earth to live on. You say that your love is everlasting. Well, so is my chronic disability.

That's pretty everlasting, too. So, which is it? You gave this to me, and people tell me it's a gift. Well, you give terrible gifts. I never want to play Secret Santa with you ever again. So why am I in this chair if you love me? And I grew up in Southern Baptist churches. Same.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Georgia Boy. So I'm not, I'm not a Southern Baptist. Yeah. But growing up around that, it's very, um, people love to, I think everyone has a heart of gold behind when they say this. But it makes, they make your problems feel small when they're like, guys.

God is just using you and you have such a gift. And like meanwhile, I'm nine years old. And like, it doesn't feel that way, you know? And that was hard for me and it's hard for anyone. And so I didn't really understand God. I don't know why God would do this to me if you loved me. And so I kind of just saw him as a culture as we all do in the South, right? God, guns, trucks, all the above, right?

Yeah, it's like Jesus is going to return on the white horse with a shotgun and a... Right, like he's singing Leonard Stannard. So I don't... I mean, God was just one of the things we do. One of the things we talk about at the dinner table. And you were born with SMA is what it's called. And so for people that don't know you, you haven't been able to walk since you were born. No, yes, absolutely so.

I've never walked that army crawled. but that was as far as it went the telltale sign was I was diagnosed at one wow um tell tell tell sign was I couldn't sit up straight for very long I would follow over

my tongue twitches so like that that's another telltale sign in children with SMA it's really weird so we went through all the tests doctors tested me

parents went, you know, from doctor to your daughter trying to figure out what this thing was. And finally, when doctor comes back, after all the tests, big piece of paper list of conditions that I could have. He says, well, he could have this. He could have this. And he just down to the very last condition.

He's like, you definitely don't want this, though. This is worst case in the area. SMA, don't want it. That's the one I had. So, I just got the short end of the stick with it. But I've always had it, and I've had to learn how to deal with it. And so you rededicated your life to Jesus in middle school. Mm-hmm.

What was the turning point for that? It was feeling very hopeless. I think I felt similar to you, not in a way where I wanted to take my own life. because I already felt like my life had been taken from me. I felt like I was deprived of the things. Why does Bryce get to walk around? Why does Bryce get to play on the monkey bars? Why does Bryce get to run around with his friends and play tag?

Like, why can I do that? I felt like I was deprived of being a normal human being. So at that point, I felt like I was just going to stay in my hometown for the rest of my life. maybe go to college, get a job that I hate, maybe doing IT or something. Not everybody in a wheelchair is like Charles Xavier, so we're not like super geniuses. So if I was able to walk, I'd probably be doing something in my hands. So that was hard too. I mean, what more is there to say?

I felt like I was deprived of everything a human being should have. Yeah. So is that where, like, the real dedication to Jesus started was in middle school? Mm-hmm. And when, so was that, when did it, when did you go from knowing about God to knowing God himself? I knew God in early high school. Because at middle school, it was about knowing about God. So I knew about God in middle school, but I didn't know God until early high school.

The reason for that was, I was very succinct into theology. It started with the rapture I feel like that's where it starts to everybody which I don't believe in the rapture I haven't publicly came out and said that yet but maybe not in the way that that most people think like that you know

you meet Jesus in the sky like your perspective yeah I know I said that and everyone was like you don't believe in the rapture and I'm like well like not the way that most people think about it right it's I believe in the second coming I believe Jesus will return judgment they were happening

but I don't see us leaving in a god that having people left behind which is also a very new theological idea that came out yeah it's younger than Mormonism yeah it's very interesting so are you are you are you like an a millennial or do you you know do you know those yeah yeah I talked about it with my uncle who's a he's a pastor who's been a pastor for many years I don't know the exact terminology, but I believe we will go through the tribulation. I believe that we will have to suffer. I believe that we will have to hold back the gates of hell as the church.

Jesus says, the gates of hell will not prevail against my church. And if we're the church, then we are the gates of heaven, and the gates of heaven surround earth. I firmly believe that. So I think we have to be here and we have to go through trials. I think too many people use it as a scapegoat to be like, I don't want to go through hardship, poof, I'm gone. And how many people are going to lose their faith when the rapture doesn't happen is really scary to me. I would rather be pleasantly surprised and severely disappointed.

I think that's going to be very very very. very hard for some people but I could be wrong and I'll see you guys in heaven if I am wrong so what do you say I guess the people that are like you know talking on the suffering part people that say well you know we're going to have to suffer we're going to have to endure do you view the SMA and the wheelchair now is suffering or are you kind of used to it now because you're 19 right so or is it just like this is all I've known so I'm just I don't view it any differently. I told my friend the other day I was like I have a pretty easy life is why I said over the phone and it's true the hardest thing I'd do is I have to pee in a cup but other than that like

that's that's about it yeah so I mean no like I have a pretty easy life but I see that that way because of Jesus I have an easy life because I have a savior And so I found that there is salvation and suffering. And I thank God for my body all the time. Wow. I'm so thankful for this broken little body that I have because it's taught me so much. I've gotten to know God in ways that people don't

because I'm quite literally forced to my knees to be humble. Yeah. I don't really have the choice to be prideful. Because if I want to be prideful, then I have to ignore the people who give me a sip of water. The people who put a shirt on my back. The people who, you know, you just lifted my wheelchair into this house. Not easy, by the way, but you didn't. And if I was to be prideful to you and if I was to buck up to you, I'd have to ignore that.

Yeah. And I'd have to be ungrateful for you. So I don't get to be prideful. There's no room for that in my life. So how did you come to terms then with God allowing you to have SMA? It first started with reading the book of Job, which I think is very essential for anyone who is going through suffering. We see there the theological idea that there's kind of this cosmic gamble going on

between God and the devil. And we realized that God permits suffering, but it doesn't cause it. And it doesn't permit something unless it ultimately magnifies his glory in his kingdom. And so that's why we see he allows suffering, because in the end, Job was a mouthpiece for God. He was an instrument for God.

Because he allows his suffering to be used by something bigger than himself. And to me, I saw that as, okay, I was born in a fallen world. I was born in a fallen womb, but I wasn't originated from a falling kingdom. I didn't come from a place of accidents. I'm not an accident. I was ordained like every other child of God. And so I started with like a theological understanding.

And then it became more of a heart thing for me. What does Satan try to tell you about the pain that you struggle with and the suffering that you struggle with? Probably that I'm a burden, I would say. You're one of the first people I told him, I'm telling you about this. But my sister just had her first child. So he's like three months old. And he was crying in the other room.

And I'm sitting there and he's crying, he's crying, he's crying. Little baby in the crib, like I can't do anything. And I just like start to cry because I can't pick him up or like just do anything. And like it even gets me a little emotional now because it's like, if a man bust through that door right now, the nine millimeter and decides he has beef with you, I got two words for you, good luck, because I'm no help to you at all, but I can pray for you. I can call upon angels to cover you. I can call upon the blood of Jesus to protect you. But I can't throw hands if I wanted to right now.

Yeah. That makes me feel like a burden as a future husband, future father, even a future minister. So that's probably the biggest thing that I feel like I'm fed. But you know what gives me so much hope is I know that right now, if a dude busted through that door the 9mm and you had time to run in front of me, you would. I would. And that's the heart that matters. because you have people that are six foot six that are all muscle and that look like they could defend you

and then when times get tough they run I'm totally gonna out one of my best friends Josh but when we started the ministry he was video in our videos and sometimes we'd be in the street and people would get rough and when they'd get rough he'd run opposite direction I'm like Josh like I know if I'm going if like something's about to go down

I'm not calling you you know you are not on and we always laugh about it because he's just I don't know what to do Dude, see, turn and run. But, you know, I know that about you, and you can tell that about you, that that's your heart's desire. And you can see that in so much of the videos that you make and the way that you talk about Jesus. It's so evident. So when Satan then speaks to you that you're a burden, how does God reframe that for you?

People see it as a privilege for you to be a burden in a way. my friend my best friend his name is Braxton and me and Braxton have been friends since fourth grade

and he's the only one of my friends who's showered me and has taken care of me on an intimate level like that and a few weeks ago I was down because

a friend of mine basically told me that it's a lot to take care of you. It just is. And I talked to Brax about it and he was like, I've never saw it as a burden to take care of you. I saw it as an opportunity to give you as much as a normal life as you can possibly get. I see it as being a servant and I get more out of it than you do. So to me, This just exemplifies even more why it's so important for us to be servants of one another. If the Son of God, if the Messiah, if the creator of the universe, if God himself is a servant of man,

why can't we be servants soon? Why can't we put weight on our shoulders for other people? Why can't we bend over backwards for someone? Why can't we do things for people when we don't? want to. Your God died on the cross for you. Go help that person move out of their house. Yeah. Hope that person that crossed the street, push their wheelchair, carry their groceries, like, do what you can. Yeah. Because there's sanctification in that. And I don't, I don't think for a second that God will look upon us as his children with favor if we neglect servitude.

I just don't. You said in the past that Jesus has healed you. What do you mean when you say that Jesus has healed you? Yeah, Jesus has healed me. He's healed me in so many ways. And it is a disservice for us to think that healing is only in the physical. Because Jesus can heal my body, but if he doesn't heal my heart, what good is it? If Jesus only healed my body, I can't imagine the type of physical.

sin or I would be. I can't imagine how many sins that I would commit if I had hands to move, if I had legs to run. I cannot imagine the type of person I would be. And so I see this as protection. This wheelchair, this body that weighs 60 pounds, I see this as protection, not limitation. So Jesus healed my heart instead because he knew that that was the core issue. That's what needed to be fixed. He didn't mean my problems to go away. It's like, does God need to make calmer waters or does he just need a better sailor? What does he need from you?

That's the question we have to ask ourselves. Wow, I love that. I can't remember where I was reading in a book. I think it was Pastor Jobi Martin. He said that he would always pray. for God not to lighten the load, but to broaden his shoulders. And then my pastor from back at home, Pastor James Griffin, he always says, God, give me thick skin, but a soft heart.

You know, thick skin to take the blows of what people say, like a soft, compassionate heart. And I always think that mindset of what you said, like, do we need calmer seas or do we just need to be a better sailor? I think that that perspective is so powerful. So, you know, you've opened up in the past about struggling with porn, you've hinted at your depression, not wanting to exist or be here, potentially taking your own life and stuff like that. A lot of men that struggle with that. I used to struggle with all that stuff.

You want to bury it. You want to hide it. So how did you get to a place where you could bring that stuff to the light and talk about it? I mean, I talked about it in high school where I was still there. Wow. So I made a video talking about, like, my porn. less addiction and high school. And to me, I didn't feel like I was losing much

because my social life was kind of not that great. So it didn't really matter to me. I mean, I knew that I wasn't gonna date anyone there. I knew I wasn't gonna go to parties or anything like that. I knew who my people were and who my people were who my people weren't, so making videos saying that, yeah, I struggled with porn wasn't a big deal for me because I knew it would help at least someone there. And it did. Someone came up to me. It was like, you have no idea how much that helped me. And I was like, man, you just made my day.

Wow. I know. And I, like, God gave me the boldness to talk about those things, to not bury them. I was very open about it and it helped people so much and I just, like, why would I be so selfish to hide my problems when it could help someone else? Yeah. How can I be so selfish to, you know, remain in my chains, remain in the chains that keep me down when I could break the bonds that other people are held in? What does a dark day look like for you? I think the darkest days for me are when I just feel really lonely. I have a tendency to feel like a very lonely person. All my friends kind of moved away, which is a total of like four.

So I don't really get out much. I'm always at home, working on ministry, just doing what I can to keep my mind sane. But I don't really get out much, I don't really socialize too much. Like, Luke over there behind the camera is always like, come out, man, like, let's go to this event, like, let's go to this youth group. And I'm like, ah, like, I just, it irks me. And I just, because I've had those experiences with youth groups that, like, just really turn me off. And I think I'm getting to the point now where, like, I want to go back.

But it's just hard, especially in, like, group settings. And I think some of it is self-inflicted upon myself. But it's just, it's, again, one of those days where you feel like a burden, you feel alone, and you feel like you bring people down more than you lift them up. Do you feel like that you're just afraid maybe to get introduced to new people because of that maybe struggling with feeling like a burden sometimes? Like you don't want to, I don't know, like reset. your friend Braxton that you said is like your best friend you have so much history with him you know so

you could not see him for two months I bet and then you guys could call and it'd be like you guys just hung out the day before yeah you know whereas like you meet new people and I can I can understand that on some degree of like oh wow maybe it is hard to make new friends is that the aspect or you're just more like I'm kind of used to being at home so I like it's that like feeling like weird when you you know roll out of a wheelchair van

or maybe sometimes I have to ask for a certain things like hey cross my legs or whatever but I think it's also like I just feel like a misunderstood person a lot I was like I just had a falling out of a friend group that basically said

hey, we don't like the jokes you make. We don't like the person that you are a lot of times, and we're disappointed and we're worried you do what you do for the wrong reasons. And that hurt a lot because I thought I found like a really great friend group. And so I feel like being an evangelist and doing what I do, and I love being.

I love him being a servant of the Lord. But if I'm going to be a servant of man, I wouldn't be a Christian. So it feels like a trade-off. Yeah. Follow the Lord and be misunderstood, follow man, and be understood. Yeah. And that is something I say okay with tears in my eyes. Yeah.

I just have to accept it, bite the bullet. and move on. I think you understand that to run some level. Like, I know for a fact that you are not a perfect person. I know that people think you are, but you are not. And I know that it hurts you when people expect you to be a certain way, and you just know you can't ever live up to that expectation. Yeah.

I know it hurts you. Yeah, absolutely. I think being misunderstood is one of the hardest things. Because, like, oh, wait, would that hurt? Oh, I didn't mean to, No, like I just, I thought that was funny. Right. Or like, oh, well, I didn't.

Well, no, I, I, I said that because I meant this, not because I meant, oh, you, I'm sorry. I didn't, you know, and I, I, it's easier said than done, you know. It is. I think about Jesus was the most misunderstood man on the planet. By his own hometown. Literally. It said a prophet's working anywhere except for his hometown. And that's hard.

Yeah. And then you, you know, and then you go, well, okay yeah Jesus understands me but then sometimes that is hard to accept you know it's easy to hear and it's encouraging to hear and then you know you experience something hard like that you're like I don't I don't know you know I think I think for me trusting people is like is the hardest thing because when I first got into ministry I would serve at these conferences and I wanted like a mentor so bad so I had friends that would like be mentored by people or like leaders that they would trust and I would be serving at conferences and trying to introduce myself to people and no one would give me

the time of day and so it kind of broke my heart and then now sometimes those same people come back and they act like that we're all friends and that we know each other and that we're super close and so that's hard for me to trust because I'm like well I have friends that trust you but I'm like we haven't talked in like four years and now now it's like we're all a sudden talking and so I totally understand the being misunderstood thing but like you have to love those people anyways absolutely and sometimes them having a misunderstood idea about who you are helps them more than it does actually understanding you if you think I am this way and that helps you sleep at night and that helps you be a better believer and that helps you follow Jesus more

fervently, then I'm going to let you have that opinion. And I'm going to give you grace, and I'm willing to love you, and I don't have to let you see me behind closed doors. Sometimes that's really the best option. Because if it helps someone, I believe if it helps them be a better leader, a better follower of Christ and it helps him following him in a way that is

honest and genuine to have that opinion about someone to look up to someone in that way I think it would be harmful for us to take all our skeletons and just throw them out of the closet so everybody can see you know what I mean? Yeah I know exactly what you mean

so you dropped out of Bible college to go ministry full time I didn't think you were going to talk about that You did your homework. What made you pull the trigger on that? What made me pull the trigger was, number one, I don't think that they were operating in a way that the church should be operating. So, for example, women pastors were a very big thing there.

And biblically, I don't think scripture supports it. I don't think the church has supported it for thousands of years. And I remember on a Tuesday, we had, every Tuesday would be our young adult gathering. So it would be 18 to 28 year olds and you could come and you would have church service and worship and all that. And it was for the people that couldn't come to church on Sundays because most of them were working. So when it was time for Tuesday night, almost rolled around the corner, they said, we're going to change it to a fellowship night, and we're going to have a nerve for. Like, some of these guys have beards. Like, we're grown men.

So I pull one of the guys aside, I'm like, hey, what do you think about this? like, are you cool with it? And he was like, no, I'm not really cool with it, but it's up to the pastor. It's not really up to me. So I actually talked to the dean of the college. And the college was under the church. So the church started their own college. Gotcha.

And it was a very big church. And so I talked to the dean and I'm like, hey, I know this is going to sound harsh, but like, I think you guys are worshiping yourselves right now. I don't think this is good. I think that we are training people to get something when they come to church rather than give. I think that we are doing a very big disservice to God right now, entertaining ourselves at church. And he was like, well, you know, we see it as fellowship. We see it as like a team building type of thing.

And I'm like, I think that's great. I think we could do that on a day. that's not meant for church service, but this is not good. And we are adults, we are not children, we have different standards. So I was, think, the first nail in the coffin. And then the second one was just, I don't think I fully messed with the people there. That's more of a me thing than is them. And then the third one was, I just, I thought it was weird how the money was handled.

pretty much. Like, spending money on things I didn't think need to be spent on. And so that was kind of it for me. And then I was like, this is causing me to resent church because I had to volunteer. So I'm having to volunteer and I don't even want to come to this church. And I feel, I dread Sundays now. And I don't want to feel that way about church. So it would be better for me to just drop out.

Wow. then the feel that way about church. So I wanted to hear online from that one. Nice. And then you started 99 ministries. So tell me about that and what made you want to start it. So the thing about 99 ministries is I've always felt that, you know, we love to help the masses, but not the one.

And when I saw what you did for breast cancer awareness, that one woman that you helped that's basically 99 ministries it's fine people who've had the past 99 days like hell but giving them one day that's unlike the other 99 whether that's taking somebody who's you know a child in the hospital taking them to like Lego land or Disney World for a day raising the funds for to, you know, have these people to have a day, unlike any other, to have a place where we can say, we're going to leave the 99 and go after the one, essentially, to spread the word of Jesus, to inspire people,

to encourage people, and to show people, hey, it's okay to be a servant, pretty much. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah. Are there still days that you still ask God, God, why did you allow this to happen to me? No. No, I really don't. I think I ask more so questions like, why can't it be a little easier? You know what I mean? Like, why can't I have a easier life? Why do you have to make things so difficult? Why do you make me bump my head on the wall so many times in a row? But you know, somebody told me there was like,

do you know how Muslims view disabilities? I was like, no. It's everyone in Islam. If you have a disability and you are a Muslim, God will look upon you with more favor. He will look upon you with more favor because he has pity on you. He feels sorry for you and he will give you

kind of an easier route in life. And he asked me, he said, do you find that attractive? I'm like, no, I don't find that attractive at all. Like, that's just a pity party. That's just God doing a pity party. Like, what? You know what?

So I didn't see that as something that was, I wouldn't want my creator to be that way. I want my creator to put pressure on me if he thinks I can handle it. And I want him to give me a hard life if he thinks that I've strongly, enough to take it. Yeah. And strong enough to give it to him. Yeah. Um, so I think those are kind of my questions. Yeah. Um, I'm sure you can probably relate to that. Like, you don't question your

depression, but your questions are probably more complex now. Like, I, like, why does I have to be this? Like, you, you freed me of this, but you won't free me of that. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I've I've asked myself that a lot and I've even asked myself, like, I prayed this prayer at Waffle House where you took away my anxiety and oppression with like little to no faith. But then I pray that same prayer for other people that I love and that I'm close with what I believe is more faith. You don't take it out of their life. Do you ever get tired of people using your suffering for a lesson for themselves? No, I just don't want you to chop me down to just that. You know what I mean?

I want to be more to you than the guy who's super inspiring. I just want to be to change me, you know. I just, I want to be known for being a good steward. I think about my own death a lot. not in like a, you know, pessimistic way, but almost in a fantasization where, like, I want to leave things better than when I found it. And so I think about that a lot. I think about what I leave behind when I'm gone. Because that's really important to me. I want to leave. behind a life where people can look and say yeah he was super inspiring but he was also a really

kind person yeah and he was a masculine person and he was a gentle person yeah that's that's my strive have you ever felt pressure to always be joyful because people may expect oh the guy in the wheelchair has the perfect testimony so he's always got to be joyful yeah do you feel that pressure Yeah, because, I mean, I was told by another big creator, like, you are the perfect podcast guest. And I was like, what does that mean? I mean, it's not run, though, in the sense that you have a story, you catch people off guard, people stop when they look at you. They stop when they hear you speak. And so it does set this expectation to be this person that people want to listen to you.

quite frankly you don't want to listen to me when I'm talking about something stupid something that I would I would definitely I personally would maybe I'm the 1% but I definitely would listen to you you're my favorite 1% then

oh thank you I mean you know it is hard sometimes but it's like this Bryce it's so there's this parable

in Matthew 25 where there's a master and he gives a lump of money to three of his servants. Now two of those servants, they get the hustling. They go out, they stretch that money, they build it, and they come back with it tenfold to give to their master

when he comes back. But that one servant, he played it safe, he didn't stretch it, he didn't build it. He comes back with even money. And the problem wouldn't be if the servant lost money

because he would have stepped out in faith. The problem of me is they didn't do anything with what was longed in him. So you and I are living on long ideas, long creativity, long passions, long talents from God himself

because we are made in his likeness. So everything that we have, I believe every single human being possesses that there's one quality that God also brings. possesses that is loaned. And so because we are walking every day with loan qualities that are not ours,

he expects us to go out, to step out in faith, to build that up, to stretch it, and to come back with tenfold. And let's say you do do that. Let's say you do stuff out in faith. Well, now you have an even bigger problem. See, in that parable, every one of those sermons had to give the money back. They couldn't keep it.

They had to give it back to the master. So can you give something back that has your fingerprints all over it that you built in God's name and say, you know what, this is never mind you begin with, here you are? That's the real struggle for people. So that's why we have to do with our lives. is give something back to God that was loaned to us from the beginning. It's really easy to give him nothing,

but it's really hard to give God something. That's powerful. Very powerful. All right, I just got to ask you. I'm going to catch you off guard here. Have you ever done a crazy stunt in the wheelchair? Oh, you don't know? Does he not know?

Am I supposed to know? I don't know. Can somebody show him? You have a video? Show him. Show him. When did this happen? A year ago.

Okay, so this is fairly recent. What made you want to pull a stunt? My mom wasn't at home. Do you know about this? What do you think about it? I didn't love it. You lit your wheelchair on fire. Well, that's kind of an exaggeration.

That's not really an exaggeration. The wheel is completely on fire. Well, it's not. the whole thing it's like 20% dude that is insane who told you to do that my brain your brain no what else told you who did that for you who literally no there was someone um my high school uh physics teacher okay your physics teacher yeah it's like hey jamie yeah light your wheelchair on fire well not exactly like that uh i asked mr helms and said hey let's say hypothetically If I'm willing to light my road to you're on fire, how are they doing?

So he's like, you just get rubbing alcohol and you just spray it. So you like sprayed it on the ground and put it on the ground and put it on the wheels, you light it, and off you go. And he was like, yeah, let me know how it goes. I came back, I showed them, he was super, super impressed. You know, Mr. Helms is the reason for your fire addiction. And did it look gangster? Absolutely, it looked down. Could your wheelchair have

completely blown up in the moment? Also, absolutely that could have happened. But like, you know, this is, like, again, I think Lone's creativity. So. Dude, there's no way you can pull that back into the parable from Matthew Twinby. There's no way.

I have long creativity, so I'm going to use it. And here's the thing. I make that video went super viral. 5 million likes 145 million views Are you serious? They will see that And then they get funneled into

The rest of the content And then they say Oh this guy The reason he's able to do this It's because of Christ They is able to have a smile On his face And go through all this

So it's really also weird Like I'll go through Reddit threads Of people who also have ESMA Uh huh And Are they like doing the same thing? No it's actually really depressing It's like

Not all of them are very happy people And it makes you feel weird As someone with a disability To live a joyous life When there's people Also in wheelchairs that have it so hard Yeah Just because the things are out of their control

Just because they don't have a caregiver Because they don't have people in their life They are willing to bend over backwards for them And so you feel like guilty in a way You know what I mean? Have you ever like dropped that video in on like a Reddit thread of maybe some people that struggle with SMA they're like I don't even know what to do like

I'm bored and you're just like yo check this out like go do this have you ever done that or no I got rid of Reddit a long time ago it's intense it's a dark place it's a pretty pornographic place too that's why I got rid of it I never had Reddit like on my phone but I know that people

I've seen Reddit threads before of like you can create like a conversation topic and then people come it's kind of like Twitter honestly in a way. Yeah, but I mean, I liked Twitter in a sense. Like, I could watch fights on there and stuff. Like, I know dudes just say that they, that's why they use Twitter,

but then they go and, like, choke the chicken for, like, five hours. But, like, I'm being really serious when I say I only used it for that. No, I believe it. Yeah, I mean, Twitter is a great platform because you need platforms that will let you use freedom of speech. Right. Yeah. But Reddit is a really dark place.

So I think that's, man, that's so interesting. Yeah, that video's hilarious of you riding in the fire. Thank you. Yeah. Have you ever done anything like that? Yeah, I've accidentally lit my neighbor's lawn on fire by accident. I launched a firework, but I stuck it too deep in the grass. So instead of it shooting up, it like tilted and shot across the grass.

And when it blew up, it lit the lawn on fire. That's pretty cool. That was unintentional, though. Yours looked very intentional. I mean, sure, but, I mean, the lawn on fire is pretty cool. Was the neighbor, like, upset? Or was it was actually my, it was actually one of my best friends from here at home. So. Oh.

But I had had a history unironically of breaking stuff at their house. Like, I had broken their coffee table. They got it replaced. Broke their second one. Fell through their ceiling. Like lit their lawn on fire. So by the lawn, they were just kind of like, all right, it's bound to happen at this point. Are you so allowed over there?

I am. They are great family friends. Wow. And I love the barfields to death. So they are, they are. Amazing. That's awesome. Wow.

That's really what Jesus looks like. Yeah, yeah. Let me come over and still love it on me and be friends. That is. Wow. Even though I've done collateral damage to their house multiple times, it's okay. That's impressive. So if someone were watching this right now and they feel limited, forgotten, overlooked, what would you tell them?

I would tell them that God does not see what man sees. God does not gaze upon us with human eyes, but divine eyes. God looks at your heart, and he looks at your heart in such a way, unlike any other person in a way where he measures everything about you, and there is no misunderstandings with God. There's no misunderstandings with God, and you might feel so far from him. you might say, God feels so distant right now. Where is he?

I'll tell you where he's at. He lives inside of you. How close do you want him to be? The Holy Spirit lives inside of you. God is dwelling within your body. How far do you want him to be? How dare you ask that question? You move, not him.

So it's a matter of us being able to recognize that I'm not too far gone. I was the one that stepped away, but he's willing to be with me. Somehow I'm thousands of miles away from him, but he's still right here. And it's weird, but it's beautiful, and he looks at you with the eyes of a father. And not just that, with the eyes of a friend. Scripture says, God calls his friends. And there's no personal. relationship like that that you can find in any other religion.

So you're not too far going. And there is hope for you. And you are creating the image of God. And you're a beautiful human being. Would you pray for everyone as we close out? Absolutely. Father God, I thank you for brides. I thank you for air in my lungs.

I thank you for blood in my veins. I thank you for this body that I have and the body that everyone has to live. I thank you that you have given us the ability to praise your name and I thank you for giving us a new heart that desires you not a hard heart, not a heart of stone but a heart made of flesh that is soft

for you, God. God, please let us be good stewards. Please let us pursue you endlessly. Please allow us, convict us, break us down if we need to be broken down, Lord, in order that we are true followers of you, God. Do not look away from us, Father, but keep us in your hands. We love you, we praise you, we thank you. And in Jesus' name,

I pray. Amen. Amen.