The Everyday Apostle - EP013

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:01.500 --> 00:00:07.613
Welcome to the Everyday Apostle, where ordinary lives meet extraordinary faith.

00:00:07.613 --> 00:00:17.786
Join our host, Kendall Peterson, as we explore how everyday men and women bring the gospel to life wherever they live, work and play.

00:00:17.786 --> 00:00:21.181
Let's dive into it right now, Right now.

00:00:25.608 --> 00:00:29.155
Hello and welcome to episode 13 of the Everyday Apostle podcast.

00:00:29.155 --> 00:00:42.479
It's a thrill to be able to bring these inspiring stories of people trying to live their faith in their everyday life, in their jobs, in their school, wherever they happen to be.

00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:49.759
Thank you for all of the messages of hope, the messages of gratitude and especially for the prayers that have helped to sustain this podcast.

00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:53.869
Today's episode of the Everyday Apostle is brought to you by Fugoid International.

00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:58.741
Did you know that success isn't random, follows a formula.

00:00:58.741 --> 00:01:03.088
Every successful organization does seven things.

00:01:03.088 --> 00:01:17.635
Well Now, fugoid calls these the essential elements and, from strategy and growth to leadership and culture, helps both for-profit and nonprofit organizations achieve lasting success by mastering these core principles.

00:01:17.635 --> 00:01:24.653
If you're ready to align your business with purpose and lead with impact, visit Fugoidcom to learn more.

00:01:24.653 --> 00:01:29.512
That's Fugoid F-U-G-O-I-Dcom.

00:01:29.512 --> 00:01:32.424
Now let's dive into today's show.

00:01:32.424 --> 00:01:40.296
Today, I have the privilege of introducing a very, very special guest whom I have known the entirety of my walk with Christ.

00:01:40.296 --> 00:01:48.787
Literally, this man was present and partially responsible for my conversion almost 18 years ago Billy Desmond.

00:01:48.787 --> 00:01:49.810
Welcome to the show.

00:01:49.959 --> 00:01:51.265
Thank you, thanks for having me on.

00:01:51.265 --> 00:01:51.846
I'm excited.

00:01:52.500 --> 00:01:52.840
Me too.

00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:58.581
All right, so I'm going to read your bio, because I can't do it justice on my own, so I'm going to go ahead and read it.

00:01:58.581 --> 00:02:08.673
Today's guest is someone who lives life with passion, defends what he loves and believes deeply in God's will, even when the road gets tough.

00:02:08.673 --> 00:02:13.659
Born and raised right here in Miami, florida, billy comes from a big, beautiful family.

00:02:13.659 --> 00:02:23.995
He's one of nine children, with seven sisters and one brother, raised by his loving parents, james and Mary Lou Desmond, in a strong, faithful community.

00:02:23.995 --> 00:02:28.490
Billy's journey has been nothing short of inspiring certainly the part that I know.

00:02:28.490 --> 00:02:29.451
That is true.

00:02:29.451 --> 00:02:34.572
He's a proud graduate of Christopher Columbus High School and Florida State University.

00:02:34.572 --> 00:02:48.254
After college, billy spent nearly a decade in Costa Rica, working in real estate and development, but his calling to serve brought him back home, where he spent 18 years as a firefighter and paramedic with Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue.

00:02:48.254 --> 00:02:59.325
Now recently retired, billy is enjoying life with his wife, anna, and their two boys, dawson and Connor, intensely driven by God's will and a passion for life.

00:02:59.325 --> 00:03:06.149
Billy's story is one of faith, family and service, and I am so excited to share his journey with you today.

00:03:06.401 --> 00:03:08.165
On the Everyday Apostle Billy.

00:03:08.165 --> 00:03:09.310
Welcome to the show.

00:03:09.310 --> 00:03:11.669
Thank you, kendall, you make me sound like a superstar.

00:03:11.669 --> 00:03:13.283
You are a superstar in my book.

00:03:13.283 --> 00:03:17.212
So in the bio it says you grew up in Miami.

00:03:17.212 --> 00:03:19.467
What part of Miami were you guys in?

00:03:19.580 --> 00:03:33.606
We grew up in Perrine it was literally off 102nd Avenue and like 160th Street and when I was one years old, my brother burned our house down, which moved us into the coral reef estates which is Palmetto Bay as we know it today.

00:03:33.879 --> 00:03:36.109
Okay, so you went uptown after the fire.

00:03:37.081 --> 00:03:39.187
We went west of the highway to east of the highway.

00:03:39.187 --> 00:03:39.769
We went uptown.

00:03:41.540 --> 00:03:41.841
Awesome.

00:03:41.841 --> 00:03:44.246
So at the time of the fire.

00:03:44.246 --> 00:03:51.350
So if I remember correctly and please forgive me, but you are the youngest of nine I am number eight.

00:03:51.772 --> 00:03:52.635
I have a little sister.

00:03:52.635 --> 00:03:54.962
It went three girls a boy.

00:03:54.962 --> 00:03:56.806
My brother started praying for more boys.

00:03:56.806 --> 00:03:57.729
My dad got.

00:03:57.729 --> 00:04:00.604
My mom got three more girls, then me and then my sister Kelly.

00:04:01.064 --> 00:04:04.894
Okay, so when the fire took place and you guys moved, was it all?

00:04:04.933 --> 00:04:06.557
1969?

00:04:06.557 --> 00:04:16.610
And obviously back then the fire department response times wasn't what it is today and my brother apparently was playing with matches in the bathroom and burned the house down.

00:04:16.610 --> 00:04:21.809
So we moved our family just east of US one, literally, probably as a crow flies, maybe a mile.

00:04:22.490 --> 00:04:24.002
That's incredible to think about.

00:04:24.002 --> 00:04:30.992
To move a family that large and to go through all of that it must have been fairly traumatic to the family for sure.

00:04:31.173 --> 00:04:46.012
I think, uh, not all of the family was there at the time, but it was a moment where, you know, mom and dad took over and kind of rallied the troops, because I was just born, my sister wasn't born yet and the rest were in maybe teenage, you know, 9, 9, 10, 11, 12 years old.

00:04:46.012 --> 00:04:55.274
So I was too young to realize it, but the stories that they tell is quite traumatic and a very pivotal point in their lives for sure.

00:04:55.634 --> 00:04:58.345
I can imagine, Prior to Columbus.

00:04:58.345 --> 00:05:00.134
Where did you go to elementary school?

00:05:00.134 --> 00:05:00.615
I went to Holy.

00:05:00.656 --> 00:05:01.339
Rosary Okay.

00:05:01.339 --> 00:05:10.420
Yeah, it's Catholic education from kindergarten through eighth at Holy Rosary, and then, obviously, as you mentioned Columbus and loved Holy Rosary.

00:05:10.420 --> 00:05:22.024
It was the parine of all schools and the only competing school was Parine Elementary at that time, but really enjoyed it there and that's where my family took, or my dad, and mom and dad took us to church every Sunday.

00:05:22.064 --> 00:05:25.927
It was Holy Rosary, okay my dad, mom and dad took us to church every Sunday with Holy Rosary.

00:05:25.927 --> 00:05:28.213
Okay, was that, was that before?

00:05:28.213 --> 00:05:32.163
They was that at the time that they had built the new building, or was that before?

00:05:32.163 --> 00:05:33.343
That was before Okay.

00:05:33.505 --> 00:05:37.365
Yeah, that was before the new building came in, probably when I was like in sixth or seventh grade.

00:05:37.365 --> 00:05:40.052
Yeah, and yeah it was.

00:05:40.052 --> 00:05:45.151
I really enjoyed it because back then we were my family's big a part of athletics.

00:05:45.151 --> 00:05:48.939
They had traveling basketball teams, softball teams, baseball teams.

00:05:48.939 --> 00:05:53.151
They had track teams back then where we've competed against savings in Kevin st Augustine.

00:05:53.151 --> 00:05:56.427
So I, I mean I really enjoyed that that upbringing.

00:05:56.427 --> 00:06:01.648
For sure it brought me to where I am today, obviously with that foundation that brought me back many years later.

00:06:02.269 --> 00:06:03.252
So what were your sports?

00:06:03.271 --> 00:06:05.117
sports in school I played them all.

00:06:05.117 --> 00:06:11.690
I grew up with a lot of athletes in my family, but I played basketball, baseball and football.

00:06:11.690 --> 00:06:13.482
My heart was baseball.

00:06:13.482 --> 00:06:22.067
Unfortunately, in high school I shattered my elbow playing football and was unable to throw a baseball again in the manner that you needed to excel right, right.

00:06:23.209 --> 00:06:25.975
So did you recover from the elbow injury?

00:06:26.055 --> 00:06:29.024
I did yeah, they told me I would never throw a ball again.

00:06:29.024 --> 00:06:34.843
I had shattered my right elbow, which was my throwing arm, had multiple pins and wires put into it.

00:06:34.843 --> 00:06:41.129
It was about 10 months of therapy realized I couldn't throw a baseball because it was a different delivery from a football.

00:06:41.129 --> 00:06:43.521
My brother was an incredible quarterback in high school.

00:06:43.521 --> 00:06:45.889
I kind of fell in suit because of his success.

00:06:45.889 --> 00:06:55.019
They put me in the position as a 10th grader, was successful and then went on to play college for a few years at Austin, peay and then Alabama.

00:06:55.019 --> 00:06:58.990
I had a little initial stint at Alabama which led me to Florida State.

00:06:59.560 --> 00:07:05.228
Very nice, so you had mentioned that.

00:07:05.228 --> 00:07:09.714
You know you guys went to Mass every Sunday and that was a family thing.

00:07:09.939 --> 00:07:10.983
Yeah, I was an altar boy.

00:07:10.983 --> 00:07:18.500
I was an altar boy from as young as I can remember, from probably I guess probably third or fourth grade, when you can stand up and obey and do the right thing.

00:07:18.500 --> 00:07:22.487
Through eighth grade my parents were a faith-based foundation.

00:07:22.487 --> 00:07:33.894
It was Jesus and Catholicism 101 every day and, as you can imagine, as I grew up, my father raising nine, particularly seven, girls when I woke up every day he was gone.

00:07:33.894 --> 00:07:40.793
So he was on his knees at church, didn't realize the value of that until later in life, but always asked at seven in the morning where's dad?

00:07:40.793 --> 00:07:42.526
My mom would say you know where he's at, he's in church.

00:07:42.526 --> 00:07:54.274
And every Sunday we went, we didn't miss and we went as our beautiful, well-dressed sat in the same pew, same place, you know, and worship God at the Holy Rosary.

00:08:01.180 --> 00:08:02.144
So what was that like for you?

00:08:02.144 --> 00:08:06.098
Because sometimes, growing up with that intensity of faith in a family and all of that, sometimes you think it's stupid and sometimes people just fall in line.

00:08:06.663 --> 00:08:09.480
I was and still am a person of I'm like a soldier.

00:08:09.480 --> 00:08:11.300
I respected my father.

00:08:11.300 --> 00:08:12.485
I understood it.

00:08:12.485 --> 00:08:14.439
Did I like so much being an altar boy?

00:08:14.439 --> 00:08:17.389
No, because it was a lot of obedience.

00:08:17.389 --> 00:08:18.660
You had to do a lot of things.

00:08:18.660 --> 00:08:22.319
You got to get there early for church, but I never saw it as a huge task.

00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:23.101
I really didn't.

00:08:23.101 --> 00:08:24.586
I didn't fight my parents that much.

00:08:24.586 --> 00:08:25.488
I don't remember that.

00:08:25.488 --> 00:08:28.709
I just knew when it was time for me to serve in that manner.

00:08:28.709 --> 00:08:37.148
I did because I wanted to honor my dad and respect my mother, but I didn't see it much as a task or something that I fretted about at all.

00:08:37.489 --> 00:08:37.730
Okay.

00:08:37.730 --> 00:08:44.844
Did you have a personal relationship with Christ at the time, or was that still?

00:08:45.466 --> 00:08:46.067
No, I don't.

00:08:46.067 --> 00:08:47.711
I don't think I connected.

00:08:47.711 --> 00:08:55.533
I thought it was like going to school you went, you obeyed, you did what you had to do and there was no connection.

00:08:55.533 --> 00:08:58.328
I was kind of a freestyle young man.

00:08:58.328 --> 00:09:02.768
I wanted to do and say, and almost a FOMO, I wanted to be a part of everything I did.

00:09:02.768 --> 00:09:04.365
So I really said no.

00:09:04.365 --> 00:09:07.230
I didn't say no to a lot of people and sure as heck didn't say no to my parents.

00:09:07.230 --> 00:09:10.503
So, um, no, there was no strong connection.

00:09:10.503 --> 00:09:11.547
There wasn't really.

00:09:13.432 --> 00:09:16.922
So I know you now right and I know there's a strong connection.

00:09:16.922 --> 00:09:18.183
So when did that happen?

00:09:19.385 --> 00:09:24.995
Well, I call it trial by trial and error, and that doesn't mean all my trials led to errors.

00:09:24.995 --> 00:09:34.225
But I tried everything in high school, then in college, which led to losing a scholarship, and ended up at Florida State.

00:09:34.225 --> 00:09:42.812
I was playing football on scholarship, started to try everything and then at that point, if that didn't work and that was an error, just kept trying every avenue.

00:09:42.812 --> 00:09:46.571
And then it ended up successfully getting through school, created jobs.

00:09:46.571 --> 00:09:54.931
I had no lack of energy, I had no lack of willingness to want to work, but me obeying rules wasn't in my cup of tea.

00:09:54.931 --> 00:10:08.527
So I ended up trying everything, ended up in Costa Rica and, as you can imagine not to get into details, but you can imagine from flesh, physical, finance, relationship, women, there was a stint of drugs and alcohol.

00:10:08.527 --> 00:10:10.657
I tried it all and I found myself empty.

00:10:10.756 --> 00:10:17.292
Now, those trials that led to successes that the way of the world wanted to see it, I still felt empty.

00:10:17.292 --> 00:10:19.201
That was finances.

00:10:19.201 --> 00:10:20.826
I makes a lot of money in Costa Rica.

00:10:20.826 --> 00:10:21.508
I'd spend it.

00:10:21.508 --> 00:10:22.610
I just I'd buy a new car.

00:10:22.610 --> 00:10:24.644
I went through nine cars in 10 years in Costa Rica.

00:10:24.644 --> 00:10:27.249
I never was happy, all these fleshy things.

00:10:27.288 --> 00:10:38.621
So I trial by error was my rule of thumb and then came back after 9-11, our business ended in Costa Rica and here I stood in front of my mother going, what am I going to do now?

00:10:38.621 --> 00:10:42.028
And she said well, you know, why don't you go to church?

00:10:42.028 --> 00:10:52.668
I went and prayed and that's when I ran into George LaBelle and I did RMAs an incredible weekend away, just kind of trying to cultivate where I'm at in my life.

00:10:52.668 --> 00:11:00.399
And it was at that point I realized that it was a choice that I had to make to trust in something other than my trials, other than the things of the world.

00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:09.068
And what I found was this huge pouring into my heart and soul that I had never felt through all of those trials and all of those errors or even successes.

00:11:09.068 --> 00:11:13.899
And that's when I realized well, god has a plan for me, different than just trying to go figure out the world.

00:11:13.899 --> 00:11:16.164
And that's not about my purpose.

00:11:16.164 --> 00:11:21.682
My purpose is to serve God and let Him figure all that out for me, if that makes any sense.

00:11:22.003 --> 00:11:34.527
Yeah, that's hard to realize, especially when you're at that age like going through college and your early adulthood, where you feel like you need to take that burden on and you need to make things happen.

00:11:34.527 --> 00:11:40.509
So if we go back into that time, when you were in college, were you going to Mass at all?

00:11:40.860 --> 00:11:41.423
No, in fact.

00:11:41.423 --> 00:11:48.660
Well, I played quarterback at Austin Peay and I was Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, for I was only five games because I ended up breaking my foot.

00:11:48.660 --> 00:11:50.283
I had a great year.

00:11:50.283 --> 00:11:54.413
So I was dating a bunch of Baptist girls and they were taking me to church.

00:11:54.413 --> 00:11:59.100
It wasn't Catholic church, but I was going to chase them to a church because, you know, I wanted to date them.

00:11:59.100 --> 00:12:06.313
So I had an incredible when I think back of where God had me, surrounded by angels that were devout Christians.

00:12:06.313 --> 00:12:09.687
Her name was I think her name was Kelly Gordon was one.

00:12:09.687 --> 00:12:10.428
She took me to church.

00:12:10.428 --> 00:12:13.107
She came to the dorm, took me to church every single Sunday.

00:12:13.107 --> 00:12:20.440
Didn't have a relationship with this girl, she just was a cute cheerleader that I liked and I liked what she did, and so I followed her to the church.

00:12:20.981 --> 00:12:32.431
Moving forward, ended up in Costa Rica, had guys who Julio Cortez, who I lived with, a famous athlete here in Miami, went to Columbus, um and then played in the NFL.

00:12:32.431 --> 00:12:34.644
He handed me the Sermon on the Mountain book.

00:12:34.644 --> 00:12:36.817
I read it three times and still didn't get it.

00:12:36.817 --> 00:12:40.990
But those were those pivotal moments that I knew something was there for me.

00:12:40.990 --> 00:12:53.349
I ended up coming home from Costa Rica in the interim of doing my Emmaus in some time I was on a yacht fishing in the Bahamas and I had a lot of Christian men who owned these big boats.

00:12:54.059 --> 00:12:56.469
That's where I started to see I want what they have.

00:12:56.469 --> 00:12:57.682
Why is it?

00:12:57.682 --> 00:13:00.770
They have all of what I tried to get and felt empty.

00:13:00.770 --> 00:13:04.331
But they have this guy named Jesus in their life and they have what I wanted.

00:13:04.331 --> 00:13:06.390
And they were that different personality.

00:13:06.390 --> 00:13:07.759
They walk different, they talk different.

00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:09.447
They treated me incredibly.

00:13:09.447 --> 00:13:19.428
I couldn't even explain how they because they knew how I acted, but they still treated me with kindness and love and they always kind of infiltrated hey, god's got a plan for you.

00:13:19.428 --> 00:13:26.005
And that was in the Bahamas, which ended up bringing me back to Miami.

00:13:26.005 --> 00:13:30.321
And then I did my Emmaus and then I was surrounded by a bunch of men who culminated from a Kelly Gordon to a sermon on the mountain to, obviously, my parents.

00:13:30.321 --> 00:13:36.541
I got to lay that, lay, that pivotal foundation of my parents in my upbringing, to that.

00:13:36.541 --> 00:13:46.370
But all of that led up to me understanding the full grace of God at that moment and that's where life just began to take on a whole new direction, right.

00:13:47.321 --> 00:14:00.985
Yeah, it's funny that St Augustine says right, we're born with a God-shaped grossly paraphrasing St Augustine but born with a God-shaped hole in our hearts and we try and fill it with everything and nothing fits.

00:14:00.985 --> 00:14:04.894
Nothing fully satisfies until you actually place him there.

00:14:05.139 --> 00:14:12.289
And I promise you, Kendall, I have tried everything and details aren't important, but I've tried it and I remember just feeling so empty at the end of the day.

00:14:12.289 --> 00:14:14.025
I could not rest my head easily.

00:14:14.025 --> 00:14:14.908
It was always rough.

00:14:15.250 --> 00:14:17.527
Right, how old were you when you did your mass retreat?

00:14:18.301 --> 00:14:19.927
I was 33.

00:14:19.927 --> 00:14:21.201
Okay, it's Christ.

00:14:21.201 --> 00:14:23.328
When he went on to the cross, I was.

00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:32.643
So obviously not getting into details of the retreat, but was that like a big bang moment or was that?

00:14:32.643 --> 00:14:33.427
Hey, the pieces?

00:14:33.427 --> 00:14:35.417
Now I see the pieces differently.

00:14:35.417 --> 00:14:36.000
It was a big bang.

00:14:38.926 --> 00:14:43.534
I realized that my heart and soul belonged to God and my mind was belong to this fleshly world.

00:14:43.534 --> 00:14:50.309
And that's where the spiritual world just became to become reality to me, that everything I was putting in my mind was not of God.

00:14:50.309 --> 00:14:57.245
Now, here I found myself on a weekend where I'm pouring myself in my mind of nothing but God, and my heart and soul began to feel connected to him.

00:14:57.245 --> 00:14:59.250
And then, all of a sudden, I had these talents.

00:14:59.250 --> 00:15:05.953
I wanted to curb my language, I wanted to stop drinking, I wanted and had all of these power, that power to be able to accomplish those things.

00:15:05.953 --> 00:15:10.591
And then God started to put all of these incredible souls like yourself into my life.

00:15:10.591 --> 00:15:13.928
And then he asked me to serve and I said wait a minute, how am I going to serve?

00:15:13.928 --> 00:15:16.842
He said be yourself, let your testimony be the word of God.

00:15:16.842 --> 00:15:18.105
And I was like wait a minute.

00:15:18.105 --> 00:15:19.625
So it was a, it was a big bang.

00:15:19.625 --> 00:15:25.413
But at that point I realized I'm a man of action, I like to work, I have the energy to do it.

00:15:25.413 --> 00:15:31.250
I had to make a choice to actually take steps moving forward, and what they were were just delivered to me.

00:15:31.250 --> 00:15:31.936
They were will you?

00:15:31.936 --> 00:15:33.923
No, yes, maybe, and I just answered.

00:15:33.923 --> 00:15:35.590
I said yes, okay.

00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:48.384
So at that point in time, career wise, what were you?

00:15:48.384 --> 00:15:48.496
What were you doing?

00:15:48.496 --> 00:15:48.686
I was, I was in a pivot.

00:15:48.686 --> 00:15:54.826
I came out, I was working, had my real estate license, I was traveling around the country kind of promoting the properties that we had in Costa Rica for the company At the time it was called Digital Capital and I just felt lost.

00:15:54.905 --> 00:16:01.163
I, just here I am, found God, I'm running around trying to sell real estate, but this is, it wasn't my calling.

00:16:01.163 --> 00:16:04.312
A friend of mine said well, my brother-in-law was a fireman at the time.

00:16:04.312 --> 00:16:06.767
Why don't you go work for the Miami-Dade Fire Department?

00:16:06.767 --> 00:16:21.610
I applied and at that point I realized that that's where my ministry is going to really spearhead, because I'm going to be able to go into thousands of homes, whether it was a true emergency or a real 911 emergency.

00:16:21.610 --> 00:16:36.630
I was able to pour in my faith just by serving, or maybe be able to kind of now I don't want to say pitch, but give a word of God in the moments when, because a lot of the calls, there is no real emergency, and so I felt that was my calling and that was my ministry, that God had delivered to me, so I became a fireman.

00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:42.259
So you thought all of that ahead of time, like this is what I'm going to be able to do with that opportunity.

00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:46.662
Yeah, once I knew when I was in the school and what you do is you do ride-alongs, right, when you're in parent.

00:16:46.662 --> 00:16:52.642
I was a 34-year-old, 35-year-old, taking classes with kids that are in their 20s and want to become firemen.

00:16:52.642 --> 00:16:55.691
And you have to do these ride-alongs where you end up jumping on a truck.

00:16:55.691 --> 00:16:58.352
You're a student and you see what it's like to serve in the community.

00:16:58.352 --> 00:17:04.997
And that's when I realized that the majority of the calls aren't exceptional emergencies but you can deliver a service.

00:17:04.997 --> 00:17:08.565
That's like on bended knee and Christ, christ favored Christ's message.

00:17:08.644 --> 00:17:21.692
Christ, I used to do this all the time, but when I realized it wasn't a true message I mean, excuse me, a true 911 call when someone just needed their vital signs checked out you could obviously see we don't have to rush I used to take my gloves off and just ask them can I hold your hand?

00:17:21.692 --> 00:17:23.946
And that alone had a connection to me.

00:17:23.946 --> 00:17:32.489
I'm like, wait a minute, there's Christ in me, serving in a way that's probably not gonna cure her problem, but it sure as heck gonna bring the tone quite a bit down.

00:17:32.489 --> 00:17:40.507
So that's when I started to, as a student, realize oh wow, I can do this and I can serve and I can be Christ-filled in my energy, because it's a hard job.

00:17:41.468 --> 00:17:46.776
Yeah, definitely a hard job, Harder without that right, harder without a faith.

00:17:46.980 --> 00:17:47.924
And I see it all the time.

00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:54.657
Yeah, so do you think that lived up to its expectations?

00:17:54.657 --> 00:17:57.367
Do you think you were able to do everything you thought you were going to be able to?

00:17:57.661 --> 00:17:58.682
Oh, I think so.

00:17:58.682 --> 00:18:05.307
Trust me, it's the calls after midnight that are always tough, because initially this County runs a lot of calls.

00:18:05.307 --> 00:18:07.392
So when you get tired you get weak.

00:18:07.392 --> 00:18:15.241
But I, kendall, we, in my my days at station six in Homestead, I found myself with another believer on the truck.

00:18:15.241 --> 00:18:16.305
His name is Harold Atlet.

00:18:17.346 --> 00:18:18.148
We would run calls.

00:18:18.148 --> 00:18:26.114
To give you an idea, we were on the calls and we found a, a, a veteran or someone who needed some love or needed their house cleaned or their yard cut.

00:18:26.114 --> 00:18:33.303
We would, we would ask them after the call if they did not need to be transported and say listen, would you mind if we came by and cleaned your house?

00:18:33.303 --> 00:18:38.421
Would you mind if I cut your, cut your yard, and we would come and we would pray with them and then we'd clean out.

00:18:38.421 --> 00:18:56.074
And when I tell you we have to put masks on some of these houses and gloves and sleeves, because we're going into a disabled veteran or a woman who's been her husband died three years ago and no one's, she's got no family and her house is like hoarded and we would go deliver a message of firemen just wanting to help outside 911 service.

00:18:56.074 --> 00:19:03.660
So at that point I knew, and then it evolved to where I mentioned taking off a glove, getting on bended knee, asking the right questions.

00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:05.827
Because when you enter a new house, it's simple.

00:19:05.827 --> 00:19:08.789
You look for pictures of Jesus, you look for scripture.

00:19:08.789 --> 00:19:15.009
You have to be a kind of social or environmental awareness and you see, most people have faith somewhere in their life.

00:19:15.009 --> 00:19:19.230
If called 911, three strangers show up and you realize it's not true.

00:19:19.230 --> 00:19:20.926
She might just be having a tough moment.

00:19:20.926 --> 00:19:22.885
That's when you can deliver a message.

00:19:22.885 --> 00:19:23.990
We're there for 24 hours.

00:19:23.990 --> 00:19:28.645
Why not spend another 10 minutes with a woman who needs to be loved and that's the only medicine that she's going to get?

00:19:29.588 --> 00:19:38.381
right so that's where my passenger, it was tearful to have to walk away, which I did, and you know I'm very comfortable where god has me today.

00:19:38.381 --> 00:19:39.304
I'm very comfortable.

00:19:39.304 --> 00:19:41.810
That's awesome yeah, were.

00:19:43.074 --> 00:19:57.730
I mean, you may have just mentioned them, but like what were some of those that really stick out in your mind as the moment you realized I am really living what God has asked me to do in this environment.

00:19:59.300 --> 00:20:20.972
Well, it was when family members showed back up at the station and I could get emotional because it's tough, because they they showed up, um uh, where we had served their mother, their grandmother, whoever in the household, multiple times, because when someone has a chronic illness, you're there 10, 20, 30 times, particularly if you worked in an area like we worked.

00:20:20.972 --> 00:20:32.121
I worked in three stations in 18 years, so I was in those territories for years and they would come back to the station and want to give you a hug and tell you how you served their loved one in the toughest times, how you served the family.

00:20:32.121 --> 00:20:35.931
It wasn't an award, it's just the knock on the door of the fire station.

00:20:35.931 --> 00:20:36.980
Hey, is Billy Desmond here?

00:20:36.980 --> 00:20:38.164
No, he's there tomorrow.

00:20:38.164 --> 00:20:40.490
So they show up the next day and they want to hug me.

00:20:40.490 --> 00:20:51.576
And then they just want to tell me the story of how ex you know grandma or grandpa passed away or dad or mom, and how we were there 10, 20, 30 times and how we serve them in that manner.

00:20:51.596 --> 00:20:52.299
And I realized you know what?

00:20:52.299 --> 00:21:02.112
And I told him that's when I said it's only because Christ is in me that I was able to do this, and that's when I realized I'd walk back into that tough job, maybe having a tough day, being given a gift.

00:21:02.112 --> 00:21:06.182
After a tough individual or tough moment in their life, Someone passed away.

00:21:06.182 --> 00:21:13.161
So that for me was the kind of culmination I'm like thank you, God, At least I'm doing my best here and in a tough situation, Right.

00:21:14.143 --> 00:21:27.027
So you know there's a lot of talk about firefighters being courageous, right First responders, and you know the whole stereotype firefighters being courageous, right First responders and you know the whole stereotype.

00:21:27.027 --> 00:21:49.307
In my mind, having the courage to openly share your faith in that environment is commendable and remarkable, because it's difficult and that was really the idea behind this podcast was there are people that are doing that subtly or just openly, and it's not always welcome.

00:21:49.307 --> 00:21:58.388
It's not always viewed as the right thing to do, especially in a large municipal fire department or a school or a lot of other places.

00:21:58.388 --> 00:22:01.987
Socially, we're told not to do it right.

00:22:01.987 --> 00:22:13.118
So first of all, kudos to you and God bless you for having that courage.

00:22:13.118 --> 00:22:13.319
Thank you.

00:22:13.319 --> 00:22:22.012
My question is undoubtedly you met with some opposition and we don't need to name names or all of that, but can you share some of that?

00:22:22.012 --> 00:22:25.606
What I'd love to get out of this is what was some of that opposition and how did you overcome that?

00:22:25.646 --> 00:22:36.368
Well, first opposition was when we were going into people's homes and I could say this, but I'm not going to, we were told we we couldn't go into homes even though we had run a call.

00:22:36.368 --> 00:22:38.854
It's like there's too much liability.

00:22:38.854 --> 00:22:44.553
So we were told we couldn't go clean people's homes and serve in the manner that we felt was God wanted us to do.

00:22:44.553 --> 00:23:07.019
Secondly, when you're at a firehouse and you're spending 24 hours with individuals and you spend a period of time more than six months or a year, most guys tell their story and most guys are struggling and the stronger my faith got, the easier it was to enter into their life because for some reason, guys wanted, they knew I had a faith.

00:23:07.019 --> 00:23:08.626
They want to come me, tell me their story.

00:23:08.626 --> 00:23:13.125
Now the rebuttal I had was not the person telling me their story, but was somebody heard that.

00:23:13.125 --> 00:23:15.654
I gave them a direction like what do you know?

00:23:15.654 --> 00:23:17.240
How's that working for you?

00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:18.325
It didn't work for me.

00:23:18.325 --> 00:23:20.494
I got divorced or I couldn't get off this right.

00:23:20.494 --> 00:23:27.710
I was doing that and I said, well, it worked for me, and the stronger it works for me, it's easier for me to deliver the message, and that's all I would tell them.

00:23:27.710 --> 00:23:28.373
I said listen, guys.

00:23:28.373 --> 00:23:29.519
I can't prove it to you.

00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:32.894
It's a call of action that has worked for me, like I mentioned earlier.

00:23:32.933 --> 00:23:36.185
You know the word of god is delivered through my testimony.

00:23:36.185 --> 00:23:37.768
I can quote scripture.

00:23:37.768 --> 00:23:38.930
I've done plenty of bible studies.

00:23:38.930 --> 00:23:46.339
But if I deliver my testimony to someone who's probably gone through something similar I've gone through something similar the message is clear.

00:23:46.339 --> 00:23:47.386
But that it's the.

00:23:47.386 --> 00:23:49.330
It's the one, the chatter, that people hear.

00:23:49.330 --> 00:23:52.577
How do you know what are you talking about?

00:23:53.164 --> 00:23:58.445
But so I got it from the department that told me I couldn't clean houses to the guys that were the chatter.

00:23:58.445 --> 00:24:00.409
But it was not a hard message to deliver.

00:24:00.409 --> 00:24:03.413
I didn't get a lot of negative feedback because of the strength of my faith.

00:24:03.413 --> 00:24:09.332
When I was first, you know, like the incipient fire, when I was first getting going, I really didn't know much.

00:24:09.332 --> 00:24:17.798
I just had this wild, energetic, over-caffeinated story about Jesus in my life and it wasn't real kind of true, north and focused.

00:24:17.798 --> 00:24:46.582
And as I got better at it over the years it just become an easy delivery because so many people, so many firemen, so many friends came to me with a story that they couldn't overcome, or a moment that relationships, finances, divorce, alcohol, drugs, whatever it was and I gave them my testimony that was delivered through a guy named Jesus who just captured my heart and said true, north is that direction?

00:24:46.602 --> 00:24:47.305
not, that's not that direction.

00:24:47.305 --> 00:24:52.271
Right again, kudos to you for for having that courage, because some people give up right, and then they don't share it.

00:24:52.271 --> 00:24:54.455
Um, and I've found a lot.

00:24:54.455 --> 00:24:55.719
I've found it very similar.

00:24:55.719 --> 00:24:59.048
It's usually pretty well received.

00:24:59.048 --> 00:25:04.719
You get, you get a little feedback that you shouldn't, and that's fine.

00:25:04.719 --> 00:25:14.417
What advice would you give, whether this is to other firefighters or just people in general?

00:25:14.417 --> 00:25:25.757
Right, we serve in retreats and we have a lot of guys coming out and that trepidation or uncertainty of how do I share the gospel which is our call?

00:25:25.757 --> 00:25:29.935
Right, christ has asked us to go and make disciples of all nations.

00:25:29.935 --> 00:25:38.693
Right, when it gets tough, or when you're afraid, or when you don't think you can, what advice would you give to someone?

00:25:40.025 --> 00:25:41.528
Wow, what advice would I give?

00:25:41.528 --> 00:25:49.249
I can tell you this Faith is a choice right, and faith is believing when it's tough.

00:25:49.249 --> 00:25:54.346
Yeah, one may say faith is things you can't see, but still believe.

00:25:54.346 --> 00:25:58.617
I believe faith is when it's tough, when you believe when it's tough.

00:25:58.617 --> 00:26:06.298
So what I would say is how I connected is try to align yourself with people who are believers.

00:26:06.298 --> 00:26:19.017
It doesn't mean you have to listen to them all the time, but start to pivot from the influence that's got you into the situation you know and that's tough, because what happens is I normally believe that most people are followers.

00:26:19.017 --> 00:26:22.305
There's not many people out there leading themselves in the bad situation.

00:26:22.305 --> 00:26:24.132
It was probably a couple of people that kind of led them.

00:26:24.132 --> 00:26:33.317
So I would try to find the influence or the influences in your life that tend towards to believe in Jesus or the faith-based.

00:26:33.845 --> 00:26:36.913
You know there's a great guy out there I was reading that too long ago.

00:26:36.913 --> 00:26:37.954
His name's Christopher Logan.

00:26:37.954 --> 00:26:38.797
Have you heard about this guy?

00:26:38.797 --> 00:26:41.130
Apparently, he's the most intelligent person in the whole world.

00:26:41.130 --> 00:26:42.753
He's got an iq of 210.

00:26:42.753 --> 00:26:44.016
He used to be the one of the strongest men.

00:26:44.016 --> 00:26:44.798
Have you heard about him?

00:26:45.404 --> 00:27:00.425
Christopher logan, I believe his name is he, uh, he's got an iq of 210 and someone asked him what would be the advice that you give to someone, the one thing to do, and he said receive god's grace not into your heart.

00:27:00.425 --> 00:27:05.979
I mean not into your mind, but in your heart and soul, because your mind is connected to the world and your heart and soul is connected to God.

00:27:05.979 --> 00:27:30.597
So the only way you can do that is trying to, I think, in this world is connect with people who have an influence of, of faith and it might be me, it might be the person down the road but try to go to your local church, um, a retreat, like I kind of rediscovered it, but try to search for that choice that leads you to the influences that lead you to God.

00:27:30.597 --> 00:27:35.974
Might be easier said than done, but it's possible.

00:27:37.597 --> 00:27:41.313
Love it and I think that's really sound advice.

00:27:41.313 --> 00:27:47.636
For sure, you know running out of time here, so I want to ask you one more question.

00:27:47.636 --> 00:27:51.596
So you've had quite a journey to this point.

00:27:51.596 --> 00:27:56.875
What comes next for Billy Dee?

00:28:03.248 --> 00:28:03.769
I want to.

00:28:03.769 --> 00:28:06.957
If someone says what do you want to do for the next 20 years?

00:28:06.957 --> 00:28:11.317
I want to be exhausted in doing what God wants me to do.

00:28:11.317 --> 00:28:12.467
I want to be.

00:28:12.467 --> 00:28:13.730
I want to.

00:28:13.730 --> 00:28:18.138
I want to fall over like that big oak tree that was just exhausted by serving God.

00:28:18.138 --> 00:28:21.855
I don't know where that leads to me at this point.

00:28:21.855 --> 00:28:24.056
I've looked at some opportunities.

00:28:24.056 --> 00:28:26.569
They just weren't heartfelt for me already.

00:28:26.569 --> 00:28:31.445
Fortunately, I'm in a position where I believe that God had centered me.

00:28:32.268 --> 00:28:38.930
I was injured on the job, as you know, and it was the perfect injury because it was a little finger that part of it was lost.

00:28:39.171 --> 00:28:44.930
It's led me to all these surgeries, but he knew if it was a quick knee jerk I would be right back on the truck running because I worked a lot.

00:28:44.930 --> 00:28:57.555
The biggest thing that I have against me is working a lot, but if I had to design my next, I want to find something that brings me closer to God in a love affair that I'm exhausted at the end of the day.

00:28:57.555 --> 00:29:19.795
Now I don't know how that aligns with paying bills and finding a job, but that's all my prayer has been is sitting in silence, and how I've been getting that, kendall, is by praying to God, not only when I want something, but just by talking to God and then listening, because most times we pray to want or pray because there's a need.

00:29:19.795 --> 00:29:28.295
I want to pray just to have a conversation, and what I've been praying for him is find me a place in this life where I can be exhausted at the end of the day, because I'm serving in your will and your way.

00:29:29.726 --> 00:29:36.089
And if that's your purpose and that's what you want, then it doesn't matter what you do right Because you can achieve that a million different ways.

00:29:36.089 --> 00:29:36.751
A hundred percent.

00:29:36.751 --> 00:29:37.954
I love it.

00:29:37.954 --> 00:29:38.557
Fulfillment.

00:29:43.384 --> 00:29:43.691
Billy it Billy.

00:29:43.691 --> 00:29:44.486
Thank you so much for joining.

00:29:44.486 --> 00:29:45.146
I wish we could spend all day here.

00:29:45.146 --> 00:29:45.884
I'll tell you what we spoke earlier.

00:29:45.884 --> 00:29:49.292
If we start talking about our faith, we're actually over three hours later and we've got other things to do.

00:29:50.224 --> 00:29:52.948
That's right, man.

00:29:52.948 --> 00:30:18.968
In recap, I love that you pour it all out Once you led him into your heart, into that God shaped hole you were all in, and I think all in sums you up very well and your advice like surround yourself with people and influences that are going to lead you to God and just be open to what God asks you to do with that.

00:30:18.968 --> 00:30:21.513
So thank you for that again.

00:30:21.513 --> 00:30:32.135
Again, I'd like to acknowledge Fugoyd International as a sponsor and our producer, who is normally Rachel.

00:30:32.135 --> 00:30:37.192
We have a guest producer and, to be honest, we jumped on air and I didn't even catch her name.

00:30:37.192 --> 00:30:38.376
So what is your name?

00:30:38.376 --> 00:30:41.305
Danny, danny, danny.

00:30:41.444 --> 00:30:45.435
Thank you so much for for making this happen, happen and for filling in last minute with us.

00:30:45.435 --> 00:31:07.679
If you don't mind, out there, the one thing I could ask you for is prayers that this mission continues, that this podcast continues and that it reaches the ears that we want, and that whatever I say, whatever our guest says, whatever Billy said today is what God wants people to hear.

00:31:07.679 --> 00:31:11.996
So pray for that and we will be good for all the rest of you.

00:31:11.996 --> 00:31:29.276
Follow us on my goodness, follow us on YouTube, follow us on Spotify, amazon, apple, wherever podcasts are found and we will catch you at the next episode next week.

00:31:29.276 --> 00:31:33.855
Have a Merry Christmas and we'll see you in the next episode.

00:31:33.855 --> 00:31:34.778
God bless.

00:31:36.266 --> 00:31:38.775
Thanks for tuning in to the Everyday Apostle.

00:31:38.775 --> 00:31:47.494
Don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube, on your favorite podcast outlet, and at our website at everydayapostlecom.

00:31:47.494 --> 00:31:50.994
Until next time, stay blessed.

The Everyday Apostle - EP013 - Billy Desmond