Ep. 52: Riley Tejcek's Mission of Empowerment and Endurance

Stepping into the limelight of our latest episode is Riley Tejcek, the first female Marine to break the ice in Team USA bobsledding and the crowned Miss Military 2023. Riley's vibrant narrative arcs from the adrenaline rush of World Cup races to teaching moments on international soil, encompassing the warmth of family bonds revealed in a game show triumph with her mom. Her response to the oft-asked "What do you do?" is as dynamic as her life, a rich tapestry of roles and passions that defy the simplicity of a single title.

Riley brings us into her world, where the power of positivity and the art of self-reflection intersect with the discipline of military logistics. Through engaging anecdotes, she sheds light on how gratitude and a nurturing internal dialogue fuel her journey both on the slick tracks and in daily life. The wisdom of historical figures acts as a compass for Riley, guiding her as she steers through the challenges of athletic discipline with the same clarity and determination that her predecessors did in their time.

As we round off this episode, Riley's leadership qualities and resilience become the cornerstones of her story. We celebrate the unanticipated growth that springs from missed opportunities and share in the camaraderie that fitness and friendships have forged in her life. Her initiatives to uplift women in health and strength resonate as a call to action for all listeners. Embrace the vision, build meaningful relationships, and rise to the occasion of personal development with Riley Tejcek as your beacon.

Conversation:
Intro 00:00
Riley Tejcek What an introduction?! Wow, I think that's my favorite one and, quoting my favorite Bible verse, coming into this, I'm fired up, I'm motivated, I'm really excited to talk to you, Martin.

Why Life is great right now
2:14 Riley Tejcek Yeah, wow, love that question. Let's go right into it. I think honestly any day that I'm able to wake up and live my life and have health and family, it is a blessed day. I choose to have a perspective of God and Christ. Allow me to wake up this morning and allow me to continue. It's that perspective shift of all the little things that go right sometimes. That's why it's great I'm in Lake Plasset, I'm at the Olympic Training Center, I'm competing in World Cup this weekend in front of family and friends on our home track. I'm living the life right now.

Defining Herself and What She Does
3:15 Riley Tejcek I think it depends on where they see me. If I'm on base and I'm in the commissary, there will be a lot of people that are like, hey, you're that Bob Sledder. I'll go in and talk about Bob Sledder because it's pretty evident that I'm in the Marine Corps, sometimes walking around Lake Plasset, I'm walking around in Team USA gear. People will be like, oh, are you an athlete, right? But if a random person just walking up and they say what do you do, I say oh, I work for the government. I keep it going depending on how much information or how much I trust this person. But randomly on airplanes I've had conversations with people Little do I know. It turns into a 45-minute conversation about all the stuff that I've involved in. So it kind of depends.

Experience on the game show Lingo with her Mom
4:10 Riley Tejcek oh, I'm so glad you asked about that because a lot of people kind of gloss over that and I want to give a little bit of a background to fully answer your question. So I had there's my third year in Bobsled and I had found out that I had a very, very high likelihood of making the national team to compete in World Cup. One of our athletes retired. There's a spot opened. I was kind of the next in line based off of it. As long as I worked hard and earned the spot and I knew that that would mean being USA 3, I would be financially responsible for my whole season because it was the year after the Olympic Games, so there's not a whole lot of funding near one of the quad. And I was just preying on it because I'm like I really want to do World Cup. If I make it, how will I finance this? And I'm preying and I'm preying and I get a social media message and it was like, hey, I really think that you'd be someone that should audition for this new game show and, like anything, I thought it was spam and I was like, okay, whatever. And he was like no, no, like I'm actually like helping with casting and I was like, okay, let's schedule Zoom, like let me, you know, I was so suspicious and it ended up being legitimate. And they're like yep, it's teams of two. And when I thought about someone that I wanted to be with me, that is one of the most brilliant women I've ever met in my life and just an absolute boss, an inspiration. I can't think of anyone other than my mother. So we were together. She's like what are we doing? And she's like I love her spirit. She's like rally, I'm in, let's do it. And so we, we made the video and I'm in California at the time and she's in Indiana and we're going on a bunch of production calls, not even in the same location, trying to compete at this game, to get interviewed and get on the show. And we end up getting selected Flew to the UK I'd never been there before in my life for filming. And we got there and we knew that we were going to be competing live TV and there's four teams and only one winner. So it's you. You win or you get nothing.

And our practice round what did not go super well. And we're kind of panicked and we're these two, you know, pretty blondes and people not taking seriously and we just prayed on it. And I prayed with people actually the us in the finals, and the other couple, father and son. He was a strong Christian and we just said you know, lord, this is your money. Wherever you want to go with it, you shall have it sent. And we won and there's a video that I posted a little snippet of the game show and I'm on my knees like crying because I just was in such like disbelief at. The Lord made that happen and we tied 10%, like we said we would. The rest went into funding my season and the little bit money I did have left over went into a down deposit for my first home. So it was one of the biggest blessings I've ever had. Love it.

If Riley could bring back anything from her childhood, what would it be
7:34 Riley Tejcek Yeah, I guess the one thing that I would take back as silly as it sounds would be the time that I got to spend with my family. I, since I was 18, went away for college to DC when my family's been in Indiana the whole time. I've lived in Virginia, north Carolina, california and taken, you know, spent months in Europe and traveling for Bob's Let, and I don't get to see my family very often, and so something I think you take for granted is how much time you get to spend with your parents and my younger sister, and so I was so excited to get away from home. And now, if I could take something back, it would just be spending that quality time with people I love.

Movies that molded her childhood
8:39 Riley Tejcek Mulan was my favorite Disney movie, shocker, and so I remember that and you know that. Let's get down to business and singing it. And as I was making my journey through the Marine Corps and my dad would send me letters at officer candidate school he would reference he's like go defeat the Huns and said jokes. And then for Christmas, like I think a year or two ago, he bought me this Mulan doll because the new animated movie came out.

I'm like what am I supposed to do with this, this doll? I'm a grown adult and he was just like I saw it, I thought of you, so I would say that definitely instilled in me, like this woman, warrior aspect.

Why Riley believes practicing kindness is more than just the right thing to do, but a crucial investment in one’s own chance at success
10:35 Riley Tejcek Yeah that gosh, you were killing the questions. By the way, Research is on point. I think my life took a turn when I gave my life to Christ and the way I view everything and it talks a lot in the Bible about the fruits of the Spirit and things just naturally that come when you're plugged in with Christ and fruitfulness and joy and kindness and all these things just naturally come up because you have so much to be joyful for. I mean, my life has not been easy. I've gone through heartbreak and tragedy and all the things, just as anyone else. I've failed more times than I've succeeded. But I feel like my purpose on this earth is to populate the kingdom and I may be someone's only interaction with Jesus and I know that Jesus was a kind, loving man that, despite everything that happened to him, was just loving and wanted to pour out kindness and give people a reason to smile.

I fail more often times than I would like, but generally I am always happy because there's always something to be happy about.

I always find because we're called to be and it just happens naturally, I guess I know sometimes people are like question it right. Oh, you can't be that nice, you must have an agenda or something. I'm like no, actually I just want to give you a compliment. Or I'm competing on a world stage and I may have just gotten my behind kicked, but I want to go up to my competitor and be like you just crushed it and you got after and that was awesome. They're like wow In our competitive atmosphere, so much more fun. It's definitely don't get me wrong, I still want to beat you and I'm still going to work hard to beat you, but I can respect you while I'm doing it and I just feel like that's somewhere like a change that I want to make, that everyone's life to an extent, is better because they've met me, Whether I made them smile, whether I gave them a compliment, maybe the way I made them feel just be a positive influence in every life.

How Riley turns praise, faint or otherwise, into something that can actually be used
13:20 Riley Tejcek I feel like I say this often. Sometimes I feel like the basic needs and desires of people are wanting to feel seen, heard and valued. I think everyone wants to feel seen like they matter. I think everyone wants to feel like their voices is heard and what they say matters, and they want the validity that they matter. And I think there's a fine line between having confidence and being cocky.

I think it's great to get compliments. I think you should give them out, and I'm going to go two ways with this one don't receive compliments and not believe them and shut them down. Right. That's something, especially as women, I know we struggle hard time with. But also on the flip side of that, you're only as good as you are tomorrow. And so my dad and I one of my favorite things we say is the only easy day was yesterday, and what I mean by that is just because you had success today doesn't mean you have success tomorrow and every day you have to wake up and win that day and be productive and do that. So reminisce and the compliment, receive it right, believe it, it's for you, it's for that person, be kind, giving it back, but then also know that there's still work to be done to continue on to that. And so don't be like, oh, I did it and I'm going to digress for five seconds.

This is where I feel like sometimes we struggle in society. This is where I felt like I struggled for a second in my life where I had these goals of joining the Marine Corps and getting a top level MOS and once I completed that, it would have been really easy to just stop there. Well, I did it. I did everything that I worked years for, and then you get stuck and then you can place it and then you're not working for anything anymore. So, while that compliment may have came there, congratulations. Second lieutenant T Jack, you did it. You're going to go be a leader of Marines. If I take that and I stop there, I'm letting down all the horrors I just did. I have to keep going, and so what I mean by that is but take the time to be like yes, I did this, I accomplished this. Yes, okay, I'm proud of myself. But what's next? Because there's more coming and this is just the beginning of a story that I'm going to continue to unfold.

Advice to better develop an awareness of what our private voice is trying to articulate and reinforce in us so it serves rather than hinders our efforts
16:36 Riley Tejcek I think self-talk is one of the biggest realizations that I had, that I didn't realize the impact that it had on me and you talk to yourself more than anybody. You know those intrusive thoughts and you know those things. And I'll give a very personal example. When I went through my divorce I would jokingly say it, or so I thought and I was like, oh, I'm just damaged and divorced. Oh, yeah, like I'm just divorced and damaged, like, and I thought it was a healing mechanism, a comedic relief, so to say, until I realized the power that those words had on me and the labeling effect that I actually was doing. Because then, when times get hard, I'm like, well, I'm damaged. And I'm like, wait a minute, like, how did that just come out of my mouth? And I'm like, well, maybe because I told myself that a hundred times and there's a very famous quote that says whether you think that you can or you cannot, you're right. And that just shows the power of your mind is, if you think something, you're accurate in that statement. You can force yourself and mind to believe that. So what? I would say back to that in somewhat of what you said.

But there's things that we don't even say out loud. There's self-talk that we go through all the time, especially when we do things that are hard in the gym, at work, dealing with children, talking to people we may not like, right. All the time there's things that we say in our head and we need to be very, very careful and pick up the knowledge on how we say and speak to ourselves. Right, are we telling ourselves first thing in the morning get up, you lazy son of a gun. Like, look in the mirror, oh, I'm fat and I'm ugly and I'm this and I'm that.

Or hey, let's get up and have a great day, right, let's start the day off. Right, let's listen to your favorite music. Let's get go and let's have a go. What's my go to day? Who am I going to impact? Or what can I pray about? Or what am I going to read in my Bible today? Or just like these little things. And if you catch yourself saying those, actually my advice would be to tell that to someone else, which sounds silly, because now you're making it seem like it's actually a thing. But being able to get those intrusive, negative thoughts out to someone else actually doesn't give it that power that stays within. So food for thought.

Tips for people still trying to figure out who they are
20:20 Riley Tejcek I like to say I try to learn every day. I want to have a curious mind, I want to continue to learn language, a new culture, a new fun fact about me, put myself in a hard position, learn something about someone else. I'm a big history nerd and obviously even reading the Bible like there's stuff that I want to learn every day about Christ and things that have happened, and I think the advice that I would give is you're never done learning about yourself, and the only way to learn about yourself is to spend time with yourself, and there's times when I believe that we're called to be still, and that means put your devices down, that means put distractions away and have time for yourself.

Some people choose to meditate. I sometimes like to just go on walks. I get yelled at it, but I leave my phone. I'm like no one can find me anyway, and I want to be unreasonable and I want to spend time with me and my thoughts on who am I, what are the things that I like, what influences me, what drives me, what makes me happy, what makes me sad, who are people in my life that I'm thankful and grateful for? And so I think the only way to learn is to study, and the only way to study is to set aside time to figure out who you are and know that you are going to constantly evolve and change and there's different seasons in life, but you need to spend that time with yourself because you deserve it.

What from your military profession of logistics, have you taken and applied to the bobsled world?
22:12 Riley Tejcek OK. So the first question how I've taken military knowledge and applied it to bobsled the ability to trust in your training and act quickly on your feet In the military. We would take in school and everything right. You're learning the doctor and you're reading the pubs, you're having discussions, but none of that really matters when you're in combat and the situation is a ryan. It's happening very quickly and you're for what? Now? Lieutenant, kind of things.

And while I've never been in combat, we are in simulations when we're at the basic school and such like that. We're like they simulate situations where you need to be able to act quick and you need to trust your training. You need to trust your training, you need to trust the people around you and trust your decision making. So basically, it's like you already prepared for the exam and now it's execution phase. That translated very well to bobsled in the sense of like I have to memorize every single track and every single corner in the track. Then I have to kind of study OK, where's the perfect line, where do I want to be? Ok, what's going to happen if I am not on that line? How do I get back on that line? How do I prevent a crash? How do I write in your thinking all these things? But when I'm going down 90 miles an hour, I cannot be thinking about the track walk that I just had or trying to slow it down, or if I just made a mistake. While back I need to think of how I can protect me and my teammate and make sure we're not going to crash going forward.

So I think that there's a lot of trust in your training, and have quick reaction Doesn't mean you're always going to make the right decision Right, and sometimes you don't, but you need to be able to act, and act quickly and stand by that decision. Here's why I made that decision. Ok, that's probably. That wasn't the right thing to do. If I get in the jam, I know I shouldn't have done that. Ok, I'm not going to make that mistake again.

Historical Figure she identifies with
23:39 Riley Tejcek The second question, second part, that you asked me, is what historical figure I most recognize myself with. This is going to sound not so historical, but the first thing that came to my mind, and so one that I look up to dearly, is Pat Tillman. Pat Tillman was an NFL football player that decided to post 9-11, answer call of duty, went into the military and end up dying, unfortunately.

I mean, you know, yeah, yeah, and that's a story that, again, you talked about my parental influence. My dad would tell me, and from a very early age I realized the power of what he did and saw what it meant to my father, which ultimately saw what it meant to the world, and I was much younger, obviously, when that happened, and not so much that he's historical, but a story that resonated with me of what sacrifice people are willing to do when they feel called to do something.

That again. That maybe would have been the answer on a different day, but that's what. I always say first thing that comes to my mind.

What dark times looked like for Riley and what she took away from those eras
26:11 Riley Tejcek Yeah, there's been a couple of dark times in life, more than I would like to go through, more than I would wish upon anybody, just being super vulnerable. The hardest time that I had was with my divorce. It still feels very fresh. My divorce was actually official September of 2023. The process started in December of 2022. So it really wasn't all that long ago.

And what the dark times look like was on the outside and what everyone else saw was me being successful, me staying in it, me being a fighter, but on the inside, feeling lost, feeling confused, questioning why things were happening to me the way they were feeling, like I worked really hard and I lost everything. It was a facade. It blew up in my face, not knowing if I could really trust people again and me changing. And that was tough. Right, I know we talked about that earlier, but I'm not as happy, I'm not as friendly. I don't have as much energy to give. I don't have the energy to pick up my Bible. I don't really want to praise the Lord right now, because I just felt like my world got flipped upside down and saw that I wouldn't necessarily abandon my principles, because I think I built a strong foundation. But you get depressed, you get anxious, you get worried, you get fearful. I closed up and, on the outside, showed a really strong self and on the inside, felt weaker than ever.

And I would say what I learned about myself? I actually have a blog post coming out relatively soon about how to navigate a divorce as an athlete something I'd open up to but I learned that you can't escape pain and the trials and tribulations are meant to be there and there's always something to be learned from it. But sometimes you have to sit in it and I would try to make myself so busy and throw myself in a million other things or run to different outlets, and it failed me every time and only set back my healing process. So I think the biggest thing that I learned is sometimes you just have to sit in it and there's nothing.

They ask oh, like, a little kid gets hurt. Like, oh, you want me to kiss it to make it better. It's like no, there is no making it better. You're going to sit in it and you're going to cry and you're going to wallow and you need a praying. You need to ask for help and navigate through that so you can properly heal, learn stuff about yourself and the situation, reflect, have gratitude, but also grow, and I think sometimes we try to mask the trials and dark places that we're in with alcohol, with relationship, with food, with whatever your advice is and it could even be good things with going for another job. Keeping yourself busy was my thing and you're only prolonging the process and never fully healing until one day you realize what am I even doing and who am I and how did I get here?

Recent purchase of $100 or less that has most impacted her life
30:17 Riley Tejcek Oh my gosh, Yeah, I don't even know what that really is. Oh my goodness, wow. I don't really get stumped very often by questions, but I'm like I don't even know what I bought recently other than food. Oh man, okay, we'll get back to that one. We'll get back to that one Okay.

How a failure, or apparent failure, set her up for future success…and a favorite failure story
31:11 Riley Tejcek We kind of lobbed me up for that one. You gave me a nice, a nice pitch there, because I was going to say, and I talked about before, but was that pun intended when you said pitch? Yes, when I was going through my recruiting phase for softball, I got turned down by Lowell in South Carolina. I say turned down, offered me walk-on positions or very, very minimal scholarship, and it absolutely broke my heart. I went on full recruiting visits. My dad was a professional baseball player.

Yeah, and I wanted to make him really proud in going to University of South Carolina where Lowell was two massive schools, big name schools that I thought he would be really proud of and I was really proud of. And when you spend a whole weekend and back-to-back weekends, you get your heart just shattered as a 15, 16 year old. Yeah, being told that you're not good enough was absolutely gut-wrenching. But because of that I was able to go to George Washington. Because I went to George Washington, I met a Marine recruiter. Because I met a Marine recruiter and I went to George Washington, I was able to get involved in Bobsled and then I've been able to maintain a career as a professional athlete and as a female in the military right, which would then open this door, and one failure story.

I will say that I don't know if it's my favorite, and there's not really a happy ending to this one. So that's kind of where I'm going with that. I know this sounds. I'm saying this from a very humble place. A lot of times when I set out for something, I get it because I work very, very hard. Right, I'm very accomplished. It doesn't mean I don't fail, and so that's why I'm sharing this with you.

I really wanted to be the commencement speaker at graduation for George Washington and it's like oh, riley, you're a student athlete, you're this, you're that GW is basically a top level school. I graduated from 3.8 GPA, so not a dumb dumb by any means, but I thought I had it prepared. I wrote a really long speech, I submitted my video. I thought, oh, there's no way I don't get to the interview round for the final five. And I didn't get to the final round for the final five and I was so upset I couldn't believe it.

I was like what? I worked really hard, I worked forever on my speech, I practiced a million times over, and now I guess the funny thing I don't know I haven't seen it full circle, but I love public speaking and now I'm out here helping on podcasts, but even public speaking at schools and stuff to help with recruitment, and that's all I wanted to do was to public speak in front of my university at graduation, and I never got that. So that's something that a lot of people don't know and it actually made me really sad. I was like man, I didn't even get to the next round, but everything happens for a reason. I'm sure that the individual that got it was more than deserving which I knew that they were and they did a great job. So it ended up working out OK, but there was no happy ending to that. I just failed and didn't get it.

On Living in Kyrgyzstan for three months
34:55 Riley Tejcek Story was I was in college and I had finished in 2016 summer Officer Cannon School juniors for the PLC program and I was too young to go back for the senior program, so I had a summer off, so it was summer of 2017. And I asked my Marine recruiter what can I do to make myself more competitive? I knew, being a female, there wasn't very many. I want to be the best officer I possibly can. And he was like well, spend the summer and learn Russian or Chinese. And I said OK, and I think they thought I was being facetious and I was like OK, and so I was looking into programs and I saw that there was an opportunity to go and be an English teacher for this exchange program.

And I have all places there's Portugal and Spain and France and whatever and I chose Kyrgyzstan and my parents freaked out and they're like you're 19 years old and you're going to go and live with a host family in a whole different part of the world and it's a stand so also somewhere that isn't necessarily, I would say, not safe, but just a very, very different way of life.

Maybe I don't blend in as much as maybe I would in other locations and I decided to up and go. My primary job there was to teach English at a school, but my ultimate goal was to be studying Russian during that time and live in a culture and society that was Muslim and very close to maybe war at that time as a stand, Like not really, but Afghanistan isn't super far away but hey, how does this, how does this Muslim culture kind of work, where they speak Russian but they're also a farmer part of the USSR? As a history girl, I was like this this region of the world is fascinating to me, and not somewhere where I think anyone I've ever met has really gone.

When Riley Tejcek thinks of a movie image that depicts leadership, who or what comes to mind
37:39 Riley Tejcek Leadership. I'm trying to think of some of the movies that I've seen recently. I guess one thing that, like I had just seen on my flight to Europe, that just is stuck in my mind for whatever reason, is Oppenheimer yeah.

I just watched that and I think, in terms of leadership, there are several cases where you could be seen and, I think, as obviously as the main character. There was leadership and leading the whole project from the beginning right, and his vision of Los Alamos and how he wanted to make it a town and a place, and how he was the leader to hand pick his team and who he wanted to be around him and ultimately lead to this goal. And then the leadership ability to sit down and be like, hey, you know, actually what I did was was maybe not what I thought it was supposed to be like, and I'm going to have the boldness to speak out against that. And so I know that that may not have been the answer. Maybe you're thinking of, but in my head that's the movie I've seen so recently that I would. I didn't know the full story and I was very, very impressed, at least with the build up of what one man really did to play a massive part in building of the bomb.

Hanging out with Rebecca Rouse
39:43 Riley Tejcek Yeah, Rebecca and I have been friends for a little bit now. I Am trying to even think how we a hundred percent first met, which is crazy. But her husband, Joel, is a Marine. He's a major, the Marine Corps. I think we were connected Through a couple things and I just when I see other women that are getting after it, I was inspired. I was like, man, like you're legit and we were a strong.

Yeah, mentally, physically, you know, practice what she preaches, all this stuff and so I'm like those are the kind of women I want to be surrounded with and buys is by boss lady, women that are Getting it in their own field, that we can, you know, get together and support each other, and that's exactly what happened to. Where you know, she has a company called Simper stronger and I've been able to work with them. I'm one of their athletes and you know they help sponsor me and I help work as a tactical athlete representative of sales For their company. That is all about living a healthier lifestyle, and so Rebecca and I get together every so often.

That was, I think, our third top meetup that we've had, and we were able to Create a video together actual hot son to you.

We made how to do pull-ups for women especially, but for anybody. But you know our we have so many women that ask all the time about how to do pull-ups and how to get involved, and so we just came in together and decided to film a video of of how to do pull-ups, or like steps and processes to get it. So I Was really proud of us for that and what we did, and, like I said, I just it's very easy to want to bring people down Maybe you're similar to you or as successful, and my main thing is I just want to lift them up. And I was like, man, I am impressed by you and you're a boss lady, and like let's together, you know, have this commonality of voice of empowering women and being comfortable and okay with that. And so I was like, hey, I have an idea for this video. I just want to like, I want to show us cool, to be strong and it's cool to like uplift other women. And so we did.

If there was a a bobsled movie made about her life, what would the name of the movie be and what actress would play her
42:51 Riley Tejcek Oh Okay, a title for a bobsled movie on my life. Huh, okay, I got to get this working title because I'm trying to think of layout, like incorporate it.

You know something about like, Like something to do with like America, right, like I'd want something USA like some tie with like the military. Yeah, so I think I know it's good okay, I like it. Yeah, we can roll with that.

Positive outlook from Riley
47:20 Riley Tejcek Yeah, I love the questions and so I always say and you know, I hope future guests and stuff take two, doesn't matter how many people view the podcast, it doesn't matter how many listeners you have or anything like that if you can impact and inspire one person, you're doing it right. And even if no one listens to it which was not true, it's my dad listens to every single one. Love you, dad. You're doing something right and you're living out a passion that you have that you feel like you're called to do, so continue to do it. I just want to be Encouraging. Unlike the research, that hours of time you put in this was very enjoyable. I love answering questions that I never have before. I very rarely ever get stumps, and so you definitely stopped me a couple times. So that is incredible and just continue to do it, and I hope you have. You know all hundred people that you want on and you continue to do this and People thank you for the impact that you've made on their lives because of it.

Where to find Riley
48:43 Riley Tejcek Yeah, my Instagram is my main Thing and way I get in contact with people through there. If you guys need anything, you can always send me an email or direct message. Yeah, that's, that's about it.

More info about Riley Tejcek:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riley.tejcek/?hl=en
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/riley-tejcek-b264902b9/
Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/RileyTejcek

Books and People mentioned:
Pat Tillman
Rebecca Rouse
Blake Lively

Quotes:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

“The only easy day was yesterday”

"If you think you can or if you think you can't, either way you're right" -Henry Ford

My Links
Podcast: https://www.passingthetorchpod.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC04suOPTX3ny_M0aDxmBAXQ Twitter: https://twitter.com/pttorch
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/torchmartin/