Designing Your Life: Aligning Values and Goals with Lyndon Azcuna

Matt: 00:00:00

Welcome to Live well, the podcast where we explore how to navigate life's biggest changes, challenges, and how to overcome them and build a future that aligns with your values. I'm Matt Wilson, financial advisor, coach, and business owner of my practice here at Cornerstone Wealth Services here in South Bend, Indiana.

And I'm so glad that you're here.

This podcast was born out of one simple but powerful belief that you can live a life that is healthy, feels grounded and aligned with your values and goals, even in the middle of big transitions. Whether you're facing retirement, career changes, the loss of a loved one, or maybe you're looking to start that business or that organization.

Maybe you're just wondering what's next. Well, this podcast is for you.

Each episode, I'm going to sit down with experts, professionals, and real people who have actually lived through the hard stuff, and they've also come out stronger because of it. And we're going to unpack what it means to live well.

So today I've got the privilege of sitting down with my friend Lyndon Ezkuna, and I appreciate your time, and I think this is going to be a fantastic conversation. You know, as I mentioned, this is. This is just born out of. Hey, I'm trying to figure this all out, too. Like, I'm gonna. I'm.

I'm excited to learn from you because I don't have it all figured out, and anybody who knows me probably knows that pretty well.

Lyndon: 00:01:32

But.

Matt: 00:01:32

But I would just say that, you know, appreciate your time, and I know that you've got. You got a great heart for this.

Lyndon: 00:01:40

Yes.

Matt: 00:01:40

So today I just want to hear more about. About you, and we'll see if we get this into two different parts, but going to sit down here and just try to listen.

Lyndon: 00:01:52

Yeah.

Matt: 00:01:52

See if we can do that.

Lyndon: 00:01:54

Glad to be here, Matt. Thank you for the opportunity.

Matt: 00:01:57

Yeah. Well, I know we're going to kind of get into your story a little bit backstory, and then obviously, you.

You created Life Plan, which is tremendous organization and ministry, and obviously people have heard that name in our area, at least they should have. But again, I just kind of want to go back to. And we'll get to all that.

Lyndon: 00:02:17

Yeah.

Matt: 00:02:17

But I want to give. Go back to kind of the origin and. And how it all began, the pain. There's probably crossroads. There's maybe. Maybe a turning point.

And, you know, I think that resonates with people. So I guess let's just start there and maybe get to know you a little bit better.

Lyndon: 00:02:41

Okay. Okay. Thank you again. I mean, I Want to thank you for the opportunity to share my story or God's story more succinctly.

And I'm glad what you're doing here. Anything to encourage others to follow God, to follow God and their families and in their life and in their business.

So I hope this thing blesses somebody out there, and I know it will. I'll begin by sharing my story. And you'll find out in my story. There's lots of scars in my life and lots of stories and lots of scars in my story.

And it's not about how strong I was, but how great God has been. And I want to say that in my life, my life is not about my resiliency, but about how God has been merciful.

I just want to say that it's not about me digging deeper into myself and finding myself. It's about being undone and being remade in Christ.

You know, you'll find out in my story, in my teenage brokenness, I mean, teenage failure and my marital brokenness, and even in being harmed by a Christian ministry experiencing financial loss. It's about God's mercy in the middle of that, finding God in the middle of all that in each chapter. This is the one thing I've learned.

We live well when we love others, but before we can love others, we have to first experience the love of God. In fact, if there's one thing that really resonates as I look back, back into my life, it's really understanding the love of God in my life.

And from that I've learned to love others and serve others better. And so that's what changed me. And I'm hoping to share that in this story. And you want me to start from the very beginning.

Matt: 00:04:51

Yeah.

Lyndon: 00:04:51

How do you want me to. Just started.

Matt: 00:04:54

Yeah. You know, I think you raised some great points, you know, you. In your journey to help other people.

Lyndon: 00:05:01

Yeah.

Matt: 00:05:01

And I think in, in our journey to help others, I mean, obviously we've got to make sure that, that our quote, unquote house is in order. And, and how can you do that?

And, and I think if you are trying to help, if you are trying to, to, you know, be that influence, then you've got to make sure that you're grounded.

Lyndon: 00:05:23

Yeah.

Matt: 00:05:23

That you're aligned.

Lyndon: 00:05:24

Right.

Matt: 00:05:25

You've got to have a health, spiritual health, physical health. I mean, it's all important. You know, your relationships need to be right.

And I can tell you, just in preparation for this conversation, I can tell there's been a lot of great work even in, in my heart, just looking at my family, just knowing what we were going to talk about today. So yeah, let's just start. Start with the beginning and then we'll kind of walk into.

Lyndon: 00:05:57

Yeah, let me give a. Just a quick picture. Filipino, born in the Philippines.

Big first significant thing that happened in my life was my father died when I was five years old. So I actually don't have an image of my father growing up. Came to America when I was 6 years old. Elementary, high school. I was here in America.

We were a Protestant family, churchgoer, but not Christians. Yeah. At the age of 15, my mom died. I was one of six, the youngest of six. Within the first 11 years. Five of them were born 11 years later.

I followed some interesting dynamics there. Anyway, wasn't.

Grew up here in America, then went back from my undergrad to the Philippines, got saved a year later, felt called to the ministry and then so I went to Bible school. So I was there for six years. Came back for my master's degree and went to Wheaton grad school. Met my wife.

Been Married now for 34 years this coming August.

Matt: 00:07:03

Doing something right.

Lyndon: 00:07:04

Yeah. We have six kids. Four. Four grandkids. And so that's a big synopsis of my life from there.

I can tell you now the three significant broken experience in my life that turned me around. Okay, so that's a synopsis. So going to the details, the three broken areas.

Matt: 00:07:25

Sure.

Lyndon: 00:07:26

All right. The first one was the brokenness when I was a teenager, teenage pregnancy. I grew up in a religious home, but did not.

But that did not keep me from making bad choices. Okay.

Matt: 00:07:43

Yeah.

Lyndon: 00:07:44

So grew up in a Christian home. Okay. I wouldn't. Okay, take that back. Religious home, but did not stop me from making bad choices as a teenager in high school.

Had good grades and my, my, you know, growing up, siblings taking care of me. There were no more parents by that time. I had good grades, but I had a girlfriend. And at the young age of 18, I got a girl pregnant. She was.

She got pregnant and I did not take responsibility for my action. I really did not. And my family at that time had a lot continued to do so in some form. Another had this ideal.

My Filipino family, because I grew up, I was there with them. They wanted their children and siblings to be successful.

And if there were problems in their life, they got rid of the problems, solved their problems so that the kids could be successful. So before I finished high school in my Miami, Florida, I was sent to the Philippines for my undergrad.

Matt: 00:08:53

Wow.

Lyndon: 00:08:54

To not take responsibility for my action in getting a girl Pregnant. So I went to the Philippines. Escape, you know, that was my family. Escape from the problems.

Let's solve it by giving them another chance somewhere else. Not taking responsibility. And so I went to the Philippines. I didn't take responsibility. I'll share that side of the story in a second.

So I went to the Philippines. Started over, now transitioned from high school to college and taking my undergrad in the Philippines. And no, not being a Christian at that time.

The other side of the story, the girl that I got pregnant, the mom, she wanted to keep the baby, and she didn't care if I was not being responsible. So she moved from Miami, Florida. I didn't know this, okay? I was already in the Philippines. She moved from Miami, Florida to North Carolina.

And the girl grew up in her family. The mom eventually got married and she had two other siblings. Okay, So I was there. She moved to North Carolina. I was in the Philippines.

And in the Philippines, after a year, I didn't know it, but the family that followed up, my sister during my mother's wake when I was 15 years old, that was a Christian church. And the church followed up my sister, and she became the first Christian in my family now, okay, so when I went back, she was a Christian.

Already took me to church. I remember it was always in the third row. And I was bored because. Because I wasn't a Christian. And she was praying for me.

Bible studied every night she prayed for me. She sent me to camp. And at the camp, I got saved. And that's the first time I realized one's faith must follow after one's belief.

I had a belief about God, but I didn't follow him. So I got saved after about six months being in the Philippines now, after they escaped from my responsibility, I got saved. Really grew in the Lord.

And a year later, that camp, I mean. I mean, at that camp, I realized God was calling me to ministry. I really felt.

Luke 9:23, if any man wish to come after me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross daily and follow me. So medical school. Go there to be successful. Take medical school, come back to America, be successful. Instead, God had other plans.

And the plan, it's often how it works. Yeah, how it works. And so I felt called to the ministry.

I went to Bible school after that, after a year of secular school, went to Bible school and started growing in the Lord, being involved in ministry.

So this was now six years in the Philippines after not taking any responsibility, then came back to America after six years in the Philippines, felt called to ministry because I Wanted to study further. I went to Wheaton Grad school in Chicago. And make a long story short, I met my wife there. Then I proposed to her after a year.

,: 1991

So we were married for many years. And then one day I got a call in the middle of the night. Not in the middle of the night, late evening. And on the other side of the phone was my.

Was a lady girl that says, I'm your daughter.

Matt: 00:12:42

Wow.

Lyndon: 00:12:43

Yes.

Matt: 00:12:43

Oh my goodness.

Lyndon: 00:12:45

Okay. So going back to our story, the thing that connected us again because we were gone for each other for many years. Like 20 years? Almost.

Sure, 18 to 20 years. So the other side of the story, she moved to North Carolina, as I said, a whole family. The mom got remarried, they had two other kids.

But the girl, my daughter, wanted to reconnect with me. She couldn't find where I was. I was in the Philippines many years. But the mom's best friend was still in Miami, where I lived.

She got sick for two weeks. And you guys don't know, but my sister was a nurse. And out of all the nurses, she connected with the girlfriend's mom.

Matt: 00:13:33

Oh my goodness.

Lyndon: 00:13:34

Yes. And somehow they corrected, they connected that I'm Linden's. She was my sister. Was my. My sister. And then. So she called this the.

That's the friend called the mom and says, Amanda's dad is back in America. So Amanda at that time was searching for the father.

You know, I read that around 18 to 20 years old, they start realizing how does my biological father really care about me or do they really want to connect? So she made the phone call and initiated that. And I tell you, that night we talked for about an hour and a half.

And I wanted to say I want to reconnect. My wife was very gracious at that time and even to now. And then this is what happened. So I traveled a lot in my work at that time.

So one of my traveling, I visited her in North Carolina. That was our first meeting. And not only that, but I will tell you, I wanted to restore this relationship with my daughter that I miss for 20 years.

And then so for the next three and a half years, three years, I called her at 7:30 every Monday morning to restore our relationship. I visited her there in North Carolina. Then she eventually came to visit me in West Chicago. And then we reunited. My wife was so gracious.

In embracing her. To make a long story short, at that time she was not a Christian. She was living with her boyfriend.

But after reconnecting with her, she became a Christian.

Matt: 00:15:16

Wow.

Lyndon: 00:15:17

She married her boyfriend, they both become a Christian. We now had family reunions. She was just here about two months ago. And she's part of our family. And here's the final kick.

I didn't know her name because I disconnected with the moment. We named our girls Donna, Hannah, Leah, Sophia. All ending with a. And I didn't know that her name was Amanda. Amanda.

Matt: 00:15:43

Wow. That's that. You know, when you talk through that, my first question is, what did you think when you got that phone call? What was your reaction?

Lyndon: 00:15:52

Like, shock. Yeah, shock. This is exactly what happened. Can I call you back? And I put it down. And then, and then I said, I just wanted to call you back.

And then my wife was there. Talk to her. That was Amanda. I mean, that's, that's was my daughter. She said, call her back. And then you talk to her.

And yes, I said, yeah, I was just shocked. So I called her back five minutes. And we talked for an hour and a half.

Matt: 00:16:14

You know, I think the thing that resonates with me and what everything you just said is. And it's going to lead into the whole life plan story and what you're trying to do and why you're trying to do it.

But to me it just seems like you've. This is all about relationships.

Lyndon: 00:16:29

Yes.

Matt: 00:16:30

And it's the relationship not only.

Lyndon: 00:16:32

Yes.

Matt: 00:16:32

First with yourself.

Lyndon: 00:16:33

Yes.

Matt: 00:16:34

Or in it. And it begins with honesty. Honesty with what's working, what's not working. Honesty with what, you know, regrets you may have.

Lyndon: 00:16:43

Yes.

Matt: 00:16:43

But then, then there's a relationship with God.

Lyndon: 00:16:46

Yes.

Matt: 00:16:47

And, you know, everybody has to sort that out for themselves. But yes, you know, religion, you make a great point. Religion is different than a relationship.

Lyndon: 00:16:55

Yes.

Matt: 00:16:56

And you have a relationship with God and. Or you don't.

Lyndon: 00:17:00

Yeah.

Matt: 00:17:00

And there's nothing that's going to take the place of that. And then you have your relationship with others. This is what the good Lord's been preparing me for this week.

Because I can tell you that in preparation for this, I was self examining all three aspects of those, those things and you just bring that out. And so you were willing to be honest with yourself, your future wife, then you're willing to be honest with the good Lord.

And then you've got a person that you have a connection with, you do have a relationship with. But how do you foster that?

So I think that it's just a tremendous segue into, I'm sure how you do doubted all of those things, but you had the guts to be honest in each one of those. And so I guess tell me the next step, you know, as we lead into.

Lyndon: 00:17:56

Yeah, this is, this is really important because remember, I broke that relationship. I didn't take responsibility in that relationship. And what did God do? He restored it.

He brought, orchestrated the situation to bring me back to that daughter. And God is a God about restorating, restoring relationship. We all have broken relationship.

And God came to set the prisoners free and to heal our brokenness by his stripes. What we were healed. And I will tell you that's a great story. And you don't even know.

The other connection that I didn't even share is that at that time I was in a prison ministry. And I don't know if you know, but when guys go into prison, they don't see their kids anymore. After the first year, everybody comes and visits.

And after the year after that, nobody comes and visits him. And I don't know if you know, but this was the exact time when approximately when the hurricane hit New Orleans. And families were scattered.

And before men used to, I mean, people used to come and visit them, the men in prison, but everybody was scattered.

And I told the men, if your prison sentence caused you to break your relationship with your children and family, God can restore that, just as he restored my relationship. And I called that ministry Malachi Dad. And that grew from that. You know, the point is, is that that's it. God is about healing relationships.

Matt: 00:19:38

It's it. You know, I was a religion Bible major, and, you know, you say, wow, that's a whole other podcast.

But I would just say that it just, to me, when you look at scripture, it's not just any other book. It's a constant theme of God creates, man screws it up, and then God redeems.

I think that what you're sharing is great because I know there's a lot of people out there that have dreams and goals.

I mean, and this, this was kind of the dream to, to not just create content, but create meaningful content to, to help people navigate, you know, tough things. And, and I guess I would interject here the fact that when you were starting in your prison ministry or you said, hey, I've got to.

Amanda called me, or you started Life Plan. I'm sure in each situation it was like, boy, is this a good time. Right?

Lyndon: 00:20:43

Yeah.

Matt: 00:20:43

And there's really no good time ever to do. To do what you believe to be called to do. It's just time.

Lyndon: 00:20:50

Just time.

Matt: 00:20:51

And so you have to step out and you may not be ready. Like, I didn't necessarily feel ready to do this. I didn't necessarily feel ready to start my own practice.

But I can tell you that I'm so glad that I did, and I'm so glad that, that we did this. So I just see that as. As another theme coming through and that might help folks that are trying to make that decision also.

Lyndon: 00:21:15

I'm sure. I am 100 sure of this. Your listeners have brokenness in their lives and relationship brokenness.

I can guarantee that that's part of our brokenness with God, results from our brokenness with other people. And God is also interested in restoring that. And sometimes we need to restore that before we restore our financial stuff. Yeah.

Because most of our brokenness or our joy is not in the things that we have, but in the relationship that we. I mean, I. I always say just that's fathers, not when we are at the end of our lives. We don't wish we had more time to make more money.

We wish we had more time to be with our families.

Matt: 00:22:06

Exactly. You know, the way I say it is money's a tool. We use it or it's going to use us.

Lyndon: 00:22:10

Yeah.

Matt: 00:22:11

Yeah. And so what are we. What's the reason? I think, you know, you hit on it in kind of our show prep when we talked about what's the motivation?

Lyndon: 00:22:20

The motivation.

Matt: 00:22:21

What are you, what are you motivated by? To do what you want to do. Right. And how is that going to align with what's going to truly matter?

Lyndon: 00:22:29

Yeah.

Matt: 00:22:29

You know, money is great. I mean, I struggled getting into this career. You know, there's nothing wrong with this career.

Lyndon: 00:22:36

It's a good career. Yeah.

Matt: 00:22:37

I think that I had a really good mentor of mine that, that's. That said, you know, you should look at doing that for a living. You can help anybody with any time, you know, with anything at any time.

And I struggled with it because I was like, that's not what life is just all about. But once I kind of understood that, hey, money is a tool. We use it or uses us. And then we also. It's like, it's like oxygen. Everybody needs it.

And then you sit there and you say, well, what can I do with the talents and abilities? And unfortunately, a lot of times that takes money.

Lyndon: 00:23:10

So.

Matt: 00:23:11

But anyway, I digress. And you know, we talked about just how, you know, God redeems. And look, sometimes there's just not the best Time. So I guess walk me through.

I mean, obviously you had some hurt with your family and your marriage and you confided in me in that a little bit. And then also kind of on a professional front. Guess let's touch on that and then we can kind of touch on maybe the birth of life plan.

Lyndon: 00:23:42

Okay. Okay. So you just closing the Amanda story?

Yeah, it's that verse in the Bible, Romans 8, all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purposes. You know what I did irresponsibly, God gave me a second opportunity to restore that. Yes.

And that happened the second, you might say, challenge in my life. And probably one of the most significant one was walking away from my marriage. Let me give some background on that.

Again, I want to remind you, my father died when I was five years old. My father died when I was 15. I had okay, examples of marriage, but not really hands on.

Matt: 00:24:34

Sure.

Lyndon: 00:24:35

And that experience, there was a lot of brokenness in my life that I didn't realize. And I married a wonderful woman. Her name is Julia. Married a wonderful family, great Protestant, religious, Christian family.

But again, there were a lot of hurts and brokenness. Having an absent father really hurts you, whether you're conscious about it or not.

Matt: 00:25:01

Sure.

Lyndon: 00:25:01

Anyway, seven years into my marriage and I didn't know how to communicate, didn't know my feelings. I was very passive aggressive, if you want to know the root.

Seven years into my marriage, I already had two kids and I was ready to give up and walk away. And literally I did that. I walked away from my marriage for three months. I was. There was a lot of brokenness. I didn't know how to handle pain.

I didn't know how to develop relationship. I was emotionally had an emotional attachment to another person. And so there was a lot of wrong.

So I walked away from my marriage for three months and I even said the divorce word. I was really giving up. And remember, my family taught me the wrong way. When you have a problem, just start over.

Matt: 00:26:02

Yeah, there it is.

Lyndon: 00:26:03

Okay, there it is. And you know, you have these wrong mindsets. You think the grass is greener on the other side. You don't deal with problems. I didn't know how.

So I walked away from three months and I was still coming home. I had two kids at that time. They were only fortunately five years old or six years old and four and a half.

But when I went back one night because I was still connected with my kids. Yeah. And by the way, my wife was wonderful. She did fireproof before the movie Fireproof before the movie was even created. Yeah, she was forgiving.

She was reaching out to me. She welcomed me at home. She had counsel with godly women. So, anyway, I went home one night. I went home regularly, but didn't stay at home.

I went home one night to see my girls. They were already asleep. I went into their room and I can tell you the Holy Spirit convicted me deeply that night. And he reminded me of this idea.

This is the same pain you didn't want your girls or your children to have that you had when you had an absent father. That was very clear when I went to the room that night. And that Holy Spirit conviction caused me to repent.

I repented and it was the spirit of repentance that God gave. And I came back home and I did. The marriage wasn't healed overnight, I can tell you. Not healed overnight.

Matt: 00:27:55

It's a process.

Lyndon: 00:27:56

It was a process. But I went home with deep conviction, repented deeply of my sin, and I was. When I went back home, I reevaluated my life.

And I really asked myself what went wrong? Because I had a undergrad in Bible.

I had a master's degree in theology and in Bible, I had ministry experience of easily since 15 years of ministry experience, was a pastor for a small little church for seven months in the Philippines.

Matt: 00:28:33

So probably felt like you were dying.

Lyndon: 00:28:35

Yeah, yeah. All this head knowledge.

Matt: 00:28:38

Yeah, sure. But it's your identity.

Lyndon: 00:28:40

It was my identity. It was ministry. But I will tell you, the distance from my head to my heart was miles and miles away.

And so I realized that I was really broken and knowledge didn't change me. So when I went back home, like I said, it was messy. We had carer counseling and all that. But I also checked myself. I said, what is really broken?

So I didn't know what was broken, but I knew something was broken. So I said, I'm getting rid of for the next. I mean, I tell you, I got rid of media and TV and secular music because I felt my.

I was secular in my head, in my heart. And so I got rid of that for a year. And this is the kicker right here. I opened the. God convicted me to go to the book of Romans.

So I studied the book of Romans for the next three and a half years, one verse, one phrase at a time. And I will tell you, looking back now, that was what the Spirit used to transform my heart.

Matt: 00:29:47

There's your case for expository preaching.

Lyndon: 00:29:50

Absolutely, absolutely.

Matt: 00:29:52

Yeah.

Lyndon: 00:29:53

And I will tell you, it took a long time, a lot of brokenness counseling was part of it, but that didn't help. It was really the book of Romans, spending time with God and the Holy Spirit, and that's what transformed me.

Matt: 00:30:12

If I look back, you know, I think that you're right. What is it now? 56 of marriages end in divorce. I can say that, you know, maybe it's maybe somebody out there struggling right now.

Lyndon: 00:30:30

Oh, yeah.

Matt: 00:30:31

And their work or their business or their ministry, it's hindering them from moving forward on an amazing calling. Maybe the question they just need to ask is just, lord, help me. Help me to help.

Lyndon: 00:30:52

Mercy on me.

Matt: 00:30:53

Have mercy on me and help me to love my wife.

Lyndon: 00:30:55

Yeah.

Matt: 00:30:56

Help me to heal. And, you know, and that's where I want to get into at some point here, you know, we're going to talk about tools and resources for people. And I love.

I love your heart, and I love the vulnerability. I love the willingness to share. I know it's hard, and I think that afterwards, sometimes you can feel it's like post performance syndrome.

I was just talking to my guitar teacher, and he deals with it. He's a fantastic player, and he had a performance last week, and we talked about this. You go through it, you. You say, man, it was good.

You can talk about the mistakes, and then you feel, like, crushed. So I hope that's not the case for you because it's just, you know, you have a tremendous story and. And now you have all these resources.

But was there. Was there a time where you just probably said, I can't do it?

Lyndon: 00:31:55

Yeah. Yeah. Of course there are times now. But the key, the pivotal one was when that I came back after I said, I can't do this. I don't know how to do this.

I don't know how to heal myself. Yeah, there wasn't any path. All I knew was just, I need to spend time with God in the book of Romans. And that was the transforming power.

Honestly, in my own life, that was it. That accounts for the counselor that I went to. And many of you know that there are some biblical council that don't really teach biblical truth.

Matt: 00:32:32

That's a whole other podcast.

Lyndon: 00:32:33

That's a whole another podcast. So I will say there's a big debate right now. Yeah, there's a big debate. Yes.

I will say there's a text in Joel that says, come to me, the Lord says, and I will restore what the locust has eaten. And I will tell you, my marriage, and seven years into it was dead, was ground zero. Yeah. But God restored twofold. And you don't know.

But my wife and I, we counsel women. We've been counseling men and women now for over 10 years in their broken marriage.

We can definitely say to couples that say, look, we were at ground zero, but God can restore. God is a God of restoration. Yeah.

Matt: 00:33:15

And. And I can speak to it, too. I mean, it's not easy. We've got four kids, and it takes a lot out of you. I saw one of those videos where a guy.

It was like success and money and, you know, you're. You're wanting to do all these things. And it was a guy.

There's two guys sword fighting, and he was like, you know, wielding the sword and all these things. And the guy just goes. Flicks the sword out of his hand and it goes. Children. And it's like, you know, it could be, it could be challenging.

It could be viewed that way. But I would say that, you know, we've gone through some, you know, some really tough moments.

And I can, I can tell you, and maybe it was just preparation for this today that I. It's almost like we're dating again. It's, It's. It's like I didn't. And I, I, to your point, I didn't think we, we maybe could get to that point.

I didn't think that would happen. And so for. And it all began with just a question. Help me.

Lyndon: 00:34:15

Yeah, yeah.

Matt: 00:34:17

Will you help me? And so I think that if there's people out there.

Reach out to you, you know, reach out to us, you know, obviously there's the financial side of things that we can help, and then there's a lot of great resources that you can provide.

Lyndon: 00:34:33

Did I answer your question enough? What was your.

Matt: 00:34:36

Yeah. Like, did you feel like you just couldn't do it? And I guess what was the turning point.

Lyndon: 00:34:42

Yeah, yeah. End of myself and trusting God. And he acted because the goddess of the Bible is still alive today.

But we have to come to the end of ourselves and, and, and trust the.

Matt: 00:34:56

When we, when we are weak, he's strong.

Lyndon: 00:34:59

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

Matt: 00:35:02

So what were some of. I mean, you talked about some of the personal struggles, and then you had to wrestle with some things. And I think there was a big work.

Lyndon: 00:35:12

Oh, yeah.

Matt: 00:35:13

Situation. We didn't even talk about that. You know, as you stepped into this calling. That's kind of how, I guess what was the. And then you can lead into.

What was the moment when you said, I need to start life plan.

Lyndon: 00:35:26

Yeah, yeah. The third. I'll just do this one quickly. The third crisis that happened in My life. Not as big as that second one. Sure was.

I was involved in a Christian ministry for 12 years. I was, I, I do. I did a good job in, in growing an aspect of that ministry, a prison ministry. And I even grew. The Hispanic ministry was Awana.

I was with the. I was brought into Awana to bring Awana to the different ethnic groups.

And I realized, you know, it wasn't a good fit in the African American, but it was a greater fit for the Hispanic churches across the country. And because Awana was a fabulous children's ministry.

Matt: 00:36:11

Oh yeah.

Lyndon: 00:36:11

And the Hispanic people did not have Hispanic curriculum. So I was the instrument that brought Awana into that arena by transplant, translating all its curriculum into Spanish customer service.

And it grew tremendously. Then another opportunity to prison ministry.

Awana was never in the prison ministry, but Awana was introduced to prison ministry, to the ministry that God was doing in Angola prison in Louisiana. To make a long story short, I was a flavor of the month ministry for Awana. Great success.

successful that USA Today in: 2010

When the success of a ministry grows, the enemy starts to dabble into it. And I got injustly treated because the CEO wanted his person to take my role. And I got fired.

And I will tell you, I had the salary of Chicago living in. In Buchanan, Michigan. It was really good. Had an in ground pool, 10 acres. It was wonderful. And. But I got lost my job in justly. I had to sell all that.

It was a financial loss of 64 before I started my new dev. That's a pretty significant. If you take anybody's salary, cut it by 64%.

Matt: 00:37:46

That's what we call it. That's what we call a reset.

Lyndon: 00:37:49

That's a reset. Okay. Reset.

Matt: 00:37:51

Wow.

Lyndon: 00:37:53

So and this was a significant time in our lives. My father in law died in June. I lost my job in October, November. My mother in law got dementia.

And those were very important people in my life who loved me. And I loved because my parents were already deceased anyway, you know, a year later I found my job in Awana in life plan.

Sorry, in Awana in life plan. But it was a very painful time in our life.

Matt: 00:38:22

Yeah.

Lyndon: 00:38:23

Parental loss. And not only that hurt by Christian organization.

And I'm sure there's a lot of your listeners that have had this experience of people that you wouldn't expect to hurt you. Hurt you. And so that was the deep pain.

But I will tell you because of the healing that God has already given me through my marital loss and restoration, I trusted God and I trusted God that nothing happens in our life except coming through the loving hand of a father. So I trusted that even in this difficulty, he has a plan.

And my trust in the past that he has healed me, healed me, or caused me to trust him, even in this difficult financial situation. So that was a deep hurt. And I already been forgiven the. The depthness of God's love for my life. So I can face this.

And I will tell you, because of those leadership failures of Christian organization, I brought that into my new ministry called Life Plan. And I wanted to treat people, people better and I wanted to lead people better. And I wanted to lead people with integrity, with honesty, with.

With purpose, with the gospel and that ministry. Now I'm not there to see what I can do for my ministry, but what God can do through me in leading people well and in grace and in love. So I.

It felt me, I felt I could lead better now because of the failures of the past.

Matt: 00:40:09

Yeah. I think, you know, the title of this is probably going to be just that, you know, resilience with purpose.

Lyndon: 00:40:17

Resilient with purpose. Yeah.

Matt: 00:40:18

Living well by loving others well.

Lyndon: 00:40:20

Yes.

Matt: 00:40:21

And I don't know that you can do one without the other. I just don't know that you can. So we're going to take a break.

Lyndon: 00:40:32

Okay.

Matt: 00:40:32

And then we'll come back and continue the conversation with, I guess, part two, a little bit more explanation of Life Plan and the organization, the ministry. And then I think what we'll do is, you know, talk about the birth of it and then some tools to help people live well.