David Mike | Honor from Dishonor, Purpose from Forgiveness, & Doing from Getting Off Our “Ask”

Have you heard the one about the young soldier from a military family who started taking and dealing drugs? You know, the one where he had to fix his car on the fly with a firing pin from a gun he had in his glove box while he was hiding from the authorities avoiding arrest. A long time listener of the podcast, today’s guest is now behind the mic and sharing his remarkable story with us. From honor to dishonor, from purpose to forgiveness, and from doing from getting off our “Ask”, get ready for all this and so much more in this weeks episode. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the David Mike story!

I am David Pasqualone and welcome to the David Mike story.

[00:02:40] Copy of RPP E70X David Mike INTERVIEW: Hey David. How are you today, brother? Good. Thanks for letting me talk to your audience. I appreciate it. Oh, it’s an honor to have you. And I was just telling our listeners a little bit about you. You wrote a book called Dishonor, and we’re gonna go through your life story, just like we do with all our [00:03:00] guests.

The good, the bad, and the ugly, the highs, the lows, the everything in between. We’ll start off at your birth and move through life to today. Then we’ll transition to where is David today and where are you heading? So now that you just helped us, now let’s try to help you. So on that, One thing I wanted to talk about before we get started is if a listener right now is, ah, should I continue with this podcast or should I shut it off?

They’re gonna get a ton of gold from you and a ton of information they can apply to the life. But if there is one central message, you know, they’re gonna leave with, if they listen to your podcast episode, what is that gonna be? You do not have to be defined by your past. That’s gonna be the biggest nugget I think they’re gonna take away from this episode.

Awesome. And how many of us need that exact message? Right? The past I thinks. Yeah. So let’s, let’s do this. David, at this time, where were you born? What was [00:04:00] your family like? What was your upbringing like? Mom and dad in the home? Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, where. So I was born in Connecticut. My parents or actually my dad was drafted in 1968 and decided that he didn’t wanna go into the Army, so he would, he joined the Air Force.

My parents were married in nine months nine months and a day later I was born. So . But then after that my father moved to England, so we ended up having to move over there with him. And then he drug us around the world you know, for many years after that with a career in the Air Force.

So I moved from England to South Carolina, to Louisiana, to Germany, which is where I went to high school. And then kinda the story picked up from there. I have. A brother, two brothers and one sister. And so we all grew up together, pretty tight-knit family. And you know, some of the experiences we’ve had were traveling around and seeing some cool stuff.

But my father was really [00:05:00] big into going to church and he was the music director at the church he went to in South Line for years. And so you know, we go church on Sunday morning, Sunday night. There was multiple days in the week where we would go because of the things that his responsibilities there was like a Saturday bus route that we would knock on doors and, and get, try and get kids to come to the church and Wednesday night.

So we spent a lot of time in church growing up. So that, that’s kind of like the, the backstory a little bit. And back then, was that something that you were like, man, I’m tired of this, or was it you understood. And I really enjoy this, like everybody has a different background. Some people are like, I love being a preacher’s kid.

I hate being a preacher’s kid. Some people I love going to church, some people I hate going to church. What was your perspective growing up? So I just, it was something that we did. I didn’t really know any different and you know, I think we maybe went to the chapel when I was up till three, like a base chapel.

But then in South Carolina we were, it was just a life we lived. I didn’t really know any better, [00:06:00] but I didn’t really pay attention, which I realized later in life, I think I was spiritually deaf, you know, for a lack of a better term because only thing I remember about church was rules you know, don’t screw up or you’re gonna get zapped, basically.

The phrase that I remember most, more than anything else was, you gotta get right with God. And I don’t know that anybody really knows how to do that, but that’s what I believed I needed to do. And so I was constantly in fear of, of the lightning bolt coming down and zapping me in my spot, you know,

So that’s, that’s kind of like how I felt about church and God. And it was just something you did. And I knew it was a good thing and I, I believe that, you know, I accepted Christ at a young age and. and, you know, live the life that I was supposed to, but I didn’t quite understand the message and the person of Jesus at the time.

It was just, just kind of the concept, if that makes sense. Oh, a hundred percent. So, going through your childhood, you already mentioned that in high school is when the story really starts your personal journey, but all the things that happened [00:07:00] to us, you know, from birth to today that makes us the men we are.

So is there anything else in your childhood significant, again, good, bad, high, low that happened between your birth and when we got to high school or we just pick up the story there? I think high school’s kind of where the, the next turn kind of happens, but so when I moved to Germany and actually I went to high school for two years in Louisiana and I took Marine Corps Junior R O T C, which is kinda like a military class because I knew that I wanted to be in the military, I’d watched Indiana Jones movies and Rambo movies when I was a kid and I wanted to be an archeologist, but somebody told me that you would just be looking for dry bones in the desert, and that didn’t seem too exciting, you know, it wasn’t gonna be like the movies.

So I kind of shifted more to, to the Rambo lifestyle and I was like, well, I’m gonna join the Army. That’s what I’m gonna do. So I did the two years of junior RTC with the, in the Marine Corps version of it. Then we, then we went to Germany and I had like two years of Air Force rtc. I effectively got out of PE classes, so I never had to [00:08:00] take pe, which it was not my forte at all by doing that.

And so I was basically gearing up to be in the military. So as soon as I graduated high school, I, I, I joined the Army and I went to basic training in Fort Knox, Kentucky to learn how to be a cavalry scout. And that is basically like a reconnaissance type job. Mind you, I. Career, military, running all the way through to the Civil War and beyond.

And, and so this was just kinda like a path for me and most kids who went to high school in Germany, kind of, this is the thing they did, but I, I was really into it, so I really wanted to do that. So I went to basic training, then I went to Airborne School, which didn’t quite work out for me. I ended up breaking my leg and not finishing the program.

So ended up getting shipped to Fort Polk, Louisiana, which they say is not the end of the world, but you can see it from there. It’s kind of like a, one of the worst military installations to be stationed at. Now, lemme ask you a question. With the airborne training, is that something you wanted to do or is that something you kind pushed in, [00:09:00] were voluntold to do it, or did you want to do it?

you gotta sign up for it. And I had a friend that graduated ahead of me, and you get paid, you got paid a hundred extra dollars a month to jump out of airplanes. So I was like, that’s what I wanted to do. I’m gonna do that. I also went into the military with two grades higher than normal. You know, it’s a E three instead of an E one because I had taken the RT c e program, so I was getting paid more and I was gonna get paid a little more for the airborne portion of it.

But I, since I broke my leg and I couldn’t complete training, they just shipped me to a different unit. And then I was supposed to end up at yeah, skydiving then. And skydiving now is two different events almost, right? I’m sure. Yeah. And the military version’s totally different, so. Yeah. Yeah. You jump out now.

How many jumps did you have before you broke your leg? I broke my leg running. I never even, oh, you broke your leg. So, because I had never taken pe I was kind of a scrawny kid. I was about a let’s see, 105 pounds, five, 10 when I graduated high school. So when I got to basic [00:10:00] training, man, it was brutal.

It’s like 14 weeks straight of all the four years of PE that I never take took all thrown at me at once. So had these shin splints in my legs, and when I went to airborne school, one of the things you do is you run and on one of the runs, like first weekend, my leg just broke. So I, it just, except one of those stress fractures I had separated.

So yeah, they put a cast on me and shit me out. Yeah. So you never even got to officially jump then? No. No. Oh man. I’m sorry to hear. I love skydiving. I’ve only done it twice and I haven’t done it to that degree, but man, I really enjoy it. But I know from the stories, I hear from my friends, Jumping out of a military aircraft, especially during a combat situation, is not the same as a luxury skydive where you land on, you know, you slide in all nice and gentle.

Yeah, I’m sure . So cool, man. So, okay, so you’re in Germany. You got a history and a lineage that goes back all the way to the Civil War, which is incredible. You go to join, you go to the Airborne School, you break your leg [00:11:00] running, and now you’re like, now what? Where does life go from? So I ended up at Fort Polk, which was about I, I dated a girl in high school and you know, one of my goals was, you know, get married and, you know, join the army, get married and, you know, move on with my life.

And so I ended up about six hours away from where she lived. So while I was at the Fort Polk, I area, I would, you know, on the weekends go visit her. And so what happened was over time, you know, long distance relationships don’t seem to work out. And she ended up breaking up with me. And so I was super depressed and super sad and had some friends that I was hanging out with and they were telling me come out, hang out with us, you know, don’t be sad.

Go, let’s go to these nightclubs and all this stuff. Now up until this point, you know, church kid and all that kind of stuff, I didn’t smoke, drink, or chew or hang out with girls that do, you know, I didn’t, you know, mess around with anything. I was straight edge, you know, straight lace, you know, raised right and all that kind of stuff.

But so I go out to this, these nightclubs with these guys [00:12:00] and somebody handed me something one night and said, take this. It’ll make you feel better. And so I took this pill and swallowed it. I don’t know what made me take it. I don’t know what I was thinking cause I’d never done anything like that before.

And it was a hit of ecstasy. And from that night forward, my life changed drastically. I could not get enough of this drug. It was insane the effects that it was having on me. But, you know, in, hi, in hindsight, in retrospect, it was basically an escape. And it kind of took the pain and hurt away from the things that I was feeling, you know, being separated from my family and, and having this heartbreak that I thought was, you know, life.

Changing and life altering, even though, you know, now when I look back, it was, you know, it’s just a breakup, but it, it really messed me up. So next thing you know, I’m going to the club as much as possible to get ahold of this. And my friends are like, man, you get that pretty fast. And I was like, yeah, I can, you know, I know where to go get it from.

And so like, well, how if we just give you the money for us and you go get [00:13:00] it? And so I was like, oh, yeah, no problem. So next thing you know, I’m dealing drugs and I’m active duty army, you know, so the person that I was getting the drugs from was like, you’re, you’re kind of moving a lot, so I’m gonna start working with you, and I’m gonna let you have some for free for selling this much.

And so I, I became pretty much a middle, middle man dealer. So eventually in the Army, when you do that kind of stuff, you, you can’t get away with it for very long before your name starts popping up in the the police, you know undercover type stuff. So there was a. , an organization called C I D, which is the criminal investigation division of the Army.

And it was, they have like a drug suppression team. And my name started popping up in their office. So they started looking for me and sooner or later they, they, you know, realized that I was causing a problem in the community. And they ended up pulling me over on the side of the road and finding some drugs on me and pulling me into their office.

And I was like, I am in some [00:14:00] serious trouble. I’ve never been in trouble before in my life. I don’t even know what to do. And they told me, Hey, you know, you’re going, you’re going to jail. I’m just gonna tell you that right now. But if you help us out, , we’ll help you out. And I was like, yeah, okay. No problem.

That sounds good. And not to cut you off David, but for our listeners, we have listeners as you know, all over the world, not just all over the country. You were looking at Army jail time, not civilian jail, jail time, correct? That that is correct, yes. So explain the differences cuz I had the honor and privilege of selling less lethal weapons in supporting our military and our law enforcement.

I got to see a lot of correctional facilities, jails, prisons, and I know what those look like, but the Army’s a whole different level. So explain the differences really quick so people can really appreciate the bind you were in. So with the military the, they have a totally different law system, and it’s basically the U C M J, which is the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

And they, the rules that they have are completely different. You can go to jail for stuff that you can’t go to jail for [00:15:00] in the civilian world. But as far as the military jails are concerned, the difference is you’re not gonna believe this, but they’re, they’re a little bit better because almost every single person that’s in one of these jails has gone to high school, has a G E D and some sort of military training or background.

So it’s not like you’re thrown into just like a wild, chaotic environment. However, everybody in there did something seriously wrong to get there. So, you know, you know, it’s like apples and oranges a little bit, but and there’s not a consistent, like the same people could do the same crime and under the military system, they could get different years in prison.

Yes. So it’s not, it’s, it’s so much more volatile and, and like you’re saying, maybe the conditions within are a little safer. But you don’t know what you’re gonna get when you’re tried. Correct. That is a hundred percent true. Yes. Yeah. It really, it’s up to the judge. He had a bad golf game and he’s the one passing your sentence.

You could be screwed. Exactly. That is true. All right, and so pick up, I didn’t mean to cut you off, but I, I wanted you, my [00:16:00] listeners understand there’s a big difference in America alone within the judicial system. Yeah. So I was basically arrested. I was under surveillance and I was like, you know what?

Screw that guy. I’m going to continue doing what I’m doing. So I went and got another big shipment of drugs and we, me and my, the dealer, you know, and we were at her trailer and. The, that night the door blew open. All these cops come running in. They’re like, nobody moved. And I was like, oh, I’m now, I’m, I’m in trouble again.

But they took her away cuz the drugs were in her room and they took her boyfriend away. She was a civilian, he was military. So they took him on base, they took her to jail. And then the cop who arrested me was like, dude, what’s going on? I thought you were gonna help us out. And I kind of played it off, like I had no idea what was going on.

And he told me to get back to the, you know, get back on post which is basically the military base. And he was gonna talk to me the next day. So [00:17:00] I head back there and then I get a phone call from the boyfriend who calls me and says he escaped cuz he was doing a urinalysis. And the guy who was supposed to be watching him was in the other stall and he ran.

And so he calls me and he says, come get me. So I grabbed my stuff, got in the car, picked him up, and basically moved to Houston, Texas. So I ran away from the Army that night. And stayed gone for six months with a lot of stuff that’s detailed in the book. But yeah, let’s pause there for a second because you had to make a choice and you made a choice not just to defect from the military and go awol, but you also made a choice to run away with a felon and someone who was gonna be facing serious jail time.

So now that it implicates you more in the crime, what at that point were you thinking, like, did you know this gentleman very well? Were you just like, what, what were you thinking to make that type of decision? The only thing I was thinking was I was gonna go to jail, [00:18:00] which they told me I was. And, and now with this mess, it was just gonna get worse cuz it looked like I wasn’t really willing to help, which I, I, I wasn’t.

And so I think I was just looking for a, an escape and I was like, I, I don’t know with. what I hear, you know, at the time what I heard about jail and prison, I was like, I, I will not survive. There’s no way. So I, I’m not going. Just that it was self-preservation I think was the biggest emotive, and also just, you know, the fact that I was using so many drugs and doing drugs so frequently that I, I feel like I just needed to be able to have that instead of the reality of life.

All right, man. So now you go and you pick ’em up, you leave your post. Where does life take you from there? So I moved to Houston, Texas. And in Houston I was able to, I, I hadn’t done some dealings with the dealer that my dealer was getting her drugs from. So I kind of hooked up with them and there’s a lot that happened, you know, too much to go into.

But basically I ended up living in this drug dealer’s apartment cuz he got arrested and [00:19:00] I kind of took his spot in the tier. So as I’m getting drugs from the people he was getting drugs from, I started going back to Fort Polk and selling them like an idiot because I just ran away from there, you know.

So over a six month period I’m driving back and forth between Houston, Texas and Fort Polk, Louisiana and, and you know, buying quantities of drugs and then going there and selling ’em and going back and forth. Just basically to survive cuz I didn’t have a job other than that. And also to find my habit because the further I went along, the more and more I started to take to the point where I was self-medicated almost every single day.

So I was under the influence of every single type of drug you can possibly think of with the exception of a needle. Most nights. And, you know, I drove around like that. I walked around like that and I used that as a form of, you know a way to live as far as computations go. So, and roughly how old were you at this point?

19 . 19 years old. So you’re 19. And did you have any [00:20:00] communication with your family, your mom, your dad? Was there any kind of connection or were you completely disconnected at this point? I did call him and tell him I got in trouble. But because my father was in the Air Force still active duty he, if he knew where I was and didn’t turn me in, and he could be implicated with harboring military fugitive.

So I never told him where I was exactly. And I never left any way for them to communicate, communicate with me. So I just would touch base with them from time to time, just kinda let ’em know I’m still alive. And it just, it. . You know, as I look back, just super selfish. And as if anybody who’s listening understands addiction at all, it’s a very selfish disease.

People will do anything for a high and don’t care who or what they take from you know, emotionally, financially, it just, it’s, it’s a bad deal. Okay. So now you’re in Texas, you’re not only dealing drugs, but you’re an addict. You’re taking huge crazy risk going back to where you fled from and where does the story go from there, David?[00:21:00]

So it got to the point where so many different types of drugs in my system all the time. I actually ended up overdosing one night and I still couldn’t get my act together. But there was an incident where I was in the trailer and I had a hundred hits of ecstasy. And normally with that I would just put it in one big bag and.

and go into a hundred hits. Yeah, that was just a cell that wasn’t using that many. Oh, oh. I’m like, holy crap. No, no wonder why you overdosed. . No. Yeah, that would be that for sure. Yeah. Okay. Just so you explain the effects, the average effects of ecstasy on a user. Again, just just so they have a frame of reference, cuz that’s a very strong drug.

It’s like a club drug, but it can kill you and it can have really strong side effects, but it give people a kind of a concept. Since that was your main drug of choice, what would the average hit of [00:22:00] ecstasy do to someone? So it’s really hard to tell cause you don’t know who’s making it and where it’s coming from.

But it’s basically an amphetamine and it’s kind of a speed type thing, but there’s this euphoric effect that you get by it. So it makes you feel like you’re in love with life and everybody loves you and everybody loves each other. So it, it does definitely take away any kind of life pain that you might be experiencing.

It, it only lasts a few hours and the more you take it, the, the, the. It doesn’t last as long, you know? So if I, the first time I took it, I felt like I was high on it for probably the entire night. It could have been three or four hours. But after that, it seemed like it would only last me about an hour.

So when I had to take more and then I was afraid of coming down from it. So I would just continually take in order for you never tax to come down from the drug. Cause when, when I was completely off the drugs, my life was a mess. I couldn’t, yeah. It, you know, I was guilt, shame. And then just the physi physiological effects of not having the drug is in my system.

It was too much to bear. So I just stayed pretty much self-medicated all the time. Yeah. And there is a lot of side effects to that [00:23:00] drug, if I’m correct too. I mean, I know people who have taken that, men and women. One girl in, I was working at a restaurant chain chick took it and broke her back, like from just Oh wow.

The intensity of it. Yeah. And then I know a lot of people had, they take it with the intent of what’s the word? Like enhancing their sexual experience. , but then they can’t have good sexual experiences after that in real life without the drug. Is that some of the stuff that you know of people using and having an effect?

Yeah. For me it was just like, could I get as high to dis guy as possible? That’s, that’s, it was just like chasing the high, I, I started mixing with L S D, cocaine, crystal meth, marijuana, alcohol, all of the stuff I’d never even done before. So I was just like, it just whatever somebody had, I would trade for it or experiment with.

And it was just, every night was just kind of a different situation. So anything just to keep that high going. Okay. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. All right. And just not, not be in reality at all whatsoever. Yeah. [00:24:00] Okay. So where do we go from here now? So I’m, I’ve got this hundred hits of ecstasy and my crime partner at the time is the guy that I got arrested with.

He’s got some L S D and normally with L S D, you take it and you put it in a little bag so that you, you know, you’re not supposed to touch it otherwise you can absorb it in your system. So we have all these little baggies and we have this leftover bags. And I’d always told people if I had ever got, if I got arrested, I was gonna consume everything that I had and just go out.

Cause I’m not going to jail. I’m not letting them take me down. No way, Jose. So I, for some reason I’d never done this before, but this particular night I decided, Hey, we got these extra bags. Why don’t I just stick all these ecstasy pills and these bags? So I had a hundred individually raft to, you know, bag pills of ecstasy in this big bag, and I had it in my jacket and we decided to go to the club.

So we’re in the club and then a friend of mine comes running in and he goes, dude, I just heard in the parking lot you’re about to get. So the c i d, the Army undercover cops knew I was, you know, they’d been watching for me. They knew [00:25:00] I was gonna be there that night, so they were coming in to get me, and I was like, oh my gosh, I was gonna take all the drugs if they ever caught me, but I can’t because this night I put all these pills in these bags and I 100% positive that that was divine intervention, because I’d never done that before.

And so the very night that I’m getting arrested and I do this, this weird thing with the drugs making it, I impossible for me to consume all the drugs. So the cops grabbed me, I throw the jacket on the ground with the drugs in it, and

so my friend grabbed the, , my jacket ran to the bathroom and threw it in the garbage.

And so the cops never actually were able to arrest me with all of those drugs because she kind of watched it and ended up, you know, that those drugs disappeared down the road. But they took me outside. They had me up against a wall, guns, you know, and everything. And they were sure they were gonna bust me with all these drugs.

And they didn’t, they didn’t have any I didn’t have any on me for them to arrest me with, but they, I, because I [00:26:00] was awol, they were able to arrest me cause back, so they took me to this local jail, put me in there until the next day they were gonna come and pick me up. The Army guys were gonna pick me up.

And I just remember laying there in bed going, I, I screwed up my life. My life is over. This is it. And I’m, I’m just laying there, you know, feeling sorry for myself, praying to God, you know, get me outta this. But it wasn’t time. So they took me back to my unit and. They told me, if we put you back in the barracks instead of in jail or will you run away?

I’m like, no, I’ll just, I’ll just hang out. Wait for my trial. My dad was supposed to come to my trial, which in hindsight, you know, I got my father who’s in the military coming to his son’s military trial on request. And, you know, that that probably didn’t go well with his commander and, and, you know, being embarrassed and all that.

But my dad, he’s a good guy. He’s, he’s like, I’ll do whatever I, I need to do for my son. But for some reason something happened with the, the court date and I, he wasn’t gonna be able to make it. [00:27:00] So I freaked out and I ran away again, and I disappeared for about a week. And I went to Dallas where some of my friends who were used to be normally got out and I hung out with them.

And I didn’t know this at the time, but there was a whole bunch of people praying for me. My mom, I had her friends and my dad, you know, they had all these people praying for me and I had this huge Sensation feeling that I needed to turn myself in. And I get a phone call from the cop and come to find out later, because I’ve had communications with the cop that he was a Christian and he had kind of a ha change of heart.

I kind of burned him a little bit and he was gonna just let me sink myself. But he said something, told him to help me out. So he said he was gonna help me out. So he gives me a call. He found out where I was, I was hiding out at, gives me a call and says, it’s gonna be better if you turn yourself in.

And so with this overwhelming sense of like, I need to just get this over with I ended up driving back to Fort Polk and turning myself in. And then when you’re doing that, you’re driving, you’re, you’re bringing [00:28:00] yourself to turn yourself in, you know, of course Sand’s always gonna try to put in your head, oh, don’t do it.

Turn around, run again. Was it a hard drive bringing yourself to do this? Or at that point had you just resolved this is what needs to be done? Well, kind of interestingly before I moved, drove to Dallas, Texas my. , the drug dealer I was living with gave me a gun and said, you know, I need to get rid of this anyways, but take it with you.

And I, cuz I was like, I’m not going to jail. And I decided that if I ever got caught you know, if somebody were to catch me this time, I would do suicide by cop, where you pull a gun out and have them shoot you and stuff like that. So I was ready to just go away for like, you know, forever. And when I was driving back to Fort Polk the, a pin fell out of my drive shaft.

So here I’m going to turn myself in and my car breaks and it’s in the middle of the night. And I’m driving from Dallas, Texas to Fort Polk, Louisiana. I think it’s like six hour drive. [00:29:00] And I was like, what am I gonna do? I’m, I’m ready to turn myself in. So I looked in my glove box and I don’t know why, but I had a firing pin, which is just like a little metal stick basically that hits the bullet, makes the bullet fly outta the gun.

Right? I had one of those in my glove box. So I took the firing pin and I stuck it in the drive shaft. Where the little screw fell out and I drove and got it in fifth gear and I heard the pin fall out. So I drove, I, it must have been about three hours through every stop sign, stoplight. I never, I couldn’t stop cuz I wouldn’t be able to get the car going again all the way into right outside of the, the drug dealer’s house that I was living with.

And I, the car, you know, I parked the car and turned it off and waited in the morning for the cop to come pick me up. So I was resolved to turn myself in and along the way I pitched the gun out somewhere on the side of the road and the bullet separately, I just was throwing things out the window was kinda crazy.

Little bit crazy. Yeah, man. All right, so now you’re at this drug dealer’s [00:30:00] house, you’re waiting for the officer who had a change of heart, cuz obviously God is with you and inspiring them through the Holy Ghost to help you out. Where does life go from there? So then it was time for me actually to, you know, face the music go to my trial and my dad ended up coming to Fort Polk, so he had to, you know, sit there in my trial and be a character witness for me.

But I, the cop that arrested me while I was waiting for the trial, I, I was sitting in jail. I told him that would help him out, so he actually took me out of jail. And I did a drug bus and I took a drug dealer down. We actually went to Houston with some local law enforcement and from Texas and Louisiana, and did a, a drug bus and took down the dealer that I was buying drugs from.

So that actually worked in my favor when I, when I had my trial because I assisted. So I, I get to my trial and I’m facing 38 years with all the charges. And they ended up giving me a [00:31:00] five year sentence because of my cooperation. They took all my rank away from me. So I went from, you know, the rank that I had all the way up to nothing, and they gave me a dishonorable discharge, which is like the lowest discharge you can get, and being labeled a dishonorable man by the US government for life basically.

So I ended up having to go to Fort Leavenworth eventually, which is like the army prison. It’s a maximum security prison. I was there for basically about three years and before I ended up getting out and while I was in there I worked in a dining facility as a job. I kind of worked in, basically it’s like, they call it a mess hall, but basically, Just the restaurant for the inmates, you know?

I wanted to work in a barbershop thought something as a side gig I used to do in the Army was I cut hair on the side and I tried to get in there, but, and that was one thing I was like, I don’t wanna be in the mess hall. I just wanna be in barbershop or maybe a chaplain’s assistant or work in the library,

And they stuck me in the mess hall. So that’s where I worked. And then while I was there, I had to take a bunch of programs, you know, like [00:32:00] narcotics Anonymous, drug and alcohol related incidences, reality therapy, anger management. I didn’t think I was angry, but I guess they thought I was angry or something.

But just a bunch of classes I had to take in order for me to be eligible to get out. So I did a lot of that. And then I had different custody levels I had to go through. But prison itself, I, I can’t explain exactly if you’ve ever, you said you’ve been in these facilities, but it’s a, it’s a dark, not in the air, but it looks like a depressing, oppressive, lonely, miserable place.

You have no freedom no control. And I was suffering from, you know, drug withdrawals and anxiety and like, Panic attacks and things like that. And just a lot of time of sitting and thinking about all the things that I’d done. And I remember looking out my window, and this is, you know, it’s a military prison, so outside there’s this huge American flag staring at me just, and just feeling the disgrace of having dishonored, you know, my family, you know, my country the army.

And God, it was, it was just very hard to sit there. I mean, and I, and I own up to everything I did, so I’m not saying that anybody [00:33:00] should feel sorry for me, but it was just a lot to think about. So the whole time I’m sitting in this jail cell not being able to get out, I just realized what a mess I made in my life and how bad my decisions were and how they affected other people.

So, yeah, it was, it was not fun. And as you’re going through this, You’re taking these classes, you’re working in the mess hall, your last like choice for you know, employment with while you’re incarcerated. And then you said you’re about three and a half years in, where at this point are you in your relationship with God?

Had you, had you start the journey where you’re having a relationship and communicating with him again? Or is that coming forward in your. that’s a little bit more forward in the story. I was still like loosely attached. And I would go to the chapel just like at times just to kinda get out of doing certain things.

You know, if you go there, you don’t have to do this other thing. You know, so, and I kind of, sort [00:34:00] of wanted to connect with God, but I didn’t know exactly how. I just still kind of had a lot of guilt and shame and it was overpowering and it was like a barrier between the relationship that I, I needed to have with God.

But I did have a moment where I was in the dining facility and as we’re in this dining facility, they have an area where people would eat and then there’s the kitchen. So me and the sky were over in the one side mopping the floors, and he walks up to me and he goes, Hey, I wanna show you something.

And he holds out his hand and he’s got two little white pieces of paper and I recognize it immediately as l s d. And I’ve been sober for about two and a half. Yeah, about two years, two and a half years. So I took one of ’em and I don’t know if he was offering it to me or just showing it to me, but it’s out of just a reflex.

I took one. So he ended up taking his, and then we’re like tripping on L s D in a prison dining facility. So we somehow make it through the entire day with nobody really catching on what we did. And I went back to my barracks and I was, I was actually coming up on my first potential parole and in order to have [00:35:00] a parole hearing, you have to have this packet put together.

And I was waiting on a few more things. And one thing I was waiting for was a letter from my dad. It was like the final piece that I would be able to submit my packet, you know, with like a place to work, a place to live, you know, family support, stuff like that. Right. So I’m waiting for this letter. So the night that I oh, relapsed on drugs I get this letter and I open it up.

It finally arrived that same night. I open it up and then there is, my dad stated that he would stake his reputation, his job, and his life on the fact that I would never do drugs again. So again, I feel like another God orchestrated moment was showing me that had he actually had to put all that up, you know, for collateral, then I would’ve been basically taking him down.

And then it was that moment where I, I mean, I just lost it and I realized this is, this is, this has got to stop. And so I swore of drugs for life at that moment. I’ve never, other than ibuprofen and you know, , things like that, you I’ve never, you know, partake in any type of mind altering [00:36:00] stuff again. So that, that was pretty pivotal, I think as well.

But to get into the God thing I finally made it to the highest custody level, which is basically, you’re not in the prison anymore. You’re kind of like in his Barretts and you’re allowed to have a radio, which is kind of like a privilege, instead of listening to the prison radio system, which is like a jack on the wall with headphones.

And I’m scrolling through one night and I’m listening to this preacher talking, and, you know, I don’t usually listen to this kinda stuff, but he asks the, you know, these people call in and ask questions about faith and stuff. And this guy calls and he’s talking to him. So this preacher says, when Jesus died for our sins, how many of them were in the future?

And I was like, Ooh, that’s something I never really thought about before. And he said all of ’em since he died like 2000 years ago. So he died for all of your sins, like every sin that you would commit before you were born. And he still decided to die for you knowing that you were gonna do that. And my mind was blown at that moment because I never thought about it like that.

I just kind of thought. Screw up, you get zapped. You know your life won’t be good if you don’t get right with God. And that’s something I don’t think [00:37:00] we ever can actually do on our own. And then I started reading through the Bible. So my parents had sent me a Bible’s study Bible and I’m reading through it and all of a sudden I start seeing these verses pop up and it’s explaining grace and redemption.

And these are words that you hear in church when you grow up, but you don’t know what they mean until you ha had to live under them, you know? And so I read a verse that said it was second Corinthians five 19. For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. No longer accounting people’s sins against them.

And that was super powerful cuz he doesn’t, you know, like I screwed up big time, you know? And I mean, there’re other people who screwed up worse than me, less than me. But it’s all the same. You know, sin is what keeps you having a relationship from God with God. And then another one was Romans eight, one, which is my favorite birth of the Bible.

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. So I was in a state of condemnation by the US military you know, Sitting in prison, dishonorable discharge, drug dealer, sc you know, scourge of the earth, scum, you know, [00:38:00] all these labels that I’m putting on myself. And God’s looking at me going, you’re my son.

Just like my father did when he stood up in my trial. You know, you’re my son and I’ll do anything for you and I would just wanna have a relationship with you. And it was just, it was crazy. And I feel like as I was reading the Bible it was like it was being rewritten for me right in front of my face.

I just, it was mind blowing. And that was something, when we read our Bible, I mean, it’s the word of God. It’s, you know, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. The word was God. Word is God. So it’s so important. But for someone who’s not ready to accept it, I still think, you know, read the Bible as much as you can and you’re gonna come to see truth.

But you were just, at that point, you heard on the radio that preacher say, Jesus forgave all the sins, all the future sins that you’re gonna do because you already forgave ’em all. Cuz that was 2000 years ago. So the people listening [00:39:00] who, you know, they listen to this show for all sorts of reasons, but at the end result, it’s to grow and to be better people.

For those listeners who don’t have a relationship with God, what advice do you have for them right now? You mean like the secular view of Yeah, like they’re like, man, I love listening to your show Dave and, and David, I’m glad you’re on here today. And the information you’re given is not, it’s interesting and I know, you know, it’s given me, we’re getting to the practical steps of how to overcome more, but you know, I just don’t believe in God.

I just don’t have that faith. So someone caught your attention and then it brought you into this journey of searching out for a relationship with your true father, but for someone listening now who’s on the fence and they’re like, should I even waste my time on that? Should I invest my time on that?

What message do you have to them? Well, I, it would be really hard for me to separate faith from my story because I, I, there were so many clear instances [00:40:00] where it’s too coincidental to be a coincidence, but I do know that had I. In the military, they have things in place for people, especially now more than ever before, especially with people coming, coming back to P ts D and trying to figure out how to deal with that.

But had I just reached out to somebody and said, Hey, I’m struggling. You know, I think that would’ve been be beneficial, but I, I didn’t, and I don’t think that was my, my path. I, I, you know, I have regrets, but I can’t live in regret. I’ve gotta move forward, you know? So, but if I could go back, I think one of the things I would’ve done was reach out and say, Hey, I’m struggling.

I need help, you know, instead of going to drugs, which was just a random occurrence which altered my life forever. So I think just reaching out, and I think that as, as men especially, I think men have a tendency to think they’ve got, I’ve got this, you know, I have to be tough. I have to be, I’m secure.

I’m, I’m the rock. And you’re not like, we’re all human beings and we’re, we’re gonna make mistakes. There are people out there who want to help, you just gotta reach out. I think that’s probably about the closest thing I can say is finding a community of people who [00:41:00] care about you, who are willing to invest in you and would, would be similar, you know, to the God thing, but without God being in it.

I, I I just can’t separate the two myself. Yeah. We shouldn’t separate. There’s nobody. Yeah. God’s not separated from anything. God, I don’t care if you’re a business person, if you’re a janitor, if you’re a rocket scientist, God’s in everything. I mean, if it works, it works because of God. So I wasn’t asking you to separate at all.

Oh yeah. Right. But when it comes to your journey of knowing God, that’s what really brought the healing from what you’re saying. Oh yeah. So, so that’s what I was saying for someone who’s sin there hurting, but they just can’t get it through their thick skull, what is the healing, what is the, the solution?

What advice do you have for them about the Bible, about the gospel, about God? The, the one thing I think. If you, if you can’t forgive yourself, you need somebody else to forgive you. I mean, God is the answer. I mean, God hates forgiven us all, and you actually send his son to die for everything we’ve ever done.

So that’s, that’s the most [00:42:00] powerful thing you probably believe. And one of the coolest things the, the guy that I was used to on the radio, his name was Bob George, and he’s since passed away, but his book was called Classic Christianity. And I poured through that book and that, you know, it was full of some really cool information.

But one of the cool things that really helped out was, you know, if you are a parent and you have a child and your child screws up and you and your kid comes to you and says, I’m so sorry. And you’re like, son or daughter, I forgive you. Don’t worry about it. We’re good. Right? And then you’re child comes back.

No, I’m really, I’m, I’m sorry. I, I just, I. . I can’t let this get this off my chest. And you’re like, no, I forgave you yesterday. You’re good. You know, everything’s good. We’re good to go. And then they come back again. Like, and I think as Christians we have a tendency to do that. We’re always like, please forgive me, or I hope I’m saved.

You know, like I just can’t let this go. And God’s like, I, I took care of that. It’s gone. It’s, it’s gone forever. It’s, it, I don’t even have it in my mind anymore. And that was something that I got outta that book, which is kind of what I’m hoping that my book will [00:43:00] do for people. Because the life change that I had, you know, I knew who God was and I knew who Christ was and I knew what he had done, but I didn’t really understand it until I heard those things.

And that’s my goal is to kind of give people the same experience that I had through my story. So beautiful. Yeah. In a real relationship, church doesn’t save anybody a relationship with Christ does. And that I mean, life’s all about, it’s about glorifying God, loving God because he first loved us.

And you know, have peace with God. Have peace with ourselves, love God, love others. That’s, that’s life in a nutshell. And that’s where we’re gonna feel peace, joy, and conne. Contentment connected. That’s where everything people want really is. So, talk about this, David, you’re listening to the radio. You hear this gentleman talk, did you say it was Bob George?

Mm-hmm. . So Bob George, he’s given you this [00:44:00] information, catches your attention, and now you are still incarcerated, even though it’s to a lower level. Where does life go from there? From there? So at that point, I, you know, I was really like soaking up the word and, and being. Like it. I, another thing I, I would like to explain too, in this custody level, there was a lot of peace that I, I was outside of the prison wall.

So the air was fresh. Life was fresh. It was, it, it was, I was still incarcerated, but I had some, a little taste of freedom. I actually got a chance to come home for one week while I was in prison and I got a real chance to taste of freedom, had to go back to prison. And then finally, I, I decided I had two choices.

I could stay in there till the end of my sentence or I could take parole. And I finally, you know, that first parole that I was telling you about, I got denied. But the second time I decided I’m gonna go ahead and take this parole. Cause I don’t wanna be in prison one more day. I don’t care how slightly free it feels.

I need out , I’m ready to go be a productive member of society, take on life and, you know, with this newfound faith and and move forward. So [00:45:00] I took parole, moved to Omaha, Nebraska, which is where I live now. I ended up going to hair school cuz that was the thing that I wanted to do. You know, wanted to cut hair for a living.

Eventually I became a teacher. I had a, I had a big struggle trying to find a job when I first got out, cuz you got that little box you gotta check. Have you ever been convicted of a felony? Please explain. You know, people wouldn’t even answer my phone calls or wouldn’t even look at my applications.

And I got turned down face-to-face in a restaurant by a guy. And then I finally decided, you know what? I’m gonna go into this. Retail store and I’m gonna fill out the application, but I’m gonna go, I need, I wanna talk to the manager, . So the manager comes and says, yeah, I heard you want a job. And I’m like, yeah, lemme just like forward with you.

I just got outta jail, jail basically just like a week ago, but I guarantee you if you hire me, I’m gonna be the hardest worker and guy you got here. I just need a chance. And he’s like, okay. Like that face-to-face interaction. Just my, I think you could tell like, this guy’s looking, he’s serious. So you know, for anybody who struggles with your [00:46:00] past sometimes that it can, it can really be a, finding a job is one of the reasons why people go back to prison cuz they can’t find a job and they go back to the old stuff that caused ’em to get there.

And I was blessed because I had family support and I was be able to live with my family, my parents, you know, and that kind of stuff. Not everybody has that, but definitely you know, got that job, went to hair school, eventually met my wife, who I’m married to now and you know, we started a family and life was good until nine 11.

And then nine 11 happened, and my brother had just joined the Air Force and he ends up doing four tours in Afghanistan. And I was struggling with the fact that I had not committed my con like, finished my military service with honor and I was really struggling, you know, I was doing life. You know, I, I don’t know that I was as connected to God as I was when I was in, that was at the end of my prison sentence.

But I saw people in the country just running off to, you know, go fight for the, you know, good of man, [00:47:00] regardless of your political idea of, you know, war and all that kind of stuff. It wasn’t about war. It was just like people wanted to do good, but I wasn’t even allowed because of this honorable discharge that I had.

And so I was dealing with a lot of guilt and shame and depression and was wondering, like teaching, I, I was a teacher at the hair school at the time, and I’m like, am I even making a difference? Is this like, is this really. Like worth anything, like what’s going on. So then I remembered that book I read and I had to like really remember that my life was valuable because you know, God died for me or Jesus died for me.

And I could be a productive member of society and maybe it’s not in the military and I don’t, but I don’t have to live with that guilt and shame anymore because I am forgiven. So that’s the biggest thing that I needed to remember is that I was forgiven and that that’s kinda an ongoing journey, you know, I think for most people cuz you’re never gonna live a perfect life.

There was only one person who did, and we know who that [00:48:00] was. And then once you had this, Kinda like you had to face it and then God brought back the memory of that book and it kind of puts you back in balance and perspective of you know, what you’re meant to do and be. And you know, we can choose our sin, but we can’t choose our consequences.

Right, right. So now you’re picking up and hey, I’m moving forward the best I can today. You know, learning from the past, but not to dwelling in it. Where does your life go from there, David? So I’m teaching hair school, you know, doing my thing, being a dad. Got awesome kids, awesome wife, you know, and I tell people from time to time, they’re like I would say in little pieces of conversation my past would kind of pop up and they’re like, you did what you were where?

And I’m like, yeah, I serve some time in prison for being a drug dealer. They’re like, what? And then I would tell a little bit about my story and they’re like, you should write a book. And I was like, . I don’t think I, you know, I don’t, I’m not sure even how I got outta high school, much less write a book. I, I don’t think I could do that.

But I follow [00:49:00] a guy called John ak and he was working for the Dave Ramsey company for, at the time that I stumbled across his material. And he decided to do this challenge where all these people got together and kind of helped each other do something that they wanted to do in their life using kind of like a social networking type way to do it.

And I wrote in this group that I think I wanna tell my story about serving time in prison. And they’re like, oh, well you should start a blog. Do that first. I was like, oh, that’s a great idea. So I started a blog and once a week I started writing my story and people started reacting to it. And it didn’t go like viral, like TikTok goes viral, but it was spreading and people were starting to reach out to me like, you’re helping me understand what my child went through.

You’re helping me understand you. What my husband went through or what I went through. And people started reaching out to me. And, and then people that I knew were like, Hey, I just so you know, I also served time. Like what? And it was just opening up all these conversations. And it was really cool because my story, as messy as it was, was being used by God to reach out to people and help ’em know that they weren’t alone.

And then at the end of [00:50:00] a three year period of blogging, I ended up compiling it and then putting into a book form. So then I launched this book and I had a, a little launch group of about 750 people in a little Facebook group who had followed the blog all along. And they helped me get the word out.

And then this, I got to see this book being, you know, selfies being taken to this book all over the world. And it was really cool. But the really cool thing was that I decided that as a ministry that I would ship books to inmates for free. So if anybody ever said, I got somebody in prison who I’d like to send a copy to, I’m like, just gimme an address and I’d ship ’em a copy.

And I’ve got, I got to, I’ve gotten to see a lot of people Affected by my story in a positive way. Because of that, I even have two or three books that actually ended up in Fort 11 words, which is kind of cool cause that’s where I was. And more recently, over the past three years there is a cosmetology school in a women’s prison in Oklahoma.

And when the class graduates I send a copy to the entire graduating class. So each one gets a copy. And [00:51:00] the, this last one, I think was about 23 people get a copy of my book, which is relabel cuz they’re in prison and they’re doing hair. They’re gonna come out and try to find a job. And it, it just all, you know, it all works together.

And so I’m just super excited about the fact that my story gets used this way and I don’t take any credit for it all. Cause I know God’s hand is on it completely. I just recently also had a student tell me that after reading my story, one of my current students, that she turned her life back over to Christ after reading my book.

And that’s, man, you can’t, you can’t get any better than that. I mean, it’s just one person. I mean, Jesus, through your story, it’s, it’s worth it. A hundred percent. Man, I’m so glad to share this time with you. It is an honor and to hear your story and to see you’re sharing it and giving the glory to God. Cuz it all is, his failures are on us.

All the success is on God, right? Yeah. So let me ask you this. Now, you said a couple things. This is where I wanna [00:52:00] park, have a, have real kind of teaching moment where you break down your successes. So number one, you didn’t just have, you were looking for what the next step was. That group helps you to find it, but you had to do, you had to take action.

Mm-hmm. . Yeah. So I want you to address the listeners about taking action, you know, what’s some steps to get started or finding what you should be starting. And then also, I wanna point this out. When David was speaking, did you catch, it took three years. Not everything happens overnight. You know, the average millionaire takes seven to nine years, right?

The overnights average overnight success. When people say, oh, they’re an overnight success, no, on average, statistically it takes seven to nine years of hard work to become that overnight success. So David, he committed to running that blog and building his group out to you said 750 when the book launched, which is great.

That’s a great community. But it took work and [00:53:00] time and, and every moment was super happy and exciting. David, right? No discouragement at all. . It was hard. So I, what happened was, I first started, I put the blog together and every single thing that I did through this group of people the original group had about 3000 people in it that were all to kind of do, doing different things.

Some of ’em wanted to be like life coaches or Disney planner or, you know chef or, you know, change the career that they’re in. Everybody had their different goal. Mine was just, I just wanna tell my story, but all these people. that I was, I had been in this group with, had the experience. And so my first step was, I just started, I, I went to a conference and this guy said, you need to get off your Ask

So what that means is don’t be afraid to ask people because there’s people out there who have, have done the thing and are willing to, to coach you or help you, usually for free. And obviously there can be some investment involved, but at this time, every, everything I. , I got free advice and help from people who had done it before.

So that was my first step, was just asking. And I [00:54:00] had, I started blogging and this woman reached out to me. She goes, Hey, can I help you? Because the way that you’re describing your story, I can tell, is very powerful, but the way you’re writing it is not, so she was saying, how did you feel? You know, as a male, I’m like, I did this and I did this.

So she actually coached me. So I would send her through Evernote, I would send a copy of my weekly blog to her. She would look through and say, and then, you know, with some advice, I would kind of take out all the eyes, you know, and, and restructure that. And then you need to tell me how you felt. And so I had to really dig into my emotions, which is really hard for me cause I’m not like an overly emotional guy.

So there was that, you know, the coaching process and then just under. all the aspects that go into blogging and, and that kind of stuff. And I, I just learned it as I went along. And so that’s what helped it grow. But constantly reaching out and being educated by the people and reaching out to people who already knew how to do it and, and them feeding into me and giving me the information.

But it took three years for me to get all of the story out. And then I had an editor actually, you know, take [00:55:00] the book on also and edit it for me. I had, she helped me with the launch team. So I, I’m, I’m really big on if you want to do something, you have to reach out to the people who know how to do it.

And there’s courses you can take and things like that, but generally you’re gonna find somebody in your community or your circle who’s willing to just give you a hand. So where would you recommend people are listening now. They’re, they’re getting encouraged. Encouraged. They’re like, man, I was just about to.

David’s talking about this, where do you recommend they start to find these experts? Cuz everybody will do it for money and that doesn’t mean they’re any better than the people that’ll donate their time just cuz they want to see you succeed. So where’s a starting point you’d recommend for most people trying to get off their ask?

I would say that generally you’re gonna find, be able to find a Facebook group of people of like-minded interests. So if you’re wanting to be an author, there are Facebook groups for authors that there’s free advice available if you want to be [00:56:00] you know, a life coach. They have Facebook groups of people who do life coaching, who are willing to, you know, and eventually you’re gonna have to put a little bit of skin in the game, I believe and, and maybe a little bit of investment, but I started with nothing and ended up being able to do this without.

Putting it really any money in it at all. So I would say Facebook is a great opportunity. But also you would have like local chapters or communities community events and things like that in your, in your, probably your hometown of people who maybe a local authors, you know, go to a bookstore and they have local author signings.

I would say reach out to people who have done it before and, and knowing what it is you want to do and seeking out people who are great at it. And maybe even just saying, Hey, I’ll give you, take out to dinner if you just explain the process, you know, or can I pay you for your time? And that would be one way to get somebody who is an expert in your, the field you’re wanting to go into.

So those are ways that I would say be easy to reach out. Good man. And then do you have any tips for identifying the experts? [00:57:00] Well, it would be hard without knowing exactly what field, but, so for like an author somebody who’s a New York Times bestselling author would be somebody who would, could be considered an expert in, in authoring because mm-hmm.

They have, were able to get that book published and, and are able to sell it. So I would say that’s one way and I’m kinda using that avenue cause that’s the path I land. Yeah. And another thing too is there aren’t many authors who make a living off writing books. So when you are inspired, like David to write a book, you know, we just wrote a book for the Remarkable People Podcast, the first of the year, but we’re doing it to reach souls not to make money.

So sales to us equals souls, not sales equals correct success because I think the average nonfiction book they say sells only 250 copies in its lifetime. Now granted, there’s a, there’s. That’s the standard that the publishing [00:58:00] companies and K a p and Amazon, others tell you. So I personally think a lot more copies are sold, but they’re just not paid for.

I think that the publishers pocket that money, but right, statistically they say for non-fiction, 250 copies are sold. So even if you made two or three bucks a book, it’s not about the money. And you need that mindset going into it. It has to be a passion. And then you might reach 2 million people with your book.

You might reach 200,000 people with your book. You might reach 10,000. It’s, you just need to know going in, you do your best and like God, bring the increase because the numbers would be discouraging if that’s all you’re focused on. Would, would you agree or disagree, David? . I agree. And if you’re gonna be an author and you want to live off that, you actually have to have multiple streams of income.

So you’re gonna be speaking, you’re gonna be, you know, being, you’re gonna be writing books you’re gonna have like merchandise. There’s a whole bunch of different ways to make money. But again, me and you are kind of doing it for the same reason. And not only that, the cool thing is, is that books like mine and yours get passed [00:59:00] around.

So even without the sale and I can’t even tell you how many books I’ve given away. You know, I, if somebody’s struggling, I’m like, you know what? You need a copy of my book. I’m just gonna give it to you. Or, you know, ship it to somebody that’s, it’s totally worth the, the payout on my end to, to be able to reach somebody with my story, even if they can’t afford it.

Yeah, a hundred percent. I just wanted to make sure. A lot of people, they wanna write books. It’s like a life dream. It’s same thing as a podcast. People want a podcast, but then they get into it and they see how much work it is and they quit. It’s a lot of work. Yeah. There’s more people that run marathons 26 miles than there are people who publish a book a year.

So I just want you to have real. I guess balance in your, in your. Mental image. Like David had a story. God laid it on his heart to share it. He got involved in the experts, he took the steps. He didn’t know all the steps, but he took the next step and God just kept leading him down the right path to the right people.

[01:00:00] And God will do that for you too, if it’s his will. So make sure you’re taking the steps. But if your expectation is to be rich, famous, you know Indiana Jones, fortune and Glory, you’re in it for the wrong reason. Don’t even bother starting, right? Because if you’re trying to get fortune and glory, you’re just gonna end up another idiot in the White House, right?

Like totally useless. No life skills, no life experience. You’re not helping anybody but yourself. So if you’re trying to be selfless, Go ahead and write that book. That’s my public service announcement. If it’s too harsh, forgive me. But David, you can tell me I’m wrong or right. Whatever you want. But that’s, I agree with you.

And like I said, you, if you’re gonna be an author, you have to have multiple streams of income. Cause it, unless you’re Stephen King, you know? Yeah. You know, there’s only so many of those out there, you know? Yeah. It’s, and it’s the anomaly and it’s, it’s not the norm. So, and he writes fiction, which people don’t wanna live in reality, they wanna re read non-fiction.

Right, right. They wanna read about fairy tales and ghosts and demons and cats that come outta the cemetery. So, yeah. Anyways, let’s get back to your story. So you [01:01:00] get together with this group, you find the right team, you commit. You had 750 people on your launch team, which is great. And now the book releases bring us between there and.

So the book, you know, I, I couldn’t tell you exactly how many I books have have sold. I’ve looked, and it’s kind of sketchy because they switched from one platform to the other recently. But I would say I, I think I’ve probably anywhere three to 3000 to maybe 4,000 copies have been printed. You know, cause some of ’em I would order and then sell individually.

But I would say, you know, in a six year period that’s pretty good for a self-published, I self-published it as well. I had to create, actually had to create a LLC and a publishing company so I could maintain the rights and everything. I own my own is SDN number. There was so many things and, and like you were saying, every time I would take the next step, I’m like, okay, what’s the next step?

And then somebody would tell me how to do it, you know? So, and I [01:02:00] definitely had a really good core group of people that just were kind of like surrounding me, like, I wanna see this happen. And it’s because God put it all together, you know? Yeah. And I said, if you. Oh, I’m sorry. I mean to cut you off, there’s a delay.

Three to 4,000 copies is amazing and people need to understand that. Again, it’s still a labor of love cuz you have to, you have to sign the co-author agreements or you gotta get the copyright attorney or you gotta get, like you said, it costs money for those little barcodes and I sbn numbers, everything costs money.

So if you write a book these days, like David’s saying, you have to do it for the passion and the love and the desire to help, because the income for most people isn’t gonna be there unless you’re the anomaly. Yeah, I agree a hundred percent. Yeah. So now you’re learning this, the books out there, you’re selling copies.

What’s like life like for you today, David? You know, and in beginning I, it was, you know, I was in the newspaper, I was on the radio you know, people wouldn’t share it. And I was, I spoke at some churches and some, you [01:03:00] know, different community groups. And then as the time went on, you know, that kind of slowed down and now it’s just more like word of mouth.

As far as the book’s concerned, I’d kinda bring it up my story in person to some of my students, people I work with, people I go to church with. And then people like you allow me on their podcast, you know, I was on, this is my first one this year. I did one or two last year. And I, I’ll reach out if it platform.

Seems like it makes sense. And I still am able to get my story out there six years later. And so it’s been really cool. And actually it’s been nine years because I started the blog, you know, three years before I wrote it. So, you know, I’d say this story has been circulating for about nine years now, officially since that first blog post.

Yeah. And I think David and I are both the same, where our stories are little circles. and there’s, you know, billions of people, billions of stories, but they all circle around the main circle and that’s God. And that’s correct. His story. And that’s all Dave and I are trying to share with you is [01:04:00] all the hope, all the joy, all the peace, all the success.

Even when you have failures and hardship and sickness. When you’re with God, you have peace and joy and that’s something money can’t buy and drugs can’t bring you. So let me do this too. Little steps, like me and you, we met. Explain to the listeners how you and I met because that’s like, to me there are no coincidences and you know, all these things tie together and now you’re a guest on the show.

and I can’t remember how I stumbled on your podcast. I, I just know that I listened to it and I don’t know if somebody else was on there that I was interested in, and then I’m like, oh, they were on that one. So I’ll listen to ’em there. And so then I back, you know, read, went back to the beginning and I basically just listened to all your podcasts and been listening each week.

So I, I can’t remember who turned me onto your podcast, but yeah, no, and that’s, it’s not about the details, but it’s like somehow you found our podcast. Yes, yes. You listened to like 110 episodes now, which is Thank you. Thank you to all our listeners on whether you listen to one or the 110 at this [01:05:00] point.

Thank you. You know, we’re doing this for you. We hope it brings you value, but now look at this. David and I are talking, and there were steps in between too, because I remember you heard an episode, you reached out, then we start talking about your story and now is yours as say, I think it was in July is when I, yeah, July we, we had a conversation.

Yeah. Yeah. So ladies and gentlemen, behind the camera, behind the scenes, if you’re listening, David and I spoke in July and it is of 22, and now we’re recording this in January of 23. So this gentleman has waited months for us to record cuz we’re so backed up. Which is a positive thing, right? Yes. But it’s sad you had to wait that long and now it’ll still be another, you know, who knows how many weeks before this releases, but it’s just gonna work out in time because somebody’s listening to this at just the right time.

Or they’re gonna buy, go buy David’s book, support the cost, support Dave. Cuz when you’re buying that book, it’s, you know, [01:06:00] 15, 20 bucks, 25 bucks for you. But that’s going to further people. Getting the truth cuz it gives Dave a little bit more breathing room to take time to record a podcast, to tell more people about y God, to give them hope, and then to give those books to people in prison for free.

So just love each other, sharing the cause. If you got a few extra bucks, buy books Valentine Day’s coming up. Give ’em away for Valentine’s Day for different holidays for Christmas. Show your love by action. So David, where are you today and where are you heading? How can we get ahold of you and how can we help you get to your next destination?

Currently I’m just, you know, working to still teaching at the Hair School. I’ve been there for 25 years. You know, I got my wife and children here in Omaha. And then so as far as reaching out about the book my website is dilemma mike.com. It’s one L and two. So everybody has a hard time spelling the word dilemma.

All my social media handles are [01:07:00] at Dilemma, Mike and. also Amazon is a great place to buy the book and so if you reach out on any of my socials or on through my website and you have somebody that’s incarcerated that needs a copy, you can just reach out to me and I’ll ship a copy for free. I have to ship it directly from Amazon cuz that’s how it has to get into the prison.

So yeah, I’m willing to do that. Awesome. And we’ll put links to this in the show notes. And David, it’s been a true honor and I just wanna make sure, between your birth and today, is there anything we missed? Is there any significant part of your life we didn’t cover or is there any final thoughts you wanna share with our listeners?

So my final thoughts would be there’s, so, especially in the past couple years, there’s a lot of struggling going on. So I would just say you need to reach out, reach out to somebody, don’t hold it in, don’t keep it secret, don’t try, do life on your own. Community is super important. So reach out. Also, , your past does [01:08:00] not define you.

You may have screwed up in life, but that doesn’t have to stick with you for the rest of your life. Now I kind of carry your mind through me, cuz I wrote a book about it and I posted it all over the world wide web for people to see. But it doesn’t define me as a human being anymore. Cause I know that I am, you know, forgiven.

I am totally forgiven. I don’t have to think about that stuff anymore. I don’t have to let it define me and, and, and, and, and, and be a part of my life anymore, other than the, the only reason why I bring it up is so that other people can know they’re not alone. Yeah. And then I would just say know that you know that you’re forgiven.

Like you don’t have to keep begging for it. You don’t have to worry about the, the Lightnings app coming out and getting you. God doesn’t do that. . Yeah, that’s just cartoon stuff. So sometimes we wish it would happen, but it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Not typically. There’s always an except. But no, man. David, thank you for being here.

Thank you for sharing your story openly and transparently. That’s what it’s all about. A lot of this stuff, like I said, not that you should feel ashamed, but like you said, you felt shame and instead of like serving your country, you were behind the [01:09:00] wall of a prison looking at a flag, but you’ve corrected, you’ve reestablished and now you’re a productive member of society.

And more than that, the kingdom of God. So thank you for sharing it because your successes are great, but your failures and my failures and everybody else’s failures, if we share them transparently, hopefully our listeners will be like, oh, I don’t have to make that same dumb decision. I can make the good ones.

So thank you for being here to help everybody. Yeah, thank you again. I appreciate it. Yeah, man, it’s been an honor. So again, check out David Mike’s. The book’s called Dishonor, but you are gonna see there’s a lot of honor in it. I’m David Pasqualone. Our guest today was David, Mike. And don’t just listen to this episode, ladies and gentlemen.

Like our slogan says, listen to it, but do what you know you have to do. Repeat those positive steps each day [01:10:00] so you can have a great life in this world, and most importantly, an eternity to come. So, again, I’m David. This is David. Reach out to David on his website. Buy the book from Amazon, check out our Remarkable people book.

But more than anything, let’s love God, love each other, and make the world a better place. So I’m David Pasqualone. This was David. Mike. David. Thanks again, brother. Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, we’ll see you in another episode. Chow.