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A surprise guest turned our plans upside down for all the right reasons. Meet “Lefty,” a Baltimore kid turned Iraq veteran whose nickname carries a scar and a story. He speaks plainly about the cost of war, the calluses that form when you shut off empathy, and the strange tenderness that reappears when grace walks into the room. What begins as a detour from Galatians becomes a front-row seat to the Gospel at work: a pastor’s simple question, a thirst that wouldn’t quit, heartbreak over infertility and a miscarriage, and then a daughter doctors said was unlikely. The hinge moment arrives on a quiet security shift—an attack, a gun drawn, an interrogation room, and a prayer so simple it surprised him when God answered. The man survived. The charges were dropped. And a heart that thought it was beyond reach suddenly felt seen.
From there, curiosity turned into conviction. A late-night search—“How do you know if you’re saved?”—led to Vodie Baucham’s clarity and Paul Washer’s gravity. Somewhere between those voices and the Scriptures, the lights came on. Lefty describes falling to his knees, not to negotiate but to surrender. The evidence wasn’t a polished speech; it was a changed palate. Crude jokes lost their shine. Old music sounded toxic. A small lie to his wife became a confession instead of a cover. That’s the kind of transformation you can’t fake—a new heart with new loves.
But the road wasn’t smooth. A well-meaning warning about “losing salvation” triggered two hard years of fear. We walk through those texts, that turmoil, and the difference between perseverance and preservation. Along the way, we talk trauma, moral injury, assurance, and why good counsel matters when a new believer is tender and searching. This conversation is for anyone who has felt torn between guilt and grace, who wonders whether God hears, and who needs the reminder that the Savior who convicts also keeps.
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