My Weakest Moment Became the Strongest Move of God, with Javier Malave

In this powerful episode of Living Testimonies, Javier Malave shares his deeply personal journey of faith—beginning with a strong Pentecostal upbringing and leading through seasons of doubt, questions, and miraculous healing. At just 17, Javier surrendered his life to Jesus, but it wasn’t until a near-death encounter with Guillain-Barré Syndrome that he experienced the undeniable presence of God in the darkest valley.

With passion for thoughtful faith and authentic conversations, Javier opens up about how suffering reshaped his perspective, deepened his trust in God, and fueled a desire to encourage others. Whether you’re wrestling with your faith or seeking spiritual growth, this testimony will challenge and inspire you to see God’s hand even in the hardest places.

Transcript

Israel Caminero: 0:04

Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. I'm grateful for your support and for being part of this community. If you've been enjoying the podcast so far, I'd love it if you could take a minute to leave a review. Your feedback helps me reach more people and share these inspiring stories with others. Let's spread the word. Please share this podcast with your friends and family. And if you haven't already, be sure to like and subscribe for new episodes. To stay connected and up to date on all the latest news, updates, and exclusive content, head over to my Facebook page, Living Testimonies. While you're there, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter. The link is on the page. Thanks again for listening, and I'll catch you in the next episode. Welcome to Living Testimony, Stories of Faith and Redemption. I'm your host, Israel Caminero, and I hope that everyone is listening is blessed and doing well. With me today, I have my brother in Christ. His name is Javier Malave, and he's here to share his testimony.

Javier Malave: 1:24

Could you say a little bit about yourself, Javier? Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. I am uh my name is Javier Malave, as you just said. I have been a podcaster, author, and for the last four or five years, I have uh podcast, a few other things. I've been married 31 years, I have two grown adult children, and I'm a born and bred New Yorker.

Israel Caminero: 1:48

He's here to share his testimony, but before he does that, I'd like to pray and say, Heavenly Father, I thank you for Javier and the work you've done in his life. As he prepares to speak, I ask that you calm his spirit and fill him with your peace. Let every word he shares be led by your spirit, full of truth, grace, and power. Anoint his voice, guard his heart, and guide his thoughts. Let him feel the weight of your presence and the freedom that comes with obedience to your call. May his testimony plant seeds, break chains, and draw hearts closer to you. Use him for your glory, Lord, and may every listener encounter your love through his story. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Javier Malave: 2:26

Amen.

Israel Caminero: 2:28

I'm eager to listen to your testimony. I heard a little bit about what you shared with me, but I want to hear everything. So can you take us to back in the day and let us know how your life was growing up?

Javier Malave: 2:41

Oh, sure. Like I said, I'm born and brand New York. I was raised in Williamsburg, New York. Uh, not the Williamsburg that everybody thinks of now. We're talking about the hood back in the day, or what we used to call Los Sudes, because that's where most Puerto Ricans uh at the time in the 70s and the 60s lived. They either lived there or in the Bronx or in Chicago. Uh we grew up in Brooklyn, which is uh south side of Brooklyn. Uh lived there till I was uh 14, then we moved to downtown Brooklyn to keep thinking my mom, mom and dad are Puerto Rican, they're from the island. Uh we're first generation here. My mother was a Santera for a while, uh, since I can remember. As I would say it in Spanish, but it's like Santeria, it's almost services for people that are in that religion. Uh we were Catholic as well, so and if anyone knows anything about santeria, it is a mixture of African voodoo, Catholicism, and Christianity in general. Um my mom uh was very involved in that, so I am very um knowledgeable or have been around that situation. So we were around all that, and my mom had the altars in the house with all the uh ornaments and whatever. You know, we knew all about the orishas and all that stuff. So we moved to downtown Brooklyn to what we call the projects here in New York. We were the first Hispanic family to live in that building, and it was pretty rough. I fought pretty much every day because unfortunately, being Puerto Rican and a neighborhood of African Americans, you kind of stand out. Uh so it was uh rough four years of my life there until we were uh 17 and we moved out and we moved to uh what we call Bushwick, Brooklyn, and that's where everything changed. Uh we literally moved right next to a Pentecostal church. My mom worked at a daycare center. She was the cook there for 40 years at a daycare center, and the owner of the daycare center had a house that he was renting, and obviously my parents were always once to move up and always wanted to be in a better place. So they moved us to Bushwick, Brooklyn, which at the at that time wasn't the greatest, but it definitely was much better than when we were in the downtown Brooklyn. Uh we lived in uh Bushwick, Brooklyn, which is now very um, how do you call it, uh, bougie now. Uh not like it was when I grew up there. Uh while we were moving, and this is something I I haven't told anyone, I don't think, or I've talked in interviews. When we were moving, my mom and us, we had to pack up the the whole altar, which is all the giant figures, the uh, you know, the angel, the Saint Lazarus, all that stuff that's on there. And uh we packed it up and we put it in the truck. And this is one thing I have to know that God already had all this in plan. Every piece of statue never made it to the little house.

Israel Caminero: 5:34

Oh wow.

Javier Malave: 5:35

Never made it. They all broke. All of them. All of them. Every single one was broken. Never made it to the house. So uh I could already looking back now, I can say, yeah, that was God already starting to uh wanting to change my family. You know, we and and we moved right next to a Pentecostal church, right? So God can't direct you even better. Like he'll put you right next to a church, right?

Israel Caminero: 5:57

Right.

Javier Malave: 5:58

So my mom knew a lot of the people at the church because obviously the daycare center was owned by uh the people that ran the church at that time. So she would know them, and we would go on trips with the church, you know, the normal everybody goes to Pennsylvania, church trips, camping trips, all that stuff that kids would do. The first one to get saved, which is funny, was my sister. Uh, when she uh started going to church and then started going to Sunday school, and my mom would take her, obviously, and God, in his mercy and grace, saved my mom for a lady who was into uh spiritualism, santeria, and all that, for God to change her life. Her own testimony is our own testimony. I can tell you that God does amazing things. My mom is still here. Thank God. My mom has been through a lot uh physically. We are blessed to have her still here, my dad as well. But just to continue, um, so my mom and my sister were going to church. I was not. There was no way. I was on the street, I was hanging out. Uh, you know, I was a high school, you know, well, never really went to high school. I was one of those that, you know, just went to homeroom and cut out the rest of the day.

Israel Caminero: 7:07

Right.

Javier Malave: 7:08

Um, you know, I can remember my mom going to talk to the teachers and they would ask, she would say, I'm here to speak about hobby. And they go, Who? You know, because they never saw me, you know. They I was never there. As long as I made to homeroom, I technically was in school. I always was the one that wanted to always work. I always wanted to have money in my pocket. So whatever I I would cut out of school and go to work or do whatever I needed to do in order to make some money.

Israel Caminero: 7:32

Gotcha.

Javier Malave: 7:32

So I got involved in a lot of things that were not good. Part of a crew back then and and and the gang life and all that, you know, which was pretty uh crazy. I I went to a high school that was one of the first high schools in New York to have a metal detector in the school. So that's how bad my school was. We had a baseball team that were not allowed to have a baseball field because they weren't allowed to have the bats. They had canceled graduation, I think three years in a row because the proms, I think people were either beat up or stabbed during those. You're talking, these are the 80s when everybody was uh, you know, either coked out or drugged out, or you know, nobody really cared. New York City was a hot mess in the 70s and 80s, and even the 90s when the crack era came, the late 80s. So uh my mom and my sister, you know, they were saved, they were going to church. And then one day um my mom says, Listen, that we're gonna have the youth here at the house, and they're gonna have a uh, you know, a youth meeting. And she goes, Would you like to? And I'm like, Come on, mom, I really don't want to, I don't know any of these people, you know, I don't need to hear about this. I know you you love God, whatever, and I appreciate that. But but you know, my sister, which I would do anything for my sister, said, you know, why don't you just stay half hour? That's all. If you don't like that, you can leave, you know.

Israel Caminero: 8:52

Right.

Javier Malave: 8:53

And we were raised that if people come to your house, you show them respect, you know, you tell them, you you invite them and you make them comfortable. So these are all teenagers, you know, 17, 16, 15-year-old kids coming to somebody's house. So I stayed there, and um, this was a very Pentecostal church. So they were having their service, and I sat there and started listening. The youth leader at the time, his name is John Rivera, he's now a pastor. He was just speaking, you know, normal. Like I always thought preachers or people in church would be like one of those vows days, you know, everything is big and extravagant. But he was very down to earth, talked like anybody, you know, and it kind of hit me. And I said, you know what? I've been through a lot. Streets aren't really doing it for me. Why not? What's it gonna hurt for me to try, right?

Israel Caminero: 9:43

Right.

Javier Malave: 9:43

I told him I wanted to talk to him, and we went into my bathroom. And I gave my life to Christ at 17 in the bathroom. In uh obviously at the time I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew that it was something I needed, that was something that I that was in my heart at the time that I felt comfortable doing. I had no idea what it is to be saved, grace, Christianity, none of that. I only knew what Catholicism or Saturday and all that. So we started going to the church, the Pentecostal church, and obviously it's very strict. You know, you can't do anything outside, you know, everything you you'll either burn in hell or whatever. We we couldn't really breathe.

Israel Caminero: 10:21

Right.

Javier Malave: 10:21

Um, but one thing I have to say, I made some of the best friends I've ever, and still friends of mine now, 50 years later, that I still love, you know, a lot, and and we we communicate here and there. But I gave I got involved in church, went, you know, and if you anybody knows about uh Spanish Pentecostal church, you go to church Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Fridays. You were there pretty much all day, all week. You know, you really didn't do anything but church. I was there till I was 21. I uh became involved with the church, and I became uh very good friends with one of the guys there, and he worked at a bookstore called Maranatha Christian Bookstore. And they needed a security guard. Why not? I mean, I'm one right to make money, why not? Let's let's do it. It's it's a bookstore. What much can happen? So I started working there, and to cut a long story short, I started ending up working at the store as a salesperson. I started reading the books, I started selling the music. That's when I got into um contemporary Christian music. I was I'm a big uh hardcore metal fan, so when hard rock, Christian hard rock was coming out, or like Stryper or you know, Baron Cross or things like that, I was a huge fan. Huge. And that obviously goes against Pentecostal or upbringing, obviously, because that music is, as they say, of the world. But I still loved it. It still gave me joy. And I ended up working at a bookstore called Christian Publications, which is the biggest, was at the time the biggest bookstore in New York. That's where every all the Christians, anybody, pastors, whatever, came to get all their materials, their music and everything. I ended up working at the music store. You know, I I uh experienced a lot there to learn about uh different types of ideas and thoughts, people's religious thoughts, their philosophy. You know, because as a Christian, people think Christianity is just one, it's under one bubble, but everybody has such different ideas of it or or thoughts on it, which to me I love I love talking to people and just listening to what they have to say. I may not agree with them, but I just love to hear other people's thoughts and just for me to learn myself on how people because that's how you learn how to talk to other people when you listen to people. I think that's one of the things that's been lost in this country is civil discourse and and critical thinking. That's been lost. I don't know if we're ever getting that back again, but it's been lost. But anyway, so I was working at Christian publications for a while. That's where I met my beautiful wife, Daisy. I weighed about almost 300 and something pounds. I was a very big guy. This young lady comes in to look for a and she's all hair all spiked up, you know, hair. This is the you're talking the 80s, right?

Israel Caminero: 13:14

Right.

Javier Malave: 13:14

So the big hair and the eyeliners, but you know, she had the Jesus, but she was she was a Christian. I mean, you know, to me, and she came in to look for a band called Blood Good. And uh obviously I know who that band is, but for someone else to ask for it, that's not normal, that was like a big like, whoa, what do you mean you like you like this music? Wow, cool. We started talking, and I asked her out, and she immediately said no. So obviously that was a toe to my ego. She tells me now that it's because she was with someone, so she's not one to, which I respected. You know, uh, you're with someone, you're not gonna go out with someone else out of respect. So, cut a long story short, uh, we separated for a while. Uh, I didn't hear from her at all. Uh, I got involved with a couple of other people, had relationships, engagements, very bad times. Had a couple of uh scary incidents with children almost, which I regret. And one of those things that I pray to God every day for his grace. I thank him for his grace every day because of that. I just left church. I just totally was I was done. I was done with church, I was done with the whole religious thing. In a way, I was looking at it as uh it was just something to get me off of what I was doing, or I didn't really understand what grace or relationship with Christ was at that time. I never understood that. I didn't know. I just know I read the Bible, we went through everything in church. You know, it was almost like it was liturgical. It was just you did it as um instinct, you know what I mean? But it didn't, it I wasn't changed as you should be.

Israel Caminero: 14:56

More like a routine, right?

Javier Malave: 14:58

Yeah, it was a routine, it was something that was comfortable to do. You didn't really think through it, you just went and did it. I left church, Pentecostal church, period, uh, for a while. I met this young lady at the bookstore, and she was going to a church in New Jersey to tell you a little bit about me. I've never traveled anywhere. The only place I ever traveled was Puerto Rico because my mom would send me two months out of the year to get me out of New York from the streets to live with my grandma over there, just you know, mostly for the summers. So she invited me to her church in New Jersey. I I actually was dating her, so I said, why not? You know, I mean, she's my girlfriend at the time, why would I visit her church?

Israel Caminero: 15:41

Right.

Javier Malave: 15:42

So I went there with the idea of like, I'm just gonna go visit, just say hello, whatever, and just to appease her. And we went during the Christmas season. She ended up being in part of the play for the Christmas for the church. So I had to go in for rehearsals with her, and so I got to meet the people there. And God blessed me with meeting, I say, my brother from another mother, my best friend for life. His name is Hoel. I met him there. He was the uh audio engineer for the church. He did all the music, he did all that. I love music, and we kicked it off. We became the best of friends, and I ended up uh going to the church.

Israel Caminero: 16:22

This wasn't a Pentecostal church, obviously.

Javier Malave: 16:24

No, no, this was a reformed, what they call reformed church.

Israel Caminero: 16:28

Okay.

Javier Malave: 16:28

Uh it's under it's mostly Lutheran ideas. They're sort of liturgical in a way, but they're very mellow. I ended up enjoying the church and being part of the church, and then ended up being um part of the praise and worship team, which I would never in my life thought I would be. I ended up being a drummer for the church. We were the first praise and worship team for a reformed church. They never were once to be, you know, they did all the hymns, all the good old hymns, nothing with drums or guitars or people singing. And we decided, why not? Let's do it, let's see if people and it hit off. And um, we went around a lot of reformed churches to play, and and it was a lot of fun. Daisy at the time, my wife, she followed up with me. For some reason, we touched base again. She invited me to go to a striper concert. From there, got to control, and um so far it's 31 years. And two children later, me and my wife ended up getting married, me and Daisy, and we moved to New Jersey. Then my parents bought a house in New York, and they were having problems with the tenants upstairs, and they asked us, would we like to move back to New York? And I'm thinking, why not? You know, I have two small children, they can be by their grandmother and grandfather, there are, you know, it's all about family, right? So we want them all to be together. So I said, why not? I still went to Woodcliffe on Sundays to play, traveled from New York to New Jersey without a car. This was in public transportation back then, so it was two trains and a bus. Eventually it was just too much, and there were a lot of things going on in the church that uh I just didn't agree with. Politics, as they say, church politics. I wasn't interested in that at all. And I left. I didn't stop believing, but I did stop attending any church or attending anything when it comes to God. I had faith, but I had no, I wasn't, I wasn't with any with any church. I had no accountability at all. My wife still to this day always went to church, always uh was is the prayer warrior of this house. She is the one that held us when everything was going crazy. She's the prayer warrior, she still is. To bring it up to now, I am a survivor of what's called Guillon Baret syndrome, which is a neurological disease that affects the myelin sheath of your nerve ending. So the re the way I explain it is, or the way I was told, it's like you know, an electrical wire, right? You know, the black part outside the wire. It protects all those little inside wires, the reds, the yellows, the greens. So my disease eats the outside of that wire. So the insides are exposed, and then they get eaten. So I have no feeling. So it's neuropathic, which means it's um I get a neuropathy. I have no sensation from the tip of my toes to a little past my elbows. I always feel like uh I always tell people it's like if you're you know when your hands asleep or your legs asleep, yeah. Imagine feeling that all day, every day. That's what I feel all day, every day. To start from there, this disease came out of nowhere. I was I had gained a lot of weight, I was very overweight, and um I decided to become a vegan. Um and I said, you know, let me try this. And I became a vegan for almost six years and I lost a lot of weight and I started running for a guy who wouldn't walk to the corner store. I started running and uh I did a few 5Ks and stuff like that and 3K and I was training for the first my first half marathon, which was the Brooklyn half. Um I was training for that. So this was gonna be my first real event, you know what I mean? The first half marathon.

Israel Caminero: 20:17

Right.

Javier Malave: 20:18

I got sick. Uh I just got you know how you feel like a flu. You feel like you know you're coughing and everything else. I'm thinking it's just I've just got the flu, I'm just sick. I had a fever and everything, but it was, you know, whatever. Normal, as you know, you get sick, you take Tylenol, you you fight it off, and whatever. Unfortunately, my sickness, I ended up having 104 fever septic, and was rushed to the hospital with 3% lung capacity. I couldn't breathe. Oh wow. Um, when I was brought to the hospital, first thing they did was intubate me. They intubated me. So I was intubated for six days. Uh the doctor had told my wife to make plans. He doesn't think I'm going to wake up. Most people do not wake up from intubation or they rely on the machine after two or three days. Their body starts to just adjust and need the machine in order to live. And mine, I was so sick and they were pumping me with so much stuff. That day I told my wife, we don't, we don't know. We can't tell you. We just we just tell you, you know. And um, God had other plans. I woke up on the sixth day, I woke up on October 2nd of 21. Yeah, I woke up in the hospital. I was in the hospital for about three or four months. I'm unable to walk. Uh, I'm able to now move around much better than I did when I first got sick, but I am wheelchair bound. I do wear braces. And to this day, they don't exactly know what caused the sickness. Because what happened was when I got there, they checked uh GPS wasn't uh diagnosed yet. What they were thinking was this either was fungal, some sort of bug, or anything, and they couldn't find it. They couldn't, they couldn't, they couldn't explain why I was so sick. So after I woke up, you know, when you wake up, you sometimes your legs are asleep, and you're like, I just gotta move my legs a little bit, and they'll won't, you know, they'll warm up and I can start. Well, I couldn't move my legs. They just felt sleepy, and I'm like, but wait. And I'm thinking to myself, eh, it's probably because I was in bed for so long, you know?

Israel Caminero: 22:21

Right.

Javier Malave: 22:22

Um, so the doctors did uh two spinal taps, which if anybody knows what a spinal tap is, it's not the most comfortable thing in the world. And within that spinal tap, they found that they found the disease, the Guillon Bar disease, uh, which is very rare. Um, you know, I don't win the lottery, but I win the lottery in diseases, as I say. Yeah, very rare disease. So I had to learn how to move around again. I had to learn how to eat, I had to learn how to walk, uh, at least move around. I have no uh inflections on my bottom of my legs or my ankles, so I can't really move up and down. Uh because there just there's no my brain doesn't hit the nerve endings for it to connect. So it's like electricity's not getting there to signal. And this is where life gets really interesting because I woke up uh very sick, obviously. I had to learn all this stuff again. I went to the hospital, got out the hospital, came home after three or four months. At the time, I didn't realize how angry I was at God, how uh upset I was or hurt because I'm saying, you know, all this stuff that's happening, why, you know, the the normal blaming everyone uh for what for uh in themselves or getting angry at God. I mean, obviously, our God doesn't want anything bad for us to happen to us. Whatever happens, it's it's a learning experience, right? But I didn't know that at that time.

Israel Caminero: 23:49

That's right.

Javier Malave: 23:49

I was so to get to where we are today, I decided to deconstruct my faith, as they say. So I created a podcast, and this is where I stepped in first on my podcast, was called the intellectual Sasquatch at the time. Intellectuals because I love to read, I love to learn stuff. And Sasquatch came from my daughter, who I would do things just rough. So, Dad, you're acting like a Sasquatch. You're running around, you're doing this, you know. Back then, I got that, and I it was more of a philosophy, self-help, positive, one of those famous, you know, you're great, God loves you no matter what, you know. Do you and don't worry about anything else, and follow these ideas or this philosophy. But everything was about nothing with God. You know what I mean? It was nothing to do with who Christ was, it was pretty much on how we can do everything on ourselves. Oh how to think. So I I was a bit I was uh still I'm interested in stoicism. And if you know what stoicism is, it's about logic and it's about your emotions. Um, you know, that you really can't be angry at what you can't control. You know, prepare for the worst, even though you think it's gonna just prepare for the worst, death is inevitable. Uh so you have to live every day of your life without freaking out for things you can't control. So I took that to heart very well. Um, not realizing that it was really just suppressing pain and hurt and things that God wanted to for me to let go. So I created the broadcast, and of course, God has a funny sense of humor. He goes, Okay, go right ahead, keep doing what you're doing. And you know, and if you want to deconstruct something, you have to investigate it, right? You have to find the pros and the cons of it. So you wanna you wanna find the negative in what you're talking about. Because obviously you don't wanna, you know, you don't want to agree with something you're you're trying to disprove. But reading the Bible more and studying more, I started to realize that instead of deconstructing my faith, God was constructing my faith.

Israel Caminero: 25:55

Amen.

Javier Malave: 25:57

He was giving me, you know, when every time I asked a question, I said, yeah, this is and I would have to read it because I would, I would, I would always like to prove, disprove the word of God with logic, right? Not knowing that the guy that wrote it is the most logical being on earth, in the world, in ever. You know, it's God. No one could be more logical than God.

Israel Caminero: 26:19

That's right.

Javier Malave: 26:20

So um I started reading the Bible and reading into things and and trying to disprove the the Trinity, or or I wasn't wanting to really disprove, I was just more into the emotional part of the whole uh we have to be so beholden, we have to be so worried, we have to be and I was just like so frustrated with that. So that was the whole thing, you know. And I started to do podcasts to talk about more positive thoughts and more about mental health and and all about what we can do for ourselves, right? Not what God can do for us, or Christ. I give props to my and and you would think from a person who's not a Christian, and uh from my primary care doctor. My primary care doctor, I gone to go see her for a follow-up from you know, from recovery, and she goes, What's wrong with you? And I said, Nothing. Physically, I know what's wrong, but she goes, Are you because you know you're you're allowed to be angry at what's going on with you, right? Now, you would think that something so innocuous, like angry, you would not, you'd be like, Yeah, okay. But for some reason it hit me really hard. Like I was never angry or never allowed myself to feel hurt from everything that's happened. I was mostly trying to just suppress it or ignore it, or by disproving it, I don't have to face it.

Israel Caminero: 27:46

Right.

Javier Malave: 27:47

And by her telling me that, I said, you know what? You know, you're right. And uh I came home that day. I was in a very bad place. I did try to take my life not too long after I uh was back from the hospital. Uh I was admitted for about three days, you know, the normal three days for observation. And I got out of there. You know, you're uh by law, you have to be uh put with a social worker and a therapist. And I'm as a man Puerto Rican, Hispanic, you know, we don't talk to nobody. I ain't gonna talk to nobody about my emotions. There's no way. I don't talk to God. Do you think I'm gonna talk to somebody? No, it's not gonna happen. By by law, I had to go see them. Uh it was part of the being released. And to this day, I thank God for the therapist that I do have, Julie. Um, she's been my therapist now for over four years. By talking to her, I started to realize that I can talk to God the same way and be open with him that way. And I just said, you know what, God, I don't know what's going on. I'm and and I tell people, I talk to God like I'm talking to you right now. I tell God, listen, I'm angry, man. I don't understand, I don't know why. Uh obviously, God can answer me in ways that he wants to, but I have that relationship with my savior that I'm comfortable in talking to him in a way that I would talk to anybody else. Obviously, there's reverence, there's respect, there's no, you know, we're not in the hood, we don't talk that way. But there there is that father-son talk that I do have with him. I just decided, you know what, God, I'm just gonna give it to you. Listen, man. I'm angry. I don't know if this is ever gonna go away, whatever. And uh, I just rededicated everything back to God. I said, you know what? I'm not gonna try and disprove you now. Now you're gonna have to prove yourself to me. And you know the Bible says don't prove don't test your God or whatever. But I wasn't testing him to prove, I was testing him to prove himself to me, to show himself to me. Not to prove, because I know there's a God in it, but to show himself to me, if you understand what I'm saying. Yeah, I needed to know who he was. And if all these years of my life that I dedicated to him, or I've tried to anyway, because I have failed more than I have conquered, I needed to know him. I needed to know him again, brand new again. And um, I started the podcast Um The Crossroads of Thought, and it was a mix of just me talking about God, things on uh life things, situations, thoughts. I started going back to church, to my wife's church, Calvary Baptist Church, which I love highly now. God brought me into the space that we are now, which is podcasting and writing, and it's been a heck of an adventure.

Israel Caminero: 30:52

Amen.

Javier Malave: 30:53

As you know, doing a podcast is not sometimes it is fun in a way, but it also it also is taxing and a work and a job. If you're not if if it is not what God wants you, or if you know, I I believe that if God doesn't is not in the plans for you, then it's not gonna be, you're not gonna enjoy it. It's almost gonna be like a hard job, right? But when you know that God has put this in your heart and and you feel that it almost it's fun. It's it's wrong, it's long because as you know, you have to create, you know, I I write my scripts, I write everything, and and I and I imagine everything. So it's a lot of work. But it was almost every time I did that, I just got closer to God and closer to understanding who He was and understanding His Word, um, and started to critically think on His Word. And uh started to look at the verses and started to try to understand them in a way that is logical, not just because it's there. You know, I don't want to believe something just for the sake of believing it, I want to really understand it. And that's where the crossroads of thought became. Was did that for about a year, and I decided to write a devotional. So my first devotional was on the Book of Psalms. I did it out of nowhere, had no clue. Thank God for editing and certain software that you can use to make sure everything is uh sounds at least cohesive and and and you know, spellings and stuff. I decided to just keep doing, you know, doing that, and I've done a few devotionals for men, women, for children. They're all part of my ministry, which is now the Crossroads Collective Ministries. So I was doing that podcast for a while, and then to give you a little backstory, I'm a huge nerd. I love pop culture, I love fandom, I love comic books, I love anime, I enjoy it, I enjoy animation, I enjoy cartoons, movies, books. I I just enjoy that whole the art of it, the imagination of it. I always tell people the biggest artist and uh person with imagination is our God. I mean, look at this world. How could you not think he doesn't have an imagination with the world that he created? The things that he created, even us. Look at us, the intricacy that we are as human beings. How could he not be an artist? How could he not? How could he not direct where our heart how our heart beats, how where our blood flows? And it all runs in order. You know, so so I look at it as with people, when I say a comic book, I read it. Obviously, I I try to read it where it's not something that's gonna make me think wrong or whatever, but I look at the art, the storyline, the imagination. I mean, it's just amazing. The artistry. And so I love all that. And I started a podcast called the Faithful Geek Podcast, which I tried to combine my love of fandom and my love of faith, of Christianity and of Jesus and salvation and grace. So I had two podcasts going. I had the Crossroads of Thought and uh Faithful Geek. And as you know, having one is hard enough. I had two that I was trying to work out, and it just got too much. And I started realizing that both sort of meshed into each other. I decided, all right, let me just put them all together, and I created uh the Compass Chronicles, Faith, Fandom, and Life. So it's a mix of theology, uh critical thinking, fandom, uh life. So I try to put all that together and show uh how everything can lead to who God is, who our savior is on grace, on salvation. And uh so far it's been uh it's been fun, it's been interesting, uh, it's been rough. Uh there are days where I don't want to do this. Uh, but you know, you always think about if that one person needs to hear that, you know, as we say, we put that seed, God waters it.

Israel Caminero: 35:02

That's right.

Javier Malave: 35:03

So we never know that. Just to give an example, my daughter is not is not safe. She's an audio engineer, so you know, she studied for that. And and so I would send her the podcast to edit, you know, to ask her, you know, how does this sound? Or she would tell me, Oh, dad, your music's too loud or you're sounding too slow or whatever. Eventually she started asking me, Dad, when are you gonna release a new one? When you're gonna release a new one. She started enjoying them. And I said to my wife and I said to myself, and God, God, if it only means what she gets to know who you are, then my job is done. It's I'm okay. I'm good. As long as my children, I'm good. I'm good as long as they get to know you, that's it. So she listens to the podcast, and due to that, she now is part of a Christian prayer group that's part of the audio engineering school. So things like that make me want to say, you know, why should I stop? Because there could be that one person that can listen to maybe two minutes of it, or the end of it, or whatever, and decide, you know what, let me look into it. I just want people, my whole goal is to make people think and make people wonder, say, hmm, this guy this guy's saying sounds interesting. Let me look into it. Let me see what he's saying and let me prove to it. Let me look at it, let me read it. And if we can open their eyes and open their heart to who God is, who to our Savior is, then I'm good. You know what I mean? Then God will take care of the rest.

Israel Caminero: 36:28

That's right.

Javier Malave: 36:29

And I get blessed every time that I write a script and I learn more. And I and this itself, I never thought I'd be talking to people about my life, about things I do. Never. And uh I've met a lot of people in the podcast world, a lot of Christians that I have become so much friends, so much uh strength from everyone that's in this community. So so far, it's uh you know, we're up to our almost 70th episode. We're only about 14 downloads shy of a thousand downloads, which I never thought in my life I would ever get. I remember the first time we got like two downloads, I was the most excited man in the world. Uh you know, uh that's two people who listen to it.

Israel Caminero: 37:11

Right.

Javier Malave: 37:11

Two people who you know that God is real, and and no matter what the situation is, God will always be there. Uh, we may not understand him, we may not comprehend it, but our mind, our thoughts are not his thoughts.

Israel Caminero: 37:24

That's right.

Javier Malave: 37:25

Our mind is not his mind. And every and like he says, everything he does, he does for the good of us. Despite whatever happens, at the end of that, there is some sort of good that comes out of it. So my sickness, my disease got me to where I'm at now, where I am strong in my faith. I love my God with all my heart. I thank him every day that I get up and breathe. I thank him for my family, for the people that I've met, that I would never have met unless I was committed to him. You know, he put these people in my life, and he's given me the energy and the will to continue to do this. I tend to jump into a lot of different things when it comes to uh what I do. I'm always involved in something. So I decided to open up a merch store online. It's called Faithful Threads NYC. Uh, it's all based on fandom, but everything is Christ-based or Christian-based. So the designs are anime, but they have uh Bible verses or some sort of uh biblical thought behind them. So it I did that to attract the people that would most likely never go into a church.

Israel Caminero: 38:37

Yeah.

Javier Malave: 38:37

Like nerds. Like we would never go into a church unless we're visual people, right? We're visual, we need to touch. We need so for someone to go into a church, they need to be that that type needs to be motivated. So that's what I try to do. Be interested in saying, you know, oh man, he talked about uh this anime and he he saw the Christian part of it. How did he get to that? How did he see that? And if it makes them just look into a Bible verse a little more, then hey, God will do the rest, right? That's right. That's right. Just get them to open the word or get them to go online and Google something. Or even if they want to disprove what I'm saying, it still becomes a conversation. It still becomes an opportunity that God puts in your in front of you. Now, what you do with the opportunity, that's up to how you are with God, right? If you know that you're you're strong in your faith, yet, I mean, we're not here to win arguments. We're not here to disprove anyone, we're not here to bash anyone, we're here to show them love and show them understanding. But you all don't want to you also want to show them that you're knowledgeable and strong in your faith. And you're just not one to believe for the sake of believing.

Israel Caminero: 39:46

That's right.

Javier Malave: 39:46

We we know we have a foundation, and we want to show them that that foundation can't be deterred, it can't be taken down. And uh, but you show that with love and understanding, not capitulating or not. Changing your thoughts to make them comfortable. No, it's having a discussion that may be uncomfortable, but in a way that they'll understand that you're not telling them to hurt them. You're telling them because you love them and you want them to feel and understand what you have in your heart, this joy, this, you know, and and to let them know that, in all honest truth, being a Christian, no one says you're gonna have the best life. The Bible says it. My cross is heavy, but it won't kill you. My burden is heavy. We're not gonna be loved by everyone or anyone from this world. We're not, it's just simple as that. But that love that Christ has for us, that grace, that's suffice for every for everything. There is nothing else. You don't need anything else. I don't need the world's approval. I don't need someone's approval to understand how God loves me and cares for me and how he loves everybody, everyone in this world, and how he died for our. I mean, think about it. I always tell people, think about when do you ever think that you deserve someone to die for you? I I never thought any, I never think anyone should ever die for me. Ever. My wife, my children, no. Why? I don't deserve it. But the God of God's, the Lord of Lords, sent his son to die for me, me, me, just me. He directly just looked at me. No one else in this world, and he took that pain from me. How could I not honor that? It's like if anyone, a friend of mine, will take a gunshot from me, how could I not honor him? Right, God humbled himself, became human, suffered for something that he never did for my sin, and how am I not gonna honor that and respect that and love that? I just don't understand it. I don't get it because I look at it logically. I just I don't look at it emotionally. Sure, emotions have a lot to do with it, but I look at it logically. If someone does something for me, I'm going to care for them because I respect that they did something for me and I want to do something for them. So, God, the Lord of Lords, died for me, and all he wants for us is to love him and to just honor him. And he knows that we're gonna fail, he knows we're gonna mess up, he's not asking for perfection, he just wants us to be open and understand him and just get to know him. That's all he wants. Just get a relationship with him. He's not asking you to be the next Jimmy Swaggard or the next you know biggest preacher, or he just wants you to be with him, he just wants you to know him, and wherever he takes you, he's gonna take you. And if he if you now become the the biggest of anything, but know that you are in his hands, and at the end of all this, at the end of this race, you're gonna be like, it was all worth it, man. That's right. It's it's you know, it you you want to hear that, well done, my faithful servant. I don't want to be the one I never knew you. You know, I think that should put a lot of thought in people's heads, those words away from me. I never knew you. I think about that now, my hair stands up because I think about think are you willing to take that chance? Are you I mean, are you willing to gamble when it's there given to you? Like he picked, you know, I look at it as the lottery, right? But you have the numbers to win the lottery, but then you decide not to play the numbers, and then the numbers come up, but you have the number, but then you get mad because you didn't win. Think about it. God gave you the way to him, simple. Accept me as your Lord and Savior, understand that I love you, I care for you. I'm not asking you to be a theologian, I'm not asking you to be a pastor, a preacher. I'm just asking you to love me and understand me and take me in and take all of me. He doesn't want you to take part of him, he wants you to take all of him. He loved and I just jumped over, but like they say, he's the church is his wife, right? He's the we're the bridegroom. He wants to love us like we love our wives. Or we love he wants that love, that agape love. How could I not? The man took me out of death's door because I was dead, death's door, saved my marriage, saved all this. How can I not honor him in simple things? In simple, because it's not that difficult if you look at it. You just you you look at God, you you you read the word, even if it's five minutes, man. Open up your Bible, read the first verse that opens up. But that's the first thing in your head, right? The word of God. And then just say, God, listen, today I'm gonna leave it in your hands. Whatever may happen, the minute I walk out that door, I want you to give me peace, give me understanding. And if I get angry, let me understand why I'm angry, how to control my anger, how to deal with whatever is happening. And I think by just understanding that God is in control of that, things will start to get better. And that's when I realized that Stoicism and my my fellow and my Christianity, in a way, they did combine, but in a way they were totally opposite. Because Stoicism relies on our own selves, our own thoughts, our own control of our thoughts. And we know that we can't control our thoughts. It's just very difficult. Right, it's very difficult to control your emotions and your feelings, unless I say you're Spock from Star Trek, and you, you know, your emotions are all very logical and everything. No, God gave us these emotions. God gave us these feelings for a reason because he has them. He gets angry, he has love, he's jealous, he's he he gave us this. So why will we not be that way? You know what I mean? Why would we not have those? But he gives us the roadmap, which is the word of God, on how to deal with these emotions, how to deal with these issues in our lives. And when people say, Oh, the best self-hook book in the world is the word of God. The word of God. There's anything you have an issue about, somewhere in the word of God is gonna pop up. It's gonna pop up in a way that you didn't even think it would. Because I've read verses that I'm like, whoa, that just sort of talks about what I'm going through. But it's not about, it's not word by word, but it it makes you that verse made it realize that what I was thinking or going through, this is be taken care of. You know, that's the way I see it. I I see it as, you know, everybody wants to. I'm good. I was the biggest supporter of self-help information. You know, I read every book under the sun for self-help, every philosophy book, and I realized that it was all about self. And never about giving up self. And that's what the word of God showed me, is giving myself up to Him. That's right. And let Him direct everything. So far, that's where I am now, where God will take me tomorrow, an hour from now, I don't know, but I'm happy to go wherever He tells me to go. Or He whatever I need to do, I do. If one day He tells me, listen, we you the podcast isn't um, you know, something's not gonna work, or you need to go a different way, I'll pray, and then if that's the way, then it'll it'll work that way. You know, God opens doors and closes doors.

Israel Caminero: 47:44

He'll need you where he wants you to be.

Javier Malave: 47:46

Yeah, and he's one that will just he won't push you there, he'll just nudge you slowly. He'll direct you slowly. That's why he's the shepherd, right? With his staff, he just moves you. He just directs you to where you need to be. He doesn't push you because he doesn't want to be that God that just is one of those where people look at his angry God up on top and tell you, you need no, he nudges you. Nudges you. And if you move and you follow, trust me, man, you're gonna be on the right path. And I'm not saying that the world is gonna be great and your life is gonna be perfect, because man, God knows our lives can be a hot mess sometimes. But we have that foundation we can fall on, that's right, and we can trust on, and we can grab onto as a life life raft and know that we're not on our own. But yeah, that's uh a little bit about who I am and what I've been through. You know, you have any questions, you can ask me away.

Israel Caminero: 48:37

You know, I was just thinking, uh, you mentioned anime, and my son has been getting into anime lately. Okay, and he's been wanting me to watch anime with him. And I haven't watched anime in a long time since I was growing up. I mean, I I watched Robotech, Akira, and you know, Man with the Hair Fist, things like that back in the day.

Javier Malave: 49:00

Those are those are great. Yeah, those are great. And you know, I mean, obviously, in any genre, there's bad, obviously, right? The devil will disrupt. There are animes that I would never ever suggest anybody watch.

Israel Caminero: 49:15

Right.

Javier Malave: 49:15

But then there are some that have a little bit of the magic, almost a Lord of the Rings style or stuff like that, but have a message at the end about friendship, about struggle, about not giving up, about so those are the things that I try to bring into my podcast when I talk about anime, uh, like Naruto, about his struggles, about his the father not being around dealing with death of friends, or uh anime called Freerin. She's uh uh an elf that can live forever and doesn't understand the concept of time and loses friends and doesn't know to appreciate the people that are in your lives during that time. So I try to use that as knowing, you know, God puts people in your life, so appreciate it while they're in your life, you know, and things like that. So, but in anime and anything, in any genre, there's always horrible music and everything. But you feel, and if you, you know, that's why we're parents. We have to be digital, and if you think that it's not for him to watch, then yeah, you know, you have a right to tell him listen. There's an alternative to this.

Israel Caminero: 50:19

Well, that's what I was getting at is um I found these uh anime books that are Christian-based. It's called the manga.

Javier Malave: 50:32

Yeah, the manga. Yeah, well, I have I have a few uh I have a New Testament manga. I actually have the story of there actually is called the manga Bible. It's a Bible that's the whole Bible in manga style, which is the art and everything else. Yeah, which is really cool. Um there's a lot of comic books now that a lot of Christian artists are out there doing really well.

Israel Caminero: 50:56

I also got him a Bible, a Bible called the Action Bible.

Javier Malave: 51:01

Yes, oh my goodness, you brought back memories. So my kids uh that was one of the first things I uh I gave him was uh you know a comic book-based Bible because kids obviously colors and they read them, but there's a lot of stuff out there.

Israel Caminero: 51:15

He's been reading it. He's been reading, you know, like all of it. Like he takes it in the car with him to read it, and this is awesome. This is a thick Bible, you know, a thick cut book. It's basically the whole Bible, but in comic form. Yeah. And you know, he he's been reading it and enjoying it, and I'm like, praise God.

Javier Malave: 51:33

Every little, yeah, and every little like the Bible says, you know, teach him in the ways, and they and they'll come and they won't forget. Every little word, it's every little thing he reads is ingrained in his soul, in his heart. So it will come to him when he gets older. Trust me, God will start to use those things. You know, we we may think of them now that the children are all they're not nah. God puts that in their heart and he keeps it right there. He puts it, he stores it in there in their heart. So when they get older and they're about to go through something, that what they read as children will come up. It's just a fact. It's a fact. Um and praise God for that because I obviously I wish I could have raised my children a little more church-wise. I was very uh open to a lot of things with church. I wasn't very strict in that way. Parents that, you know, even if you take your kid, buy them a comic book that's anything. They have a lot of online, they have a lot of uh web-based comics that you can uh show your kids. There's stuff on YouTube, Christian anime, there's Christian superheroes. Because I think about the old school comics or cartoons, right? Uh Scooby-Doo and uh Flintstones and all these. They always have some moral uh storyline in between them. Don't hurt your brother, don't rob, don't steal, don't do this. That that's been lost obviously now uh through animation. It's become more of uh making kids grow up very, very fast. Back then we knew that you, you know, you you don't hit somebody, or you don't, you know, we knew that these were cartoons that they bounced back up. They did they fell off a cliff, but they would, if a real person did it, you know, they wouldn't survive. We knew that. And then they started creating all these uh new animations where you know they just didn't they looked at it where they made it so real that uh I think it it sort of shocked a lot of people and how these animations have come out because I have to say some of these animations are like whoa, they're worse than movies, right? They they can get they can get really extreme. And those are the ones that I will watch because I'm just a fan of DC and Marvel and stuff. But for children, children, I think there's a certain age where they could start to watch that stuff. But you I I recommend that you be with them and or at least show them what you're watching and let them. I'm not telling people to be oh my god, be on top, but be weary of what they're watching. Try to know what they're watching, just don't let them get on and watch an anime. You know, figure it out, read it, what it's about. Uh watch an episode before you allow them to watch it so that you know what they're about to. Go into two or three episodes because sometimes uh anime can get really nice and cute in the beginning, but looks like it's really dark in the middle.

Israel Caminero: 54:28

Yeah.

Javier Malave: 54:29

Um, they do that. You know, it's it's like the Bible says, we have to be sharp, we have to be smart, we have to be, you know, we have to ask questions. You know, that's one thing I tell people. Yeah, don't be afraid to ask questions. God gave us a brain for a reason. He gave us logic for a reason because he wants us to understand it. So if you don't ask or try to figure it out, then you're the one that's losing. Because without asking, don't be afraid. I technically do not believe there's any wrong question when it comes to Christianity or faith. There could be weird questions, but not wrong questions, if you understand what I'm saying.

Israel Caminero: 55:11

Absolutely.

Javier Malave: 55:12

Um, there's there's weird questions because people can ask the weirdest stuff, but where they're coming from is not a bad place per se. Not everyone that asks your question is coming from a good place. You know, and that's what I try to you know understand. There's nothing wrong with civil discourse. There's nothing wrong with us disagreeing. There's nothing with us. If you never want to talk to me again, then that's fine. I love you. I'll pray for you. I pray that our paths cross again. I pray that God touches you. But there are people that we're never ever gonna talk to again, we're never gonna meet again, or we're never gonna be friends with or have a relationship with after even having a conversation with them. That's just the way it is. But that seed is planted. And the seed is planted in you to understand where that person is coming from. So when the next time you have a conversation with someone from that coming from that side, you know how to deal with that. You sort of have an idea of how to talk. Because if you don't talk to anyone or have a discussion, how are you gonna talk about Christ? How are you gonna talk about salvation if you can't have a civil conversation with someone? It's not about beating them to death, it's not about winning the argument. It's about letting them know where you come from and understanding that where you're at is a really good place, and you would love for them to be with you. That's all. I would love for you to join me where I'm at right now so that you can understand the joy that I have in knowing that where where my salvation and my faith is and my trust is.

Israel Caminero: 56:44

That's right. I love your insight on everything. And as we come to a close, you know, I wish we could talk more, but time is limited.

Javier Malave: 56:54

I told you. I you gotta reel me in because I can keep talking forever.

Israel Caminero: 56:59

Um no, but I love it. You know, I love your insight on everything and and what you shared as far as your testimony and leaving the church and the disease that you battle and how God reeled you back in and everything. And that's just to show that you know our God never leaves or forsake us.

Javier Malave: 57:15

Like, amen never.

Israel Caminero: 57:16

And all the the books and the store that you mentioned, I'll have links to all that in the description of this podcast. If anybody wants to go check it out, I have links to his his podcast on here too. And you know, before we close, I I always ask my guests two questions. And I'll and I'll start with the first one, which is do you have a life verse that stuck with you throughout your life, or even when you're having a bad day that you could always go back and read? And what what that verse is and what does it mean to you, Javier?

Javier Malave: 57:51

I have so many. I'm a big Proverbs and uh Psalms fan. I just I think I don't have a specific I have a specific books. I don't have verses per se because I think the Bible is all beautiful, it's the best poetry in the world. But uh the book of Psalms and the Book of Proverbs, things in there I've read that have changed my life and my thoughts. Obviously, the famous, you know, uh, do I walk through the valley of the shadow of death? I've been there. I've walked through that valley. I've I've been through the lowest of low. And I know that he's never left me. He's always been there. And despite that, we may think he has, he's not. He's just there. He's a gentleman. He will come to you when you come to him, and he will open doors for you to come to him. And he and you will, and he will. And that's the way I see that, how it touches me, is those two books. I just they're they're my my compass. No pun intended, but that's my compass, you know.

Israel Caminero: 58:54

Amen. That's that's fine. You know, that everyone has a different answer. That's why you know I always ask these questions, and I love to hear everyone out, you know, everyone's answer. And no one's had the same answer, just like no one's had the same testimony. You know, right, right, right. So now I'm going to my back to the past section of the podcast. And what my back to the past section is, if the Javier of today can go back in time and talk to the younger Javier and let him know the things he knows of today, what would you say to him and why?

Javier Malave: 59:26

Stay in church. Stay with your friends, stay connected to the people that were in church with you in the beginning. I should have, I wish I would have stayed in contact with people that were part of my youth in church wise. When I first started, I would tell myself to enjoy every friendship and every connection you've had when it came to Christ. Take those in because they've all been a blessing, and I wish I would have kept a lot of them back then that I know now that I wish I would have appreciated. And that's what I try to. Always uh appreciate when there's people in your lives that God puts in your life. Even if it's for a day, for a week, an hour. But they they were there for your life. They were put there and take it in, keep it, store it, and enjoy it, you know.

Israel Caminero: 1:00:17

That's right. That's right. God places people in our lives to to plant seeds, to be honest with you.

Javier Malave: 1:00:23

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And even even to rewater us. Yeah. Even to fill our cups. Because we can run dry. You know, we can run to the point where we can't, you know, drink anymore and we're we're thirsty. And God will put somebody in our lives that just fills our cup with his knowledge and his love. Again, I want to thank you for having me on. I appreciate it. Uh, everyone can reach me. Uh, you'll have the links on your show. I'm always available. My website, I have all the resources there. Everything is free. I don't charge anything. Uh, whatever is donated goes to the uh New York School of the Bible, which is a college that my church runs, uh, where we teach ministers and we teach uh people the word of God. And so everything goes to that to support the school. I don't keep anything for myself. Uh I don't think I don't I don't believe in charging my stuff for if it's gonna spread the word of God.

Israel Caminero: 1:01:21

That's good.

Javier Malave: 1:01:21

His his salvation is free, so why would I charge? That's the way I see it.

Israel Caminero: 1:01:26

Uh like I said, I'll have links to all that in the description of this podcast, and I hope some of the listeners that are listening right go and support this guy. You know, I mean he's giving this stuff out for free and supporting a mission. So I hope that the people listening go and support you. You know, before we close out, can you pray over us?

Javier Malave: 1:01:47

Sure, absolutely. Alrighty, Lord Father, we come into your presence right now, God, humble and honest, Lord. We love you, we adore you, and we thank you for your grace and your salvation. Lord, we pray for everyone that's listening, and for us, Lord, that through our words, through the airwaves, they hear you, Lord, and they understand you and they know that you love them and the sacrifice that your son made for us, so that we can be in your presence for eternity. I want people to understand that. I want us, Lord, that you bless each and everyone that's in this field, in the podcast world, in the literature and writing, sharing your word, that you bless them and that your word goes all across the world, Lord, and and that everyone gets touched and knows the joy of salvation, the joy of grace. And I pray for both of us, and I pray for my brother's family, for his podcast, that it grows, that he shares the word, that he feels safe and humble and and just satisfied in you, my Lord, and that you continue to bless him. And we ask for everyone to just understand that God loves you, Jesus loves you, he's your savior, your salvation. And I ask all this in your son's precious name. Amen.

Israel Caminero: 1:03:06

Amen. Amen. Thank you for that prayer. And once again, thank you for taking the time to be on the podcast and share your testimony.

Javier Malave: 1:03:14

For sure. All righty, brother.

Israel Caminero: 1:03:16

It's your story, his glory.

Javier Malave: 1:03:18

Thank you, Lord.

Israel Caminero: 1:03:19

And you know, I I just want to give a shout out to podcast supporters that have been following me since day one. Thank you. My biggest support team is God, of course, but my second support team is all the following that I've gotten because of God. And I just want to thank you for the encouragement. Because like Javier was saying earlier, you know, sometimes we don't want to do this, but we're doing it for a bigger purpose. We're doing it for just that one person to get saved, for that one person to hear it and want to know more about God and Jesus. Until next time, I just want to say God bless you and blessings to you.