Interview with Lawson Walters - 2307

[00:00:25] Speaker A: Worthy revelation twelve, verse eleven. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by, the Word of Their Testimony lives to the death. Welcome to by the word of their testimony, and here is your host, Kaysie Vokurka. Hello and welcome to the program. So glad that you could join us today. And today we have a special guest here in the studio, Lawson Walters. Thank you so much for joining us today for by the Word of Their Testimony. [00:01:04] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you for having me. Really stoked to be here. Really grateful to be invited to be part of three ABN and the ministry that's happening here and reaching people in Australia through radio. It's amazing. It's something I'm passionate about, which we'll get into a little bit. Yeah, absolutely stoked to be here. [00:01:20] Speaker A: So good. Yeah, so good to have you as well. And you're not really a stranger to radio, are you? [00:01:24] Speaker B: No, I wear a few different hats in my life right now in the work that I'm doing, but one of those is radio in the Christian space through Faith FM. [00:01:36] Speaker A: So nice. [00:01:37] Speaker B: I'm part of the breakfast show there, speaking on the Breakfast Show. I've been on and off with Faith FM, starting with Fill in work and into a full time position since 2018, but yeah, since 2021, kind of coming out of COVID and yeah, that's when I picked up a full time position there. And every morning, Monday to Friday, seven till 09:00 A.m., preaching the gospel and sharing about the things that are happening in our world. So really stoked to be here with three ABN and happy to continue it. [00:02:07] Speaker A: That's nice. We're so glad to have you. And I'm curious, where are you from? Are you local around? [00:02:12] Speaker B: I am a Novocastrian. [00:02:15] Speaker A: Oh, explain to us what a Novocastrian? [00:02:17] Speaker B: So that's the Latin word that means nova. New castrian castle. I'm from Newcastle. I was born in the John Hunter hospital. I am a proud Novocastrian. So my dad and his family, he has nine brothers and sisters from the Newcastle area. Very proud. Like, my dad especially is very patriotic and then he's kind of bred that know, me and my yeah, Newcastle. Growing up in Lake Macquarie as well. Growing up in the various I've lived on every side of Newcastle. I lived down in the lake. I've lived in the city. I lived out in the Hunter Valley region and I lived plenty of other places too. But really, my heart beats for, like I love it. And, yeah, we're just up the road here in Morissette or down the road towards yeah, and we're very close to where I currently reside, which is the Watson Hall dorms of university. [00:03:15] Speaker A: Ah, so you're studying then at the moment, are you? [00:03:17] Speaker B: I am studying as well, so that's another one of my hats. I'm working in radio and then currently I am studying my degree in ministry and theology. So I'm a couple of years through that and looking to get out the other side eventually, but, yeah, getting it done. [00:03:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Good on you. And that's a nice variety of things to be involved with at the same time. Probably complements each other, too. [00:03:37] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, my studies has come as a result of fair few years working in ministry, and it was like, okay, this is the next step. It was really confirmed for me that my work in ministry isn't just maybe as a layperson, but more a full time calling that God has given me. And of course, yeah, we'll get into it, we'll talk about the journey there, but definitely that step to go into study, because I don't really have an academic background. So that step to go into study was a confirmation that, hey, God, you have called me into a life of service in full time ministry. And so getting to do radio at the same time as I'm studying, it's a huge blessing, that is, isn't? [00:04:26] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Okay, so let's let's go back. So you're born and bred in Newcastle. Tell us, were you brought up in, like, a Christian home or something? What was your upbringing like? [00:04:35] Speaker B: Yeah, so I've been working for the church since I was 18. I've been working in some kind of ministry capacity and I think a lot of people see that and assume, especially when I started working in the church, they're like, oh, this guy must come from a real Christian family. This guy, he must come from a real Christian background and from that kind of background. But my family is not Christian at all. No religious. Very, very secular. My mum. So my mum comes from a nominally catholic family down in Victoria, but for her, she went to church up until she was 13 in the Catholic church, and again, every so often, very nominally. And then at the age of 13, no longer my father, as I said, nine brothers and sisters, he's one of ten and his dad. So he was born quite late on because of the scope of having many children. And his father was serving in World War II as a commander, as a double diamond commando, and he came out of that and was one of the rare atheists in Australia at that time. So he actually grew up in a Catholic orphanage. My grandfather on my dad's side went World War II, came out of World War II, and, yeah, came out of that situation, out of that experience, and was just adamant about secularism and atheism and imparted that to my dad and his generation. At a time in which, in the 1960s, you have over half of Australians attending church every week, and my grandfather was again one of those rare atheists. And so that was when I was born. It's my mom coming from a distant, nominal Catholic background, my dad coming from an atheist background. And I'm kind of in that situation of no real faith at all, just secularism, just life, the Australian life, living on the lake and going to school and a few other key elements that kind of defined my life growing up. But religion definitely wasn't one of them. [00:06:39] Speaker A: It wasn't one of them, so it wasn't part of it at all. And you had other interests you were focused on whatever hobbies and interests you were doing? [00:06:47] Speaker B: Yes. So I come from a family and this was really modeled by my dad. My dad is an incredibly motivated person. He was for a long time a business owner, built up his own business now working as a subcontractor project manager in the construction space and getting paid very well to build all kinds of structures for mines and train stations for the government and all these kinds of things. But he modeled to me and my three sisters this very motivated mindset, this, hey, life is you get out what you put in. Money is comfort. And so if you work hard, you can experience comfort and enjoy these kinds of things. And that manifested in different ways throughout our lives growing up. So in schools, all of my sisters were very academically bright in school, to some extent, I would say the smartest of which was my second oldest sister, Maddie. She was like ducks of school for a couple years. But all of my sisters, very successful in school and also very successful in some kind of sporting endeavor. And growing up in Lake Macquarie especially, all revolving around water sports for those guys. So my older sister, Haley, she was a national level sailor. My second oldest sister, Maddie, she was a very competent swimmer and would make it to regionals and further on and even, I believe, maybe to state or just very high would be winning school championships and that kind of thing. And then my youngest sister, Shelby, my little sister, she was a national level rower. So she was rowing and know, traveling down to Sydney and going to the rowing sheds every morning to go and row. And so for those, yeah, they had modeled that determination that my dad had set out that drive and that goal to win. And then for me, that kind of manifested in my life as something a little bit different to water sports. So we had a four acre block and it went onto the lake in Rathmins in Lake Macquarie there. And so at the front is the lake, and that's the sailing boats and the swimming and all that stuff. And then at the back, we had four acres, and that four acres was occupied by motorbike tracks, and that very quickly became the interest of my life. I was three years old, we had a little peewee 50 and just started spinning laps around the backyard and I just became infatuated with motorbikes. I was just like this is so cool. This is so fun. From three to about six, it was just like my weekend hobby would start up the bikes, and me and my sisters and my dad would just do laps around the backyard or go up the bush or whatever it may be. And then, yeah, when I was six, I was in kindergarten one day, and this kid rocked up to school with a trophy, little motorbike statue, little motorbike figurine on the top. He had won it at a motorbike race, and I saw that and I was like, wait a second, the stars kind of aligned. It was like, okay, so my hobby that I really enjoy, motorbike racing, and then competition, something you can win at, and kind of came together. I'm like, you can race motorbikes. And then that started from there. Yeah. This passion that would go on to define most of my childhood and teen years, which was motorbike racing. [00:10:13] Speaker A: And so you spent a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of energy, every spare moment into doing that. [00:10:18] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right. When I started going to the track, I was like, so slow. I was by no means an immediate natural talent, plotting around the track nice and slow. And I loved it, though. And we would come back from the track and my parents would stand outside of the door and listen to me in bed making motorbike noises and stuff. We've gone and ridden all day at the track, and then I'm like, laying in bed, it's like the sun's gone down, it's time to go to bed. And I'm just like making motorbike noises, just obsessed. I just loved it so much. And again, I started my first years, like six and seven, I was like six, I was getting lapped every race. Seven, I was at the back of the pack. Eight years old, I was kind of back to mid pack. Nine years old, I was hanging around that mid pack and then started to participate in more high level competitions outside of the club level, so going to open meetings and state level meetings, that kind of thing, but still back to mid pack. And then the year that I was ten, turning eleven, so that was 2009, I was a year five student. I rocked up at the track for the first meeting of the year. Over that summer, I just did lots of writing and something just clicked. It was just like something just clicked and came together. And I kind of understood what I needed to do to be able to win some few things with technique, kids just take developmental leaps at certain stages. And that for me, that nine to ten year 2009. I was born in 98, so ten to eleven year. And I rock up to the track for the first club meeting of the year and I go out and I win the first race. And I was up at the club at Curry curry, which is a very, very strong club, and very famous names come out of it, like Chad Reed and Katie Stoner, like the three ABN, Australia motorcycle racing. And I rock up and I won. And my first race, and it's club level, but I'm like cross the line, I'm like fist pumping and everything. And I think the rest of the day I was just so pleased with that, that I kind of settled for. I got some thirds and stuff, but even just running at the front like that, I'm like, where did this come from? My dad was very surprised and it was like, wow, this is really out of the blue. And then I started to win pretty much everything at a club level. I just started to win most of my races and then took a step to the More Regional, what they call an open meeting, which is like other clubs come around from all different regions and even interstate, and I was winning at that level. And then I had gone to the New South Wales State Championships that year, and I'd come second, which was huge for me. I went down to the Victorian State Championships that year to go and compete in that. They kind of let you go and compete in other state championships, and I got second down there as well. And then at the end of that year, they had the Australian Championships in Canberra and I won. And at the age of, I believe I was either nine or ten, my birthday is in October, but right towards the end of the year, at the age of ten years old, I was Australian Champion for motorbike racing. All of a sudden, this step of, wait, I'm one of the top guys in Oz for my age group. When you're that age, throughout the junior classes, it's like nine to 1111 to 1313 to 16, that kind of thing. And yeah, in that nine to eleven age bracket, beginning there, I was one of the top guys. And then throughout the next years, so from 2009 to 2014, 2013, I was a six time national champion. So in each different level that I stepped into, I would win a national championship. And even the last year of those championships in 2013. So I started racing dirt bikes. That was like what I started with. And then I transitioned into racing road bikes. There was one point where I was racing a number of different motorbike disciplines at the same time and doing well in all of them. When I was 13, I went overseas for the first time. They have this invitational world Championship under 16s. World Championship? I went over there and I think 42 qualified from around the world. And I came like 25th, which was good for me. At that age, I was 13, racing under 16, so it was good. But the last year I was here in australia. I was 14. And I won the under 16s Australian championship. And then I received a dispensation to race in the Open Championship. So after 16, it's like just open category, so anyone can race. And that's like the pro category. And I ended up winning that, too. And so, at 14, for the class of bike that I was racing, I was the outright Australian Champion. And the decision was made from there to basically try and make it my life and move overseas and make a career of it. [00:15:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so you're going to go professional and where did that lead you from there? [00:15:41] Speaker B: Yeah, so the step essentially, from there, from winning the Australian Championship was to go into the under 21s World Championship, which is hosted in Europe. So it races in a couple of different countries in Europe, predominantly Spain, but also France and Portugal as well, and basically represents pretty much most of Europe in the, you know, riders coming over from the States from Asia, me from Australia, and then the Europeans as well. So I moved to Spain, I moved to Madrid. I lived in a suburb called Arroyo Molinos. And that was the first year I was there racing. And again, as I was a 15 year old at the time, 1516, I had initially moved over there. My mum came with me and we were there together. And of course, I'm 15, can't drive, can't book, hotel, can't do anything like that. And so that first year that I was there, I didn't do all the races. I did most of them. I had a pretty difficult year. It was a huge adjustment. And, yeah, some difficulties with the bikes and the teams. And even the other thing was just me being starstruck, like racing on the tracks that you watch on TV, and especially because at that level. So the next step from there is, like the full World Championship, the Open World Championship, but the MotoGP and all of the teams that were in the Junior World Championship, the under 21 World Championship, they're all the same teams, the same spec of bikes, and the caliber of riders as well is just so incredibly high. And so, yeah, I've come over. It was a huge step, even coming from being at top of the national level here in Australia. Motorbike racing is one of those sports where there isn't like a huge government push for know, like a soccer or a rowing or a know, those sports that we do well in the Olympics. So a lot of it is just doing it on your own. And over there, it's kind of the opposite situation. Like, motorcycle racing, particularly in Spain, is almost a school sport there. And so they have government programs, they have all these things and academies and all this stuff. It's a huge step in the level of competition there. So I very much stepped from the top of Australia to the bottom of Europe. Yeah, but that being said, that's what I was there for and I spent two years over there. So the first year, 2014, living in Madrid. Second year, I moved to a town called Carthena, which is in the southern region of Spain, still on the Mediterranean side there, and like a beautiful area of the world, essentially. I actually see it as like the Newcastle of Spain. It's not a capital city, but it's still a decently sized city and just beautiful, like on the coast. One of the most beautiful town centers you'll ever see. Like big square with marble floors and medieval buildings and all these things, like just an amazing place. And I was living there because the team that I raced for in 2015 was living there as well. I was living in an apartment there and just interacting with the team, who are all locals now, showing me all the best spots to go and the places to hang out. That being said, it was also like the life of a motorbike racer, especially for me when you get to that level of professional and aspiring professional. It's twenty four seven. I had basically left school after Year nine when I moved over there, I did my Year nine, that was 2013 here in Australia, and I missed so much school, and somehow I missed so much school that I didn't have the hour requirements in year nine to complete the grade. But I showed up on the day of the exams, passed all my exams after like five weeks not being at school too, because I think those weeks I'd been like in Victoria for three weekends in Northern Territory in Sydney, passed all my exams. And then in a situation like that, it goes to the principal for review and the principal of the school that I was going to, hunter Christian School here in Newcastle. So I did have some Christian exposure, by the way. I did go to Christian school, but that was as far as it went. But the principal of the school actually would come and watch me race motorbikes. He was like a fan, and so he just signed me off. He's like, yeah, Lawson can go through. And from that point there, going over to Spain and having a contract to race over there, I was like, okay, I'm done with school. And the second year I was there, not being in school and whatnot, it's 24/7. Practice, practice, practice, practice, training, exercise, diet. It is your life. My basic schedule would be I'd wake up and go for eight to ten K, run something like this, like some kind of warm up run, and then come home, eat breakfast, jump on a bicycle. And I would do cross country mountain biking, so riding on roads and on hills and on tracks and whatnot, and go out for a good couple of hours. Good two and a half hours. So doing anywhere between 40 to 60, 70, something like that on the cross country mountain bike coming home after that, having Siesta living in Spain, having an afternoon nap and then either as it's getting into nighttime, either going out and riding at the local track where they had a light system and everything. So we'd go out and ride or go to the gym. Yeah, that was our real boot camp schedule coming into the season and coming off a summer break. That was the real hard yards we're putting in. Once we're in the season, it's a little bit more maintenance, but that running, cycling, and also the strength exercise as well, was just huge for us. And it was basically the standard. It was like, if you want to be at the top level of motorcycle racing, this is what you have to do, this is what you need to do. Maybe you're listening this morning or this afternoon, whenever you're listening to this interview and you're thinking, why is there such a pressure on physical fitness? And motorcycle racing is a sport that has three elements to it. So firstly, the physical element, which is very reminiscent of just sport in general, like when you watch Usain Bolt run the 100 meters, or Elliot Kipchoge run the 42 KS, your physical fitness and performance to be able to do that. So when you're on a motorcycle, the motorbikes that I was riding, the Moto Three S, the 250 CC bikes, they had a top speed of 200 and 4250 kilometers an hour. They weighed around 85 kilos. And so you're going from corner to corner, knee to knee, elbow to elbow, like throwing this thing around for 40 to 50 minutes in sweltering heat in full gear. And so to be able to do that, to have the flexibility and the strength, and then, furthermore, the next step, which is the second aspect of it, the concentration, to keep your technique, was that physical fitness was so key. So you've got that physical aspect, then you've got the technique aspect of your concentration, your racing, your racecraft, hitting your points, racing the other guys, racing in close quarters, making passes, going for the win, like these kinds of things, which is very reminiscent of a rugby and a soccer and those kinds of things. And then the third aspect of motorcycle racing, which is very unique, is then the working with the bike itself and developing the motorcycle. And very much as a rider, being an engineer and working with your engineers and your technicians and whatnot to make the best motorcycle you can make the best adjustments to the motorcycle in order to go as fast as possible. [00:23:54] Speaker A: And this is so that it's especially working with you and that's right. Particular style of riding. [00:23:58] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right. And there are just limitless amounts of adjustments and telemetry as well. So you'd come in off a session and you would have a technician, a computer technician, who would plug into the bike, as well as the mechanics and everyone working on the mechanical aspects of the bike. But a computer technician would plug in and download the data and would be able to see just literally everything you're doing, how much throttle, how much brake, like, front and rear brake suspension usage, front wheel speed, rear wheel speed, the engine, how it's mapping, how it's working. And then even in some cases, they'd be able to look at foot peg pressure, so how much weight you're putting on the foot pegs and how that's affecting the geometry of the bike and the flex of the chassis. It was just endlessly tunable, endlessly researchable that you would just be working to, hey, how can we adjust the bike to make it absolutely perfect to get around the track? And every single time you come to a track, it's different tracks, different conditions every time. Even if you're going to the same track and you're trying to work out, okay, what adjustments do we need to make to perfectly balance the bike for the situation that we're in, which then kind of works back into itself, which, if the bike is perfectly balanced, then it makes it easier to race the other guys. And if it's easier to race the other guys, then it's easier on your physical fitness as well. So it's a really all encompassing, holistic, challenging sport. And, yeah, that was the life. That was the focus. That's what we were into. It really does become your life. The second year I was there, I spent a little bit more time by myself. I was living mostly there with my sister. She'd come over particularly during the race weekends, and then she would be there for a lot of time outside of that, too, but especially during the race weekends. Again, I couldn't drive a car. I couldn't book a hotel. And so she would be looking after me, helping with my diet and everything, like, really working as an assistant and a manager for me. And, yeah, just all hands on deck, focused on this goal of reaching a motorcycle career, a professional career, and the level that I got to in the Junior World Championship. So it kind of works like if you know basketball or basically like amateur and professional sports. So basketball is a good example because you have the NBA, it's like the top of the top. Those guys are earning millions of dollars. And whatever it may be. Then under that, like the feeder series into that, you've got the two main ones, the G League and the NCAA. The NCAA is like the college basketball. And it's if you can be playing in the NCAA, scoring a good amount of points and say, take your team to the top four in the national championship, if you can go off at that level, on that level of the stage, people see that. And those are the kinds of caliber of players who then get signed into the NBA and for the Junior World Championship. If you could be consistently in the top ten, and then, furthermore, making some podiums or some wins, that was the caliber to then take that step into the official World Championship, which was then when the money started coming in. [00:27:25] Speaker A: And so how did you go with, like, did you get right to that point? [00:27:29] Speaker B: So my first year I was there, I was hanging around outside the top 20. My second year I was there, I had scored some points, so I'd gotten into the top 15, but had some struggles, had some difficulties. In fact, the second year especially, I had a number of key mechanical failures, a fair few to the point where actually the team started calling my bike the Demon Bike because it just had lots of random stuff happen. And whenever that kind of thing happens, you end up on the back foot. And especially for me, again, being a foreigner coming from the outside into Europe, I needed as much track time as possible. And when I was able to get that track time, and when the conditions were favorable to me, I'd be able to shine. And there were some times, particularly for some reason, australians have a really high ability in wet weather riding. So when it rains in road racing, you put on special tires, and the pace slows down quite a lot, and it's a lot more slippery. And I think a lot of Australian riders have a background in dirt bike racing, and especially for me, growing up, racing dirt bikes and speedway. And so I remember a qualifying session where I was up in the top ten racing with the top guys, and my team was like, whoa, okay, I had a moment to shine. But outside of that, I felt I was always on the back foot a little bit because of mechanical failures and things like that. But I was still young by the end of my second year, I'd turned 17. Again, the championship is under 20 once, so I've still got four years at least, like, well, at the most four years in the under 20 ones in that class and category to try and take that step. And going into the next year, in 2016, at the very end of 2015, I got to test for a team that had a pretty decent level bike. It was definitely a step up from the machinery that I was on. And at this test session, there was some really fast riders there, and I tucked in behind them and started to do some lap times that would put me up into the top ten in the Junior World Championship, if not a lap timer. If I could pair them to the first race in the next year at the same track, they're potentially even the top five, like in the battle for the win, almost, which was again, I was. Barely getting the top 15. And then it was like, I got to ride on this decent machinery. And I was like, okay, next step. It's like, wow, this is a step that I could take now. I had that potential and I saw that going into the next year, in 2016 to go and to race and to take that step into that next level and hit that next threshold and, hey, this could be me, this could be my future. And it was at that time where my life very much changed dramatically and I didn't end up going down that path for a number of different reasons. But yeah, my motorcycle career very much abruptly ended. [00:30:41] Speaker A: Wow. And so what was going on with this abrupt change? Because obviously we've got this whole history. [00:30:47] Speaker B: Of you being history, this on the. [00:30:49] Speaker A: Brink of success, about to become an elite world champion, well, hopefully on motor racing. And then suddenly there's an abrupt change and now like, we know what you're doing now. You're starting to be a pastor. You've been in a church. Where's the connection? What has happened here? [00:31:05] Speaker B: So I, at the end of 2015, come home to Australia because it's the winter break for Europe. There's no racing there. I basically skipped winter for a couple of years because whenever I'd go winter in one continent, I would go to the other hemisphere. I come home to Australia. And over that year that I was away in Spain, that 2015 year, my parents had split up. [00:31:30] Speaker A: Oh, wow. [00:31:31] Speaker B: And that very much came from struggles in their relationship. And one of those key struggles was a struggle with their business. My dad owned a kind of construction, metal manufacturing business and they had done a job and had some contract disputes and got shortchanged some money and a difficult time in the market. And ultimately that culminated into bankruptcy and a bankruptcy that was very harsh and that caused us to lose everything, to lose our house, to lose the business and the workshop and everything that was attached to that. And for my dad, the situation for him, from being a very successful, determined businessman, as I talked about before, to all of a sudden losing everything, living in a car, my mum, living in a single bedroom apartment with my little sister while she finished out school. My two older sisters, they were into their careers at that time, but there's a very much fractures and divides in my family. And then there was me and that time this bankruptcy had taken place. And there was a couple of other financial situations that had happened that had led to getting to the beginning of 2016 and not having a ride lined up for that year and not having the potential to do anything that year because of just how it had unfolded. Especially then ending up in a situation where, yeah, my family's gone bankrupt and not really having anything to fall back on it. All of a sudden, everything had just fallen apart. Yeah, everything had fallen apart. Everything had come to a halt and my future career as a motorbike racer was very much in question whether it would unfold and whether it would happen. But, yeah, particularly with my family circumstances. And for me, where that left me is either staying with my dad and I remember early that year, our house was being liquidated and dad was like, oh, we got to try and get as much money as possible. So helping my dad do, like, renovations of the house as the bank is trying to take it and sell it off, but then just having nothing to do and no prospects going forward. I'd been out of school for a couple of years by that time and, yeah, all of a sudden, motorbike race thing was off the table. And though, that being said, again, having modeled by my family, this determination, I was like, okay, I'm not going to be a failure, though. I'm not going to be a failure, I'm going to go do something with my life. And so I went to TAFE and I started a cert three. I went to TAFE for, like, eight weeks and I was doing a cert three in it. And after eight weeks, they had, like, a little break and they're like, okay, Lawson, you need to pay your fee to come to Taylor. It's like $1,700, $2,000. And I had asked Centrelink to give me the money to be able to pay to go to TAFE and they denied me because my parents had too many assets in their name. But all those assets are being liquidated and we've got nothing. Our financial situation is incredibly bleak. And so I couldn't even go to TAFE. And where that left me was in this real place of my family, the love of my family, the stability of my family has really fallen apart. My goals and aspirations that I've put all my eggs into this basket of being a motorbike rider, that's fallen apart, and I don't really see another option going forward. In a real sense, in a real special sense, there are plenty of things that I can go and do. I look at it retrospectively. I'm like, oh, there's plenty of things that I probably could have gone and done in terms of working some kind of just average menial job. But I had these aspirations and all of a sudden, it's like this huge weight came onto me of like, you have failed. Like, you set out to do this thing and you have completely and absolutely failed, and that is going to stick with you for the rest of your life, that you were never good enough and you will never be good enough. [00:36:07] Speaker A: Wow. [00:36:08] Speaker B: And that fell on me. [00:36:10] Speaker A: That would be very heavy. Yeah. [00:36:12] Speaker B: And I started to really go down this path of struggling with depression. I had already been struggling with self harm. When I was living in Spain, I really struggled with the pressure over there. My family never put a lot of pressure on me, which was, like, fantastic, because I used to put so much pressure on myself, and my dad would actually diffuse a lot of the pressure I put on myself and kind of get me into a space where I was relaxed. And then I would do well living over in Know, racing for the team and everything. So much pressure and spending a lot of time by myself and quite isolated as well. I started struggling with self harm over there and then coming back to Australia and then everything that we're going through struggling with self harm, and then alcoholism and depression. And then eventually, yeah, around April time, I had attempted and it was a very, again, rock bottom in my life, very heavy time. And my parents found out that that had happened and were very shocked by that. And as a result, I ended up being institutionalized. I went to hospital on suicide watch for six weeks and being medicated and working through that. And, yeah, I'm in the lowest point of my life. So from the highs of my aspirations to the lows, and it was quite a dramatic thing, and I think this is really key, is that although from the outside, while I was living in Spain racing motorbikes, it could seem as though, oh, wait, like Lawson's living the high life. Like Lawson's doing something so amazing on the inside already there, as evidenced by these struggles that I was having with self harm on the inside. I was so self conscious, I doubted myself a lot, and I really needed that validation of winning, and I needed that validation of doing well. And all of a sudden, when that was taken away from me, the ability to even do that, I didn't understand. The simple equation for me in my head was, if I can't do something meaningful and impactful, then my life is irrelevant and not special. And these are very all or nothing thinking, very toxic. But that's where I was at. And it's kind of the downside of the model that I'd come from. My family, even though it was so beneficial because it motivated us to do well, the other side was how I had kind of twisted it and construed it in my own mind that, okay, without doing well, I'm a failure. But God is good. God is god is good. [00:39:03] Speaker A: How did he bring his purpose into your life? [00:39:05] Speaker B: So I was in hospital, and my sister Maddie, my second oldest sister, she started dating this Christian guy, and they're actually married now, amazingly, praise God. And they started dating, and she started to go along to a Bible study, a weekly Bible study. And at the end of this Bible study, they asked the question, hey, does anyone have anything to pray about? And my sister, not really being a believer, but on that journey, put her hand up and said, I want to pray for my little brother because I am worried for him, and I don't want to lose him. And this group of Christians got together, and they prayed, and their prayer essentially went like this. They said, Lord, come into Lawson's life in a powerful way and bring him to the place where he is living for you. [00:39:59] Speaker A: Wow. [00:40:00] Speaker B: And they prayed this prayer. My sister, you know, went home from the Bible study and whatnot, and I come out of hospital. I moved into an apartment with my older sister Haley. And the next day, there was a knock on my door. And I went downstairs, opened the door, and there was actually a lady there who was trying to do census or something. I'm 17, and I'm like, I don't know no census. Thank you. Went back upstairs. An hour later, another knock on the door. And I went down and opened the door, and there was two girls standing there. And one of them, they actually kind of had this weird conversation between each other about like, oh, are you going. [00:40:40] Speaker A: To talk this time? [00:40:40] Speaker B: No, you talk. No, you do it. And I'm, like, standing at the door like, who are these people doing? But then one of them goes, hi, my name is Jordan. This is my friend Elise. We're from a nonprofit organization called Rethink Your Faith, and we are meeting people in the community to talk about that. And it was a very strange canvas. And I was like, okay, fair enough. And I noticed they both have accents. They both had accents. So we started this conversation about travel, and I'd recently come back from Europe. This is around June, and so I'd been six months out of Europe, started this conversation about travel, got into all these different aspects of it, and then they go, Lawson, you seem like a really cool guy. Do you want to come to dinner with us? And me being 17, having these two girls ask me to go to dinner, I was like, yeah, sure. Okay. And then they're like, yeah, we'll shout you and all this stuff. I'm like, yeah. They're like, hey, Lawson, can we get your number? I'm like, man, this isn't really usually how this works. Usually it's the other way around. And I was very surprised, but I was like, yeah, sure, absolutely, and exchange details with them. I then thought about it for the next couple of days. I'm like, that was really weird. I don't know if I want to hang out with these people. But regardless, I got the text. Hey, loss. I'm going to grilled. We'll shout you. I'm like, okay. I'll go. I'll hang out, and I'll meet these people, see what they're about. And that night, I went in, and I met this young group of 7th Adventist Christians and had just ate a meal with them, with these people that were happy and content and loving. And that was my first interaction with the people who would ultimately lead me to Christ. And from there, my life really changed. From that point, I started eating dinner with them every Thursday and just spending time with these people as friends, and it was just very nice and inclusive of me, and I was loving it. Then they started to invite me to play sport with them every Sunday. And then eventually Friday nights, they would get together and they would do a Bible study, and I would sit there and listen to what they have to say, and I would kind of speak up sometimes and interject with things. Again, from a very secular perspective, I wasn't very harsh or critical, but just more just like inquisitive or just answering what I know because of going to Christian school growing up, or whatever it may be. But it hadn't really sunk in an interest yet. But the friendship that I had with these people was fantastic. And then eventually I'd gone to church for the first time. And by church, I mean it was a small house church. Twelve people roundabouts, sitting in a circle in a house. Actually, the time I went there, even though I'd come out of hospital and I'd been treated, I was still really struggling with alcoholism, really struggling with the situation of my life, my parents being split up. And I'd come over, I was really hungover, sat in this circle of young Adventists, and we opened the Bible and studied the Bible and talked about ultimately the love that God has for us and the way that he takes us in, even though we're not good enough, as seen in the story of David and Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth being taken in by David, even though he's lame in the legs and all his family's dead and all this stuff, david takes him in as his own son. And the application was made like, even though we're failures, Jesus takes us in. And that message to me, it was gold. I saw then Jesus as a savior who had come for me, who had come to give his life for me. And I get emotional thinking about it because I was so wrapped up in Am I good enough? Am I good enough for people? And I had been shown that, oh, no, actually you're not good enough. Like, you're terrible. You are dead in trespasses and sin. And that being said, Jesus has given his life for you. And that clicked for me. And I was like, wow. But then, furthermore, studying the Bible, I have to say, like, opening up the Word of God, I'd spent a fair bit of time around the Bible, going to school in Christian schools, but opening the Word of God and doing our first Bible study in Daniel, chapter two, where you open the Bible. And for those familiar with the chapter, you have the prophecy of the statue. And the way we interpret that prophecy is that it represents different kingdoms throughout the earth. And it was a prediction or a prophecy about the political movements of the known world at the time, europe, the Middle East to Europe. And what that reflects to us, what that represents is essentially testable, observable evidence that proves or gives some level of credence to the supernatural aspects of God and the supernatural claims of the Bible. When I saw that from a secular perspective, when I saw that, wait, the Bible gives this level of evidence to prove its claims. And Jesus categorizes prophecy very well. He says, I tell you these things before they come to pass, so that when they come to pass, you might believe that's. John, chapter 14 and verse 29. When I saw that, I was floored. Not only had I been reached with the message of the Gospel and very touched personally, like, wow, Jesus loves me. I'm like, okay, but that's a great story. How can I believe in it? [00:46:19] Speaker A: Is this really real? [00:46:20] Speaker B: Then, furthermore, oh, wait, the Bible consistently proves its claims in a supernatural way that is observable and testable. That changed my life. When I saw that, that was the step that convinced me as a secular person. It was the truth of God's word. And a young secular person at that. Like, I was 17, turning 18. These messages were very relevant. And that's something I really champion today in the work that I've done. So, again, working in radio and studying ministry, and also, I've done about five years of Bible working in various different places, mostly in church plants and even working with young people. I had the opportunity to work in Newcastle Uni as a Bible worker, and they've got the church plant there. And seeing a number of students come to faith, be baptized, become Adventists, become Christians, it was the thing that captures all of them. Firstly, they're touched by the message of Christ. They have a positive interaction with Jesus'disciples, which is us, as followers of Christ. But to give them that pure truth, truth from the word of God, that proves what we're saying to be true. And as we read in the Bible as well, by the word and by the testimony, when that message reached me, I again just touched shocked floored and men from Daniel. Two those questions that come up about creation versus evolution and whatnot yes, when I could see, I'm like, no evolutionary argument does this, no evidence for evolution does something like this. This is far more and beyond. And those kinds of arguments began to be settled in my brain, and I'm like, wow, because I could see God's Word is speaking. God's word is powerful. It is there, and it has the ability to prove his existence, to prove he's true, and to prove that he is love. And so studying from there and then furthermore, the application of those things to my life and something that I also love to talk about is when I started to keep Sabbath, when I became a Sabbath keeper. Now, at the time I was still drinking, I was still partying. At the time I started keeping Sabbath, I was living in a five person sharehouse with all these boys that would regularly party and drink, and I would party and drink with them. And it was very detrimental to my life and was a tool that I was using as a crutch to numb my struggles that I was having with self and identity. And even though I was having a better experience coming out of that, that was still a part of my life. Then I'd become convicted about Sabbath. And I decided, okay, on Friday night, instead of going and partying with my friends, even in my house where I'm living, I'm going to go into my room, I'm going to shut the door, I'm going to open Bible, I'm going to read my Bible. So I go to bed, I'm going to wake up the next day, I'm going to go to church, I'm going to spend all day with my friends at church. Going to spend all day. You have church in the morning, lunch together, afternoon walk. I'm going to spend all this time with them. When I started to do that, I had this experience, like going to church for the first time, like not hungover. This experience that I started to have at church was just like so good. I was already having a very positive experience, but it was feeding my soul so much. It was giving me so much contentment, so much joy. I started to think like, man, I want this every day. I want this feeling every day, this feeling of not needing to rely on anything but the joy that comes from the Lord and interacting with our church family and all of these things. And so slowly, by slowly, I was drinking less and less. I was partying less and less. I was going out less and less and up until I'd made a decision to be baptized. By this point, I was convinced on the truth, on the message. And it was one of the last steps that I really took was to stop drinking. But I had had this ongoing experience of how good Sabbath was, of how good fellowship with my fellow brethren was. I loved it so much that then when the real appeal was made to me, it's like, okay Lawson, let's put the bottle away, let's stop. I had some doubts, but actually I was with Pastor Peter Watts and he took me know, we did a Bible study together and he said something really powerful. This is how I remember it anyway. He basically know, basically Jesus loves you more than you love alcohol, and Jesus loves you more than alcohol loves you. And he wants to provide you something way better than alcohol ever could. And I had already been having an experience with that through the Sabbath. And I was like, okay, fine. And I went sober. And I've been sober ever since. That was it. I made my decision for the first few months after, I would say four months afterwards. There was definitely temptation and struggle, but I can proudly say that Jesus got me through Amen and stayed sober. And I got baptized in December 2016. I had just turned 18. I'm actually October 22, turned 18, December 2016, December 3, got baptized January 2017. I headed up to the Arise program, a discipleship training Bible school in my car, went up there and from then forward was that part of the program for three and a half months. Got a job as a Bible worker out of that and have been working in ministry ever since in churches, as a Bible worker, in church plants, in radio ministry, and then furthermore, even studying my degree, which was again, I have a year nine education. The doors that got opened for me to get into Uni was just amazing, innumerable amount of blessings. That being said, I've struggled with the study. Like, no doubt God opened the doors. That doesn't mean it's been easy for me. But that being said, God has been with me every single step of the way and furthermore, he's even brought healing amongst my family as well, which I think is one of the most amazing things. My parents are split up and they're going to stay split up. That's the decision that they've made, that's the resolve that they've come to. But that being said, the time that I now get to spend with my family going from just very much divided to now every Christmas and all these public holidays and everything we spend together, and even seeing that side of it as well. And I've prayed for them so much and I've just seen God work miracles and yeah, I'm still looking forward to the steps that they could take in becoming Christian themselves. And I think God is opening those doors as they come to church to hear me, to preach and they listen to me on the radio, stuff like this. But seeing the work that he's done in their life, seeing the work that God is able to do through me to reach others as well. Again, something I'm very passionate about is personal ministry too, connecting with people, teaching the word of God. And I got to experience that in a real potent sense as a Bible worker, and then especially as a Bible worker working in the Uni. Working with young people, seeing young people come to faith and being convicted by biblical truth and seeing that happen through a process of, hey, let's spend time together. Let's eat together. Let's watch the NBA together. Let's hang out. But then, hey, let's open the Word of God together. And being genuine friends with people, being close with them, reaching them with a very Christ method, alone esque ministry of reaching their needs, serving their needs, and as Christ did, baiting people to follow Him after he had won their confidence. I had really had this experience of time and time again running into people, befriending them and being able to open the word with them, and furthermore, being able to experience them come to faith and seeing them be baptized and seeing them be discipled as well. [00:54:22] Speaker A: And that's really rewarding for you. [00:54:25] Speaker B: It's just the best. This is the outcome of the Christian experience. And I would say, if I can leave off with a text that has really spoken to me, I started doing my devotions in the book Matthew. And I got to the 28th chapter and I got to Matthew 20, 818 through 20, the Great Commission. Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things. I've commanded you, lo. I'm always with you, even to the end of the age. Like, I read this passage and I was so personally convicted by that. And I was at a time in my life, I was 17 years old, 18 years old, looking for purpose. And I'm like, this is my purpose, like, to reach people. I didn't know if that was in a full time professional capacity, a lay capacity, I didn't know. But what I did know is that this is my job as a Christian. This is what I've been called to, and I took it very seriously. And again, what does it look like to take things seriously? Well, what it looks like as a Christian is to look to Jesus, to make Him your everything, your cornerstone, your all. And I said, God, this is what you've called me to do, enable me to do this. And every single step of the way, all the training that I've needed, all the provision that I've needed to be able to do the work of reaching people, either in a monetary sense or in a support sense, in an understanding sense, jesus has consistently made provision. And it simply works like this if you work for God, he pays. And I don't say that in a professional ministry sense. I say that in an everyday life sense. Whatever you're relying on, whether it's money, whether it's time, whatever it may be, when you work for God, when you live for Him, he pays. And that has been the consistent experience that I have. I have everything to owe to Jesus and what he has given me. [00:56:24] Speaker A: Yeah, awesome. So thankful that you could share your story with us today and really appreciate all the ins and outs of the journey and then how God brought you from the lowest part up to now, a wonderful experience with Him. And, yeah, it's been awesome. To hear that and just see the amazing way that God reaches out to every one of us, even people who like yourself, you didn't really know God, you didn't really have Him in your life. And, yeah, so it's been an amazing journey and thank you for sharing your encouragement as well. For other people who may be having questions, does God have something for me or is it worth it to follow God in their life? [00:57:03] Speaker B: I hope I provided some evidence absolutely. To say yes, a life with God is worth it. It is above all. It's above anything we could ask or think. It is exceedingly abundantly above it. So, yeah, guys, live your best life. Live with God. [00:57:21] Speaker A: Live with God. That's awesome. Yeah. You've been listening to by the word of their testimony And I'm your host, Kaysie Vokurka. And thank you for joining with us this time. Remember that sharing your testimony is giving evidence of God being real in our lives. And so if you have a testimony, I encourage you to share it with someone today. They will be encouraged and you will be strengthened too. And so, until next time, may the Lord richly bless you. [00:57:55] Speaker B: You've been listening to a production of three ABN Australia radio. thank you for joining us on. [00:58:14] Speaker A: By the word of their testimony, if you would like more information about today's program or if you have any questions, please contact Three ABN, Australia Radio by Phoning 024-97-3456. Or you can send an email to radio atThree ABN australia.org. Au. You can also contact us on our three ABN Australia radio Facebook page. We look forward to hearing from you.