The Valiant Forge is a podcast for Christian men who want to leave a legacy that lasts.

Hosted by Mark Osborne a husband, father, and grandfather — each episode is a call to rise, not just for ourselves, but for the generations coming after us. Through raw conversations about faith, fatherhood, failure, and forgiveness, Mark invites men to step into their role as spiritual leaders and legacy builders. Whether you’re in the trenches of parenting or walking as a grandfather and guide, this show is a forge where scars become wisdom, and men are strengthened for God’s Kingdom.

https://www.thevaliantforge.com/

Hi, I'm Angel.

This mission starts right in our home.

So for my wife and three sons, thank you for standing with us.

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That's one two M-I-N-C-O-N-V-E-R-S.com.

God chose us to have a conversation with us, his creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

I praise God for you, Mark.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

I am in Chicago, Illinois.

Oh, very cool.

You're an early riser today, aren't you?

Yes.

Yes.

Oh, I appreciate that.

I appreciate that tremendously.

How did you come to meet Jesus, Mark?

Right after my father got saved and he had an amazing, miraculous turnaround overnight.

He was an alcoholic for many years, gave his life to Jesus, and the next morning, he was a completely different man.

You know, sometimes when people get saved, it takes a little bit of time for them to clean up and get turned around.

My father was instant overnight.

Like he would never wake up early.

He usually, when he did wake up, he was hungover.

But that morning, after he gave his life to Jesus, he was sitting at the table with a Bible in his hand, with a huge smile on his face.

He was never really much of a loving man, and he pulled me over, gave me a hug, and told me he loved me.

I knew something miraculous had happened, and I knew it was around Jesus.

So I gave my life to Jesus the week after I saw my dad change.

It was at church the next Friday night.

It was a Friday night we were having church, and I got saved that Friday night.

I told all the kids in the neighborhood, I gave my life to Jesus.

You need to give your life to Jesus.

I was on fire for an entire weekend until I went to school.

I started telling the kids at school about Jesus, and I got bullied right away.

I was always a kid who got bullied, but once I started doing that, I was like, I got to be quiet about this.

When you're 14, you have a little different attitude about how kids are treating you.

You want to be accepted, blah, blah, blah.

So I stayed quiet about my faith, although I kept going to church and doing all the right things.

Time went on, and I continued going to church.

I got married, had kids, but I didn't really have a real relationship with Jesus Christ until when I was 48.

I became an empty nester.

Both of my kids were out of the house.

My marriage was not in great shape, but it was okay.

We were making it.

My health had declined rapidly, had a mild heart attack, and then I decided to go on a fitness journey.

I posted that fitness journey online.

My ego, the kid who hid in the background for many years, all of a sudden came to the forefront.

I was eating up all of that praise, and adulation, and validation, even though I was saying the whole time that God told me to start this fitness journey.

It wasn't about God at all.

It was more about me, being that my marriage wasn't in the greatest shape.

Now I'm neglecting my marriage even more by just focusing on myself.

I started having DMs from people because I started a fitness business.

I was getting DMs online about coaching or whatever, but one of those conversations turned into an emotional affair.

My wife discovered it, and that was like the wake-up call.

That was like the moment Jesus was like, okay, we're stopping right here.

My wife and I just had a conversation, decided, okay, I need to get myself back in church.

We went through counseling.

During the counseling process, the counselor took me aside, and he's like, where are you at with your relationship with Jesus?

Because it was Christian counseling, and I'm like, we're really not in a good place.

He's like, you need to start developing your relationship with Jesus.

You gave your life to Jesus many years ago.

You just haven't been following him.

So that day in my car, I prayed and said, God, I'm sorry for these many years of not following you, of not living the way that I should.

I started applying a lot of the disciplines I learned through fitness towards my spiritual journey.

I started reading and praying.

When you were in the car, for example, was your wife there, or did you go separate ways after meeting the counselor?

Or were you just simply meeting the counselor individually at that point?

That day we took separate cars because I was going to work right after.

I was working a night shift job, so I had to go to work right after our meeting.

That conversation that you had with God and the conversations that you did not have with God, so from 14 to 48, right?

That's 34 years, right?

So was it a direct link connection you felt just opening your mouth and speaking to God one more time, even after all those years?

Absolutely.

I mean, all those years I was still going to church and doing all the right things, just my heart.

My heart wasn't in it.

Once in a while, I would say a prayer.

Once in a while, I would read my Bible.

I was even a youth leader for a little bit of time.

I went on a mission trip.

All during that time, I kept going to church because I knew my daughters, I had two daughters, they needed to see a godly home because before my father got saved, I knew what it was like to grow up in a home that wasn't Christian.

I didn't want my daughters to experience that.

But my heart really wasn't in my relationship with Jesus.

But that day in that car when I prayed, something changed.

I definitely felt like, okay, this is a real thing.

Thinking about the concept of the lukewarm and how diabolical it could be when you parallel being lukewarm for Christ.

I mean, you got hot for fitness.

And as a result, there was a transformation.

But how many Christians do live a lukewarm life to their detriment?

The problem, the thing that drove me with the fitness journey was validation.

It wasn't about anything else.

I was bullied most of my life.

And all of a sudden, even though it was false, the respect that I felt like I never received most of my life was what was driving me.

But then that moment, the moment in the car, what it was, it was a moment of surrender.

It's like, all right, Jesus, I'm giving everything to you.

Everything that I've done, I felt like I was building something over the last five years.

That journey that I just described, the fitness to the marriage breaking up, that was almost five years.

Yeah, even the path or the pattern of the enemy, where the initial seed is planted, and the effects of it.

We talk about seed and harvest with God and the good things.

But just with you being 14 and having that seed planted of emotional, tumultuous journey, right?

The challenge of that, and then to see that grow into what it grew into.

And of course, you talked about the messaging of the other person, right?

Their fear that was about to creep in to become even more, right?

It's crazy how it happens, right?

It's such a slow burn, right?

But it gets there.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

After that conversation and that prayer, I started applying, you know, I would get up every morning and go to the gym.

But after that, I decided I'm feeding my spiritual self before my physical self.

I'd start reading the Bible in the morning before going to the gym.

And then one day, I read something and I wanted to dive deeper into it.

Before I knew it, an hour had passed.

I didn't have time to go to the gym.

But I was fine.

I started learning, oh, I don't need to go to the gym every day.

I need to spend time with God and then I could still have time to go to the gym.

And I didn't need to go every day.

I just needed a few days a week to just to maintain my physical health.

So you talked about applying the things of fitness to the spiritual side of you.

Does that have a formula that you use an Excel sheet?

What does that look like?

How do you keep that balance?

What I learned through fitness was systems and routines keep you focused.

And that's basically what it is.

You talked about me being up at five in the morning, I actually get up at four every morning to read my Bible and spend time with God.

And then on the days when I can, I go to the gym just before work, I start work at 630 in the morning.

So I just, I know, if I don't get up early in the morning, and do the things that I need to do, they won't happen.

So that's just something I actually learned through fitness, I spent 48 years of my life never really being disciplined.

And then all of a sudden, the validation that drove me, I started applying towards God.

How's your heart health?

My heart health is good now.

Yeah, very good.

Congratulations.

Your father, is he still around?

Yes, yeah, he's 82 years old.

He ended up becoming a minister, a preacher, an evangelist, many people got saved under his ministry.

I actually had the opportunity to interview him on my podcast.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shout out your podcast, man.

The Valiant Forge.

It's a podcast for Christian men who feel stuck and want to level up.

Alright, message in a bottle.

So five years from today, now that you understand the power of the podcast, listening back to yourself, right?

So five years from today, you're listening to this conversation.

What's a message you'd leave for future you?

Don't give up.

Just keep going.

Because no matter what, God's grace, no matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, God's grace is always there for you.

So who knows what's going to happen in five years.

But five years from now, the thing that's always been evident in my life is God has been there for me.

And he will never fail me.

He will never let me down.

He will always be there for me.

Same today, yesterday and forever.

In this season of your life, what is the thing that's recurring in terms of what you're studying?

What in the Bible is very relevant today for you?

Romans 12 to be transformed by the renewing of your mind be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

And really, that's where everything starts.

It starts in your mind.

Every action you take every decision you make, you want to be a better man.

It starts with the decision you're having today, which comes from your mind.

And when you're renewed by the transforming of Jesus Christ, you make right decisions.

Hey, Mark, a pleasure, a treasure.

Thank you for being on what is inspired by 12 Mile Converse.