What if the people the world overlooks are the very ones God loves to work through most?

In this honest and encouraging episode of the Collide Podcast, Willow Weston sits down with Brant Hansen to talk about finding joy and purpose in the midst of pain, skepticism, and feeling like an outsider. Brant opens up about his difficult childhood, a turbulent relationship with his father, and how these experiences shaped his perspective on faith, life, and ministry.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn

• How being on the spectrum gave Brant a unique lens for understanding others and connecting with the underdog.
• The importance of loyalty to God over relying on fleeting emotions.
• How God uses childhood wounds and personal quirks for greater purpose.
• Practical ways to maintain a vibrant faith even when life or church culture doesn’t feel “normal.”
• Stories of God showing up for the desperate and overlooked, reminding us that He is a God for the underdog.

Brant’s insights are a gift for anyone who’s ever felt like they don’t fit in, struggled with comparison, or wondered if God could use them despite their quirks and past pain.

Meet Brant Hansen

Brant is a bestselling author, nationally syndicated Christian radio host, and advocate for children with treatable disabilities. His work encourages those who feel like misfits to embrace their uniqueness and find a faith that makes sense. Brant’s show reaches over 200 stations in the US and Canada, and his podcast with his wife has garnered over 19 million downloads. He’s the author of several books, including Life is Hard, God is Good, Let's Dance and Blessed Are the Misfits.

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Connect with Brant on his Website: branthansen.com

Books: Life is Hard, God is Good, Let's Dance & Blessed Are the Misfits

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Mentioned in this episode:

New Book Release! Collide: Running into Healing When Life Hands You Hurt

Grab your copy today wherever books are sold.

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Foreign.

Hey there.

Welcome to the Clyde Podcast.

This is Willow Weston.

And I'm so glad you hopped on today.

I specifically went out of my way to invite this guest on and I share why in the interview you'll hear, but I just got done interviewing him.

Brant Hansen.

He's a nationally syndicated Christian radio host.

He's a best selling author of several books.

He's an advocate for children with treatable disabilities.

He has a podcast called the Brant and Sherry Oddcast, which has garnered more than 19 million downloads.

He's been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and a condition causing involuntary eye movements.

And so he brings this unique perspective to his work when he discusses themes, faith and authenticity and following Jesus in the kingdom.

And I think you're going to enjoy him.

I just love hearing his stories.

I love hearing his heart.

And I hope that this blesses you as much as it blessed me.

Brant Hanson, it's so fun to have you on the podcast today.

My pleasure.

I'm honored to be on.

Thank you.

Oh, man.

Well, I have to tell you, I read your book Life is Hard, God is Good, let's Dance last year.

And actually I was up in Whistler, Canada, and I had just said goodbye to my dad.

He was gonna pass away that week, and I had picked up your book in a bookstore.

I randomly just grabbed it off the shelf.

I didn't know anything about you or your message.

And so here I was reading your book in a really sad time of my life, a grievous time.

And I don't know how it was possible, but you had me laughing out loud in public places and experiencing these moments of joy that were a gift to me in a time when I needed your words and I needed your ministry.

And you said some really thought provoking things about Jesus and invited me to remember why I fell in love with him in the first place.

So I just want to thank you.

On a note, as soon as I read the book, I came back to my staff and I'm like, can we get this guy on the podcast?

So thank you.

That's great.

Thanks a lot.

I try to write with, like, a book like I would want to read, and I like things that are funny and I know that can be dangerous because not everybody's got the same sense of humor, but I do prefer that style.

So I appreciate that you picked up on it and liked it too.

So thank you.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

I was laughing out loud so often.

I was like told my husband and my kids, you have to read this book.

You a Huge part of your.

Your message and your work is sort of engaging people who maybe feel like misfits.

Can you tell us how you got into this kind of ministry?

Yeah.

So my dad was a pastor.

I'm going to keep this real short, but it'll give you a good idea here.

My dad was a pastor, and it was a very fundamental church upbringing I had.

The problem was he was terrifying and honestly abusive and cheated on my mom.

And it was a horrifying upbringing.

My parents got divorced when I think was in seventh grade, and then remarried each other, I think, when I was a freshman, and then got divorced again a year later.

But we moved around a lot.

I was scared to go to sleep at night because I was afraid he was going to kill my mom for good reason.

So my brother and I were just terrified growing up.

And then we'd go see him give a sermon, you know, three times a week about the Bible.

And people be like, what a great man of God and all that business.

Like, you have no idea.

So I don't, you know, I'm.

I'm in Christian entertainment, so to speak.

I'm on Christian radio and stuff, and I write these books and whatnot.

And I just.

I've seen a lot of stuff that I'm like, ah, it doesn't square.

I don't.

I just want to see Jesus stuff.

I'm tired of.

I'm tired of Showtime.

And I think there's a lot of people like that at different levels, and that can make you a misfit also.

Just being analytical as I am, or being.

I've been diagnosed on the spectrum years ago, way before it was cool.

I was diagnosed.

You got me there, Brant.

You got me there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that's.

That's one of those things.

Like, I've always been kind of when I was at a worship service or something, not feeling it.

Like it feels like everybody else is.

And if you're not processing things emotionally like you're supposed to, or you feel like you're supposed to, there's no way you avoid the question, what's wrong with me?

Like, what's the matter with me?

Why I must have done something to annoy God, or maybe he doesn't even exist and we're all pretending, like, why don't I have these emotions?

And so I have written about that quite a bit.

I wrote a book called Blessed are the Misfits.

And it's about that.

Like, what if you don't quite fit in the church culture?

What's going on there?

And I'm very happy to say that our feelings, while helpful, like Dashboard Lights, you know, can tell you if something's wrong or something's good or whatever.

Like, they're not the.

They don't tell us about reality, really.

If you're not feeling God around like you used to, it doesn't mean he left.

It's just, you go through stages of life.

You go through things.

You can, you can not feel God around because you didn't get a nap.

Like, you can be in a mood that's affected by hormones or what happened to your team yesterday, you know, in the big game.

Like, there's.

That shouldn't dictate reality to us.

And that's great news for an awful lot of people who don't, who think that spirituality is emotion.

Like, it's not.

It's loyalty to God.

And we can do that whether we're feeling it or not.

I think it's actually great news.

Yeah, that is great news.

You, you just shared this just terrible upbringing and experience, this wounding experience with a father who claimed to know Jesus and love Jesus.

How did you, how did you come out of that experience still loving Jesus?

Well, I didn't know how to love Jesus growing up, really.

So what happened was, after I left the house, still processing all this, of course, but I am so skeptical about claims that people make.

It's incredible.

I literally, I joked about this in one of the books, but it's true.

Like, I used to be a talk radio host and I interviewed the guy who founded Skeptic magazine.

Who's the skeptic?

Skeptic.

And he's a, he's an atheist.

And at one point I talked to him fairly frequently.

And I talked to him as somebody who's a Jesus person.

And he at one point said, brandon, I admit you are more skeptical than I am.

So I think my upbringing made me that way extremely.

Like, always looking out of one squinted eye, like, is really what's going on here.

Where's what's really happening?

And it honestly chases me back around to Jesus because where else do you go, if you're being honest?

I find a lot of people are one way skeptics on their way out the church door, but they don't question the culture, whether it's actually working or not.

Like, do you have the same level of skepticism?

And I, I find Jesus himself to be so compelling because he actually calls out hypocrisy.

He's actually the one that calls sin sin and then does something about it.

Like, so if I'm leaving that.

Where am I going?

What's.

What's the.

Jesus is the only one that makes sense to me, honestly.

And so I'm drawn to expressions that actually make sense to me.

They look like Jesus very directly, like, okay, that makes sense.

A lot of stuff in Christian culture, honestly, does not compute for me.

It just doesn't.

And it's not.

I'm not being judgmental, I promise.

I'm just like, I don't get it.

I honestly don't.

I'm trying, but when I see stuff like, I work with Cure these hospitals that heal kids in the name of Jesus, like, if you're.

If you're healing the weak and the poor and the sick and you're doing it while you're proclaiming the kingdom, like, that makes sense to me.

That looks like Jesus stuff.

And it's so joyful and fun and beautiful and, like.

Yeah.

So I'm really drawn to that kind of stuff.

So you had this experience, and obviously you say you're skeptical, but for some reason, there was something about Jesus that was so compelling you were able to keep holding onto him.

And another part of your story, you kind of made a joke about it, but that you were diagnosed on the spectrum before it was cool.

How has being on the spectrum.

How has that made you feel, like you don't fit in?

And then on the flip side, how has God also been using that, like, in really purposeful ways?

Yeah, well, it's a great question.

I mean, you know, I can't speak for everybody who's on the spectrum, but I will say it gives you a different perspective on things.

I do find with the people who are on the spectrum, generally speaking, there's a real heart for the underdog, which everybody kind of has.

But I think we especially feel it because we're like this.

The culture doesn't compute for us.

Like, you have to learn social skills.

Other people just come by them naturally.

They just pick up on them really quick.

But we are always like, why do we shake hands?

Or, why do we have to make eye contact?

Why do I have to.

But my natural bent is to look at the floor all the time I'm talking or when someone's talking to me.

So I've learned, right, you have to make eye contact, but you're always questioning, why do we do it this way?

And that happens toward the church, too.

Like, what's really.

What does this have to do with.

You're always kind of looking at things a little bit sideways.

And so I think that that that can be helpful.

And also, I'm drawn to Jesus too, because I see him making the last first and the first last.

Like that makes sense to me.

I will go to, like, the.

The Tebow Foundation's Night to Shine thing in February's where they'll have a dance, a prom for kids with special needs at churches across the country.

And we do it in our hospitals, too.

But it's like you set up the red carpet and it's for the people with special needs to come down the red carpet and be having their pictures taken and being told how beautiful they look and how handsome they look.

Like that computes for me.

Whereas the.

The Christian music stuff, where it's the same people who are celebrated, literally celebrities, let's celebrate them again.

I don't get it.

I don't understand the connection.

So I think it gives you that angle.

The thing I wrote about in Blessed are the Misfits real quick, though, is I was like, there's several reasons why I'm drawn to Jesus because I'm on the spectrum.

And a lot of people who've never thought about it that way actually leave the faith because they're on the spectrum.

Like, they find the community on Reddit or somewhere else.

And I try to explain to them, like, here's why Jesus is so awesome.

Do you realize that he's calling out the stuff that you're calling out, the hypocrisy that you see, that the kingdom of God is actually flipped in a way that actually makes sense.

There's so much that's good with him.

His honesty with the big shots, with the religious big shots.

The way he acknowledges human nature, that nobody's good, that you're kidding yourself.

Everybody kids themselves about their moral righteousness.

That's our main cognitive bias.

93% Of us say we're more moral than average.

I mean, this is the kind of thing that is like medicine to have Jesus talk about that and call people out like, no, no, you actually.

You actually do need a doctor.

Right?

I think a lot of that draws me to him.

Yes, yes, you do.

You actually do.

Whether you think you do or not, you do.

My son and I were talking the other day.

He's 22, and we were talking how you stay.

You stay.

Cause God's doing all the stuff in his life, and he's like, how do I stay, like, hungry for Jesus?

Like that desperate, like, I need Jesus place, you know?

Cause he's in it, but he's like, how do I stay here?

And I'm like, well, that's easy.

Go be with the hungry and the desperate.

And you'll.

You'll feel.

You'll feel that way.

But we started talking more about disparity, and I was thinking, the most desperate people in the world are the ones who don't know they're desperate.

Yeah.

It's interesting, too.

I. I find.

I find it impossible to believe that there's no such thing as sin.

For instance.

Like, the brokenness is so obvious and people use different terms for it.

So we try to avoid the actual desperation that we should have that we desperately do need healing, which is what salvation means, actually.

It's like salve.

Like the same root word goes into this.

It's like, we need healing.

We're in serious trouble without his way of life, without his spirit in our lives.

But the rest of the world that wants to pretend that we don't.

We're pretty good.

Everybody's pretty good.

There's no such thing as Sam on.

Look at the, you know, look at the news.

Good grief.

Yeah.

We live in brokennesses.

Air, man.

Yeah.

I mean, what do you want to call it?

What do you want to call it?

It's in.

Call it injustice if you want.

Like, you're trying to tell me it's not a human problem from the beginning of time.

Like, we know this, so we should be more desperate than we are.

But you're right.

Well, it's interesting because I think there.

You bring up Christian culture.

I think there's this idea in Christian culture, the whole idea of, I once was lost, rather than like, oh, we're all a little lost.

I think we're all a little lost.

We all need Jesus right now, not just 20 years.

Okay, there.

You're right.

So the seeking thing never stops.

So.

But you don't realize that if you're taught, and I've been talking about this a lot on my radio show, like a lot of us are taught that we become Christians, and then.

So we ascent to this theology that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and now we get to go to heaven when we die.

But that's not the actual gospel in the Bible.

It's the.

It's.

The kingdom is available.

It's here, it's at hand.

It's now.

It's now open for business.

Like, this is the good news according to Jesus.

Paul expands on that.

And of course it involves the cross, and of course it involves forgiveness of sin.

But that's not all.

He gives us this way of life that absolutely is different.

And it's better.

It's actually lighter.

It's actually.

I keep talking to people about forgiveness and anger and stuff, and it's like, well, it's hard to forgive.

Yeah, you know what?

It's hard to forgive at first.

It is.

But you know what's harder is living a life of unforgiveness.

It's hard.

Well, it's.

That's the way it is across all the stuff that Jesus says about loving our enemies.

Oh, it's hard to love my enemies.

Yeah.

But it's harder to live life where you don't.

This is freedom.

Everything he tells us is a way to freedom.

It's healthier.

And it's actually.

And this is scandalous, and some people that are listening and maybe you will be like, no, I don't know about this.

It's actually easy.

It's actually easier.

His way of life is actually, there's a cost to discipleship, but there's an even higher cost of not being a disciple of Jesus.

Like to his.

His way of living is actually freeing here and now.

Eternal life starts now if we want to enter the kingdom of God.

So this is a.

This is a great way to live.

Everything that Jesus says is brilliant.

Everything we're told in the Bible is brilliant because he knows how we're made.

He knows how humans flourish.

And for the record, he actually said that if we partner with him, we'll find rest because his way is lighter and it's actually easier.

So this is the wonderful thing about continuing to seek him and learning his way of life.

And his rhythms of life are how to love your enemies, how to pray for people.

Like, this is your ticket to freedom and a lighter, healthier, longer life.

Literally, it's healthier for your body.

Everything he says, I love it so much.

Brent, you are clearly passionate about Jesus being a God of the underdog.

And I'm curious if there are experiences you've had recently or stories that you can share about, you know, an underdog that you saw God totally show up for in a way that just kind of blew your mind and convinced you, like, God is a God of the underdog.

Okay.

So a few hours ago, I got back from speaking at a men's conference.

There were two back to back men's conferences I was speaking at, and one was in Texas, and it was very polished and awesome and the guys pay a lot to go to this thing and it's a lot of executives and stuff.

And that was great.

They were wonderful.

Hundreds of guys.

But then I left to go to Wisconsin for the Salvation Army Men's Conference.

And they're bringing people from their church.

Salvation army is a church.

They're bringing people from all these churches, all these guys, maybe 600 dudes with these backgrounds that are unbelievable prison addictions by the hundreds of guys.

And the singing, the singing at those worship services with those guys.

I brought my wife.

And neither one of us is particularly emotional about worship, singing and stuff.

I even told the guys, like, I don't normally get emotional, but the intensity, the visceral, like, palpable intensity of 600 men's voices who have been desperate and are desperate, there's nothing like that.

I. I was tearing.

I never tear up.

Like, they.

When they're singing How Great Thou Art.

And it's all these guys from all these different backgrounds.

And the racial, like, if you want to call it racial, like, whatever.

Ethnic diversity was intense.

It was never mentioned.

It was never an issue.

Because everybody is there just because they're desperate.

Like, I love that there's something about that.

And I was.

I was.

My wife and I were talking about on the way home, it's like that group of people.

There's some people who are, you know, the white collar guys with khakis or whatever, but mostly not.

But I'm like, this would be the group of people, I would think that would be drawn to Jesus for real.

This would be them.

Well, they know they need a doctor, right?

Yeah, exactly.

And that's the big joke, too.

When Jesus is like, I came for the people who are sick.

He knows full well everybody's sick.

He's like, you're not going to call yourself sick.

So you're gonna.

You're gonna act like you got it all together.

So you're not gonna.

You're not gonna come to me.

But for those who are aware of it, they'll take the diagnosis.

The great thing, though, is once you do that, the difficult thing is getting in the narrow opening and then.

But the narrow way is actually a better way.

The other way leads to destruction.

And Jesus is talking about building a house on the sand or on the rock.

Like, it's hard to build a house, either place.

But I'll tell you what, the easier life is when you're.

When your house isn't destroyed and like, in the storm, like, his way.

His way of living is smarter.

It's better.

But you have to want it to enter the kingdom of God.

You got to want to take it by force, practically.

Jesus said, brandt, did you have a moment in your life?

We talk all the time around here about colliding with Jesus and him running into our lives, us running to him.

Did you have a moment where you chose Jesus for yourself?

It wasn't something you inherited or heard about from your parents, but it was like a moment where you were like, I want you, Jesus.

And what did that look like?

I've had a few.

One was when I was 12, but a lot of that was I was honestly just afraid I was gonna burn in hell.

So that wasn't.

There wasn't much of a love response.

But the beautiful thing, since then, I'm afraid I don't have a great answer for this, but I kind of feel like everybody's got their own thing, the way that God uses them.

And so I think it's been a gradual thing over time.

And I have asked God, I remember asking in high school, I may be 16, like, please give me wisdom.

I've heard that's what I should want.

And so Guy asked me this weekend at the Salvation army thing, he's like, what would you tell a 35 year old who's trying to start his life over?

Like, what should I ask God for?

And like, dude, I know the answer to this.

It's wisdom.

Because that'll help you with every decision or the rest of your life.

And I still ask God for that.

So I think there's a continual learning and I think it continues the rest of our lives.

Which shouldn't be surprising because you think, if I'm a disciple, what does that mean?

I'm a learner.

That's literally what it means.

If I'm staying as a disciple, it means I'm going to continue to learn stuff and God will continue to show me new things.

And as he does, I don't have to be afraid of it.

It's like he shows me new stuff that's cooler and cooler.

It's just like, what?

That's fascinating.

Never thought about that before.

And here I am in my 50s, I'm still.

I'm learning more now than I feel like I ever have.

I love that you talk about sort of.

Well, you and your wife have the oddcast.

You said you're in radio because I have a quote.

You saying I'm in radio because I can't be seen.

But God's used my quirks to reach people who feel like misfits, just like me.

And you seem like you have a continual message of letting people know that being different doesn't have to be a barrier between them.

And go for people listening who feel like Maybe feel they resonate with your story of like, I just haven't fit in anywhere in Christian community.

And it's making them question where they're at with Jesus.

What's your encouragement to them?

I was just talking about Moses the other day and I find this fascinating because even in Christian movies, they will not deal with reality about Moses.

Same thing with the secular movies.

The Christian, it's always Christian Bale or that other guy from back in the day.

I can't remember his name, but he was Jack, right?

He's like this handsome guy.

Moses was 80 and we cannot handle that image.

Even in Christian images.

Like, why will we not show an elderly, frail guy who's like, I'm not even up for this business.

We can't handle that.

We still want to think in the handsome, strong Moses.

Like, that's who God picks.

He doesn't.

He doesn't.

When he picked David, people like, well, you picked David.

Yeah, David was the run to the litter, right?

And all his brothers were bigger, stronger, faster, smarter, more handsome.

All that business at the time.

Like, God will choose who he wants.

And so if you feel disenfranchised from church or whatever, you're like, well, I'm not talented like those people on stage or, you know, I don't know, I don't have the background that this pastor has.

And what an amazing story.

Like, yeah, you know what?

I feel like in the kingdom of God, he'll wind up using the people who clean up after the service, like, or after the big impressive convention of impressive people.

Like the lady who comes in to sweep up, the guy cleaning the toilets afterward.

That's just how he works.

And it's a very consistent theme in Scripture that those are the people that he works through.

So I mean, Israel picked a king.

They went for the tall, good looking guy, Saul.

And God's like, he.

I look at the heart.

I'm not impressed by the outward appearance.

And so I want to tell people that.

I also want to, in my own story, I want to say I don't like being seen for just the way I grew up.

I like radio because it gives me anonymity if I'm reading anything.

If I'm looking at a piece of paper or reading a computer monitor, I'm shaking my head pretty decisively back and forth.

And it's very obvious.

And it's very obvious in my social life.

I get it called out on a daily basis.

When I'm out in public, I can be reading a sign and people are like, dude, what's the matter?

What did I do?

They think I'm saying no.

Well, I'm tired of that after all this life, you know, Like, I've had it since I was a baby.

So that defined me growing up in school.

And I just like being on the radio, so I don't have to worry about it.

I don't have to worry about the wrong body language.

Like, I can look at the ground while I'm talking on the radio.

Nobody knows.

But the sweet thing about that is I feel like those things chased me into radio and writing and God has blessed that, you know?

So, like, I. I've had different experiences because I never dated anybody in high school.

I never had any dates or anything.

I can't remember if I told the story in the book, but my wife, I was friends with her in college, and I had a crush on her.

Of course, I had a crush on any girl that would talk to me.

But we were re.

We were studying one night together, and there had been no romantic anything.

And so we're just studying.

And I stopped and I just turned 90 degrees and faced.

And I just said, hey, I love you.

And so she said.

She said thanks.

And that was the start of it.

Well, okay.

So now, in retrospect, I wouldn't want to go back to high school and have that loneliness or yearning without a girlfriend that I wanted, whatever.

But in retrospect, it worked out great.

Like, that's wonderful to only have one girlfriend your whole life.

That's profound, as poetic.

Like, every.

Like all this stuff, and even the stuff I went through with my dad in the end has helped me.

I'm a different kind of communicator because of that.

When I'm on the air, on the radio.

The reason I think it's been successful is because people can tell, I mean, what I'm saying.

And the reason I mean what I'm saying is I don't want to ever.

Like I grew up with.

I don't want to ever hear myself saying words that I don't believe.

It just gives me the.

It creeps me out.

So I think.

I think people can tell that when I'm talking on the radio and doing the show and I.

It's so different that that has been a blessing.

So all this to say as you're listening, like, all this stuff that I wouldn't want to live through again or I wouldn't have picked.

I can see in the end where God's used it for me to actually add value to other people's lives.

And I've seen that with so many other people too.

How did you battle comparison when you looked at other people and thought, oh, I'm not like them, I'm not like them, I'm never going to be like them.

Can God use me to do amazing things?

I have this weakness, this struggle, this quirk, whatever.

How did you battle that?

Yeah, you know, it's, it's.

I did want like any guy or any, any person in a career, any woman too.

I'm sure you, you want to be a success, you want to be perceived as that.

And it would make me jealous of other people who I thought they're not that good and people are making a big deal out of them on their show or whatever.

And I went for a prayer one time, I went for a walk and I prayed out loud, which I didn't do that much that back then.

But I, I told God, just take this away from me, the chafing for significance, I'm so done with that.

And he.

I think he did, like, I'm sure there's still some of that.

There's not much.

I honestly think he did, he honored that prayer.

But the weird thing is my career took off immediately after that.

And I think it's because I wasn't so needy.

Like, now I'm focused on the listener instead of focused on do people think I'm cool or am I doing the right.

I don't know, am I getting enough attention?

Like when you.

I think that's largely true for a lot of people.

Once, once the neediness is behind you, it can actually really add value, which means to be a bless.

That's what blessing means.

You're adding value to people's lives.

Like, that's what I want.

I've never had a big plan in my life.

Honestly though, for career stuff, I've never really known what I'm doing.

I'm not kidding.

I don't.

I just keep showing up and things have happened that I didn't anticipate and I have not had a big plan or vision and I still don't.

So I just keep saying yes, like, hey, yeah, I'll do that and then see what happens.

It's interesting because as you're saying that I'm looking at your bio in front of me.

You have hosted a nationally syndicated Christian radio show.

You're a best selling author, an advocate for children with treatable disabilities.

Your show airs on over 200 stations across the US and Canada, and your wife's podcast has garnered more than 19 million downloads.

And yet you have had to battle childhood wounds and feelings of not fitting in, and you didn't have a plan for your career.

And yet the Lord's like, oh, I'm going to use you in powerful, mighty ways.

Okay, so that's the cool thing, is that he gets credit for it, because I literally did not plan any of this.

I. I meant to be a baseball announcer, and I can't see very well, and I don't know why I thought I could do it when I can't see.

But I was a newsman.

And then they made.

They left me on the air by myself.

I didn't want to be on.

And then the ratings went up and I didn't.

I was like, I didn't.

I want to be a newsman.

I didn't want to be the host.

And then they syndicated it.

And to this day, I still each day feel like I don't really quite know how to do this.

And I'm the same thing with the books, so.

I remember Dallas Willard, though.

I remember seeing him speak, and he said that he never prayed for a platform.

He prayed for God, give me something to say.

Like, and there's so many people that have platforms and nothing really to say.

And I.

So I thought, that's really smart thing.

I honestly have prayed that.

And if it all goes away tomorrow, I think I'm okay with it.

But I do ask God, like, if.

If.

If what I'm saying is the kingdom stuff, then if you want to help me have more influence, that's awesome.

I would love that.

But none of this I. I planned for, made happen.

The best analogy is driving a long trip at night with your headlights.

You see a few hundred feet ahead, you know, but at the end of the trip, you're like, man, I just went 600 miles.

I don't know.

Like, I asked God to make a way for me.

He has.

It's pretty incredible.

You keep talking, Brant, about the kingdom, and I think it would be interesting for listeners to hear how you're taking cues from Jesus on what the kingdom of Jesus is like and just kind of remind them.

Remind them of the upside downness of it.

Are you able to invite us into that for a minute?

Sure.

Well, this is a big deal because it's Jesus favorite topic, so I feel like it should be our favorite topic instead.

Honestly, a lot of people have no idea.

Even they've been Christians for years, and they're like, what are you talking about?

He's always describing it too.

The kingdom of heaven is like, this he's talking about the kingdom of God is like, this.

Here's how it works, here's how it operates.

And so once you're dialed into that, you're like, oh, okay.

He's describing this thing.

And he also says once you see it, you're gonna.

If you're smart, you'll sell everything to get it.

Like a treasure in a field or a pearl of.

That's a pearl merchant sees, like, wait, I gotta have that.

And he's like, if you.

If you actually see what the kingdom is, you're gonna be like, I have to have that.

And it's true when you see it.

So God's kingdom, when he's announcing the good news of the kingdom.

That terminology had already been used over and over for centuries.

When a new king would take over a territory, they would send a messenger to share the good news.

It was literally called good news.

And in the Greek, the same word for gospel.

The good news is that the kingdom of Caesar Augustus is here.

He's savior of the world.

His kingdom has arrived.

You're going to have better medicine, better roads, better whatever.

Like, this is going to be better because he's here.

He's like, it's good news.

Congratulations.

And then here comes Jesus going, my kingdom's here.

Here's how it operates.

And he goes up on a hillside, and the disciples, you know, he sits down and he starts telling everybody in this kingdom, guess who's really happy?

And he starts going down this list, even the people who mourn, like, even the people who are spiritually bankrupt.

And then he starts describing what it's like to live in that kingdom where you give up your right to anger, for example, where you bless.

You bless your enemies.

And this way of life that he's teaching us is it helps us to not be worried.

I mean, like, he even talks about that, like, you don't need to be worried.

Did you know that you can actually trust God if you're in his kingdom?

You trust him.

He's got you.

There's literally, you're safe in this universe, ultimately with him.

You really are.

So when he's describing this kingdom over and over, we learn it.

And then we want to make our own.

Our own dominions.

Everybody's got their own kingdom.

Want to make it so that it becomes the kingdom of God too, where what God wants done gets done.

And that is an awesome thing.

So that's.

There's so much to unpack there.

But this, it's worth talking about and studying and.

And then sharing the Good news, because it's not just waiting till you die.

Like Jesus is saying, go out, teach people my way of life.

Teach them to obey the things I have commanded.

Well, he's doing that for our own good.

He's genius.

He knows how to live and that eternal life is a kind of life that he's talking about, but it does start now.

And it makes our lives better immediately.

Yeah, I love that so much.

And I don't know if you do this, but sometimes I have experiences in my daily life where I see someone living kingdom like, and I'll see something and I'll just be like, wow, that is so kingdom like or so Jesus like.

I'm wondering what are some of the most kingdom like things you've seen lived out by some of his followers recently?

Okay, well, I get to go to these hospitals.

And these are surgical hospitals that are top notch.

It's like the biggest secret in the world.

And it should stop being because it should be on the news every night.

Of course they're not going to show you.

The number one provider of pediatric surgeries in the world is cure.

And all of them are done in the name of Jesus.

Overtly.

So there's eight hospitals.

It's called CURE International Children's Hospitals.

It's pediatric orthopedics, plastics for burn victims, for instance.

It's neurological surgeries that save the lives of babies.

These are all for people that would never have access to health care otherwise.

And instead they're 14 years old.

Maybe a girl who's always dreamed of being able to walk, and now she can walk.

And I've met these kids, I've been in all these hospitals.

I've met them, I've met their families.

It's such a joyful place.

But these people have been told they're cursed because they have a disability.

And we're able to tell them, you're not actually cursed.

God loves you.

The moms have been isolated because they have a child that with even a slight disability are considered cursed.

And it's because you morally failed mom.

That's why your child is a freak.

That's why she's a monster.

Well, she comes into these CURE hospitals because it's Jesus people in the hospital, as soon as she comes through the door, everybody is trained.

When they see somebody like that, you come forward toward that person, you go, your daughter's beautiful.

Oh my goodness, can I hold her?

What a beautiful baby.

Like, she's, she has never heard that.

Everybody runs away screaming.

And now she sees people going, your daughter's beautiful.

And mom, you didn't mess up.

No.

Your daughter's a blessing.

In fact, God draws close to you because you're brokenhearted.

He's been storing your tears in a bottle all this time.

The surgeons pray over the kids.

I'm in the or, and the surgeons, the surgical techs and everybody in there pray over each child.

The child asleep underneath the lights.

And you know that this kid has suffered.

Maybe it's a 9 year old boy or a 15 year old girl, or maybe it's a 2 year old.

They've just been nothing but suffered and rejected.

Here they are sleeping and they're vulnerable and they're about to.

About to be healed.

And you've got the surgeons praying in the name of Jesus over these kids.

Every family is told the good news about the kingdom.

And last year we had 41, 000 people become believers at these hospitals, huh?

Which you can imagine, you're healing their kids, right?

So they leave, they go back to tell their villages.

The villages are like, you're cursed.

You're a monster.

Wait a second.

Who healed your child?

What happened?

Why is he walking now like.

And they say, well, it's these, Jesus, these.

You told me I was cursed, but Jesus says no.

So last year we did, I think, 20,000 surgeries all in the name of Jesus.

So I visit these hospitals and it's like embassies from the kingdom of God.

You just see the joy.

You see people getting up and walking.

You see people telling people, hey, this didn't happen because you sinned or that your daughter sinned.

This happened so that God could be glorified.

And then we reach out and heal.

Actually, God does the healing, we treat.

It's still a miracle.

At the, at the cellular level, healing is inexplicable.

But it's like that is seeing the kingdom in action.

It's very, very obvious because God loves these people so much.

Like, and for believers to walk that out, sacrifice their own money, these people, they wind up, they're told it's free and they can't believe it.

And then at the very end, I've been in the room where they'll go back to the administrator's office or whatever, be like, okay, how much was it really?

And we say, it's free.

And they're just, they break down crying like they thought there was a gotcha.

This can't be true.

It cannot happen.

So, yeah, I've seen dads break.

Big burly dads break down crying because they finally, his daughter can walk or, yeah, so there you go.

I could go on forever.

I could give a million stories for these kids.

But it's.

It is crazy awesome.

So beautiful.

Brant, I love that you're reminding us that there's room in the kingdom for the people who have self doubt and don't fit in and feel wounded and that Jesus gives us back our dignity.

It's such a powerful reminder.

And not only that he gives us back our dignity, but that he can actually purpose our story to help other people in theirs.

And I feel like you're doing that.

You're showing us it's possible.

It is.

So you don't have to give the cure.

I'm not here to raise money for cure.

But if you do want to join us, like, think about that.

My money is kind of my kingdom, right?

I control this.

My money.

Well, if I'm doing something like this, that's so obviously the kingdom of God.

Well, okay, I'm building the kingdom that like, things were.

Things that God wants done, are done, the sick are healed, and the kingdom of God is proclaimed.

Like, yeah, okay, so now whatever job I have, it might be mowing lawns, but now I'm doing it and I'm making the kingdom grow.

If you.

10 Bucks a month or whatever, it's like, that's amazing.

So I do think it's cool because it extends your influence and God's influence through you to heal instead of tear down.

Brent, I know that there's people who are going to want to hop on your radio show and your podcast and check out your books and hear more about cure.

So how can they do that?

Sure.

Cure.org is a great place.

You can see what I'm talking about.

See some of the kids.

It's awesome.

And the radio show, if you go to brant hansen.com you can see the list of affiliates and also see our podcast.

It's called Brandt and Sherry Oddcast.

It's not actually my wife.

That's my show producer.

I'm so sorry.

I thought it was your wife.

Don't worry about it.

No, no.

And my wife's name.

Way to start a rumor, Willow.

No, that's fine.

Well, that's awesome, Brandt.

Thank you so much for hopping on today and sharing that God is good even when life is hard.

We appreciate you.

Thank you.

Thanks for what you do too, Willow.

Friend, if somehow this episode encouraged us, you and you have a friend that might encourage.

Will you just pass it along and bless someone else today?

I don't know what part of Brandt's story stuck with you.

But I absolutely love that he reminds us that God has a heart for the underdog.

And may we never forget that.

May we continue to take cues from Jesus as we look at his life.

When he collides with people in the New Testament, he runs right into people's lives who have absolutely been wrecked and wounded by other people, people who've been hurt by religion, people who are, who have leprosy and who are blind and who are lost and feel like they don't fit in at all.

He runs into all these misfits and all these underdogs, and he reminds them that their life matters, that they're worthy of healing, they're worthy of relationship, they're worthy of saving and rescue and forever life with him.

And so I hope that you can be reminded of that and that you can remind other people that we have a God of the underdog.

Keep colliding and we'll catch you next week.