Parker Byrd Conversation Pt. 2

This powerful conversation takes us through an extraordinary journey of faith, resilience, and divine purpose that challenges everything we think we know about God's plans for our lives. At the heart of this testimony is the profound truth found in Jeremiah 29:11 - that God has plans for us, plans not to harm us but to give us hope and a future. What makes this message so compelling is how it unfolds through a devastating boating accident that could have ended a promising baseball career and life itself. Instead, we witness how God orchestrates miracles through seemingly random circumstances - a friend who almost didn't come on the trip but knew exactly what to do in a crisis, a couple arguing on a boat who happened to have a nurse aboard, a tire shop open at just the right moment in just the right place. These aren't coincidences; they're divine appointments. The testimony reminds us that our relationship with Christ isn't meant to be lukewarm, and sometimes God allows us to face our mortality to ask ourselves the hard question: if we died today, would we confidently know where we'd spend eternity? This story challenges us to move beyond comfortable Christianity into a faith that's tested, refined, and ultimately used to impact others. When we surrender our plans and embrace God's calling, even through the darkest valleys described in Psalm 23, we discover that His purpose is always greater than anything we could design for ourselves.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Welcome back to another episode of Baseball and the Bible. I'm Roger Dotson here with my father, Ryan Dotson, and we're back with our special guest, Parker Byrne. It's great to see him.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Let's go. Thanks for having me back on, man. This is this is awesome. Part two.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Part two, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Part two.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

We uh saw him in this devotion we were reading on the pod. And this is one-minute sports devotions for young baseball players if you want to go fetch a copy. But uh that's where we heard of him, and my dad just threw a little Hail Mary trying to get hold of them. It actually happened. And we're good, baby.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Hail Mary's work sometimes, brother. Sometimes I do.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

So in there, you share uh a little bit of that devotion, you share some of your testimony. Uh I, you know, again, I remembered seeing seeing it on Sports Center your first game back, and just thinking how cool that was, and so that's why it is pretty cool to be able to talk to you. Yeah, but um I again there were some in there, I heard bits and pieces, and then I read some write-up maybe in a local paper there that really shed some more light on to it. So if you don't mind, you know, yeah, you're talking, yeah, you tell your testimony, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

So um, like I said last podcast, you know, I committed here in ninth grade. Um, but one of the things that ECU has you do is after you graduate high school, they have you come up to summer school, and that's really just getting you know acclimated to the college lifestyle, living on your own, not living with your parents anymore, culture here, all that good stuff. So I came up here mid-June of 2022 after I graduated high school, you know, met all the incoming freshmen, stayed in the dorms, um, and then we were going throughout all the workouts and stuff, and halfway through the summer, we got another recruit, which is you know kind of odd because you know, at that time the landscape was you know, you get recruited early, you get recruited in ninth grade, tenth grade. Uh, if you're 11th grade and you commit, that's kind of late. And so guy came in midway through summer, and it was just kind of odd in itself. And but he came in, introduced himself. Great dude. Um, and he was like, Hey, my family has a river house that is only about 40 minutes away from here. We should go uh one weekend whenever we're free. Uh, it would be a great time we go too, but then we can you know go out in the water, water skiing, whatever you guys want to do. And you know, as 18-year-olds were like, heck yeah, like that's awesome. Duh. Yeah, but we're like, we're here to play baseball, so we're gonna focus on that for right now. We'll get to it later. So he kept on and on. Last weekend we were here for summer school, like mid-July, um, and it was like asked again, and we're like, you know what, let's do it. So we went down on a Friday after our morning 300 workouts, all the great college baseball stuff that you have to do. And uh, remember we had, I mean, we had a great time. It lived up to the hype. Um, I think it was me um and like four other teammates, and it was originally only going to be like me and another guy, and I recruited like two other guys to go with us because I, you know, I wanted everybody to go because I wanted to have a good time. But uh one of the guys I recruited is that to go, his name was uh Miles Curley. And Miles, he it was from Florida. Um, he didn't have a car there that summer just because we were there for four weeks, five weeks. And so he didn't bring up his car, but I remember he was like, Man, I I don't want to go because you know I had I'm agreed to help an elderly couple move some furniture tomorrow, um, and I don't have a way back. I was like, Miles, if you go, I will take you back tomorrow. Like, I do not care to be here two days. Like, I will I promise you I can take you back. It's only a 40-minute drive. And so he was like, you know what? Like, I'll go. And so he came along. Like we had a great time that Friday, went tubing, grilled out that night, uh, had campfire on, you know, phone college stuff. And uh, so that Saturday morning, the plan was for me to take Miles back to Greenville. Well, he got a text that morning and said, Hey, Miles, thanks for volunteering, but we don't really need your help anymore. We have some family friends that are actually in town, and you know, we have a lot more hands than we thought. So uh, you know, as an 18-year-old's like, heck yeah, let's let's do it, man. Let's go back out in the the river. You know, we had a great time yesterday, let's do it again. So, me and a guy named Dixon Williams, who we talked about last podcast, who's with the Braves now, but um me, me and Dixon were out on the tube first. Uh, we were on the first ride. Um, and the first ride went great. We were on there for 10-15 minutes, uh, you know, having a lot of fun. Both fell off. Got back on the tube to ride it one more time, and the driver's like, hey, I'm gonna try to throw you guys off a little bit quicker. And you know, we were like, man, we're division one athletes. There's no way you're gonna throw us off any quicker, right? Like, we're gonna be on for 20 minutes. Like, that was just our mindset. And uh the driver was right. I mean, he floored it, uh, went, you know, wide turns and stuff. Dixon fell off, and uh driver snaps your boat the other way, uh, which allowed the tube to wake, which flew me way into the air. And the one thing about me, man, is I am terrified of heights. I mean, I petrified from a young age. I mean, I have pictures of me at three years old crawling on a swinging bridge in Vancouver. So, I mean, I am petrified of heights, and so um the tube flew way into the air. It was probably you know 15 feet, but it felt like 100. So I just decided to let go. And me and Dixon both had hit the water pretty hard. So we're like, hey, we're done for right now. We'll let you know some others go and we'll just kind of hang out. So we're swimming back to the boat, and I was pretty far ahead of Dixon just from where we had landed. And I was kind of using the rope from the tube to help guide myself in. And as I got within 10-15 yards from the boat, uh the driver put the boat in reverse, or got knocked into reverse somehow, which essentially, you know, allowed the rope to pull me under into the boat. Um, and the propeller hit both of my legs and my left hand as well. Um, but from there, you know, this is when God is there the entire time. I mean, he there was not one part of this story that he was not present in. And so Miles Curly was on the end of the boat um that day. And back home in Florida, Miles had a very close friend die in a boating accident. So he knew all the boating one-of-one of what to do whenever there's an accident. Wow. So Miles jumps in immediately. Um, and him and Dixon helped guide me back onto the boat. They pulled me up onto the boat and they take off their shirts, tie tourniquets around my legs the best they could. Well, our boat wasn't wasn't able to move anymore because the rope was caught with the propeller. So they had to wave down other boats. Um, so the first boat that they wave down, stopped. My friends addressed the situation to them pretty panically, and they were like, you know what, we can't really help. We have kids on this boat, and we don't want to expose them to the scene. But here's a here's a first aid kit. And my friends were like, His legs are far from a band-aid right now, like way too like band-aid is not even gonna help. So they just throw the first aid kit, and uh they would continue to wave down on the boats. The set uh second boat stopped, and on that boat was two couples, and the only reason they were going back in that day was because one of the couples had gotten into an argument and were like, hey, we're done for today, just take us back to the marina, we want to go home. And so on the way back, they saw us panically waving to them, and they stopped, and they were like, Of course we will help. And so they got me onto their boat, and one of the ladies was actually a nurse, so she took even more control of the situation. They had more rope on their boat where they could tie tourniquets around my legs, tighter tourniquets. So they got me transported to the marina where there was an ambulance wait on me to take me to Washington Hospital, which was only about uh 10-15 minutes away, to immediately airlift me to ECU help here in Greenville. So um I had I stayed in ECU help for a total of four weeks, had a total of 22 surgeries in 46 days. I had an amputation around probably surgery eight or nine, I believe. Um, so my accident happened on July 23rd of 2022. Amputation was August 4th of 2022, um, and then I got out of the hospital on August 20th. So it was a four-week span uh that I was actually in the hospital, but I had to keep going back for more surgeries, and uh so yeah, that was that's that's the story. And but I mean it was crazy because I mean I had so many moments throughout you know the entire accident that God was there. I was on the helicopter, just you know, laying there on the not hospital bed, but the little bed they have in there, and and the flight nurses were doing stuff on me that they needed for IVs, all that good stuff, give me blood products. I think they said that my blood, my blood pressure, after they gave me all the blood products they had on both the egglands and the helicopter was like 60 over 30, and I was fully awake the entire time. So, I mean, just the fact that I was hyper-aware of what was going on, God was there because he knew that you know I needed to be able to tell my story to people one day. And so, um, but I was laying there on the little bed and they were doing what they had to do, and uh I had this moment where I had this out-of-body experience, and I was kind of laying there, and all of a sudden, like I felt like I was being lifted up, and like I could see them doing everything on me, like I was in a different, like, you know, perspective, and like I was floating up, and it felt like I was there for probably about five minutes, and so you know, I was definitely you know floating up to heaven, and you know, I was definitely waiting in line to talk to Jesus, but uh luckily uh you know God, it wasn't my time yet, and God allowed me to come back down to earth for a little bit and uh tell my story to others and you know also share what he did in my life, and so I mean he he saved me that day, and you know, it's living for him and also share my story to as many people as possible ever since.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Well you can see God's hands all over that story, you know, even from the the uh the couple of things.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

I mean, we're also like sorry, uh it's just like the stuff that happened that day is just remarkable. Like some of the some of the things I don't even like tell this side just because it's like like when I tell my story, a lot of times it's just that. Um, but like there's other things that happen that just like were such godsend. So my parents are two and a half hours away in Lorenburg, um, and because I'm in Greenville now. Um, and so they're they were two and a half hours away. They had just got back from Yellowstone National Park. So my parents had um, I think my sister went to some camp at UNC Chapel Hill, which we're not Toriel fans by any means. So, like that was already a wrist sending her there. Um so because if you've ever been to that place, Lord Jesus, it need to be healed. All of it, I mean we all do, but that place a little bit more. Um, but anyway, sorry. Anyways, uh my other sister, I have two younger sisters, one's 20 now, one is 14. Well, at the time, one was um about to go into fifth grade, and the other one was about to be a junior in high school, so however old that is, but um the other one had just got back from the beach, and it was kind of a day where you know they were just cleaning out the house. They had just got back from Yellowstone. Uh, my sister was with her boyfriend, my other sister had just got back from home from the UNC Chapel Hill camp. Um, so it was just kind of a day they were just taking the kind of decompress from all the travels that everybody was doing. And my dad was like cleaning out his closet and you know, taking some clothes of Goodwill. And he got a call from my ex-girlfriend that was on the boat as well. And she told him, Hey Jeff, you need to get to Greenville soon. Parker's been in a boating accident while he was subing. You know, basically the boat ran him over, and he's probably he's getting airlifted now, but he's probably gonna die. So they beeline up to Greenville, get everybody in one car, beeline up to Greenville. My dad's going like 120 on the side of the road, like passing people in traffic, like hitting debris. My mom's yelling at my dad. And this is all obviously I wasn't there, so this is all stuff that they've told me. And my mom's like yelling at my dad, like, slow down, like Parker's gonna be alive and we're gonna be dead, like you know, we can't do anything. But my dad was so worried that you know I was gonna die and he wouldn't be there, yeah. And so I mean, he is beelining it, and and so they get a flat tire. Imagine that they they hit some debris and they get a flat tire. Well, it's like Saturday and it's like 4 p.m. at this point, and my mom's yellow at my dad, like, Jeff, there's not gonna be any like tire shops open right now, like you know, we're we're basically screwed. Like, we're gonna have to call, you know, all these people to help us, and my dad's like, just look it up. And so she my mom looks it up, and there is a tire shop 400 feet from where they are, and they're um open, and it was a Hispanic-ran tire shop, so they didn't speak any English. So my dad and my family pull in there, you know, on like three wheels and a rim, and you know, my dad's panically telling them what they need. They only had one tire that fit my dad's car, and it was like a very dull tire, it wasn't the best tire at all, and so they put it on there and get them back on the road within five minutes with a language barrier, and so they continue to go to Greenville, they get there before I'm even out of surgery, but like the things that just you know lined up where it was just God was on every every bit of it, it's just remarkable.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

When when I read more of the story there and uh read about the the flat tires. I I just I can't imagine I read it from the from the perspective as a parent, you know. I can't imagine what they were feeling in that I mean the horror and the fear and you know, all that.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Yeah, yeah. It's in it's crazy because um I tell people that you know, my especially my dad probably took it harder than anybody. Um and part of that was because you know our relationship was really probably strongly built on baseball. I mean, it was just we were always out of cages together, always talking about baseball. And I mean, like if this was in style, the podcast stuff was in style whenever me and when I was young, me and my dad would have a baseball podcast. That's just how much we love the game of baseball. Uh, testament to you guys that you go and the Bible as well, because that's the main thing. But you know, growing up, me and dad were probably baseball podcasts. That's it. So but um, so I mean it probably hit him harder than anybody just because you know, for a while there we didn't know if my dream would ever come true, our dream because at this point it was his dream as well. And um, so I mean he it definitely hit him harder. And you know, like obviously I made it back out into the field and became you know the first Division player to ever play with a prostate leg, but you know, the the vision and it's changed from whenever I was 18 years old before my accident of you know being the starting shortstop here at East Carolina and doing all these cool things, being all American, all that cool stuff, but you know, there's days that my dad struggles with you know reality. And I, you know, it would be a lie sometimes if I say I didn't struggle with it as well. I mean, sure, you know, I sometimes going to practice isn't the easiest seeing people, you know, compete for a short sight spot or whatnot, but you know, at the end of the day, you know, I talk about it a little bit in the the um book there, but Jeremiah 29, 11 is a verse that you know we really, really, really connected to. And it's very cliche. I would say it's probably one of the most popular you know Bible scriptures, but you know, it says, For I know for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to uh harm you not harm you and give you a future and hope and all that good stuff. And that's something that we really felt in that was you know that up to this point my life had only been you know my plan, everything was going great. You know, I committed ECU at a young age, that everything, everything that I had as a goal was being checked off. And this was the first time where I had to lean into God's plan, where I had to fully rely on his plan rather than mine. So, you know, him uh God saying that in the Bible and reminding us daily that you know his plan is greater than ours, that even though you're in the middle of a season, that you're in the middle of a time period where it doesn't look like his plan is greater, at the end of the day, it will be greater even if you are in that valley. And you know, he tells us in Psalms 23 that he's with us, you know, in in the green pastures and you know, the dark valleys. So, you know, that's something that you know I take very dear dearly, and uh at the end of the day, God's plan will always be greater. And um, you know, I'm kind of on the tail end of my accident now, and I can see now where God's plan is and the impact that my story can have on other people, and you know, it's all through God. Like none of this is me. Like I tell people all the time, you know, I'm from Little Warrenburg, and it's a you know very country town. Everybody's either working at a factory or a farmer or something. And I took a public speaking class my junior year of high school, and my parents were like, Parker, why are you taking a public speaking class? You would never be a public speaker. You have a thick country accent, you know, you mumble really bad, and they were they were right about every single thing. I I was not in line to be a public speaker, I was a baseball player. Only reason I was taking the class was for three reasons. It was an easy A, it was a community college class, my cousins were in it, and I had to be able to have some interviews after I have a three-home run game, right? And so I was like, well, you know, it's it's to be interviewed, and it's an easy, my cousins are in it, all that stuff. Well, fast forward to now, I'm literally public speaking as a career. And I'm like, man, if that's not God, I don't know what is because I'm not smart enough, I'm not brave enough, I don't have you know all the physical attributes to be a public speaker, but every time I go up there to speak anywhere, you know, I just pray to God that He He speaks me. And you know, Moses, you know, he hadn't and you know, he tried to use the excuse. I I can't speak. Like, do not send me try to make all these excuses, and you know, that's what we kind of do in life as well, is we use all these excuses. God, I can't do this because I have this. But God's like, well, I'll send Aaron, your brother, with you to communicate because you may not have the attributes, but I'll put somebody in place that does. And so that's what I've seen God do through my life is you know, send people to help me, send people to carry the weight. And we were talking about it earlier about you know, my marketing team, like if God sends people like that. You're not great at social media. I'm terrible at social media. I I barely get on Instagram because you know, it's I I like being like in present moments, but God sends people your way, and I felt that, and I felt you know the power of Greenball, the power of prayer, the power of you know, just Christ throughout my entire recovery, because there was moments in my recovery where you know my knee was completely dead. They told me that they're gonna have to amputate above my knee, which in the prosthetic world is a huge blow because the knee joint is really crucial to a lot of movement. So, like that was there's there's a part of my story that gets highlighted and it's kind of out of context. But there was a part where my dad told me, you know, you'll never be able to play baseball again. And um, my mom, you know, quickly says, that's not true, you'll be able to do whatever you want. But a lot of people, like whenever it's sold, a lot of people say it's like right after my amputation. Well, it's really not, it's after they tell me, you know, your knees won't have to be amputated too, that you know, your life will be a lot different than just a below the knee. And I was like, Well, what does this mean? And that's when my dad says it, because that's the truth. If I was above the knee, there's just the mobility wouldn't be there to play baseball. And especially at the division one level. And and so uh I forgot what I say. Oh, well, the power of prayer, I mean, during those moments, we Felt the prayer, my knee came back to life through the power of prayer because my mom was using Facebook as a platform to just share what was happening to other people, but also all these people started praying, and we literally felt God's covenant and God's you know grace upon our lives at that moment, and my knee was completely safe. I think I had you know one surgery, doctors were like, you know, his knee's completely black. We're gonna have to schedule a surgery next Thursday. Man, he's gonna have to get an amputation above the knee. Well, it was a Tuesday when they told us. So I went in for surgery on a Thursday, just a typical washout. They came back and was like, yeah, his knee's still completely black. Like, we're gonna have to amputate next Thursday in a week. I went in uh Tuesday before the Thursday amputation, and they came back and was like, uh, we're gonna hold off on the cutting. Um, there's a just a trickle of blood flow, just a little bit of blood flow, not much. Do not get your hopes up. We're probably still gonna have to amputate. However, we're just gonna hold off. And so they went in that Thursday just for another washout, not the amputation. They're like, there's complete blood flow. And so they had to obviously they didn't cut anymore. So, you know, God, God's grace is insane. And in Ezekiel, you know, chapter 37, Ezekiel asks, uh, God, how can these bones lift? And he's like, you know, Sovereign Lord, you alone know. And that's exactly what happened in my life. So God was there every step of the way.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Would you say before like pre-accident? I mean, and obviously you're experiencing this going through your journey, but where was your relationship at with the Lord at that moment where you yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

So I got saved in ninth grade. Um we talked about a little bit earlier. You know, I grew up in a Christ-centered family, uh, but with travel baseball and all that stuff. Like, you know, we didn't go to church every Sunday. My family did a great job of you know, praying before meals, praying before bed, stuff like that. You know, your typical Christians, American society Christians, um, but you know, we weren't fully rooted in Christ at all. And I mean, I would think everybody in my family would say that, you know, we weren't really living for the word. We weren't diving into the word daily, we weren't doing all the things we're doing now. And I got saved in ninth grade at a Fields of Faith event for SCA. Uh, Daryl Strawberry came to talk in little old Scotland County. I thought it was the coolest thing ever because it's Daryl Strawberry, and Scotland County is tiny. I mean, like, why is he coming there? And it was just to give his testimony. And uh, I went and heard his testimony, and it was so powerful, man. I'm talking about obviously the highest of highs to the lowest of lows of getting, you know, arrested, being addicted to drugs, all this stuff. And, you know, I realized if God can use him, if God can use that that guy who's been in jail, and now he's sharing the word to so many people, why can he not use me? Right? I don't want to be, I want to be like that guy. There was just something about him that like just drew me to him. And so I gave my life to Christ that night. Went about my high school experience, kind of a lukewarm Christian. Still didn't dive into the word like I should. Um, but I went to FCA stuff, I went to, you know, all that stuff. Any like event I would go to, went to church more, started praying a little bit more. Um, so I would say I was kind of lukewarm Christian, but knew a little bit more, and then my accident happened. And that's the turning point of my relationship with God because after that, um, my dad asked me a question. He was like, Parker, if you would have died that day, you think you would have gone to heaven? And I couldn't answer him and say yes. Like, I I I don't know. I put it obviously in God's hands, but like it was his decision, but I didn't I wasn't fully confident to say yes. I was like, I I don't know, I really don't know. So that was something in that moment. I was like, I never want to be in that position again to where if I'm in a position to die, which everybody is, the success rate of dying is 100%. All of us are gonna die. And so I never want to be in a position where you know I don't know. I I want to be fully confident talking to God one day about you know where I should be, heaven or hell. And um, so that's that's the point that turned my life around and seeing what God's done through my life after you know being obedient to Him and just living out His calling is is just insane.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Well that's awesome. And yeah, and obviously He's taking you through all of these things and now setting the stage up for what's next in your life. Yeah I was yeah I was on social media the other day and I saw something come through that said Parker Bird is leaving ECU, and I was like, I thought it was fake. Yeah, I thought it was some kind of fake news, so I click on it and I start reading it. It seems like there is for us for a specific reason. So what is happening next? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

So um uh this this is so funny because Coach Gowin, I think it was Media Day before um the the season, and you know, they asked a question about me, and Coach Gowin shared my plans about what I was going to do next year. Me and him have talked about it. Um, and I mean this is my this is my senior year at East Carolina, so this is my my last year here either way. I was I was done with baseball no matter what happened. Like I I understood that you know life is taking me in a different direction now, and you know, I'm feeling God's calling somewhere else. But you know, I had the opportunity to go out to San Diego State University, they have an adaptive track and field team, and uh the throws coach for Team USA Paralympics to throws coach for um San Diego State's adaptive track and field team. So I got invited out last October to a Paralympic camp out in True La Vista, which is outside of San Diego, and it was just kind of a development camp. They were just kind of recruiting for you know LA in 2028, and it was a bunch of athletes that didn't have a track and field sport, they were just good at something else, and they were obviously adaptive athletes, and so everybody was kind of figuring out sports. And at this point, I had kind of started training with a guy here in Brieville uh throwing javelin, and so I went into the camp thinking, you know, I have a I don't have I was not by any means a professional at throwing javelin, but I let him know, I was like, I've throwing javelin a little bit, but I'm I don't fully know technique. Like you guys are I'm still in the learning phase. And so they're like, well, but I was like, I'm open to anything. Whatever you guys think I am, if you think I'm a sprinter, I don't like sprinting. But if you think that's what I'm gonna be good at competing at, I'll do it. You think you know I'm shot put, discus, whatever. I'd rather throw something than run, but I would run if you guys think I should run. But they're like, well, you know, you're not a javelin thrower. The javelin throwers are six foot three, tall, lanky, I'm 5'10, you know, kind of stocky, more muscle. And I was like, okay, well, where do you think fits me best? They're like, you are the perfect discus thrower. Like they're very explosive, uh, they, you know, a little bit shorter, um, kind of more of your build. So I was like, let's try it out. So uh tried it out in October, and ever since then, just been training for you know the discus in uh LA in 28. So going out to San Diego State, get my masters, get my NBA, um, be out there for two years, train with uh San Diego State, compete with them, and train for the Olympics in 2028. So really looking forward to it. It's you know something that you know I never thought would be in my future. I'd you said I was thinking about this the other day. I'm a tattoo guy, right? Like I I love tattoos. Like I but for me, they have to mean something. Like I'm not just gonna be, oh, that looked cool. I'm gonna go get it. And I'm more like, I mean, I have tattoos all on my arm, but they all like mean something. Like that is from Matthew chapter 5, you're the light of the world. These are three dates right here. My accident date, amputation, uh, my date of my return to baseball, be great, all this stuff, right? But I've always loved when the Olympians get the like Olympic rings tattooed on them. Yeah, and I remember in high school thinking that, like, I dude, that would be sick to be an Olympian, but obviously baseball's not in the Olympics right now, so I'm like never gonna be an Olympian. Then life happens, and now I'm sitting here training for the Paralympics in 2028. So I mean it's it's incredible. I just started my a nonprofit, uh, it's called Limitless L-I-M-B-I-T-L-E-S-S. Um, so we're starting social soon, uh getting a website up here in a couple weeks. Um, it's going to be so so huge, man. I just want to you know impact other data athletes and show them what's out there because one of the main problems is whenever you become, you know, quote unquote disabled, you know, first of all, insurance only pays for uh walking leg once every three years, and they they view all prosthetics and equipment that is for sports as a luxury, so they would not pay for it. So what the like what I would have to do in order to get those cool blades that I have is go through these foundations, like Challenge Athletes Foundation and all these many other foundations to even get one of these legs because they're like$30,000, they're not cheap at all. It's like a brand new car. So um people just don't know what's out there, they don't understand that you know there's these foundations out there to help you. So we want to be the connecting piece from the moment they get into the hospital to what's out there, show them that there is hope that they don't just have to be a disabled person that um doesn't do anything in life, they can be an athlete still. And you know, we want to create an app where people learn how to train again. They have to see these adaptive athletes that will be training them that you know their life isn't over, that you can still train, you can still work out, you can still do many, many things, and have these care packages that we send to trauma centers where people get in in accidents, and um you know, in the in it will be a Bible because you know, we're keeping the main thing, the main thing, and always spread the word because you know we're letting them know that you know God is the only way that you know you'll have a great story. Everybody has a testimony, whether it be a voting accident or your life as you know going every way you want. God is in everybody's life, and everybody has a story, everybody has a platform, it's just whether you want to share it or not. And uh, that's something I always tell people, and uh we'll remind these people is the athletes to share their stories to inspire other people to um you know continue to put God at the front and uh shine the light like Matthew chapter 5 tells us. So excited what limitless has in store, and um so yeah, gotta get a job with modern women in America. I got the opportunity to do that. Uh so gotta be a big boy for a little bit and you know actually make some money. California isn't cheap, so gotta somehow, you know, pay for apartments and stuff out there.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

I was gonna say, I mean, you're really, you know, your college life, you really roughed it, you know, spending time in uh in North Carolina, beautiful North Carolina, now you're going to San Diego. I mean, you're really, you know, you're really Yeah, it's a jump, brother. It's a jump, but it's still beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

I am from North Carolina, I've only lived in the Carolinas. I was born in Columbia, South Carolina, because my dad did his redancy out in uh University of South Carolina. But besides that, I mean, I've been in North Carolina since I was one and a half years old and lived in Lorenberg and Greenville. So living in San Diego is going to be a culture shock, but I am ready. It's going to be a great adventure. Uh, my girlfriend is going out there with me, which is huge, uh, because uh I'll actually know one person at least. And so um we're we're excited. It's gonna be a new new adventure, and we're gonna be able to meet new people, get plugged into a church out there, um, get into some Bible studies, and um ultimately spread God's word to new people. That's kind of how I view it is you know, I get to see a whole new, whole new platform of people and you know, share my story out there and continue to do public speaking. I love it. I mean, it's something that I never thought I was gonna do. My parents obviously didn't either, and it was uh it's something that's came about, but I love it. Loving sharing my story and telling people what God's going through it. Preaching? What do you mean preaching in in your future or just just I don't know? I I you know I'd I I would I'm very interested in it. I I think it would be awesome. You know, my grandpa is a pastor, um, but he little funny story about him. My my papa is like he's my best friend. We we talk every single day. He calls me after every single brace game, and we do the rundown on it. But um he is the like probably my role model because he has uh the best relationship I've ever seen with God. I mean, talking about a guy that is fully, fully, fully living for the Lord, and that's that's my grandpa. But my great-grandpa, my my grandma's dad, um he was actually a pastor, and he got sick and had cancer and asked my grandpa to fill in for him, and uh he's like, Hey, can you pastor for me? And my grandpa thought it was gonna be a one-time thing. He was like, Yeah, I'll I'll do it like a Sunday, and like he did it, and my great-grandpa was really meaning, like, can you take over for me? And so my grandpa didn't realize that, and so he took over for my great-grandpa and has been doing it ever since. But I mean, he's not making any profit off of it, he doesn't want to make any money off of it. He is doing it strictly because he loves the Lord and he wants to share it. So I do have the the you know the genes, the DNA for it, but um, I don't know. We'll see what God takes me, man. I'm I'm just a dead vessel and doing everything for him.

SPEAKER_01 36:50

Well, we'll uh again, I just appreciate all the time. What when is this real quick? When is the is there like a qualifying thing for the Paralympics? Or when do you get yeah?

SPEAKER_00 37:00

Um it will probably be in next year in 2027. So my numbers are looking good right now. I um I'm probably at like 42 meters, um, I would say throwing discus is very technical. I mean, baseball is a technical sport, but I've done it all my life, so you know the technique's kind of there, but discus is a whole new sport, so learning a technique is crucial, and so I've been spending a lot of time on just learning technique, and you know, it's like one of those things once the technique's there, uh you start throwing even further. So the number that I would really have to get to is like 50, 52, um, to be able to be pretty competitive. And you know, I'm I'm I fully believe that I can get there because I've been training for six months and I'm already at 42, so it's gonna be a cool journey to actually be on a track and field team and compete as well.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Well, we look forward to coming to LA in uh 2028.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

Yeah, yeah. Well, you guys have tickets, I got you. Don't you worry about it. Let's go. Hey, let's go to the Olympics, Riker, let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

I'm on it.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Let's see, uh let's do all the cool sports. You know, maybe one day we'll get we'll go to the winter Olympics where there's like bobsledding and all the sports you've never seen in your life.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

Yeah, all the ones that are questionable whether they're sports or not. Yeah, the the curling days.

SPEAKER_00 38:27

At least at least summer Olympics, you know, actual sports you're gonna be used to. Yeah. Yeah, some of them. I don't know what they what they were thinking, but uh baseball's not an Olympic sport, but curling is, you know, it's just how I have no idea, but yeah, I I did see where they were pushing for baseball to be on the Olympics. So hopefully uh 32, it will be passed.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

Well, uh look, I we appreciate the time and the extra time and getting a couple episodes in here. Um just before we go, I just for Riker and and most of the the folks watching this are Riker's age. Just is there some some parting advice that you could give for baseball for life? I mean, what would you what would you just share with them?

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Um for the baseball side, you know, my dad always told me, you know, there's only two things that you can control, and that's your effort and attitude. Um and that's you know something that I've always taken because baseball teaches you more about the game of life than any other sport because you fail so many times. I mean you bat three out of you know, three out of ten nowadays, that's great. Like nobody bats 300 anymore. So like do not get too emotional with you know the results. Um, stay process oriented. That's something that we preach here at East Carolina. And you know, I like I said earlier, I I love the process, and you know, I would encourage you guys to you know fall in love with the process of you know becoming great because it doesn't happen overnight. There's there's not one person that has ever just picked up a baseball bat and they're great. You know, there's been so many hours put in to everything, and that's that's everything in life. That's not just baseball. It's you know, whatever you want to be in life, you know, you got to put the time into it. But um, my biggest thing nowadays, and this goes for all stages of life, is to get 1% better each and every day. You know, it's just continuing to stack those 1% on top of each other because at the end of the year you're 365% better than what you were at the start of the year. And you know, the 1% doesn't seem like a lot in the daily, daily, uh, day-to-day process, but you know, when you look up and you look where you were to where you are then, it's it's a big margin. So continue just to you know love the game of baseball, but ultimately love God. I mean, you've gotten every gift from him, and you know, I wish I would have seen this earlier, but you know, give all glory to God because you know, none of us have any talent on our own. You know, if it's anything that we're doing on our own of a selfish admissions, it's not a good thing. It's you know, and God will always remind you of that, that you know, he puts you in the right place with the right people at the right time, and he does that very intentional. So continue to pray, continue to trust in his plan. And at the end of the day, man, you'll look up and you'll just be so grateful for where you are and what you have going on in your life. So um continue just to be great, man. I'm looking forward to seeing what you're gonna do because if you're already doing this at the age of 11, you know, hosting podcasts, talking about the talking about the word, talking about God, dude, you're gonna be set up for a great, great future. So I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully, you'll be uh playing on the Cardinals here in about you know seven years, whenever you get drafted out of high school.

SPEAKER_02 41:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 42:00

Let's do it. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 42:02

Okay, wow.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

I like that. Let it be, Lord. Let it be.

SPEAKER_02 42:06

Let it be.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

I love it. All right. Well, again, uh appreciate you if um and we'll be we'll be watching and and praying for you and cheering for you from afar here and see how, see what the Lord's gonna keep doing in your life. And that's right. Um if you don't mind, just uh to wrap us up. If you would just pray for us and uh let's go.

SPEAKER_00 42:32

Dear Heavenly Father, uh, we just thank you. Thank you for a successful podcast. We just thank you for um all the conversation that we had today. Um we thank you for um Riker. We thank you for Ryan Lord, just thank you for what they are doing with this podcast, with glorifying you, glorifying uh the game of baseball, uh, but essentially, you know, sharing your good news and telling people that you know matter what happens in life, that you are still God, that you are still sovereign, you are still true, you are still above all, Lord. Um I just pray for uh Ryan and Riker both that you know they they go about their week, their days, um, that you know everything is Christ-centered, that you are in everything. I pray for uh Riker's future in the game of baseball, Lord, can see you just uh allow him to be successful in it, but um ultimately know that um you are King, that you have given him all his talents, that um all this is in your name, uh, that everything that he has, uh he will glorify you, Lord. Um I just thank you for the opportunity to come on here and to share my testimony that you've given me, Lord. Um I continue just to praise you and all that we do, Lord. Thank you for the opportunity uh just to uh to share with these guys to talk about the game of baseball. And uh I just pray that they have many, many guests that um love the Lord, that love the game. of baseball and uh ultimately praise your name and everything I do. So in we we pray all this in your name. Your name pray. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 44:09

Amen.