From Chaos to Calling: Mason Sherwood on Real Courage

Mason Sherwood is a 22-year-old entrepreneur from Urbandale, Iowa, a former multi-sport athlete (wrestling, football, and soccer) who now runs a door-to-door sales business focused on fiber internet while building a life with his wife, Hannah, whom he married in August. In this episode, Mason sits down with his father-in-law, Jeffrey, for an honest conversation about courage, where he defines it as stepping outside your comfort zone, challenging your own thinking, and choosing the right path even when it’s hard. He shares how his view of courage was shaped not only by everyday discipline and high-pressure work, but most deeply by a dramatic personal transformation: walking away from a destructive season of drugs, false identity, and self-reliance and learning to trust Jesus with his life. Along the way, Mason reflects on confidence versus courage, the role of faith in real change, and why he believes courage is rare today, ultimately encouraging listeners to pursue Jesus, trust God in uncertainty, and get comfortable being uncomfortable if they want their lives to truly change.

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See you in the next episode! Be blessed!

Full Transcript

Announcer: Welcome to Courageous by Crossroads Apologetics, a look into what motivates us to step out and courage, and the everyday bravery of men and women like you. In each episode, we hear a personal story of bravery centered around this question: What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? And now your host, founder of Crossroads Apologetics, Jeff Johnson.

Jeff Johnson: Hey everybody, welcome back to the Courageous Crossroads podcast. Glad to have you with us again. Do you know what every father wants to do? Every father that has a podcast, every father wants to interview his son-in-law. To put him on the hot seat, to ask him the questions in front of the microphone, to watch him squirm a little bit. And today I’m telling you, it’s the best ever. I’ve got my son-in-law who’s absolutely fantastic. Don’t tell him I told you that, but he’s absolutely fantastic. Mason Sherwood, he has got a story of courage that’s going to inspire and it’s going to enrich each and every one of you. And I can’t wait for you to hear from my son-in-law because I loved getting him on the hot seat. Without further ado, here is Mason Sherwood. Mason, thanks for joining the podcast. This is the best. Every father-in-law, well I don’t know if this is true or not. I would think every father-in-law would want to be able to interview his son-in-law. Probably. Do you feel like you’re on the rack or something? Do you feel like you’re on the hot seat?

Mason Sherwood: Kind of. I’m used to it though. I like the hot seat. I perform the best on the hot seat, Jeffrey.

Jeff Johnson: Yes you do. Okay, so Mason is my son-in-law. Let’s start with the easy question. Easy, easy, easy question. What’s your favorite thing about your father-in-law?

Mason Sherwood: Your wisdom.

Jeff Johnson: Good answer. That’s my favorite thing about you.

Mason Sherwood: I made it choose from. I imagine there’s a lot other things there too, but the number one is wisdom, right? But your wisdom, it’s not like your wisdom, just like business or God. It’s just like you are a wise man. You are a grown mature man at doing it the right way.

Jeff Johnson: This is working perfectly. I couldn’t have hoped for anything better. We want to talk about courage and I want to get down to the question, what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? Have you thought about that question?

Mason Sherwood: Never. I’ve never thought about what’s the most courageous thing I’ve ever done.

Jeff Johnson: Have you thought about it since you’ve listened to it? Like how you would answer?

Mason Sherwood: A little bit.

Jeff Johnson: Before we get into that, tell the people that are listening a little bit about Mason Sherwood. This is the abbreviated five men and that or whatever. Who you are, where you came from, what you’re doing now. People need some context so that they understand who they’re listening to.

Mason Sherwood: Well, first of all, I am Jeffrey’s son-in-law. Fantastic. So that’s some great context. I’m married to his daughter, Hannah. And now legally she’s Hannah Sherwood. I was feeling out my…

Jeff Johnson: Give her a little closer.

Mason Sherwood: Who’s what was I doing today? I was doing my mid-American energy thing. And I put married for the first time ever in my entire life. I put her social security number. And I was like bamboozled that her social security card had my last day mounted that. Like blew my mind. But anyways.

Jeff Johnson: Well, that’s fantastic. That’s an exciting thing.

Mason Sherwood: That was cool. But no, I’m 22. So I’m still young. I’m not far from where Jeffrey and Hannah live. I’m from Urbandale, Iowa. I went to Urbandale High School. My entire childhood, I played every sport you could possibly ever imagine thinking of. But the main three were wrestling football. And surprisingly soccer. I was a grass fairy. Soccer was like my real action.

Jeff Johnson: You played it. I did not know that about you.

Mason Sherwood: A lot of soccer. I did. I love soccer. Because it was like hard, hard football season. Getting as much weight as possible. And then loses as much weight as possible in three weeks. And then basically kill myself and wrestling for six months. And then I went soccer. I just had fun. I didn’t care if I was good or bad. There was no stress. I just went out there and like did my best.

Jeff Johnson: Did you do it to stay fit or something? I mean, was that part of it? Or you just had to do things.

Mason Sherwood: I have to do things constantly. I can’t sit and do nothing. Otherwise, I go crazy.

Jeff Johnson: Okay. You know that.

Mason Sherwood: Yeah. You just need to keep yourself.

Jeff Johnson: So you would say. You would say your. Tough. I mean, you like those gritty sports. You know, the football, the wrestling. I mean, those are. Yeah. Soccer is not as tough as it.

Mason Sherwood: No, but you had to run around. And I was like the tough guy on the field. I would truck everybody. Like I remember my sophomore year. I got caught up diversity just to hurt people basically. Like I played. I played 700 defensive mid, which is like defensive. But in the midfield, because it’s really good at shooting and passing the ball. But I was really good at defending. I just run everybody over without like doing it like it could win. But I would like run everybody over. So if they needed enforcer, I was the guy. I got like all the L cards and I got like three red cards and like four games one time.

Jeff Johnson: The coach put you in knowing that you were going to get.

Mason Sherwood: Yeah. That was a gone purpose. Yeah. Like I was enforcer. I went out there to like go. Get under people’s skin and run them over. So our aid didn’t like it, but I did.

Jeff Johnson: But you love doing that. You love the tough. So did you did you have some acclaim with football and wrestling and soccer? I mean, where did you have some significant achievements there that?

Mason Sherwood: Yeah, when I was, I mean, kind of all my sports goes time kind of ties into my story. But I was really, really good when I was a little kid. I mean, I started wrestling at four years old. I’ve got a couple of AAU State championships in there. I’ve gone to Fargo twice. I was very good at wrestling, especially when I was in middle school. Middle school is like prime time mason and everything. I was fantastic football. I played middle linebacker and running back. Little bit of QB, little bit of wire seeker. I was a punter. I was a kicker. I did everything. And that was fantastic. And I did really good there too. High school I got offered by like small. The only D1 offer I got was from Central Michigan. That was for football. And then I got offered.

Jeff Johnson: That’s impressive.

Mason Sherwood: Yeah. For a little guy like me playing middle linebacker, it was like, good job.

Jeff Johnson: I mean, that’s really impressive.

Mason Sherwood: Yeah. Okay. And then I also got offered to play football at Minnesota State. We’re Logan played for one year.

Jeff Johnson: Okay. And then.

Mason Sherwood: That’s my other son in law for the listeners at home. And those are like the only like two cool ones. All the other ones were like crappy, boring, avistas and stuff like that. And really have any significance. Wrestling I got offered to, but I mean, that goes into my story. I was really, really good. I lost God and then I went for it.

Jeff Johnson: Okay. Don’t give away the story. Can’t do that.

Mason Sherwood: Yeah.

Jeff Johnson: But that’s fantastic. And how long have you been married to my daughter?

Mason Sherwood: Since August. Not long. Not even, oh, actually, yeah, six months in a couple days, five days.

Jeff Johnson: What’s the best thing about being married to my daughter?

Mason Sherwood: Having a nonstop support system that is like the rock of my life, that’s best thing. Wow. Someone who loves me no matter what, no matter how angry and make her every day.

Jeff Johnson: You don’t make my daughter very angry. You know what I love is how much you love her. I see that all the time. I mean, for a father that you could want anything better for your daughter. So I’m so glad that you’re my son, Lamason.

Mason Sherwood: Thank you, everyone.

Jeff Johnson: Oh, my goodness. Okay. So about this courage business before asking the big question, what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? How do you define courage? What’s courage mean to you?

Mason Sherwood: Oh, courage to me. I think courage most importantly to me is like, when I think of courage, I think of someone that is willing to step out of the box even when they don’t want to. I think courage is pushing your own limits and your own challenges, even your own thinking. I get challenged all the time with my thinking and for me to go against what I think, I think that takes courage out of me. It can be very stubborn. I think courage really for me, like a short story short, is really just like taking a step out of the box of being comfortable.

Jeff Johnson: And you would even say what you said before, if you know that you want to go left, but you know that the right answer is to go right, that’s courage.

Mason Sherwood: Right. Going right. Yeah, harm’s that. Yeah. It’s hard.

Jeff Johnson: Who do you look up to as somebody that’s courageous? Like if you think of a courageous person.

Mason Sherwood: My life won. That’s a good one. My life is very courageous. Also, well, I’ve wrapped her into a whole bunch of stuff. She probably does what she does. I mean, every day, right? You know Hannah would love to be a lawyer. She would love to do all these things, but because of my job and because of our relationship, she can’t really. I need her in other ways. And that takes a lot of courage, I think, for her, especially when we were first started dating, it took a lot of courage for her. Even to stay with me when I was doing all that bad crap. That took a lot of courage for her. So I really look up to Hannah in no sense, because I have no idea how in the world she’s still with me and married to me. It’s like a lot of courage for her to do what she does now.

Jeff Johnson: You’re talking about Hannah being sacrificial.

Mason Sherwood: Yeah.

Jeff Johnson: And I know that there’s a lot of things that she would like to do so that she could stay next to you and support you.

Mason Sherwood: Right.

Jeff Johnson: But we’re not giving up on this law school thing. Her dad still got something to say about that. Mason, but yeah, I hear what you’re saying. It’s dark. I know. It’s dark. Okay, give me another example.

Mason Sherwood: Another example? I think my biggest one would be Jesus. Honestly, now that I’m like really reading a Bible, and seeing and reading and hearing and asking questions about his life, I can actually blows me away. Like someone had that much courage when he had the weight of the entire world on his shoulders, but he just kept doing what he was supposed to be doing. He never stopped until he literally put him to death. That’s crazy to me. Yeah. That’s like a beautiful thing to me. So Jesus for sure, that’s like my biggest one. Especially when I’m reading the Bible, that’s like what I’m thinking about all the time.

Jeff Johnson: You know, this dude was doing crazy things when… Because it said even though he was God, he chose to become man.

Mason Sherwood: Right.

Jeff Johnson: And go through all this stuff.

Mason Sherwood: Right. Yeah. That’s a really good one. So that’s a good one. Do you see a lot of courage in society right now? You see a lot of people being courageous?

Mason Sherwood: No, I think that’s why it’s hard for me to give you examples. Because I don’t see a lot of it, honestly. Even I’m like my own father. I don’t… He’s like a very person that loves to be comfortable. And once he’s comfortable, it’s so hard to get him out of it. And that dude has done some hard things in life.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah.

Mason Sherwood: Like 36 years in the Navy, Navy Seal. Talk about a courageous guy.

Jeff Johnson: Right. Yeah.

Mason Sherwood: And I don’t… A guy personally, I mean, I didn’t know him when he was a Navy. He’s so freaking old. But I don’t see my dad being super courageous all the time.

Jeff Johnson: Mm-hmm.

Mason Sherwood: So it’s hard. I don’t see a lot of my own, like, past friends weren’t really ever courageous. And everyone just kind of stays in their own box.

Jeff Johnson: Is there a difference? What do I want to ask you? Is there a difference in the kind of courage that it takes to run into a burning building, to save a child on the second floor, versus the kind of courage that it takes to say noted drugs, versus the kind of courage that it takes to get up and go to work in the morning when you want to stay in bed. Are those the same or are they different?

Mason Sherwood: I think they’re all the same. Okay. I would totally put them all the same boat. Because they’re all, like, things that you have to step out of the box to do. If you don’t want to go to work, it takes courage for you to get out of bed, because you’re depressed or whatever it may be. It takes courage for that person to get out of bed. If you want to go save someone, you don’t have to. Right? But it takes courage for you to go to risk your own life to go save that person. So yeah, I mean, I think courage is… There’s, like, different levels, as you could say. Like, that dude was crazy courageous for risking his own life. But I think courage, to me, is all the same. Like, my job, it took me a lot of courage to cut the head off of the snake of my job. But that’s not the same as running off into a building that’s on fire. But to me, it felt that way.

Jeff Johnson: Well, you’re… talk about your job for a second without getting into the nitty-gritty details of that. You know, your door-to-door sales. Which I, and a ton of other people that are uber successful, much more successful than I am, would say is, like, the toughest thing, and therefore, like, the best training ground for any entrepreneur, any kind of a businessman. When you walk up to some door and you knock on it, and somebody answers, and you talk to them, and you sell them some of your goods and wares, and that sort of thing. That feels like a ton of courage.

Mason Sherwood: Yeah. It was. Anymore, no. I would do that for too long, it’s normal to me.

Jeff Johnson: So you don’t feel like that’s still a courageous thing for you?

Mason Sherwood: No. The only time I really get, like, anti-eval knocking doors, is if I’m in North Dakota where it just was. For example, I was in a negative one degrees, and a company I’ve never worked for in a state I’ve never been. Then I get, like, a little, like, antsy, but that becomes undone in, like, 30 seconds after I knocked the first door. Just because I’ve done it for so long. But yeah, I mean, my business, so I’ve knocked doors for four years now. This will be, this summer will be my fifth summer of doing it. Just crazy for me to say. I’ve sold everything you could possibly, everything of solar, security, pest control, now fiber, internet, even done insurance a little bit. Now I run my own company with my best friend. And we’re like, it’s kind of hard to explain, but I’m essentially like an individual business inside of a business. If that makes any sense, probably not. So I contract a different business to give me leads for my business. So that the employees under my business name have leads to go work, which then produce revenue and make us money. And we just sell fiber, internet all across the nation, everywhere, all times.

Jeff Johnson: I think it’s a courageous thing that you do. And I think, I mean, not to label it for you, but I think you’re teaching me any way that courage can become a habit where it doesn’t even feel like courage anymore, because you’re just used to doing it all the time. Which says something about, you know, how we’re all supposed to operate. Talk about the difference between being bold and audacious and loud and being me, bullet or something like that. Being courageous. Is that courage?

Mason Sherwood: I think in the context, you have to think about the context. You could be, you could be a drunk of a soul and be bold and loud and obnoxious and all those things, but that’s not courageous. You’re just drunk.

Jeff Johnson: Right. Right.

Mason Sherwood: So no, I don’t think they’re the same things. I don’t think, I don’t think yet, because your bold or outspoken or super actual verdict even makes you courageous. I think those are just like attributes of yourself characteristics. I don’t think you could be introverted and have courageous like my dad. This is a good example. My dad is more introverted than you are. He has no friends. He sits at home. But he doesn’t do anything. He doesn’t go out to cigar bar and soak scars. He just doesn’t do that. But my dad, when he was in the Navy, and he’s always been that way, he’s never been an actual verdict kind of person. I know that because he’s told me my brother is the same way as my father. He went out and literally swam in a typhoon and saved a Japanese kid that he’s never met. So he’s not bold. He’s not any of those things. He’s very introverted. He’s very quiet. He’s very shy. Doesn’t like new people. But one day he just had courage. He goes swimming the typhoon and save a kid that he doesn’t even know. So no, I think I think being bold and extraverted and all those things that you described, I think they can add to like being courageous. I think they’re good. It can be a characteristic of courage, but it’s not courage. No, definitely not.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. Interesting. No, I think that’s a really good answer. Your generation. Do you feel like they’re have more potential for courage, less potential for courage? Is that a bad question?

Mason Sherwood: No, that’s a good question. I think we’ve talked about it. I hate saying this right despise my generation because I think my generation has like no courage at all. I get I have people that I want to school with that it was hard for them to even apply for jobs. Right? Like you can’t even… You’re so lazy you can’t even get off like your two feet and hop on your computer and type in jobs that are open and whatever city. It’s ridiculous. So I think I think my generation just has because of our phones and we we’re the first generation to go up with phones right we’s play stations Xbox is like those things like trained us to be introverted I think. And the only time someone has courage in my generation is if they’re saying something on the phone right they see a Instagram reel that they don’t like or. And they blah blah blah type it out which is not real courage.

Jeff Johnson: No, it’s not it’s all fake. They think they’re being bold but not yeah.

Mason Sherwood: But that’s what I would say is like our only. That’s the only courage I really see my generation and there’s like few people like me not saying all my generation is like that like my partner for example he has tons of courage I mean he went into door to door getting into door door in the first place takes courage because you’re taking a huge risk on yourself on doing that job. None of his friends are did it he didn’t know anybody else that did it. I mean we’re just Iowa boys it’s not very common here. He just went out and did it. So there’s like there’s people there that in my generation that are courageous but very few.

Jeff Johnson: Okay, what’s the difference then between can I ask you a tough question. This is a tough question. For for my son long tough question I think. What’s the difference between confidence and courage because Hannah says to me sometimes because I joke around and I’m like I’ll say something about yeah Mason blah blah blah blah and Hannah will something funny that’s not complimentary or something like that I’m not I’m trying to be funny not mean right and Hannah will say dad seriously with you’re sitting right there you know she’ll say dad seriously you can’t say that stuff around Mason because he’s already got a complex he thinks you don’t like him. He’s all this. Which you know it’s not true. Right. But I’m curious is confidence because I see you as a confident person. But Hannah says you got a complex you think people don’t like you or you’re worried about the way that you come off. So how does confidence encourage relate to each other. It’s tough question.

Mason Sherwood: It is a hard question. Well I think I think we have to define confidence before I can even say to me confidence is that this is where it’s hard for me because to me confidence is being able to then be comfortable stepping outside of that box and to me courage is also. Being on the outside of the box taking that step like I think confidence. Okay confidence drives the courage because I can’t I could be courageous but I’m not going to be I’m not going to do like a courageous action unless I have the confidence that I’m going to do it right so it’s like someone someone even at church right they God could put on their heart and this happens to me. Sometimes and I get like scared but I do it anyways that’s because I have confidence in the Lord that he will take care of me someone if I feel that I need to go pray for someone and God puts the meat puts that on my heart I think a lot of people just don’t because they’re scared or whatever it may be. And for me I might be scared but I have confidence in the Lord and in myself that I’m going to go up and pray for that person because God told me to so I’m just going to do it because I have the confidence so like for me I think I think confidence drives courage. Like even with my job I’m super confident that I can sell anyone any place at any time and that gives me then the courage to go knock thousands of doors in a week right so I think for me…

Jeff Johnson: I love the way you’re saying this I totally relate to it I know exactly what you’re talking about.

Mason Sherwood: Well because I remember even that one Bible study that we last one that I went to when we were like talking about this I think everything is about like being outside of the box being comfortable with being uncomfortable that in itself I have to be confident in myself to be comfortable and uncomfortable.

Jeff Johnson: So not to turn this into a full blown Bible study but Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 from the Brein standard Bible which is the most recent one that I’m reading now says now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see and then it goes on a little bit longer in in verse 6 it says without faith it’s impossible to please God. So this is this is assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see so we don’t know how things are going to turn out this is the definition of faith right but we have assurance and we’ve got a certainty because we know who God is right so by by your calibration there the confidence would be the assurance and the certainty piece and then the courage would be the faith piece actually taken. So the confidence is look I don’t know exactly how this is going to turn out but I know that God’s good and I know it’s going to turn out right that’s confidence right and then the faith is okay here we go I do it and I have faith that the Lord is going to take care of whatever needs to be taken care of yeah this is good that’s it I like with the way you said that. Okay well let me jump in Mason sure would what is the most courageous thing you’ve ever done.

Mason Sherwood: I think this this might be stupid I don’t know but I think the most courageous thing that I have ever done and this kind of ties into it or talking about I think the most courageous thing I’ve ever done is entrusting my faith in the Lord. That’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life probably.

Jeff Johnson: Most courageous because if we think about my story you said two things you said most courageous and you said hardest so okay keep going I shouldn’t interrupt.

Mason Sherwood: It’s okay. Well because if if we think about my story and for the listeners to give context we’re really just talking about this. I had a relationship with God and because of this tiny little crack that I had open for Satan and evil that door swing right up right on open and I fell into like a deep state of wanting just I just wanted everything you could possibly ever want right. I wanted to be a jox I wanted to be popular I wanted to have all the friends in the world I wanted all the money in the world I wanted the cars wanted girls I wanted to be the man and all of those things are evil in some kind of way in the way that I wanted them. So that put me into like a crazy crazy spiral of then turning into a drug dealer and doing a crap ton of drugs and at one point thinking I was a living walking demon and I thought that was cool to be demon. So for the point where I was and that’s when Hannah came into my life right at that perfect moment she basically found me and started dating at me at the lowest point and it took I don’t know how long how long was I dating Hannah before I went to IPO six, eight months longer than that I don’t know I don’t remember I don’t know either. And during those entire times she slowly slowly slowly slowly was trying to push me to not push me but like bring him upon me and get me to accept the fact that the Lord is the savior because at one point I thought God and Satan were the same person I was so lost. So lost and when I got saved that in itself was fantastic and I will never forget that day in my entire life and it lifted a huge huge huge weight off my shoulders and it healed me of a lot of things that were wrong in my life right like my sexual abuse my addictions my brain because my brain is mush because of the sports and whatnot. He healed me right there and then that didn’t change my life like it changed my life in the fact that I was saved but I still did all the things that I was doing before I just now believed in God. So what was took a lot a lot of courage for me to do was to actually accept the fact that I was saved by Lord but I can’t just like I can’t just be saved and expect to go to heaven that’s what I thought. And I just kept doing all the crazy things in my life kept getting worse even though saved. So once I once I picked up that freaking Bible and I started reading it yeah that was like my wake up moment like you have to have faith I always remember it when I first started reading the Bible I didn’t know where to start how to do it what to do. I was in South Carolina my wife was not there my dog was not there I was sad I was lonely I wasn’t selling anything so I was poor I didn’t know what I was doing there I took a school off or a semester off of school and I just sat there with the Bible and I opened it and I twirled through it like this and then I found a page slapped my hand on it and then I started going like this with my finger and then told myself stop. And the verse that came up was the story in Mark when Jesus was on the boat with everybody and they all thought they were going to die and they said that and Jesus woke up and was like what are you guys doing do you have no faith in me at all do you think I’m going to let you die that right there. Change my time change my entire life it took me a lot of courage just to open that book and do it and then once I realized that if I have faith in the Lord by faith in Jesus everything I’m so my life will be okay I don’t need to worry I don’t need to do all the crap that I’m doing all I need to do is have faith in Jesus that’s it it’s all I need to do in life and he will take care of the rest and he’ll put me on the path that I’m going to do it. That was the hardest thing for me to do right there was to accept that because me accepting that kind of wit against everything I ever thought about for the last 12 years of my life I never I was always I can do everything on my own I do everything on my own I thought evil was good I thought with I thought the evil turned me into who I am I had everything backwards right so I had to flip it and that was hard for me.

Jeff Johnson: Was making that flip not thinking about it in the way it was courageous piece that your dad’s courageous piece was me flipping my entire brain I had to change everything yeah and that it was hard it was so hard for me I lost all my friends I lost everything I ever wanted right I didn’t do drugs anymore I had no fun I’m a social butterfly I have to go out I have to talk to people otherwise I’m like dying inside and I couldn’t because I knew I was going to do it. I knew those people that are hanging out with were all evil they weren’t my real friends if I were to go out I’m just going to fall back I could quit doing cocaine for two months but if I keep going to the bar I’m going to do it like I’m just going to do it.

Mason Sherwood: Yep. So I had to stop everything and that was the super in my eyes like that was the most courageous thing I ever did was flipping my brain and doing all the horrible things that I didn’t want to do.

Jeff Johnson: So I was like this I’m curious this is a and thank you for being so vulnerable Mason because this is going to be a blessing to a lot of people that are listening they’re going to hear that story and they’re going to go why I can do that to them you know what I mean I’m curious was that an emotional response that you had or was that a logical response.

Mason Sherwood: I think a little bit both talk about that I think after I read that verse it all made sense to me. So the logic was there right like this is what the Bible tells you to do this is what you need to do like this is the logical sense you’re not you are like the five people you surround yourself with my parents you to tell me that all the time I never believed that I thought that was the biggest piece of horse crap you can ever say I could be millionaire and all my friends be bombs and do drugs I generally thought that. That has no logic in it there’s no reason at all that doesn’t make any sense right so I think that’s like the logic part of it is doesn’t make sense for you to have faith in Lord but hang out with people that do drugs and support only the crazy Mason and the crazy this and blah blah blah blah blah and I think the emotional part for me was it went against all my wants I wasn’t fulfilling any of my words. I want to work I wanted to go party wanted to have friends I wanted to do drugs I wanted to do those things because I loved it like that I thought that was me I thought that’s why was so is really really really emotional for me to change all that because I there’s no cup being filled ever until Jesus started feeling my cup yeah and then now it’s like finally but it took. I don’t know I probably suffered for like a year and a half even when I got out of school I was still suffering I still felt alone and lost like what am I doing like it took a long time of like every single day waking up reading the Bible putting my faith in the Lord giving him every single thing I could possibly give him like I just recently probably decided when he gave that one thing about the rooms and how you have. Some easy pastor yeah I didn’t even I even think about those things right because not even that far in the Bible yet but like one even once I did that my life was became thousands times better so the most courageous thing you’ve ever done is let him Jesus in you know I interviewed a Navy seal I’ve interviewed four Navy seals so far on this program and one of the Navy seals that was so much. That’s his most courageous thing too not going down in an osprey and you know fire fights and it was that letting Jesus into his heart so not that Navy seals have everything to say about everything but you can trust that that’s a courageous thing right yeah a lot of other people that I’ve interviewed have made that same comment too that it’s a very courageous thing now you mentioned your 22 so you’re young. You’re just getting you’re just out of college you just get started your young you’re relatively young you’re an adult man but you’re I mean I’m 58 so you’re younger than I am so some people might be listening to this going. Okay how do you know that he’s really had a transformation though because. This is he’s expressing a lot of he’s very effervescent about his faith right now you know that sort of thing what is it. In your spirit that informs you that you’re different now than you were before I’m close to you so I can see it right but our listeners don’t have the benefit of being around you every day like I do so right. Well your heart my heart right I’ve always known I’ve had good heart I mean even when I went to an H. Youth when I was a little kid before I turned away from and lame God for everything and all all that mess I knew I always knew I had good heart. And it was I was just reading the other day even in Samuel Samuel Jeff this has been like the best book of reds war.

Mason Sherwood: There’s a whole bunch there’s a whole bunch of yeah but it was like God doesn’t God doesn’t see the man the way the man does right he doesn’t see you man sees people on the outside man God sees you from the heart and. For me when I was in all my darkness everything was on the outside it was all fake it was all BS I could say I was the awesomeness happiest person on planet earth but my heart was shattered right I knew I wasn’t supposed to be doing those things I knew I was being an idiot I knew I was throwing my life away I knew my parents were right about the idiot friends. I hate saying my parents were right I hated that so in my heart I knew I was wrong and I knew the things that I were doing were wrong but Satan is so good at deceiving you and to thinking you’re not wrong right so I just kept doing it because I was like whatever my life is great the instant I really felt change and knew that I was different was I was that I was not going to be a good person. Actually like I can feel in myself I can feel my heart that I had empathy for people I’ve never had empathy before my entire life I have empathy for people I can like have real feelings like it’s not BS now like I actually really do love my wife before I can say I loved anybody not even my own parents I genuinely want the best in people before I wanted the best for me and I wanted to do that. Not only me is very selfish I only wanted what I wanted and I was going to get those things because I wanted them. Well now I love my business so much not because I make good money from it like I do very well for 22 year olds but because I have people and I’m teaching people that are younger than I am or the same age that I am to make money and to be a leader and to come to God and that warms my heart. Before I would care I wouldn’t care at all I would just be like screw you yeah has nothing to do with you so I would say it’s like my heart I know I’m different because in my heart I feel different the way I think about things are different my I have emotions I have empathy I think that’s the biggest one for me personally is I feel for other people before nothing at all. I just feel it in my body every day I walk around and I know that God’s with me like God is like my best friends I don’t really have friends anymore or other people I work with yeah I think I talk to God more than they talk to anybody else but I got this legitimate change…

Jeff Johnson: This is a big shift for you. I mean you you like kind of new me before all that stuff but I mean I can’t get the full I can’t get the full girth of the transformation but I can see a transformation in the stretch that I’ve known you Mason it’s been and it glory to God it’s fantastic.

Mason Sherwood: If you were to ask my parents for example what I was like in high school compared to now it’s like night and day difference yeah it’s huge it’s interesting that you mentioned this empathy…

Jeff Johnson: because you know married to my daughter her name is Hannah in her middle name’s Lynn Hannah Lynn and I went through and did all of these name searches of all the way. I was like I was like I want to do my best for all of my kids my native Lee no Daniel and Jeffery you know all this stuff to see what the root meaning of everybody’s name is in Hannah the root of Hannah is grace and Lynn is like so Hannah is grace she’s got this and God talks in the Bible about he provides grace upon grace so it’s a lot like I I picture the ocean lap and up against the shore you know and it just never stops sometimes I’ll pull up a YouTube channel that just has like waves crashing against the beach and I’ll just let it play on a loop all day long because that’s what the Bible tells you it’s grace upon grace and reminds me of that that God gives that and that’s Hannah that’s what she’s got her core so she’s always had the spiritual gift of mercy you know she feels other people’s pain and the stuff that they’re going through so she’s all about empathy and it’s just really touching to me that you’re you’re not going to be a little bit more than I’m going to do that. I’m saying that’s what the gift that you’ve been given now that you’ve let God in your heart is this empathy.

Mason Sherwood: I think Hannah’s a gift that I’ve been given that’s that’s the big one.

Jeff Johnson: Now you’re saying the right stuff.

Mason Sherwood: This is why I love this gift. I think Hannah herself is like the biggest gift that without Hannah I would never be sitting in this chair and saying these things. There’s no possible way right there’s even you like there’s no way without you and Danielle there’s no way I would be sitting in this chair and that’s what I’m most out of everything that I am. I am and that kid that’s another thing too where I know I’m different I’m so beyond grateful. I’ve never been grateful before I didn’t care about nothing I like expected you because I thought it was so awesome I expected things from people right. And now I am so beyond grateful for the life that Jesus gave me for the people that he gave me for the business that he gave me because without it I don’t know where that would be. And that’s every Sunday worship that the first thing that comes out of my mouth. God I am so grateful for you every time because I don’t I don’t really I’ve never felt that I never thought at 22 I would be married and have a business and have a family like this. I mean my family on my side is so broken in so many different ways.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah.

Mason Sherwood: So like it’s crazy it’s crazy thing but I think all of you guys are gifts.

Jeff Johnson: Wow well you’re certainly a gift Mason goodness gracious and so you’re talking about courage is the is the thing that caused you to make the big change in your life. So I want to end with this there’s somebody out there that’s going through a difficult situation or maybe somebody that’s full of themselves a little bit full head of steam. And what kind of advice would you give them on how to step out courageously to change the trajectory of their life. And I don’t end it and again it might be a tough question because what you’re talking about is you got kind of way me slammed by God. So God kind of hit you over the head woke you up anyway and then you said yes to it and that was the courageous thing. So but anyway what would you say to that young man young woman.

Mason Sherwood: Well I think the first thing I want to say is you need Jesus.

Jeff Johnson: Right. Right.

Mason Sherwood: I think that number one first if they don’t already have a relationship with Jesus that’s like number one thing you could ever possibly do is have a relationship with Jesus because he’ll take it from there. And then my second thing would be the exact same thing for me is you need to have faith in Jesus because you can be saved by Jesus but you have to have faith in Jesus that he’s actually going to change you and you actually have purpose and you actually have a reason to be on this earth and you have things to do for Jesus and you have work that he is set for you to do and you may not know it yet. But like you’re going to do it. Like you’re good to do it. So I think the like the biggest thing ever that I could say to anybody is one you need Jesus but two like you need to have the faith. You need to have the faith and the confidence and three the courage in Jesus that he will take care of you. And once you have the those things once you trust your whole life to him he will take the rest of it away and for people that that are like me that are so lost and so full of themselves like it could be really really difficult. But I love for people like that I think and I might just be saying this because I was this way but I like the journey more than I like the end result right and for me I actually enjoy looking back on all the pain and suffering that I’ve been through because I can now compare it to what I am now and I’m so grateful that I’ve grown up. That I’ve grown out of that right I’m grateful that God put me through all that stuff of me sitting there grinding my back because I felt a long while my friends were getting drunk. I’m glad I did those things because I now look at my life and how wonderful it is. So like that’s another huge piece of it too I think it’s good to step out of the box and be comfortable with being uncomfortable. You have to. The only way to change is being comfortable with being uncomfortable otherwise you can’t change. It’s impossible.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah like you for example you don’t even want to pass control guy because you’re uncomfortable with it right so yeah sometimes my internet stinks so I might need some new five or.

Mason Sherwood: You’re still in the game you’re not out of it yeah okay that’s what I would say…

Jeff Johnson: your fantastic Mason Mason sure would man with a with an undeniable experience of God which is a powerful thing and thus a man. Great courage thank you for so much so much for being on the program Mason and more importantly thank you for being my son in law.

Mason Sherwood: Thank you Jeffrey thank you for being my father in law I love you

Jeff Johnson: Mason love you too. Thank you for joining us today on courageous

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