Troy Thompson: Building Courage, Sobriety, and Stronger Families

In this episode, Jeff sits down with Troy Thompson, a father, entrepreneur, endurance athlete, and man in long-term recovery, for a real and honest look at courage and change. Troy shares how nearly twenty-two years of sobriety, a renewed faith, and a life built around intentional choices have shaped the man he is today. He talks through the moment that pushed him to confront his addictions, the role his faith now plays in his daily decisions, and why stepping out of his
comfort zone to share his story is the most courageous thing he has ever done. Troy’s bio reads a lot like his life today. He is a devoted dad, a software founder serving both insurance agents and content creators, a mentor to men walking through addiction, and the creator of Rockstar Super Dads, a growing effort to help fathers build stronger families. His story is one of reflection, responsibility, and steady growth, and this conversation captures the heart of that journey.

Thank you for listening! We hope you feel inspired and encouraged by our conversation today. If you did, be sure to share this episode with others.

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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. Hey everybody, welcome back to another edition of the Courageous Crossroads Podcast. Boy, we got another fantastic episode for you today to enrich you and to encourage you to inspire you to operate in great courage. Troy Thompson is my guest today and I got to learn a lot about Troy myself. He’s an entrepreneur, he’s an athlete, he’s a child of God, he’s all kinds of wonderful things and you’re really going to enjoy this episode. So without further ado, here is Troy Thompson.

Jeff Johnson: Troy Thompson is our guest today. And Troy is in all honesty, okay, truth. Our daughters were roommates at the University of Iowa, Go Hawks, which almost makes me want to cry even thinking about it was so fantastic. So Sophia was absolutely fantastic, roommate for my daughter Hannah. But Troy and I, we haven’t gotten to know each other very well, have we?

Troy Thompson: No, not at all. I mean, we met briefly at your daughter’s wedding, which was beautiful by the way.

Jeff Johnson: Thank you. And then we connected again at leading with power. Yeah. So this is going to be super interesting for me because you have done a lot of stuff and you got a lot of stuff going on. So even though it’s a little bit retroactive, I probably should have got to know you a little bit more while our daughters were still in college. But this will suffice. So for the benefit of our listeners before we get into these heavy topics of courage, can you give us a little bit of background, a little bit of history? Who are you? Your family? What you do? Yeah. That kind of thing.

Troy Thompson: Absolutely. Well, thanks for having me first, Jeff. I know this has been a little bit in the works. And so I really appreciate the opportunity to come on, talk to you a little bit, get to know you a little bit more and share my story with the hopes that it could touch someone and change their life in some way or fashion, you know. But I, let’s see, I’m 56 years old. I grew up here in Des Moines, Iowa. And I’ve got three kids. Sophia, what you know, she’s 22, just graduated with your daughter, Hannah, from the University of Iowa. I also have a 20 year old daughter named Sage. And she’s at the University of Iowa as well, studying education. And then I have a 14 year old boy named Sawyer. And he is in the ninth grade full of all kinds of athletics from baseball to golf to wrestling. So yeah, I got my hands on it.

Jeff Johnson: You got an athletic family. Somebody just finished a marathon.

Troy Thompson: Yeah, that was Sage. Okay. So she kind of has came out of the shell. You know, I’ve always been big into fitness for most my kids life. I never pushed them into anything, but from doing, you know, triathlons, Iron Man to running, doing ultra running and things like that. I’ve never really pushed them into it. And Sage recently over this last year has kind of gotten into some of the fitness things. So it’s been really cool for her to reach out to me at her being 20 years old. And here’s old dad that she wants to go run with me or hey, dad, can you help me train for this? So that’s just been really awesome. But yeah, she completed her first half marathon. She had a great time. And now she’s looking to keep it moving and maybe do some triathlons next summer, possibly getting into some longer distance running and things like that. So yeah, she’s doing awesome.

Jeff Johnson: That’s fantastic. So, okay, business, that sort of thing.

Troy Thompson: Yeah. So I’ve, I’ve, I’ve, uh, the, for the last fifth or see, what is it? The last 10, 12 years, I’ve developed, I kind of stumbled into developing software at a really trying to create a, create a solution for a problem I have that I was having of being in the insurance industry. And I’ve been in that since about 1998. So I started developing some software for myself. And then everybody wanted it for as insurance agent. And really just to give you a quick spill about what it is, the software I developed. It’s an awful lot like Expedia, where you can go on and search airline tickets and buy the cheapest and compare and so forth. But mine is like Expedia for life insurance and for Medicare supplements, which is a senior product. So my customers are independent insurance agents that want to go out and try to capture some of that business online, where more and more people are wanting to eliminate that face-to-face interaction with an agent. And that’s what my software will do. So since then, I have developed that platform. And I’ve got agents all around the United States. And now I’ve developed the second one that’s really, and I’m really excited about this one getting ready to launch it. It’s kind of been in soft launch right now. But it’s all for coaches, leaders, entrepreneurs, musicians, influencers. Anybody who wants to monetize on their knowledge, their passion, their skills, put it together, it’ll build a community form and build like courses. And they can start monetizing on that. So I’m really excited about that. So yeah, you can call me in the software business. I’m not a coder. I don’t know anything about coding, but I’ve developed a team that I just tell them what I wanted to do, what I want to look like and then they make a magic happen.

Jeff Johnson: Okay, so we’ve learned a little bit. You’re a father, you’re an entrepreneur, you’re an athlete. Yes. What else? What else is there about many facets of Troy?

Troy Thompson: Yeah, so the other thing that I’ve really felt a calling for over this, you know, really over this probably last five to eight years. But heavily these last two or three years is, you know, I’m almost onto my 22nd year of sobriety from drugs and alcohol. And that’s just been a big, well, that’s been a big part of my life, both in, in addiction and then out of addiction and, and out of addiction has just made me really self reflect, look in the mirror lot. And it’s been a long journey in these last 21 years and staying so we’re still going through a lot of problems and issues and good things and challenges and, you know, just life. And, but I’ve really had a calling to number one, help people in sobriety. And then the second thing is I’m launching a convention that’s called Rockstar Superdads next spring, probably late spring. They, they’re not defined yet, but it’s all about helping fathers become better, becoming better than they are today. And as I’ve sat across the table from hundreds of men helping them listening to them struggle with different types of the jick addictions or struggles. I’ve always picked up one thing that the relationship with their kids is generally fractured in some way, because they’re more worried about addictions and they’ve got other vices hold non to them. And so I feel a real strong calling to help people become really strategic and intentional in raising kids and developing relationships that are meaningful. And most importantly, you know, I think it’s, you know, figuring this out now in the last five years. I think most people should figure this out before you have kids, but I don’t think anybody really does that anymore, but really take the responsibility and role of teaching their kids, you know, really six areas of life. And they teach them to develop their faith, their finances, their fitness, how to be a good friend, how to be a good family members, and then also how to go out and have fun and adventure in your life. So that’s, that’s a big project that I’m putting on and want to try to make a dent in helping fathers become better than they are today, just one step at a time.

Jeff Johnson: That’s fantastic. Now I have absolute clarity about why you and I never met each other while our daughters were rooming together in college because we’re both too busy. You got a lot going on. You got a lot going on, brother.

Troy Thompson: Well, between that and love getting up and running and biking and swimming and just keeping active and fitness, you know, that’s another big part of my life as well.

Jeff Johnson: Is that your main recreation?

Troy Thompson: Yeah, it really is. You know, a lot of people say, oh, you traded one addiction for the other and it’s really far from the truth because it took me about eight years after sobriety of becoming sick and tired of feeling tired of sick and tired of being tired and overweight and has about 70 pounds heavier and I am now. And then finally I decided, you know, and it’s so important that, you know, once you figure out your why and in your tired of yourself and tired of looking into mirror, you can make some changes. And that’s what I did. I just put a long, long implementation of taking care of my body and my health and my spirit. And yeah, so that’s been a big part of my life as well. This last, yeah, since about the last 21 years, I guess.

Jeff Johnson: That’s fantastic. Okay, so that gives people a little bit of a feel for who Troy Thompson is. So now let’s dig a little bit deeper and start approaching this question of well, the main question is what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done. But before we ask you that, can you give us a definition, Troy of courage? How do you define courage? What’s that mean to you?

Troy Thompson: So what’s the most courageous, you know, is taking a look at yourself and anchoring yourself in the word of God and anchoring yourself in the Bible and aligning where you’re at today. And what the Bible says and find out all the inaccuracies of what your worldly view is and how you view things and putting new things into action. That’s going to change that all anchored into the word of God and anchored into the Bible. And so it’s kind of like a journey, but I feel like that is a big part of being courage of really just looking at yourself, identifying where you’re at, where you’re weak, where you’re strong, where you need help and putting that all into play with anchored to the Bible.

Jeff Johnson: Do, do all people of faith have courage?

Troy Thompson: Yeah, I mean, some more than others and some it’s maybe imbalanced and it’s not focused in the right areas, you know, through different addictions or different focuses or hobbies. And you know, there’s a lot of people that I think that do have courage that don’t have a faith background at all. But yeah, I think everybody has courage. Some may be really depressed and down and deep in, in, you know, feeling shame or loneliness or unhappiness, but they all have courage, you know, because when you talk to them long enough, you’ll find a spark in their life somewhere that that you can see a light come on with them with something they know or something they’ve experienced in the past. That shows that they do have courage still, but yeah, it’s it’s all over the board, I think.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah, I’ve said I totally agree with that Troy, I’ve heard people that I’ve approached and asked them to be on the podcast or if they consider it and so many times people say, well, I haven’t done anything courageous. And it’s all relative, you know, I mean, but I think people are thinking about skydiving or, you know, gladiator combat or something like that being a courageous thing. But the reality is sometimes getting getting up and going to work in the morning is a courageous endeavor because you don’t want to and you’re doing something different and per your definition, you know, for those of the Christian faith, you know, they’re leaning on God and focusing on where he wants them to go. And so they go do that anyway. So I agree with you. I think everybody’s got courage. I think a lot of people don’t recognize it. So which is again, one of the motivating factors behind this whole podcast here. So yeah, when you when you think about courageous individuals, who do you think about do you have anybody in your in your life past, present, historical figure, somebody that you think of as being particularly courageous.

Troy Thompson: Yeah, I mean, I’m going to have to look at my dad, my dad, I admire him. He is been nothing but a great father to me, you know, he’s loved me when he shouldn’t have. He believed me when he shouldn’t have. He gave when he shouldn’t have and lifted me up when he probably shouldn’t have. And so my dad has been a really strong role model and in just being a great father. So I look at him as someone that’s been courageous in his life and in my life that I really respect and look up to and he’s a great husband to my mom. He’s throughout a queen and you know, it’s still at 83. He’s got fire in him for my mom and and that I just think that’s a great qualities that he has about him. And so I don’t know if that’s courageous, but that’s what I that’s who I think of.

Jeff Johnson: No, totally. And you’re defiant. You’re aligning courage with somebody’s character too, which I think is absolutely appropriate. Okay, Troy, I’m going to jump right in with you and just go ahead and ask you what is the most courageous thing you’ve ever done.

Troy Thompson: Hmm. Well, there’s a lot of different things. I have a very high tolerance for risk. So when I think of courageous like, you know, I think the the biggest thing and it’s kind of a part of being active right now of being courageous. It’s really stepping out of my old self into a new self with my faith and not being afraid to really share my faith, share my story with others. I’ve had never had a problem sharing my story is dark and deep and ugly as some parts of it’s been. But I’ve never been able to really be I guess courageous enough to start sharing my faith in God and what how he’s transformed my life and what I believe in him. And that he is anchored in my life with other non believers. And so over the last couple of years, I really have noticed myself stepping out of that that comfort zone and not just talking to other Christian men about their faith, which is really easy to do. We know that right. But when you go off and talk to strangers, for example, it can be a little awkward, you know, you feel a little nervous about what are they going to think of me and stuff like that. And I’m at a point in my age now where I really don’t I don’t care about what people think of me. I want to I just want to do the right thing and be in in line with what God wants us to do is be disciples and and to share share his good word and to save people’s lives and not only internally, but bring them happiness and peace and joy in their current state.

Jeff Johnson: You are somebody who I’m going to say got switched on when you put the plug in the jug and stop drinking and drug and doing all that kind of stuff. All of a sudden your faith got. Fanned into a flame. Yeah. And that radically changed could you give us a little bit of a picture of that. Why did you quit drinking and drug and what wasn’t working and how did God get a hold of you?

Troy Thompson: Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, to give you a little bit backstory, I was raised in a church. Man, that’s one thing my parents did a great job of least church in me. Like, you know, looking back, they never sat me down and talked to me about Christ. They never really talked to me about the Bible. But what they did do is take me to church. So they said example of, you know, whether I wanted to or not in high school, they made me go. Right. And so I accepted Christ in my life. I’ll never forget it in the I was at a Bible camp when I was 12 years old. And I’ll never forget my dad picked me up and I told my dad that I accepted Christ in my life. And I’ll never forget that day was just so I was just so happy. And I know it was God’s spirit working in me. And, you know, looking back, I think it got really fuzzy after that, you know, I never I never accepted Christ. I the seed was planted. But then after that, I don’t think I really ever watered it. And, you know, that led me down to a lot of dark dark roads. It led me down some good roads as well. You know, primarily my life was was developed around at least from from about 13 years on 13 years old on, which is when I had my first drink of alcohol in the summer when I was getting ready to go into high school. That just led me down a path of all about really being selfish and trying to keep up with other kids that I thought that was cool. And I was drinking and drugging and things of that nature. So, you know, high school is very I was a very typical high school kid didn’t really care about school is involved in sports party and all the time start smoking a little bit of weed. And, you know, once I got out of high school, I went to Iowa state and I was fortunate enough to have parents that paid for my school. But I really didn’t appreciate it. I probably took it for granted. And that was just another that was just another step up in party and where it was just all the binge drinking what you see, you know, I was in a frat and it was just frat boy life. And so again, you know, I got burnt out of college and I called my parents. I’m like, hey, I’m done with college. I just I’m not I don’t want to do this anymore. It’s just not for me. And they’re like, what are you going to do? You know, and so I ended up moving out to Colorado and worked at a ski resort for a little while. And that was fun. It was just it was like another extension of a frat life really because I lived in dorm rooms like and either party to work or your ski. And so that was my life. It was kind of short live about a year. I blew my knee out, moved back home to surgery, moved out to California. I’m going to kind of make this quick, but at least to get through. And I was like, where a lot of things started to get really south. I moved to California. A friend was getting transferred out there and he said, hey, you’re the perfect guy. Help me move out there. I was doing some rehabilitation with my knee and help me move out there. I’ll fly you back in a couple of weeks. So halfway out there in Arizona. I’m like, you know, I’m just going to stay out here, see what happens. I end up being out there for 10 years. I was quickly introduced to cocaine and I quickly accepted and that was a lifestyle that became a lifestyle in the addiction for the next 10 years. Cocaine, meth, ask, I mean, you name any drug out there. You know, it’s been it’s been through this body. Right. I’m plenty of it. And you know, it was just living a selfish life. I was productive at working. I was making an income, but really it was just going in and out for just a selfish lifestyle. The good thing about it. I wasn’t I didn’t I wasn’t married. I didn’t have kids. So at least I was doing no damage to anybody else, but just myself. And I eventually, you know, eventually had a drug overdose as an intensive care for four almost five days, about died of his lucky and I’ll never forget being in there in an emergency room and they shot something in my heart that just it was like Jesus coming into the room and just laid the warmest blanket over me. And I was praying at that time. I’m like God, I my parents have no clue what’s going on right now. I was thinking of them. I thought I was going and it scared the crap out of me. And but that that that feeling that warm feeling that the shot that they gave me that just put this piece in my body. It was truly amazing. And and I survived. I got out the sad thing about two weeks later. I was back doing the same thing. Yeah. And that’s just how it was. And I didn’t have any in anybody in my circle that said, Hey, man, you need to stop. You need to slow down. I just didn’t everybody was in the same circle. So no one stood up and said, Hey, let’s cool it. Let’s calm down. You know, whatever it may be. I didn’t have any any mind, any thoughts in my mind that said, Hey, I should go get help. You know, I just didn’t. I just it wasn’t not even a thought. I was getting tired of it. I was a little bit worried about it. I wasn’t raised that way that I remember thinking about that. Like what am I doing a couple times. But for the most part, it was just full on, you know, throttle down, you know, the more the merrier. And eventually I just got tired, worn out. I’m like, you know, the only way my only way to get out of that to to make an attempt to leave that lifestyle was just to move. So I moved back home. I didn’t think of a NA or AA or anything like that. I didn’t think to reach out to someone. Hey, I need some help. Go to a local church. Anything. I just I just really looked at as like the best way I know is move back home. And so I moved back home. And you know, so that that was a big part of my life. And that you know to kind of fast forward you to what really what my why was or what changed me. And it’s a great story. And it probably kind of makes sense now to where I’m going with the vision of what I want to do with helping dads become better dads and they are today. Is we I actually I got married maybe a year or so after I got back here so we had Sophia. She was about nine months. And I went out to dinner with or I went out to lunch with a pastor that I’ve known all my life. That same church at my parents took me to and I’d always looked up to him. His name is Tom and just been a great influence in my life. And so out to lunch with him. I was kind of catching him what was going on in my life. And I said, Hey, Tom, you know, my daughter is going to be one years old and about three months and looking for wisdom from him, which I I looked at him as a lot of wisdom. I said, What does that mean to me? And and this is what changed my life. I wouldn’t be here right now. If he didn’t ask me this question. And he said, Hey, Troy, you know, your daughter is going to grow up to marry someone like you probably. So what do you want that to look like for man? And that was just like a punch in the face. It really it really was it unsettled me. I’m like, man, I mean, I was a liar. I mean, I was sneaking around even in the marriage, doing cocaine, drink over drinking and you know, still my life was a mess, but it looked it looked a lot better. I was married and had a kid, but inside, you know, it was just a non spiraling. I drink, I’d want to cigarette, I’d want to cocaine. And I fought that battle so much. And I couldn’t I didn’t I didn’t tell anybody about it, which is typical with a lot of men. They don’t share struggles with other men. Right. And that was my that was my that was my chain of of things that I fought in my head for the long time. And then when he asked me that. Like I said, that unsettled me and I obsessed on that question for about two weeks and in two weeks I pushed the chips in. I said, I’m done. Because I did I wanted to be a great husband. I wanted to be a great father. And I wanted to be a good child of God. And I knew I wasn’t doing any of those. And so I went through a program called Christ’s Life Solutions. It’s about it. I think they’ve shrunk it down, but it’s all it’s it’s not just for drugs and alcohol. It’s but any type of addiction any type of hang up that one may have, you know, really just walks you through your whole life trying to figure out where you picked up some insecurities. Maybe you’re believing in some lies and things that aren’t true. What your world leave you like. And and then feeling that with God and you know instead of walking around with hoses, you know, tapping into let’s say alcohol or drugs or porn or gambling or social media, you know, you just have one tube filling up filling you up through God. And that analogy still sticks out my head. Where what tube am I? It is now a gene. Yeah, it’s like they had this like cartoon with all this tubes and I’ve never I still remember remember that picture. So it’s a, you know constantly, you know, where is my tube connected or what tube is it? It should just have one, right? Right. And that’s and that’s God and heaven faith and Jesus and following him. And so boy, you know, that that was the question that changed my life into going from, you know, addictions and struggles of alcohol and drugs into almost a 22 year ride of sobriety.

Jeff Johnson: That’s such a powerful question. I mean, it resonated with you in particular because you had a brand new baby at home. You know, you just had you at home. But I got to imagine there’s people that are going to be listening to this podcast that are looking at themselves in the mirror going, my daughter is going to marry somebody like me. Yes. I want the character of that person to be. Yes. That’s really profound. So when you, you define courage for us very well. And then you’ve given us a beautiful picture of it, that transition that happened with you. When you go through that then and you get switched on to the right to being connected to Jesus is is everything. Right. Look, why do I want to ask this? I want to say something like does everything look or feel easy to you now? I mean, is courage done or is courage a daily thing? You know, are you pricking up your cross every single day and having to fight through it? And you know, as an addict and I can relate to that. I come from this exact same thing, Troy. You know, I go to meetings regularly to keep that thing at bay, you know, and the literature says that the alcoholic mind will always regenerate itself regardless of the length of sobriety. So we need to stay current with that tube. Otherwise, it gets weird. But what does that act of courage do for you going forward? Did it infuse you with with a lot of courage?

Troy Thompson: You know, looking back, you know, I had to have courage to step up and say, Hey, and deal with, Hey, I’m done drinking guys, gals, friends, because my wife and I circle at that time was very, very typical at that age. We hung out in restaurants, bars, concerts, house parties. And you know, it’s all fun drinking and games and stuff like that. That’s what our lifestyle was like. So I had, I went through a lot of struggles with, and it did looking back. It took a lot of courage to say, Look, I’m done. And then you have all the questioning and so forth. And I struggle with that for a long time, where when I tell someone I don’t drink, I could almost instantly tell that they were looking at me like I have a problem or had a problem. And they kind of stick, you know, if you say you’re an alcoholic or drug addict or I don’t drink anymore, I feel like society has put a stigma on you and put you up in this other class of society like, Oh, they’re kind of labeled now. Yeah, alcoholic or they’re a drug addict and so forth or X or in recovery or, you know, there’s a lot of different terminology for, but I struggle with that because that’s not how I wanted to be identified. You know, and I didn’t want people to think that of me because I’ve changed. And so I did struggle with that for a while, but I think I’m getting off track of what your original question was.

Jeff Johnson: No, if that if if that act of courage changed you going forward and infused courage for every other act that’s going to follow.

Troy Thompson: Well, you know, looking back, you know, 20 almost 22 years of sobriety, you know, it has an all been easy either, you know, I’ve I struggled a lot. You know, there was a siege season of my marriage. And fortunately, you’re unfortunately, you know, I’m divorced now for about six years, but, you know, there was a season of our life in the marriage where we were engaged in small groups and through church and that was the best part of our marriage. And then you know, there were some breakups into church and so forth and then we kind of drifted away. And you know, man, I looking back at that, you know, I didn’t have I didn’t have the courage to stand strong with my wife and say, no, we’re going to stay in this group. We’re going to stay in this church just because there’s some problems. I was passive, extremely passive. And just to kind of keep things going and you know, I have other things to worry about. So the passivity to being passive is a big thing I learned about throughout my sobriety of how passive I was and definitely something I don’t want to be a part of now. And I don’t want my daughters or boy marrying, especially my daughters, I don’t want to marry a man that’s passive, you know. So, you know, but throughout that sobriety, yeah, I’ve learned a ton and you know fast forwarding to how I live my life now. And the things that I focus on is I kind of focus on about six buckets of life if you want to call them. I’m sure you’ve seen these around like one bucket is like family, faith, friends, finances, fitness and going out, having fun and adventure. And I do this exercise with my kids and I’ve done it with them for a long time, like when they’re getting in trouble or acting up and like, all right, let’s get the buckets out. And they’re like, oh, no, not the bucket to get in. You know, but what I do is I draw those buckets on a seat on a piece of paper and label them all. Then I’m like, all right. Now, I’m going to bullet point everything that I’m doing that would equal, like let’s say a scoop of water in that bucket. So if it’s faith, I’m going to church, I’m reading my Bible every day, whatever it is, you bullet point them and fitness. And then you do this and faith or friends and what am I doing with my family and my finances and so forth. And when you step back at that, what I started to study the people that would fill that out is really most people are putting their energy in about one or two of those buckets of life. And then it’s really common to put all their energy into finances. You know, I got to make the money. And so they’re really focused on that and they get obsessed with that. And maybe their other bucket is going out having fun or maybe it’s fitness. And what it does is it really bankrupts a lot of those other important buckets of your life, like your family, your marriage, or maybe it’s bank, you’re having so much fun, you’re bankrupting your financial bucket and things like that. So I try to keep them all. You’re never going to have them all full, but I really am trying to be intuitive to keeping those in the top of my mind of what am I doing like my parents are 83 I try to spend time with them weekly doing something with them inviting them over for dinner. You know, faith, what am I doing with my faith, what am I doing with my friendships, you know, I’ll get my car and go drive see an old friend for a weekend, you know. That’s what I’m really focused on right now and what I found out of that it does bring a lot of peace and happiness. And I feel like that’s been a really a huge part of the success of my sobriety is having something to look forward to and having a plan that I’m reaching for a filling something up that’s worthy, like family, like friends, like your finances, your fitness, your faith and having fun. I think those are all really important things of life. And so just looking forward to all those has been a kind of a real part of who I am now and how I wake up every day.

Jeff Johnson: Troy, I think that’s profound and I’m grateful that you’re sharing that that’s going to resonate with a lot of people. I reserve the right to ask really difficult questions, maybe impossible questions. I’m going to go ahead. Thinking about Troy at Iowa State University, who’s drinking and drug and having fun, not trying to hurt anybody, just doing the frat deal and whatever and not appreciating, you know, what the parents have provided, just the way that you characterize it and everything. What would you, what would you say to that Troy now looking back to give him the courage to do something different, or does it just take what it takes and.

Troy Thompson: Yeah, you know, that’s a good question and part of that Christ’s life solution program that I went through the first year we had to write back to little Troy, let’s call him big Troy. So I had to write back when you’re at five and you know and I had to say hey man you got so much to look forward to you got great parents. So I had to look at like reflect back and then I also had to kind of recall back when I was like let’s say seven, for example, we literally went through our whole life. Or in college, you know, hey man you’re partying way too much and I’m like hey but I’m having fun. So you you learned a lot about that and what I learned about is how many in how much insecurity I really had. And I was just filling it up with drugs and alcohol that was my mask, you know, I was the last one in bed, the first one at the party and it was I was kind of a life of that that scene, you know, but really deep down if you pulled the onion back, I was just an insecure boy. And but that’s what that’s you know looking back at that looking back at someone in that program or looking back at someone in that age group and it’s such an interesting fact, you know, I’ve I’ve became good friends with a lot of our kids as friends at their age and I’ve really tried to get to know some of these boys and these girls and you know it’s it’s humbling they’re I’m getting calls from some of these boys over the time. And about how they’re struggling with this or that you know so I’m like man my gosh, this is unreal that this is going on but I’m like wait a minute that’s exactly what I was doing, you know, and I it’s I’m so far from it but then I can easily get back and think about. But yeah, I mean going back to that is is you know I have a huge heart for these young people to of of destructing their life and into patterns and behaviors that can really affect them for the rest of life like it did me you know I feel like I’m just my life just started. You know in all reality you know all these things I keep learning and the more I put God in my life the more I learn more and I’m like holy cow like what the heck am I doing over here. You know the way I think about this right now man I just listen to this podcast I went and read the Bible to kind of double check it and I’m like holy cow like what why do I think like this and it’s just amazing of that growth and but it only happens if you start putting yourself into that situation and understanding why you want to live for Christ and then you know and that’s where I’m at right now is the more I live the everything I’m going to do is I’m going to do that. Everything I’ve ever tried to do on my own looking back whether it’s been business or friendships anything that’s failed it’s always been because I was doing it my way didn’t seek guidance didn’t just is my way it was like this is what I think and this is what’s right and that’s what that’s how I lived and now I’m now I’m realizing no that’s not the right way right.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah right right right there’s a lot of power in being powerless as we say yeah. Do you think kids nowadays have more challenges than what you and I had when we were growing up you know do you think that the you think that the cliff edge is a little bit closer and a little bit more daunting for them now than it was for us or same.

Troy Thompson: No I think it’s it’s a whole different deal I mean the drugs are harder you know they’re not as safe as they were right you know if that makes sense. No totally you know I’d be scared to death to do any type of drug today and also you have the social media impact that it’s how it’s really destroying relationships and just filling up someone’s endopamin with with funny stuff or you know just things that make them feel good and it’s just really strict. And it’s just really stripping them the relationship capability out with other people so I think they’ve got a I think it’s you know it’s it’s harder for them mainly when you look at drugs and alcohol and in the pressures they have on them to perform and to be cool and to be big and make money and all the stuff that society is always really been teaching us or implementing on us. But this is where you need to be courageous and figure out you know in the faster one can the faster that one can figure out and you I like your word courageous being courageous of understanding that no this is this is not the way God wants to live I want to live towards God’s ways and this is what I want this is what I’m I’m living in where is that meat you know actually a friend of mine I was listening to him that I speak right leading with power. Waking up every day do I want to live the way God intended me to be or do I want to live Troy’s way and you know that’s really impactful today to wake up every morning say okay here we go Troy today is going to be a good day. Am I going to live the way God intended me to be in truth and grace towards the Bible or am I going to live Troy’s way which is full of all kinds of shit you know exactly and so that’s that’s kind of a humbling thing. You know analogy to wake up to and I try to use that very often every day if I can.

Jeff Johnson: It’s a question we should ask ourselves every day that’s absolutely right. God Troy there’s so much good stuff here do you do you feel like your kids are infused with a type of courage now because their dad has gone through what their dad has gone through.

Troy Thompson: Yeah I I I’m seeing you know there’s like being courageous and I feel there’s a lot of different areas of life and I see some moving forward in different buckets of life as I call them. And some are still developing and some I can kind of see it it’s planted and it’s I mean I have a 14 year old you know you know to see where that’s going to grow to. I’m seeing where Sophia is growing to I’m seeing where my daughter Sage is growing to and their natural ways of taking path and you know I’m proud to say that they’re living they are living they believe in God. They believe in Jesus and they’ve accepted Christ in their life and you know I can just now be an example to them and try to be a good coach if the questions come up. Of spilling my knowledge and things that I’ve experienced in my life and what to stay away from but they I feel like they’re all really in a good spot right now. Of course you know as a dad you could always say I wish you’re doing this more or more that or less of that or whatever. But overall I couldn’t be more thankful for where they’re all that right now.

Jeff Johnson: Well unfortunately I don’t know your other two children but based on Sophia what a wonderful young woman. She is Troy so my congratulations to you and to her mother to their house.

Troy Thompson: Thank you. I got really well over the years as well so right back at you.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah well thank you. Last question for you is there anything that you would say to somebody who’s on the precipice of making a courageous decision right now they don’t know whether they should go left or right or whether they should succumb to peer pressure or they should stand their ground or this and that and the other what kind of advice would you give to somebody who’s who’s right at the brink.

Troy Thompson: Yeah you know that’s a great question and I think you really need to start taking the inventory of your life and I know you we hear that a lot and sometimes it kind of we hear so much taking inventory your life check your baggage you know things like that’s all true. But really you have to start looking in the mirror you know and you know take a look at your health you know strip down your clothes and look in the mirror and like am I a good example of health. No this is an area I need to change you know take a look in the mirror and read the Bible like God just sit there and listen God I’m open tell me something and I’ll bet you’ll hear like I want to know you more you know and take a look at your friendship you know and until you really take an inventory of all that stuff people are probably going to live in the same cycle of chaos and in struggles and challenges that they always will until they really take a good inventory and I think that’s a great question. You know they want to do inventory and they get angry at theirself not not anybody else not it God not their wife not their kids. Not their friends not their co-workers but they get mad at theirself so mad at theirself that they want to implement change and they want to turn you know they want to repent from the areas of their life that they know are wrong and that they want to to do right in you know so my biggest You know really you got to take a look in the mirror and you also I think the other important thing is not only take a look in the mirror but you really have to paint a picture of what type of life do you want. Like most people are going through life when I ask him like where do you want to be in 10 20 years I don’t know you know like well fail the plan plan to fail we’ve all heard that right like if you don’t know what you want your life to look like how can you actually achieve that. Whether it’s in your relationship with the wife your kids your finances you know your fitness if you don’t have a plan you don’t even know what that looks like how can you get there so I think it’s a two-prong you know number one you got to really figure out yourself. And look in the mirror and that’s kind of hard sometimes and figure out figure all that out and then also figure out what type of life do I want and then you can start painting that in as you go and putting in steps and every day waking up in my doing something that’s going to move the needle closer to get me towards what I want my life to look like. You know yeah and fitness has taught me a ton about that because we’re ultimately I’m a free spirit I don’t like structure I’ve always been a self-proclaimed when everybody else is walking on the sidewalk coming to be in the grass you know I’ve always I’ve always lived my life like that but man once you start identifying all these things and start implementing it and understanding who you are I think that’s when real real peace and happiness and in in pleases God as well.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah well we started off with Troy Thompson athlete father entrepreneur now we’ve added man of great sobriety child of God and and leader and of course a man of great courage Troy thank you so much for spending time with us today I really appreciate it.

Troy Thompson: Yeah well thanks so much yeah thanks for having me Jeff this has been great you’ve been great interjecting some great questions that maybe stumped me a little bit like okay here it comes.

Jeff Johnson: Appreciate you thank you Troy.

Troy Thompson: All right have a great day Jeff.

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