24: Blessings in Disguise: Finding God in Life's Trials

What's the Story

30 May

Today’s Guest: Peter Awad

Peter Awad is an Executive Coach to Christian Businessmen, Co-Founder of Mission Meats, and Founder of Import Auto Performance. He helps Kingdom-minded businessmen find purpose, grow their businesses, and live out their vision without compromising their values. With specialties in coaching, branding, digital marketing, eCommerce, social media, training, consulting, and public speaking, Peter has been mentioned in Forbes, Inc., and other notable publications. He also has a talent for making people laugh when they least expect it.

Here’s a summary of this week’s story:

Peter met his wife on spring break in The Bahamas, and despite initially falling away from faith, he eventually found his way back to God through a church which his wife also started attending at around the same time. Peter reflects on the interesting timing and how he can now see God's hand in his life, despite it being confusing at the time.
Peter shares about how a series of events led to his 14-year-old daughter having a stroke but through that experience, he discovered a profound group of men who meet every Friday and have sparked business opportunities and opportunities to serve. He reflects on how God works in mysterious ways, sometimes not giving us what we want, but what we need.
His daughter's sickness was a difficult journey for the family but despite the doctors saying there was no healing process, they held on to their faith and community support, which ultimately led to her healing.
Peter shares his experience growing up as a non-Caucasian Egyptian in the US and how it never occurred to him that he was different until he moved to a mostly Norwegian town. Despite this, Peter is proud of his Egyptian-Filipino heritage.
He advises listeners to be deliberate about building a support system of believers before going through trials and hardships, as community is incredibly powerful and necessary for survival. It is important to know your neighbors and be a part of a community, as life is a team sport.
Peter discovered his ability to coach through a journey of self-awareness and focusing on his superpowers, which includes the ability to connect with people and help them discover solutions to their problems. He now does leadership coaching, incorporating biblical principles and helping people improve their tendencies and actions for a better reality. He feels that his work is fulfilling and a form of full-time ministry.

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Peter: In this time, like in this age, we're probably more separated than we've ever been from other people. Because we're independent and self-made and whatever made up stupid comments that we make about things in life.
We're not self-made and we're not independent and we need other people. And we were made for that.

Matt: Welcome to what's the story? My name is Matt Edmundson, and this is a podcast full of stories about faith and courage from everyday people. And today I am chatting with Peter Awad about his Christian journey, challenges that he's had to face in life and some other lessons that he's learned along the way.
But before we get into all of that, one of the things that I love to do is give a bit of a shout out to past guests and episodes, and it makes sense, Peter, given that you're on the podcast, that we give a shout out to Mr. Jared Mitchell, uh, who introduced us. Yes. Uh, you can find Jared's story, episode 20, finding Meaning in Life.
And also the other episode, uh, that's worth mentioning is the other guy that you, that we also have in common, which is Brett Curry. Uh, episode number 11, he talked about his mum dying of cancer and how that drew him closer to God. So check out both of those. You can find our entire archive of episodes and live streams on our website for free at whatsthestorypodcast.com and whilst you're there
be sure to sign up for the newsletter and each week we will email you the links along with the notes from the conversation they get sent straight to your inbox, totally free. It's all automatic. So why not? Why not give it a go? Now this episode is brought to you by Crowd Online Church. Uh, you know, I, I know I fully appreciate that not everybody wants to go to church, and I also appreciate that not everybody that does want to go to church can actually get into a church building.
And this is where online Church works super well. It is a safe space to explore the Christian faith and the thing that I love, love, love about Crowd church is that you get to join in and shape the conversation as well. So if you've never been to church before, or if you're looking for a new church, why not check out Crowd Church.
Their website is www.crowd.church. Or you can email me directly, matt@crowd.church with any questions that you have. So, That's who's bringing the podcast. Let's talk about the guest. Peter is an executive coach to Christian businessmen, co-founder of Mission Meets and founder of Import Auto Performance.
He helps Kingdom-minded businessmen find purpose, grow their business. And live out their vision without compromising their faith or their values. Oh, he's been mentioned in Forbes and in all kinds of weird and wonderful, uh, publications. He's been on one of my other podcasts. He's been on the PUSH Podcast.
And as we said last time, Peter, I mean, that was, I mean, you've been in all these, you know, magazines and all that sort of stuff, but being on, on our podcast, I'm sure is the, is the pinnacle of it. Right?
Peter: Highlight the highlight, man. It's an absolute highlight. Thanks for having me.
Matt: Ah, mate, it's great to have you. It's great that you are here, great to be doing this for. What's the story? Uh, I'm really excited about you actually, it's, um, I, I, you know what the, the other podcast we do are great. We do an e-commerce podcast. We do the leadership podcast, as you know, cuz uh, you've been on that podcast. I love them.
I love meeting new people, but there's just something special about this podcast. Um, because it's, it's just all about story and it's all about your story and you know, how God shaped you and, and all that sort of stuff. So I've been looking forward to this man.
Peter: Me too. Me too. Thanks for having me.
Matt: No it's great that you're here. It's great that you're here. Finally, uh, we get to do this. So for those who are, uh, listening and watching just Peter, whereabouts in the world are you right now? Let's, let's start with some of the basics.
Peter: I'm in Southern California in the, in the States
Matt: and it's, I imagine the weather is stunningly beautiful.
Peter: It's not today, man. It is. It's cloudy today. And you know what's funny is cuz we complain about it when it's cloudy or rainy and my friends in the Midwest, they say, what are you complaining about? It's, it's still 70 degrees. And I say, we pay weather tax here and we want it to be nice all the time. So, yeah.
Matt: Yeah. The weather tax thing. Wow. Let me tell you, here in the UK I'm in Liverpool, England at the moment and it is, uh, uncharacteristically beautiful today. Okay. Alright. We're in that sort of, that time of life where it's sort of, you know, it's, it's on that, that sort of see-saw between spring and, and trying to sort of, Get a little bit warmer, which is quite nice.
So you have a hot day on a cold day at the moment. So yeah, it's beautiful weather. So have you, have you always been a native of, uh, Southern California?
Peter: No, we've been all over. So I was born in Ohio, grew up in Florida, spent 12 hour, 12 hours, oh my gosh. 12 years in Iowa. Um, wasn't 12 hours and then we moved here like four years ago. So we've bounced all over. We, we just love seeing the country.
Matt: Yeah, just all the different, all the different places. Uh, and are you a family man?
Peter: Yeah, so wife, uh, we celebrated our 19th anniversary a couple weeks ago. Thank you very much. And then four kids, uh, 15 down to eight, two boys, two girls. It's like we planned it or something. Yeah, yeah. So, so, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And fun fact, the b the boys, they share a birthday, the five years apart, so Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Matt: I suppose it makes it easy to remember.
Peter: That's right. It does. One less birthday to remember for sure.
Matt: Absolutely. Absolutely. And how did you, um, how did you meet your wife?
Peter: So I always like to say we met on, on vacation, um, but we met on, we met on spring break in The Bahamas. Um, and it's everything you envisioned when I said that to you, so I won't, I won't describe it, but, um, but yeah, she was 19, I was 20. And um, the crazy thing is, is right before we left for that trip, I was headed there with about 30 buddies, believe it or not.
And, um, somebody was visiting that I didn't even know it was, um, a friend of a friend and he called me over and he said, um, I hear you going to The Bahamas. And I said, yeah, we're gonna go over partying. You know, it was, this was college years. This is when I fell off the rails for a while. And he said, you're gonna meet your wife there.
No way. Yeah. And never saw him since I asked my mom about the story, she doesn't remember who it was. And, um, and so I never got his name, never got to let him know how it turned out. But, um, it was crazy. I said, I said, dude, I'm, I'm going to party. He's like, no, you're gonna meet your wife there.
Matt: Well, it turns out he was right. Uh, whoever, uh, whoever this chap was. That's right. So you met your wife there. Uh, but so lemme just, uh, just circle back to something you say you, uh, I think the language you, you used where you were, you were off the rails then at that point. So, um, So just bit of context, had you grown up as a Christian at this point in your life or you kind of had fallen away a little bit or had you not yet become a Christian at this point of your life?
Peter: Yeah. Had fallen away and it wasn't like a hard fall. But I, I would say that kind of the typical, you know, wandering through high school years and then, you know, going to college and, you know, just being surrounded by the wrong Crowd.
Um, Yeah. And so I, I mean, I grew up in, it's funny cuz you know, I've, I'm a hundred percent Egyptian, grew up down in Florida, and um, you know, I like to say my parents had a business in a trailer park, meth town, um, just to kind of like paint the picture. And we went to Southern Baptist Church and like they really wanted to assimilate, um, to the culture, which was great.
And um, so I grew up in that. I had a pastor when I was 10. To kind of take me under his wing. He was in the seventies. He knew, he, he noticed that I really liked power tools. My dad, you know, um, his, his toolbox consisted of like a flathead screwdriver and a butter knife. Like he didn't, he didn't use, he wasn't handy, but this best pastor noticed that.
He's like, man, this kid really, he really likes power tools. And so at 10 years old I was like, sawing limbs off trees and we were grinding down the metal in the baptismal and repainting it and stuff like that. And that's when I kind of drew near her and he's the one that baptized me. And, um, it was a really neat time.
Uh, pastor Lewellen was his name. He passed away a long time ago, but, um, just a great, great man of God. And so I spent a lot of weekends with him in the summers and, um, and so I was kind of, you know, I was, I was in church, you know, from when I was young till, you know, middle, in middle of high school. And then kind of fell away.
I was in a different Crowd, you know, drinking and that whole thing. And then it was, um, Around, you know, a little bit shorter. Shortly after I met Melissa, my now wife were, uh, got invited to a church that was meeting in a bar and they were baptizing kids in beer tubs. Um, or like, they, they were like beer troughs, you know, like, you would, like, you would.
Maybe you know, water, water, you know, cattle in or something. And I got there and I'm like, this is pretty interesting. And that's kind of like where I got, I got sucked back into the vortex and it was really awesome. Um, and it was exactly kind of what I needed at the time in order to draw me back in.
You know, it's like Thursday nights down downtown Orlando. And that's what, that's what brought me back.
Matt: So how was, um, how did Melissa respond then when, when you sort of, uh, went to a place they were baptizing in beer troughs? Uh, was that, was that, was she on the same journey or was hers slightly different?
Peter: Hers was fairly similar man.
Um, she was not off the rails in high school like I was, you know, but, um, I think in college she was also seeking. And so when we had met, we actually started dating long distance cuz I had a couple years left and she also did. And um, around the time that I went to this, you know, beer trough church, um, she started going back to church.
She started going, she started going back to church, um, you know, just around the same time. So it was this really interesting timing and it's interesting how God's working, you know, in our lives. And, you know, you think about this gentleman who you know, I don't know if you wanna say prophesy over me, but just basically let me know that I was meeting my wife.
Um, and I totally poo, I poo-pooed that and then, you know, and then this timing to get back into church. And it's just really interesting, man, when you see God's hand in your life, when you look back in the rear view mirror and it's all so clear. but in the moment it's just so confusing.
Matt: Yeah, it's funny, isn't it?
That happens a lot though, don't you think? Uh, with, with your sort of your walk with God, there's so much at this point in time you don't understand, but it's only when you sort of, I like that analogy when you look back in the rear view mirror, that actually it becomes clear.
Peter: Yeah. Yeah. I've got a, I've got a more recent story, if I may, uh, share it.
Yeah, so, you know, um, you know, so, you know, one of our businesses, the, um, the food business, the CPG company mission meets, um, you know, had a really hard year last year with post covid supply chain breakdown and all that. Like a lot of industries we're seeing, and really I've been over the last few years on this journey of self-awareness to try to figure out.
You know, God's purpose and all my life and where I'm supposed to go next, the next chapter and stuff. And um, you know, so a couple of years of that, couple years of covid turmoil and figuring out the journey of mission meets and where it's supposed to go. And, um, it was May last year, so just a little, yeah, a year, a year ago where I was.
Walking on the beach. I had taken the afternoon and I've done this better, more, you know, more regularly. Um, done a better job of understanding like, man, my brain's checked out. I need time with God. I need some, you know, just listen to some worship music and pray and think I. And, and listen. So I took the afternoon off and I just started walking and I planned to walk about a mile and listen to some worship music.
Well, one mile turned into two, three and four miles. And I'm praying and I'm listening to worship music. And then, I'm listening to this song Endlessly by Josh Baldwin. And I've like, literally like a crazy homeless man. I'm walking the beach with my hands raised and my eyes closed. I mean, people must have thought I was on drugs or something, right?
And there's a line in there which says, we are ready. And I started praying like, God, I am ready. Right? And, uh, he believed me because that's when all the chips started to fall or whatever that phrase is. Like I, everything started going wrong. Everything started going off the rails and it culminated in my 14-year-old, she was 14 at the time.
She had a stroke. And it was at, and it was at church and. I just remember being like, man, what in the heck is going on? Like, all these things started going off the rails and it was, um, during that time where a, um, a friend came into my life that, you know, I, I had known him for a little bit, but we weren't really tight.
We got really, really tight and he connected me with an incredible physician and, um, al also man of God, nine kids. And looking back now, That Prayer walk, it kicked off this chain of events now that I'm so thankful for. Like she is, she's now healed and it's a miracle. Um, cause doctors said she would not heal and just thinking about all these different things, it's like, man, it's, it really kicked off from that Prayer walk.
And you're saying God's funny and, and we talk about looking to the rear view mirror. It's at the moment it's like, wait a minute. I, I had this, I was being faithful. And I, yeah. And I. I was on this Prayer walk and I said, I'm ready. And I didn't realize what I was ready for, right? But looking back, he prepared this.
And actually one of the most beautiful things that's come out of this is like we have an incredibly deep and profound, um, Group of men we meet every Friday diligently at 6:00 AM at my buddy's coffee shop. He opens it up for us. We have like a, like our private two hours before the shop opens. Oh, wow. And this group, this group has sparked so much business opportunity and friendship and yeah.
Opportunities to serve and, and, and hold each other up, all culminated from that Prayer walk. And so, um, at, at the, in the moment, it's, you know, sometimes there's things that you go through that you don't want to go through. You're praying for blessings and, favor and, healing. and he doesn't deliver that.
And it's because it's actually not what you need. Yeah. Um, it's not what, it's not, I'm sorry. It's not what you want, it's what you need. And so it's just, it's so interesting how God works. And so now it's just like, um, I think maybe I shared with you before, but the book, living Fearless by Jamie Winship, he talks about just praying like, Lord, what do you want me to know and what do you want me to do?
And that's it. Cuz we, can't handle much more than that. We won't understand it. and it's not gonna be our plan, you know? Like, I never would've planned for any of that to happen, but it was actually the most beautiful thing that could happen. In the moment it just wasn't fun.
Matt: Yeah. No, it's inter, I mean, how's your daughter now?
Peter: She's great. Yeah, she's healed.
Matt: Fantastic. So what was that journey like?
Peter: Um, You know, people talk about things that happen in their life and it's like, you know, you feel like you're in a movie. Hmm. Like, you're like, man, is this really happening? Like, you know, and, um, you know, it was weird. You know, I'll tell the kind of the, the, the beginning of that real quick. But, you know, it's, I, I'm a, I have meetings on Thursday night.
I get home late enough to where I don't see, I didn't see her and she had been out like having a church gathering that Thursday night. So I don't see her Friday morning. I have three morning meetings. One of 'em started at 6:00 AM I get home at 10. She's acting kind of weird. She's being really kind of quiet.
She's chewing on one side of her mouth. Like it was just really weird. And I'm like asking my wife, what's going on? She's like, well, we had kind of a heated discussion last night, and I think she's just being emotional. She wasn't sh she wasn't speaking up like she normally does. And um, And she was kind of quiet that Friday, Saturday better.
Sunday morning we go to church and she had gotten herself ready, taken a shower, done everything. Normally nothing seemed off. And post church, actually during church service I find myself like crying and like feeling like, man, I've messed up as a parent. Like I don't know what's going on. She's been very quiet and I thought maybe these are teenage years that just kicked in a year later, and she's being a teenager now, but that just wasn't characteristic of her.
I get called aside right after church. And they're like, oh, you know, Windsor's trying to drink water, and it's like falling out the side of her mouth and she's acting really strange. And she almost looked kind of drunk actually. It was very, it was really odd behavior. Wow. Medics come over and they're like, she's, she seems like she's just having like an emotional breakdown.
You should take her to a psychiatrist or something. Well, I walk her out and I notice that her, her left arm is kind of drawn in and she's kind of dragging her foot. Yeah. And, um, we end up taking her to urgent care. Urgent care is like, you need to get her to the ER. I take her to the ER, I can't go in only one parent.
So Melissa goes in, I'm out just pacing the parking lot for like two hours. Well, her CT comes back clear, but her MRI's not clear. And so they end up having me come in. They tell me like, Hey, she's getting airlifted to like a hospital that's, you know, 30 minutes away. Um, Do you have any questions? I asked the, I asked them questions and the doctor's like, this is who I said, what's the healing process?
They're like, oh, there's no healing process. Like this is who she is now. And man, I remem, I remember being so angry at this doctor. I, I won't, I won't repeat any of my statements cuz they're not, they're not, uh, they're explicit. Um, but, uh, so we ended up beating the, the helicopter to the, to the airport and, um, I get there and it's, it's just one of those things where you're like, God, what's, what's happening?
Like, what is this? Yeah. And even, and it's to see the concern on the doctor's faces where they're like, Hey, the doctor at the ER, she's like, I've never, she's like, I've been in this hospital 20 years, I've never seen a stroke and a 14 year old. Like, it's just doesn't happen. Um, But you know, through those next five days and, and, um, being in the, in the, um, ICU and you know, when it's 4th of July, the, you know, the second night that we were there.
So we're watching fireworks out the hospital window with her. Um, you know, you, you get angry and, um, I remember this, this new friend that I told you about that connected me with a doctor. He's like, um, I told him, I told him what this neur, this neurologist said, he goes, he was like, he's like, dude F that guy.
Like he doesn't know the God we serve. Yeah, that's true. And so from that point it was like, okay, this is, this is interesting. And so, um, you know, and I have faith, but it's just one of those things like you think about the. The story, Jesus, the parent, the, you know, the possessed son, and he asked Jesus to heal his son.
And he, what does he say? He says, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. Yeah. Um, like, I mean, that's definitely what I was feeling in the moment. And um, that's why I was saying like, you know, you look back, Matt, and I'm so thankful because it, it, it deepened our faith, it deepened our community and our support.
And thankfully, you know, his plan for her was to heal. Mm-hmm. Um, just despite what the doctors were saying. Yeah. And so, um, it's, it definitely set off a chain of events that's pretty beautiful.
Matt: Yeah. How's your, and, and your daughter's fine now, and she's, how's, how does she deal with it?
Peter: Um, it's interesting, dude, because I mean, there definitely were some low moments.
I mean, not being able to find your words, and, and she used to play the guitar and she gave that up in, in piano for a while. Um, and so there's, there's definitely, I mean, you think about all the things that's going on in your head as a 14 year old and now 15 year old. That's enough, you know, but to have that, you know, all those identities sort of things, and then, and then on top of that to be like, oh, well I, I can't, I can't find my words and I can't speak properly.
Yeah. Um, that was a hard thing. But it was cool, Matt, because um, I realized how strong she is. Yeah. Um, like she had to have a spinal tap in the icu. It was crazy, dude, because, She had just eaten. They're telling her about the spinal tap and the doctor's like, oh, you just ate so in 10 hours, we'll, you know, we'll do the spinal tap.
And um, we're like, oh, so how come? What's the 10 hours about? Like, oh, you can't, you know, we gotta sed, we gotta sedate, and you can't do that, you know, for 10 hours or whatever the time period was. Sure. Yeah. She's like, unless you don't want sedation. And the doctor was like laughing and she goes, oh yeah, I don't need it.
Just go ahead and do it. No way. Yeah. And so she ended up getting a spinal tap, no sedation, and there ended up being nurses from other floors that were coming up and they're like, Hey, are you the kid? Are you the kid that didn't want us? And they're like, we've never seen this before. You know? And so it was cool, man, because you got to see just how tough this kid was.
Yeah. Never complained. Never complained. Um, you know, and uh, it was really inspiring, you know, cause it's like, you know, as an adult I never would've done that. And as an adult I would've, I would've complained constantly and I would've been extremely depressed. Um, and we didn't see much of that. It was really, really, it was, it was beautiful.
Matt: Wow. And so did, uh, how old is your daughter now? 15. And so, um, is her faith still strong? If I can ask that question.
Peter: Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. She's, yeah, she's leading worship on the worship team now.
Matt: Fantastic. And is she back playing the guitar and the piano?
Peter: She has started to get back, yeah.
Matt: Fantastic. Good on her. Oh, well done. Good show, uh, as we'd like to say here in England. Well done. The, um, that phrase though that your friend told you they don't know the size of the God we serve is, um, is such a powerful phrase, isn't it? Because like you say, yes, we've got faith, but Lord, my help, my unbelief, but fundamentally at the root of all of this is a God that we serve that is bigger than the problems that we face.
And yeah. Sometimes he delivers us, delivers us out of them. Sometimes we get delivered through them. Sometimes it's just a big, big fat mess for a little while, and we don't know why. Yeah. Um, but God's still bigger than the problems and I th I think that's a really powerful statement. You don't know the size.
They, he doesn't know the size of the God we serve. Yeah. Yeah. It's mesmerizing. Mesmerizing. Well, I mean, that sounds all pretty, uh, pretty full on Peter, I'm not gonna lie. And. It's, um, it's been what, a year and a bit sort of since that time. Is it, is it, is it like, it, it never happened or is it all still a bit raw? Where, where, where are you at on that sort of scale?
Peter: Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it was July 3rd, so not, not quite a year, about 10 months. Right. Um, from the time of the recording. But, um, yeah, man, I mean, There's, there's, I, I don't know if I fully processed it. I think that it was, um, it was heavy. Mm-hmm. It was definitely heavy.
Um, I think for me, like I said, deepening of faith, which is cool. Cause I think that, you know, you can either make a left or a right turn. That's kind of a fork in the road moment. Like, you're either gonna get, you're either gonna deepen or you're gonna draw away. Mm-hmm. Um, and so for that, I think that I've, um, I've processed through that.
I think that, um, Yeah. I don't know, man. It was, it was heavy. Um, I don't, I don't know that I've ever felt like that, um, range of emotion in any other time of my life. Hmm. Um, but, um, I mean, clearly I can't talk straight sometimes when you're asking these questions it's like I can't get 'em out. But, um, we're getting there.
Matt: Good. Good man. Yeah, it's interesting. Um, I mean, Brett Curry, who I, we shared about at the start of the show in his podcast, he talked about how when his mum died of cancer, that fork in the road, like you say, you go left or you go right, and he, it drew him closer to God, uh, by considerable ways. And you, you listen to the story and you're like, oh my goodness, that's.
I mean, you know, I'm very thankful. My mum's still alive and I've not lost my mum to cancer, so I can't really empathize with that situation. I have a 16 year old. I'm just double checking myself. Yes, she's actually 16. I have a 16 year old daughter, um, who's not had a stroke. So again, I can't empathize. My brother had a stroke during lockdown.
Um, my younger brother had a stroke and I couldn't get in the hospital to see him. Normally I can play that I'm a church minister card and get him most places, but it wasn't working during covid and, um, it's, I. The fact that actually you go through these things and you, this is one of the remarkable things about this podcast, actually, the guests that we have on, something happens in their life.
They come to that fork in the road and they, they don't necessarily get it. They don't necessarily understand it. But they do know that somehow God is gonna work something in the middle of it and they press into God. Um, because whilst they don't understand it, they know without God, it would probably make even less sense.
Do you know, what I mean? And um, yeah. And that I find really, really inspiring your daughter's story. Um, you know, just, I find it really inspiring the fact that she's back up doing worship, starting to play the guitar and piano again. She's an absolute legend, man. That's awesome. It's great to hear that, you know? Yeah. And it's, it's cool that God is, God is working in the lives of our kids. Um,
Peter: yeah. It's very interesting. And it's funny, you just remind me of something like, um, it's helped me in my coaching cuz you're talking about, you know, um, Not being able to relate. I don't, those are the, those are the words that you used, but that's what I heard, like not being able to relate, cuz you ha you haven't gone through those sorts of situations.
And I'm finding myself very frequently in situations where somebody's going through something similar and I'm able to say, man, like, I don't have to say like, gosh, I don't know what that's like, but you know, I'm, I'm sorry. Um, I can, I can still feel what it's like driving down the interstate. Hearing the helicopter and pulling into the, um, parking garage and hearing it land on top of the building, like, yeah, I can hear that.
I can feel it. Mm-hmm. And so, like that has helped me in many coaching situations to be like, dude, I, I've been there a night. Yeah. I, I know, I know what it feels like. And to be able to talk through those sorts of things, and I wouldn't have been able to do that otherwise. Yeah. And so, like, again, it's like God preparing you, preparing you for the path that you're on.
Um. You don't know what it means or, or why, it's, why it's meaningful, but, um, um, but it is, it's a beautiful thing and I'm with you, man. I think that without God, it's like, how would this make any sense?
Matt: Yeah, exactly. It just wouldn't, right? It just, it, no, it just doesn't. It's um, No, it's one of those where, yeah, I don't get it, but thank God that, you know, you're, you are here with me in the middle of it.
Yeah. And um, and I, and this is why I love doing this podcast, I'm not gonna lie, Peter, I love talking to people like you and hearing the stories and just going. And you just, you soak them all up. Do, you know what I mean? And the, and the Bible's full of stories like this. Isn't it just ordinary people?
Something happens, usually not great, and then extraordinary things come as a result, right? Mm-hmm. It, it just, mm-hmm. It's, it seems to be one of the key themes of scripture. So you take anybody in the Bible, Joseph? Just merrily, happily just sort of singing and, you know, just having random dreams. Something kicks off.
Not great, but something extraordinary happens through an ordinary guy. Um, we're just working as a church through the book of Acts. I've just done the talk. Um, it's not come out yet, but it's gonna come out in a couple of weeks. You know how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things, and it's kind of like, That's exactly what happens.
The church, church is growing, good things are happening. Everyone's happy in their little Christian bubble. Then persecution starts, the whole church scatters, which is not great news, but outta that, some extraordinary things happen. Uh, and you know, and it is just a really fascinating pattern you see in the Bible over and over again, isn't it?
Peter: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things. I like how you said that, man. Yeah. We're going through Acts in our men's group and. I think it's, uh, sixth chapter, fifth or sixth chapter, I think. And it was some, like, it was funny cause we were talking about just this in, um, seemingly insignificant statement and um, you'd know better than I would Matt, but you talk about the widows feeling like they're being shorted on food.
Mm-hmm. And mm-hmm. And, um, And one of 'em says, you know, we shouldn't be dealing with the, the, basically the grocery budget like that, that's for somebody else. And I was telling the group, I'm like, man, what the heck? Why is this in here? This like, doesn't even seem like it makes any sense or is important for them to be sharing.
Yeah. Like why, why are there several verses about them dealing with food? And, um, then I'm reading it, I'm reading it and I'm like, man, you know, this is like actually a leadership principle. It's like these guys could have got distracted by. Mm-hmm. The, you know, dealing with the widows and them being fed, but like, no, let's just assign somebody else to it.
And one of 'em was Steven, and it's like, oh, this guy got brought on the fold to deal with like the food and the distribution, and he ends up becoming a legend, right? Mm-hmm. Um, and, but yeah, like, I mean, I don't know. I think that if you were walking around and like, Hey, Matt, can you deal with the widows and the food?
You're like, I guess, I mean, doesn't seem like it's that big a deal. Yeah. Um, but that's like, that's your gateway into, you know, something much greater. Yeah. That maybe wouldn't make sense in the moment. So, yeah. Um, anyways.
Matt: No, it's, it's, it's powerful stuff, isn't it? Really powerful stuff. And we're, we're really, are you enjoying the journey in your men's group going through Acts? I think it's a brilliant book to work through.
Peter: It is, it is. It's amazing. Yes. Yeah. Lot, lots of, lots of nuggets in there.
Matt: Yeah. When we decided that we were gonna go through the book of Acts, I went out and bought a commentary series on the book of Acts. Cause I really liked, if I study, man, I like to study, I like to get involved.
So I went and bought out a commentary. Well, each commentary is like that thick and I have four of them, or related to the book of Acts. And the, the author of the commentary just goes so deep into everything. It's utterly mesmerizing, and I've learned so much going through it. It's been brilliant. So yeah. Great, great fun. Great fun.
Peter: That's, that's a good reminder. I sh I should pick maybe one of those up. I don't want four of those phone books.
Matt: Yeah. Get the, get the abridged version. Uh,
Peter: yes. love it.
Matt: So just, uh, rewinding, uh, a a lot actually, Peter, you said that you are a hundred percent Egyptian. Mm-hmm. So Mum and dad were Egyptian, uh, in the US. What was that like growing up in the States as a, as a, an Egyptian as a kid?
Peter: I just shared this with someone the other day because, and this is just my story. I know this is not everybody's story, but you know, for me, you know, I joke that we were, we we're in a regular neighborhood seven miles from this grocery store they ran. Um, cause that's evidently what Arabs do in Florida. They run gas stations. Um, okay. Yeah. Maybe an inappropriate joke, but it's my joke. You know, we were probably the only non-Caucasian folks in town.
Mm-hmm. And it was just not a thing. I, I never thought about it and I don't if that was my parents doing or what. It just, I. I never thought about it. We moved to Iowa to a town that was 97% Norwegian. Mm-hmm. And we had an African American woman when we, you know, pulled in, um, or you know, moved in. We were maybe like there two weeks.
My wife's half Filipino and she's like, oh, it's so lovely to see a person of color here. Wow. And I literally, I literally looked at my arms like, are you talking to me? I never, it never, and I don't, I, I'm not kidding. I don't know if it was just like total ignorance or if that was my, my parents like sheltering me from the, the reality of it.
I never thought about it. Um, it just wasn't a thing. It was never a topic of conversation in our home. Like nothing at all. Yeah.
Matt: That's fascinating. So your, your wife's half Filipino. You are a hundred percent Egyptian. You must have some beautiful kids. I mean, that just sounds like a, a phenomenal recipe for beautiful kids. That sort of genetic heritage.
Peter: I am biased of course, but I think the Fil Egyptian, we, we, we call it, we call it the Fil Egyptians, right? The Fil Egyptians. It's, it's a pretty good, it's a pretty good recipe. It's working out pretty well. My brother actually married a Melissa who's Filipino as well, which is really, really strange.
Yeah. Um, he met her first, he met her first, so I copied him. But, um, yeah, fair play. Yeah. Yeah. The Phil Egyptians man, it's a, it's a, It's, it's a pretty decent recipe.
Matt: Yeah, I can imagine. I can imagine. Well, I look forward to, um, meeting your kids one day because I'm gonna be like, here come the models, uh, walking down the catwalk right in their, love it in their Burberry outfits or something.
You knows. It's just gonna work really well. You know what, in Liverpool we have, um, it's been really interesting over the last few years watching. Um, I dunno if you've come across a, a guy called Moala. Now, Mosalah is, um, a, a football player or a soccer player as you'd call it. He plays for Liverpool and he is Egyptian, and he has been one of the most successful players ever for the club.
Okay? Mm. And he came to Liverpool a few years ago when I would say that. Um, there was a general sort of, we're not quite sure about anybody from that part of the world still because of, you know, 9/11 and all that sort of stuff. There was still that general sort of uneasiness. And one of the things that I've noticed is since Mosalah has joined Liverpool is the city has.
Has changed its view quite dramatically, I think because you have this Egyptian football player be, and because he's really good. Everybody's like, we love this guy. And so, so it's really fascinating to, to, to see it, you know, and, and how actually, when Mosalah goes back to Egypt, he's revered quite a lot actually because of the work that he's been doing in these sort of relations.
And so, um, yeah, it's, it's phenomenal. Is there with Egypt, we have some friends actually who are, um, missionaries in Egypt doing some amazing work. Church workers over there and we had the privilege of going over to visit them, uh, maybe 13 years ago now. I think Zoe was maybe three or four, or was she a little bit older?
I can't remember. Anyway, she was quite young when we went over and we, two families went over and stayed with our friends in, in Cairo, had the most unbelievable time. We did the pyramids, we did the Nile, we had, we hired about, And we went along the Nile during sunset, and we just took a load of pizza on the, on the boat, eating pizza on the Nile and Sunset.
So the kids loved it and they totally remember it, but we also went to garbage city. Um, the place on the outside of the, the, the main town where all the rubbish is basically dumped and the remnant of, of the, it's sort of the Coptic Christian community, isn't it? That sort of, Takes all this trash and recycles it into some quite amazing stuff, really.
Um, but it's a beautiful country. Just absolutely love it. Uh, and um, it have such good memories of Egypt.
Peter: Yeah, it's funny cuz we never went.
Matt: No. What was, have you never, you must have been since, surely never. You've never been to Egypt?
Peter: No. Wow. No, never. Yeah, I think so. It's on. It's on the list of we've, we have to, I mean, we have to go. I probably have 860 cousins, aunts and uncles there I'm guessing. Cause you know, my mom, my mom was like one of 11 and my dad was one of eight children.
Matt: Oh, wow. Wow. Yeah. So big families,
Peter: huge families. Yep. And so that's one of those things we're like, okay, I need to, we've gotta go for a month and we gotta go see everybody, you know, you, you have,
Matt: and go Sightsee and, and let me know when you go and I'll put you in touch with our friends, cuz that'll be very, very helpful and that would be awesome.
Yeah. No, you have a great time. Honestly. Loved, loved, loved Egypt. So listen, Peter, what's the, um, As we're come into the end here. You know, you, you, this amazing story, God's faithfulness, um, on your life. You know, you, you don't always see it, but in the rear view mirror it becomes clearer, which is a great analogy and I'll use it in many sermon going forward.
I have no doubt. You're welcome. Yeah. Thanks. That's all preachers do they just steal analogies from one another, right? Work? Yeah, it's perfect. It works super well. If you could, uh, go back in time and, uh, give yourself a sort of a piece of advice, um, to help you through that time, knowing what you now know, what would that be?
Peter: Yeah, I would've, I would've had, um, the community I have now, I would've liked to have had it before. Um, it's like not waiting for chaos to strike, um, but instead like being more diligent and building that community. Now we've only been here, you know, less than four years, and so from Iowa. Um, but I think having that support structure in place before
it struck would've been much, much better. Yeah. Um, and much, much healthier. And it's not to say we didn't have support, we did. Um, I just think we didn't have the depth of relationship that I know, that we didn't have the depth of relationship that we have right now. And so I think for the listener, you know, just being deliberate about being surrounded by a band of believers that mm-hmm.
Are gonna be with you like through thick and thin. Yeah. Um, and that, and that you can be there for them in the same way. Uh, it's really powerful, Matt. Yeah. It's like incredibly powerful and incredibly supportive. Um, cuz in those moments, like you need real, just like tactical help, you know? Like, we have three other kids and they stayed with our friends for like five days.
I don't know what we would've done if they didn't have someone to hang out with and, and take care of them and feed them. Mm-hmm. Um, and then when we got, when she got out of the hospital, we had meals brought to us. Somebody started like a meal train or something. Yeah, we had meal, we had meals brought to us every single day, I think for four straight weeks.
Wow. We, we didn't have, we didn't have to think about food. Um, but that was just kind of more of a miracle, right? Like we didn't, we didn't have structure in place for that sort of thing. Um, we were newer to the church that we were going to at the time. I'm still going to now. Um, so I think that, you know, That's my advice is specifically for the listener.
It's like, you know that that support system's so incredibly powerful. Yeah. And I think that, um, In this time, like in this age, we're probably more separated than we've ever been from other people. Um, because we're indepe, independent and self-made and whatever made up, stupid comments that we make about things in life.
we're not self-made and we're not independent and we need other people. And we were. Made for that. and so I think to go outta your way to make sure that you know your community and you've gotta, and you know your neighborhood and you know your neighbors and those things are really, really important, for them as much as for you.
Matt: Yeah, no, great advice. Very, very good advice. And it's super powerful stuff. Like you say, the. You know, life is a team sport and, um, what's that old African, uh, proverb that it takes a village to raise a child? Yeah. It's, um, it's, it takes a village to raise an adult, it feels like.
But I think, I think you're right. I think the power of that is, is quite extraordinary. That community is, is quite extraordinary. Um, tell us a little bit about the coaching that you're doing. How you got into that?
Peter: Yeah. Yeah. Um, very long story short is I was, like I said earlier in the interview, I was on a journey kind of of self-awareness and, uh, my friend posed it to me this way, uh, when I was kind of lamenting years ago about not knowing who I'm supposed to be and what I'm supposed to be working on.
I just didn't feel like I was doing what God wanted me to be doing on this earth. And so he's like, just figure out what your superpowers are. What you want the work to look like and what you want the incentives to be. And so hiring a coach for myself, I just focus on that first question, like what are my superpowers?
Mm-hmm. And long story short, what came out of that plus another, you know, nine months of time passing, is discovering the ability to coach and my ability to connect with people and to tease out the solutions to problems and help them discover them on their own. Um, and so the coaching I'm doing right now is leadership coaching.
We're doing, um, group cohorts, and we're going through a year long journey of self-awareness and figuring out, um, your tendencies and your primary voices and, um, like the shadow of your personalities and what it's like to be on the other side of you. How not to undermine your influence by some of the things and tendencies that you have.
Um, How to create new patterns and actions in your life that lead to a, a fresher and better reality for yourself. Um, and so that's what I've been doing and it's been probably the most fulfilling work that I've ever done. And, um, what's funny is that there's been glimpses of this throughout my entire life.
I just never noticed it. Right. And I think for me, it just came easily just making friends and mm-hmm. Um, constantly being pinged for advice, um, and having lunches and coffees and, you know, breakfast and dinners with people asking for advice on business. And I always wondered like, why do they keep coming to me?
I'm, there's a lot of stuff I have not figured out. Like most of it I haven't, and it just happened to do with, uh, just my natural ability to inquire. And, and help them find a solution to the problem. Um, that's usually right in front of their face. They just can't see it. Yeah. And so, um, that's just been literally the most impactful thing.
And then being, bringing God into the equation and praying before every coaching call and bringing biblical principles into it. It's, it's really fascinating. And I was telling a friend the other day this, he goes, oh, you're in full-time ministry. And I just sat there like dumbfounded, like, yeah, I, I. I guess I am.
Yeah. You know, and just realizing like all of us, like our life is ministry. This is why we're here. Yeah. I, I don't care if you're behind the pulpit or not, it doesn't matter. Mm-hmm. Like how are you shining your light and are you a lampstand in your community and are you using the superpowers God gave you for building the kingdom?
And um, you know, helping others build their faith and being a support, um, and just out there doing. And so, um, it's been, it's been really, really cool. Matt.
Matt: Yeah, I can imagine. I can imagine. I like that. Find your superpowers. I think it will probably say that in the message translation. If you read it carefully, find your superpowers.
Peter: That's right.
Matt: I love that. I love that. There's some. Peter, it's been great chatting, man. It's been great having you on this podcast and just hearing your heart. Thank you. Hearing your story, if people wanna reach out, if, if they want to connect with you, what's the best way to do that?
Peter: Yeah, I, um, I created a download for you guys. Um, they can just go to petergift.com and it's a, it's a leader guide. Um, I mean, it's just like five steps to helping you become a better leader. Um, they can, uh, connect with me there. They can have that free resource. Um, they can, um, Uh, contact me through there as well.
And there's a reason in that I didn't say Peter Awad because it's the hardest four letter, last name to say, right?
Matt: Yeah. We pronounce it A-wood. Uh, but you pronounce it Ah-wood.
Peter: Ah-wood. You say A-wad. They're like, is it Atwood? Is there a T in there? No, there's not. Um, So anyways, so petergift.com. Yeah. Peter gift.
It will redirect you to peterawad.com. But I don't need to say that now. Right? Right. Peter, see what happens. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe you'll get to Atwood. I don't know where you're gonna go. So, um, yeah. Yeah. So yeah, but they can have that resource man, and um, I think it's a great way to connect. So, yeah.
Matt: Fantastic. Fantastic. Yeah. Well, listen, Peter, thanks for coming on this show, man. It has been a great, phenomenal conversation. Um, really, really appreciate it. We will, of course, link to your info in the show notes, which you can get along for free with the transcript. Uh, and you just go to whatsthestorypodcast.com.
Uh, or if you sign up to the newsletter, they will come direct to your inbox. Uh, Peter, what a legend. Thanks, man. Uh, I think you're awesome. I'm looking forward to meeting the model family. And, um, yeah, it's, uh, it's been a, it's been a great, great podcast. Really enjoyed it.
Peter: It's been fun man. Thank you so much, Matt.
Matt: No problem. So there you have it. What a great conversation. Huge thanks again to Peter for joining me today. Remember to check out Crowd online church at www.crowd.church, even if you might not see the point of church. Because we are a digital church on a quest to discover how Jesus helps us live a more meaningful life.
We are a community, uh, this community that Peter's been talking about, a space to explore the Christian faith. And a place where you can contribute and grow. And you are welcome at Crowd Church. Now be sure to subscribe to what's the story wherever you get your podcast from, because we have got yet more great conversations lined up, and I don't want you to miss any of them.
And in case no one has told you yet today you are awesome. Yes, you are created awesome. It's just a burden you have to bear. It's just the way God's made you. It's the way God made Peter, his daughter, his family. Me too. It's just a burden. Uh, what's the story is produced by Crowd Online Church. You can find our entire archive of episodes on your favorite podcast.
And the team that makes this show possible is Sadaf Beynon, Estella Robin and Tanya Hutsuliak. Our theme song was written by Josh Edmundson. And, and as I said, if you'd like to read the transcript or show notes, just head over to the website whatsthestorypodcast.com, where you can also sign up for the newsletter.
That's it from me. That's it from the phenomenal phenomenon, nominal Peter. Uh, it's been great talking to you this week, uh, wherever you're in the world. Have a great week. I'll see you next time. Bye for now.