To Know Him
To Know Him
Time Moves Fast; Decisions Shape Faster
A sunrise plan on two wheels sounded perfect: ride east at dawn, west at dusk, and let the first day of the year tell the story for the next 364. Then reality hit—40-degree air, unprepped heated gear, and a body still recovering from weeks in the hospital with a lung infection. Instead of chasing a photo, we paused and asked the harder question: is this wise? That single pivot opens up a deeper conversation about preparation, health, faith, and the kind of choices that quietly reshape a life.
We trace the line between bold goals and thoughtful plans, owning the gap between intention and readiness. From a teenage decision that led to prison, to a jailhouse conversion, to a decade under a mentor who taught trust and craft, the journey shows how one choice leads to the next. There’s a full pardon, a family that spans six kids and two servicemembers, and years spent tethered to oxygen that rewired what “success” looks like. Along the way, we remember the COVID years—beliefs aside, loss was real—and ask why we’re still here and what we’ll do with that grace.
Grounded by a reading from Proverbs, we talk about seeking wisdom like treasure, letting discretion preserve you, and avoiding the paths that promise thrill but end in harm. The theme for 2026 is simple and demanding: prepare better, decide better, and be consistent in doing good. Whether you share our faith or not, you’ll find practical takeaways on planning, listening to your body, valuing mentors, honoring family, and building a year defined by stewardship over spectacle. If this resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review with the one decision you’re committing to this year.
Hello guys, Ashley Severe. This morning it's about 5 47 a.m. January 2nd, 2026. This morning I was planning a motorcycle ride. Earlier this morning. My objective was to ride out to the east coast and catch the sunrise. And then later on today to ride to the west coast and catch the sunset and record this all on the back of my motorcycle. Actually, I was planning to do it yesterday.
SPEAKER_01:I woke up yesterday morning, about the same time, practically, woke up in the morning and realized it was 36 degrees outside.
SPEAKER_02:And I said to myself, not today, Batman. Not today. You see, my objective was that I wanted to start off the new year doing something that I love and enjoy. I wanted to ride my motorcycle to the East Coast. I felt like that was just an objective I wanted to complete because for the sake of symbolism, you know, bringing in the new year, doing something that, you know, that's not normal. Especially for a man that's gone through the things that I've gone through in 2025. I wanted to do it for, you know, to record it and to share it with the world. Say, hey man, look what I did. And this is how I'm starting off the new year. And I'm gonna let the rest of the year be a picture of that. This is just symbolism or microcosm of me being adventurous and doing what I love in 2026 against all odds. But when I saw that temperature 36 degrees, I was not today, not today. So I rescheduled it for this morning. Woke up this morning and it's about 40 something degrees. And I said to myself, Batman, not today either.
SPEAKER_01:You see, really the temperature is not the problem for me. The problem that I'm facing yesterday and today. Was really was that really the right decision to make? I wasn't prepared to get up and ride to the east coast in 37 degree weather.
SPEAKER_02:Now granted, I have heated gear. I got heated socks, heated pants, heated shirt, heated jacket, heated gloves. I have all that, but I didn't break it out yesterday morning. I didn't go fishing for it. I didn't have it prepared to to to ride out and make it before the sunrise and record the whole thing, the glorious sun rising from what appears to be the bottom of the earth, rising above the ocean line, like a champion rejoicing to run its race. I wasn't prepared for that.
SPEAKER_01:I just woke up in the morning and realized it was 36 degrees. And not only that, but my health. Would that have been a good reason for me to go out there on a motorcycle?
SPEAKER_02:Now granted, I was in the hospital for two weeks out of the last three weeks, and just got off a heavy dose of antibiotics and steroids because of a bacteria infection that I had caught in my lungs. Wouldn't have been a good idea, would it? Would it?
SPEAKER_01:To have gone out there and get on that motorcycle and ride out to the east coast and then to the west coast. For the sake of symbolism. For the sake of setting a standard for the year 2026. That would have been a bad idea. Not too bright.
SPEAKER_02:And thinking of that, I'd like to say one of my commitments for this year 2026 is to make good decisions. Make good decisions. That wasn't a good one. That was not a good one. I don't know what I was thinking. But that wasn't a good one because that was a lack of preparation. Not considering my health. Not considering even the worries and concerns that my wife probably brought up. She wasn't too crazy about the idea when I shared it with her. So for 2026, I wish for all you guys and for myself to make solid decisions.
SPEAKER_01:Solid preparations before a decision is made. You see, life is a series of choices. And whatever this choice we decide to make will steer us into our future, into our tomorrows.
SPEAKER_02:The choices we make today dictates what happens tomorrow. So make good choices, make sound choices, make good preparations.
SPEAKER_01:And to be consistent in doing good. Let that be our model for 2026. Let's make wise choices.
SPEAKER_02:Life is a series of choices. Let's make some good ones. 2026. I can remember like it was yesterday. 19 years old, getting off of a greyhound bus in downtown Miami in 1994.
SPEAKER_01:Being just released from prison for a decision that I made when I was 15 years old as a juvenile. Like it was yesterday.
SPEAKER_02:And today, or yesterday, wake up and realize it's 2026. I say to myself, man, where has time gone? It's already 2026. I go back to the 1994 because I look and see where I've come from and where I am today.
SPEAKER_01:Because of a decision that I made at 15 years old.
SPEAKER_02:Well, since then I became a Christian when I was 16 or 17 in a jail cell, Broward County Jail. And after that day, my life has changed. Released in 1994, started attending a church. Being a part of that church for about, I want to say 13, 14 years. Served there as a Sunday school teacher, ministered there, preached there. Served there. Went to community schools, high schools, junior high schools, talking to kids about staying out of trouble, making good decisions. Helping inmates, talking to them about making right decisions, and trying to lead them and guide them to making better decisions, showing them that they could do something with their life if they make the right choices in life. And that prison in jail was not a dead end. Started my own company, small business in construction. Well, before it, I was gainfully employed. A gentleman named Philip J. Percacci had hired me about a year and a half after I got out of prison. And I worked for him for about 10 years. He taught me valuable lessons in construction, valuable lessons about life. And he didn't, I don't even think he realized it at the time. But the opportunity that he gave me to earn a living and the trust that he placed in me to make the right decisions at work and with the responsibilities he gave me really changed my life. I'd be remiss to say, if it wasn't for God, I wouldn't be here today. If Mr. Piccadilly didn't allow God to work in his life to allow me to work for him, I don't know where I'd be today. But I started my own company. After 10 years of working construction and renovating and doing property maintenance, worked as a general contractor for about 17 years. Received a full pardon from Governor Charlie Chris. 1999 gave birth to my first son, Nathaniel Gregory Severe, in year 2000. Since then I've been married now for about 26 years. Six kids later. Two of my oldest are in the military, Marines, one in the Marines, one in the Navy. And I look back on those years and I say, man, how far I have come. And when I think about them, I think about all the decisions that was made along the way. Every decision that was made brought me to the point where I am today. Life is a series of choices. And the choices you make leads you and guides you to the next step in your life. And I thank God for the choices that He's given me the grace to make. Some of us don't have to go back that far. Last year, this time, I was tethered to an oxygen machine. Last year, this time. Last year, this time it would have been two years. I was tethered to an oxygen machine that without that oxygen machine, I couldn't live. Because I had I had acquired something in my lungs that damaged my lungs, that made it hard for me to breathe. While everyone else's room oxygen levels are 98, 99, and 100. Mine was in the 80s and the 70s and even crept down to the 60s. And at that point, my lungs and my organs began to suffer and begin to experience damage because of the lack of oxygen.
SPEAKER_01:Last year this time I was tethered to a machine. It had been two years. Can you imagine that?
SPEAKER_02:No freedom to roam. Without an oxygen machine connected to you. I could barely walk 10-15 feet without being worn out and tired. And it need to sit down and relax and catch up with my oxygen from my oxygen machine or my oxygen tanks. See, some of us don't have to go back as far as 1994. To realize how far we've come, how close we've come to end of life situations. Oh, how far we've fallen into holes in life and wonder, how am I going to get out of this?
SPEAKER_01:How am I going to survive? But yet we're here. 2026, another year. Another year, 2026. Where has time gone?
SPEAKER_02:I would be remiss to say that if not for God's grace, where will we be?
SPEAKER_01:I mean, think about it. Remember the years of COVID?
SPEAKER_02:In spite of how we feel about COVID and how it came about, was it actually real? Was it a conspiracy? In spite of how we feel, one thing we have to acknowledge is that something was happening because people were dying all around us.
SPEAKER_01:Something was going on, but yet you still here. I'm still here.
SPEAKER_02:Why? A lot of us loved, a lot of a lot of us lost a lot of loved ones during those covet years. Suffered financial setbacks. Some of us even traumatized. And what we were seeing on the news. In spite of how we feel about it. I was one of those people. I didn't believe in COVID. I didn't believe there was something going around. But one thing I could not deny is that people were dying from something.
SPEAKER_01:But yet you and I are still here.
SPEAKER_02:If not for the grace of God, we're still here. So it leads me to my point today. 2026. Better preparations in our plannings. Acknowledge that if not for God's grace, we can't do anything, man. Just like in the song that I played, the testimonies of the four men.
SPEAKER_01:It's all gone at the end of the day. Because there's things that happen that is beyond our control. We can't explain it.
SPEAKER_02:We can't rationalize it away. There's nothing else that makes sense. Other than the fact that there was a higher power that was looking out for us. That shielded us. That prevented us from going over that cliff.
SPEAKER_01:Mentally or physically. And it goes like this.
SPEAKER_02:My son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understand. Yea, if thou criest after knowledge and lifteth up thy voice for understanding, if thou seeketh her, talking about wisdom and understanding, if thou seeketh her as silver, and searcheth for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Isn't that what we need for 2026 man? The knowledge of God. The knowledge of God. keepeth the paths of judgment and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity, yea every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee, to deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh forward things, from the man who leads the paths of righteousness to walk in the ways of darkness, from the man who rejoice to do evil and delight in the forwardness of the wicked, whose ways are crooked and they forward in their paths. Wisdom will also deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words, which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the death. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
SPEAKER_01:I read that this morning and I was like wow that's the perfect recipe man for making good decisions is seeking the knowledge of God the wisdom of God let the wisdom and the knowledge of God guide you in 2026.
SPEAKER_02:Purpose to seek his wisdom and his knowledge in 2026 that we can make good decisions consistent decisions better preparation decision decisions that will affect not only our lives but the lives of those around us our kids our wives our families our friends our associates our businesses our business decisions in all our planning for twenty twenty six and making good decisions I would be remiss to leave out the fact that the source of all good things good decisions good outcomes blessings in life fulfillment of life fulfillment in the purpose that you live in your life only comes through the knowledge of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as your person Lord and Savior It's all about him we were all created with an innate desire to know him you ever feel like something's just missing in your heart and in your life you have all the possessions that you can possibly possess you have many life experiences that have expanded your ideas of life what it means what it's all about but you still feel like you're missing something that void that you're filling may very well be the presence of God as missing. And then the Bible says to those who believed in him Jesus Christ he gave the right to be called sons of God that you may have done in life and on the same token there's nothing too bad in life that you can do that prevent him from coming into your heart if you allow him to come in and to fill that void because he died on the cross of Calvary for you and for me for the forgiveness of our sins all of them yes even that one that you thought is unforgivable he died to be able to provide forgiveness and atonement for that sin to maybe that's why you're still here in 2026 another day another opportunity that you might come to know him before the day of reckoning comes let 2026 be the year if you don't know him as your personal Lord and Savior that you accept him Romans chapter 10 says that if you believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead you shall be saved. All you have to do is accept him ask him to come into your heart and save you I said there's no ritual there's no money to pay there's no amends that we can make there's no atonement that we can that we can do in and of ourselves there's no penitence penance that we can perform or no money anybody can pay on our behalf only the blood of Jesus Christ applied to our heart through confessing our sins and accepting will make the difference.
SPEAKER_01:Just like that sound simple yes the implications of that decision is eternal you were born for a purpose we weren't born just to grow up and wait to die.
SPEAKER_02:We were born for a purpose and have to know him and if you don't know let today be that day let today be that day there's any way that I could be of any assistance or you need someone to talk to I'm reachable my cell number is 561 3356384 That's my personal cell if I don't answer leave a voicemail.
SPEAKER_00:Or you can email me at asevere19 at gmail.com and I'll be glad to talk to you that's an open invitation God bless you all and may 2026 be everything that you expect and you want it to be in God's name and for Christ's sakes God bless you and have a wonderful year I remember that long cold night how dark it was heartbroke blinds closed didn't even want to see the sun like a refugee with nowhere to run I did my mind held me hostage like a loaded gun telling me I had no one was no one I was too proud for to pick up that phone 3 a.m I knew I needed help and I didn't want anyone else to know I was losing Somewhere between the deepest hell a little I heard a voice from overhead saying Son don't you tell it going I looked up I looked up on the bottom and I saw you is all you I looked up I looked up on the bottom and I saw you is all you I was got my lowest got night on office trying to wrestle with all the pain and hell I was doing punching to a clothes bitch it bitch I knocked it wasn't feeling like I was good enough I knew I just couldn't ever do start thinking on the week from all this and over Sunday morning I just kept stuck in the church my heart was beating out of my chest couldn't make a sound or even so figure my phone call my wife and tell her how I feel for my hands were heavy as two stones tin and two stuck on a steel How do you worship when you're still he got us on a seat to remember when you get the melody Jesus when I have put your name on my lips that's when I tin and I'll still ask the heaven and have a broken coming with me sometimes I gotta look back at the man I was to remember just how far you brought me how far I've come all those little victories one so glad you always see the best in me you always do the man that I could be from the moment I got down on my knees I love that