All Conversions are Possible with God with Caleb Templeton
Caleb Templeton was not walking the straight and narrow.
Smoking when he was young was just the beginning. By adolescence, Caleb was drinking and using drugs.
While he had a job mowing lawns, Caleb realized he could make a lot more money dealing drugs. So he did.
Until “his boy” set him up to be jumped. The attack could have ended Caleb’s life.
This week’s “mini retreat in a podcast” explores how God showed up for Caleb through a truck driver, a friend, and his future mother-in-law.
Caleb’s life was completely turned around and his heart converted by the time he married “the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.”
Discover how all conversions are possible with God—including your own or that of someone you love.
Transcript:
Lindy Wynne (00:01.748)
Welcome to Mamas in Spirit, a podcast pointing you towards God in everything you are and everything you do. I'm Lindy Wynne and it's a blessing to be with you. Hello, everyone. Welcome to this gathering, this mini retreat in a podcast. And my heart is so happy right now. This is so exciting because we have a Papa in Spirit with us today and one that I know I would like to say I actually know.
quite well at this point because we are friends with him and his beautiful wife and we get to have the blessing of quality time together, Caleb Templeton. Caleb, thank you for joining us.
Caleb Templeton (00:43.601)
You are very welcome, Lindy. Thank you for having me.
Lindy Wynne (00:46.23)
Well, and Caleb is a Tennessean through and through, true and true. And so I already got a yes ma'am when we gathered here today.
Caleb Templeton (00:53.81)
There'll probably be a lot of yes mam's and no mam's throughout the process. I used to get spankings if I didn't say mam and sir. So I don't like spanking, so I say mam and sir.
Lindy Wynne (01:04.846)
There you go. I love it, but I only want yes, ma'am's directed towards me
Caleb Templeton (01:09.209)
Yes ma'am.
Lindy Wynne (01:12.078)
That's so awesome. and Caleb, like I said, he's a precious friend with his wife, Jenny, and they have eight children, seven here on earth and one in heaven. And they are a beautiful, beautiful family. And Caleb, before you share your story today, what I want to say is talking with Caleb about his story, the way that God has reached into his heart and his life and transformed and changed him.
reminds me of my own and I imagine for all of us, hopefully and prayerfully, it reminds us of all of ours in the sense that we have been saved by grace. And so often when I give witness on retreats, that's what I start with, is that I'm only here because I have been saved by God's grace. And so in that Spirit and the Holy Spirit, let us start in prayer in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen. Dearest Lord, in Ephesians,
chapter two verses eight through nine it's for grace for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from you it is the gift from god it is not from works so no one may boast dearest lord i just want to thank you for our very lives for our very beings for everything good that we have because
because it is all from you. And Lord, I pray that we all just take a moment to think of the moments where we were low, where we were lost, and you went after us. You pursued our hearts, pursued our very beings to return us to the one who loves us most, you. In your name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen. So Caleb.
Caleb Caleb I would love for you to start at the beginning of your story.
Caleb Templeton (03:11.278)
Alright, well as you mentioned to start us off, I'm born and raised here in Nashville. I have two younger sisters and come from a and Southern Baptist and kind non-denominational background. when I was, well I don't remember how old I was, it was the summer between kindergarten and first grade, my mom and dad got a divorce.
And up until that point, typical childhood running around without shoes on and a shirt and just stomping in creeks and catching frogs and turtles and fishing. so dad leaving was, I didn't understand it. It didn't make a lot of sense to me. And in fact, I'm 43 years old now and I can remember watching his truck drive down the driveway like it happened yesterday.
And as I was thinking about getting ready for our discussion today, I was thinking about, know, led me down the path that I'll talk about here in a minute. And I think that probably was the very first point, if I'm completely honest and kind of diving into why I did what I did that we'll share here in a little bit. So dad left, moved in with my grandparents, his parents, who also live here in Nashville. And my sisters and I would visit with dad on the weekends with mom.
during the week and then every other weekend we were with dad mom obviously a single mother her family super involved i saw my grandparents on her parents almost every day her sister almost every day so my aunt and my grandparents on my mom's side they were like extended moms and dads and much like i'd kinda theorized that life was like growing up in the you know
carriage days and covered wagons and all that where mom and pa lived on the property with grandma and grandpa and you're all together all day and every day and all these things. So I spent a lot of time with them going to church with mom. Mom went to the non-denominational churches which as a kid to be honest kind of scared me a little bit. Ladies running up and down the aisle screaming in Spirit and passing out slain in the Spirit and all these things.
Caleb Templeton (05:32.801)
I can remember looking at mom a few times in terror, like, mom, are we safe? I know this is church, but this is just weird to me. anyways, so strong faith background on my mom's side. On dad's side, I don't have a memory even to this day of going to church with dad growing up. I think he went, and I know that he went with mom quite a bit when they were married, but just not much faith there.
Lindy Wynne (05:56.43)
and they were married. But just not much later than that, my sisters and I would go to St. Mary's house every day.
Caleb Templeton (06:00.495)
And whenever my sisters and I would go to my grandparents' house where he was staying, he worked in construction all the time. And when we would meet up with him Friday evening after school, he would come home and then he would zip right back out to the bar. So there my sisters and I are at my grandmother and grandfather's house thinking we're going to spend time with dad and he's gone to the bar. So we spent a lot of time kind of raising ourselves, running around and just doing whatever.
Now, their house was a very proper house. They had three or four forks and two or three spoons and a few knives. And I'm not really sure what to do with all those knives even now. So it was very much a household that children are to be seen and not heard and a lot of times not even seen. Contrary to my mom's side of the family where we would go over there and my grandfather would look at us with a miminance of us being there and he'd say, you know,
something's wrong guys, we're like, oh, what is it, granddad? Y'all haven't jumped on my bed today. So we would run up the stairs and jump on his bed until we were just exhausted. that was, so that was the, I mean, it's just completely night and day. Full of love, Christ, it just, was, was a very warm place to be in. And so going to dad's every other weekend, him being gone, then he would come in just absolutely.
hammered in the evenings didn't really give much of a father role model to look up to, to want to be, to emulate, all of these things. And that continued for a while. And then on my 16th birthday, we were at his house and mom came over to pick us up. And he again had been drinking quite heavily.
And that was kind of like the straw that broke the camel's back. And we had an intervention with him and said, you know, dad, we're not going to come over here to a never see you. And then when we do see you 98 % of the time, you're so out of it that we're not even, it's not any kind of quality time whatsoever. And he went to treatment very shortly after that. And he has been sober ever since.
Lindy Wynne (08:00.288)
We're not gonna come over here and say everything.
Caleb Templeton (08:23.617)
But having that as the example in kind of the early formative years, you know, was 16 years old before that actually happened. Going to a private school, a Christian school, I always had Christ in my life and Christ was around. And I knew that I believed in Jesus. I believed that, you know, if I'm reading scriptures and going to church, I'm going to be a good person. And I wanted to follow all these teachings and
but also had a little bit of a wild streak in me and played sports from kindergarten all the way through high school. But in high school was hanging out with some friends that also had mutual friends that went to a public school nearby. And one thing started leading to another and started hanging out with those folks a lot. And those folks had other friends that I would meet and well, some of them would, some of them smoked cigarettes, you know, and were
I don't know, however, 14, 13 or 14 years old, freshman in high school. man, that's kind of dangerous, but kind of cool. You know, let's smoke some cigarettes too. And then that turned into, so-and-so's drinking beer in the basement at his mom's house. And let's try a beer. And then that turned into, let's try two beers. And then what happens after a six pack? And continued to snowball to where, started meeting up with folks that were doing drugs and smoking weed and doing all these things.
And I thought that was just kind of cool. And I had a little, again, a little bit of a wild streak in me. Still do, much more tame and manifested in much different ways now. But that continued to snowball and started hanging out more with the folks that didn't play sports but sold drugs and were mixed in with the absolute wrong crowd. Well, it doesn't take very long, surprisingly, to get
Lindy Wynne (09:54.511)
wild street and they still do. It's much more tame and a lot of them have been put in different places. But that continued to snowball and started hanging out more with the folks that didn't place for special drugs and it really good.
Caleb Templeton (10:19.676)
mixed up really deep with the really wrong people. And that's where I found myself. Before I knew it, I was still on sports teams, but really wasn't interested in playing sports a whole lot. I needed to cut grass in the summertime to afford gas for my truck and sometimes food for myself. Mom, again, know, single mom working three jobs and three children, trying to raise them the best that she can. And while we spent a lot of time with her parents,
She just didn't have the money that we needed to be able to have bare necessities at times. And so, you know, I started getting more interested in making money. Well, I realized that I can sell grass or weed, marijuana, instead of cut grass and make a lot more money doing that in a lot less time and a lot less sweaty. So gradually started cutting fewer and fewer yards and selling more and more drugs.
At certain times, I felt like, you know, I may be getting in too deep. I should really pull back here. And as I look back, that was the Holy Spirit trying to protect me saying, hey, Caleb, no, cut this out. This is not what you're supposed to do. And I just would squash that and say, well, I'll be fine. I'll be it'll be fine. It'll all work out. I'll you know, I'll come back to church when I'm done playing around. And
It got to the point where I was partying a lot more than I wasn't. And this is all high school. I mean, I'm at this point, maybe, maybe 15. I mean, this is still early years in high school. And that trend continued for most of high school. I would, we would have buddies that were 18 or 21 and get hotel rooms in just rat bad hotels, the motels rather that are just nasty. You need a tetanus shot to look at them.
Lindy Wynne (11:58.799)
not sure I can get you to that or most of my students.
Caleb Templeton (12:15.832)
But we'd go there and just have massive parties. We'd bring kegs and all the drugs that we could imagine and just party it up for the weekend. As a 15-year-old kid, that's not what you're supposed to be doing. But that's what I was doing. I think I told you this story, Lindy. There were a couple of times I would walk into some of these hotel parties and there would be people all around. Most of them, I really didn't know who they were. They're much older than me.
There would be automatic machine guns laid out all over the tables and beds and couches and stuff and mounds of drugs and money all over the place. that was just the culture that I was now surrounding myself in. I never felt afraid in any of those moments. And I look back and I'm like, my heavens, how? Now I think if I walked into a room like that, I would not feel as comfortable as I did then. But that was my everyday life.
as a kid in high school and continue to live this life of party and sin. we would, our joke when people, you know, we'd be at parties or whatever and say, hey, do you do whatever drug it is, name it. And we'd say, well, you know, it's easier for us to tell you the drugs we haven't done than the drugs that we do do. Awful place to be, awful place to be. But that's where I was. And I didn't.
I knew it wasn't right, but I didn't actually care. never, again, I never felt unsafe, but I really just enjoyed this living dangerously, being with really dangerous folks that probably didn't have my best intention at heart. But I enjoyed it. I had all the money I needed. I had quote friends, right, that could get me beer if I wanted to, drive me wherever I wanted to if mom took my truck keys because I...
Lindy Wynne (13:52.079)
really just enjoy this day being with these really dangerous folks that probably didn't have time to introduce themselves.
Caleb Templeton (14:13.919)
broke some rule or whatever. That's fine. I'll just call so and so and he'll come pick me up and we'll go get whatever we're going to get and sell what we're going to sell and move on. So that continued through high school and I graduated. Actually funny, I made the honor roll in high school twice. The first semester of my freshman year and the last semester of my senior year. Coming into high school, kind of...
didn't know what to expect. And so I was really focused on my studies. And then as I began to party, I focused less on my studies. And then my senior year, my mom was like, know, Caleb, you are going to really have to get it together if you want to do anything with your life. And so I paid like a fraction more attention and got on the honor roll again, you know, that last semester. graduate high school from a really good private school here in Nashville and go to college. Still hanging out with these same folks.
people I should not have been with, started mixing around with folks that were involved in Mexican mafia and other really bad people. And that culminated on one night of, I came back from Murfreesboro, I was at MTSU at the time, and met up with one of my friends, one of my boys, to buy a whole bunch of weed to then be able to turn around and sell. And it was a setup. And...
I had a feeling going into the night and so I had another buddy of mine go kind of scoping the place out and he called me about two hours before I was supposed to be there and said, hey dude, there's some shitty stuff looking like going on. Some dudes just pulled up, jumped out and ran into the woods and it looks like they're just hiding there. You you may want to call this off. I was like, no, it's fine. You can leave. It's fine. And I had, again, you know, I was talking about the Holy Spirit trying to nudge me along.
Lindy Wynne (15:42.287)
and you're kind of scoping the place out. And he called me about two hours before I was supposed to be there. And they knew there was some sexual stuff looking like on. So he just pulled out and jumped out and ran into the woods. said, somebody was hiding there. You know, they want to call the cops. But no, it's fine.
Caleb Templeton (16:08.381)
I had this feeling that Caleb, shouldn't go through this. You don't need to do this. And then my pride said, yes, you can. And so I sent my buddy back to Murfreesboro and said, it's fine. We'll figure this out. And I decided to go by myself and meet up with this guy and pull in and I see him sitting there in his car and I get out. And the very next thing I know, I turn around and I just get hit right in the mouth.
And have no clue how many times I got hit. I have no idea how many people were actually hitting me. I know there were for sure three people there that were whipping my tail. And I remember coming to hearing this loud crunching awful feeling of just a horrible headache and awful crunching sound. And then came to to realize it was my head being slammed in my own car door.
Now, I'm a freshman in college at this point, and I'm dealing with people that are doing this to people that we've spent several years with at this point, right? And we're boys, and this is what is happening to me. To this day, I still believe the angels showed up to have them stop just absolutely beating the daylights out of me, because this was 10 or 11 o'clock at night, nobody was around, it was a dark parking lot.
There's no reason for them to have stopped. They did. And they got in their cars and left. And I remember sitting there for just a few minutes. Again, my memory of the night is not very good. I got in my car and decided, okay, I need to go back to Murfreesboro where my apartment was and figure out what's going on what happened. if I, this drives my wife crazy. If I've ever been somewhere one time, I can get back there without directions again.
I do not get lost. I got lost between Bellevue, which is where I lived or kind of grew up, and Murfreesboro, which is where I was currently living. No way I should have ever gotten lost. I got lost. I don't know where I ended up, but there was this little country store somewhere, I guess, between there and Murfreesboro. And I walked in to ask the clerks, hey, where am I? What road is this? Can you help me get back to Murfreesboro?
Caleb Templeton (18:33.704)
There was a truck driver in there that was like, good lord, man, somebody whipped your tail. You tell me who did it. I got a shotgun in the truck. We'll go take care of it. I've never met this guy in my life. Don't know who he is. And here he is offered. I'm like, no, no, no, no, just get me to Murfreesboro. That's all I need. And he said, I'll tell you what, you just follow me son. I'll get you there. Okay. So I got in my car and he got in his semi-trailer tractor trailer and we get close to Murfreesboro. I still, I don't know where I was. don't know where
we were, but I called my buddy that was supposed to have met me at the drop side of the pickup zone or whatever before I got jumped. And I told him, was like, hey man, here's what I see. Here's what I think I am. And he's like, I'll be there in a minute. And he jumped on his motorcycle and somehow came and found me. Again, Holy Spirit All of these things lining up that this truck driver was there at the gas station and could get me close enough to where I could then piece enough words together.
to direct my friend to come find me. And I followed him back to our apartment and they get me inside. I get situated and then my buddy's roommate sees me and absolutely just loses his mind and runs off, leaves the apartment and apparently calls my mom. And so my mom comes with my two sisters and my face just looks like hamburger meat. And that's the last thing I wanted.
Lindy Wynne (19:59.855)
That's the last thing I want. I knew that they came in and I had an of what I was into. But they didn't know how deep I was in. I mean, I was a bona fide, hard-carrying robot. And they kind of knew a little bit about the design of this
Caleb Templeton (20:00.872)
I knew that they kind of had an idea of what I was into, but they didn't know how deep I was in. I mean, I was a bona fide card carrying moron. And they kind of knew a little bit of that, but not to this level. So this now, the cat's out of the bag. I can't hide it anymore. I had to tell mom what happened. And it kind of...
It came to the spot where I just, told her most things. didn't tell her everything. You know, I was still not going to tell her absolutely everything, but she said, well, you're going to, you need help. We got to get you out of this. This can't, you can't be like this at this age or any age, but at this age. I recuperate, I got better and was thinking about my options. What, what do I do now? Right. I mean,
I certainly didn't see this coming. I don't know what direction I really thought my life was gonna go in, but I didn't see it going like that. And so I started thinking, well, if they did this to me, they know where I live. What happens if they decide they wanna come get more retribution and attack my mom or my sisters? My thoughts just start to snowball. And mom said that she had a friend.
who had a brother that lived in Destin, Florida, and he needed somebody to come help work the beaches that summer. I'm like, you know what? School is not for me. It's never really been for me. I did it because I needed to. Yes, I will grow up a little bit and I will go down to the beach and I'll work there as long as I need to. Maybe I'll work on the beach until I die. Who knows? But yes, let's do that. So I moved to Destin, Florida and
started working on the beach. when I tell people I worked on the beach, like, that must have been so great. Well, let me tell you, it is the hardest work I have ever done in my life. It was seven days a week, eight months straight. And back then we didn't get a day off unless a hurricane came, in which case you bust your tail to get all the equipment off the beach to then be able to hunker down for the hurricane. And then after it hit, scurry back out and clean it all back up. And when I moved to the beach, I thought, you know what?
Lindy Wynne (21:58.255)
That must have been so great. want to tell you, it is the hardest work I have ever done in life. was seven days of work, eight months early, and back then we get a day off. That's a hurricane came, in which case you must have failed to get all the equipment on the beach. You could then give under a hundred pounds for the hurricane, and then after a hit, it turning back out and you could get all that back
Caleb Templeton (22:23.215)
it's time for me to rediscover who Caleb is. And I knew I wanted to come back to Christ, back to church, back to how I was raised, but I still wasn't 100 % ready. So I tell people, you know, when I was living on the beach, all I did was drink beer and smoke weed, which seemed like PG compared to what I was doing as the Disney version of how my life was. But through that, I was able to spend hours on the beach and rediscover who I was.
who I was meant to be. then I met my beautiful bride down there on the beach. Her family owned a condo there and she was the most beautiful girl I'd seen. And I felt like she was way out of my league and there is no way that that girl is gonna have anything to do with me. But I can spend a lot of time talking to her mom and maybe get in that way. And so that's what I did.
I went every time her mom came down, I would put them in the most primo spot on the beach, right near the boardwalk. And I would spend, you know, I would walk the line and collect money from people and just chat her mom's ear off and let her see, Hey, I know I look this way and I've got tattoos and an earring backwards hat and whatever long hair. And, I'm actually a really good guy. I promise. If you just get to know me, I'm a good guy. So kept doing that. then Jenny.
would come down and I would just, you know, I would kind of play it off like, yeah, okay, whatever. She's just being nice. And then she would give me her phone number and I wouldn't call. I would dial the number and never could hit send probably a hundred times. I just again thought there's no way this girl is, she just thinks, I don't know what she thinks, but there's no way. Well, she kept doing that. And finally, apparently she came down to the beach one weekend with some friends and she was like, you know what?
Lindy Wynne (23:52.927)
I would dial over the number and never consent to it. Probably a hundred times. I just would be a thought.
Caleb Templeton (24:15.501)
If he doesn't come to the gathering I'm having tonight, whatever. Well, lo and behold, that night I finally got the gumption to go spend time with her and hang out and get to know her little bit. So I go in and we start talking. It's a great evening. And we start, I finally call her after she leaves. Now she likes to say I never called after that, but I'm pretty sure I did. So we spend hours talking on the phone.
she comes down to visit the beach quite often and it just continued to blossom and Till one year hurricane Ivan hit Destin and I was out of work for over a month So I was like well, I'll come up to Jenny was in school at Mississippi State I'll come spend the month with you and just hang out you can go to class and I'll sleep in and it'll be great and We went to Mass and I thought wow this
Okay, little different. I don't know when to stand up or sit down or kneel or make signs with things and shaking hands and holding hands and all these things, but it was just a different church experience than I've ever had in my life. And I just remember sitting in those pews thinking, this is beautiful. This is what church is supposed to be. This is how I feel like I'm supposed to feel during church. And I think we probably went to mass maybe twice in that month, but that's two times more than I'd ever been to mass and certainly more
consistent and I'd gone to church in last eight years or so and our my time in Starkville came to an end. I had to go back to work in Destin but our conversations continued, our relationship continued to grow and I was getting worn down with my time on the beach after I think three years or so working on the beach and decided okay I'm gonna move back to Nashville. Jenny.
Lindy Wynne (26:00.961)
getting worn down.
Caleb Templeton (26:09.763)
what if you transfer from Mississippi State to Nashville? How crazy would that be? And she was like, yeah, that would be crazy. Let's just see if I could ever get in. we came to visit one weekend. She didn't think, well, I'll back up. One of my sisters was graduating high school. And I called Jenny on the way up to Nashville from Dustin. said, hey, would you like to come to Nashville with me and come to my sister's graduation, meet my family? I know your family quite well.
I would love to, but mom's never gonna say yes to that. I go, yes she is. You just tell her where you're going and whatever. She's like, no, there's no, I'm telling you, there's no way. Jenny, I promise, call your mom, it will work out. So she calls her mom, she's like, mom, Caleb's on his way, he's gonna stop in Birmingham. Is there any way I can go to Nashville? And her mom was like, no, absolutely. And Jenny's jaw just hit the floor. Wait, seriously, you know, the guy from the beach, the long hair and the tattoos and the earring and all, I can drive to Nashville with him. Absolutely.
So all those years talking to her mom and all the time putting her in the primo spot on the beach with the chairs and umbrellas paid off. And so I like to joke that I was just setting the hook that whole time to really reel her in. So we come to Nashville, she meets my entire family. We visit Vanderbilt and they interview her and she gets in. So she goes to Vanderbilt. At that time, we both were not living.
Chased lives. We were still drinking pretty heavily and doing things we shouldn't have. But we started getting involved in University Catholic and found ourselves going to Mass more and more and getting involved in things that the University Catholic had to offer with retreats or socials or whatever. And that continued throughout her time at Vanderbilt.
Lindy Wynne (27:52.847)
that the university faculty had to offer. They had to choose for socials or whatever.
Caleb Templeton (28:05.976)
going to Mass enough really opened my eyes to, yes, Lord, this is what I'm meant to be. This is how I'm supposed to feel towards you, having a drive to love, to know, and to serve you. That's what I wanna do. And there was a retreat that we went to one weekend called Theology of the Body. And this is what absolutely sold me in Catholicism, is it was...
telling me all of these things about the theology of the body, right, the name of the talk that I had never heard. And one of the beautiful things, the most beautiful thing, and what really reeled me in was natural family planning, the description of it, the science behind it, all of these things. And I remember sitting there thinking, wow, what a better way to prove that you have love, true love for your spouse.
than to say, love you so much that if it's a period where we need to abstain for whatever grave reason is, is, we think we are in, in this moment, then we won't act in this sexual act right now, marital sexual act. But I see you as more than just an object. Your body is more than just an object as the man to use. Right. And it's so much more than that. And I understand I'm not trying to be offensive in that way, but
to be honest, growing up, that's kind of how I thought, you know, it's like, okay, you get married and then you just have sex whenever, however, wherever, because you can and do and it's great. But one of the blessings and repercussions of sex is kids, right? And so you're gonna have to be open to both if you're gonna be open to one, right? And this was just the natural family planning was just such a beautiful way.
to illuminate the beautiful gift that God has given us of marital sex. And then the obvious wonderful gift of children that that creates. So went through RCIA, OCIA now, and I'm a little slow, so it took me little over two years to get through RCIA, although not all my fault. It was partially just scheduling and everything, but finally got through it and...
Caleb Templeton (30:27.466)
Jenny graduated college, we got married, I joined the church December 8th, right before we got married the following July. And now we are parents to eight children, one in heaven already there, up there praying for us. And just have an absolute beautiful, beautiful life. We would not have this life.
without God's Some years after I got off of the beach, I had come back to Nashville and some old buddies of mine that I had run around with at one point or another living my bad life invited me to a party and I thought, I don't know if I should do that. I'm really, I'm on the straight and narrow for the most part. I'm not trying to get back to any of those people. I cut ties and I feel so great doing it, but I said, okay, I will go. And
I think that was the Lord, again, allowing me the opportunity to heal, to show that He is in full control, and how much He really has me in His hands. Because my boy that I was supposed to meet that night that jumped me was at this party.
When I saw him, I immediately had no fear, no anger, no animosity, no nothing, but just pure appreciation. And I know that's hard to understand, and I think it was hard for him to understand, because the minute that I saw him, it was like he had seen a ghost. And I'd never lost eye contact with him, and I walked straight up to him, and I looked at him and I said, I want you to know, I'm not mad at you for that night. In fact,
Lindy Wynne (31:54.895)
nothing but just pure appreciation. And I know that's hard to understand. And I think it was hard for him to understand because the minute that I saw him, it was like he had seen a ghost. And I never lost eye contact with him. I walked straight up to him. And I looked at him and I
Caleb Templeton (32:16.277)
That was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. So thank you. And I turned around and I walked away and I spent a few more minutes there at the party and then I just left. And that was one of last times I ever saw that guy. I don't know where he is anymore. I imagine he continued the same lifestyle. But I like to share that tidbit with it because to me, that was the Lord giving me the opportunity to completely bury any kind of anger or frustration that I had towards the guy.
And for me to even further dive into how much Christ was carrying me through that entire process. When I look back, as I mentioned before, I still believe that my guardian angels said, okay, you know what, boys, I think you've his tail enough, leave. I'm pretty hard headed and I think the Lord knows that. And I that level of eye-opening experience to get back on track.
And getting my rear end handed to me, my head slammed into my car door, that is what it took. And to know that Christ had me that whole time, that He was paving the way for me to on my own come back and find Him, want to serve Him, want to know Him, truly is just the greatest blessing.
Lindy Wynne (33:42.191)
It's just the greatest blessing. Because if you're just told, well, you go to church, and this is why, and you pray the four meals, and this is what you do, that's one thing. But for it to be your own, now you're actually invested in pursuits of Christ. And so.
Caleb Templeton (33:45.375)
Because if you're just told, well, you go to church and this is why, and you pray before meals and this is what you do, that's one thing. But for it to be your own, now you're actually invested in pursuit of Christ. And so one of our, the song that Jenny and I danced to at our wedding was God Bless That Broken Road that led me straight to you. And at the time it was kind of cliche, but it
It truly is. It was a broken road, but it was directed to her and to Christ at the same time. So that is my story and my background.
Lindy Wynne (34:27.288)
Caleb, I cannot thank you enough for sharing all of that and really sharing your broken road that led you straight to Jenny, but also and ultimately straight to Christ, straight to the Lord, straight to the one who loves you most. And really your story encapsulates so beautifully that we are saved by grace. And from your story, it amazes me that the person that keeps coming back to my heart and my mind is the truck driver.
Caleb Templeton (34:36.778)
Thank you.
Caleb Templeton (34:56.778)
Mm.
Lindy Wynne (34:57.024)
It's the truck driver in the middle of nowhere in the country in a desolate area, but there was the consolation of a soul that was willing to help a young man and in a sense in a fatherly way. He was directing you back to where you needed to go. And ultimately that was part of your broken road. And then you have your other friend that could just not bear seeing you so wounded without having that sense of
Caleb Templeton (35:11.518)
Yes.
Lindy Wynne (35:25.282)
fatherly and brotherly responsibility to call your mother, to call your mother. And this is mama's in Spirit. And so I'm listening to your story as a sister in Christ and being able to identify with so much of it and being so thankful that you're sharing your broken road. Because I was talking last night to a nun who is very elderly and just so beautiful and so special to me. And she said something like,
Caleb Templeton (35:29.78)
Yeah.
Lindy Wynne (35:54.275)
When we're younger, we think we have to have it all together or at least present ourselves like we have it all together. She said, but as we get older, that's not the case at all. And it's like we see our brokenness and we know our brokenness and we share our brokenness hopefully more fully. And that's what you just did. You shared that broken road so that we can see really the miraculous work of Christ in it and how Christ pursued you. But you said there in the very end,
something so beautifully that you began your pursuit of Christ. You began your pursuit of Christ and that you needed to do it yourself. And I think as mama's in Spirit here from the maternal perspective too, because Caleb, you were lost. I mean, you were lost and you could have died that night. I mean, just to call a spade a spade, you could have died that night. You were in the middle of nowhere. It was in the pitch dark.
Caleb Templeton (36:44.564)
Yeah!
Lindy Wynne (36:48.928)
It was dark in every sense of the word. When I think of that car door slamming into your precious head, it's horrendous. And growing up, I went to public school in Northern California, and it was a wonderful school and a safe school in many ways, and then in other ways, not so much. And I have memories of fights that I saw that were brutal, and like you're talking about, like brutal. One, even recently, I think after you and I, were sharing your story with me.
It brought back a memory of a young man and I wondered, is he alive? Like, did he survive that night? And I don't know. I'll never know. I don't even know where he was. It was at the mall. It was outside at the mall. So anyways, my point in that is like, here you are, your mother's precious child with your head literally getting bashed in and then dependent on these humans, both known and strangers in your life. Reminds me of the Good Samaritan.
Caleb Templeton (37:19.903)
Mm.
Lindy Wynne (37:44.259)
Like that truck driver was like the good Samaritan. Gosh, it's so beautiful. It could make me cry. So beautiful. Just guiding you back to safety and where you needed to be. And you really skipped over, which is fine. But you know, those are not injuries that are not filled with great physical suffering and that wouldn't take an extended period of time to heal from. And I love thinking of you being a son, how Jenny's mom saw you.
Caleb Templeton (37:45.631)
Yeah, truly.
Lindy Wynne (38:14.21)
Like she saw your heart. You talked about natural family planning and really us being embodied souls. Like it's not just about the body. I could relate to all of that too for my own, just my own upbringing and exposure to things as a small child. And really, I took no offense to what you said because I think that is what's taught is that a woman's body is to be used. And in my experience, that's what I learned. I mean, it just is.
It's really taken the Lord and being reshaped and remolded and healed to understand that that's not the case. And so I appreciate you saying that. that's one of the things that I just so appreciate you about, about you, Caleb, is that you say things as they are, as they are in reality. You're not sugarcoating anything. You're saying your real experience and mamas who are all here gathered, whether you have children or a spiritual mother or love children.
or a teacher or whatnot. It's like children live in the real world and they know the good and the bad and the ugly. And there is all of it in this fallen world. And so when I think of Jenny's mom seeing beyond the things that you talked about, I wanna mention really quickly, and I hope this is okay, Kayla, when you talk about alcoholism and drinking, and there are so many ways that all of us, and I experienced this too,
can have kind of unfortunately that seed of unworthiness planted in us. And I had that seed planted too. And in families with the disease of alcoholism, children of divorce, which I am too, and in so many other ways in this fallen world, we can have that seed planted. But the seed of the Lord, that mustard seed of the Lord is greater. It's like a deeper planting. And then when that grows, it overcomes that sense of unworthiness by the grace of God. And so,
Jenny's mom really in some way I sense a role of her in that. And then all those years later when you're like, No, your mom will say yes. And she did because she saw your goodness, Caleb. She saw you as a son of the Lord. She saw your sonship by the sun, the capital S O N. And I just think that is that is so beautiful. And to witness personally, your glorious family, your beautiful bride, as you say, Jenny, and this
Caleb Templeton (40:14.269)
Hmm.
Caleb Templeton (40:18.385)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Yeah.
Caleb Templeton (40:26.493)
Yeah.
Lindy Wynne (40:38.35)
precious family you've created. And it's hilarious because if you're on YouTube, Caleb is hidden in his home underneath one of the beds because what are those kind of beds called?
Caleb Templeton (40:51.461)
My girls have loft beds, so there's like a gap underneath their bed. One of my daughter's bed is directly above me. We've just got like a little hangout spot underneath their bed.
Lindy Wynne (41:03.82)
It's like Jesus is hidden years, but it's like the hidden hour to record this podcast because of all the children at home and it's your day off. I just love that so much on so many levels. so I just appreciate Caleb, how you come as you are. And that's what Christ wants. Christ wants us to come as we are with all the good, bad and ugly. Christ knows that anyway, so that Christ can reach in and his miraculous way and transform convert.
Caleb Templeton (41:05.341)
That's right.
Lindy Wynne (41:33.815)
change us, draw us in. I was drawn into mass. I was not raised in a home of faith and I was drawn into the liturgy, drawn into the Catholic mass, drawn into the sacred spaces like you were. And it was real. And that's why we're here for Mamas in Spirit, real living witness, the way that God really dives in because we cannot be told. We cannot be told here. Here's the Lord, love the Lord. Let the Lord change your heart. Like we could say those things, whatever.
but nothing is going to work other than the Lord, the Lord self, which is so much greater, larger, more tremendous than we could ever imagine.
Caleb Templeton (42:12.048)
I think to that point, Lindy, if you think about it, you know, do you want your children, do you want to your children, love me because I say so, or do you want them to love you because they love you? Right? And I think it's similarly the same thing with Jesus, with Christ, with all of the beautiful things that we have in the Catholic Church. He wants us to love Him and all of these beautiful sacraments that He's blessed us with because we want to love them, not because He said so.
If you just love something or someone because someone's told you, it's not true love, right? But if you pursue that and it's your own volition that is loving this person, Christ, the Eucharist, the sacraments, then it becomes real. It becomes tangible. It becomes amazing and to demons quite terrifying.
Lindy Wynne (43:05.856)
Amen. Amen. I love that. That is such a profound thought that you just shared with us, Caleb. I love that so much. in my own experience, and I think this is a beautiful invitation for all of us from this mini retreat and a podcast. And moms, mamas are always wondering, how can I get my kid to change? How can I get my kid to stop doing X, Y, or Z? Well, we can't. We can't. Everybody has free will. But what we can do is
turn to the Lord for the Lord to change us. And I have to say, Caleb, what you're saying resonates so deeply with me because the more healing work I've done in my life without it being like over the top, this is not, I never really understood the psychology of religion and why I ever took that class so many years ago, my master's is in pastoral care and counseling until like now, because it's not, I don't know how to say this right yet, but it's like not good when religion is psych,
Apologized that's probably not a word, but you get my point. Yeah. Thank you I appreciate that generosity so so it's not like this in this over fixated way but in a real Daily way like in lamentation said that says that God's mercy is new every morning When I have gone to the well of living water when I allow God to heal me in God's time in a God's good way and when I focus on when I take my focus off trying to control
Caleb Templeton (44:04.891)
We'll make it a word. Yeah.
Lindy Wynne (44:32.544)
anybody or everybody else and I open my heart by God's grace willingly to his love to pour in. It's then that I am changed and transformed and when it makes me like it seems to make me I feel more accessible and more real to my children and I receive their love in a more real way. Like even the parts of me that I think I've kind of like hidden or super tender or super whatever.
It's like my children just love me so beautifully and in such a real way. It's glorious. I mean, it's the best. It's the best. And my spouse too, Brian, who you know. It's really the best. So thank you for sharing that, Caleb. Caleb, before we close, any last thoughts?
Caleb Templeton (45:21.914)
Just quickly to kind of touch on something that you just said about when your children love you, seems so pure. It reminded me, know, love, Jesus tells us to love as a child loves, right? Because it is so pure, it is so innocent, and it is so unwielding, right? Because it's so innocent and pure, they know nothing but to truly love with all the love that they can. And that's, think, again, going back to making it our own pursuit of Christ, to know, to love, and to serve Him.
and loving as a child loves. But I appreciate you, Lindy, letting me speak with you a little bit to share my story and hopefully give a little bit of a glimpse into, you're never too far gone for God to work in your life or in someone's life that you know, that you care about, that you want to bring back in. you know, you mentioned about, you know, can't, can't.
our kids are going to have things that they fail or they're going to face fears and dangers and all these things. And certainly we don't just let them go foolishly into the night and do whatever, whenever, but there also comes a time where we must rely on what we've done as parents to get them to that point and their relationship with Christ and know that hopefully they're also wanting to have a relationship with Christ as well.
the guardian angels that he's blessed each one of our children with can step in and the Holy Spirit can intercede and drive them back through a broken road perhaps. Hopefully not, but let's be honest, there's gonna be bumps and there's gonna be some gravel in there. But ultimately arrive at the home of Christ where we are meant to be. And so I know it's mama's in Spirit, but thank you letting a papa in Spirit share a little bit as well.
Lindy Wynne (47:18.577)
I really think there should be a pulpitism Spirit, but that's for another day. Caleb, thank you so much. And it is just such a blessing to hear all your depth and all the ways that the Lord has poured wisdom in you, because Caleb is also just really fun. You are a joy to be around. And you remind me so much of like a little brother, a younger brother. And I always think you're like,
Caleb Templeton (47:20.889)
What?
Caleb Templeton (47:33.241)
Thank you.
Lindy Wynne (47:41.134)
Like not six years, but like, I think you're six years younger than me. always feel like you're like three decades younger than me.
It's just true. But I just, so appreciate like, and that's what we're here for too, like sisters and brothers in Christ, sense of siblingship in the Lord. It's just, it's a profound blessing. So thank you, Caleb.
Caleb Templeton (48:00.291)
Mm-hmm.
Caleb Templeton (48:04.579)
Very welcome. My pleasure.
Lindy Wynne (48:06.166)
and let us close in prayer in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen. Dearest Lord, we pray for us. If we have children, we pray for our children. If we're married for our spouses, for all of our family members, for our friends, for our human family, that all of our broken roads may lead us back by your grace to you. In your name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen.
Caleb Templeton (48:30.264)
Amen.
Lindy Wynne (48:33.528)
Dearest Lord, no, dearest you, all of you, I'm ready to pray again. What just came to heart for me is that as we are nearing the close of the seventh season, the seventh year of Mamas in Spirit, I've said this many times, my first year I spent interviewing mostly family and friends, which you're not supposed to do in podcasts. Like if you read blogs, it says don't.
interview just your friends and family or any of your friends and family. And if you do only your aunt is going to be listening. And the funny thing is I feel so blessed with my family and friends. And that was the start for Mamas in Spirit. That is just hopefully and prayerfully in God's will. And that's where it grew from. So it's so wonderful to be here today with a friend to share a friend, because I pray for all of us. And this was at the heart of Caleb's story too. Our friendships matter. And so may we choose friendships.
that point us so that it encourages and fortifies our roads to be pointed straight towards the Lord. Can't wait to be together again next time. This is Lindy Wynne with Mamas in Spirit. May God bless you and yours always.