142.3K
Downloads
1779
Episodes
Making men MEN again. The David Alliance will help you slay your giants.
Episodes
6 hours ago
6 hours ago
7 min
The David Alliance
Garth Heckman
"The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It's over 2,700 feet tall, with more than 160 floors. When people see it, they look up.
I want to go this way God - Great were going this way (points in opposite direction)
But here's what most people don't know: for more than a year, there was nothing to look at.
18 months went into planning and executing the foundation.
NOTHING TO LOOK AT FOR 18 MONTHS!
ONCE THE FOUNDATION WAS LAID - A NEW FLOOR EVERY FEW DAYS!
The speed above was paid for by the slowness below.
If you feel like you're in the digging season of your life, a season of prayer that seems unproductive, faithfulness that isn't noticed, or a marriage being rebuilt quietly, you may not be behind. You may be in the part that decides everything else.”
The unseen work is not impressive
The unseen work is REAL
The unseen work is nothing people rush to see
The unseen work is not talked about
The unseen work is quickly forgotten when the building stands
Once the building stands you never see the unseen work again
*The foundation is what is unseen…
Same as in your life
Big idea: Everyone is building something.
- What matters is what it rests on,
- how deep it goes,
- and whether it survives the test.
Your life: what is it built on
How deep is your life?
Will it survive Gods ultimate test?
*A CHALLENGE THIS WEEK: LOOK FOR FOUNDATIONS IN SCRIPTURE.
The Lords prayer: Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.
**This was taught before the cross. How were people’s sins covered at this time?
Everything God has done - he has first laid a foundation:
- God is the original foundation-layer
- Job 38:4-6. "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" Everything stable begins with God's design, not ours.
- Psalm 127:1. Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. This is about the starting posture.
The foundation is only as good as the person who builds it
2. The foundation is a person, not a program
- 1 Corinthians 3:11. No one can lay any foundation other than Jesus Christ.
- Matthew 16:18. Upon this rock I will build my church. The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2 days ago
2 days ago
7 min
The David Alliance
Garth Heckman
The Gospel
Intro
"The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It's over 2,700 feet tall, with more than 160 floors. When people see it, they look up.
I want to go this way God - Great were going this way (points in opposite direction)
But here's what most people don't know: for more than a year, there was nothing to look at.
18 months went into planning and executing the foundation.
NOTHING TO LOOK AT FOR 18 MONTHS!
ONCE THE FOUNDATION WAS LAID - A NEW FLOOR EVERY FEW DAYS!
The speed above was paid for by the slowness below.
If you feel like you're in the digging season of your life, a season of prayer that seems unproductive, faithfulness that isn't noticed, or a marriage being rebuilt quietly, you may not be behind. You may be in the part that decides everything else.”
The unseen work is not impressive
The unseen work is REAL
The unseen work is nothing people rush to see
The unseen work is not talked about
The unseen work is quickly forgotten when the building stands
Once the building stands you never see the unseen work again
*The foundation is what is unseen…
Same as in your life
Big idea: Everyone is building something.
- What matters is what it rests on,
- how deep it goes,
- and whether it survives the test.
6 days ago
6 days ago
7 min
The David Alliance
Garth Heckman
Have you ever had a bad day?
Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận (Vietnam) was a Catholic archbishop held by the communist government for 13 years, nine of them in solitary confinement.
- choosing God rather than God's works.
- He refused to wait for release. He wrote that he would not wait, but would live each present moment and fill it with love.
Empathy fatigue - you just can’t care for what everyone else wants you to care about… you just run out of emotional energy.
Saving the planet
Saving the starving animals - Sara Mcgloughlin song…
Save the starving children
Help the kids in the hospital… its just in you anymore.
Help the elderly
Drill wells in Africa
Inner city school programs
burnout and isolation — absorbing grief, crisis, and pain week after week which does not fall into line with your values or gifting.
depression centers on (Anne-HE-Donia) anhedonia (the inability to feel pleasure, a kind of flattening across the board),
NINE INCH NAILS - HURT - I hurt myself today to see if I still feel, I focus on the pain the only thing that’s real.
demoralization - which centers on subjective incompetence — the felt sense that "I cannot cope with this, and nothing I do will change the outcome." You can be demoralized without being clinically depressed — someone can still feel things, still care, and still be capable, but have concluded that this particular fight is unwinnable, which is exactly the "give up on what's important".
THIS COULD SUM UP PAULS LIFE
Betrayal Trauma
Trauma inflicted on you by someone or a group that you built trust with.
*Here is what is interesting. The brain treats physical trauma and Betrayal Trauma as the same.
- Same intensity
- Same pain
- Same trauma
***BUT BETRAYAL TRAUMA IS WORSE BECAUSE YOU RELIVE IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.
HOW ARE YOU AT HANDLING PAIN?
BETRAYAL?
DISSAPOINTMENT…
ALL THIS AND MORE CONTINUALLY!!!!
2 Cor. 11: The Apostle PAUL WRITES
23 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
How do you process suffering?
Does your theology change?
MY QUESTION IS - HOW DO YOU NOT WALK AWAY
GIVE UP
THROW IN THE TOWEL
I am enamored by not giving up. By people not giving up.
Navy Seal training - or BUDS
**The core finding: physical fitness doesn't predict who survives
psychological, mental, and identity traits are better predictors of success than physical strength or fitness scores.
What specifically separates the two groups
1 Identity, not willpower. Candidates who quickly adopt a self-concept as "someone who finishes what he starts" —
“I am more than a conqueror” Romans 8:37
2. How they interpret stress itself - this will make me stronger.
“This will make me more like X, greater intimacy. Romans 5:3-5
3. Chunking the suffering into pieces. Multiple graduates describe mentally breaking Hell Week's 120+ continuous hours into small segments — "just get to the next meal,"
MATTHEW 6:34 FOCUS JUST ON TODAY
Just get to my next quiet time
Just get to my next Sunday
Just get to my next Bible study
4. A genuinely surprising finding on when people quit. Not during the fight, the test or the trial….
but the moment there's a lull, the mind gets room to reconsider, negotiate, and rationalize quitting. The danger isn't always the hardest moment. Sometimes it's the first quiet moment after it.
KING DAVID
**Stay in the fight Spiritually
A SIDE NOTE ABOUT THOSE WHO PASS -
6. Humor, oddly, shows up repeatedly. Several accounts and informal profiles built by SEAL instructors note that candidates who maintain some capacity for humor — even dark, gallows humor — in the middle of extreme misery tend to fare better than those who go completely grim. It seems to function as a release valve that keeps the stress from fully consuming their cognitive bandwidth.
**THE JOY OF THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH Neh. 8:10
HOW MANY BEATINGS CAN A PERSON TAKE BEFORE GIVING UP?
Paul
*Do you understand what a scourge is, a whipping?
IT WAS NOT A Cat of nine tails…
3 long leather braided strips…
Each one has a collection of brutal accessories
Bone chips
Metal balls
Big shards of glass
Pieces of sharp metal
Frayed leather at the end…
39 - not 40 why?
Paul was whipped 5 times 39 lashes!
195 times whipped…
*Look I have had 22 surgeries
Broken neck with a halo vest, 3 cancers, cracked skull, brain tumor, enlarged heart, two shoulder replacements
***But special note: none of which because I was taking a stand for Jesus
HOW did HE do IT?
2 Cor. 4:8-12
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels (clay pots), that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.
Earthen vessels - clay pots, trays, bowls…
Clay vessels were the cheapest, most common containers in the Roman world, used for water, oil, wine, grain, cooking, and lamps. They were disposable and easily replaced. Paul's point is the contrast between a priceless "treasure" (the gospel, the knowledge of God's glory in Christ, v. 6) and a worthless container.
When a pot would crack they would use the shards to write with… interesting as Paul was a cracked pot… he was used to write the most books of the bible!
**God can write his story with your seemingly broken parts of your life.
Key Greek Insights
8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 — four antithetical pairs, each using military/wrestling imagery:
- thlibomenoi (pressed, hard-pressed) but not stenochōroumenoi (hemmed in, crushed, with no room to move) — the image is of being pressed in a tight space but not trapped.
- aporoumenoi (perplexed, at a loss) but not exaporoumenoi (utterly without a way out) — note the compound: the second word is the first word intensified with ex- ("out from"). Paul's wordplay is: "I'm at a loss, but not utterly at a loss." He admits real confusion without admitting despair.
- diōkomenoi (pursued, persecuted) but not enkataleipomenoi (abandoned, forsaken) — this is covenant language; it echoes God's promise never to forsake His people (cf. Hebrews 13:5, Deuteronomy 31:6).
- kataballomenoi (struck down, thrown down) but not apollymenoi (destroyed, utterly ruined) — athletic/wrestling imagery; thrown to the ground but not pinned permanently.
This is worth building a whole sermon point on: every pair shows the same structure — real affliction, acknowledged honestly, followed by a limit God places on it. Paul doesn't claim the suffering wasn't real. He claims it wasn't final.
THE MINDSET IS CLEAR :
ITS TOUGH, BUT THE BEST IS YET TO COME.
2 Corinthians 4:16 — the renewal verse itself:
anakainoutai ("is being renewed") — present passive indicative.
it's present tense (ongoing, not a one-time event),
it's passive voice (something being done to Paul, not something he's generating himself — renewal is received, not self-manufactured),
and the word itself (ana = "again/up," kainos = "new," so literally "made new again")
appears in the New Testament only here and in Colossians 3:10, both times describing God's ongoing transformation of a believer.
***TRANSFORMATION THROUGH TRIAL - I’ve learned my best lessons from those who are not loyal. - Paul infers this in his writing.
6 days ago
6 days ago
7 min
The David Alliance
Garth Heckman
PRESSED
Have you ever had a bad day?
Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận (Vietnam) was a Catholic archbishop held by the communist government for 13 years, nine of them in solitary confinement.
- choosing God rather than God's works.
- He refused to wait for release. He wrote that he would not wait, but would live each present moment and fill it with love.
Empathy fatigue - you just can’t care for what everyone else wants you to care about… you just run out of emotional energy.
Saving the planet
Saving the starving animals - Sara Mcgloughlin song…
Save the starving children
Help the kids in the hospital… its just in you anymore.
Help the elderly
Drill wells in Africa
Inner city school programs
burnout and isolation — absorbing grief, crisis, and pain week after week which does not fall into line with your values or gifting.
depression centers on (Anne-HE-Donia) anhedonia (the inability to feel pleasure, a kind of flattening across the board),
NINE INCH NAILS - HURT - I hurt myself today to see if I still feel, I focus on the pain the only thing that’s real.
demoralization - which centers on subjective incompetence — the felt sense that "I cannot cope with this, and nothing I do will change the outcome." You can be demoralized without being clinically depressed — someone can still feel things, still care, and still be capable, but have concluded that this particular fight is unwinnable, which is exactly the "give up on what's important".
THIS COULD SUM UP PAULS LIFE
Betrayal Trauma
Trauma inflicted on you by someone or a group that you built trust with.
*Here is what is interesting. The brain treats physical trauma and Betrayal Trauma as the same.
- Same intensity
- Same pain
- Same trauma
***BUT BETRAYAL TRAUMA IS WORSE BECAUSE YOU RELIVE IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.
HOW ARE YOU AT HANDLING PAIN?
BETRAYAL?
DISSAPOINTMENT…
ALL THIS AND MORE CONTINUALLY!!!!
2 Cor. 11: The Apostle PAUL WRITES
23 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
How do you process suffering?
Does your theology change?
MY QUESTION IS - HOW DO YOU NOT WALK AWAY
GIVE UP
THROW IN THE TOWEL
I am enamored by not giving up. By people not giving up.
Navy Seal training - or BUDS
**The core finding: physical fitness doesn't predict who survives
psychological, mental, and identity traits are better predictors of success than physical strength or fitness scores.
What specifically separates the two groups
1 Identity, not willpower. Candidates who quickly adopt a self-concept as "someone who finishes what he starts" —
“I am more than a conqueror” Romans 8:37
2. How they interpret stress itself - this will make me stronger.
“This will make me more like X, greater intimacy. Romans 5:3-5
3. Chunking the suffering into pieces. Multiple graduates describe mentally breaking Hell Week's 120+ continuous hours into small segments — "just get to the next meal,"
MATTHEW 6:34 FOCUS JUST ON TODAY
Just get to my next quiet time
Just get to my next Sunday
Just get to my next Bible study
4. A genuinely surprising finding on when people quit. Not during the fight, the test or the trial….
but the moment there's a lull, the mind gets room to reconsider, negotiate, and rationalize quitting. The danger isn't always the hardest moment. Sometimes it's the first quiet moment after it.
KING DAVID
**Stay in the fight Spiritually
A SIDE NOTE ABOUT THOSE WHO PASS -
6. Humor, oddly, shows up repeatedly. Several accounts and informal profiles built by SEAL instructors note that candidates who maintain some capacity for humor — even dark, gallows humor — in the middle of extreme misery tend to fare better than those who go completely grim. It seems to function as a release valve that keeps the stress from fully consuming their cognitive bandwidth.
**THE JOY OF THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH Neh. 8:10
HOW MANY BEATINGS CAN A PERSON TAKE BEFORE GIVING UP?
Paul
*Do you understand what a scourge is, a whipping?
IT WAS NOT A Cat of nine tails…
3 long leather braided strips…
Each one has a collection of brutal accessories
Bone chips
Metal balls
Big shards of glass
Pieces of sharp metal
Frayed leather at the end…
39 - not 40 why?
Paul was whipped 5 times 39 lashes!
195 times whipped…
*Look I have had 22 surgeries
Broken neck with a halo vest, 3 cancers, cracked skull, brain tumor, enlarged heart, two shoulder replacements
***But special note: none of which because I was taking a stand for Jesus
HOW did HE do IT?
2 Cor. 4:8-12
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels (clay pots), that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.
Earthen vessels - clay pots, trays, bowls…
Clay vessels were the cheapest, most common containers in the Roman world, used for water, oil, wine, grain, cooking, and lamps. They were disposable and easily replaced. Paul's point is the contrast between a priceless "treasure" (the gospel, the knowledge of God's glory in Christ, v. 6) and a worthless container.
When a pot would crack they would use the shards to write with… interesting as Paul was a cracked pot… he was used to write the most books of the bible!
**God can write his story with your seemingly broken parts of your life.
Oct 5, 2026
Oct 5, 2026
7 min
The David Alliance
Garth Heckman
PRESSED
Have you ever had a bad day?
Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận (Vietnam) was a Catholic archbishop held by the communist government for 13 years, nine of them in solitary confinement.
- choosing God rather than God's works.
- He refused to wait for release. He wrote that he would not wait, but would live each present moment and fill it with love.
Empathy fatigue - you just can’t care for what everyone else wants you to care about… you just run out of emotional energy.
Saving the planet
Saving the starving animals - Sara Mcgloughlin song…
Save the starving children
Help the kids in the hospital… its just in you anymore.
Help the elderly
Drill wells in Africa
Inner city school programs
burnout and isolation — absorbing grief, crisis, and pain week after week which does not fall into line with your values or gifting.
depression centers on (Anne-HE-Donia) anhedonia (the inability to feel pleasure, a kind of flattening across the board),
NINE INCH NAILS - HURT - I hurt myself today to see if I still feel, I focus on the pain the only thing that’s real.
demoralization - which centers on subjective incompetence — the felt sense that "I cannot cope with this, and nothing I do will change the outcome." You can be demoralized without being clinically depressed — someone can still feel things, still care, and still be capable, but have concluded that this particular fight is unwinnable, which is exactly the "give up on what's important".
THIS COULD SUM UP PAULS LIFE
Betrayal Trauma
Trauma inflicted on you by someone or a group that you built trust with.
*Here is what is interesting. The brain treats physical trauma and Betrayal Trauma as the same.
- Same intensity
- Same pain
- Same trauma
***BUT BETRAYAL TRAUMA IS WORSE BECAUSE YOU RELIVE IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.
HOW ARE YOU AT HANDLING PAIN?
BETRAYAL?
DISSAPOINTMENT…
ALL THIS AND MORE CONTINUALLY!!!!
2 Cor. 11: The Apostle PAUL WRITES
23 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
How do you process suffering?
Does your theology change?
MY QUESTION IS - HOW DO YOU NOT WALK AWAY
GIVE UP
THROW IN THE TOWEL
I am enamored by not giving up. By people not giving up.
Navy Seal training - or BUDS
**The core finding: physical fitness doesn't predict who survives
psychological, mental, and identity traits are better predictors of success than physical strength or fitness scores.
What specifically separates the two groups
1 Identity, not willpower. Candidates who quickly adopt a self-concept as "someone who finishes what he starts" —
“I am more than a conqueror” Romans 8:37
2. How they interpret stress itself - this will make me stronger.
“This will make me more like X, greater intimacy. Romans 5:3-5
3. Chunking the suffering into pieces. Multiple graduates describe mentally breaking Hell Week's 120+ continuous hours into small segments — "just get to the next meal,"
MATTHEW 6:34 FOCUS JUST ON TODAY
Just get to my next quiet time
Just get to my next Sunday
Just get to my next Bible study
4. A genuinely surprising finding on when people quit. Not during the fight, the test or the trial….
but the moment there's a lull, the mind gets room to reconsider, negotiate, and rationalize quitting. The danger isn't always the hardest moment. Sometimes it's the first quiet moment after it.
KING DAVID
**Stay in the fight Spiritually
Oct 4, 2026
Oct 4, 2026
7 min
The David Alliance
Garth Heckman
PRESSED
Have you ever had a bad day?
Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận (Vietnam) was a Catholic archbishop held by the communist government for 13 years, nine of them in solitary confinement.
- choosing God rather than God's works.
- He refused to wait for release. He wrote that he would not wait, but would live each present moment and fill it with love.
Empathy fatigue - you just can’t care for what everyone else wants you to care about… you just run out of emotional energy.
Saving the planet
Saving the starving animals - Sara Mcgloughlin song…
Save the starving children
Help the kids in the hospital… its just in you anymore.
Help the elderly
Drill wells in Africa
Inner city school programs
burnout and isolation — absorbing grief, crisis, and pain week after week which does not fall into line with your values or gifting.
depression centers on (Anne-HE-Donia) anhedonia (the inability to feel pleasure, a kind of flattening across the board),
NINE INCH NAILS - HURT - I hurt myself today to see if I still feel, I focus on the pain the only thing that’s real.
demoralization - which centers on subjective incompetence — the felt sense that "I cannot cope with this, and nothing I do will change the outcome." You can be demoralized without being clinically depressed — someone can still feel things, still care, and still be capable, but have concluded that this particular fight is unwinnable, which is exactly the "give up on what's important".
THIS COULD SUM UP PAULS LIFE
Betrayal Trauma
Trauma inflicted on you by someone or a group that you built trust with.
*Here is what is interesting. The brain treats physical trauma and Betrayal Trauma as the same.
- Same intensity
- Same pain
- Same trauma
***BUT BETRAYAL TRAUMA IS WORSE BECAUSE YOU RELIVE IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.
Oct 1, 2026
Oct 1, 2026
7 min
The David Alliance
Garth Heckman
What if when conquered does not follow a natural growth pattern.The pattern isn't linear, it's exponential — the breakthrough FROM WHAT IF is slow and doubted and mocked, but once it actually happens, everything after it moves faster than anyone predicted. The years of ridicule aren't proof it won't work — they're often the price of admission for something that changes everything once it finally lifts off.
YOUR FAITH WALK IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE A HEALTHY AMOUNT OF “WHAT IFS”
XNY is supposed to be hard. That causes us to be dependent on God!
"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." -- Christopher Reeve
**A faith walking power filled Christian is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming WHAT IF’S.
What if - is always asked in a negative lens. But what if… (see what I did there) what if we looked at it in a Godly mindset. What if God has something better for me, What if God is preparing me for something better, What if God wants me to fully realize how in control he is, What if God is keeping me from harm or pain.
Scripture is full of people who had every reason to quit right before their breakthrough.
***the obstacle MAY HAVE came from Jesus/God directly, from other people, or from circumstances.
- The Syrophoenician/Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28) — you already have this one. Told her miracle wasn't for "dogs," but she reframed her request instead of walking away, and Jesus called her faith “great.”
She does not allow her standing or her reputation keep her from pushing in.
- Jairus (Mark 5:21-43) — while he was leading Jesus to his dying daughter, messengers arrived saying she was already dead: "Why troublest thou the Master any further?" Jesus told him not to fear, only believe — Jairus could have stopped right there, assuming it was too late.
He does not let reality of the situation keep him from pushing in.
- The nobleman whose son was dying (John 4:46-53) — Jesus initially responds almost dismissively ("Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe"), before the man presses his request again — and his son is healed at that exact hour.
He did not let second guessed motives keep him from pushing in.
People discouraged by the crowd
- Blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52) — the crowd told him to be quiet; he cried out louder. You've got this one too, but worth noting there's a parallel account of two blind men in Matthew 20:29-34 with the same "crowd rebuked them, they cried out more" pattern.
They did not let the crowd deter them from pushing in
- The paralytic and his four friends (Mark 2:1-12) — the house was so packed they couldn't get through the door. They could have gone home; instead they tore open the roof. Great picture of persistence on someone else's behalf.
These four friends have a “what if” moment. In the greek this is specifically speaking of the friends and not the paralytic. So it was completely up to the friends to push through the what if moment.
Having friends who do not give up pushing through… doing whatever it takes. Literally pushing through the roof.
AND - The friend letting them - not worried about being disappointed~
- Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) — too short to see over the crowd. Could have given up and gone home; instead he climbed a tree, and Jesus called him down by name.
He did not let his own physical limitations keep him from pushing through.
People discouraged by their own circumstances
- The woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:25-34) — twelve years of bleeding, spent everything on physicians, and "grew worse" instead of better. Statistically, faith should have run out. She pressed through a crowd anyway to touch His hem.
A lack of results did not keep her from pushing through.
Having to break the law
Embarrassment did not stop her
Sep 30, 2026
Sep 30, 2026
7 min
The David Alliance
Garth Heckman
YOUR FAITH WALK IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE A HEALTHY AMOUNT OF “WHAT IFS”
XNY is supposed to be hard. That causes us to be dependent on God!
"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." -- Christopher Reeve
**A faith walking power filled Christian is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming WHAT IF’S.
What if - is always asked in a negative lens. But what if… (see what I did there) what if we looked at it in a Godly mindset. What if God has something better for me, What if God is preparing me for something better, What if God wants me to fully realize how in control he is, What if God is keeping me from harm or pain.
Scripture is full of people who had every reason to quit right before their breakthrough.
***the obstacle MAY HAVE came from Jesus/God directly, from other people, or from circumstances.
- The Syrophoenician/Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28) — you already have this one. Told her miracle wasn't for "dogs," but she reframed her request instead of walking away, and Jesus called her faith “great.”
She does not allow her standing or her reputation keep her from pushing in.
- Jairus (Mark 5:21-43) — while he was leading Jesus to his dying daughter, messengers arrived saying she was already dead: "Why troublest thou the Master any further?" Jesus told him not to fear, only believe — Jairus could have stopped right there, assuming it was too late.
He does not let reality of the situation keep him from pushing in.
- The nobleman whose son was dying (John 4:46-53) — Jesus initially responds almost dismissively ("Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe"), before the man presses his request again — and his son is healed at that exact hour.
He did not let second guessed motives keep him from pushing in.
People discouraged by the crowd
- Blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52) — the crowd told him to be quiet; he cried out louder. You've got this one too, but worth noting there's a parallel account of two blind men in Matthew 20:29-34 with the same "crowd rebuked them, they cried out more" pattern.
They did not let the crowd deter them from pushing in
Sep 29, 2026
Sep 29, 2026
7 min
The David Alliance
Garth Heckman
What if when conquered does not follow a natural growth pattern.The pattern isn't linear, it's exponential — the breakthrough FROM WHAT IF is slow and doubted and mocked, but once it actually happens, everything after it moves faster than anyone predicted. The years of ridicule aren't proof it won't work — they're often the price of admission for something that changes everything once it finally lifts off.
YOUR FAITH WALK IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE A HEALTHY AMOUNT OF “WHAT IFS”
XNY is supposed to be hard. That causes us to be dependent on God!
"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." -- Christopher Reeve
**A faith walking power filled Christian is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming WHAT IF’S.
What if - is always asked in a negative lens. But what if… (see what I did there) what if we looked at it in a Godly mindset. What if God has something better for me, What if God is preparing me for something better, What if God wants me to fully realize how in control he is, What if God is keeping me from harm or pain.
Scripture is full of people who had every reason to quit right before their breakthrough.
***the obstacle MAY HAVE came from Jesus/God directly, from other people, or from circumstances.
- The Syrophoenician/Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28) — you already have this one. Told her miracle wasn't for "dogs," but she reframed her request instead of walking away, and Jesus called her faith “great.”
She does not allow her standing or her reputation keep her from pushing in.
- Jairus (Mark 5:21-43) — while he was leading Jesus to his dying daughter, messengers arrived saying she was already dead: "Why troublest thou the Master any further?" Jesus told him not to fear, only believe — Jairus could have stopped right there, assuming it was too late.
He does not let reality of the situation keep him from pushing in.
Sep 28, 2026
Sep 28, 2026
7 min
The David Alliance
Garth Heckman
What if…they gave up
What if after succeeding but being doubted they gave up
What if after being called liars they gave up
What if?
But here is the beauty of the story!
The Acceleration
Here's where it gets powerful for your "how fast things take off" point:
- 1903: The Wright Flyer's first flight covered 120 feet in 12 seconds — a distance shorter than the wingspan of a Boeing 747.
- 1969 — just 66 years later: Apollo 11 landed men on the moon. Within a single human lifetime, humanity went from a 120-foot hop on a beach to walking on another world.
- 2026 — about 123 years later: SpaceX's Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, is in active development toward an uncrewed Mars landing attempt as early as the end of this year, with Musk targeting a self-sustaining city on Mars within about 20 years after that. Musk himself has said the flight rate will "grow exponentially" once the core technology is proven.
What if when conquered does not follow a natural growth pattern.The pattern isn't linear, it's exponential — the breakthrough FROM WHAT IF is slow and doubted and mocked, but once it actually happens, everything after it moves faster than anyone predicted. The years of ridicule aren't proof it won't work — they're often the price of admission for something that changes everything once it finally lifts off.
YOUR FAITH WALK IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE A HEALTHY AMOUNT OF “WHAT IFS”
XNY is supposed to be hard. That causes us to be dependent on God!
"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." -- Christopher Reeve
**A faith walking power filled Christian is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming WHAT IF’S.
What if - is always asked in a negative lens. But what if… (see what I did there) what if we looked at it in a Godly mindset. What if God has something better for me, What if God is preparing me for something better, What if God wants me to fully realize how in control he is, What if God is keeping me from harm or pain.