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Kevin Lowe: When your back's against the wall, what do you do?

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Kevin Lowe: When life just keeps throwing punches and it doesn't seem like it will stop.

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Kevin Lowe: Literally, it's like one blow just comes in after another.

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Kevin Lowe: And all you want is just to catch your breath.

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Kevin Lowe: And yet, you can't. It's like you're trapped under the pounding waves you just want to break.

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Kevin Lowe: My friend, when your back is against the wall, what do you do?

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Kevin Lowe: Who do you become? As you're going to see in today's episode,

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Kevin Lowe: I believe it comes down to three choices, three opportunities that you have

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Kevin Lowe: to decide which one you're going to choose.

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Kevin Lowe: And dependent upon which one you choose, well, everything depends on it.

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Kevin Lowe: Today, tomorrow, your future, your legacy, all depend on one choice.

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Kevin Lowe: Who are you going to be when your back is against the wall? My friend,

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Kevin Lowe: I welcome you to episode 391 of Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

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Kevin Lowe: I'm your host, Kevin Lowe, a guy on a mission to use my own life's experience

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Kevin Lowe: combined with, well, just living

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Kevin Lowe: life, interviewing people from around the world to be a help to you.

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Kevin Lowe: That is my hope. That is my mission, is to make your day a little bit better

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Kevin Lowe: than it could have been before you hit play.

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Kevin Lowe: So again, that is what today is all about That's what I'm all about And listen,

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Kevin Lowe: I'm just excited that you're here with me on this wild ride So with that,

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Kevin Lowe: my friend, I welcome you Let's go ahead and get started with today's episode...

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Podcast Intro featuring the song, I got Grit, Grace, & Inspiration on my mind.

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Kevin Lowe: If you caught my recent conversation had with Damon West inside of episode 390,

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Kevin Lowe: then you know, my friend, that that was one of the most powerful interviews

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Kevin Lowe: that I have ever published here on the podcast.

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Kevin Lowe: Damon, awesome guy. His story, one made for the movies, no doubt.

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Kevin Lowe: But there was one part of his story that really captivated me,

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Kevin Lowe: that led me to want to record today's episode.

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Kevin Lowe: And that was this idea of when your back's against the wall.

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Kevin Lowe: Damon, he shared the story of when it was all coming to an end.

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Kevin Lowe: Here he was, he had been living the high life. He had been head of a major crime ring.

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Kevin Lowe: But it was all coming down, and he knew it. He was sitting in a house,

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Kevin Lowe: a drug house, and he knew it was all about to end when sure enough it did.

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Kevin Lowe: The SWAT team broke in. They arrested him. They got the guy on the most wanted list.

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Kevin Lowe: Ultimately, if you heard his story, which my friend, my gosh,

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Kevin Lowe: if you did not hear his story, please hit pause, go back, listen to episode

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Kevin Lowe: 390, and then come back to today's episode.

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Kevin Lowe: Because his interview, incredible.

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Kevin Lowe: But what happened next is the unthinkable.

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Kevin Lowe: He would ultimately be sentenced to 65 years in prison. Talk about a moment

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Kevin Lowe: when your back is against the wall, when you have nothing else,

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Kevin Lowe: nothing left to fight for.

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Kevin Lowe: But he was told of something, the story of the coffee bean by another prisoner,

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Kevin Lowe: a story that changed his life from that day forward.

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Kevin Lowe: Now, as I continue, what I want you to understand is that we're using Damon's

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Kevin Lowe: story as our reference point.

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Kevin Lowe: It's our point of inspiration. But for you, it looks different.

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Kevin Lowe: Hopefully you've not just been arrested. Hopefully you're not about to be arrested.

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Kevin Lowe: Hopefully it's nothing like Damon's story. But that doesn't mean that what you're

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Kevin Lowe: going through is any less impactful.

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Kevin Lowe: Because the fact is, my friend, that heartbreak can do it.

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Kevin Lowe: Losing your job can do it. A diagnosis can do it.

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Kevin Lowe: All of these can be a life sentence in and of themselves. So the question is,

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Kevin Lowe: is that whenever this moment happens, when your back's against the wall,

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Kevin Lowe: when the water is boiling, what do you become?

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Kevin Lowe: And here's the metaphor that changed Damon's story.

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Kevin Lowe: And I believe it can change your story as well. In a pot of boiling water,

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Kevin Lowe: in the situation you're in, you just got the diagnosis.

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Kevin Lowe: You just got let go from your job. Or maybe it was something like you just got

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Kevin Lowe: in a fight with your spouse.

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Kevin Lowe: You guys are angry at each other. You said things that you regret.

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Kevin Lowe: You did things that you wish you hadn't. It's the boiling water moment.

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Kevin Lowe: Your back's against the wall and you have three choices.

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Kevin Lowe: Your first choice is to be an egg. What happens to an egg when you put an egg

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Kevin Lowe: in boiling water? Well, it hardens.

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Kevin Lowe: Your heart can get hard. You can get tough.

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Kevin Lowe: You can put on that hard exterior surface to protect yourself. Let your heart get hard.

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Kevin Lowe: Let every emotion go out and you just become a hardened soul.

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Kevin Lowe: So if you want to shield your heart, if you want to stop trusting,

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Kevin Lowe: if you want to put your guard up, well, then you'll be the egg.

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Kevin Lowe: But what about if you instead are a carrot? That's your second option in this metaphor.

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Kevin Lowe: What happens to a carrot when a carrot is put in boiling water?

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Kevin Lowe: Well, of course, the carrot softens.

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Kevin Lowe: Eventually, boil that carrot long enough, it's going to soften.

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Kevin Lowe: It's going to become weak. It's going to turn to mush.

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Kevin Lowe: But what about the third choice. That, of course, is the choice to be a coffee bean.

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Kevin Lowe: What's powerful about the coffee bean is the coffee bean, it doesn't change,

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Kevin Lowe: but rather it changes the water that it's in.

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Kevin Lowe: The coffee bean takes boiling water and turns it into your morning cup of coffee.

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Kevin Lowe: It turns it into an aroma, an experience, a magical liquid called coffee.

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Kevin Lowe: Basically, the coffee bean doesn't just survive the boiling water,

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Kevin Lowe: it transforms the boiling water, it changes its environment,

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Kevin Lowe: it changes its situation.

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Kevin Lowe: And this is the choice that you and me are making every single day,

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Kevin Lowe: whether we realize it or not.

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Kevin Lowe: Because when you get hit, when the blows start coming, are you hardening,

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Kevin Lowe: softening, weakening, or are you changing the environment? Are you changing the game?

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Kevin Lowe: Because, my friend, hardening, it's not the way to go.

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Kevin Lowe: Softening, it's not the way to go either. But to be transformed,

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Kevin Lowe: to transform yourself, to transform your situation, your environment,

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Kevin Lowe: my friend, that is what it's about.

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Kevin Lowe: If we could all start living life where we realize that we hold the power,

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Kevin Lowe: that, yes, there's things that are going to happen.

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Kevin Lowe: The blows are going to come. Our back is going to be against the wall in more

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Kevin Lowe: situations than one. But in that, we have a choice to make, to be the change

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Kevin Lowe: agent, to be the coffee bean.

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Kevin Lowe: It's what Damon West has built his life upon, his business upon, his mission behind.

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Kevin Lowe: It is what got him out of a maximum security prison because he became the coffee bean in prison.

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Kevin Lowe: In the worst place possible, he made a difference. He left an impact.

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Kevin Lowe: That impact was radiant. He changed the water.

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Kevin Lowe: He went from boiling water to a boiling pot of coffee, all because he decided to be the change agent.

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Kevin Lowe: And my friend, what I want you to understand in today's short episode,

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Kevin Lowe: that you can be the change agent in your own life, in your own family,

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Kevin Lowe: at work, in your community.

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Kevin Lowe: It all starts with just you.

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Kevin Lowe: A single coffee bean thrown into a pot of boiling water can begin to change it all.

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Kevin Lowe: So before I end, I want to be sure that you understand the metaphor.

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Kevin Lowe: I want to be sure that it's real and that you fully understand and grasp what I'm saying.

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Kevin Lowe: Say, for instance, you lost the job that you loved, the job that you thought

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Kevin Lowe: you were going to retire from.

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Kevin Lowe: Are you getting hard and bitter like the egg? Are you melting down like the carrots?

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Kevin Lowe: Or are you instead using this opportunity to start the business that you've

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Kevin Lowe: always dreamed about, but never had time?

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Kevin Lowe: In essence, are you being the coffee bean? What about the situation where somebody,

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Kevin Lowe: they broke your heart, they betrayed your trust, you feel broken?

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Kevin Lowe: Are you choosing to build up walls, to harden your heart, to become the egg?

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Kevin Lowe: Or are you choosing to grow stronger, to learn from that relationship,

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Kevin Lowe: to understand what you deserve and who you want to be in your life,

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Kevin Lowe: ultimately changing the water around you?

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Kevin Lowe: Or what about a third scenario?

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Kevin Lowe: What about the silent battles that you're going through? The battles that no one else sees.

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Kevin Lowe: Talking about anxiety, depression. Are you letting it drown you?

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Kevin Lowe: Are you letting yourself be convinced that there's no way out?

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Kevin Lowe: Are you letting yourself stop dreaming, stop believing?

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Kevin Lowe: Or are you instead digging deep and doing the work and reaching out for help

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Kevin Lowe: to change the situation, to change the water?

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Kevin Lowe: Because my friend, if you're in the pot of boiling water, you don't have to

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Kevin Lowe: stay there. You have the choice to change it.

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Kevin Lowe: You are the change agent. Whether you believe that or not, you are.

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Kevin Lowe: As long as you decide it, you make it your mission to be the coffee bean.

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Kevin Lowe: Just like Damon West, a guy who was at the lowest of lows, face-to-face with

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Kevin Lowe: 65 years in prison, in maximum security prison in Texas.

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Kevin Lowe: His life, you could say, was over, and yet he became the change agent.

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Kevin Lowe: He went into that prison as a coffee bean, and he changed the prison.

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Kevin Lowe: And ultimately, well, if you heard his story, he was released on parole after

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Kevin Lowe: only seven years, something that never happened to anyone.

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Kevin Lowe: He didn't think it would happen to him, and yet it did.

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Kevin Lowe: And my friend, I believe it can happen for you. So if you have something that's

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Kevin Lowe: holding you back, if you feel like your back's against the wall, my friend,

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Kevin Lowe: just take inspiration from the man himself, Damon West, and become the coffee

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Kevin Lowe: bean. Change the situation.

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Kevin Lowe: Change your environment. It all starts with you.

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Kevin Lowe: And, my friend, I'll end with one last thing.

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Kevin Lowe: If you ever feel like you could just use an extra boost to help get you through

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Kevin Lowe: the week, well, be sure that you sign up for my weekly newsletter called Where Grit Meets Grace.

00:11:04.742 --> 00:11:10.062

Kevin Lowe: It's published every Monday morning, right in time for you to wake up and have

00:11:10.062 --> 00:11:13.102

Kevin Lowe: that immediate dose of inspiration.

00:11:13.382 --> 00:11:18.942

Kevin Lowe: Somebody who has got your back right away, encouraging you that you can get through the day.

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Kevin Lowe: All starting with my weekly newsletter called Where Grit Meets Grace.

00:11:24.622 --> 00:11:27.462

Kevin Lowe: To sign up, click the link at the top of today's show

00:11:27.462 --> 00:11:30.482

Kevin Lowe: notes or simply head on over to the website

00:11:30.482 --> 00:11:36.322

Kevin Lowe: wheregritmeetsgrace.com and get signed up for that weekly newsletter and you

00:11:36.322 --> 00:11:42.102

Kevin Lowe: can start receiving it as soon as monday morning so with that my friend i'm

00:11:42.102 --> 00:11:50.082

Kevin Lowe: your host, Kevin Lowe and this of course was episode 391 of grit grace and inspiration!