The Navy and a Guitar with Justin Gambino, episode 173

0:00 If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right here at the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. And also help and hope for your own life journey. Now, personally, I have had a good summer, followed by a serious injury to my shoulder that sidelined me for several months. But we're glad, and I am excited. about this special guest that I have today. Justin Gambino is a new Texas friend for me. He lives in Freeport, Texas, where my wonderful Aunt Frances lived. I spent time with her every summer in junior and senior high school. And Justin knows where her beach house was and her house in town and the Riverside Country Club, Surfside Beach, all the places that I would visit when I would spend some time with her each summer.

1:00 And so when I found out he was from Freeport, I was excited to just say. We're like friends, brothers and sisters almost. And we finally got to talk about his life, and he has an eventful prodigal story to share with us. So, Justin, welcome. Thank you so much for having me. It is definitely my pleasure. So I want to give you a little bit of time to talk about some of your early life, your family, the church you were a part of, the upbringing. Yeah. So I was one of six kids or am one of six kids. And growing up, my mom and dad, we were all homeschooled.

1:46 My dad was, you know, he worked full time. My mom worked full time. homeschooling us. That was a full, I'm sure that was like three home, uh, you know, full -time jobs at home. And so, but my parents were very, very, um, very dedicated to the Lord and very dedicated to bringing us to church. Every time there was something going on at church, if there was Sunday night. You knew the church well. Wednesday night. I mean, if there was a youth group event happening, my parents would make sure that we were a part of it and that we were included in all that. And that was like majority of my childhood. At the age of five, my mom would say that I would bring my Bible to church and I would strum on it like a guitar during the worship. And I think that was mainly because the... the pastor that was leading worship, you know, he was playing the guitar. So I was just kind of mimicking him at the early age of five. And at the age of nine is when my parents decided to put me in music lessons, starting off with the piano. And I did not like the piano one bit. I was I was very, very quick on my feet to tell my parents like I did not like. I did not like doing the piano.

3:09 But once I landed my eyes on a guitar, I knew that that was going to be my instrument of choice. And so at the age of 15 is whenever I started learning how to play guitar. I got my first guitar and leading worship. You know, it's crazy how like at the age of five, I'm mimicking the worship pastor, you know, on my Bible. And then 10 years later, I'm actually up there with him strumming on the guitar, playing the songs. I love it. But at the age, I think it's kind of interesting how at the age of 15 is not only was the Lord putting the guitar in my hands, but that was also the same year that I got my first paying job. And which also led me to hanging out with a completely different crowd than what I was raised around, which was in church. And and that's whenever my prodigal story began. So kind of give us a little description of how it progressed.

4:12 Yeah. So whenever I first got my guitar at 15, got my first job, just really started getting pulled in by the wrong crowd that I just wanted to fit in with them. I wanted to fit in. I wanted to go to all the parties. I wanted to hang out with the kids. I just wanted to be. quote unquote, cool like them. I wanted to, I wanted to fit into a group of kids that I didn't, I didn't, you know, I wasn't raised around, you know, so these were kids, not, not, not, not, uh, say anything bad about public schoolers, but they were all public schoolers and they were, they weren't the greatest influence on me. And so, uh, two to three years of going out and partying and drinking underage and everything led to, um, Me, really. I mean, I've been saying this on tour, too. Like, you hang out with someone long enough, you're going to start acting like them. You're going to start talking. It rubs off. Yeah. And so before I knew it, I was committing theft. I was breaking and entering. And I had just turned 18 whenever I was standing before a judge in a courtroom looking at a felony on my record. and uh going to jail um but that that was that that was like a big turning point because that judge saw a good kid that just made a wrong turn and um i recently and how one i recently

5:43 learned uh or at least recently heard a sermon um about like you know whenever you're sailing and you're looking at your compass if you're one degree off on your compass and you go to start sailing 10, 20, 30 miles, 100 miles, you're sailing, which is one degree off. You could be way off course in a matter of days or months or years. And so three years of me just taking a wrong turn, I was sailing in the wrong direction. But that judge saw that, and he said, you know, I see a good kid in front of me that just made a... made the wrong turn. And I want to give you, uh, I want to give you an opportunity to make a good choice today. Um, he said, you can take the felony. You can, you can go to jail.

6:36 Uh, the choices, how long would you be in jail? I would have been, it was, I know it was going to be a minimum of six months up to two years. And, um, and then of course a felony on my record. And, and how, how, How were your parents responding? Oh, my parents. My mom. I remember because whenever I got caught, I was very cooperative. So I kind of feel like they were a little easy on me because whenever I got caught, I was just, like I said, very cooperative. I didn't put up a fight. I didn't run. And they're like, man, you're just a kid. I mean, if you find my mugshot online, which it's still out there, still available, I look like a 14 or 15 -year -old. I do not look 18 years old. And so they never put me in handcuffs.

7:36 And so when my mom came to pick me up at the jail, she saw me just sitting on a bench outside the jail cell. with no handcuffs on and my mom was livid she would she was barking orders at those jailers and she said you put that boy in handcuffs he needs to feel uh you know the the He just needs to feel the full effect of his decisions today. Were they aware of the several years of the changes that were occurring? They could see it. I remember my mom just pulling me to the side a couple times. She's like, is everything okay? You're acting different. We want you home by 10 p .m. You're coming home late. Yeah, I mean, yeah, they could see it definitely a different shift in my attitude and just, you know, just me being at home because I was still living at home. But then again, at the same time, there's five other kids. So I feel like, you know, if I was an only kid, they probably would have been down my neck a little bit more, but they had their hands full with five other kids.

8:44 Right, right. And so, you know, it also just took them by surprise as well, because I was doing a good job of just keeping it all in the shadows. So that you were in jail must have been a huge shock. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And yet your mom said. Don't let him get away with this. She came down to the jail and saw that I wasn't even in handcuffs. She said, put that boy in handcuffs. He needs to realize what he's done. And I said, well, he's been very cooperative. We're just going to book him in, book him out, get his fingerprints and his mugshot done. And I think my mom even drove home and made me walk home. Because it was... It was it wasn't it wasn't, you know, we live down the country. And so the jail, the county jail was just maybe five miles down the road and it wasn't down major highways or anything.

9:44 And and so she was like, he can walk home. And I still I was I remember I was walking home and there was a sheriff that pulled over and he said. Where are you headed, son? I still scored me a ride on my way home, walking home. And my mom didn't like that either. You look like a good kid. You said if you only knew. So what was it that the judge offered you? So the judge offered me, of course, he said the choice was mine. He said that, you know, you can go to jail today with a felony on your record. He said, I'm prepared to. make the felony into a misdemeanor instead.

10:30 And if we did that, then you're going to need to do, I think it was like 14 weeks of community service followed by signing up to be in the military. And so the Navy was my choice of branch. And I signed up for Six active years and two inactive years in the Navy following my 14 weeks of community service, which consisted of the beaches that I grew up on, the Freeport Surfside Beach. My childhood memories was my dad taking all six of his kids to the beach to play and throw the football. And now I'm going out to the same beaches to pick up trash. Awesome. Well, the Lord's sense of humor is always fascinating to watch. Yes, it is. What he does. So you did that community service for 14 weeks and then you were in the Navy. For eight years. Yeah. And, you know, I would like to say that. you know, joining the Navy and serving in the military, serving my country, that it was something that I was very proud, proud to do. Um, but really, I mean, I was, I was dealing with a lot of shame and a lot of guilt because of my, because of my, uh,

12:02 you know, decisions that I made. And so that was really, I, I, I didn't feel proud to serve in those first couple of years. It came with time. Um, It was just two years into my enlistment. It was 2007. I joined in 2005. In 2007, we got deployed to Iraq, which was just another huge reality check for me because now not only am I dealing with all the regret and the shame and the guilt of my decisions, but now I'm fighting for the very freedom that I had been taking for granted. That was a huge wake -up call. That was also where the Lord, I really sensed that the Lord was pursuing me whenever I was over in Iraq. Because that's whenever I decided to attend a chapel on a Wednesday night. And it was, I hadn't been to church in months, Judy.

13:02 I hadn't been to church in months. And the first night I go to chapel in Iraq on base is whenever the chaplain. uh, asks the whole congregation. There was only about a dozen of us, but he asked, does anybody here know how to play guitar? Does anybody here know how to play worship? And I was the only one. I was the only, from what I recall, like no one else was raising their hands, but, but me. And, uh, and that was, you know, that's whenever the Lord put the guitar back in my hands. And up until then. where were you in the Lord? That's probably, I can honestly say that I was, that was going to be the, whenever I was furthest from the Lord, I had put God on the back burner. Um, I was so caught up in, and, you know, the regret and depression and the, the guilt and, you know, why I was in the sandbox and in the first place, you know, was my, was my decisions that I made. So I was, you know, not only the furthest from home that I'd ever been. I mean that from a physical standpoint and from a spiritual standpoint. I was just so far from my heavenly father's house. I was so far from being in communion with him. And how did the chapel and the guitar begin to make a

14:35 change? Well. If I could, I kind of think of it as like, you know, the table has been set for us. Right. The Lord has set the table and there's an invitation and a seat always for his kids. And I felt like me leading worship was an invitation to that table. It was always set. But I was just I kept saying, all right, Lord, maybe a rain check. I'll come over for dinner next week. Yeah. I mean, I think it's I think it's so easy for us to, you know, make dinner reservations, so to speak, and then change them last minute, you know, rain check it. And the Lord, the Lord had that table set and he had the he had the he had the seat with my name right there at the table and just waiting for me to.

15:27 to answer. And, and so that's kind of how it felt from a spiritual standpoint, that it was just an invitation back to the table. And so for the rest of your time in the, in the Navy, that was a growing thing again. Yeah. Especially whenever I was in Iraq, because I had called my dad and asked him to send me my guitar to Iraq. So there, you know, I get my guitar that I, you know, there was my first guitar at the age of 15. That shows up in Iraq. I'm leading worship. I really thought that after my deployment in 2007 that I could just come home and return home, kind of hit the reset button, start over.

16:12 The Navy tries to, all branches, really try to prepare you the best they can for what you're going to experience, the emotions and the feelings that you're going to have whenever coming home from a war zone. And really that all just went in one ear and out the other. I was just so ready to get home and hit the reset button. And I just started getting hit blindsided with the PTSD and addiction to alcohol. And just felt like I just went right back into that rut of guilt and shame. So that must have been. sad for your parents yeah well whenever I first came back from Iraq my parents let me uh stay home and uh for like the first like three I think it was for like three months maybe I came home from Iraq and um and you know they let me stay at the house until I found my own apartment and got back up on my feet you know just kind of transitioning from a war zone which wasn't easy, but it was whenever I was able to hide it pretty good for the first few months. But once I got into my first apartment, that's whenever the addiction to alcohol, the PTSD really settled in. Even thoughts of suicide snuck in. The enemy was just planting seeds of lies in my mind. But the turning point really was a mentor and a friend

17:45 of mine. could see that I was struggling on the outside. And he invited me to a Bible study. It was a Friday night Bible study. And you went. And I went. And the wild thing is that the invitation was just like that chaplain had for me in Iraq. He said, hey, why don't you grab your guitar and lead worship? And that's what this mentor and friend of mine was doing. He said, you know, why don't you grab your guitar and come help me lead worship at the Friday night Bible study. And that's what I did. I started showing up. And that's whenever I started writing songs for the Lord. That's whenever I started writing songs just out of my experiences, even from my doubt and those emotions that I was feeling in that time, but also how the Lord was interceding for me and how the Lord was fighting for me. I just started writing those songs. So every time you heard the Lord, but then kind of turned your back again, the Lord came after you again. He was just so... I like to say that God's love is like the waves in pursuit of the shoreline.

19:02 And that might be me speaking from just living on the coast for such a long time. And I've just been such a lover of... God's creation and just always love the coastline wherever I'm at. You know, the last time I was in England, I found myself on the coastline. The last time I was on the West Coast, I found myself, you know, on the coastline where the Redwoods were. And I was just, I can't get enough of that. And so I kind of think of God's love kind of like, you know, just wave after wave, just crashing on the shore, just never, never giving up, never relenting until. reaches the shore and in a way i feel like i'm the shore you know and he's just always in pursuit of me so besides your mentor there was another special person god brought in my wife my my wife i i married my wife in 2013 her name is ashley and uh so 2013 let's see we have let's see march this coming march will be Yeah, 13 years. And the crazy thing is, is we are, for the first time, pregnant. And we're expecting a little boy in April. And you know so much more about how to think about raising a child by now. I think so. And I think back,

20:35 we started trying to get pregnant. Five years into our marriage. So it's been seven years of on and off trying. And those times that we couldn't have kids, we're just like, well, we can just have dogs. You know, they can be like our four -legged kids, our furry kids. Yeah, I want to hear some more about the furry kids. What's that? I want to hear about your dogs. Oh, my goodness. We have two boxers. And one is the son of the mama. So we got a mama and her boy. And the boy is actually in between my legs right now. He hears me talking, but there's no one else in the room to him, you know? And so he's just like, who are you talking to? And he's looking around.

21:28 And so, yeah, the two boxers that we have, they're... They're quite the handful. I'm anxious to see how they respond to a little human being in the house. Oh, yeah. One of the things you told me when we talked before, though, was that the dogs actually played a role in helping you in your walk back with the Lord. We recently lost one of our boxers in July. His name was Hank. And Hank was on the road with me a lot. He was always on the road with me. So he saw me do ministry. And it was kind of crazy. I mean, there were times on the road where he would almost be like a therapy dog for other people at the shows.

22:15 I've seen him cheer up autistic kids. So I think in a way, I could see the love of God through the dogs as well. So you are expecting a baby. You're on the road a lot. Tell me, what's the focus of your life right now? What has God given you to do that he prepared you for long ago? I think what he's preparing me for now, not only to be a father to my son, which is just crazy to think that. I see how my earthly father loved me. And I've seen how much my Heavenly Father has loved me and pursued me. And so I feel like even though I wanted to be a dad five, seven years ago, I feel like I wouldn't have been that great of a dad then. I feel like I would have just kind of gone through the motions. But now I really sense that the Lord has just done a lot of character building and just molded me into who He wants me to be for this. this kid that we're about to have, um, which is just, which is just wild to me. Like even, um, the excitement that I had last night was the last night, Ashley and I were watching TV and I get to feel him push like in my hands on her stomach.

23:50 And I give a little push and I feel a little push back. And, uh, and I was just like this, I, I, I haven't loved something so much and it's not even here yet, you know? And to think that that, that in comparison to the Lord's love for me is just nothing compares. Awesome. So mostly right now, you're what you're doing for a living is running around the country. Speak a singing. I've been, I've been doing music full time for 10 years. a little bit more than 10 years. June of this year was 10 years. Um, and yeah, writing, releasing music, even though I've been on the road. So this last tour, I was on tour from June to November. And, uh, even in the midst of all that, I was going back and forth to Tennessee.

24:47 I was, I've been writing new music. Um, we have, even though, even though next year I'd have decided to not, travel as much to be home with Ashley and the son, at least for that first year. Um, I have a lot of new music to release next year, which I'm very, very excited about. Um, so yeah, I just been staying busy while the baby's inside the womb, been getting as much done as I can. Oh, and they, the baby, he can hear that music. Oh yeah. All right. So. Are you writing most of it yourself? I've been writing, I would say maybe 50 % of it myself, and the other 50 % has been co -writing, collaborating with friends and industry friends in Tennessee. And this upcoming project, which is going to be a worship project, that has been mostly co -written with friends of mine. Tell me about that. Whenever I decided to start telling my testimony through music, that has just been, I'm trying to put it into words, it's been uncharted waters for me of sharing my testimony that I had kept hidden for a long time. I didn't share this story for a long time.

26:14 Not until I started sharing my testimony 2022, 2023. So it's been pretty recent. But if I can put it into words, what this music has been like writing, it almost feels like the Lord has been inviting me into this garden to show me things that need to be pruned and uprooted or watered or tended to. And out of those times where it's just been in a secret place with him, I've been writing these worship songs or these song ideas have been coming to mind or coming into my heart. And so that's what this project is going to be about. It's going to be just about a walk in the garden with the Lord. And I'm really excited about it. And that's the title of a book that you have? The title of the book that I've been working on is called Made New, which was the title of the album in 2023. So the 2023 album Made New, that was the album that I decided to tell my story in 13 songs. And that's what embarked this journey of sharing my testimony with with media and on podcasts like yours. And that's what has felt like uncharted waters for me, because I'm sharing a story that I had I had kept, you know, secret for so long, not knowing that whenever I decided to start sharing my story, there were so many people that were just there were. So

27:46 many. You were moved by it. Not only prodigals, but prodigals' parents. Well, yes, especially. Yeah, they do. So tell me about December 12, 2012. Yes, December 12, 2020. I'll never forget it. It was the first, well, it was whenever, that was my reviving moment. I'll put it that way. The Lord called me to do a night of worship, a night of revival at the very courthouse where I was judged at the age of 18. And I was very, I did not want to do it. I said no the first time to the Lord. And I lost that argument because I did not want to go back to the place where I had bad memories. I just didn't want to do it. But I lost that argument with the Lord. I flew my band in because my band and I were all from different states. So I flew them in. We had a night of worship on the lawn of the courthouse where I was judged. And it was that night whenever, honestly, I was still prideful. I was still thinking selfishly that the Lord has brought Justin Gambino here to bring revival to my hometown. And the Lord just... ever so kindly said, no, Justin, I brought you here for you and me. I brought

29:17 you here because I've been calling you home. You've been going through the motions. You've been checking the boxes. You've been doing all the things. Whenever you're on stage, you've been saying all the right things. You've been doing all the right things. It's time for you to be all in. I remember falling on my knees that night. And just really fully surrendering to the Lord. And my life hasn't been the same since. You can go back to the songs that I was releasing. 2017, 2018, 19, 20. And I think they're good songs, but there was something missing.

30:01 Once you hit 2023, my catalog, the library of music from 2023 to now. To me, it's like, okay, I've decided to get very authentic and very just transparent with my story. And the crazy thing is that next weekend is the sixth annual revival at the very courthouse where I was a judge. So we've been doing it every year. We've been seeing prodigals come home, which is what happened in my life. You know, this prodigal. Found his way back to the father's house. And that's been my prayer for all these revivals that we've been doing at the courthouse, is that the prodigal would come home. I love that that's continued.

30:53 And it's kind of like a marker for you every year now to take what God's done in your life and make it up. possibility for others as well so we are excited to hear um your music and uh the book you've you've is the book out or are you still working on it working on it now yeah so i'm hoping to be done with it um around this time next year so it's it's gonna it's gonna be i think it's gonna be pretty long i think it's gonna be about 15 16 chapters and You know, a book that you can sit down with for a month.

31:39 I like that. It's basically everything I learned about loving a prodigal came out in the book I wrote. And it's devotional in that sense. But it's God uses it tremendously. So I believe he's going to use what what you. Are going to let him work through you. And the lives that you're going to touch. Will surprise you. The Lord's been surprising me. Yeah. And I believe. That he will continue to do so. So. You have how many albums out? Since 23? The ones that are. More.

32:25 Since 2023. I've released two CDs. In total, I have six CDs. So in the last 10 years, I've released six. But yeah, it's a new journey. It's a new season. And I'm excited to keep on writing songs that the Lord just writes through me and glorifying Him in the process. Well, we're going to make available a couple of your albums for drawing. into our audience so that so we'll let them know how they can go online and request to be in the drawing so that we can send them your at least a couple of them and bless them especially the most of the people who are listening are going to be ones who have a love person who's been on a journey, maybe not like yours, but in that same idea of really turning away from what they were raised as and then the Lord pursuing them and not giving up. And we want to always be able to give them hope that their loved one.

33:51 can come back. And I know that personally, and your story tells it beautifully. And so I think it's going to be a blessing to many. Any special prayer requests that you would have before we close? Just that the pregnancy keeps on going healthy. And yeah, that's the first thing that hits my mind. And then, you know, of course, the process of writing the book and the new music coming out that the Lord would just use it to further his kingdom. Okay. Well, thank you so much. And I'm just, I'm confident that you've touched a lot of people who are fearful, discouraged, thinking, will it ever happen? And you told a story that God's intervening, God's following, God's not giving up, and they can keep walking with him as they wait for their loved one to say, okay, here I am, Lord. So thank you so much.

35:03 You're welcome. God bless you beyond what you can ask or imagine. Thank you, Judy, and thank you so much for having me.