This week’s episode is one you do not want to miss: The story of the soldier known as Isaiah Melendez. In the midst of Warrior Week 53, Coach Sam welcomes Isaiah aka Coach Mercenary to the show where they have a conversation about war, about honoring the innocent children who have fought and died in war, and how within each one of us is an innocent child. They launch their new project, CHILD OF WAR and describe its inception and purpose.

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Parable #1: Military Life

• After eight years of military service where he experienced constant structure and discipline, Isaiah emerged into civilian life and realized he had lost his identity. Having been deployed at the age of 18, everything he knew about being a man was ingrained within him in the army.
• “There was something that was pulling me out of the army. It didn’t make fucking sense on paper, but I knew I had to get out; I knew there was something outside of the military for me.”

QUESTION

When have you felt a pulling towards something in your life that didn’t make sense but felt right?

 

Parable #2: The Call of  Warrior

• Five years after leaving the army, Isaiah was dying inside; he was broken. That is when he felt and heard the call of Warrior. There was a beauty in how natural everything happened when he was first introduced to Warrior.
• “It made zero sense for me to accept what I was hearing, yet the feeling was the same feeling I felt in leaving the army. I couldn’t process it, but I knew this is what I was searching for.”

QUESTION

What do you do when you hear the Voice?

 

Parable #3: Light Workers

• From an early young age, Isaiah knew he was called to lead men. It started with sports, then church, then the army, yet there was always something missing.
• It was during his second experience at Warrior Week where he felt the calling, where he felt that he could no longer run away, where he knew he was someone that would bring light to others.

QUESTION

What have you instinctively known about your calling and life’s work since childhood?

 

Parable #4: CHILD OF WAR Project

• Coach Sam: I grew up in a country of war, where children were asked to go to the front line. I’ve seen the dead children, the so-called martyrs. The truth is, they’re innocent. We honor that child, as well as the innocent child in all of us.
• Coach Isaiah: The child is from God and knows how to love unconditionally. But every day, we neglect that child because we say we have to be an adult. Right now, we fight this war internally to get back to that child.

QUESTION

How do you honor and remember the innocent child within you?

 

Parable #5: King of Battle

• The first infantry division is a mechanized infantry, meaning they are the tanks known as the King of Battle. They handle the big shit.
• The foot soldiers of the infantry are known and the Queen of Battle because they can get through the nooks and crannies of the smaller details.

QUESTION

What has been your experience with the military?

 

Parables from the Pit:

“Inside of this place rises a power that is uncommon; the power and the fuel that drives the fury of a man to build a life, not just to live life.”

—Sam Falsafi

“I began following in the footsteps of others and had become a younger version of those whom I was following. It was at this point I found myself nearly dead.”

—Isaiah Melendez