The Rugged Path

theruggedpath
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Christianity

Faith isn't fragile - and neither are the people who live it. This podcast dives into the hard seasons, fierce battles, and defining moments that shaped the lives of everyday Christians. These are stories of grit, surrender, and victory that prove struggle doesn't break faith - it builds it.

  1. 1d ago

    Destiny Chambers: He Chased Me Down — Christian Testimony on Addiction and Faith | The Rugged Path

    Destiny Chambers was eight years old when she lost her adoptive father, and she says it left a wound she spent the next sixteen years trying to fill. Born in Brooklyn and raised in a praying home and a church family, she says most of her own faith walk was halfhearted: "I'm at church performing for people, but at home, I'm duplicitous." Destiny talks about depression, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts that began in her early teens, and about looking for love and worth in the wrong relationships and in addiction. She describes a "soft cult" she got pulled into, a promise she kept breaking, and the night she finally told the Lord she was done living like that. In January 2025 she rededicated her life to Jesus. What came next surprised her. She says the Lord asked her to cut off her locs, and that obedience stripped away idols she did not know she had. "He chased me down and ran after me anyways." On worth, she says the Lord showed her: "You have worth because I ascribe it to you." In this conversation: losing her father, a move to North Carolina after the family lost their home, grief and hidden pain in high school, what she says was underneath it all, being sober-minded in more than one way, why she believes we need to let the Bible read us, and the promise she still needs to keep. This episode includes frank, first-person conversation about depression, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts, as well as sexual sin and addiction. It is spoken plainly and may be heavy for some listeners. If you have been performing for the people around you while hiding what is underneath, this one is for you. Subscribe and leave a review to help more people find stories like this one.   CHAPTER MARKERS: 0:00 Introduction 5:46 Halfhearted Faith and a Mother's Prayers 10:34 Born in Brooklyn: Adoption and Losing Her Father 13:30 Moving South and Starting Over 45:33 High School, Grief, and the Pain Underneath 1:00:46 Where the Pain Was Coming From 1:17:53 A Soft Cult, Red Flags, and a Changed Number 1:39:58 The Four Years: Wrong Relationships and Addiction 2:04:47 January 2025: Surrender and Obedience 2:13:06 Worth Is Given, Not Earned 2:16:52 Sober-Minded and Letting the Word Read You 2:19:55 Deception and Biblical Literacy 2:27:11 The Promise Still to Keep

  2. Oct 27

    Alex Rogers: What You Do Is Not Who You Are — Navy SEAL Christian Testimony | The Rugged Path

    Alex Rogers grew up in small-town central Vermont, accepted Christ at six years old, and spent years proving that being around church is not the same as submitting to God. Hungover on Sundays, one foot in, he knew the answer and wouldn't fully give himself to it. "I know it's the right answer, but I'm not going to fully submit." Alex spent twelve years as a U.S. Navy SEAL with SEAL Team Three, including three deployments. He was also living a double life, and he is direct about it: he cheated on his ex-wife for years. His divorce was final in April 2025, and he left the Navy the next month. After a move to North Carolina in January 2026 and a low point that ended in twelve days in jail, with a King James Bible and a lot of time, he started learning what he says he had missed all along. "What you do is not who you are." In this conversation, Alex talks about the street-to-seat road to becoming a SEAL, the fear of living without a title, why he believes reconciliation comes before worship, the abandonment wounds underneath it all, and what it means to say Jesus is his two man. He also takes on a question many men carry in silence: can a man be tough, capable of violence, and still be a Christian? The conversation touches on suicide and on what kept him going. This episode contains language some listeners may find objectionable. We chose not to edit it out. If you have built your identity on a uniform, a job, or a reputation, this one is for you. Subscribe and leave a review to help more people find stories like this one.   CHAPTER MARKERS: 0:00 Introduction 5:03 Lot's Wife and What He Held Onto 25:28 Street to Seat: Becoming a SEAL 41:20 Sunday Church, Saturday Night 1:03:01 Divorce, Jail, and Finding Silence 1:15:57 Can a Man Be Tough and Christian? 2:20:50 Forgiveness Before Worship 2:25:01 The Wound Underneath 2:51:21 Jesus Is My Two Man 3:38:07 Ego Is the Enemy

  3. Oct 13

    Justin Klahn: When Control Ends, Surrender Begins | The Rugged Path

    Two years into the separation of his family, one of Justin Klahn's closest friends told him to try something simple: a gratitude prayer. Justin tried. He couldn't do it. "I'm not grateful," he said. "And I'm not going to give up this hate and anger." That moment, and the years of anger underneath it, are where this conversation starts. Justin spent twenty years inside Nike Innovation, embedded with JSOC units, consulting with DARPA, and eventually working directly for Kanye West. About three years after his own first encounter with real faith, his marriage fell apart, something he's honest was his own doing, not theirs. What followed was years of anger and isolation: sleeping in his truck to be fully present for his young daughter, starting a men's group called Fight Club for Christ, and a friend's blunt challenge that he hadn't actually surrendered to God, a line that stung for two more years before it fully landed. During that season, on a hillside trail he walked for hours at a time carrying a kettlebell, Justin experienced a disturbing and frightening thought about ending his own life. He also experienced a breakthrough: a night of prayer on a California beach, praying for the people he was in conflict with, that left him with a joy he says he'd never felt before and has never fully left him since. Justin also spent years in counter child-trafficking work that brought him face to face with what he describes as real spiritual warfare. This conversation covers failure, surrender, fatherhood, and what it actually costs to give God the things we've been holding back. Subscribe and leave a review to help more people find stories like this one. NEWSLETTER: Subscribe to Dispatches from the Path at theruggedpathpodcast.com   CHAPTER MARKERS: 0:00 — Introduction 26:44 — The Bible Study on Validation (Micah and the Levite) 34:03 — "You Haven't Surrendered Yet" 37:35 — A Marriage That Fell Apart  56:00 — "I'm Not Grateful"  58:33 — A Dark Night on the Trail 1:01:25 — Sleeping in His Truck for His Daughter 1:04:57 — Breakthrough on the Beach 1:32:11 — Counter-Trafficking and Spiritual Warfare

  4. Sep 29

    Colby Allen: I Knew That Address — Police Officer Faith Testimony | The Rugged Path

    Colby Allen was half a mile from home when the call came out, and he recognized the address before dispatch finished reading it. It belonged to a family friend, someone he had known his whole life. What Colby found when he arrived that day would change the course of his career in law enforcement, and eventually, his faith. Colby grew up in Moore County, North Carolina, joined the Army at eighteen after a breakup left him looking for a fresh start, and deployed to Afghanistan with the 4th Infantry Division in 2018. After a medical discharge in 2020, he built a career in law enforcement that has spanned patrol, a SWAT team, and now criminal investigations. Along the way he has faced a violent domestic call that ended in the deaths of two people he cared about, a miscarriage, the sudden loss of a family dog that became an unexpected outlet for grief he did not know he was carrying, and years of anger and distance in his marriage that he is honest about not being proud of. Just one week before this conversation, Colby was baptized by a previous Rugged Path guest and friend, and brought his four year old daughter into the water beside him. He talks candidly about what has changed since, what is still hard, and why he believes the trials that followed his baptism are proof he is finally fighting for something worth fighting for. This episode contains language some listeners may find objectionable. We chose not to edit it out. If you or someone you love has carried the weight of law enforcement trauma, struggled in a marriage, or wondered if it is too late to come back to faith, this conversation is for you. Subscribe and leave a review to help more people find stories like this one.   CHAPTER MARKERS:   00:00 — Language Warning and Cold Open   14:13 — Growing Up in Moore County   27:15 — Joining the Army   49:06 — Deployment to Afghanistan   1:50:08 — Coming Home and Getting Married   2:03:45 — Miscarriage and Medical Discharge   2:14:41 — First Law Enforcement Job   2:39:58 — The Call That Changed Everything

  5. Sep 15

    Justin Carter: He Held a Gun to His Head and Heard "Stop" — Suicide Prevention | The Rugged Path

    He loaded a gun, brought it to his head, and heard an audible voice say one word: stop. Justin Carter, a 13-year veteran firefighter, sits down with Dan Black to talk about a broken engagement that sent him spiraling into alcohol and pill addiction, a near-fatal highway collision on the job, and the night he came within inches of ending his life. What sets this conversation apart is what came after. For roughly two years, Justin experienced severe, unexplained physical and cognitive symptoms that three separate doctors dismissed, until a specialized clinic finally diagnosed him with a Grade 2 traumatic brain injury nobody had told him about, along with critically low testosterone and stress hormones running at three times normal. Justin gets honest about considering psychedelic-assisted therapy to deal with the underlying trauma, and choosing instead to spend 90 minutes alone in prayer, surrendering everything, including 17 years of anger toward the biological father who was never really there. Today Justin is a year sober, a husband to his wife Morgan, and a new father to their daughter Collins. This episode contains an on-air content warning about strong language, which the show intentionally leaves in. Subscribe to The Rugged Path for new episodes every other week, raw faith conversations the church usually leaves out.   CHAPTERS: 0:00 — Introduction and Content Warning 1:30:27 — Growing Up in a Firefighting Family 1:39:11 — The Night He Held a Gun to His Head 1:48:49 — A Broken Engagement and the Spiral Begins 1:55:01 — A Near-Fatal Highway Collision 2:08:35 — Unexplained Symptoms and Three Dismissive Doctors 2:32:48 — Meeting Morgan and Committing to Sobriety 2:42:21 — Diagnosed with a Traumatic Brain Injury 3:00:08 — 90 Minutes of Prayer and Forgiving His Father 4:07:12 — Fatherhood, Faith, and Giving Back

  6. Sep 1

    Chris Ostberg: A Promise to God He Broke for 20 Years — Infidelity and Redemption | The Rugged Path

    Before the invasion of Iraq, Chris Ostberg made God a promise on a rooftop in Kuwait: if he survived, he'd go to church every Sunday. He survived. He didn't go back for 20 years. Chris sits down with Dan Black to walk through a homeschooled childhood in small-town Massachusetts, a fast rise through the 82nd Airborne, leading a squad into Iraq at 21 years old, and a 16-year first marriage marked by heavy drinking and repeated infidelity on his part. An affair while deployed to Jordan cost him that marriage and, after a lengthy investigation, his entire Army career, just short of retirement. Chris is remarkably candid about what that identity collapse actually felt like, and how a season roofing houses on Fort Bragg turned out to be exactly what he needed. Listeners will hear how a single Facebook message, sent the day his first marriage effectively ended, reconnected Chris with a girlfriend from twenty years earlier and set in motion the relationship, and the return to faith, that brought him to where he is today. Chris is honest throughout that even now, with a strong marriage and a baptism behind him, he still wrestles with whether he has "enough" faith, a thread that makes this one of the more candid conversations the show has had about doubt itself. Subscribe to The Rugged Path for new episodes every other week, raw faith conversations the church usually leaves out.   0:00 — Introduction 4:53 — Leading a Squad Into Iraq at 21 5:47 — A Rooftop Promise Before the Invasion of Iraq 25:08 — A Homeschooled Childhood in Massachusetts 56:13 — Enlisting in the Army at 18 1:48:04 — A 16-Year Marriage, Drinking, and Infidelity 2:38:25 — The Affair That Ended His Career 3:12:59 — Roofing Houses on Fort Bragg 3:24:36 — "I See You Still Like Jesus" 3:47:29 — Baptism, Marriage, and Still Wrestling With Doubt

  7. Aug 18

    Antwon Murchison: A DWI With His Kids in the Car — Addiction Recovery Testimony | The Rugged Path

    Antwon Murchison hid a fifth of vodka and a twelve-pack a day behind four different liquor stores so no one would notice the pattern, until a DWI with both of his kids in the car finally caught up with him. Antwon sits down with Dan Black to walk through a fractured childhood in Midway, North Carolina, a Division I football career at Clemson that ended without an NFL contract, and the alcoholism that nearly cost him his marriage, his coaching career, and his life. Antwon gets honest about the night of his arrest, the walk into 100-degree heat the next morning where he intended to die, and the letter his 96-year-old great-grandmother wrote him in rehab, telling him she had prayed for decades for someone in the family to break its cycle of alcoholism. Listeners will hear how a corrupt youth baseball coach quietly ended his athletic dreams as a teenager, how a chance newspaper article launched an unplanned coaching career, and how getting sober did not immediately save his marriage, it took years of hard, honest work afterward. Six years sober now, Antwon is the defensive coordinator at Union Pines High School, a music director at two churches, and an active mentor to others in recovery through what he calls "sprinkling salt," small, unforced acts of love and prayer rather than overwhelming people all at once. Subscribe to The Rugged Path for new episodes every other week, raw faith conversations the church usually leaves out.   0:00 — Introduction 25:26 — A Fractured Childhood in Midway, North Carolina 27:58 — A Corrupt Coach Ends His Baseball Career 1:06:43 — Getting Recruited by Clemson 2:13:37 — Football as Identity, and Losing It 2:16:32 — A Newspaper Article Launches a Coaching Career 2:46:41 — The Drinking Escalates 2:50:00 — The DWI: His Kids in the Car 2:53:15 — The Walk He Didn't Expect to Survive 2:56:20 — His Great-Grandmother's Letter, and Rebuilding His Marriage

  8. Aug 4

    Nick Merritt: I Killed That Old Man — Military PSYOP Faith Journey | The Rugged Path

    Army officer Nick Merritt spent years hating himself for something God and his ex-wife had already forgiven, and it took one sermon on forgiving himself to finally set him free. Nick sits down with Dan Black just 48 hours after Dan felt led to ask him, no prep, no back and forth, both men going into the conversation cold. Nick walks through a childhood he barely remembers, including being locked in a closet for protection during abuse, and the infidelity that ended his first marriage while he and his then-wife were stationed apart early in his military career. He gets honest about the years that followed at Fort Campbell, alone, drinking himself to sleep every night, calling himself a terrible person every single day. He talks about getting turned away by Special Forces recruiting, finding PSYOP instead, and the deployment to the Balkans that cost him his daughter's first birthday. Listeners will hear how Nick met his current wife on Facebook Dating, chose brutal honesty over another lie on their first date, and found the sermon at Grace Church that changed everything he understood about forgiveness. The episode closes with Nick standing at a real crossroads, days from leaving the PSYOP work he loves to re-qualify into an entirely new Army career built around nuclear weapons policy, still not certain if it is God's calling or simply a good opportunity. Subscribe to The Rugged Path for new episodes every other week, raw faith conversations the church usually leaves out.   Chapters: 0:00 — Introduction 10:01 — Alone at Fort Campbell: Rock Bottom 15:13 — Childhood, Abuse, and a Family Built on Faith He Didn't Own 25:11 — Sports, College, and Finding Exercise Science 33:33 — The Tough Mudder That Sent Him Into the Army 38:22 — Turned Away by Special Forces, Found by PSYOP 58:59 — Deployments, Family, and a New Calling 1:02:53 — Infidelity and the End of His First Marriage 1:08:43 — Meeting His Wife and the Freedom Cycle Sermon 2:04:29 — Closing Reflection: Who Are You Underestimating?

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About

Faith isn't fragile - and neither are the people who live it. This podcast dives into the hard seasons, fierce battles, and defining moments that shaped the lives of everyday Christians. These are stories of grit, surrender, and victory that prove struggle doesn't break faith - it builds it.

Information

  • Creator
    theruggedpath
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 All rights reserved. 148782
  • Show Website
    The Rugged Path

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