The Power of Music and Mentorship: Justin's Path to Purpose

In this episode of Hidden Chapters, I'm chatting with Justin, who takes us through his journey from a pretty touch start to a life filled with faith, music, and a love for mentoring others. 

Growing up in a poor family, Justin always believed in God, but it wasn’t until his wife, Michelle, and a few key people in his life really helped him dig deeper into his faith that it all started to make sense. Along the way, he found a creative outlet in writing music — and it ended up winning awards, which gave him even more belief in following your passions.

But the transformation didn't stop there.  Justin also found his calling in mentoring others, guided by a simple question: “What’s the one thing I can do right now to make the biggest impact in this relationship?”

This episode is all about finding your purpose, following your heart, and the power of mentorship to make a real difference in both your life and the lives of others.

What you'll learn:  

• Justin's journey highlights the importance of faith and community.
• Music played a significant role in Justin's life and growth.
• Transformative experiences can shape our paths in unexpected ways.
• Living in the moment is crucial for personal fulfillment.
• Mentorship is essential for personal and professional development.
• Finding purpose often comes from overcoming challenges.
• It's important to encourage others and share your story.
• Self-forgiveness is key to moving forward in life.
• The impact of our actions can resonate with others.
• Building meaningful relationships can guide us on our journey.

What we talked about: 

00:00 Introduction to Justin's Journey

03:26 From Humble Beginnings to a Blessed Life

04:46 Career Highlights and Achievements

06:33 Life Lessons from a Challenging Childhood

08:59 Transformation and Finding Faith

09:58 The Impact of Life Experiences on Personal Growth

12:25 Navigating Relationships and Spiritual Awakening

33:53 Navigating Relationships and Spiritual Awakening

 
The ONE Thing:  The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller 

https://a.co/d/6HzIhMb 

Contact Justin

 LinkedIn: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mitchell-a3979a2a8?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Facebook:  Justin Mitchell 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Today's guest is someone I've had the privilege of knowing since day one, literally. We started working at the same place on the exact same day. In this episode, Justin shares the path that brought him from a tough childhood to a life rooted in faith, service, and growth. He opens up about how his faith grew over time, how important mentors and his wife, Michelle, have been in shaping his journey, and how writing music with friends led to some unexpected and meaningful moments. Now he spends some time pouring into others, guided by a powerful question from the One Thing book. What's the one thing I can do right now that would make the most difference in this relationship? His story is a reminder that even when our beginnings are hard, our next chapters can be full of purpose. When we worked together, Justin had a list of dad jokes ready to go every single day. There's so much more to his story than just his sense of humor. Today, we're diving into the moments that shape him, the hidden chapters we don't always get to hear. So Justin, it's great to have you here. Before we dive in, I have to ask. Do you have a dad joke ready for us?

SPEAKER_02: 1:14

Yeah, I guess I always have a dad joke ready. So I don't know if you know it, but I've been on that 45-day diet. No. Yeah, and so far I've lost 15 days. So that's my dad joke for today. And you can tell, by the way, the shape I'm in, 15 days.

SPEAKER_00: 1:28

I know there's more to your story, and I'm really excited to be able to explore that with you today. I'd love for you to introduce yourself to our listeners and express who Justin is in your own words.

SPEAKER_02: 1:37

So who is Justin? That's a great question. I think that a lot of people ask themselves that. I think if I were to I say it in a short synopsis. Justin is a country kid that grew up poor that had one of the most incredible, amazing, blessed lives that anybody could live in terms of live your best life or enjoy your passion. So I'd say that's probably a summary of who Justin is.

SPEAKER_00: 2:00

Okay. Thank you for that. So we worked together for about a year and I got to know workplace Justin. But today I get to go back a bit. And I want to talk about before we cross paths. Yeah. So let's rewind and go back. And if you don't mind, let's start with what was life like for you growing up?

SPEAKER_02: 2:18

Okay. Well, let me, kind of like Stephen Covey says, begin with the end in mind. Let me start with the end and then I'll go to the beginning. But I had an incredible career with the Department of Defense and got to travel around and as a civilian, not in the military, got to live the military lifestyle in a lot of ways. And so in 1993, I moved to Kamsama, Japan with Michelle, my wife, and we had both of our children in Japan, went to Germany. And I had a one-year tour to Germany. We thought, cool, you get paid to have a German vacation. And 11-year Years later, I finished my German tour. And so I'm a little bit of a slow learner, maybe. I don't know it. But we had just the most fantastic time. And then I got to the Army War College and got my second master's degree in strategic studies. And my first one's from University of Oklahoma in public administration. Was a deputy to the garrison commander at three different installations for 17 years of a 31-year career, which is kind of the second in charge, kind of like the city manager. If you're out in a city somewhere, it's the city manager that is responsible for the staff and the budget and making sure that all the quality of life and then the post runs so the soldiers and families can do what they need to do to do our nation's bidding. And I ended up here at Redstone Arsenal as the chief of staff for installation management command and the sustainment directorate where I was responsible for 32 installations at the end of the day. We didn't have that many to begin with, but at the end of the day, we had 32 of the sustainment where anything the soldier would need, wear, shoot, or ride in was kind of the sustainment garrisons. And so It was just a fantastic career and ending up as a GS-15 Step 10, which if anybody knows the government federal system, that's as high as you can go in the general schedule system and as many years as you can have. And so it was an amazing, blessed life. And so you asked where I started. So it's really kind of almost dichotomy where I started. So I grew up in Montana with a construction family that... was on free and reduced school lunches, free government cheese. And because Montana is so cold, my dad and his brothers always were seasonably unemployed during the wintertime on unemployment and things like that. We were that welfare family. basically that was never popular because never had money. But I was just good enough at sports to get along with everybody when we were playing any sport and just smart enough to be able to get decent grades without studying or trying very hard. Fast forward a little bit to high school. My parents got divorced when I was in sixth grade and my stepdad and mom were having some troubles. And when I was a junior in high school, my brother Kevin and my brother Kelly. Kelly was a senior. Kevin and I were juniors. Kevin got held back. That's a did not live with our parents for our last year of high school. And so you can imagine a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old living by themselves, finishing high school. And we did a lot of stuff. And everybody would come to our house. And there was a lot of fun at our house. What we thought was good was not. And a lot of bad things. But as you and I talked about, I don't have any jail stories. Never been arrested. So that's a God thing. But, you know, the people back in Glendive, Montana, that know me, knew me as kind of a welfare kid that partied and didn't really have a lot of supervision, a little bit wild. And so then went to college and didn't know what I wanted to do, but knew I didn't want to do construction and ended up in psychology and sociology. And it came very easy to me because I found the subject intriguing about how the brain works, how people behave and things like that. Went to Billings, Montana to the big four-year school and met my wife, Michelle, playing co-ed softball. And then we played tennis and basketball together and snow skied and water skied together. And she was into horses. And so we went and rode horses. I tell you what, I married my playmate. We had so much fun playing together. I said, you know, who is this girl? I want to marry her. And so that was probably the biggest turning point in my life was marrying Michelle. And the second biggest is when we moved to Kamsama, Japan, and I gave my life to Christ. And that I think probably was the second most amazing change in my life. And again, the person that I am today is certainly not the a person that the people in Glendive, Montana would recognize. So what experiences

SPEAKER_00: 6:25

or aspects of your life do you feel are not often shared or talked about?

SPEAKER_02: 6:29

I think that as humans, we all try to do our best. And I think that what most often people don't talk about is the transformation. And I think that going from a person that knew 110,000 jokes that are inappropriate to try and make people laugh without cussing and saying inappropriate things because you're trying to follow God and trying to follow a Christian life and get better. which is a process, not an event. I think that most people would not know things that go on in people's heads and the things that they think of compared to the things that they actually do and act out. I think it's probably something most people wouldn't know that about me because it was a transformation. It was an incredible transformation that the people that knew me, and particularly Michelle, who helped make me better, would be able to talk about. But most people don't know that. Again, the people in Glendive, Montana would not know the Justin that you know.

SPEAKER_00: 7:25

How did that transformation for you come about finding God and all the things you said, your experiences that you had had before where you felt you needed to change or needed that shift in your life?

SPEAKER_02: 7:37

When Michelle and I got married, we were in Arizona and I was a child abuse investigator. And I think that that is a very difficult job. You really see people in the worst situations scenarios of their life. And I watched oftentimes the best interests of children being plea bargained away between lawyers to keep it out of court and just not the right thing, but the easy thing. And I realized that, you know, doing the right thing isn't always easy. And the easy thing is now is right. And so I think that that led me to wanting to do something different. And I also found out that I have a talent for writing songs. And Michelle and I, we were down there and we had a Christmas party. And so I took a bunch of Christmas songs and I rewrote the words to match some of the cases that we had in child abuse. And the detectives were there and I was there and some of my coworkers were there and we sang and we laughed and we joked. And when we walked out of there, Michelle said, You guys aren't normal. And she said, you know, really, you might want to think about doing something else. And I think that that was really probably a huge turning point and epiphany. I was becoming very jaded, very hearted, talking about really awful, horrible human experiences and laughing and joking about them because it's laugh or cry, right? When you're in that kind of a scenario. And so then we started looking to work for the Department of Defense. And again, I told you where I ended up. And so that trajectory was amazing. And there's so many people to talk about along the way that kind of help shape you and influence you and guide you and mold you into being the human you become. And so I think that that probably is one of the biggest turning points and one of the biggest influences that happened to me that put me on the path that I ended up walking. So I went to church. I grew up going to church, going to Sunday school and things like that. But I wouldn't say that I was in what most people would think of as a Christian household, because after church, everybody would run to my grandma's house, because if you weren't there, you were the one they gossiped about. And so there was a lot of cussing and fussing, working in a construction company. And I believe my family believes in God. That's between them and God. I believe they do, though. But it wasn't the shining light that you would think a Christian is in terms of I want to be like that. And so I thought I didn't need to go to church. I could just be a good person and that would be good enough. And I do the right thing and treat people like I want to be treated. And Michelle, it broke Michelle's heart. She she would go to church and then she'd feel bad because people would ask her, well, where's your husband? And, you know, she'd make excuses and then she wouldn't make excuses. Then it was like, I can't do this. And so it was not good in terms of that rub between us. And that was kind of our biggest rub if we ever had one. So then we moved to Camp Zama, Japan. And Danny, our daughter, was born. And two years later, Trent was born. But when Danny was born, I got to thinking, you know, where else in this world can... influence my daughter to have good morals and values and do the right thing and be a good human being, you know, most of all, be a good human being. And at the same time, I met a quirky chaplain named Steve Girt. And Steve Girt, you know, I was an investigator and I was used to keeping people kind of off their toes and being in charge of talking with somebody. And he came in my office, sat down and said, what's your personal relationship with Jesus Christ? First thing out of his mouth. And I was like, well, you know, I believe in God. He said, no, that's not my question. And he had me off balance the whole conversation. And he really challenged me to explore what do I no kidding believe. And long story short, I gave my life to Christ at Kamsama, Japan, about 1994. And then tried really hard to live that walk and go to church. And I think I freaked Michelle out one day. I came home. I said, come on, let's go to church. And she was like, what? So then we got involved and I've read the Bible a couple of times and started teaching Sunday school and things like that. Just really tried to change what I was, what I represented besides my professional life. And so that was an addition to that. So I think that looking back, that was probably... One of the most important experiences of my life, one marrying Michelle. I said at my retirement ceremony that God led me to Michelle and Michelle led me to God. And she liked that. She hadn't thought of it that way, but that's kind of the way I think about it. And it's been quite a journey and just an amazing life since then of living your best life.

SPEAKER_00: 11:51

That's great. So I know, because you've told me about this before, but you started writing music. Was it around this time that you really got into writing Christian music? music?

SPEAKER_02: 12:02

No, I worked and worked my way up. And like a lot of people, I was probably a workaholic to a degree that was not healthy. And being a deputy to garrison commander is not an eight to five job because you're running a city with soldiers and family members and you're working whenever they call you. And I'll get to the answer. It's going to take me a second. But we were we were in Germany and there was some things happening. And Michelle and I started doing rodeo, which is a whole different story in itself. And we were at a roping event and I got a call and I unhooked the trailer from the pickup. I looked at Michelle and the kids and I said, I have to go. I'm not sure when I'll be back, but I'll come get you as soon as I can. And I left and I had to go back to work. And that night I went back and got them and hooked up the trailer and they were about the only ones left with, I guess, our barn manager came and stayed with them. But it was one of those things where I realized that, you know, I have to do this in order to get promoted, in order to show that I can do this job. I have to be all in. And so that, I think, happens with a lot of military families. And I wasn't in the military, and I certainly wouldn't compare myself to those heroes. But I got to support the military, and I got to live a military life moving all around and getting a chance to see some really cool things and do some really cool things. And one of the cool things I'm leading up to is after going to the War College and getting that second master's degree and then... coming to Fort Rucker, Alabama to be the deputy to the garrison commander at the Aviation Center of Excellence and play around with helicopters, which was fun. I got moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. And Fort Bragg, North Carolina is the most populated U.S. Army base in the world. And being the deputy to the garrison commander there for six and a half years was both an honor and difficult. I don't know the word, but boy, it about it about destroyed me because it was so hard and so big and so monstrous to get your arms around the special forces and the joint special forces and everybody that's there. It's just it's just a beast. But we went to a Christian cowboy church and we fell in with some friends that played music and we started having jam nights. at their house, at our house, and just having so much fun playing secular music and playing some Christian music. But just having fun playing guitar. And there was a couple of people that could really sing. I can't sing very well. But we kind of looked at each other after a couple months and said, you know, we should do this. And so we joined a group together called Shekinah Music was the name of the group. And we became a traveling Christian band. And we played churches and we played a Lumberton Fair concert. We were on stage B on like a Sunday night and we played to one guy. And we just had fun. We made it a practice session, but we played a lot of Christian, contemporary Christian mostly, but some gospel songs. And we also played to several thousand at the Fayetteville State Fair and a couple other venues that were a lot of fun. Going to Virginia Beach and playing in coffee houses was actually pretty fun. But then we started thinking, We're playing a lot of covers. Maybe we should kind of write our own music. And then I kind of went back to when I started, you know, with the child abuse where words came to me. And I got one day sitting around talking about my story. And I wrote a song in about 20 minutes. And so I know it was a God-inspired kind of thing. But it was my Christian walk. And it basically talks about how you're walking and trying to find your way. And you're searching for things to fill the hole. And the line goes, and some things worked for a little while. But then I met you, gave my life to you. Now I know. And it was I was made is what the name of the song is. I was made to worship you is kind of the whole title because that's what we're here for. And that's what we were made for. And we had just a fantastic time writing songs. And I've written a lot of songs since then. A couple of other people wrote and sang songs. We really had a fun time. And then we decided to go into the recording studio. And we recorded a couple CDs, Christmas CD, and then the CD with some of our originals and then some covers. And I think that the affirmation that this was really what God wanted me to do was in 2017, 18 timeframe, the song... got to a radio owner of personality named Sweet Tea in Carolina. We were in North Carolina at the time and traveling up and down the East Coast. And it was nominated for the Carolina Country Music Awards as a Christian single. And we were amazed and just so excited. And so we got invited to go to this award ceremony in January at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach. And so we walked the red carpet and we're all dressed to the nines and there's people there. And just it was really a fun time. We were just like little kids at a circus. You know, we were just happy to be there. And the song actually won christian single of the year for the carolina country music awards and so that really to me was like okay god wants me to do this and so i've written a lot of songs since then and as you mature and as you think through different things and how they affect your life the song that really gets requested nowadays when i go play is called plant a seed the the chorus is basically tell your story plant a seed it's not your job to make them believe Let the Holy Spirit meet their needs. Just tell your story and plant the seed because some people have a hard time talking about God. So it was kind of encouraging people to tell their story, kind of like your whole podcast, what it's all about. Yeah, the whole

SPEAKER_01: 17:16

reason it is.

SPEAKER_02: 17:17

And so this is planting seeds and talking about God. So that's kind of where the Christian music came in and kind of how it evolved and some amazing people and some amazing singers, Angie and Laurie and Darren could really, really sing. And they took a song and made it come alive. And I really appreciate them for that.

SPEAKER_00: 17:37

That's great. So how has that experience shaped the way you approach life today?

SPEAKER_02: 17:45

Yeah, really, even though it sounds kind of disjointed, it's very connected. And I think that what at the end of the day, the path that I've been on is to try and help people. Even the social work part, it was trying to help people. And then as a supervisor my entire career, I always kind of fell in love with coaching, mentoring, and teaching. And I think that having a Christian background and a care and a love for another person, particularly when they can't do anything for you, is really an important aspect of being a good human being as I try to teach my children. And I think that over the years, I've honed my ability to listen to people where they're at and meet them wherever they're at and try and make them just a little bit better and I had a boss that I always tried to make it a little bit better and so I always was inspired by him but also tried to take that and I've had different opportunities at Fort Bragg I had what I called the fast horse program because we always have horses but basically it was people that you could tell wanted to get promoted get the triathlon, bigger, stronger, faster. And so I would have conversations with them. And then we developed a curriculum on leadership, on speaking in public, on dress for success, on just how to write a good resume. And then I talked about everybody should have a Barnabas, a Paul, and a Timothy. And if you know the story, it's easy to understand. But let me just share with you that Barnabas was an old seasoned Christian and that people would come for advice and mentorship and coaching and things like that. And everybody should have somebody in their life that does that. Now, that's hard. particularly if you don't know what your passion is. And then everybody should have a Paul, which is kind of a peer where you can come to, like you and I, when we work together, we could always talk and just kind of bounce things off each other and share. And that's always good to have that comfort thing, you know, where you can talk with somebody. And then having a Timothy, and most people don't understand that when you've been blessed, you need to bless others. And so having somebody that you can coach, mentor, and teach, just life skills, but those little things add up to make a big difference. And it's not the big things, it's the little things. And it's little things daily as you do your daily walk and as you interact with people and you can smile with them. And I never meant to be a stupid dad joke teller and I never meant to be, you know, happy Tuesday, happy Wednesday guy that I became. But you know what? There's a lot of worse things to be known for. And so being known for being a positive mental attitude or being a positive influencer, just making somebody smile, I think really truly makes a difference in the pond that you're in and those waves ripple, you know, on a pond like the Pebble and you've heard that kind of thing before. And I think I also mentioned to you that I love a saying that a lot of people hate and that is no matter where you are, there you are.

UNKNOWN: 20:12

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 20:12

And a lot of people say, well, that's stupid. But here's the deeper meaning to that to me. And that is that you can't do anything about the past. There's a lot of things that I did when I was in high school when my brother and I lived alone. And I probably wouldn't change it because it made me who I am, but it certainly wasn't good. So I can't do anything about that. And if I get too future minded where I think about, OK, after this job, I'm going to do that or after this amount of money, I need to make that amount of money. And the more you think about the future, you're kind of wasting the opportunity of what's right in front of you. So living in the moment, living with the person that you're with, the relationship that you're with, the job that you're in. There's a book called The Next Thing or The Next Big Thing. The bottom line is thinking diligently and intentionally about what is the one thing I could do right now. The one thing. That's the name of the book. The one thing. What's the one thing I could do right now that would make the most difference in this relationship? What's the one thing I could do right now to make this job better, more effective or me better at it? OK, which to me is a lot about mind, body, spirit. I look at the triad of the human. I go, what are you doing to get bigger, stronger, faster when I mentor somebody? mind, body, and spirit. So what are you reading? What are you studying? What are you trying to do for your mind? Are you eating well? Are you exercising? Are you staying in shape for your body? And spiritually, I'm not going to tell you what to believe, but whatever you should believe, believe it with your whole heart. And if your belief doesn't cause you emotion and your emotions go to your belief, then you're not connected in your spirit. And so what are you doing to get bigger, stronger, faster in mind, body, spirit? And you try to apply that to the moment. And those moments become your habit. what you do every single day. And then your habit becomes your character, and your character becomes your legacy, right? And so if you think about in the future, what are they going to write on Justin Mitchell's headstone? It might be Happy Tuesday or something. It might be a stupid dad joke. But I think that given the opportunity... positively influence people coaching mentoring and teaching people and and helping to make them just a little bit better wherever they are because they're not you they've not been on the same path that you are they have different history and if you can make somebody a little bit better i think that's a noble cause and you do that in the moments you do that a moment at a time that then becomes a memory and a history and so i think that no matter where you are there you are be there be all there be a hundred percent be all in and if you're not all in be a hundred percent out and it's okay to to say okay Peace out and be okay with that and not worry about it and not think about it and not think of it as a failure. Think of it as a lesson for the next big thing. So I guess that's kind of how that Christian walk developed through my profession, through my person and through what I try to bring to my Sunday school kids, to my church, to the people, my neighbors and all my neighbors and to the people that I work with like you.

SPEAKER_00: 23:00

I appreciate that. You have me thinking a lot about the different things that you were saying being that moment. I'm right now in the season of teenage. And I want to make sure that these are the moments now I'm losing time with my girls. They're getting older. And when I talk with a lot of friends, they've got a couple of younger kids and they look at me and go, you miss those stages? Well, of course I do. I miss the Mickey and Milk stages. And I miss those times when they were toddlers and they would cuddle up to me on the lap. But they're getting older. And now I'm looking at my oldest. She's got three years left in high school. And then I've got another one right behind her, about six years. And I'm going, this is the time that they don't necessarily need me, but they still need that guidance from me. And so I'm doing that with them right now.

SPEAKER_02: 23:41

Perfect analogy. And I get that question a lot. We had a great time in the rodeo. And long story short, my wife's actually in the European Rodeo Hall of Fame. She's that good. And she did fantastic in rodeo. And people say to you, miss the rodeo. I do miss it. I miss the people. I miss the competition. I I'm a type A. I like to go at it. But you can't go back. And then when we left Fort Bragg, we stopped playing in a Christian band. I still play music and write music. But we stopped playing and traveling around in a Christian band. And people say, do you miss that? Well, of course I miss that. I miss the people. There's 13 of us. And we got along so well for four years traveling around and playing God music. And of course I miss it. But you can't go back. You can never go back. And now being retired, do you miss the job? I miss elements of the job. And I certainly miss the people. But I can't go back. And so you have to live today and try and figure out how to make sure that it's impactful for the future. I love what you're talking about with the kids because right now they're going to remember that. Good or bad, they're going to remember it. And this

SPEAKER_00: 24:40

is the most important time.

SPEAKER_02: 24:41

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00: 24:42

So how do you hope sharing your story will help others?

SPEAKER_02: 24:46

Yeah. Keep it going. Don't quit. Don't be hard on yourself. I think people run laps in their head and let other people rent space in their head, rent free. And I think that working through anxiety and things like that has a lot to do with being at peace with yourself. People will read Psalm 23 and, you know, anxiety doesn't like Psalm 23. And so people will get upset with it. People that don't believe in God, you have to be okay with yourself and you have to be able to forgive yourself and move on and just try to do better. But don't quit. Don't ever quit.

SPEAKER_00: 25:17

Yeah, that's great advice. So, Justin, I really appreciate you sharing this part of your story. And so before we wrap, is there anything else you'd like to share or something that's been on your heart?

SPEAKER_02: 25:28

I think that I've enjoyed the conversation. There's some trails I went down I didn't think I would go down. But, you know, you are a conglomerate of your experiences. I guess the underlying message is live your best life and try hard to find your passion. And if you can't, then find somebody that can help you with that, you know, a Barnabas, a Paul, or a Timothy. And so I guess I'd like to end with make sure you have a good Barnabas, some great Pauls around, and find a Timothy to help bring along with you.

SPEAKER_00: 26:00

I love that analogy. I'm going to keep that one. Find my Barnabas, Paul, and Timothy. That's good. Well, Justin, thank you so much for sharing such a personal and powerful part of your journey. I'm so grateful for your openness and honesty. I believe it will make a difference for someone who needs to hear it.

SPEAKER_02: 26:16

Thanks for letting me do this.

SPEAKER_00: 26:18

Thank you. Justin's story is a great reminder that not all hidden chapters are marked by big dramatic moments. Sometimes they unfold in steady, quiet ways through personal growth, everyday choices, and the people who help guide us along the way. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye.