He Asked God for One Thing in a Grocery Store... Then This Happened

Cody Cacciacarro grew up a self-described skeptic — homeschooled, country-raised, and convinced church people were just a little too "happy clappy" for him. Then life caught up. In this week's Midweek Motivation, Cody sits down with Jess to share the unlikely chain of events — including a 30-minute conversation with a stranger in a WinCo during COVID — that moved him from doubt to a real, living faith in Jesus.

Note: The audio in this episode had an issue. We repaired it as best as possible to make it an enjoyable listening experience, but we're aware it's not up to our preferred quality. We're sorry for the inconvenience and remain committed to our standard of excellence.

Discover:

• Why healthy skepticism can actually lead you toward truth, not away from it
• The honest questions Cody wrestled with about Jesus, the Trinity, and the Bible
• The desperate prayer he whispered in a grocery store — and what happened next
• How community, men's alliance, and relational discipleship pulled him out of isolation
• What it really felt like the moment he said yes to Jesus

Reflection: Cody's story is a reminder that God isn't intimidated by your questions. He meets people in grocery store aisles, in business meetings, and at the end of themselves. If you've been holding back because you think you need to have it all figured out first — or because you think you're too far gone — Cody's journey says otherwise. You're not too broken to be helped. And the next step is closer than you think.

Key Takeaways:

• Skepticism isn't the enemy of faith — closed-mindedness is
• God answers prayer, but He often hands you the recipe, not the finished cake
• You're never too broken, too far, or too late to be reached by Jesus
• Community with other believers accelerates growth in ways isolation never can
• Asking honest questions — and finding people willing to answer them — changes everything

Question for you to think about: What's one honest question about faith you've been afraid to ask out loud — and who could you bring it to this week?

Calls to Action: If Cody's story moved you, do three quick things: subscribe to the channel so you never miss an episode, drop a comment sharing what stood out to you, and send this to one person who's been asking questions about Jesus. If you're local to Portland, come visit us at Westside — we'd love to meet you.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I just finally was like, okay, I'm gonna try this. And I accepted Jesus in during the call to prayer there. And it felt like somebody had placed like a hat or a crown or something on my head. Wow. I was just like suffused with like this warm, I can only really excri describe it as like love. Wow. Yeah, through like my whole body just spreading down. And that was probably the biggest sign to me.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Welcome to the Midweek Motivation Podcast, where we bring practical help for your faith in life. Here's today's episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Hey guys, welcome to this week's Midweek Motivation. My name is Jess, and I have a guest here, Cody Kachakaro. Almost. I almost got the roll.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Very good.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Awesome. Um, Cody is joining us uh as a follow-up. We're this is the podcast that's following up our Easter series. Um, and it was great. And uh uh Little Birdie told me that you might be a great person willing to share your your story and connection to that. So what that's what we're here doing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

I know the birdie you're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

That's awesome. All right. So, but before we jump into that, Cody, do you want to share a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Yeah, sure. Um, just a little overview. Um, I was born, um rare local yokel in Hillsborough, just down the way here. Um grew up in the country, so I kind of got spoiled that way. Um might have made me feel a little entitled because I could just go out whenever, do whatever I wanted. Beautiful, just wonderful. And then um went through Boy Scouts, uh homeschooled, so that explains some things to make. But um, yeah, and then uh just started life. I was right out of high school, started jobs and job after job after job, and yeah, got to where I am. Luckily, until like about I'd say about four years ago when I actually found some help in uh Jesus. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Awesome, very cool. Okay, well, so the the the little birdie told me that you actually started out as a skeptic when it came to to Jesus, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Hugely skeptical, yeah. Just um in a lot of different ways. I mean, one, like you come to a place like uh a church or west side or something like that, and uh you got all these people that are smiling and happy clappy, it just seems weird. Yeah. I'd gone to like church a few times as a kid, like just spending the night at a friend's house and the obligatory go to church. I was like, this just is this is too much. These people are weird. I don't I don't want anything to do with this.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Okay, very cool. Well, so so like the skeptic in you, is that just like a part of so it was the the people interaction that felt weird?

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Yeah, but more so then reaction and just they're listening to this book that's a couple thousand years old. Like, how accurate could that actually be?

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Okay. Yeah. So are you, I don't know, like, are you we talked about doubting Thomas? Like, is that who you can identify with? You're like, I gotta see it.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Absolutely. And after the fact a little bit, um, I learned that skepticism is good if it's healthy skepticism, because if you're a little open on one end, you can actually disseminate facts and knowledge and personal experiences. But like if you're just not open at all with your skepticism, it's not actually skepticism at all. It I can't remember the word for it, but it's just you're not open to it at all. So you won't even um accept any other option. It's just whatever you would think.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Yeah, yeah. Wow, that's insightful for sure. That makes me think. Wow, okay. Well, so um how so how have you processed through uh like that skepticism? Like what, for example, would have been like your the biggest challenge that you feel like you have uh not challenge, but like question that you had, maybe that that you worked through and what did that kind of look like for you?

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Um I guess the biggest question for me wasn't um necessarily if Jesus was a real person, because even then I'd like to do my research and figure things out, but um he I knew he was real, but I I was just always in my head, like, but how could you prove that he was actually, say, the son of God? Yeah. So in my head, there was no real way you could actually prove it.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Okay. Yeah. Very cool. I I love this like specific conversation, you know, just as a whole, because I grew up like from the other side. Like I am someone who just naturally, I don't know why, I just kind of naturally picked it up. Um, and it was like faith was something that kind of that was handed down from generation to generation for me. And when I picked it up, I just believed. And it wasn't until my kids got older and started asking questions that I was like, maybe I do actually need to get answers to these questions. And it opened up a whole can of worms for me. So I get it, like I I get both sides of it. And then you start asking these questions, and you're like, well, wait a minute. That doesn't actually make sense. Like I need to figure out the answers to these questions. Yeah. So how'd you do that?

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Um, well, it was first you kind of sometimes in a lot of cases you gotta hit rock bottom. And so I I was at rock bottom. I was smoking like I was on fire and drinking like I was trying to put it out. Okay, so like I would I just got to the end of everything that I was like, well, this is this is life, I'll just do this until I die. Okay, yeah. And then so, like, even if I didn't believe in God per se, I'm knew there was some sort of higher power.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Because like, how on earth could everything we have going on on this earth just do it itself?

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

So there was some like a curiosity in there, maybe definitely a curiosity, and then there's just a certain series of events that sort of kicked it off, like um, in fact, uh meeting my wife in a winco during COVID. The times when people don't want to talk to each other and everything. Yeah, we got in a conversation for like 30 minutes, and um, when she was walking away, this is still very skeptical me. I'm like, hmm, how can I figure out how to see this woman again? And uh so I actually asked God, like, if you actually exist, if you're real, uh just let me see this woman again.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Oh my gosh. Do you mind sharing how that played out? I'm so curious.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Uh yeah, sure. I mean, like, um, so we we'd talk for like 30 minutes, and then that moment had passed, and we'd actually exchange numbers because um she was trying to she was trying to recruit me into a business, actually.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Okay. And okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

So I was like, okay, this business sounds all right, I'll check it out. And then with the underlying, like, okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

If I guess it's up to you again.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

Yeah, exactly. Are you gonna be there? That's cool. Yeah, so like, and she was in no way interested in me on a conscious level. And I knew that I was very interested in her. Yeah. So um, I just started going to these business meetings and learning all that stuff. Yeah. And um through that, they we had um we had conferences quarterly, and there'd be a non-denominant national church service, and I wasn't really interested in the first several of these. I would go just to go, but I wouldn't really care that much. I'd be there to be a presence, really.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Okay. Yeah. Just to hang out with the people.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Exactly. And then, like, but as time went on, a lot of these people were religious-minded and they were happy and good people, and things were happening for them that they wanted. And I didn't know that it was like partially through their prayer life. Yeah. But um, so during one of those uh non-denominational services, like I just figured, what the heck? Like, I'd already said, okay, I'll I'll believe in you if you let me see this woman. And I'd been digging in my heels for quite a while. So I just finally was like, okay, I'm gonna try this. And I accepted Jesus in during the call to prayer there. And it felt like somebody had placed like a hat or a crown or something on my head. Wow. I was just like suffused with like this warm, I can only really excri describe it as like love. Wow. Yeah. Through like my whole body just spreading down. And that was probably the biggest sign to me.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

Very cool. Okay. So, so it's really cool to to be able to connect that. Um, it wasn't like you had this. Um, I guess I'm just kind of like retelling in my my own. Yeah. So yeah. Uh it like that you had this moment where you, you know, you believed in something, right? Yeah. And then uh it sounds like ran into uh I call it for me, it was like the bottom of the well kind of a situation, you know, rock bottom. Yeah, and then found something that maybe uh demonstrated Jesus in some way relationally. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. So then uh so then you met your now wife because you guys did get married.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

It only took three years.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

And and so what happened with your skepticism through that process?

SPEAKER_02 10:25

Like just more as I learn more facts and talk to people who had actually studied from like a biblical perspective, because me, I'm just like, oh, I'm gonna search this on the internet that so many varied things and a lot of not helpful things, even if it is about your question. Yeah. And people just trolling things like that. So once I started talking to people, like not you per se, but people in your kind of position, and then they'd actually, if they didn't know an answer to any of my questions, they would find out and they'd get back to me. They didn't screen anything, like behind closed doors or anything. It was all honest and truthful. Yeah. So that was heartening to me to keep going down the path. And nobody was ever like, You're asking too many questions, just stop talking.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Yeah, yeah. No, no rejection. Was there like a key question or a key conversation that you can point back to that was like, uh, yeah, that shifted everything for me?

SPEAKER_02 11:32

Um it was more along the lines of when I started to ask, because like I mentioned historically he was alive. Yeah. But once I started to connect those questions with history, because I was always confused with things like the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son and everything. That that was that one specifically, once that was explained to me, like in a like an articulate way that I could understand and I could ask questions like in that line of questioning to clarify. Yeah, that really helped me a lot because that was one of my holdups. Like, it can't be all three people at once.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Sure. Yeah. Okay, that's cool. All right. Well, so um, so you now where like share a little bit about where you are right now in your faith in right now, um and in life, just whatever.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Right now in light through prayer and knowing people that are religious-minded at forward thinking about about I guess souls, but they've gotten me from rock bottom. Um I have a solid job that is providing time so I can pursue my faith, which is amazing. Uh, I'm able to be in multiple groups, men's alliance, from we're doing relational discipleship, which is pretty amazing.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

And um just like being able to advance prayer life, especially has been huge.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

Because I it was hard, I've it's always been hard for me to ask for help, which depending on how you're praying and what you're praying for, is that exact thing is asking for help. And as a especially a man humbling yourself to ask for help is very just like grit your teeth and ask getting through it. But just um advancing into community, like um especially men's alliance, has made me be able to be more vulnerable, uh, especially around men, which I typically didn't vibe with, but that's just because I didn't really hang out with them through life and didn't know how they operated because I was a I was a hermit before when I was hitting rock bottom. Yeah. So uh I would say it's just advanced in exponential ways, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. That's awesome. Okay, well, so I think uh like what I would love to do is just give you a little bit of space. If you could like in the next 30 seconds, think about like uh somebody who is now where you were. Like, what would you say to them to encourage them? Or or is there anything that you would want to like impart based on your personal experiences to to help them to take a next step or to move from from where they are now to maybe where you are?

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Yeah. Oh man. Um, one thing I would definitely try and impart to somebody, I know it is hard. Um even if you think you're broken, you're not too broken to be helped.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

Yeah. That is a huge one. Um, another one is you can pray for things, but uh God will not just give it to you. He will give you the recipe.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Wow, that's a great analogy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

He will give you the ingredients, he will give you everything, but you gotta put it together. You gotta break the eggs, mix the flour, do everything to make the cake.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Wow. Okay, very cool. I love that. So there's a partnership and a like a uh uh responsibility on our part to engage, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:25

Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Yeah, cool. I and I can see that that engagement in your story too, like just how you pursued your questions and yeah, it's even just from the very get-go, like you're like, okay, I need to move forward from this place, so I'm gonna take a step.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Yeah, and not getting complacent, keep asking questions.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

That's amazing. I love it. Because we do sometimes feel like we can't ask those questions.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Yeah, there's no dumb question.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Agreed. I agree, I agree. Do you have like a like any kind of a resource that you would recommend people to connect with?

SPEAKER_02 16:02

Um, not off the top of my head.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Okay, okay, that's all right.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

Yeah, but uh definitely if like going to any church and talking to a pastor and asking questions.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Yeah, that's a great resource right there.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Don't be afraid to. They're happy to answer questions.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Yeah, absolutely. Cool. And then and then like breaking open the Bible for sure and and taking a stab at it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

And then you can, if you're there's something specific, you can use the internet to point you to that. Like just ask what where in the Bible does it mention this.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

I Google that all the time, actually. That's awesome. All right, cool. Well, I really appreciate you taking some time and chatting with us and sharing your personal story. Is there anything else that you would like to share that you feel like we can get to talk about?

SPEAKER_02 16:53

I I don't think so. I mean, I'm just happy that I was asked to do this because then I kind of had to reflect more on my journey too. And then like it opens up new questions for me as well that I can look up or ask you or anybody. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

So cool. Well, it's it's a uh it's a joy to get to know you. Um, and uh you're in HCLI right now with Rachel, your wife, and and it's fun to to walk through that process and serving and all that. So uh thank you again for being willing to share your story. It it's been uh just a pleasure to watch you on your you know faith journey and everything. So much. It's been great being here. Awesome, cool. All right, guys. Well, uh thank you for taking some time to join us in this Midweek Motivation, and we will catch you next time.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Midweek Motivation. To make sure you don't miss any content in the future, please subscribe, share, and if you enjoyed this, give us a like and consider popping by a Westside service some weekend. You can find out more at Westside Community Church.com.