Kristen M. Howard and Rev. Franklin L. Rush: Lessons on Life, Love, and Laughter!

In today's episode, Hyatt has a co-host,  Kristen Howard, an entrepreneur and also his sister. They interview their grandfather, Rev. Franklin L. Rush, on lessons of life, love,  and so much more!

Transcript

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Welcome to the bevy podcast on the bevy podcast, we have fun, thoughtful conversations with friends. Pull a seat up to the table. Come chill with us. What's up? What's up? I'm your host Hyatt Howard. Today I am so happy. I'm so fortunate, so blessed to have none other than my first partner in crime and a, what I might say is a genius at finance all things business. She's also the owner and. Host of the Sassy Current. So go check her out on Instagram and YouTube. Kristen Monet Howard, what up from DC Hey, sorry. I'm so excited. I've been waiting for this moment, so super glad to be here. Well, we have been probably waiting longer than you have been waiting for the moment cuz we've been asking you time and time and again. And so finally she has made time in her schedule. She's just fresh outta Miami. We. See the glow. We see the raise. It's been great to have you on the podcast today. On our words of wisdom. What up, what up, what up? Words of wisdom. Yeah. Yeah. I, you know, yeah. I'm excited. Yeah. The fact you might have a little bit different, but super happy to be here and thank you for having me on. So yes, this is our Words of Wisdom episode, and Kristen is a special co-host and we have a distinguished. Guest joining us today, he is a, country boy from Norwood, North Carolina who made it big and he served more than 50 years in the church, cultivating a beautiful ministry, sharing the life and gospel of Jesus. He also is an avid gardener. He can make a friend like no other person. He has always been my, one of my go-tos for, for wisdom and advice, and I'm sure for Kristen too. He raised a beautiful family in Fuqua Verena. And so without further ado, Mr. Franklin El Rush, my grandfather and Kristen's grandfather. What's up? How are you doing in Garden, North Carolina, all is welding Uganda, North Carolina, and I am so excited. To be on this podcast with you and my granddaughter, Kristen. I've been looking forward to it with great anticipation and all is well here and, you're talking about being driven. What is driven me so much in life was family and the love of God. I always felt that love is the thing that motivates me and keeps me going. I know God loves me and I love him, and I have always tried to love everybody. On my journey. Wow. I. Wow. Can I say, have you been on a podcast before? I mean, see, just comes off. It just rolls off the tongue, right Kristen? Yeah. That was effortlessly, and you guys can't see him, but he has the biggest grand. He is super good looking. So yeah, granddaddy, really nice job there. Oh, okay. So we're gonna have to pick up on that. For the audience listeners, they don't know, but my grandfather, one of his nicknames in our family is good-looking. Chris, have you, can you share, can you share about that? So, yeah, like growing up, everyone says is, man, he's good looking. So yeah, it's, it's a very beloved nickname and very fitting and you know, unfortunately you guys can't see him, but yeah. He's definitely a looker. I have to say one of my favorite things, like just in this line of just stories about granddad and just being very confident was how at your graduation. So my sister graduated from U V A and it was it's just a beautiful campus. It's a beautiful day. I think maybe even Katie Kerick was the keynote speaker that day, and so, You know, as you do at graduations, there are pictures being taken all around and there was a family and they approached my grandfather and said, oh, can you, can you take a picture? And my grandfather just slides right into the picture. He doesn't take the picture. He thinks he wants them to be in the picture. So his, his progress for modeling, he's just like, oh yeah, of course. Why not? You've been very carefree, type of type of guy. That's just how, how you rolled well, you know, I've always been able to get along with people. I've always been able to just somehow, all my 50 years in the ministry, I've had very few conflicts because I love people and people don't care about how much, you know. They won't know how much you care. Mm-hmm. And they feel that, you know, if you really care about them. I love conference a lot of things, and one of my favorite scriptures found in First Director 13th chapter. Though I speak with the tongues of men, of angels, gonna have not love. I become the sounding bras or a tinkling symbol. And do I have the gift of prophecy? And I understand all my and all knowledge. Do I have all faith so I can remove mountains but not have. Love it prophet enough. And the last verse now about this, hope, faith, and love, these three. But the greatest of these is love. Love is what we need. And look around. In this country today. That's one thing we like. We love and caring each other, love. We comfort a lot of things. That's what. You know, that actually reminds me of that Maya Angelou quote where she says, it's something like, you know, I've learned that people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Yes. So I think that's like spot on. And I, I know from firsthand experience, it is not about what you, what you know, because I've been trying to tell Kristen for years, decades, what I know and. I think she definitely appreciates how I make her feel. What would you say that's true, Kristen? Oh, absolutely. And you know, one thing, yeah. Both my you have been an instrumental Hyatt as well, but you know, to what grand my grandfather was saying, which is so true, how, you know, how you make me feel and growing up, you know, growing pains, right? As a, as a teenager and, you know, I can say I'm a little bit, a little bit more rebellious than my fellow cohost here. And one thing I could always count on was my grandfather to have my back. And it, it's such a comforting feeling to feel that you have someone in your corner and championing you and who someone who believed in you and would speak, you know, speak over you and this. So for me, when I think about just my grandfather and like I said, how he feel, how he makes me feel, it's always a warm warm feeling. No place that's safe. So. Hmm. Yeah. And, and I mean, is that type of the things that Kristen's talking about now, where did you pick that up? Was that. I think it came from your own home, right? You growing up with your parents? No question about it. I had loving parents. My dad would give his shoes off his feet and he always said, those who are engaged in something that's going to be exposed to you, that were exposed to the public, we don't want you to go out looking bad. They want you to have whatever is here. If they a fused in the house that you can wear and you wear them and you don't have to look like you don't have anything. And he always, he was there for us. He loved us, and my mother could take a little of nothing and make a great meal. We would always sit down at the table. And I have a prayer before we would eat. My mother would not let us eat on evenings until my daddy came home from work and I could see him right now come across the rock pile. There was a little bucket in his hand that he scared work that I would meet him and sometimes he would have a little something left in that lunchbox, but we always shared and we always let, let the strong bear the infirmities of those, of the wheat. And we were very much close knit family and felt loved. We were loved and that's what propelled us to do. Well, and and, and just for context for the listeners here, there were 13 of y'all, right? 13 of us, 13 kids, and my daddy worked at the Veneering plant. And just made minimum wages. And I can remember him bringing home like$29 a week. And the 13 of us, all of us went to college. 11 of us graduated from college. Many of us have earned master's degrees and above, and we were able to get what, where War cause we stuck together And my daddy and my mother made supreme sacrifices for us to get hit. And he taught us the virtue of working. Make sure you get a job he makes you. And one day. I'd gone to college for one year and I came home and I said, daddy, I decided I don't wanna go back to college no more. He said, well, you are making a mistake, but if you decide you don't wanna go back, you have to get a job. I said, I'm willing to work. He said, okay. I know where a plant is firing somebody that you. Henry, hes carry you to that plant was, it was a West casket, cotton mill digging a foundation. And on the way to Almar, which is just 10 miles from Norwood, he kind of pushed me. He said, now, when you interviewed for this job, make sure you look the man directly in his life. And we ask you a question, you speak out, just don't mum and all this kinda stuff, acting like you don't want the job. I said, okay. So I listened to him very carefully and went interviewed for the job and he said rush, I thought you were in school. I said, I was, but I decided I would quit. He said, you wanna work full time? I said, yes, sir. After he finished, he said, well, I'll give you the job and said, when you can work. I said, anytime you gotta tell me. He said, okay. Come back next Monday. And I start walking off from him. I heard somebody say, rush, come back here. He said, you can work anytime. Start anytime. I said, yes, sir. He said, what about starting the day? Woo. Woohoo. So lemme just stay, take a step back. You were having existential crisis about whether or not you were gonna go to college or not. And you told your pops, yo pops, look, I'm, I don't think college is for me. And he's like, you know what? Let me go over there and take you, do a real job. And then he kind of coach you with that process, which, you know, there's just so much wisdom coming down. I'm telling you sometimes what you think, what you want is not what you want. So you get to the interview, right. I definitely, and then the guy was like, oh, you, you said you could start today. All right. We, we about to see. Right. I, you, you know, what's really stuck out to me with that story is the ability to make choices. Right. And I think, you know, sometimes giving you the space, right, to say, you know what, Hey, you don't think this is for you. Well, you know, now you have to work. Right? But being able to, hey, you know, take, take the chance. Go out there. I don't, I, you know, I, I'm familiar with the story, but I won't give it away. But you know, I, I like that. Right? I think that's something that I appreciated too, growing up, is the ability to make choices, learn from them, right? Mm-hmm. And I think sometimes, you know, hardhead, right? You kinda have to do it yourself. Seeing myself, I know, you know, who are you? That's kind of my, you know, the attitude. So, you know, the fact that your grandfather, or you know, your dad, excuse me, understood that and just said, Hey, we'll try it out. It's, it is telling. So, so how did it go? How did it end up Lee gave me, so go to the tube house there and get you a shovel and a pick, and I started digging foundations that day and I went home, my hands were so heavy. Gloves on next day I got, I got acclimated to it. And I worked about fort months. I was bringing home about 35,$40 a week. And I said, you know, I don't think I can get ahead with this. Mm-hmm. And I, one day we had a big hole in the ground. We done digging and. They had this crane, you had to throw stuff on that crane and lift it up above that ground and rocks falling back in there. I said, Lord, if you let me get out of this pool, listen this day, I shall not come back for a long time. So I went back home. I said, dad, I changed my mind. I want to go to college. Sign you back up. Huh? He said, sir, you wanna go to college? I said, yes, sir. He said, well, I'll help you. Mm. Went back the next day, so my boss and I was going go back to school. He said, I thought you wanted work. I said, I thought too also, but I thought wrong. Huh? Thought wrong. Right. This is a moving thing though. We didn't have any money. Then. He had scrapes up all he could parent me. Took off from work, first of all, and carried me from Northwood to Salisbury to talk with the lady Julia Bell. Dun. I never forget I'd gotten a line and taking You do Living Stone College, right? Living Stone College. Mm-hmm. Got in the line where people were registering and when it got to me, my daddy, That's one thing I do also talk this also keep, excuse me, Mr. Duncan. I don't have all the money. I get my son register. He said, Mr. Rush, Mr. Rush, I'm Reginal talk now who have money and you want your son to come, you have to wait And daddy, she said, yes ma'am. Yes, yes ma'am. He went away from her, so she couldn't hear him. She said, he said, oh, witch. Yes. She wasn't trying to help you out, huh? Yeah, so I finally went back to him and he went back to her brother and daddy told what he's planned to do. He said, Ron, you got a brother here who was working? If you are willing to work, we can give you a job. Working, gave you opportunity, I'm willing. She said, well, you can start washing dishes when you get register. Make it$29 a month. Room and board was$31. Yep. Two,$2 short. But I worked in that job and I worked in. Throughout my college experience, I got promoted from a dishwasher, janitor. That's, you know, I think that's sometimes facing, I think facing adversity in life is, you know, a part, part of the journey. Right. So how would you, kind of, what advice would you say, like, in order to be anyone maybe who's, you know, going through a difficult time or you know, kind, maybe they're like$2 short. Right. In the sense, What would you kind of say? What advice do you have to, you know, anyone out there that might be, you know, going through, like, you know, we always talk about it a difficult time or in this season or even someone on this call? That's a great question. Great question. It's just, it's just a process and you got just hang in there. You got to have tenacity and know that this is not the end. It's just a short period of time you're gonna get through it. If you just have, you know, as I used the word tenacity, hang in there and also don't help get to talk to a source that's greater than yourself. Ask God to help you intervene. Always have faith knowing that things will change in your life. You just hold on and, and you're not gonna get where you wanna go, you where you wanna go right now. You may not get there. Take care of little things and be, be aggressive and thankful and be positively headed too. Yeah, I definitely think that's a key. The mindset and the attitude. I, I 100% agree with that and I think sometimes, You know, as life things can happen, get challenging, and sometimes the mindset, you know, can happen where you might not be as optimistic. But I think that's something that really rings true with you, granddaddy, is that you're an extremely positive, optimistic person. Like I was saying earlier, I always kind of spoke over me so. Really, really great advice and, and you could see the proof is in the pudding because I'm not gonna share your age, but you are more than a, a few decades in, into this game. And the fact that you can still eat what you wanna walk, eat, that you exercise, you get out here on your own, you can even still drive your little car around. People call you good looking. People call you maybe a couple decades. You looking like you in your sixties, maybe late fifties. I mean, that's. That's good. That's, that's good. And so you are here at Living Stone University after having your brief hiatus and you left North Carolina a and t, but we know that, you know, sometimes there's a gift right behind the adversity. So what I wanna know is what that love life was looking like, oh my goodness. I have to go outside and tell you that one. While I was there at Livingstone College, I had an older brother Roberts worked, my older brother there. And he was appointed with couple nice young ladies, and one was young ladies by the name of vitamin. Rush. I understand you have a brother here at college. I walked to meet him and he made that arrangement. We met on the Maples and Oaks, the trees college and we started chatting. He said, your brother Robert seems to be a nice fell and I believe also you are nice. So we talk and as a matter of fact, Dated for four years at Limestone College and she graduated a year before I I went to Atlantic City where I worked as a cook, and while there I bought an engagement. Oh. If you like it, she'll put a ring. And I had proposed to her and gave it ring. That was before I graduated. So she said, now you engaged. I'm engaged, we're engaged, and you're not to see anybody else. Hang up the jersey. Time to retire, man. My man. My man. Oh my gosh. And so that's, that's our grandma. We love you. Yes. Okay. Sorry. Your story under the oak and maple trees. That's what I'm talking about. If you like it, put a ring on it. Cor, correct. Toby men out here. Please put, put a ring on your finger and Okay. Let get rid of this. This new age stuff. Yes. Oh my gosh. That's great. That's great advice. So to all our romantics out there, people looking, you know, sometimes you gotta gotta come commitment. Exactly. So I know you ended up studying science right in college, but you ended up having this really long career ministry. How did that come about? Well, That's an interesting story. I teaching was great, but I didn't feel that I was equipped to teach the kids what they needed to know in the class. But more importantly, God had a call and I, I was called to be a preacher. I tried each, and I tried all these other things, but song we sing sometimes my soul. Would not rest contented. I just had to do something else. So I went back after I discussed this with Betty and she told me she would support me fully if I wanted to go back to the seminary. I wanna go to the seminary rather. And I did. I went to Hood Theologic seminar in Salisbury, owned for a year, and I had several good churches. But I decided I needed to get the master degree and I went to Shaw Advent School, and that's where I got my master's degree in theology. Mm-hmm. And first church pastoral church in town, not from Littleton, north Littleton, North Carolina. I had about 25 or 30 mil. As a matter of fact, I had three churches at one time. Hmm. And make a long story short from those three churches, I been one of the largest churches in the Central North Carolina conference, and I became a presiding elder, retired from ministry after 53 years. Mm, mm mm As reside melter. And you know, one thing that I've always appreciated, you know, speaking about kind of your ministry, at least when we've been able to talk about theological questions, is that you always had a very open, open mind, and we could have robust, very thorny discussions about theology. And you were just always just very, very open in your disposition. And I, I very much appreciated that. Thank you. Yeah, well, go ahead, Kristen. Oh, no, I was, I was saying that I definitely agree. I think that's kind of like, overall, I gonna say your disposition is that you have a very open mind and willing to talk things out and communicate. And so I, I completely agree. Yeah, I mean the, I was just listening to this, you know, thinking about theology. I was just listening to these physicists. There was a physicist at University of. Brown University up in province, Rhode Island, and he was discussing this concept of infinity have to embrace infinity, like a, as a concept. You know, just like the idea that it exists, like I just choose to embrace it, that there could be something in our universe, our physical universe that is infinitely dense, such as a black hole, and. Just made me think about just discussions we have had granddad about theology and how to just think about an infinite God, an infinite, and his infinite love for someone who is, you know, a finite being and just kind of wrapping your head around that. It's totally wild. Yeah. Well, You can't see touch, feel like we do human being what you have in a field and that drives you. You know that something Jer, there's something that's real that you can't touch, but you know there. Yeah, sometimes I hear the, you know, when they say, they say about the wind, I dunno if you guys have heard that before, right? Mm-hmm. Where it's like people explaining like some things you can't necessarily see, but you can feel, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So it's very similar and that infinity. This all makes me think about one of the nuggets of wisdom that granddad shared very long ago with me about how he sees wealth and he always called himself a wealthy man by virtue of his friendships and relationships he had had in his life. And so I think that is just a beautiful way in the, I agree, materialistic world. To, to see sea wealth, and I'm curious how you developed that, that paradigm. Granddad, through experience things I have, I talk about this old man who had gone and started preaching about certain things and great Theo, and listening to him and said you don't know what you're talking about. I said, said, how do you know? But you, God is real. He was eating an apple. He said, sir, is this apple wheat or is this sour? He said, I don't, I don't know, but he was very, Eloquent in his speech and very knowledgeable and all this kind of stuff. He said I haven't tasted, how can I tell you, quite sweet or sour? He said, sir, you haven't tasted my God either. If you taste him, you know he's sweet. I know. You know? Mm-hmm. So you have to have an experience with him and you can't figure God out. Yeah. You can't. If you feel, figure him out, he wouldn't be God. Right. No, I agree. Question. Can't reach him. Can't. So, Lord, you can't get on. He's real. And you have to feel, you have to touch, feel it. Ok. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, I mean, oh, Kirsten, you, you were saying you. Oh yeah, I was just saying, yeah, the experience part, I think right to Ena, when you were saying how, like where kind of you learned this paradigm is through experiences, because even though like, you know, going to work kind of getting this cycle right, you know, like, oh, wealthy in terms of you're, I don't know, your 401k, your stocks or your portfolio. Like what are things that people discussing, right? Because most people are like, oh, what do you do? You know, those type of questions. And I think. To your point, granddaddy, it's like, when you saying wealthy in terms of like the relationship again, tell how we talked about in the beginning about how you make people feel. Right. And I think that is just really speaks to, and I think experiences in seeing that, you know, people can have technically have it all, whatever that may be, but what really counts as like, you know, how how people make you feel and how you treat people in the relationships that you have, that's what really matters at the end of the day. Mm-hmm. You said it better. Go ahead. No, just speaking of, of relationships, we know you are very close with your, your siblings and you guys have a lot, a lot of fun. Usually his boisterous laughter, there's some card game going on. There's food being made. Yeah. You missed the cruise Hyatt. That one year. That was, that was, that was cruise. The cruise that we'll live on. Yes. Tell us, oh my gosh. Listen, this goes down in the history. So we all, so like my, like my brother was saying, we all got caught a bus. From North Carolina down to Florida. So they're huge family. I mean, you have cousins and they're on the bus singing. Okay. They got a full court like choir in there. Everyone's laughing and it's full laughter. We get on the, you know, My great-uncle gives me my first Long Island. I wasn't even 21 yet. So he like, yeah, they like to have a good time. So, yeah. And they were dancing. You see him out there by the pool, just shaking it down. They're like, whoa, you. So you were looking for a good. The rushes are where it's at. Oh man. Speaking of a good time, I would just wanna say this has been. A excellent time here on the podcast today. I was so fortunate to have our co-host Kristen Power. Woo. Thank you for having me. This has been great, a great conversation, and I love what you're doing here, Hyatt. Super proud of you. I love you, and he's so plugged, most selfless person that I know, and I'm so proud to call him my brother. He's amazing. So share this podcast. Yeah. Yeah. Words of wisdom. There you go. There you go. You heard it? Yeah. Check out the Sussy current. You know what it is? granddad. We gotta thank you so much for coming on and dropping these pearls of wisdom on us. We really, we really appreciate it and we'll have to have you again soon. Okay. Thank you.