Ever find yourself wondering if there's more to life than what's on the surface? Tory Shumpert, a masterful storyteller and seasoned marketing instructor, joins us to shake things up. With his heart on his sleeve and a knack for humor, Tory unveils the transformative insights from his book "Power 52," guiding us through the art of purpose-finding and the joy of breaking free from life's standstills. Through the lens of his own experiences, Tory, a beacon for underserved businesses, emphasizes the profound impact of mentorship and the pivotal role of authentic living, despite the world's expectations.
Bound by our human quest for courage and resilience, this episode stirs the soul as we tackle the paradox of a world obsessed with instant gratification. Tory and I unearth the lost virtues of patience and persistence, reflecting on the tales of biblical figures and the lessons they offer in today's digital age. As we converse, the theme of legacy emerges, prompting a deep dive into the courage it takes to step out of comfort zones and the remarkable life that awaits those who dare to reach for the extraordinary.
Closing with a powerful homage to faith and community, we trace the ripple effects of our actions and the legacy we're destined to leave. Tory’s compelling narratives and our shared insights serve as a call to action— to harness our inherent powers for uplifting others, to live a life that sparks meaningful dialogues, and to embrace each day as a chance to lay the groundwork for a legacy that echoes through time. Join us for a celebration of wisdom, a reflection on identity, and an act of collective worship that uplifts the spirit and pays tribute to the divine connections that bind us all.
Ever find yourself wondering if there's more to life than what's on the surface? Tory Shumpert, a masterful storyteller and seasoned marketing instructor, joins us to shake things up. With his heart on his sleeve and a knack for humor, Tory unveils the transformative insights from his book "Power 52," guiding us through the art of purpose-finding and the joy of breaking free from life's standstills. Through the lens of his own experiences, Tory, a beacon for underserved businesses, emphasizes the profound impact of mentorship and the pivotal role of authentic living, despite the world's expectations.
Bound by our human quest for courage and resilience, this episode stirs the soul as we tackle the paradox of a world obsessed with instant gratification. Tory and I unearth the lost virtues of patience and persistence, reflecting on the tales of biblical figures and the lessons they offer in today's digital age. As we converse, the theme of legacy emerges, prompting a deep dive into the courage it takes to step out of comfort zones and the remarkable life that awaits those who dare to reach for the extraordinary.
Closing with a powerful homage to faith and community, we trace the ripple effects of our actions and the legacy we're destined to leave. Tory’s compelling narratives and our shared insights serve as a call to action— to harness our inherent powers for uplifting others, to live a life that sparks meaningful dialogues, and to embrace each day as a chance to lay the groundwork for a legacy that echoes through time. Join us for a celebration of wisdom, a reflection on identity, and an act of collective worship that uplifts the spirit and pays tribute to the divine connections that bind us all.
Good evening everyone, and welcome to Gentry's Journey. Our honored guest is Tori Schubert and she is going to grace our stage. We're going to go ahead and start with an inspirational saying Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn, and that's a quote by Benjamin Franklin. And I learn. And that's a quote by Benjamin Franklin. So Troy has a new book out, but I'm going to let him introduce himself and tell you about himself. Then we'll get into some of the things that he does, because he is truly multifaceted. He's a motivational speaker and I'm going to let him have the floor.
Speaker 2:Troy you ready? Yes, ma'am, thank you so much for allowing me to be here. Thank you to anyone who hears this uh, we are so blessed to be on this side of heaven today amen it's just a joy to be with you, ms Carolyn.
Speaker 2:Just thank you for the opportunity to speak to someone, because if we can influence in a godly way just one, Just one, all right. Everything that we do, everything in our purpose is for God's glory. No, I'm not a theologian. No, I'm not a trained pastor. No, no, I did study Bible in college. That was 30 years ago. I'm showing the page and if you could see the camera, you could see my gray. But it's just through grace that it comes back around that our purpose is for God's glory. And so I wrote a book called Power 52, 52 weeks of learning, 52 weeks of, hopefully, laughter I fancy myself a comedian in another life and 52 weeks of growing in God's grace. And it's all written on about an eighth grade level, because that's about how smart I am. You remember the?
Speaker 3:show.
Speaker 2:Are you Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? I didn't get most of those correct, so I guess I'm not. I'm growing in God's grace, and so I wanted to share my journey and my struggle with somebody else, because I felt like it was relevant to someone. Somebody's in the mud with me that just didn't get it. Somebody's in the mud with me that fell off. Somebody's in the mud with me that still wants to make it to heaven like I do. Somebody's in the mud with me that still wants to make it to heaven like I do. Somebody's in the mud with me that was taught a different way and it just didn't sink in. So I'm hoping to save one, even if the one is me.
Speaker 1:Amen, amen. Now I can see where you are a motivational speaker, because you motivate me already. Ok.
Speaker 2:Yes, ma'am, I do my darndest to say something on a daily basis that's complimentary, that is thought provoking and that helps somebody get out of first gear. I don't know about you, but see, I was taught to to drive on a car that that we had to manually shift the gears and when you were in neutral you're going nowhere. And when you were in first, the car made a lot of noise but wasn't going very fast. A lot of us are making a lot of noise and not going very fast. We're stuck in first gear, so I'm trying to help someone get unstuck. As a matter of fact, that's what I almost called the book Get Unstuck, but God showed me that I had to get unstuck myself. This is a journey of he who teaches learns twice.
Speaker 2:That's great, that's great, yes, so I was getting unstuck myself, so I'm putting pen to paper to help somebody get out of first gear or get out of neutral.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's great. I've often told because I'm an adjunct instructor at one of the local junior colleges and I've taught off and on for a number of years, and one of the nurses she was new she was like well, how do you teach? I said, the more you teach, the more you learn.
Speaker 3:You have it in you.
Speaker 1:You have it in you to do. You know, I know everybody has a case of the nerves at first. Whether you're getting a new class, whether you're in a new facility, whether you're at another company, you're going to have a case of the nerves. I said. But the more you teach, the more you learn. And it stuck with her because I heard her repeat it, you know, several months later. So I see you're a marketing instructor. How long have you been doing that?
Speaker 2:Unsuccessfully for over 20 years. I'm also an adjunct for the University of Alabama 20 years I'm also an adjunct for the University of Alabama. I've been teaching organizational behavior and I also teach via the DBE Disadvantaged Business Enterprise System. We were having, prior to COVID, classes at the Birmingham Airport. There are some great conference rooms there and the Department of Transportation thought that it would be a great idea to help underserved businesses mostly Black and brown people and women of all races that qualified as minorities teaching them how to do business better, teaching them how to set your business up appropriately.
Speaker 2:So I got called, say, okay, we got everything set up, but now how do we sell? How do we let people know where we are? Because me just posting on Facebook I ain't getting it. So they brought me in to teach people how to be visible, how to be viable and how to be vibrant. So that's what I was trying to do is show people that, now that you've got this great idea, this great service, this great product, this is how you get in front of people who want to buy that service, product or idea. So I've been instructing on marketing since about 2016, 15, 16. 2016, 15, 16. I have been a salesman myself for over 30 years I have been an adjunct for just a year and a half.
Speaker 1:Okay, yes, ma'am, that's great, that is wonderful Now. Social media manager.
Speaker 2:Yes, ma'am, showing people how to use different platforms on social media to get whatever it is that you want, whatever your idea, service or product across to different audiences. Okay, yes, ma'am. So we go hard on Facebook, instagram, and the new thing is how do you get your product, service or idea onto TikTok? Tiktok is vastly becoming the premium frontier to sell a product or idea.
Speaker 1:I agree with you. I really don't know much about TikTok. I do have a TikTok account. I go and get my comedy on off TikTok. Yes, that's how you get your what I call my bathroom laugh.
Speaker 2:When I'm sitting and brushing my teeth, my phone is down below me on the counter and I'm looking at somebody. Be totally hilarious, yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, it's my daily dose of comedy. I do like posting on Facebook. Facebook is slowing down because of what's called the algorithm. The algorithm is the formula that they use when you post something, who sees it, when they see it and how many people see it. Long ago it used to be most of your friends would see what you posted. Now, to make money, that number has shrunk significantly because a lot of us have three, four or five thousand friends. So, to make money, if you have a product, service or idea to sell, now about 40 people see it. When you post it, unless it's shared, reposted or commented on heavily, about 40 people see it until it gains momentum, about 40 people see it until it gains momentum, and so they make money by having you boost or buy ads to get that same information out to a larger audience. So now, even though you're my friend, you may not see what I post. It goes to who I normally talk to, who I talk to last and who may be looking for that particular thing. Okay, yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1:Hmm, okay. Um, now, when you talk about the university of Alabama, are you talking about the Tuscaloosa campus or here in Birmingham? Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 2:Yes, ma'am, roll tide. I have worked for the university since 2004 in several different roles and I'm still with them and, uh, I taught right on the main campus. Yes, ma'am, that is great. Yes, ma'am yes, yes, roll tide that's so synonymous is is like when people say, instead of saying, can I have a cold drink, they say you got a coke. They don't necessarily mean the brand Coke, but it's a Coke. No, they don't.
Speaker 1:I had to explain that to somebody one day.
Speaker 2:So Roll Tide has become a greeting, it's become a war cry, it's become a. I agree with you. It's become so many things I love it.
Speaker 1:It is comical because I have, you know, been traveling, you know, be it on a cruise out of the country or another state, and my grandson is a huge Alabama fan. My youngest brother is a huge Alabama fan.
Speaker 3:But people will see him because he's going to wear something.
Speaker 1:Alabama at some point in time. I am too. I don't blame him, I am too. And so he was so enthralled by the scenery where we were one day and someone was saying Roll Tide, and I caught the Tide part.
Speaker 3:And.
Speaker 1:I looked around and I realized he had on um a roll tide shirt and so and that's really what he had on and I went oh so, you from Alabama, she said a great state you got that right.
Speaker 2:You got that right. I have been in the airport and going up the escalator, people coming down high-fiving me saying roll tide.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Now, coming from a state that has had a checkered past, where it comes with people mixing People didn't look like me, yes, but the common thread was that roll tide T-shirt, that Alabama T-shirt. Yeah, was that Roll Tide t-shirt, that Alabama t-shirt? People will drop their preferences and say, okay, that's my brother, at least on Saturdays, at least during the game.
Speaker 1:I can agree with you Roll Tide.
Speaker 3:Roll Tide, roll Tide yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, my husband is the other person's fan and that's fine, because that's who I usually pull for. And someone was like I can't believe you do that. I said, well, somebody's got to pull for him. You know, they're the underdog. Underdog where I said please don't get me started, I'm really not even a fan. I said but somebody's got to go for him, Somebody's got to go for him.
Speaker 2:You sticking with your husband, and I respect that. I that I will not crack any jokes about the other school. No, you can do it.
Speaker 3:I got plenty tough skin because I have no skin in the game, I just like to see a good game.
Speaker 1:If I'm going to watch, I want to see a good game. I want everybody playing. I want them playing at their best, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:That's what makes the rivalry great. It does. The book Power 52, talks about courage, and it talks about if you knew that you were always going to win, it would not take courage. It would not. That would just be an assurance. Hey, every time we go over here, we come out victorious. God wants to test our courage. How will I show up? What will I do when it looks like things are stacked against me? They may be bigger, smarter, faster. What did David do against Goliath? But for all intents and purposes he should have lost. Intense and purposes he should have lost. He was a small shepherd boy. The Bible says that he had defeated other animals, but he had never taken on a giant. Courage is when it doesn't feel good. Courage is when it doesn't look good. Courage is when it looks like I should, could, maybe, will lose, but I'm going anyway.
Speaker 1:I'm going and bringing my best, and my best is going to have to be enough.
Speaker 2:That's courage. It is courage. That's what makes the victory so good is because nobody is guaranteed to win every time. No, the book talks about that how to be strong, how to be courageous. The Bible calls for us to be courageous.
Speaker 1:And it does, because we have to have faith to know that it's going to work out. We don't know how, we don't know when, but it's going to work out. Going to work out. We don't know how, we don't know when, but it's going to work out. Because when David pulled off that arm and now this is in my way, basically you know this is in my way.
Speaker 2:Thank you, but this isn't for me. And therein lies another message. Sometimes you have to be willing to speak up and say thanks, but no thanks.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, I appreciate you, but I have to do this differently. I really appreciate your support, but I've got to do this God's way. I've got to do this differently. True, and that's hard A lot of times, we don't want to step on toes, we don't want to step on toes and we don't, we don't want to offend anybody, and that's what our society has become. Oh, you can't say that. Oh, you shouldn't say that. Well, they want to be addressed in this way. Only Don't offend anybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, but yeah, and I get it and I respect what you're saying, because I know what you're saying is true. But in reality you can't have I'm not a prankster, I don't, I really don't do pranks but you can't even have a conversation and it jumps off to something else and you're like wait, wait, no, that's not what, that was not my intent, that's not what I meant, like wait, wait.
Speaker 2:no, that, that's not what that was not my intent, that's not.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't even go in there. You know how did we get here. You know how did we get here, you know. So, um, so, yes, everybody is offended, everybody, um, you know, and we all have always had rights, come on, the right to leave me alone, the right to go the way that you want to go. We've always had rights, but it's so strenuous. Now we're already limited in communication because of social media, correct? And now we're afraid to communicate with people verbally because you don't know what to say, when to say it and how to say it where they are not offended.
Speaker 1:So we're just kind of locking horns on a lot of things. So that means we're not getting anywhere fast.
Speaker 2:Look, there were chapters that I left out of the book because I didn't want to offend anybody.
Speaker 1:I hear you, I hear you. Now is this your first book.
Speaker 2:Yes, but since then then I've co-authored two additional um great great because, and because they're in the name of of other authors of uh, ghostwriting, uh, yeah, I haven't been able to take credit for them. But, uh, two, two additional books, uh, co coauthored, and, and one workshop that comes with a workbook. It's a three day workshop that, uh, some professors are looking at to uh to sell to other systems. Okay, I've stayed busy. I think I got bit by the writing bug. It is a little addictive, but if I've got to be addicted to something, wouldn't it be great to be addicted to academia, to be addicted to helping somebody, to be addicted to bringing knowledge to people that were in whatever their darkness is? So I'll take this addiction. So I'll take this addiction.
Speaker 1:I agree with you, If you can, what my aunt used to always say if I can just help somebody, then my living would not be in vain.
Speaker 2:And I think that's a portion of a song right it is, and she used to say it all the time. It's in the old Baptist church.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, so yeah we're not talking over the last 10 years, you know.
Speaker 2:No, no, ma'am, no, no. That was back when you had an A and B selection and one always came out, that little red or green book.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes, he's talking about hymnal back in hymnal days. Yes, ma'am, but she lived that, she honestly lived that. I see her face and I miss her. So, but if I could just help somebody, then my living would not be in vain.
Speaker 1:Because, most people don't live by that principle anymore. They don't, they don't, they really don't. And if you live by that principle, the recipient sometimes thinks well, they're just where, they're just nuts, you know, or. Or they're you know, or I can use them a little bit more. Now it has turned from help to use you know. So you're like are you kidding me?
Speaker 2:So I think the world has gotten so dangerous now that when you try to help someone and be genuine, people are afraid, like, oh no, they're just trying to get in my personal space, they're trying to get too close, so it's scary to accept help. Now, what's the string? Why are you really doing this? What are you really after? What's the catch? So, yeah, yeah, uh, those principles of helping, of giving, of, uh not having to get credit for something, they're gone.
Speaker 2:My grandfather, after we we were basically farmers and after we had uh, canned and pickled and put up what we needed to get through the next year, my grandfather would let the church people the church was at the end of the street, so you had to pass his garden going down to the church and coming back because it was a dead end. So he would let the people in the church know that if you wanted peas, greens, cabbage, corn, take what you want, want, but eat what you take. Sure, sure, take what you want, but eat what you take. And I I would say to him I said, pops, why don't you just sell it? He said, the more I give, the more god gives to me. And so he.
Speaker 2:He knew the principle of multiplication the two, two fish and five loaves. He really believed that if he gave it in God's, in God's good graces, if he gave it in Jesus name, that it would come back to him. Can I tell you that nobody in our family ever missed a meal. I believe that and that that he fed all of us. We all lived in close proximity you know how people in the country do and most of his children lived on his property. He gave each of them a house, he gave them food, he gave them whatever they needed. My grandmother and my mother were seamstresses, so they made the clothes. We didn't look shabby, we looked well kept, we looked well fed and we always had what we needed. Because our grandfather believed in tithing and he believed in giving to God's people. He said that we should clothe Jesus' sheep, we should be in the business of giving and he'll give to us. And so he taught us that principle, and so we are still very much givers, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's a necessary principle that you sow, you don't harvest. If you don't plant, you don't put seeds in the ground, you don't collect. So the general principle is if I plant some kernels of corn. It comes back as stalks and ears. There are more kernels on one ear than I planted in the whole row. Then I planted in the whole row. God shows us through nature that he will multiply what we plant in good ground. So as a farm boy that that means that's very practical to me. I put into, I may get back 200. Sure, yes.
Speaker 1:God's multiplication system.
Speaker 3:And that is true.
Speaker 1:You know, truly, the more you give, the more he'll give to you. That that's a song as well. You know, we can't beat God's giving. You can't, you can't beat it, you can't beat it, and that's something we need to recognize. I think we've kind of gotten off that we are on a slippery slope of forgetting as I've heard people say the old landmarks of things. It's not all about me myself and I. It should be about us. It should be about us.
Speaker 2:We don't have a great sense of community anymore. Most people never even meet their neighbors anymore. People will tell me I think they live in my neighborhood, I think I've seen that car. When you were growing up you probably knew 90% of your entire neighborhood. You did, you did. People don't. Now you know the person directly to your left, maybe the person directly to your right, and one of those two may not even speak but you may know who they are. But yeah, we are not neighborly. But the Bible says to have friends one must show yourself friendly.
Speaker 2:You have to, so we don't know how must show yourself friendly, you have to, so we don't know how to show ourselves friendly anymore. So the book type of those things, just general principles. Basically, to break it down, what I did was I took a lot of the big stories that we grow up knowing.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I didn't do Jonah and the whale, but for the sake of the conversation, I took parables and lessons and stories that we all knew and I gave them additional principles. I didn't change a word of the Bible but I said have you ever considered this? Have you ever considered this? Have you ever considered that the message here may be this? So the Bible gives us a lot of principles and I think, just based on who you were taught by, what your denomination may have been, what the prevailing thought leadership was at that time denomination may have been what the prevailing thought leadership was at that time it has kind of honed how you see the Bible, how you see each parable, how you see a David and Bathsheba, how you maybe think of David, how you maybe think of Solomon.
Speaker 2:So you know, I tried to inject a little humor. I tried to, but I tried to give people a different perspective, to see that there's still hope, that the principles of the Bible are still alive and well, that, if you do these things, that God's law is not temporary, the resurrection was not temporary, god's love for us is not temporary. From the beginning to the end of time. These principles still work. We just get so technological that we don't think we need God anymore. We think we've got a fix for everything. Well, you don't need the healing you go to the doctor. But the Bible shows us that even healing has a process.
Speaker 1:It does.
Speaker 2:Whether Naaman he told to go and wash seven times, why seven, why seven? Why couldn't?
Speaker 1:he just say you're healed. And Naaman wasn't going to go. No, his servant said well, if he had to ask you to do something great, you would have done it. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:We get hardheaded. Jonah, even after being spit out by the whale, wanted to be hardheaded, had to have a heat stroke to get up and go. God shows us. Hey, tori, hey, carolyn, I got this for you. I want you to go. Do this. Man. Can I finish what I'm watching first? Can I do it tomorrow?
Speaker 2:We always want to bargain with a blessing. We want a blessing now, but we want to bargain with the work. So many of us. When you wash clothes and drown, do you put it up right away. When you come home from vacation, do you take everything out of your luggage and wash it, put it up right away? Most of us procrastinate because we think we're out of gas. I'm so tired.
Speaker 2:I had so much fun on that vacation. I was so blessed to see another part of God's creation. I was so blessed to be away from my daily work to see my kids splash in the ocean. I'm too tired to do this rudimentary thing and put my clothes up. So one time I let a suitcase sit so long it was time to unpack it and go on the next trip. I know so that's how we treat our blessings. We wanted to be there already when we get ready for the next thing. But we don't want to do the work. I don't want to put up the, the, the, the soil clothes, I don't want to go through and shake the sand out from the beach. I don't want to do the work to get ready for God's next blessing, I just want it to be there. I ain't going to turn a lot. Sometimes Amazon delivers something. I let it sit on the porch a day or something. We don't, we, we don't even want to go get what we've been blessed to purchase.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I have said that as well. I said, you know, things are so convenient now we've kind of lost our minds.
Speaker 2:And anything that we think inconveniences us becomes a problem.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we used to want a slow roasted meal like grandma made in the crackpot. Yeah, we used to want a slow roasted meal like grandmama made in the crackpot, and that meal was on low and slow for eight hours. Now you order some food and let them tell you it's going to be eight hours. You look at your mind yeah, yeah, we want. We live in a microwave society.
Speaker 1:now I want my money?
Speaker 2:I don't. I want to work about like a microwave. I want to give you two minutes of work, but I want it to be flavorful. I want it to be perfect. I want to work about like a microwave. I want to give you two minutes of work, but I want it to be flavorful. I want it to be perfect. I want it to be hot and fresh, but I don't want to do anything for it. See, we don't want to sow the seeds of patience. We don't want to sow the seed of grace. We don't want to sow any kind of work, any kind of effort, because that inconveniences our flesh. For what we really want to be doing, and what most of us want to be doing, is nothing I want to lay down. I want to scroll on my phone. That's about it, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've taken the work out of work. The work out of work, you know. No more walking, no more real exercising. Really, we didn't even consider exercising running up and down the street or playing on the driveway, playing some four square, you know, I just don't see kids doing that. If they're not on the field or on the court they're not really playing.
Speaker 2:And you know why. That is Because our parents today want our children to be seen being active.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Well, when we were young, we just played for the sake of playing.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:For the sake of playing against my neighbor, for the sake of who won the softball game. Last week we got to play again. Who won basketball? Who caught the biggest fish? Who could run the fastest? Who was the fastest on their bicycle? That sense of community, that that built, is gone. We live in a large community and until you go out in the morning and see the buses picking children up, you wouldn't even know how many children are in our neighborhood, because children don't play outside.
Speaker 1:And that is so true. That is so true. I saw some kids standing on the corner one day. One morning I was like, oh, they're getting ready for school, because I was like I wonder why they're standing out there. And it hit me oh, they're getting ready to catch the bus. I was like, am I that far removed Because I don't see kids in the neighborhood. But at the same time it's very hilly where I am, you know. So they can't really be as free as we used to be because no one pays attention to the stop sign. That bothers me. Just different little things like that.
Speaker 1:Everybody's in a hurry, everybody's, in a hurry, everybody's in a hurry to get nowhere.
Speaker 2:But in a general sense, even if you lived in the Delta and perfectly flat land, people do not play outside anymore because it requires effort. I was at a business meeting and I was being nosy. I looked over to my right and noticed that there was a young couple on a date. I was on a lunch meeting and the gentleman I was meeting with had gone to the restroom and so I just kind of ear hustled at her, as I call it. They were on a date. This was their. I think he said you know so good to see you again. So this was maybe their second or third date, but the entire time they were on their phones, not communicating. They took pictures of their food and posted it, and they were calling other people. Yeah, I'm out with such and such.
Speaker 2:So you're talking about your situation with other people, but not talking to the person sitting across from you, but not talking to the person sitting across from you. That's how we have become with God. We have forgotten that we don't need an intercessor to talk to God. We're not talking to God, but we will get on Facebook all day and talk about God. Oh, ain't God good? How do you know?
Speaker 1:When's the last time you talked to him? It's weird, no-transcript. That's not the quality. That is not the quality.
Speaker 2:I want the approval of everyone else and I want them to know that I was on an event.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:We're outside, we're doing something. I'm doing something that you may not be doing right now, but I lose the blessing and the quality in the moment. I'm doing something that you may not be doing right now, but I lose the blessing and the quality in the moment.
Speaker 1:I lose all of that, that is so true, and you can't get it back Once it's gone you can't get it back.
Speaker 2:No, the one thing that we're running out of is time. You can make more money. You can break something and may have a warranty on it, get a replacement, you can go to that place again, but you can never get more time.
Speaker 1:That's true, you can't get it back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's gone and so we waste it. We waste it. So again, I'll go back to the book. It talks about 14. One of the weeks is called 1440. That's how many minutes we get in a 24 hour day 1440 minutes.
Speaker 2:How do we use that to bless our lives, to bless the lives of others, to to have some enjoyment, to breathe in a moment. How do you, how do you take one of those moments and just thank God for it and just breathe it in? And how do you not self-destruct? If somebody cuts you off in traffic, it may have slowed you down for 10 seconds a minute. Why are we mad the rest of the day and give away 1400 more minutes because of something that took one minute? Because we hate to be inconvenienced, we hate to have been knocked off of what we thought was our path for the day. I was having a good day until until what? Until somebody cut me off. So you're going to let a stranger who made a move in traffic take the blessing of your 1440 away.
Speaker 2:No, you gave it away. You gave it away with your anger. You gave it away with your response to a situation you didn't control that he cut you off, but you controlled how you reacted to it. So we have to apply that to our lives, because we're either coming out of a storm or going into a storm at all times. So every time something happens, do you throw your joy away? How does God feel when Carolyn throws her joy away Because maybe the bread didn't come out right out of the toaster, or your husband said one thing that you didn't find too funny at that moment? Do you carry anger and wrath and all of these things to the bedroom and do you do you miss a spiritual moment with your significant other Because I think that joke joke was funny? So you know, we give away a lot of it and it's time that we can't get back. But we give a lot of it away because we don't like the way something happens.
Speaker 1:That's why. So I mean, that's true, that's very true.
Speaker 2:So my time is too valuable to give it away because I didn't like one solitary moment. Yeah, let me be transparent. That's something I'm still praying on and working on, because I used to be able to hold a grudge like no other. It's gotten better, but I used to give away so many days because somebody said something made me mad on Monday. I'm still mad on Thursday Now. How crazy is that?
Speaker 1:It is what it is Now how crazy is that.
Speaker 2:It is what it is.
Speaker 1:It is what it is. Yeah, yeah, but you know I get what you're saying. My dad used to tell me you can only be but so stubborn, because you know I would just shut it down. You know I'm not. You know well, not that you went back and forth with your parents back in the day, but I just would oh you ain't hungry no more.
Speaker 2:You ain't smiling no more.
Speaker 1:I don't have to watch TV. Yeah, I don't have to do none of that with y'all, yeah.
Speaker 2:So you will go into isolation, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, from healing, from, from, from a prick, yeah, and that yeah, and and that's, and that's what it was. But think about if jesus was like oh man, it's this crown of thorns. I think I've had enough, I'm out, I'm out. Y'all deal with it yourself. You know, I'm out, I'm out. I cried, I carried that cross being uh, the cross over here. Uh, scratch my shoulder, I, I'm out, you can handle this yourself. So we have to look at Jesus' example and say it's worth it. It's worth it to forgive, it's worth it to be forgiven, it's worth it to enjoy the rest of today, tomorrow, if I'm obliged to see it. Why carry around you carry around hate, hoping the other person feel it. That's like me drinking poison hoping you die. Yeah, I'm going to drink this and she going to be finished, it doesn't work like that.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, by me working as a, hey, I had my career as a nurse, so I've worked with, as you say, multifaceted, I work in multifaceted positions. And one guy came down, he worked at the hospital, he was a nurse himself, so was his wife, and so he came to our unit, which was the coronary care unit, and he said I said, well, so you had chest pain, the reason you got admitted. Yeah, and I know they feel sorry for me, I know they feel sorry now that they upset me. I said, excuse me, what did you say? Well, you know, or they were, uh, they were going to give me the next patient and I really wasn't up for the next patient, and I bet they feel sorry that that happened. I said, sir, uh, please rethink this situation. You're down here, you know, with a possible heart attack and you're worried about something that went on upstairs and you think they're going to feel sorry because that happened. Sir, work on your healing, work on your healing.
Speaker 1:Well, his wife comes down from another unit and they are like two peas in a pod. She, she, went in and turned and you know he had calmed down at my request. She comes in. Yeah, I bet that they won't mistreat him anymore. Look at him down here, down here, I bet that. But they wonder about. I said I said hon, I I kind of see I I get the marriage thing and the connection, but we need to work on his healing right about now yeah it's crazy.
Speaker 2:I mean, it was's just wow he had found his identity in being a victim. Yes, one of the things I have to tell my children as much as they can understand at their young ages do we want to be a victim or do we want to be victorious? Do we want to be a winner or a whiner? That's good, now you're not going to win in. Do we want to be a winner or a whiner?
Speaker 1:That's good.
Speaker 2:Now you're not going to win. But even when I, competitively, don't come out as the victor, I don't want to see myself as a victim, because I learned negate what you learned. Even through a hard situation, you learn something about yourself. The way that you quote unquote lose, yes. Was I close to winning? Did I give it my all? Is that something I can adjust for the next battle? Am I getting stronger? See, david fought a bear before he fought Goliath, and I'm sure that his courage increased. As a shepherd, he would have kept the wolves away from his sheep. Did he learn something in those moments? I'm pretty sure that he would have learned to use that sling by fighting something else other than Goliath.
Speaker 2:Even in times where we may not be victorious, god is giving us lessons. He's giving us muscle memory for what we're about to face. Everything you've been through is leading up to the moment that you need it. So the blessing that you got on Tuesday might be for Friday's challenge. So we are constantly being built by grace and mercy, by experience after experience, to get better and better, because something bigger is coming. It might be old age, it might be. It might be an illness. It might be holding your family up. It might be an accident, an incident, but you're getting prepared for what you're going to go through, because he says I will never leave you nor forsake you. So that means that every moment he's with me, he's building me for better.
Speaker 1:Building you for better.
Speaker 2:He's building you for better.
Speaker 1:That is true Now, troy. I have truly enjoyed this. Now let's get back to Power 52.
Speaker 2:Yes, ma'am 52 weeks. Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1:Basically in the book.
Speaker 2:Yes, ma'am, it's a lesson for every week.
Speaker 1:Every week and in that lesson do you have instructions. You have something for the people to write. Go ahead and explain what your expectation is with each chapter.
Speaker 2:Power 52 is a self-paced workbook. It doesn't matter if you started January 1st or if you started today. Every week, every calendar week, there's a weekly lesson, and so in every week it starts off with a joke. It goes into a little lesson for the week. At the end of that lesson you're going to have two to three questions. You're going to have an exercise that you do that carries you through the week, something for you to focus on. You're going to have a quote by a famous person, because where's my credibility?
Speaker 2:I'm just a country boy from Mississippi that wants to tell somebody about Jesus. So so I say well, would you take the words of Teddy Roosevelt? Would you take the words of Martin Luther King? Would you take the words of Abraham Lincoln? Would you? Would you take the words of Mahatma Gandhi? Would you listen to someone else notable and quotable other than me?
Speaker 2:So if you go through all of these things, it gives you a complete view of I'm going to laugh a little bit, I'm going to learn a little bit. I might shed a tear, I might have some introspection, I might have a deep thought, I might have a surface thought, I might have a deep thought, I might have a surface thought, but I want you thinking about how I'm building on precept and precept, principle and principle, and how, at the end of that year, I want you to feel differently about your relationship with yourself, with Christ, with the creation itself. So it's a self-paced workbook that has each week has like a sermon edit and it makes me think about the Bible from a different angle, about another blessing.
Speaker 1:That's good, that's good.
Speaker 2:So so one of my favorites in here.
Speaker 1:if you'll allow me a little, yeah, I wanted to, I wanted to.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, yes, ma'am. So so there, there's a week in there called Exactly, Exactly, and it talks about the tax collector, zacchaeus. And so Exactly is a play on the name Zacchaeus. It's spelled like X-Z-A-C-H-L-Y, so what it's talking about is that the tax collector the Bible describes him as a short, pudgy man, but he was well-respected because a tax collector would have been wealthy compared to the common man and in his learning way, he had a job and he was esteemed.
Speaker 2:And back then it was even more separated into the caste system of the haves and the have-nots. So Zacchaeus knew that Jesus was coming. That way, he was in the in crowd, so he had heard that Jesus was coming. So he did something that a poor man would do and, as a matter of fact, if you look in Jewish tradition, he did something that a poor man would do. As a matter of fact, if you look in Jewish tradition, it's something that a poor child would have done, because they would not have been allowed to get close to Jesus. They would have climbed up on something to get a look at Jesus. So Zacchaeus, being an older man, short, pudgy, knew that the kids and the people were going to laugh, but he got up into a tree so he could see Jesus.
Speaker 2:The story goes on to talk about what are you willing to do to see Jesus See. A wealthy man at that time would not have mocked himself and climb an old tree I ain't climbing no trees to see nobody. And don't they knew who I am. I'm the tax collector, I'm wealthy. But he wanted to see Jesus so bad he put himself in an uncomfortable situation. This short, fat man got up a tree so he could see Jesus. And what happened? Jesus saw him and said come down, I see you. It's like, hey, boy, I see you, come, let's go to your house and eat. He got selected because he was willing to get uncomfortable to do something that was beneath him to go see Jesus.
Speaker 2:Most of us you remember earlier we were talking about we don't like being inconvenienced. Most of us won't do anything that inconveniences us, even to get our blessing. Zacchaeus was willing to get uncomfortable to see Jesus and he got blessed because of it. So then the week goes on and say what are you willing to do? How uncomfortable are you willing to get to be seen by Jesus and to sit down and break bread? What are you willing to do? So that's one of my favorite stories in the book, where it challenges us to come out of our comfort zone.
Speaker 2:If you stay comfortable your whole life, if you laid in your favorite spot in the bed with your favorite pajamas on, you got the fan going on, the heat on or whatever it is, and you just watch your favorite spot in the bed with your favorite pajamas on, you got the fan going on, the heat on or whatever the purpose is, and you just watch your favorite shows on Netflix and you ate your favorite food, and that's all you did every day. What would happen? You would be a shell of yourself and you would probably waste away. You would have a pretty uneventful life. What are you willing to do to stay healthy mentally, physically, spiritually, financially? What are you willing to do to have the optimal life and to glorify God? Zacchaeus was willing to get laughed at and climb a tree, so I have to be willing to come out of my comfort zone to do something that may be out of my ordinary. If you want something extraordinary, you have to do something extraordinary. Zacchaeus was willing to do that, but most of us are not.
Speaker 2:So the book challenges us after every week to see the opportunity to go get another blessing. From the day that you're born to the day that you die, and even after your death, god is still using you. Remember that the prophet was in the. Let me see who was it. Prophet's bones were in a burial plot and men were being chased by robbers and to hide, they threw a dead man's body in with the prophet's bones and the man came back to life. What that shows us is is that when God is in you, even your bones have is in you. Even your bones have. When I told you how I conduct myself, it's because my grandfather was such a giving man and because he didn't believe in God. He knew Christ for himself. His legacy for my family is that we be givers, that we be tithers, that we be believers, that we be workers for Christ. So his bones, his legacy, still have power.
Speaker 2:When I was younger, I tried to get into a nightclub my best friend was the son of the pastor and my grandfather was the deacon and there was a party at a place called the zoo. We were trying to get in and they were letting young men in left and right and the girls were walking in. They barely had clothes on. I mean, this was the party of all parties. When the man put the flashlight on my driver's license, he said aren't you Clyde's grandson? Now, me and my grandfather don't have the same last name. My mother was married. I have my father's name.
Speaker 2:I said yes, sir. He said step over here. Then he looked at my best friend's license. He said ain't your granddaddy the pastor? He said yes, sir. He said y'all get out of here. I said what did we do? He said you know better than this. And I said but you work here. He said right now I have to work here to feed my grandchildren, but I wouldn't want them in here either. He said I used to work with your grandfather. He would kill you if he knew you were in here Now. At that time my grandfather was still alive, and he is right. If my grandfather knew I was in there, oh man, I'd have got the longest speech. So his name, his characteristics, his wants super exceeded my wants and people knew what he stood for.
Speaker 2:When you stand for Christ, people have a different expectation of you. Jesus has been dead for over 2000 years and we're still talking about him. There's power in your bones, there's power in your DNA, there's power in the people who lost their lives for you. There's power in the people that made you. You look like what's in your DNA. So shouldn't we look like Jesus? True, yes, ma'am, we should.
Speaker 2:So that's what the book is about. It's just little nuggets. It's not a novel, it's not a long read, and that's why I broke it down into weeks. So each week is two to three pages of content, a few questions. Week is two to three pages of content, a few questions, an exercise to make you think, some quotes to make you go look it up, a joke to make you laugh something. So, if I want to, I can do it all in two hours or I can spread it out over the week, but it keeps me connected.
Speaker 2:Remember, we were talking about that. Nobody really knows their neighbors anymore, true? If we don't put in the work, we don't have a connection to anything. So what I'm doing is I'm asking people to take this one year journey with me so that we can be connected in a different kind of way. Because, as I've hit 50, it's not about trying to sneak in the club anymore. It's not about who's got the shiniest car or the fanciest house and all these other things. What's my impact. I'm not trying to be successful as hard as I'm trying to be saved and significant.
Speaker 1:That's true.
Speaker 2:I want somebody to be able to say, hey, man, if he don't do nothing else for me, that man introduced me to my Lord and Savior. If I showed you and your husband this cool spot in Birmingham, somewhere that you had never heard of and let's say that they had good music, and then you liked the music. If they had your favorite drink, and then you like that If they had your favorite food, you'd be like, oh man, it's that place that Tori told us about. Man, that place was awesome. Or that vacation spot was awesome, or that book was awesome. You would remember that person and you might even say, hey, man, look, we brought you back a slice of cake because the dessert was so good. We would do something for somebody who showed us an experience. What have you ever done for the person that introduced you to Christ?
Speaker 1:What have you ever done for?
Speaker 2:the person that introduced you to Christ. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So those are the things I want people to think about. If I introduced you to your husband every year on an anniversary, man, it wouldn't be here without a tour. What did you do for the person that introduced you to the Savior of your soul, To somebody who showed you where eternity was? We forget about those people. We forget about the person that truly changed my life and my afterlife. So that's what I want people to think about those little nuggets in there. I'm not the first to say it, I just may be the first to say it. I just may be the first to say it on Wednesday.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I just want people to. I don't want it to be out of sight, out of mind for you. I want you to be motivated every day. I want you to know that you have a chance. I want you to know that you're not stuck. I want you to know that God didn't make any junk, that you're made by the good stuff. I want you to know that he's a part of your DNA. I want you to know that you can have, because the Bible says you can have, you can do, because the Bible says all things are possible for he that believes. I just want you to know that you've got a fighting chance If you're willing to get uncomfortable and do something that most people won't do do the work.
Speaker 2:Do the work. Do the work. You work for everything else. You work for degrees, you work for a paycheck, you work to get the fancy nails and hair and dresses. We do the work for things that we want to be seen having. But what if somebody could look at you and say I know she knows God? Look at that glow on her, look at that smile. Look at the way she helps. Look, because she has one of the most godly jobs in the world she's a nurse. I know she knows God. Wouldn't you be amazed if people say look, I'm feeling down and I can just look at you and know that you got God all over you. Could you share something with me? What if we look like our fathers in heaven? What if people could look at us and just tell I know you know God, without you saying a word?
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:Wouldn't that be amazing, that the light of God shines so brightly in you that people just knew people that didn't even know you. And if the light was that bright, how much darkness would you stamp out? How many demons would run every time your feet hit the floor? How many bad people would hey, I mess with a lot of folks, but I don't mess with COVID. I don't mess with her. I don't mess with her. She ain't one to be played with. How many troubled people would come to you and how many troublemakers would stay away from you? If the light of God actually shined in you so brightly and it may it may I've never had the pleasure of meeting you in person, and it may be that bright in you, and what a blessing that is. So I just get excited about telling people don't give up, don't give in. The race is fixed.
Speaker 2:He paid the price on the cross. I got a zero balance. I got a zero balance. One of the greatest things God ever gave us was a paid in full invoice. Don't you like it when you get that? You done paid that bill off and it says paid in full. Yes, that's what he did at the cross. He gave us an invoice that said paid in full, paid in full. I paid it all. He took all the sin, all the hate, all the hurt, all the sickness by his stripes were healed, were healed, healed, and he said at the cross that he battled for our peace. So that means we shouldn't even be frustrated.
Speaker 1:We should not fret. We should not be fretting.
Speaker 2:Fret not. He fought for our peace, for our healing, for our salvation, for our prosperity, everything. But we let go of our power because we don't want to do the work to activate it. That's true. That's true. That's true. In the old church we would close our church and say let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. What words, the words of the Bible. I can do all things through Christ that strengthen me. All things are possible for he that believe Yea. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. The Bible says fear not, or some version of that 365 times. Isn't that something that we have? 365 days? Because remember now, the Bible was written prior to the calendar and Constantine and the calendar that we have it just lined up. So I told my wife OK, well, what about Libya? Ok, I give you that every four years you can be scared one day. Ok, I give you that every four years you can be scared one day. We have 365 times. It says fear not and we got 365 days. I think that's pretty significant, for I am with you, I will never forsake you. So, yeah, yeah, I get a little excited about helping somebody, even if I'm not speaking on things from a spiritual point of view, just having a can-do spirit, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2:One of my favorite books to read to my children is the Little Engine that Could. Okay, you remember that I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. And the book goes on to say and she thought she could and she did. It shows us let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, because I got to believe it and I got to believe it when I say it. But when I'm believing it and saying it, I've got to keep doing the work. I've got to keep my wheels turning. I've got to keep putting forth my effort, because faith without what works is dead. So I got to keep working my legs even when I feel afraid. Courage don't show up a lot when you're running away. It doesn't look very courageous when you're running in the other direction. I've got to keep digging in. I've got to keep fighting forward.
Speaker 2:Look, one of the things that I want in my life is to die empty. Explain that to you. Everything in my promise and my purpose be fulfilled in God's name, so that when I die I'm empty, because he's going to me a new, new body and a new home. So I don't need to take anything with me. You know they say you can't take it with you.
Speaker 2:Well, take what? Take your money, take your possessions. No, you can't take what? What was your purpose? You can't take any of your blessing. You can't take any of the power vested in you. You can't take it with you. So I'm going to use it all up on this side of heaven so that somebody might be helped appropriately, so that I might shine a light, for somebody to show them they can make it over, so that I might leave a legacy for my children and my children's children, by showing them, like my grandfather showed me have a can do spirit, be a giver, be a humble servant. He used to tell me you got two ears and one mouth for a reason Listen twice as much as you talk, because you sure want to talk. So, hey, he left me with some nuggets and I just want to pass some of them down so that somebody might have a fighter's chance.
Speaker 1:That's true.
Speaker 2:Yes, ma'am, that's true. Yes, ma'am, I want to die empty.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that makes I mean I've never heard it that way, but I have heard it, but I've never heard it that way. You want to empty it all out.
Speaker 2:You want to empty it all out, all out. If you play the sport, the coach will say leave it all out on the court, leave it all out on the field. We'll do it in sports, but why won't we do it in life?
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I'm going to leave it all out there. Look, we'll make a bucket list and be disappointed. We didn't get to do everything on the bucket. Well, there's a bucket list for your life. That's true. That's very true. There's a bucket list for your life, not just your adventure. Did you go tell it on the mountain when you had a chance? Did you say a time word? Did you honor that mother and that father? Did you give according to how it was given? Did you testify in his name? Did you laugh? Did you share? Did you enjoy? Did you stop and smell the roses? Were you thankful? Did you eat well? Did you sleep well? Did you compete? Did you give your best? I'm too old to not give my best anymore. I agree, I'm too old to not give my best anymore.
Speaker 1:I agree.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And I still won't have playtime. I still joke with my wife, I still chase my kids around. I still have a good time. I'm not walking Bible thumping anything. I still want to have a great time, but I want to soak it all in man.
Speaker 1:God made this beautiful creation for me to enjoy. That's true To enjoy.
Speaker 2:That's why he originally gave us Eden. He gave us ultimate enjoyment. We just messed it up.
Speaker 1:Yes, we're not supposed to be hoarders anyway.
Speaker 2:No, we're not supposed to be hoarders anyway. No, no, you're supposed to take your surplus and give it away.
Speaker 1:I've seen people allow food to spoil before they give it to someone.
Speaker 2:I've had some people in my family that would choke down food to keep you from getting a bite.
Speaker 1:I'm serious, I know, I know. I've seen that. I've seen that happen.
Speaker 2:In my family that know you coming and will sit up there and try to slurp down the last of something to keep from sharing with someone else. Yeah, that was a member of my family that almost died trying to be a glutton to keep from feeding other people until he almost died yeah to be spiteful and it cost him his life, yeah, so so we have to be mindful you're.
Speaker 2:You're planting a seed, whether you, whether you think you are or not. It just is it good seed or bad seed? Will it produce good fruit or will it produce weeds? Will there be thorns? The Bible talks of the thorn. That were the curse of the thorns, because that's what we're planting. Sometimes, some people are so bitter and so maladjusted and just so mean they're planting thorns. One day you got to walk back through what you plant. You're going to harvest what you plant, whether you want to or not.
Speaker 1:You're going, yeah, you reap what you sow, you're going to reap what you sow the seeds you sow, coming up again, so you might as well try to plant good seed. It's coming back. It's good seed, it's coming back.
Speaker 2:It's coming back. How do you want it? I want to plant good because I want to eat good, I want to work good, I want to love good, I want to see good in the earth. I want to plant good seed because one day I want my grandchildren to inherit from my laborers. I want to plant good seed because one day I want my grandchildren to inherit from my labor. I know for a fact that some of the things my grandmother prayed for I'm getting. Yeah, everything that we plant is not for us. We're planning for future generations, and that's true.
Speaker 2:Bible says that we should leave an inheritance for our children and our children's children. Now, I know that in Jewish principle, I know that that means a monetary inheritance. But are we leaving the earth in a good condition? Are we leaving land for our families? Are we leaving morals and values? Are we leaving a spiritual inheritance? Like my grandfather was a deacon at the church, that church is still standing.
Speaker 2:So what are we leaving as an inheritance for our children and our children's children? One day, praise God, my children will tell their children about me. I hope I'm there to see it, but if I'm not, they're going to say man, he didn't play about his kids. He did not play about his kids and he would take us and we would do such and such. That's an inheritance. So what are we leaving, what are we planting and what will our harvest be? That's in the book. That's in the book. So the book is really just about all these different things that God has shown me, and this is my way of trying to break it down into bite-sized pieces so it might be easier for someone else to understand. And just in my twisted way of saying it, in my twisted way of making a joke out of it and my elementary way of writing, because I'm not a Shakespeare, but I wanted it to be digestible for even the person who never reads. I wanted to pick it up and say I got that, that made sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it goes back to if I could just touch one person.
Speaker 2:Just one, Just one. We used to sing this song. My sister played the piano and I would be trying to sing in church and said it only takes a spark to get a fire going. Soon all those around will warm up from his gloaming. It only takes a spark to get a conversation going, but it only takes a spark to get unrest going. We have to use what we have for good. We have to yeah, because a spark in the wrong place is dangerous. Absolutely, you standing in gasoline, you don't want no spark.
Speaker 1:No, you want it real cool over there, you want it real cool, keep it cool, move slow Back up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's what I hope the book does that it sparks some conversation, that it sparks some thought, even when people are withdrawn and by themselves. Does it? Does it still? Is it a good read for me? And can? Can I get close to the guy? Can I get closer to the best version of myself? Because in the best version of myself I hope that we see God.
Speaker 1:True that? Yeah, true that, yeah, true that. Well, do you have any final comments? I have truly enjoyed. This has been what I needed to hear today. You know, we always need a little bit of juice or a little bit of spark sometimes in the most unexpected times to keep us encouraged. We just need that Iron sharpens iron. We need to just stay encouraged.
Speaker 2:One minute should be to another. If I had to give a final thought, I want people to know that we are very much connected. Our DNA comes from a single source and in that DNA it comes from creation. So if I have to think about my cells, my body, I'm endowed by the creator. If his hand made the first man, then his hand made me. I've got to have the same DNA and because I am a creation of God, I have some of his powers. Now I know I'm not all powerful. I'm not delusional. What I'm saying is that I'm blessed. Amen. I'm not delusional. What I'm saying is is that I'm blessed. What I'm saying is is that you're blessed and each one of us has a light in us and we call it a soul.
Speaker 2:The book goes on to talk about four powers. We have power over people. God gave us dominion dominion over the plants and the animals and things. Now we should not be over people, but we do have power where we get to, delegate and have authority in our jobs. But we should not be over people. But we do have power where we get to, you know, delegate and have authority in our job, but we should do those things with humility and goodness. We should be good leaders so that we create good leaders, not good followers. We should be molding good, good leaders. We have power with power with this collaboration, how we have teamwork and relationships. Power with is collaboration how we have teamwork and relationships. We should be good collaborators with the people that God trusts us to be in our circle, in our sphere of influence, the people we speak out of our mouths, because we're examples to the people that are our children and our grandchildren and our loved ones, our husbands and wives and sisters and brothers.
Speaker 2:We have power to power that we can empower others. We have power to power that we can empower others, and that's what I try to do Empower others with the gift of gab that God gave me to speak into other people's lives. And then we have power within the innate things, the things that I can light my own spark. Sometimes I don't need nobody else. I get excited and I can go and create good things just by stepping back and allowing God to speak to me, if I can get still and get quiet.
Speaker 2:The power within. We all have a light within us, so we remember those four powers. All of us have some power. It's how do we choose to access it, how do we choose to use it. You're never on empty.
Speaker 2:I feel bad every time I see that there has been a suicide, suicide attempt or successful suicide. I feel bad anytime I see people get hopeless. I feel bad when I see people who are spreading hatred or spreading discontent or or I can't do spirit. I hate to see people talk down to their children as oh, you're stupid, you're just like your father. I hate to see people spew hate. So if we can remember the four powers, if we can remember that we have a fighting chance up until our last birth, if we can remember that we are made by a creator that loved us so much, that he marked our DNA, that he gave us a soul, we would see that all things are possible. We could turn things around for ourself and for others. We could live a great life, not just a good life or average life. It takes some work to go get your blessings, but the blessings are plentiful.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. There's enough out there for everybody, but you can get up and go get it. You got to be a go-getter, but there's enough for everybody. So it's not hopeless. It's not a done deal. I don't believe that we're all going to hell in a handbasket. The people who want to go are going to go. The people who want to be with Jesus are going to be with Jesus. They're going to be with.
Speaker 1:Jesus Amen, if you want it.
Speaker 2:It's there for the taking.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 2:I just want people to get excited about their days. Hey, I never get up and say, oh Lord, it's Monday. Most funerals on the weekend, it's people that wish their loved ones was alive on a Monday. So I get excited about Monday. Monday's a great day. I've made it through funeral season. Every weekend is funeral season. I made it through. So I'm excited to be alive today, just like I was yesterday and I will be tomorrow, in Jesus name. I'm so excited for people like you that are bringing good word and good podcasts and good content, because for somebody, this might be all of their here that week.
Speaker 1:True that.
Speaker 2:So thank you for doing what you're doing, thank you for connecting me to other people who are book writers, thank you for anybody listening and thank you for anybody who purchased a book. Man, I'm just excited. I know it's affected more than one. I've had people call me from the university. I've had people call me from my church. I've had people that reached out to me. They said, man, a friend told me to get this, or a friend bought this for me. It was in a basket at our church as a gift to me. So people have called me and told me how much they enjoyed it, and when I got the call that my mother had it in this, she was proud. Hey, I was done, I was done right. Then I made my mama proud. So I know if my mom was proud, my grandfather would have been proud too. I'm excited about living and I want more people to get excited about living. I'm excited about living and I want more people to get excited about living. Okay, thank you for having me on your wonderful show.
Speaker 1:Thank you for doing this and keep going you know, and with those closing words, if you would give us a short prayer and then we'll.
Speaker 2:I'll be so excited. I'll be so excited, man, wherever you are, compose your hearts and minds and bow your head. Oh, man, I'd be so excited, I'd be so excited, I'd be so excited to do that. Man, wherever you are, compose your hearts and minds and bow your head.
Speaker 2:Lord, we just want to say thank you for the opportunity to share a testimony of your greatness. Thank you for allowing everything to fire and function as it should in my body that I might be a living testimony. Thank you for this time on this side of heaven, that each moment, each breath that I take, lord, you're filling me back up to keep going for my children, for my wife. Thank you, lord, all over the world, that people are accepting you and accepting that they have a fate that's greater than it should be. Thank you for grace and mercy, how you allow us, even when we're wrong, to still make it into heaven.
Speaker 2:The Bible says if we just believe. Now, I know we alter our walk when we believe, but, Lord, thank you that I don't have to be perfect, because you gave me an invoice that said paid in full. Lord, I ask you to continue to bless Ms Carolyn, that her show continue to touch the lives of people in need, that it brings us laughter and joy, that it brings us good content, that her listening audience, that it falls under your multiplication rule. Because she's putting out great seed, Lord, I ask that you bless her with a great harvest. Lord, I ask these and all blessings in your son Jesus name. Amen.
Speaker 1:Amen, and thank everyone for tuning into Gentry's Journey. Troy has given us a word in more ways than one, and Troy tell us where we can get your book, please.
Speaker 2:You can go on Amazon and you can buy the book in paperback. You can buy it as a digital download or you can buy it now in a hardback book. You can also buy it on Google Play or Kobo. It on Google Play or Kobo, which used to be Rakuten. You can buy those three ways. And yeah, I'm just, you got me full, ms Coleman, so I'm just excited right now. So thank you very much. I look forward to working with you again in the future and if I could ever be a blessing to you please don't hesitate to call me.
Speaker 1:You have my number, thank you. Thank you so much, troy.
Speaker 4:Tell one more person. Tell one more person. Person. If you're looking for somebody, he's gone and he don't need nobody else. There's no question of your greatness, nor searching of your power.
Speaker 3:Oh, the wonder of your glory.
Speaker 4:To you, forty years is but one hour. Your knowledge is all encompassing. To your wisdom, there is no end.
Speaker 3:Oh, for you alone are God. You are God alone.
Speaker 4:Your mercy is everlasting. Your truth is here always. You are he who was and is and is to come. Who is he that can?
Speaker 3:number your days. You flood the sun to burn in space, and the night's moon powers light from day, and the night's moon powers light from day. Oh, you alone, you're God. You're God Elohim, you're everything I need. You are God alone. Now, unto the King, now unto the king. Turn her down, immortal, invisible. The only wise God, the only wise God. The only wise God, the only wise God. Here it comes, our God. No one else can pay this to you. Lord. Here it comes, our God, our Lord. Lord, I know I went to the king eternal. Turn our love in my heart. The only wise God, the only wise, the only one God, the only one God. You alone are God. No one else can praise to you, for you are God. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. You alone, for you alone, our God, our God. You're everything that I need for me, for you are God, the all glory and I Dominion and power Forever and ever. And power forever and ever. Amen, hallelujah, and honor to me and power forever and ever, amen, amen.
Speaker 4:Oh, he deserves all the praise and all the glory. Hallelujah Forever. Come on, begin to minister to him tonight.
Speaker 3:Amen, amen, amen. Be all glory and honor and honor and honor and honor and honor and honor and honor, amen, amen and ever and ever. Come and Be all Glory and honor the Big Power, forever and ever and ever. The All Glory and ever, heaven, heaven, heaven, the hour of glory, heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven, the hour of glory, and ever and ever. We are all glory, glory and honor. We are the power.
Speaker 4:Forever and ever. We are all glory. Heaven and earth will be our glory and honor. Don't forget that power forever and ever. You are my God, you are my God, you are my God, you, you are my God, you are my God.
Speaker 3:You are my God. You are my God, you are my God.
Speaker 4:You are my God. You are my God. You are my God. You are my Jehovah Jireh, you're my Jehovah Nissi. You're my Jehovah Elyon.
Speaker 3:You alone are God, you are God, oh, oh, oh, for you alone, our God. Oh, for you alone, our God, our God. Minister to our God, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Minister to our God, open up your mouth and give him a little praise. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, you alone. Now I know. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. No one else compares to you. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, compares to you alone, alone let's just begin to speak to our Father.
Speaker 4:I'd like to hear the fruit of your lips right now, the fruit of your lips. Open up your mouths. Right now you're on holy ground. Come on, come on. Come on, press on in, press on in. I wish I had somebody that would help me press press. Come on, let's go press on in, press on in. I wish I had somebody that would help me press press.
Speaker 4:Ah, come on, let's go into the holies of holies. Come on, let's minister to him right now. Oh, you're gonna say, teddy, get us, I'm gonna call you god. We worship your name today. God, we give you glory and honor. Hallelujah, god, there is nothing like you. There's nothing like you. I wish I just had a few folks that would open up their mouths and just begin to bless him. Come on, give him the fruit of your lips now. Don't tell him about your problems, don't tell him about your troubles. Just begin to minister to our god. Come on, open up your mouths, everybody, open up your mouth. Lift up those hands. Lift up those hands. Come on, begin to minister to him. Minister to him. Tell him god, you're god, you're the only god, you're the only true car, you're all together. There is nothing like you go. I'm no kisses to you.