CTP BooksAuthorsWeekApril2026E (S3EAprSpecial7) Escape The Owner Prison

CTP BooksAuthorsWeekApril2026E (S3EAprSpecial7)  Escape The Owner Prison (What If Your Work Is Stealing (not sealing) Your Legacy?)
Exploring more of the fascinating intersection of Activism, Community Engagement, Faith / Religion, Human Nature, Politics, Social Issues, and beyond   
We talk with Richard Walsh about the moment a thriving business turns into an owner prison and how losing everything forces a hard reset on identity, priorities, and faith. We leave with a simple challenge: build systems that protect your time, show up for your family, and finish well. 
• Why “sharpen the spear” means constant growth in faith, mindset, and discipline 
• Richard’s path from the Marine Corps to entrepreneurship and reinvention 
• The identity trap of becoming what you do 
• The 2008 to 2009 crash and the decision to choose family over status 
• What Escape The Owner Prison teaches about delegation, systems, and vision 
• How businesses strain marriages and why grace keeps relationships alive 
• Fatherhood, homeschooling, and raising kids with purpose 
• Why waiting for perfect conditions can keep life on hold 
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A Short Story: A Lasting Legacy? book Trailer

Transcript

Guest Arrival And Sharpen The Spear

SPEAKER_06 0:08

Hello, welcome to another episode of Constitutionalist Podcast. I am your host, Josephine Werner. That's L-E-N-A-R-D at the French Knowledge Wonderful. Thank you for tuning in. As Bram Norton used to say on his show, let's get on with the show. For those looking on the five behind the scenes video channels, sneak peek videos, you will see. Oh, first let me say, this is a cheat intro again, kind of like I do on Saturdays if I'm presenting a video exclusive from prior the same cheat. You'll see the same, or here on the 40-ish audio only platforms, this same mini intro, but I am wearing the Book of Kennedy Project Carpe Diem bookshirt because welcome to Books Slash Authors Week, just one week for April of 2026. Prior, I had Books slash authors weeks this time to get caught up on some back interviews of authors. I'm doing a singular book slash books slash authors week for April 2026, Monday through Friday. Also, I want to say at the end of each episode, I will tack on one of my newer, more recent Suno created songs. If you remember, uh, my dad, Ked Donner Jr. The Poker Kings, tinyurl.com, the Poker Kings, to see that tribute page, Sam. He had a record deal. I used to write and record music the old way, you know, get out a piece of sheet music and write out the actual song on the sheet music, the chords, the notes, the lyrics, the butt of all my equipment's been long sold off. But thanks to Suno AI music system, I'm back to writing lyrics and releasing music again. Thank you, Suno. So each day, Monday through Friday of Books slash Authors Week 2026 April, I will check on a Suno Aided Created new song from Joseph M. Leonard, J Leonard, Detroit on Suno. So thank you to them. And I've already delayed things. So without further ado, let's get to an author. Joining me today will be Richard Walsh. In his pod match bio, it says, Sharpen the spear coaching. That to me caught my eye. And indeed, you know, Christian speaking, iron helps forge iron. It's always why does this always happen? I hit recording, the brain and the mouth don't want to work. So I love that. Indeed, sharpen the spear in a figurative sense, not a literal sense. Well, he's not joined the program yet. I'm recording this a little early because you all know me. I can't pass the jokes. So I was gonna ask him if he's related to John Walsh, America's Most Wanted. John, who lost his son at early age due to crime. So he helped produce and starred in America's Most Wanted, which helped bring people to justice. But I was gonna joke with Richard Walsh. Are you related to John Walsh? Well, I'm recording early before Richard even joins. Now, I still feel horrible for him. I can't imagine losing the son the way he did and having to deal with that. As a Christian, wanted some good to come out of that bad. Sometimes bad happens to good people, and hence the America's most wanted to help get justice and get for others, get criminals off the street to protect other people's children. But I wanted to mention his Omega XL commercials. Full disclosure, fibromyalgia is one of the many health issues I have. It flares up on and off from time to time. So I take relief factor. I'm on disability, Medicare doesn't cover it. So I take it as I can when the fibro flares up. I can't afford the out of pocket to take it twice a day every day. 365 days a year, I wish I could, because yes, it does help. Omega XL, does it help joint pain, as John Walsh advertised it does? I don't know. How much it costs, how expensive it is, I don't know. But the point I wanted to make about Omega XL people and John, really, you're bragging about how rich you are and a tough day of working with your show ponies. The average person that you're trying to sell Omega XL to can't relate to that. But maybe they're only advertising to rich people. Maybe only rich people can afford it. But anyway, none of that has anything to do with Richard's appearance, but you know me, my ADHD, O C D brain can't help but want to joke Richard Walsh, no relation to John Walsh, and therefore the rabbit hole of the rant opens up. Okay, well, I'm gonna stop all that. The recording is going to keep running until Richard actually joins, and I'll be cutting out that section. So next we'll be welcoming Richard. Joining me as promised today is Richard Walsh. Now I let him know I had already had the recording going because I did an opening. My audience knows my ADHD O C D brain goes, I can't help the jokes, and I get damn rants. So I did an opening rant about John Walsh. You're not related to John Walsh at all, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Not as far as I know.

SPEAKER_06 7:58

Right. And I I didn't think so, so I figured I'd record that before you even got here, but let you know that I was joking about that. So officially, welcome to the show, Richard Walsh.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Thank you, Joseph. Appreciate it. Looking forward to you know getting into this.

SPEAKER_06 8:17

Yes. Now, your Podmatch profile, and I make no bones, I make no secret that I use PodMatch as a great platform. It is a wonderful platform where guests can meet hosts, and hosts can meet guests, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I on your profile, I saw and I responded, love it. Sharpen the spear coaching. So before we get to the usual first question, I can't help but want to rush into and ask Did the Christian iron sharpened iron concept lead to that?

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Yeah, it's part of it, of course, because you know I have a warrior mentality as well, which is also a biblical perspective, both in spiritual warfare and the whole Bible in full context.

SPEAKER_06 9:13

Yes, there's warrior aspects, there's peace aspects, there's love, there's war, you got the Jesus tough love parts as well as the love, the kumbaya run, the campfire. You gotta take it all together.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

That's right, that's right. And I'm also a U.S. Marine, I'm a champion boxer, I'm a black belt, I'm all those things, right? So it's kind of part of who I am. Um, so that's part of it. And sharpen the spear again is is the same principle, right? A sharpen sharp iron sharpens iron, because you know, uh it's kind of like a dull knife. It's not good for anything except maybe cutting your skin.

SPEAKER_06 9:49

Buttering your toast. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

That's that's it. So, you know, so so the whole point is we we are always sharpening ourselves, whether that's in the word of God or in our business. Like I help businesses, right? That's my big thing in manufacturing and things like that. So it's um it's a powerful tool, and it's a for me, it's a great analogy.

Marine Corps Roots And Early Hustle

SPEAKER_06 11:07

Yes, now we should all be wanting to sharpen ourselves mentally and physically, but sadly, there are a lot of purposefully dull people who aren't interested in being better people, and it's in part what Jesus said. I discussed many times on my show, the poor will always be among you. That's not an economic statement, it's not a government statement, it's a human nature statement. It's it's part of the humanity. There will always be some who try to do more to find ways to do less, do little or do nothing, trying to coast by, especially if there's people always willing to give them things. Anyway, um let me back this thing up, right? Beep, beep, beep, because my usual first question is let's get back to that. Um, is oh, I didn't uh you know I've gotten much better with the ums and the ums, but every once in a while, and I gotta bend the habit of saying, right, right, right. Um I gotta watch that, but I do as an ongoing running gag, still do on purpose, at any rate, as a segue. So at any rate, the usual first question is where were you born and raised? Where are you now? Significant places you may have been between and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Yeah, that's a yeah, that's a long, that's a long journey.

SPEAKER_06 12:48

Uh well, give us Illinois, yes, give us the abridged, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Born in a town called Waukegan, Illinois, um, and then kind of moved a little bit north from there. Uh grew up in the general Chicagoland area for the most part, spent some time in Arizona, went in the Marine Corps, um, spent more time in the desert, and that's why I don't live in the desert anymore. I've had enough of the desert, so I'm in Wisconsin now. I'm in Beloit, Wisconsin, the southern tip of Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_06 13:13

So um You don't you don't run a fraudulent daycare, do you?

SPEAKER_00 13:18

No, no, that's no. I don't know if they have a lot of those here. That's mostly Minnesota, but um they've got that. But no, here is we just have cold. Lots of cold in the winter.

SPEAKER_06 13:27

I'm in Michigan, so I feel you.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

No, so we got that, and that's okay. It's as I like to say, weeds out the week. You know, that's it, it's a good thing. So uh yeah, from there, you know, I just I mean I grew up with you know, good family, uh, father, mother, got two brothers, uh, end up, you know, getting through high school barely. Uh decided to go in the good go in the Marine Corps. I I was gonna try college. I was standing in line at the community college with my little check and my schedule behind like 30 other kids, and I'm like, I'm looking around going, you gotta be kidding me. There's no way I'm doing this. And I ripped it up through in the trash and went and joined the Marine Corps. I'm like, I I hated high school. Why would I why would I subject myself to this again? It just wasn't the way I learned, and that's why I didn't do well um at all. I I I can brag on my 1.7 gray point average.

SPEAKER_06 14:13

Okay, and as a as a friend that doesn't mean you're stupid. No, it doesn't in the least. You learn other ways, you self-educate yourself in other ways, and you have common sense, which a lot of the pseudo-intellects have zero common sense.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

That's true. Yeah, a friend of mine the other day said, Dude, you get a 2.0 if you just turn in your homework. And he goes, he looked at me, he goes, You didn't turn in your homework, did you? And I go, No, never.

SPEAKER_06 14:47

For the benefit of the transcript, we're laughing here. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

But but but here's the thing. So, and you're right, because you know, went in the Marine Corps, great education, okay, of life and and and perseverance and everything else. So that was really good. Got out, started my own business. Uh, was working swinging a pickaxe, you know, for five bucks an hour. That's where it all began. Like, I'm doing that as a job when I came out of the Marine Corps, so it wasn't looking like a real bright future, okay. Um, but then a guy asked me to do a side gig, Joseph, and he's like, Hey, I needed your help on the weekend. Can you come by on Saturday and shovel some rock for me? I'm like, Yeah, I swing a pick all day, that's no problem. So showed up, he had 35 tons of gravel in the front yard in the street. Okay, he wanted me to wheelbrill that to the backyard, spread it. This is in Tucson, Arizona, you know. So I can do that, do that all day. So it took about 10 hours, 100 degree weather. Um, got that done. But the best part, Joseph, he came out and he put a thousand dollars in my hand. Okay, now I'm looking at this, going, man, I did this yesterday for 40 bucks. Okay, I'm gonna get$5 an hour. I'm like, I know my future. Like I will shovel rock every day, all day for a thousand dollars a day. Right now, this is the late 80s, right? This is like 87 or whatever it was, you know.

SPEAKER_06 15:58

And so that thousand dollars would be more like 2,500 today, yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Yeah, it was it's amazing, right? But I'm like, okay, so so I you know, launched into making a landscape business, doing that, they ended up turning into custom water features. So what you know, ponds, waterfalls, streams became one of the best in the world at what doing you fix my birdbath?

SPEAKER_06 16:17

You know, get birdbaths.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

No, they're beyond my pay grade, they're beyond my pay grade. I can't, you know, I have uh every man's got his limits.

SPEAKER_06 16:24

But uh for the transcript, we're laughing. That's a joke.

Losing Everything And Identity Reset

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Yeah, yeah. So um I started doing steel sculpture as well, taught myself how to weld and do steel sculpture, ended up doing world-class exhibits, right? Doing these unbelievable things, you know, and maybe peer and all over all over the world, right? So that was really cool. That's going really well. And then 0809 hit. 09 kind of lost everything, right? The economy crashed. I lost my business, lost my home. I had six kids, four years and younger at the time. My wife uh kind of had to like really start over from nothing. So we did, because we don't have other options. You know, when you're at the bottom, you only got one option, that's to go back up.

SPEAKER_06 17:04

You can roll over, lay down in a fetal position and cry, or you can get yourself up and dust yourself off and find a new path. That's it, you know, which you did, thankfully.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Yeah, here's the big thing. Here's the big epiphany, though, Joseph, at that time. So really working hard, my identity was what in what I did. Okay, like a lot of guys, they they are what they do, right? Or they should they should not be that way.

SPEAKER_06 17:32

I was a former IT guy, and yeah, deep inside that's still who I am, and it's tough not being able to do that now on disability, it drives me crazy. I want to be working, I don't want to be. I don't yeah, I love my podcast, but I'd rather be doing that.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Yeah, well, I'm you know, so I'm I'm I'm the number one pond builder, sculptor, guy, all this stuff, and then everything's kind of collapsing around me. And there's a couple things. First thing is when when what you do is your identity, you make a lot of bad decisions because you want to keep that alive because it's your identity, and that's what happened to me. Started making a lot of bad decisions to keep the business alive, even though in one day, November 5th, 2008, I lost a half a million dollars on that day. People just canceling contracts because the election just happened and everyone was terrified of what was gonna happen, and nobody was spending money on anything. It was wild if you're around there, right? You had the whole housing thing and all that stuff, so it was crazy. And I hung up the phone at the end of the day, Joseph. I'm like, I looked at my office manager, I'm like, I I think it's over. Like, how are we gonna recover from this? And it just kept going off the cliff from there. So I woke up one morning and I'm thinking about my six little kids, okay, again, four and under, and I'm like, you know, uh, they really don't care what I do for a business, they don't care how many trucks I have, they don't care, you know, what kind of house we live in.

SPEAKER_06 18:59

They care whether you can feed and clothe and house and well, yeah, or no, they cared if I was around.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

I came to the door, they'd all you know, run, crawl to me, do that whole thing, saying leave, and one day my my four-year-old was chasing my truck out the driveway crying, and I just kept going. You know, because like I gotta work, you know, do that whole thing. So the epiphany was, and God really opened this kind of window to the future. It's like, you know, Richard, you stay on this path. All your kids are gonna they're gonna have failed relationships, broken marriages. Okay, maybe they'll be okay at business. Probably not, because I was kind of failing, right? But they only they only do what they see. You can tell your kids more is caught than taught, right? That's the whole deal. So I like I'm like, man, that's I I got up out of bed, walked in the office, said we're done today, shut it down, went to my construction yard, told my guys to have my last cup of coffee with them, and uh I'm like, guys, we I can't do this anymore. I'm not doing this. I'm not gonna be a I'm not gonna be known for what I am. So I literally then went back home, had a bonfire in the back and burned all my uniforms. I burned everything. I said, I'll never, I'll never be owned by my business again. I'm not it's all it's I'm not gonna serve it. And I did that and to this day, so it's been like 17 years. I haven't built a water feature or done a sculpture in 17 years. You know, asked to go back and nope, I'm not gonna do it because I'm not gonna get pulled back into that. I just wanted to go on and make a different, you know. I had to be how can I be around for my kids? Right? How can I be there? Because we wanted to homeschool. I want to homeschool them all the way through. I got six kids, right? So I'm like, well, how am I gonna do that? You know, so so from a business standpoint, Joseph, I just I had one thing as I trying to figure out what I'm gonna do. I love training, I'm a fitness guy and boxer and all this stuff, right? So I said, Well, I'll I'll open a gym. You know, first I was a trainer at a gym at like an anti-time fitness, became trainer of the year in like no time, right? So I'm like, well, as an entrepreneur, that means I got to open a gym. So I opened a gym, do camp style training, doing all that. But my goal was okay, if my wife calls me and needs me, I want to be able to be there in 15 minutes. That was the premise that I built the whole business on. How do I build a business that lets me do that? And that's what I did, and it kind of became my thing. So I did the gym, I built a construction business, you know, I did that kind of stuff, and it was all that got to be around my kids. Got to help mom. Now my wife didn't call me much. She really didn't have to just say she's pretty tough. But but you know, the whole principle was like, and I could pop in, I could do things, you know, always be with the kids, and we were able to fulfill that all the way till now. My youngest just turned 18, just a couple days ago. And uh they're all out, they're all doing their thing, and it's just amazing, right? We did it, homeschooled them all the way through. They're all great, ones in the Marine Corps, you know, everyone's doing their stuff, and it's uh it was a great journey. So that kind of brings us up to where we're at today. Today, yeah. They're coaching businesses and things like that.

SPEAKER_06 21:51

Yeah, I'm glad you used excuse me, I was uh hit record and the brain in the mouth don't work, and all of a sudden a frog shows up in the throat always. That's how does that happen almost every time? But enough ranting about that. Uh, I'm glad you use the word window. I use that all the time. The saying, if one door closes, God will open another door. No, not necessarily. A lot of times he's over there screaming at you, go through the window, dummy, right? There's the opportunity, you may not be dressed up quite the way you expect it to, want it to, prefer it to, but pay attention to the signs, and indeed a window may open if the door closes for you to crawl through, as as you gave that analogy, also. So I love that you use that. So that brings us indeed to sharpen the spear coaching.

Escape The Owner Prison Coaching

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Yeah, so you know, I wrote a book. So I wrote a book called Escape the Owner Prison because I experienced that right for 20 years. Like if I didn't open the door, the business didn't happen. I was the artist. I'm the guy building things. I mean, I have crews and I got all that, but it really was the business was changed on me. It was my identity, right? So I am. So I wrote so I started after I did the gym and my construction business, people, other entrepreneurs started asking me, Well, how'd you do that? How'd you go from all that to nothing? Back to and I'd say, Well, what are you doing? And I started talking about what they're doing, and the patterns were all the same. Every business I talked to, they're all doing the same wrong things, right? So I'm just, you know, and now I joke and I say, You guys all do the right wrong things. I can help you. You know, so it's okay.

SPEAKER_06 23:40

And that's a big problem with human nature, is we don't learn from others' mistakes to help prevent us from making them.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Uh well, it's it's a thing in entrepreneurship where you're we're a limited number, right? We're a small demographic, people who are willing to take that risk and push for something they believe in, are passionate about, and they want to make it happen. So oftentimes we're not big on asking for help. I was the king of not asking for help. Okay, as I always tell people, I had billionaire clients trying to help me. I'm like, well, what do you know? You don't build water features, you just own manufacturing plants and professional sports teams and everything else. But what do you know? Right? That's that's the level of stupid I operated at. Okay. And it's just because I was just so arrogant and prideful that I just I'm doing this on my own. I'm gonna take all the credit. Took me twice as long, it's twice as hard, but I did it. But again, that that that identity aspect and the humility that God brought, just taking everything away, which I tell people, I go, that's the only thing that could have happened. There was no saving the business. Like if if I didn't lose everything, I could have never been where I am today. This is a good thing.

SPEAKER_06 24:59

Sometimes it takes that, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 25:01

Well, it's it's you know, it's what they say. You know, God can't put anything into a closed fist. Right. If that hand doesn't stay open, if you don't let stuff come and go, okay, God can't help you. You know, he wants to help you. He can take well, take that out and put a bigger thing in there, right? You're faithful in the little while, he's ready to give you the much. Right? But if you're holding on to the little like it's a death grip, okay, you have no room for the much. Right? So you you're impeding God's God's will for you, right? His his plan for you. So it's really important to do that.

SPEAKER_06 25:34

That's well put. I like that. Now, what is the name of the book again? So I can write it down.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

I didn't have a escape escape the owner prison.

SPEAKER_06 25:43

Escape the owner prism.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

Prison, like the prison. Prison.

SPEAKER_06 25:49

Okay, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

Because that's what a business can be for most people. They don't they don't they don't define it that way, but it's a prison. You know, you're told what to do, when to do, even though you think you're your own boss. You know, you don't have control of your time, you're at everyone else's disposal all the time. I mean, it's far worse than being an employee if you let it, if you don't understand what you have to do to correct that. So, yeah, my big thing was really how do I how do I help people not make that mistake? Take 20 years to figure it out. Okay, because what people do, Joseph, is they work really hard the first two years, and you have to. There's no secret sauce to not work really hard your first two years, wear a lot of hats, get this thing off the launch pad. Right.

SPEAKER_06 26:30

Most businesses fail within the first three because they may have missed some of the work they needed to put in.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

Right. So, so what I found was that's all good. They're working hard for two years, but then next thing you know, 10 years has gone by and they've repeated the first two five times. That's the hamster wheel, right? That's the prison. They're still doing everything. They haven't delegated, they haven't built systems, haven't done processes, they don't have a true vision of where they're going, what they want, how long they want to do this, how much do they want for it when they get done. They don't have any of that. They just have, I'm making a little bit more money now. And look, I have trucks and I have this and I have that and this, and they have things, they don't have time, but they got things. Okay, so they they missed their kids' first soccer game, you know, never gonna get that back. Okay, that kind of stuff is all gone, right? All because you're gonna work for that freedom that you never get. Okay, so that's the trap, right? That's the prison. So so again, I got that book out, I became a bestseller, which was awesome. Uh, I was helping a lot of people, I was coaching people, starting to really kind of you know create programs for them and really turn their businesses around. And I I started to realize to go, you know what I'm really doing? I'm saving families. I'm saving families because a business, I can give it a label, I can call it, it's like a mistress. It it wants to be with you all the time. It it wants you thinking about it in the middle of the night, it wants you showing up where you're gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_06 27:53

It wants you to leave your family forever.

SPEAKER_00 27:57

Exactly. It's gonna, it's always gonna be that distraction. And and time time ways for no one, right? Like I said, oh great, your kids are one, they don't you know, they don't even know I'm anybody. Well, all of a sudden they're five and then they're ten, then they're fifteen, and they're gone. And they've never really seen their daddy, don't know who they are, you don't know what they do, they don't have memories, and you've done all this for for them.

SPEAKER_06 28:18

You didn't have the important uh uh dad figure, right? The priorities to be the good example to help shape them as humans.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

Yeah, because again, it more is caught than taught.

SPEAKER_06 28:32

Yeah, you know, I love that you use that phrase. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

What what you're gonna see as they grow, and if they get married, great, and they have kids. You you know what you're gonna see? You're gonna see you in them. They're gonna do the same thing, they're gonna, unless they intentionally say, I'm not gonna be like my dad, I'm gonna I'm gonna be around for my family.

SPEAKER_06 28:54

But like that all the Harry Chapin songs in the cradle comes to mind. We all need to learn. Now, Max Washington, I never had any kids, so I never had any of that uh issue or situation, and of course I look back and at times I'm glad we didn't because now I don't have the money to help raise them on disability, but it you know, uh my life is lacking for that.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

Yeah, yeah. Children are a blessing. I mean, it's it's Psalm 127, right? I mean, uh, you know, blessed is a man's hand is, you know, is they're like arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior. Blessed a man whose quiver is full of them. You know, now that's cool. All my kids are arrows, but you know what you gotta do with your kids, right? You know what you do with arrows? They don't do much in the quiver. You gotta you gotta send them down range. Okay, and a lot of people have forgotten that today. Why is your why is your 30-year-old living in your basement? Okay, we launch arrows. You said it that me. Yeah, but yeah.

SPEAKER_06 30:05

Again, yeah, it goes back to like I said earlier, the poor will always okay, human condition, human nature, especially if we allow them to be lazy and Atlas Shrug, right? More and more people wanting to climb in the cart, and less and less people able to pull it.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Yeah, it's it's it's you know, I think personally, it in our country in the US alone, probably worldwide, but really here we the the biggest plague is fatherlessness. Okay, that there's no role models, there's no men in the home. Yeah, the whole new family. Exactly. So there's no nuclear family, so there's no role model. So you have young, angry boys growing up who become angry men, okay, and they're purposeless, right? They just drift, they have nothing, you know, they're playing video games all the time. They're they're doing whatever they want, they don't want kids, or or even on the lighter side, they're now they have, and I'm just gonna, I don't care what people think, they got their little fur babies, and they're cats and dogs and strollers, and they're pushing them around like they're human beings, and they have stickers on the car that say I'm a dog mom, and all it's like a a a dog mom. Put the two together so you're a dog. Are you a dog? Is that what you or is I'm confused here? Like, and and then they get all ticked off at you, and that's okay. But I'm like, your priorities are so screwed up. Okay, you're unwilling, and I've been seeing some strong Christian believers that I wouldn't bring kids into this world. And I just look at them, I go, what are you talking about? That's that's like one of the biggest things that we can do. Again, back to the arrows. If you're not gonna raise up children the way they should go from a biblical worldview, and then send them out, how are you gonna change anything? Your cats in the in in the in the strollers, they're not gonna change the world. Okay, your little fur babies aren't doing jack for the world. You you are commission.

SPEAKER_06 32:09

They may help with stress at home at times, and full disclosure, I have cats. But I wanted kids, it just didn't happen. It's not like well, you're saying those who are avoiding children like the plague for some reason. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:27

Let's be honest. Our birth rate replacement replacement rate is under 2.1 in this country now. We're not getting as bad as Europe.

SPEAKER_06 32:35

Well, I'd like to say, you know, there are 8 billion people on the planet. Now, I no, I don't buy into the Georgia Stones overpopulated population, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We have progressed as a society, and as a species, we're able to grow more food, and we we have the food to feed people, but people are still starving. So the like New York City or Tokyo on the microbasis might be overcrowded, but as a planet, it's not overpopulated. But at the same time, as a Christian, I don't adhere to the only purpose in life is to self-perpetuate the species. I don't buy that. We if we want kids, if we're able to take kids take care of kids, which at one time I was, but we just never had the kids, then that's great. That's wonderful to be part of a fulfilled life. But if you're not ready, if you yourself never really grew up, if you cannot afford the kids, don't bring a kid in the world because that's not the only meaning to life. In my mind, anyway.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

Yeah, it's um if you look in the Bible, how many women were suffering from barren, from being barren? Right? It was it was you know almost considered a curse, right? They were looked down on everything else back then. What I'm saying today is, you know, and and again, like to your point, I'm not ready, I'm not mature, I'm not this, you're never ready. I'm never ready to be able to do that. Well, I guess that's true, yeah. Never ready, and until you are, okay, if you're gonna wait till you're ready, you're never gonna have children. Because you want your time, and it's all about you. It's it's total, it's it's it's total vanity.

SPEAKER_06 35:14

Okay, oh, and that's you know self-reflection, full disclosure. Uh I see now I didn't get married till I was 36. My wife was 23 when we got married. So at that time, indeed, it was then all about her and the nice toys and the nice vacations, and you know, we'll get to kids eventually, but then I got sick and I couldn't work anymore, and then all that went out the window when she decided to move on. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

So I'll give you my story. Okay, so I was 34 when I got married. My wife was 25. Um, five years goes by.

SPEAKER_06 35:55

Similar situation.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Five years goes by, we're having trouble conceiving, you know. So, hey, let's go in the foster care program. Maybe we can help some kids, maybe we can get an adoption, we can do that. So we do that, we wait six months, you know, we're going through the classes, doing all that. Yeah, a little baby boy shows up one day old. Okay, oh great. Okay, now we'll do in vitro. We did that, we had the baby girl nine months later. And the day we brought her home, the phone rang, and it was the mother, it was the the agency said the mother of our first baby boy had another had a had a baby boy. Said we'll take him. So we got him. Then we did in vitro, and then we had twin boys, right? Nine months later. All right. So, like, and then the phone rings again. Hey, the mother of the other two had a baby girl. We said, We'll take her. Now we have six kids in three and a half years. Okay. Do you think I was ready for that, Joseph?

SPEAKER_06 36:47

I don't think anybody could be ready for that. But yes.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

Is that inexpensive or expensive to do with six?

SPEAKER_06 36:55

Oh, that's certainly obviously expensive, yes.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Right. But now I just lost everything, surely. And so at that time my kids were four years and younger, I lost everything. Was I ready for that? I wasn't ready for that.

SPEAKER_05 37:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

Did I have my what did I how would I make it? How am I going to do it? Should I give the kids up for adoption? Should I just abandon them and go live on my own because I'm a failed parent?

SPEAKER_06 37:18

Certainly can't do that, right? Right now.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

So so just walking through that process turned around again, like I said a few minutes ago, they've all graduated, college, you know, graduated, you know, high school, homeschooled them, they're in the Marine Corps, they're they're out working, they got great jobs, they're all doing their things, right? All because and I was never ready. So that's my point. If you you're never going to be ready, okay. I don't it doesn't matter what the situation is. If you're 16 and you got pregnant and you have a child, you're gonna be fine. You're gonna be fine, okay. Work it because there's no greater incentive than to feed a helpless child who's yours and to bring them up and work for them and do it. Okay, so I don't that's just my my that's my encouragement, Joseph. Like people are like they're so like everything's gotta be perfect. What what world do you live in?

SPEAKER_06 38:12

Okay, there's no yeah, I say over and over there's no such thing as perfect, especially on this fallen world. And yet, indeed, I kind of fell in that trap, although I it would have been different had I not got sick. I do think we would have had children, but indeed, I was in that trap of waiting, you know, wanting my wife who grew up somewhat poor to have things and be able to do things before we had a kid, and then my health went bad and threw it all out the window.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

Yeah, so think of this like again, I was wasn't until I was 34, right? Like I met my wife, and like three months later, I proposed, and we're married six months later. And our story is similar. But but the thing, the thing about that was I'm building the business, I was focused on me. Make the business. So now I've met my wife, and she comes in and thinks everything's great, making a ton of money. So here's just a a business view, okay. When when I got married and someone comes into your business life, meaning, you know, is you're a part of my family, you know, and everything's great. Okay, that's easy, that's nice, right? But then jump ahead a few years. What happens in 09? Right? So nine years later, we have nothing. Now my wife has to go from coming in when everything was good, she's never built a business, never seen a business built, right? Doesn't understand what that takes. So buckle up, buddy. Okay, because it was ugly. Okay. I mean, what we had to do and scrape by and do all this stuff and figure out our way and everything else was that is that is that is separating the draws from the gold. Okay. 26 years we've been married, still together, all our kids, everything else, because she got through that, or we got through it, but really because you know, she it was hard. Okay, I don't have the exact words for it, but it's it was hard. But but we can look back now and go, man, that was amazing.

Marriage Work Grace And King Jesus

SPEAKER_06 40:12

But you both had the commitment to work together, because that's a part of I go over and over. Relationships, my whole life and living series of books. Relationships are work, just like jobs are work. You have to be willing to put in the time, the effort, the energy. You have to be willing to do the work, and so many marriages fall apart because one or the other, or both don't want to do the work.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Yeah, I told uh a young man who got married. Um, I used to train him in cross-country and stuff. He's on the homeschool team and stuff. And uh he's been married like in two years now, yeah. He's like 21 or wherever he is, two. And and when he first got married, I was I was where he's working, I walked in and I said, Oh man, congratulations. Oh, thanks. I go, I go, can I give you some some marriage advice? And he goes, I go, probably everyone is, right? He goes, Yeah, okay. I go, well, marriage is work. And he goes, Yeah, and I go, I and I, but I didn't finish, I went forever. It's work forever. Yes, yeah, my man. So, like, understand, like, you're never done working on your marriage. Okay, so he took me and goes, You haven't heard that, have you? He goes, Nope.

SPEAKER_06 41:34

Well, I agree, and I you know what I blame the concept of the soulmate being created. Again, there's no such thing as perfect, there's no such thing as a perfect match. There's no such thing. Well, there's one if you agree with another human a hundred percent of the time, you're not a thinker, you're a sheeple, you're malleable, you just go with the flow, you're not you, you're allowing yourself to be a copy of somebody else. There's gonna be disagreements there if there isn't, something ain't right.

SPEAKER_00 42:17

Right. It's uh you you you do have a soulmate, and that's Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

Yeah, thank you. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

Yes, and you have to if you don't have that yet, that's something you need to work on. Okay, let your soulmate focus on that, okay. Because if and and that goes for your spouse, they need to be doing the same thing. Okay, you both can they Jesus can be both your soulmates, you know, and if you can do that, right you can menace your toi in that situation is good, yeah. Right, but you can uh you'll you you'll see you're gonna have a far healthier relationship, you know, because because if you're living for your spouse, and you have to understand what what I mean by this, if everything is for them, okay, and only them, and you want them to be that soulmate, every human being is gonna disappoint you. Including her or him. They're gonna disappoint you, and not just once. They're gonna disappoint you a lot, okay. And this is where you if you don't have that relationship with Christ, you don't even understand grace. You know what happens in a relationship when you don't have any grace? Yeah, it's pretty short. Okay, it's a pretty short relationship. Okay, so you have to learn that from our creator and be able to bring that into that marriage, and that's what and you're still gonna work, okay? It's not all sunshine and rainbows, right? I mean, I'm talking this, but you have to understand that position, you know, and um again, whether you're in business, whether you have jobs, it doesn't matter. Like you got to be on the same team, you know, working for the same thing. That's that's the big thing.

SPEAKER_06 43:49

As the joke goes, there's no I and team, but I add to that joke, or I add to that and make it a joke, but there is a hole in the A, if you get my meaning. If it's about the I rather than the T at work, it has to be about a collective. I'm very anti-communist, I'm against forced communalism, but when you join a job, you join a team that has to pull together. You have to want to voluntarily become part of that team, not forced to be part of that biblical community as opposed to worldly communism.

SPEAKER_00 44:34

Anyway, it's you know, it's team Jesus. It's the body, it's the body of Christ. Your church, that church, them, all Christian, all true believers, we're a team. We're all working for the same end, right? To witness, to do the Great Commission, and then you know, and finishing. Try to make things better on this fall. We've got to finish strong. We gotta finish, we gotta finish well. A lot of guys, a lot of men, especially. I I talk a lot about this with guys and stuff too, and my men's ministry and everything. It's just you're not finishing well. You started out kind of good, and you went kind of wonky, but now you got great gangbusters at the start, but yeah, you're they're none so right righteous as the newly converted, right? That's that's that's that's the thing. Yes, but you gotta finish well. You know, if you're all ended up in the you know, in in despair and you're broke and you're divorced, and your kids don't talk to you, and all that stuff, but you thought you were this amazing person who worked out a lot and you're fit and you made a lot of money, but your whole family life is absolute shambles. There is whole, yeah. You know, so we we have to we have to focus on that, and that's what the the work is, right? So another really catchy little saying the only place success comes before work is I can do that and work a weld or I can I can create great things and move down boulders like all that wherever my gifting was I can I can't like created it up and future and recognition all that we start doing different things.

SPEAKER_06 46:40

I can create others and it worked people doing it creating anything from this nothing working out there and we can help out your reminding me of the Robert Homer remake of the people I'm talking about yeah we need holders we need we need holders we need for audio for your time it was a great yeah oh my gosh we could talk for three hours and then the episode would be way too long for anyone to pay attention to make it three so we we have to have a reasonable conclusion I usually shoot for thirty minutes sometimes a little longer sometimes my longest show is like an hour and fifteen I don't know how some of these people do three hours every day like Monday through Friday but you know that's them that's their show they also don't have the health constraints I do so need to keep I try to do it so hey you can listen over lunch right that's just my niche I try to film anyway we hit the good points that needed to be hit so we're gonna I think so all right thanks again Richard Walsh not related as far as we know to John Walsh to go back to the top show take care God bless brother and sharp both figurative and literal forging a better world a Christian way leads us to a better day got a Bible on the table steel sparks on the floor hammering in the distance while your words cut to my core you're sanding down my pride following all my fear in the fire of your kind of taste If we honest comes to taste everyone just showed it to grass don't for us bear making the go we're gonna call my brother higher work by hand we don't have to stand up what they say good people do another keeps turn a dark strange plate good folks a year for a saving grave a ship has sailed they say on a troubled tide but what do you do today with nowhere to hide questions I've been asking all my writing to watch your move just what about is it you're willing try to do evil prevail when good just sleep lights sometimes fades while the darkness creeps What are you doing now?

Song Outro And Subscribe Request

SPEAKER_04 54:36

Tell me, tell me how will you take a mile for losing screams a broken sound lost in bedarms on half below the ground they say it's all lost cause a losing fight but what about your applause?

SPEAKER_06 55:02

For what is right Only thing it takes for shadow to prevail is a crowd of quiet hearts scroll inside then turn away stay that's the world is torn apart as the rest of your We just watch it stay on this falling ground with standing still what do you do what do you do it so hot flash it back at you yeah in the mirror in the silence you already know is true if you breathe and you're required and so with your life every minute that you're given takes a sight Sunday thought coffee steam in quiet streets headlines heavy people breaking when no one sees so I lift their names up every burden I can't fix let it rise like incense every herd into your hands I'm sending starts impressive heads over every broken heart every family every soldier every shadow and star when this world crowns its pretenders I remember what they preached our fathers wrote it down forever no kings but King Jesus over me Jesus is king Jesus is kings Jesus is king whole church steep cross still reaching past the skies ancient promise still the answer to our cries from the fields and valley force to the pure feeling in same confession on all is same open foundations of due to your Christian beliefs and unless decrease no king for King Jesus over me like and subscribe to Christitutionalist politics podcast and share episodes we need your help thank you for having tuned in to another Christitutionalist podcast show I really appreciate that you stop by again please like share subscribe we need you to help spread the Christitutionalist movement. Thank you again take care God bless love you all