Growing Together
Step into a virtual garden of spiritual growth and community connection with the "Growing Together" podcast. This podcast is a nurturing space for individuals seeking to deepen their faith, cultivate relationships, and explore the boundless beauty of a shared spiritual journey.
Each episode of "Growing Together" is a breath of fresh air, where Pastor Michael, Syd, Nic, Pastor Holly, and Pastor Roger try to navigate the twists and turns of life while staying rooted in faith. Their warm and inviting presence makes you feel like you're sitting in a cozy living room, engaged in a heartfelt conversation with old friends.
Diving into topics ranging from personal growth and self-care to building resilient relationships and fostering a sense of community, the podcast aims to equip listeners with the tools to nurture their faith in all aspects of life. Through scripture readings, open discussions, and interviews with experts in various fields, "Growing Together" provides a holistic approach to spiritual development.
Whether you're a lifelong believer, a seeker on the spiritual path, or simply someone curious about how faith can shape lives, "Growing Together" offers a welcoming haven for everyone. Tune in during your morning routine, while taking a leisurely stroll, or even during a quiet moment of reflection – the podcast fits seamlessly into your daily life.
Join the "Growing Together" community and embark on a journey of discovery, growth, and genuine connection. In a world that can sometimes feel disconnected, this podcast reminds us that nurturing our faith and cultivating meaningful relationships can lead to a life that's deeply fulfilling and spiritually abundant. Subscribe now to start your journey of growing together in faith and fellowship.
Growing Together
What is your Faith Lineage?
What happens when a true crime mystery meets personal tales of family and faith? Join us as we unravel the intriguing case of a missing boy in Canada, revealing how miscommunications and belated search efforts add layers of complexity. Alongside this, we sprinkle in humor with our wild speculations about Bigfoot's involvement and share a laugh over a family member's light-hearted claim to royalty. Our conversation naturally flows into the intricacies of managing social media connections, especially the delicate dance of cleaning up a cluttered Facebook friend list.
Ever been caught in a neighborhood scam or faced the awkwardness of unfriending an acquaintance? You're not alone. We tackle these social media challenges head-on, with a dash of humor and personal anecdotes, including a quirky family scam story. As a palate cleanser, we take you on an amusing adventure to Family Dollar, where staying hydrated becomes a sweet tea saga. From there, our tales shift to the joys and mishaps of performing in nursing homes, donning Elvis jumpsuits, and the rollercoaster ride of buying and selling on eBay.
As the episode winds down, we reflect on generational faith and the unexpected twists that come with church community experiences. From the delightful chaos of childhood memories to the generational shifts in parenting and technology, we share stories that highlight the evolving landscape of family values and discipline. Our journey ends with a heartfelt prayer, capturing the essence of shared experiences and the hope for safe travels until our next gathering. Whether you're a fan of true crime, social media humor, or tales from the heart, this episode offers a blend of intrigue, laughter, and reflection.
it is called Somebody Knows Something and it's a true crime podcast. But the one that I'm listening to right now is about a little boy who went missing in Canada and just vanished. He was fishing with his dad, his siblings and his dad's friend. The little boy said he was done fishing, walked 15 feet away and just gone. Never saw him again. And it's such a confusing story to listen to because they don't tell you about the friend that was with them at all for the first four episodes. And then they introduce this guy and I'm like he's never been interviewed by the police. Nobody's ever asked him any questions. This is suspicious.
Speaker 2:I noticed there's a lot of true crime ones in canada.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, well yeah canada must be full of crime. Mounted police must not be very good at their job but and it's massive, and yeah, yeah well, that was the thing. They said that. So the dad noticed that he was missing and he said to the one son, hey, is adrian sleeping in the car? And the the kid said yeah, meaning what? Because apparently that's how you say yeah and say what in Canada, like eh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And so they say yeah. So dad hears yes, he's sleeping in the car. Brother means what did you say? Dad doesn't repeat himself. So it was hours before they even started looking for him. Oh, was hours before they even started looking for him, because they thought he was asleep in the car bad language, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:So we're at the point now where we're looking for a body, we're not looking for a little boy. I mean, it's been 47 years. At this point, something like that, they brought in cadaver dogs, which, by the way, I think is total bs. Um, what else have they done? Oh, uh, mediums and psychics total bs, but but like. So, yeah, they're searching nearby towns now to see if somebody abducted him and he's living there unbeknownst.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Bigfoot's hot Bigfoot. Yeah, I think he's hot in Canada. I think Bigfoot got him. Yeah, yeah, lazarus, you mean. Lazarus.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I was trying to think who.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 4:Lazarus, you mean? Yeah, I was trying to think who?
Speaker 1:Oh, man, oh goodness, Goodness, goodness, goodness, Well Dawn. Tonight was your topic. What was the Word? It for us? So that us dumb folk can jump on board.
Speaker 3:I just think like our lineage of religion in our family. So do you know how far back someone introduced religion to you or Christianity to you? Yeah, oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 6:Real quick. It's not a family history, but just how it came to us. Yes, personally.
Speaker 1:Okay, real quick. I've been told I don't know how true this is, nick, you will probably know this that if we all trace our heritage back far enough, we're all related to a president and or someone famous.
Speaker 4:I've heard that to a president and or someone famous. I've heard that. Yeah, I have heard that.
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 4:My grandmother swore we were related to Princess Diana. Yeah, you bet, maybe Because her mother's maiden name was Spencer yeah.
Speaker 1:There it is. It's got to be, it's got to be, it's got to be.
Speaker 4:Clayton grabbed a hold of that as a little boy and ran.
Speaker 1:I am royalty.
Speaker 3:And he believes that to this day. Oh goodness.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know if that's true or not, but yeah, I don't know. I just had somebody message me on Facebook and ask me why I unfriended them. That's awkward. No, I just ignore the message. It's not awkward for me at all.
Speaker 4:How did?
Speaker 1:they? Well, they probably went looking for me, and here's my theory on just.
Speaker 4:Facebook, but how do they message you?
Speaker 1:You can message people who aren't friends on Facebook.
Speaker 2:And then it'd come a message request. It becomes a message request.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so here's what I would say Typically on Facebook if you are not my friend in real life, you are not my friend on Facebook. I don't allow employees to be my friend on Facebook typically and this might sound harsh and I don't mean it to sound harsh but I'm just going to be honest with you. A lot of times when people leave the church, I unfriend them and it's not because I don't want to be friends with them on Facebook, but my connection to them is broken and so I don't care to see your stuff. I'm not a real friendly friend, I'm just not friendly friend like I'm just not.
Speaker 1:I'm just not well.
Speaker 4:So my 10-year reunion's coming up and I've never been to one, no, never planned to go to one, never ever well, so I don't know listen every time I get with the committee and help plan it and by the time I'm done planning it and I've spent time with them people, I don't want to go exactly well's the thing because I'm like one of the class officers, but like the president I'm not going to say any names, but in high school he was like so I'm like why are you running as class president if you don't want to do anything?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So he was like that at the five year, like well, I think it's stupid and we should have them vote. I'm like I agree, because a lot of people don't go to the five year. So we did that, we voted. Many people didn't want to have one, All right. So then we were like let's reevaluate, we're doing one for a 10 year.
Speaker 2:Well, no one said anything. No one said anything. So I'm like, ok, what's going on? So I messaged the one guy who's friends with the president Do you know if he? Do you have a phone number of his? He's like oh yeah, I don't think he wants to do it anymore, but I'm more than like happy to help you guys.
Speaker 2:I'm like OK, because at that point I already had the other officers you know, in line. But I was like but the thing is is I don't want to be in charge of it because I've got my sister's wedding. The girl that I, that's training me, just put in her two weeks notice and said she'll be kind of done around the springtime. I'm like I'm not doing, like no, I'm not gonna do all this on my side. I'm like I really hope that's not how it ends up, which it doesn't seem like it's going to so. But all that to say the 10-year reunion, like we made a Facebook page and I was going through all my lists, like of friends to invite people that graduated with me. There are so many people that I'm like I don't even know why I have you on here.
Speaker 1:I've talked I don't do it once or twice in my life.
Speaker 2:So now I'm gonna have to go back like I don't know a week from now. I mean, my eyes were strained. I'm like I just need to go delete people yeah, I think I have.
Speaker 1:I think I have like 500 facebook friends now and some of them are connections through like el World. So yeah yeah, people I trade with and sell stuff to, things like that. So like those people, but they're in a whole different. I don't follow them on Facebook. I don't see their stuff.
Speaker 2:And a lot of the times, like with an algorithm that, like you, don't even see their stuff. That's what I'm saying. I'm like I didn't even know I had them on Facebook. No, and I got this.
Speaker 1:This is we're on a tangent, but Facebook I don't think, or I think, let me back up. So we all learned that Mark Zuckerberg is now going to. We're not fact checking Facebook posts anymore. We're going to have community notes. So if somebody posts something that's not true or is whatever is offensive to somebody else, you make notes on it, but you're not allowed, like they won't take it down anymore.
Speaker 1:However, I think that they should implement a new one where they fact check every post that an old person makes, because if I see one more share on one of those fake posts about a lost baby, missing dog, oh, or a person with dementia, yes, like the, the houses that are for sale with the very obviously photoshop for sale sign in front of them, and people share these things and then get scammed and I'm like. I'm constantly like hey, this isn't real, hey, this isn't real. And people are like oh, thanks for telling me, I didn't know. How do you not know? They should all just have to be checked. Yeah, fun, they should have to be filtered through a young person before they're allowed to be posted so fun fact my grandma's house that she now lives in.
Speaker 2:It was on up for auction, but they knew before it was even that it was put on auction like my, my mom and dad were like, let's go buy that.
Speaker 2:So they did, yeah, the day of the auction. So one of these scammers like went and got those pictures from online but then other pictures from like a house that was like brand new, like yours or something, and put them together and was saying that it's for rent. And we're like you are a scammer like my. My stepmom like messaged I'm like listen here, lady, I'm the owner of this.
Speaker 1:Like you better take this down it's funny but I, so I struggle with that and I unfollow people who post those things like I don't want to see because I don't need to be involved in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're crazy yeah yeah, so yeah, because you can still have them as a friend.
Speaker 1:But yeah, yeah but I learned I don't typically do that. I have one person in the community who is a self-proclaimed pillar of the community and I unfollowed them and I wish I would have unfriended them back then, but I didn't, and now I feel like I'm in too deep to unfriend them. Wait, you're going to end up in a box? No, no, it's more of a like under concrete, yeah, under under asphalt, under asphalt, no, I feel like there are some people that I've had connections with in the past that, like the the person who messaged me just now is a past congregant, but they haven't been around since Florence was here, so it's been a long time, and if they're listening to this, they're going to hear this for the first time.
Speaker 1:I never really liked them anyway. They made no, they made me uncomfortable. Like it's not, like, oh, I think you're stupid or you're ugly or you smell bad. They made me uncomfortable. They would say things and they would get too close, and it was just like that little bit of like uncomfortable. Yeah, it's hard to make me uncomfortable too, because, like, I don't really care, I'll walk through the street naked, I really don't care, but like just the I don't know, it was really hard to describe so.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, I was like yeah, yeah yeah, my grandma said well, I hope these people a family dollar weren't listening to you guys.
Speaker 1:I went in there the other day. Okay, here's a new one. We're going to do an update of the Family Dollar update now. Okay, so I walk in the other day and I was like I really needed something to drink. We were at a sweet tea at our house. I drank three glasses of water for the day. God knows that's enough. I decided I was going to go get myself a 12-pack of Coke, and then, of course, all of the kids want snacks and yadda, yadda. So I'm in there with an armful of stuff and I walk up front and the girl comes down to the second register to wait on me, which is never open, right, like it's always the first register. She comes down to the second register and she waits on me. But I noticed there are four people leaned something and the one guy looked borderline homeless. The other lady was I think I know who you mean.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So he looked borderline homeless. The other lady I'm not sure if she lived in Jenayton or this looked technical. It looked like they should have had a professional is what it looked like to me, so I walked by and I jokingly said there's always something going on in this place.
Speaker 1:Like every time I come through there's something happening. And the lady goes yeah, she's like today we're trying to fix this tagging gun. And she holds up this tagging gun. It's in a million pieces, like there's springs popping out of it and they're trying to put it back together and I'm thinking throw it in the trash, buy a new one Like it. And I'm thinking, throw it in the trash, buy a new one Like it. Can't be $15.
Speaker 5:Well, they probably was putting tape in it and it just blew apart.
Speaker 1:No, not tape, like a tagging gun, like the little like throw it in the trash, throw it in the trash. But anyhow, I was like I left just shaking my head, just like what is happening in this place, and you moved there.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like have you ever what's that? Oh, there was an old movie, black and white movie Shoot. I can't remember the name of it, but it was. This is not me being politically correct. This is me talking about. Oh, I think it was called Freak Show and it was about people who were side shows in circuses and they're gobble gobble, gobble gobble. One of us, one of us. Anybody remember that? No, okay.
Speaker 6:Was it really old? It's really old. It's like black and white, like stupid old. I think it's called Freaks. Freaks, that's it. That's exactly what it is it? It's out there.
Speaker 1:Anyhow, back to our lineage conversation. I feel like now that I've moved to Jenayton, I just have to slow down a little bit.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Expect less, expect less. That is a weird, weird situation. Only at the Family Dollar, the post office, those people are pretty normal. Well, okay, most of them are pretty normal. Most of them are pretty normal. Yeah, when you go to the family dollar, though.
Speaker 2:You just got to be like all right, this is what it is. Have you met teddy yet?
Speaker 1:I don't know who teddy is. Teddy the long-haired one, yep sure have.
Speaker 2:He sang me a song while he brought me my packages very friendly yes, very talk so much I love him, god love him, but man he comes through if you're listening, I don't think he does, but teddy he I came in, there was a lady standing there.
Speaker 1:He she handed the yellow slips. I walk in, he takes my yellow slips and I think that was the time that jarvie followed me in and he's like, oh, I ain't doing three. And he whistles and he walks back there and he comes back out the lady who was in front of me. He makes weight and gives me my packages first. It wasn't intentional, it was just like, oh sorry, his are first. And I was like this guy he just can't.
Speaker 2:So he's sorry off topic, but he's like a retired Marine.
Speaker 1:Gotcha.
Speaker 2:And he just does this for fun. And he's worked in Philly, worked in Jeanette, worked in Bowerston maybe not in Denison, but he just loves it, he loves his job.
Speaker 1:Fun's maybe not the word I would use for working at the post office, but I mean hey.
Speaker 2:I'm like, hey, I'm Teddy, good on you, cause.
Speaker 1:Nope, not for me.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:All right, we can go back now. Lineage. That's what we were talking about. We are not cords all wrapped up around my neck.
Speaker 2:What made you? What sparked this?
Speaker 3:I was thinking about my grandmothers, and that's as far back as I know. You know my great, both of my grandmothers. I didn't know any of my great grandparents or anything like that, but both of my grandmothers were Christian. My mom's mom, she was a seventh day-day Adventist, so she went on Saturday. You didn't buy anything on Saturday. You didn't do your cooking on Saturday. You didn't eat any pork, you didn't do any of that stuff.
Speaker 4:And she drank her Postum, didn't she.
Speaker 1:Yes, she did. What is that?
Speaker 3:Because you didn't drink caffeine. She didn't drink coffee.
Speaker 4:It's like an artificial coffee kind of like remember the old Sanka decaffeinated. No yeah, we're telling our age here, it kind of looked like that.
Speaker 1:It sounds terrible.
Speaker 3:I think it's made out of like nuts or something. I have no idea, but yes, she did.
Speaker 5:Oh they made it out of nut shells.
Speaker 1:They had like yeah, like choc-full of nuts or something like that. Is that? Yeah, that sounds terrible. I'd rather lick the bottom of somebody's foot. That's gross.
Speaker 6:Instant coffee is the worst.
Speaker 1:My grandpa drinks instant coffee all the time. He makes like a regular pot of coffee and he usually has one or two cups of that in the morning. They may have a Keurig now, but I remember that he used to do that. He would come in the house through the day because he worked outside almost all the time. He'd come in and he would make himself a cup of instant coffee and he would take that spoon and just scoop those granules in there. I'm like just drink the coffee grounds. It's got to be about the same.
Speaker 6:It dissolves.
Speaker 2:They make it in packets now, yeah, I heard.
Speaker 4:It's like a single Like a tea bag.
Speaker 1:It sounds awful. I'll stick to my regular coffee.
Speaker 4:I'll stick to my normal coffee. I remember I took some of those to Haiti because I was so worried about going to Haiti and not having coffee. Dumb me, I didn't know that some of the best coffee beans are all that in.
Speaker 1:Haiti yeah, but the thing is, the more powerful they get, the worse off you might be.
Speaker 5:And in.
Speaker 3:Haiti you might be a little too many steps from a bathroom.
Speaker 4:Dig a hole, dig a hole. Yeah, and many did Find a bush. No don't wipe with that it's itchy.
Speaker 1:It's itchy, all right. So you're saying great, no, just my grandmother, your grandmother, your grandmother.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I didn't have any family that I knew, any of my greats, nobody lived long enough so. But and then my grandmother, who was Seventh adventist, as, as she aged and couldn't get out of the house anymore, she was a ptl. Jimmy baker said his name jimmy swagger, no, jimmy baker.
Speaker 1:Oh man, tammy faye, tammy faye, oh tammy faye yes, she was a ptl I used to joke that it always looked like she walked through a Maybelline windstorm. Somebody shot her in the face with a makeup bazooka. They made a movie about her or a TV show, didn't they? I think they made a movie about their whole experience.
Speaker 6:I haven't seen that yet I should watch that yeah, I haven't either.
Speaker 5:It's got to be good, it's got to be.
Speaker 1:It's not on your watch, no, it was somebody coming in and it's Easton. Tonight is dance, and so Emmett's allowed to stay home by himself, but Easton can't stay there with him because he doesn't listen to nothing. So Alyssa drops Easton off here, takes Adeline to dance. So house update we almost have a basement done, although never met anybody who hangs drywall slower than the people who are hanging drywall in my house. I hung all the drywall in my old house by myself well, not by myself me and my dad, and did it in day and a half. These guys were there all day today there were six of them all day today and got barely haven't even fully finished one room okay, my quick.
Speaker 3:You getting paid hourly? I don't know if they're getting paid hourly or not.
Speaker 1:My guess is, their next job is outside and it's cold, so they're like nah, we're going to take this one.
Speaker 4:What time do they?
Speaker 1:start 8 o'clock oh okay. But they took a two-hour lunch today.
Speaker 4:Oh well, I swear, because any of the most drywallers oh yeah, they don't start it until 10 and they quit at 3.
Speaker 2:3 o'clock, because it's more off, and then they ask you for a car ride home in my situation. I've got drywall all over my seat and I'm like no.
Speaker 1:I have. So the guy who's doing my basement build out is an Amish contractor. I've known him for a long time, super nice guy, and he subcontracts this drywall crew. He'll hang the drywall but he doesn't finish it, and so, because this was a slightly larger job, he just had them hang it, finish it and then he moved on to the next project. When they're done hanging and finishing, he'll come back paint, put in, trim, all of that stuff. So it just kind of it keeps him in rotation.
Speaker 2:So they weren't finishing it today, just hanging? No, they haven't even hung a whole room yet. How many people?
Speaker 1:Six people, no there were eight total when I left at 8 o'clock, but I'm assuming the first two guys were just there to get the crew started and then they bounced out, but there were six guys there hanging drywall.
Speaker 2:Are they insulating it or anything? It was already insulated.
Speaker 1:It's already done. Yeah, I bet it's hourly, it's already done so it's rough stuff, but hopefully by the end of February we'll have a basement finished. I ordered carpet today.
Speaker 4:So I'm going to get it done sooner rather than later. Are you doing a family room down?
Speaker 1:there too. So when you go down to the bottom of the steps, it's going to be one big, long open room, um, there's going to be homeschool space down there in that space, and then the other side will be a family room, toy room space, um, and then emmett's bedroom, and then my office will be down there as well, and then, um, we will eventually finish the bathroom down there next. So we haven't done that yet, um, but we're we know're going to have to cut up the floor in order to put a tub in. So it was like an extra $15,000 to do that, so we decided to wait. All the equity from the old house is gone at this point, it's all it's all in this project.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, we were we, but we were thankful for that because it allowed us to do this job and not it doesn't it hasn't taken any of our money.
Speaker 6:That's quote unquote.
Speaker 1:We were able to to just flip that. So yeah, beth, your turn.
Speaker 4:My turn.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oops, I broke my pen.
Speaker 4:So my grandmother, she always went to the first Christian church here in New York. So and I didn't don't remember yeah, I don't remember because they died when she was little Her parents also went there.
Speaker 1:You said she died when she was little.
Speaker 4:No, her parents died when she was little. Oh, I was like, wait a second.
Speaker 5:I thought I was hearing things. Yeah, I might have said that, yeah, you did.
Speaker 4:Like, her mom died when she was three and her dad died when she was five. Oh my gosh but there was like 11 kids all throughout. Who?
Speaker 1:raised her.
Speaker 4:The older ones.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so she was three and my Uncle Lee was five when her mom died.
Speaker 1:Goodness gracious. So how old was the oldest then when dad died? Seven.
Speaker 6:One of them was married Okay okay, so they're old enough, all right yeah, I mean they were like I was like we're talking like 13 years old.
Speaker 1:They just took over the mortgage ever. They're just living in the house, it's fine.
Speaker 2:Aunt kathy basically did that to uncle brian and aunt gay really because their mom died when they were young yes and then when, then, dad died because aunt kathy's one of the older ones. Yes and gay and brian were younger.
Speaker 4:Yes, so so, and my grandpa's mom so would have been my great grandma patterson.
Speaker 1:I always called her grandma in the little house because her house was little, and that's what I remember, do we all have nicknames like that for our grandparents, because doesn't chase have one that's like grandpa on the farm or something like that that's not on a farm Grandpa.
Speaker 4:Walliver yeah, yeah, but I don't ever remember her going to church and then my dad's parents. They were Moravian, so when I was little I went to the First Christian until I was like five or six and all my friends were going to the Methodist. So that's where we started going.
Speaker 1:The first Christian church probably had red carpet back then, probably. It has a burgundy colored carpet through the whole sanctuary. I mean it is red.
Speaker 2:The one behind Papa John's no.
Speaker 1:Across the street from the police station.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:I had a friend get married in there and I was like, wow, that is some carpet.
Speaker 4:And they do communion every Sunday.
Speaker 2:Do they?
Speaker 1:really Wow.
Speaker 2:With the Moravian side? Did they have a Moravian star? My grandma had one too, because her mom was Moravian.
Speaker 1:Side note, you know why they do communion every Sunday the pastor can't write a long enough message to get through service, because, see, that's the good thing, about communion for me, Like sometimes I'm like you know what it's a communion Sunday?
Speaker 2:Hallelujah. I just need to highlight my keynotes. Yeah, just get through the notes, baby.
Speaker 6:Oh geez.
Speaker 4:So I know like on my mom's side it was you know back, you know two generations, but my dad's side was, you know, back you know two generations, but my dad's side I really don't know gotcha okay nick it had to be my mom.
Speaker 6:Uh, for me, my earliest memories are, you know, uh, I can clearly remember my mom having us do our prayers every night, you know, and her dad had passed on just a few years before, so I remember her always including him in those prayers, so it was like my mom was always very cognizant of making sure we knew who he was you know because we never got a chance to meet him, yeah, and of course, um, he was a, I think he was a pretty religious guy and they were italians.
Speaker 6:They were like pure italians. You know, their their last name were pancher, which I think that was short for like panchereo oh, okay like straight from italy. Yeah, and uh. So they were catholics and I think I was even baptized catholic, um, but yeah, she would would tell us things about him, and she kept the Catholic cross that they took off of his body when he passed away.
Speaker 6:I guess it was the last thing they took from his body when he passed away and she kept it and when I got old enough she gave it to me, so things like that I remember very early I was kind of like a kickstart to having that relationship. Um, so yeah, my mom was always um, cause she was a stay at home mom, so that was cool. You know, dad was gone a lot of the time. He worked a lot, so she was always there. So it was I don't think we ever missed that you our prayers at night, since she was always there. So I think that was for me that was the beginning.
Speaker 6:And then I think we went to the Methodist church on the west side in Yerkesville. That's probably the first church I remember going to regularly. So then we'd go to the Sunday school and we went there quite regularly for, I think for a couple of years at least. And you know, I don't remember why we quit going there, but there always was a certain Catholic flavor in the house because, like I said, my mom was Italian, you know, her dad was, you know, italian and, like I said, these are people came straight from the country, so that. But in my dad's side of the family I know my dad was a fairly religious person, but he didn't talk about it. You know he it's just kind of the way he was. You know, my dad probably for me my dad probably exhibited more Christian characteristics than most people I've ever met in my life. He was just so patient, so kind.
Speaker 3:You know he hit on all of those all the fruits of faith he just did it, but but he never really talked much about right my dad's exactly you know, he just, he just did it, but he never really talked much about right, my dad's exactly you know he just he just did it.
Speaker 6:It's just who he was um. So my mom was kind of the one who kind of did the you know all that stuff with us.
Speaker 2:But I think that's also like a men are strong feelings, yeah thing, you know, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah so yeah, you know, um, so yeah, uh, going any back farther than that.
Speaker 6:Like I said, it was just my mom was always really good about teaching us things about her family and how they came up, where they came from and you know, and there was always kind of you know she would talk about God a lot but, like I said, there was always a certain because I think she she even had her Bible might even been a Catholic Bible.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 6:But and I'm trying to think, I think it was called like the way or something. Do you guys remember that? I mean it was like thicker. I think this thing was thick and one of us still has it and it just has like highlights and writings all over the place, as you could tell she she read it quite a bit, but uh, but it was like a big paperback and I think it was called the way and it was blue. I remember it was blue and it almost looked like something that a young person would have bought for themselves to read and it's probably something that she kept gotcha gotcha, you know, all through her life and yeah, and continued to read um, so yeah, I mean for me that's, that's basically, uh, what did it for me?
Speaker 6:and then, uh, I kind of took it from there.
Speaker 1:So roger, what four score. And seven years ago.
Speaker 6:Back in my day.
Speaker 1:Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation. I could go through most of it. I don't know that I could do the whole thing. I can't even do the whole thing. Get a life, come on. We had to do the preamble in seventh grade.
Speaker 6:You know what was strange, though, when I took my Gettysburg test. That was, one of the essays was about what the Gettysburg Address meant, what it meant then, now and its influence for all time. Like yeah, I can't like, maybe recite it line for line all the way through, but when I was doing that essay like I was quoting it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it just falls out of your face.
Speaker 6:Like scripture yeah kind of like that. So yeah, that was kind of cool.
Speaker 5:I don't know. I suppose my mom we used to go to Nazarene Church over in Dover but then when we moved we just kind of quit going. You know.
Speaker 6:Did you get that sound bite? Yeah, yeah, we should have recorded that man we just kind of quit going I mean, you won't get that one again but uh, you know, she, we, we, I mean we, we went, we went.
Speaker 5:When we went there it it was on Sundays Sunday nights, wednesdays, you're real church, folk Vacation, bible school, there plays, christmas plays. They always say, well, you need to do this. So then we'd sit and my mother would help me practice my lines. But I mean, I enjoyed it. You know, I think more churches should get back to that, you know. But there again, you have to have people to do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, buddy.
Speaker 5:And you know, back then there was always.
Speaker 1:Well, back then, more people.
Speaker 6:I I mean everybody went to church on sunday.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like that was the norm, because nothing was open and not. Not that that's the reason people went, but everything closed because people went to church and now everything stays open it's more.
Speaker 4:Nobody wants to go. It's more convenient to not go. Yeah, not only that, most women didn't get out of the home, right?
Speaker 5:right, yeah, yeah, so they could take their kids to practices, and you know, rehearsals and whatnot, but the only thing I I remember and you're not going to believe this, but our the the pastor was a farmer, okay, and he lived out, uh, johnstown road. You know where that's at I don't okay, and his farm was out there and we went out there on a like a youth thing on wednesday night he's gonna say they slaughtered animals.
Speaker 5:No, no, I the lord had his hand on me, because this I forget, I don't know whoever was driving. We had the car was packed, you know. I mean there was like, oh, you could oh it there was like everybody squeezed in, Everybody squeezed in. And I'm sitting by the door, and she went around the turn and the door flew open. I didn't fall out.
Speaker 2:That's what's wrong with Roger.
Speaker 5:I didn't fall out, but you know, I said Lord, you know he must have held his hand upon me or something, let me, but I'll never forget that.
Speaker 2:How old were you, did you say?
Speaker 5:Maybe 10, 11. He said all the noises. That's that, old people talk, yeah, yeah. Crash wham.
Speaker 1:So that happened to my brother once as well. However, he did fall out, was that right? Yes, we were going to yard sales with my mother and he was mad that she wouldn't let him buy something Don't remember what it was and he didn't shut the door. Well, apparently not, but we were all in the car. My mom said something to him and he didn't answer. My sister reached over to hit him and hit the seat and realized that he had fallen out of the car. He's chasing behind the car with his flip flop in his hand, shaking his flip flop, running down the street. So how? We didn't know. I mean, it was a different time. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like people smoked in the car and nobody rode in a car seat Michael's, like, as this is going on, you're looking at the window and just watching the little rain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I have no idea what's happening.
Speaker 2:Have you seen that meme?
Speaker 1:The little rain drops which one's going to win. So as we got older, I always had to ride in the middle. Well, that was the the middle. Well, that was to save a spot. Well, no, it wasn't. Because we did not behave and my mom kept a wooden spoon above the visor and the middle seat gets the beating because you have nowhere to go. So she's reaching back there, she's driving and I mean I'm just getting busted up with that wooden spoon. I joke.
Speaker 2:Are you the youngest?
Speaker 3:Yes, I think she still carries a wooden spoon in the back of her car yeah, I used to take a whooping.
Speaker 5:I mean, what I can remember was it was a good time and everybody you know you took care of the kids. Yeah, you know. And we need to get back to that, yeah, but but there again, you know, we, we don't have the people we don't have.
Speaker 1:The children need structure and discipline. Yeah, and I don't mean discipline like they need beat, but like kids.
Speaker 6:Discipline seems to be a bad word.
Speaker 1:These yes, and because of that, because when people think of discipline, they think of corporal punishment. That's not pain. That's not what I mean. Rubber hose yeah, I mean a shock collar. No, I got one of those. No kidding, they're just kidding. Don't call CPS, please. I don't keep my kids in cages, seriously.
Speaker 5:How come there's three of them in the basement? Shh, shh.
Speaker 1:Kids need structure. They need to know what to expect. Not at all times, but structure. They need to know what to expect, not at all times, but like they need to have a fairly set schedule. That means if, like at my house, we homeschool so our kids don't get up at eight o'clock in the morning to go get on the bus, but they know by nine everybody's out of bed. You've had your breakfast. If you haven't gotten to watch your tv show, you don't get to. Like. This is the structure, it's the way that we do it. Um, they know at lunchtime they get a break, they have their lunch, they can go outside and play, or go play in the basement or you know whatever, and then we're back to school. Once we're done with school, then they get their free time and there's a chore every night. Like they get what the schedule looks like.
Speaker 1:And then, when I'm talking about discipline, they have to know the difference between right and wrong, what's acceptable, what's not acceptable. Because if they don't know that, they carry that into the church and then into adult life, and being your kid's friend at 12 years old is going to reflect at 15, 18, 20 years old and they're going to think that they can get away with whatever they want. And I hate to tell you the world's not going to treat them like you treat them. The world is going to be hard on them. Ain't no boss ever going to tell your kid that's okay, it's gonna walk right. You can act that way, like they will be unemployed the majority of their life so we were not afraid of my father, but we were afraid yes, yeah yeah, like it's like he was a loving man, but he, you also knew that.
Speaker 6:We knew, like there are certain things. Yep, uh, like one of our main rules was you do not go near a body of water.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for any reason yep, I don't care if somebody else is drowning. You ain't going near that body of water.
Speaker 6:Friends who drown, yeah and he experienced it yeah he knew what that was like yeah so we didn't have too many harsh rules, but that was one. I better not catch you near a body of water and of course you we'd get around a body of water.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then somebody would call and tell him and by the time you got home you're getting whooped.
Speaker 6:Get home in complete silence. Yeah, and it's like you knew walking through that door, like he knows Listen, he did Listen when you been, my dad was in high school and my dad was in a band uh, secular band and it was new year's eve.
Speaker 1:and so we're like my, me, my brother, my sister like we're gonna have a new year's eve party. They're going out what the heck. We're like me and my brother and my sister were like we're going to have a New Year's Eve party. They're going out, what the heck. We're going to invite friends over. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We knew what time my parents would leave in order to get to the show, so we plan a party, right, like they're not going to know. So the first three people showed up before my parents. Let him come in the house, let us have the party. Holy crap, did we pay for that? The next day, we had to call every one of those kids' parents and tell them what we had done, apologize. It was awful. It was the most traumatizing experience of my life.
Speaker 5:It was terrible. Did you ever have another?
Speaker 1:party, no, no. But again, we knew the consequence of doing that. We were just too stupid and kids are going to be that way. But we would have never done something so egregious like you see some kids do nowadays you know what I mean when they try to get in a fight with a police officer. We would have never never in my life.
Speaker 6:I mean, I still try to wrap my head around kids bringing a knife or a gun to school. We had our issues with other kids. You had bullies, you had people that you knew you was going to have to stand up to Yep, but we never even thought about that. That never once crossed our mind I mean never even thought about those kinds of things. Nope, it's just so strange.
Speaker 5:Talk about being afraid of your father. I was in high school, 17 years old, got caught smoking three times on a school property. Go to the office. He says well, what do you want? You want the board or suspension? The board all day long. I said how many wax am I going to get? He said I get tired. I said, well, give me the board. I knew if I went home and said I was suspended.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't be able to sit down for two months. The board was nothing.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that was like a piece of cherry cheesecake.
Speaker 1:Not that I think that the school should paddle kids, but I do think that that's part of the loss is kids nowadays. They don't respect their teachers. They don't respect anybody around them. My kids are the same way my oldest boys. They're like oh well, so-and-so's an idiot, and in class we tell them you don't even know what you're talking about. I'm like I cannot imagine. I had one teacher who was about as goofy as they come, but I was like I'm going to learn what I can learn and I'm going to pass the class.
Speaker 2:And that my sister is a teacher now and she said she just got a new student the other day. She's from like texas or something. Actually three new students in one day, but they're not even related, and the one girl comes in and she's like so, like what are the rules? And shy's like I'm sorry, and she's like the rules for your classroom am, I like, allowed to have my cell phone?
Speaker 2:while we're sitting here. So the first thing shy says is well, obviously no cell phones in class and she's like well, where do I need to put it? She said your locker. She's like I don't know about that, I've got some trust issues and she's like you're going to have to take that up with you know the office. I mean, they're like trying to debate.
Speaker 6:Yeah, trying to negotiate.
Speaker 1:You have these kids who are doing that are the parents that are my age oh, yeah, yeah I'll never understand that, like I'm looking at my kids, like emmett desperately wants a cell phone and I'm like, dude, you're 10 years old, yeah, you don't need a cell phone, like he's got a watch, that's he can call people on. He can call me, my wife, my mom, my dad and both of the older boys that's it yeah, you can text them.
Speaker 1:You don't need anybody else calling you. You don't need to call anybody else. You don't need to text anybody else. It's just not necessary at this point. Yeah, and there are things you cannot protect them from you. Just, we're never. I was watching um. By the way, this is a great netflix show and you probably won't see it in your algorithm. It's called you can't say that and it's a show that's filmed in Australia and it's basically people of different walks of life and they sit them down and they ask them questions that people write in. There was an episode about transgender people. There was an episode about people in wheelchairs. Um, there was an episode about um, uh, what, what did they call them?
Speaker 5:They call. What did they call them?
Speaker 1:They called them something different in Australia, be nice. No, it's not an offensive word, I'm just trying to remember what it is Aboriginal people, so black people basically, but they call them Aboriginal. So they're Aborigines and they're all in different tribes and have different dialects, but basically it's so. But anyhow, it's a fantastic show.
Speaker 2:I don't remember what I was, why I was telling you about it, but it's a fantastic show and you should watch it somebody back me up and help me out here but we were talking about your kids and cell phones um disappointing them, I remember, must not have been an important point, must not have been well, you know.
Speaker 6:To go back to what I was saying when I was a kid, you know, the last thing that my mom doing such a good job, the last thing I would think about every night was jesus and those prayers. That'd be the last thing I'd think about every night. Well, now, with these kids and these cell phones, I mean they're not even thinking about it at all. I mean their last thoughts are just I mean they're all over the place.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 6:Whatever you know yeah.
Speaker 1:That's part of a big part of the problem too, and somebody else just said to me today that and again these are just statements that people make. But the human race was never meant to be so busy. And because we're so busy, that's why we have anxiety and stress and all of those things. And then we fixate on things like our cell phone because they keep the brain moving. It's that constant state of I don't remember.
Speaker 5:Maybe they need a hobby I don't remember what the word is called Something to occupy their mind.
Speaker 1:No, they say that it used to be like in our age my age group that a kid had to be redirected. A small child had to be redirected every 13 seconds or something like that, and now it's like 0.8 seconds, because the phone and it's cartoons are the same way, like when you watch and I'm sure none of you have ever watched this but like the Adventures of Gumball. It's a very fast-moving cartoon and there's lots of bright colors and flashing lights and their brains are constantly like all over the place and it can't wind down. And boredom is part of what kids should experience my kids, I'm bored. I'm like go outside and play, use your imagination. You don't have to be entertained by me or somebody else. It is okay to be bored.
Speaker 6:I'll tell them I'll be like I'd do anything to be bored. Yes, it's not a thing.
Speaker 1:It's not a real thing.
Speaker 2:My grandpa always said you're not bored, you're being stupidly lazy.
Speaker 4:Yep, exactly, yes, I will never, forget that you didn't say that growing up in my house Because my mom found a chore for you to do.
Speaker 1:We weren't allowed to be in the house If it was nice outside, and really, even if it wasn't nice outside, you had to be outside. My parents expected us to be outside as much as humanly possible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we would come in, do our.
Speaker 1:Your after school chore Homework. Whatever you had to do, and then outside.
Speaker 1:Back outside We'd normally eat early too, like we'd do the chores or whatever, then homework, and then eat, and then we're outside till 8 o'clock the lights came on, the street lights when the street lights kicked on, and even then sometimes, yeah, you stay out there until it's 10, 30, 11 o'clock. We would have permission to stay later than that On a Friday night, than that. But, man, and I'll never forget, like anybody remember the tv show, hey, arnold yeah, like he had the neighborhood kids, yeah, yeah it was just like that was the gang of kids.
Speaker 1:We had that. So we lived on mcconnell street but packer street was full of kids and I mean we just had just a whole gang of kids. I mean we were mischievous, don't get me wrong like we would play truth or dare and send somebody over to somebody's house at nine o'clock at night to knock on the door and ask for something stupid like a plunger or whatever. But that like it was a different level of mischievous. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 6:like it wasn't, we weren't hurting anybody well, in some ways, the discipline that we had is what set us free.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely my. My dad knew that if I did something I wasn't supposed to, somebody was going to tell him and he was going to whoop me when I got home.
Speaker 6:But I mean, that discipline was like okay, we understand where we're supposed to be, what we're supposed to do, so within those boundaries we could be free to do whatever we wanted to do without any distraction, when these kids today. They can't even get out of the house because they're so distracted and they don't even know what the rules are.
Speaker 1:there are no boundaries, I was gonna say there really aren't any because, again, once you have a cell phone, your reach is much greater than the kid down the street. I mean, yeah, we, we didn't hang out with just the boys or just the girl, I mean everybody, and we had a vast age range. My sister was two years older than me and we had kids older than her and kids younger than me in that group and we played well together. We didn't fight, we didn't argue, and don't get me wrong Like there was the occasional, like you're a poopy head and I don't like the way you looked at me and like there were those things, but I don't recall a fistfight ever breaking out. I don't recall anybody ever being like kicked out of the group or made to feel bad about themselves. I remember there was a couple of kids in that circle that smelled bad and didn't have great hygiene, but we still played with them. Like chances are I probably smelled bad at some point too, but like it was just so different then, just so different.
Speaker 6:That's crazy.
Speaker 1:All right, so mine I would have to go back to. I keep looking at that Facebook message. I can't help it. I'm going to go back to. I keep looking at that Facebook message. I can't help it.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna answer it. I can't. I just can't help it yeah, it is.
Speaker 6:I'm just gonna send him a link to the podcast. Just call him and be like you're on the show, send him a link to the podcast.
Speaker 1:Be like, there you go. Now you know. So mine would have been my great grandma, my grandma's mom, alabama grandma. No, not Alabama grandma, this would have been Belle Alley grandma. I don't remember her going to church, but I do remember that she bought me my first Bible. So it is a red, not real leather, but leather-looking, with my name on it.
Speaker 1:Full-size mini it was full size, okay, king james version, nobody could read it, but you know what I mean, I had it. So in the beginning there was the word and that's about as far as I would get and I'd be like I don't get the rest of that. Uh, so I, that would have been like my first memory of like church or something religious, generally speaking. So I had, I had that Um, and then as I got older, my grandma and grandpa didn't go to church. My grandma that lived in Alabama, alabama grandma. She was a functioning alcoholic so she probably was not much of a church goer.
Speaker 1:I would guess you never know. I mean, she may have staggered in once or twice, but probably because she was looking for her house and accidentally walked through the door, but it was like. So I don't remember. And I again, they lived in Alabama, so we weren't close Like I didn't like. But I know that my grandma and my parents never really went to church, but they were all connected to faith in one way or another. So it wasn't really until I started coming here at the breakdown of a relationship that really church was even introduced to me directly, or my family super directly, because after that my dad started coming and then my grandma attends here now, so I think that was kind of like it's almost backwards in our in our family.
Speaker 1:But, um, so I remember that my grandma gave me that Bible and then my parents would send me on a church bus. Um, the older I got, I was still really young and I'll never forget this. I've shared this story before, but I don't know if I've shared it on the podcast. I remember that my sister got these really cool Bible tabs for her Bible. She had a white Bible, she had a white one that my great grandma gave her. I had a red one, my brother had a blue one.
Speaker 1:She got these really cool like it would John, mark, luke, matthew had them all marked out so you can just flip to them real fast. And she got those because she gave her life to Jesus. And so I said to the lady I want to give my life to Jesus. And so I said to the lady I want to give my life to Jesus, like, here you go. And so she came over and she talked to me. She's like what you said is really important. Do you really want to do that? I'm like I don't know. I just want some of those. Those are shiny ones. I did not get them, so my Bible is still tabless. If we're going to be completely honest with each other.
Speaker 1:So I think, they knew which is good that they knew that I wasn't serious because I didn't know. To me there's a certain age of accountability. There are even kids in our church right now that I'm going to be careful about how I say this because I don't want to sound mean. But my kids are raised in it every day. They live the gospel. We treat people kindly, we give of our time, we give of our resources. We attend church regularly. They get it. There are other kids who don't get it but pretend like they do yeah and then they're treated differently because they're older or more mature.
Speaker 1:Quote, unquote. And they people think that they get it. They don't, they don't you can tell by the way that they behave that they don't get it yep, like my kids, I kids.
Speaker 1:I would guess that none of you have ever probably seen my kids be disrespectful because they know better, right, like that's just not. But look around at some of those older kids and they are disrespectful and they're obnoxious and they're rude and all of those things. There is a difference there. So I think that age of accountability is important. So I'm thankful that they didn't just give me a set of Bible tabs and say, hey, you're going to heaven because that wasn't true.
Speaker 1:It wasn't until I started attending here, though, that I actually got saved. I was 23, 22, probably something like that, maybe even a little bit older than that, I don't remember for sure. I couldn't tell you what day I was saved. I don't know what year it was, I have no idea but I also couldn't tell you what year any of my kids were born, so if that's any consolation, it only took me about 45 years to figure out my kids' birthdays.
Speaker 5:I've only had two.
Speaker 1:Well, here's what I know now. I know that I have one turning 18 this year and one turning 17 this year, and that's just scary. So Like when I have to tell people I havea grown child, like now now.
Speaker 2:I am old. Now you're aging, right now I am old.
Speaker 1:So then obviously for us, we're giving that to our children and then hoping that they will take that on to their children. So yeah, ours is just a little bit backwards.
Speaker 2:That's good though that's, I think that's like encouraging, because people are a lot of people our age have parents that aren't saved and they're like, well, I'm never going to reach them.
Speaker 6:You know, I mean, I've I've felt that for years. I'm like how?
Speaker 1:can I do this, you know, and our job's a lot tougher than our parents were.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, it's a lot tougher because again, the world has told us that you don't have to, it's okay. It's okay if you don't go to church, it's okay if you skip sunday service, it's okay if you don't, you could just do it online, and and even then it's okay if you skip sunday service. It's okay if you don't, you could just do it online, and and even then it's okay if you miss one sunday, right, nobody's gonna know, right, it's fine. Let me tell you, people notice and you feel it so?
Speaker 2:yep, well, for me it was um kind of neat because my grandma, um, so her parents, had built some ponds out on Paradise Lake Road. Oh gosh, back in the 50s and long story short, the acreage, I think there was like 180 acres altogether, and they ended up selling the properties. And we were going through some of the old cabins and there was a chest that my great grandma no, great grandpa, he came from England and it's got his locks of hair in it, um, like a shaver, nice, a bible printed in 1897. And I have the chest and bible. I don't have the hair locks, but so it's okay, yeah I don't really that kind of was a very common thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it's, but it had like the red bows on them and everything. Yeah, um, so, yeah, so I know that there was at least a bible when they came from england. Um, that would be on my mom's side and that was the mom that, or the mom the side that had the moravian side to them, um, but kind of. But that was like my great grandma's, like the mor. Now with my grandma she kind of fell off, but towards her later years she started being more like Lutheran. But then on my dad's side we were just kind of like it was Aunt Florence kind of introduced everyone.
Speaker 1:If you knew her, you didn't have a choice.
Speaker 2:So when I was born they were attending Bethel Worship Center. So we were there for a while and I think with that I want to say it was like my grandpa, like the one who just passed, cook's husband, but I believe his mom, adeline, I think she was kind of like the main source in the family and I do believe I have a bible from her, and like my baby stuff, because I was recently looking for baby pictures of me to resemble cooper no, no, no.
Speaker 2:You can look at him and see chase like my dad, my dad's like I don't even know why you're looking kid.
Speaker 1:It was like he was pulled out of Chase's butt. That kid looks just like him. I've never seen a baby picture of Chase, but you can just almost push rewind and see it yeah, but yeah, that's kind of how mine went. That's funny how I got here. Let's back up because we need to talk about your bethel yeah, thing yeah so you guys started going to bethel when florence resigned the church the first time or the second. No, the first time, first time yes because she, her second resignation was me right that's right, yeah, so her first one after she resigned.
Speaker 1:The first time there was, like sean archer, interim until Bill Thompson came. And then, when Bill Thompson came full time, he was here for a while and then left. And Bill, there was another, bill Johnson.
Speaker 5:I don't know. There was a second Bill.
Speaker 1:Second Bill took over yes and he had it for a while and then Florence ultimately came back, but you guys ended up at Bethel then. So the pastor at Bethel then would have been Dan Sturgill, who officiated Florence's funeral with me. Super nice guy, wonderful man.
Speaker 2:Then it was the Graskas.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2:That was mainly who I remember.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I think we were there nine years with them.
Speaker 3:I was invited there. When they were there, my kids were young, yeah, and it was pretty crazy.
Speaker 2:Pretty crazy, pretty crazy. My kids looked at me like uh-huh laying on the floor.
Speaker 1:Have you taken us and please don't ever take us back. Oh, that's fun, yeah, and then John, yes, but that was.
Speaker 2:I don't even think we stayed. I don't think we, because I think maybe my grandpa was on council with you. Know I no, I don't.
Speaker 1:I don't think uncle ed was on there at the time well, he had to have been at one point because, yeah, he was at one point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I don't think during that split up maybe he was, I don't know. But um, basically, when stevenson came, this is that. That's kind of whenever my grandma started coming here gotcha but that was kind of whenever I was in high school and I was like church hurt, they took my best friends away from me, type of thing I'm like, I'm not going to this church this is stupid and then I ended up being here like four and a half years later.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, okay yeah, I just had coffee with John.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:So I was really enjoyable to sit and talk to him, but he was sharing some of like the because yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:He and Dan, yeah, grew up in the same area. Really Did not know each other, but grew up in the same area. His mom, john Stevenson's mom, was an evangelist and she, one of her very first places that she ever preached, was at a church in that area. And it turns out that Dan Sturgill came out of that church. So they can't put together whether or not he was at that revival because he would have been young and couldn't remember. But so then for them to both ultimately pastor the same church.
Speaker 2:Many years apart and it's a small small town. Yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 1:He said like it was in the first week john said was in the first week he sat down at the desk and started looking through paperwork and whatnot. And he starts seeing pastor dan sturgill so he texted me and he's like, hey, did you ever pastor in york? So he's like, oh yeah, I was there for like nine years yeah, I was just mind blown that they had both funny story.
Speaker 2:So when the grass goes, we had just talked with them over the summer, like because they came to visit my grandpa before he passed and they were saying something. It was like the first year the graskas were down at bethel and, um, they basically it was kind of like someone taking advantage of the church, like a situation like that and jeff like was like, oh, we got to help this guy out, we got to help him, you know.
Speaker 2:So they gave them a hefty you know, hefty check and know, maybe eight years later he's preaching at this place in Ravenna. The same person walks in doing the same old thing.
Speaker 1:How bizarre.
Speaker 2:Isn't it?
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:So he knew obviously at that point like oh, wait a minute.
Speaker 1:I had this really weird revelation in a situation like that. So Roger will know what I'm talking about here in just a second. So multiple Sunday mornings we would be in the building. It'd be a small group of us and it's either super early before service or super late after service. This guy would come in and he would always ask for money. I just need $20. I just need gas money to get my scrap load up to the scrap yard and then I'll get money from that. I just need $20.
Speaker 1:And I had a hard time explaining to him that the church doesn't keep cash in the building, like obviously for safety reasons. Then I would explain to him I have to have two signers on a check. I don't have anybody here to write a check or to sign a check, like I can't just do that for you. The first couple of times we would each give him money out of our pocket, whatever. And the one of the times that he came in there was I just we just didn't have it, nobody could, nobody had cash on them, and he got really mad at me and got very aggressive and called me some names and just wasn't very polite.
Speaker 1:Fast forward six, eight months, something like that he comes back and I heard him talking in the hallway and I immediately stopped what I was doing. I went out and I just said hey, I just want to let you know we are not going to help you today. I said, if you'll recall, the last time you were here, you were incredibly aggressive because we weren't able to help you. I said, and that's just not something that we are going to tolerate. I said so, while I appreciate it, if you want to stick around for service I'd have, we'd love to have you we can't help you. Out the door he went mumbling and grumbling. I was on social media the other day and saw that he has passed away and you know, people die all the time. Right, like I don't feel bad. There's a GoFundMe for his funeral and I'm like you know what, at some point you have to take care of yourself. Right, like I feel for people that are struggling, but you can't count on the rest of the world to take care of you all the time.
Speaker 6:You can't spend your whole life with your hands out.
Speaker 1:Right, like, because then that's what happens. You know what I mean. Like his poverty has now become his children's poverty because, guess what, they can't afford to even bury the man. He had nothing to to nothing planned, and so, while I feel very badly for those children, but like, what are you going to do? Okay, we got to talk about one more thing. We need to talk about this lock of hair thing. So you said it's normal, nick.
Speaker 6:Well, it was Not anymore. Why?
Speaker 1:Why did we do that? Did we know DNA was going to come around and we might need to? No, it was just a very personal.
Speaker 6:That was the one thing that you could, as a keepsake would last.
Speaker 2:But I will say, this was when my great-grandpa was like three or four. He was little.
Speaker 1:My family was the one with that first haircut yes, child's first haircut, and I know that sometimes when a guy would go to war, his wife would send a lock of her hair. I remember those types of things. That was— there's locks of Lincoln's hair after he was killed.
Speaker 6:So many people got mementos of his hair. It was just something that everybody did, especially for funerals or sudden death or something like that.
Speaker 5:That's the reason he was buried in a stovetop pad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because he was bald, they cut all these spots out of his hair. So Buried in a stovetop? Yeah, because he was bald, they cut all these spots out of his hair. So here was the reason that I asked so is that something that people do for their children? I don't know, because I was thinking I'll just start shaving my toes and putting that in baby food jars for my kids.
Speaker 2:Or keeping their teeth.
Speaker 1:That is so gross. That is so gross, that's not acceptable it wasn't even just for children.
Speaker 6:Anybody could.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, yeah, so I should shave my toes and then gift that to my wife when I pass away.
Speaker 6:Go right ahead, but you don't think she's going to keep it. No, you don't think she's going to.
Speaker 1:That's too bad.
Speaker 6:It's not the kind of legacy you want to leave behind.
Speaker 2:Just save one, just say one of your elvis sideburns, uh.
Speaker 1:So listen, I a little glass case and I pretend like it's yeah, in this episode. Need to admit something. It's stressful. I sold one of my jumpsuits.
Speaker 2:I actually sold two, two I sold two to get in like a better one well, I don't know what I'm doing with the money yet, but I sold two.
Speaker 1:I sold one. I bought one on ebay. I know what I'm doing with the money yet, but I sold two. I sold one. I bought one on eBay. What were you thinking, I know? And after I did it and the guy sent me the money, I was like I don't want to do this anymore. I've been there Really, really disgusting feeling.
Speaker 3:Were they the ones that didn't fit?
Speaker 1:Well, okay, so that's the next bad part of this story. Went to the show fully prepared to just knock it out of the park and put the jumpsuit on, and it didn't fit. I mean, I put it on, but it was. Suck it in, zip it up. My eagle jumpsuit, I'm sorry, my owl jumpsuit.
Speaker 6:You haven't had that very long.
Speaker 4:No, I haven't, so thank you for pointing that out.
Speaker 1:The extra around the middle is what's going on. That's what's happening. No, I haven't so. Thank you for pointing that out. The extra around the middle is what's going on. That's what's happening.
Speaker 3:Too many stops at McDonald's.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes and listen, I did it today. I drove out of my way to get McDonald's today I'm blaming Jermaine for all of it.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:So I bought a black firework suit on eBay for $250. I knew it wasn't going to fit me, but I wanted the belt, so I bought it with the idea that I'll flip the suit, keep the belt. So I did that. I sold that suit within 13 minutes of having received it Not a joke 13 minutes. It was gone. And then I decided I bought a new wig. Did I tell you about the new wig? It's like $1,500. It was stupid. A new wig, it's like fifteen hundred dollars. It's stupid, but it's all, all human hair. Maybe that's shave your toes and sell it. Okay, so it makes sense. It's all human hair, uh, and it's custom fitted for my head, so it's a whole like that's more weird you're probably right, but at the time I wasn't thinking it until we got to this point.
Speaker 1:And now I'm like, oh, that's kind of strange.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm wearing somebody else's hair on my head.
Speaker 1:This is kind of strange. Could be President Lincoln's.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we don't know. Meanwhile I just have my great-grandfather's pretty locks in a frame.
Speaker 1:So I bought the wig and then I was like you know, I spent all of my Elvis money and I hate not having any, because when I see something I want, I want to be able to buy it. So I always have to have a little bit of cash sitting in the kitty. So I thought have to have a little bit of cash sitting in the kitty. So I thought you know what? I don't wear this one. I've worn it twice. I don't love it. I bought it used. It fits but it's not my favorite. I'm gonna sell it any care anybody care to guess which one oh which one, not the black one no
Speaker 2:which ones do you have again?
Speaker 1:so I have, I have a powder blue, I have red, which is the burn in love suit, I have my owl jump suit, I have my peacock jump suit, I have my black firework suit and then I have my aloha suit.
Speaker 4:A peacock. It's a peacock.
Speaker 6:No, you didn't.
Speaker 5:Nope, nope, no, he's not kidding my aloha suit.
Speaker 1:I Nope, nope, no, he's not kidding my Aloha suit. I fought for years to get that thing and I sold it. Like as soon as I did it, I was like why did I ever do this? As soon as I put it in the box, I was like.
Speaker 1:Did it have the cape too? It did have the cape, but I did not sell the cape. The cape's getting framed and going on the wall in the office. So I had it listed for more than I paid for it, because I paid to have it restored and anyhow. So I had it listed for more than I paid for it. And I had a guy who'd messaged me a long time ago trying to get me to sell it to him, and I was like no, I'm not ready to sell it. Yada, yada, yada. So he messaged me. He's like hey, I saw the jumpsuit less, because they kind of go hand in hand. That cape won't fit another suit because of the way it attaches at the collar, so on and so forth. So he asked me my price and I gave it to him, which was what I paid for the whole thing, belt included, the whole thing. And he's like all right, I'll take it. So I'm gonna again, I'm walking away making a boatload of money on the dumb thing. So yeah, I couldn't help it.
Speaker 2:But now chase flipped those cards he told me he was gonna. Did you know how?
Speaker 1:much. He told me they were selling for like 150 a box. Yeah, he's he bought four of them four of them at 50 a piece, 55 a piece sold them for 500 they were on for.
Speaker 2:Will you please tell my?
Speaker 6:wife this, because when I buy a baseball card, she's all I'm telling you you're so stupid.
Speaker 1:It's this poke like they're like, it's this particular pokemon set that you can't get anywhere and they.
Speaker 2:The secondhand sale price is so crazy right now he said for one singular pack, it could be like 15 for just one little, which are four and five dollars a piece in the store normally yeah it's nuts, absolutely nuts and he sent me that text after I'd already left walmart.
Speaker 1:I should have turned around and gone back, because you can't ever get them.
Speaker 2:He said, people have already pre-ordered them, but they can't even fulfill the order because they're so far behind.
Speaker 6:These graded cards in the plastic.
Speaker 2:Especially if they're PSA graded.
Speaker 6:I told her. I said they're cash. They just keep going up.
Speaker 1:It's crazy, it's crazy that the trading card market is so hot. It really is it. It's crazy, it's crazy. The trading card market is so hot, it really is.
Speaker 6:Yeah, it really is. So back to your Elvis. Yes, what's today Wednesday? It's Wednesday, so Monday night I was just scrolling through Amazon. Prime and that's the way it is Was free. I could watch it for free.
Speaker 1:So I'll just click on the documentary. Yeah.
Speaker 6:And I'd seen a long time ago. But anyway, that suit he wears in there was really cool. I thought Michael should get him one of those?
Speaker 1:Which one was it? It's got the beads hanging. I had an opportunity to buy it and Alyssa would not let me. She thinks it's hideous.
Speaker 6:I think it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's got the fringe across the chest and the V-shape and then, yeah, she thinks it's hideous.
Speaker 6:But we're sitting there. Why are you watching this? Like what do you mean? Why are we watching this? She goes, it's just so boring, you know? Like what?
Speaker 1:When I see her again, she's going to get it.
Speaker 6:And it was right at the moment where he starts kissing all the girls.
Speaker 1:Girl after girl after girl, and he's kissing them all on the lips, right on the lips. Yeah, covid wasn't a thing then.
Speaker 6:He didn't care Like well, see that, meg, I'm like look at all them women up there. All them women want to kiss him Screaming passing out and she's like he's not even that good looking, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. So listen, my last nursing home show. I love going to the nursing homes. For us it is really life-giving because a lot of those people don't get to see a lot of friendly faces, they don't get a lot of visitors and we tend to end up in higher end nursing homes because of our price. Like I'm not $150.
Speaker 1:Elvis, and the people who booked me know that like they've seen my videos, they've, like they know and so I, the one that we go to Harrison on fifth in Columbus they have a memory care wing.
Speaker 1:Now I don't particularly like that show, like we it's only usually ever a half hour, but it's very uncomfortable because those ladies don't remember you from minute to minute a lot of times and so, like, sometimes they freak out and sometimes they're like super loving, and so I'm doing the show, I get to the end and you can't have like real audio equipment over there because the loud sounds kind of freak them out. So typically it's just like a little Bluetooth speaker and I'm singing with no microphone and so it's uncomfortable. It's really uncomfortable. And as we were wrapping up the last show, this lady comes walking down the hallway and she sees me and she just lights up, and so I'm pretty well done singing at this point. And she comes over to get a picture with me and the next thing I know her hand is in my jumpsuit, like just just she's just reaching for whatever she can get.
Speaker 1:I'm dying, everybody else is dying, nobody's stopping her, it's just happening. You were hoping she was slipping you know 50. Right, oh, I've had that happen. I went to one show, yeah, because they were like. They were older ladies, but they were like very, it wasn't a nursing home show, but they were like very, it wasn't a nursing home show. It's uncomfortable, that's all I can say. It's uncomfortable. But, um, I saw them here, yeah, yeah, yeah, it is uncomfortable. But then I had another lady after her. She comes over and she's, um, one of the ones that doesn't really remember you from minute to minute, and so she would see me and she would realize like, oh, elvis is here, and she would just glow and just be so excited. And then she would like kind of like float off and you would notice, and the next thing I know she's grabbing my butt and I'm talking like handful, like, and again everybody's laughing and I'm like, do I just come to the nursing home to get assaulted, like is that what?
Speaker 5:this is now. You were the butt of the joke.
Speaker 1:So here's what I said. This is my new line. I always tell the people when I get to the nursing home, especially when my wife goes with me, which she almost always does. I always tell ladies, now we have to behave, my wife is here, I don't want anybody getting in trouble, including myself. I have to go home with her tonight. So I always make that joke. But then I always tell them the reason I love doing these shows is you ladies give me way more affection than my wife ever does. I mean, it's nuts, but yeah. So I sold my Aloha. My Peacock is listed right now and the only reason I'm going to sell that one is to buy a bigger one, buy a new one.
Speaker 6:So I'm not going to and the Tiger one. This is just Tiger has not come, yet he has not come yet.
Speaker 1:So he's being repaired right now and he's still in transit. He isn't, no, he made it to them on the 3rd of january. So hopefully they've made some progress and we'll have a a new belt or a new suit soon. You might have it by the end of february you know what, though, I would rather it be right than it to be fast, so you know, what I mean.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of money I want her to to get them right. I am thinking, though, that before I sell this peacock, I have a seamstress in Philly who I'm probably going to take it to and see if she can just let out the inside of the legs a little bit.
Speaker 2:The Susan.
Speaker 1:No, her name is Donna Donna. Yes, donna's a wonderful lady. Love her to death, donna.
Speaker 6:So yeah, I flipped plenty of things on eBay that I wish I would have kept.
Speaker 1:Jesus.
Speaker 6:Why did I do that?
Speaker 1:Craziest thing I've ever flipped. Oh, I don't sell on eBay. You don't Not Elvis jumpsuits.
Speaker 4:Oh.
Speaker 1:Because I sold that last jumpsuit at $1,600. Ebay takes 13% of that. Oh, that's true, no, 13%, 13%. And then if they pay you with PayPal, paypal takes a cut of that as well. I'm like nah, I don't do that no more. And I always tell everybody you can pay me with goods and services, I'm completely cool with that, but you cover the fee Because I'm not losing money on the deal Anyhow. Oh, what was I saying before?
Speaker 1:that oh yeah, the craziest thing I've ever flipped on eBay Ready for this. No, baby monitors, sounds strange. Right, they were the play school ones from Toy Story.
Speaker 1:They looked just like the play school ones from Toy Story. Found them in a thrift shop for $7. Sold them for $120. Craziest thing I've ever flipped in my life. I saw them and I was like $7? Heck yeah, I'm going to take these just for the nostalgia, because we have a bullseye, we have a woody, we have a buzz, we have bow peep, like we've got all of the things and we kept them in a tote and I was like how cool to have your army guys with the monitors and like it's all. And I was like you know what it's all in a tote. Why do I need these things? So I hopped on ebay to see what they were selling for 120 bucks and they were gone within two days.
Speaker 6:They're worth that because of the movie, because of the movie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because of the movie, the nostalgia from the movie, because literally it's static. You know what I mean. They're junk, but yeah, people buy that stuff.
Speaker 2:Have you watched Inside Out 2?
Speaker 1:yet I have not. Oh it's good, I have not.
Speaker 2:They bring new emotions, and the one emotion is nostalgia. And nostalgia starts trying to come in, talking like, oh, it's been too long. They're like we're not ready for you yet it's good.
Speaker 5:That's funny. What kind of strange movies are you?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 6:Cartoons.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cartoons, kids movies. Oh, cartoons yeah.
Speaker 2:Whatever keeps Cooper's attention.
Speaker 3:Just let Pastor Michael sing to him yeah, did he have fun.
Speaker 1:Did he have fun? That's great, I'm going to tell you.
Speaker 4:I think I got a picture of it so listen.
Speaker 1:When that happened, I had already like I had told Roger in the morning like I practiced it. We may end up doing it. I'm not planning to, but if it happens we're just going to roll with it.
Speaker 6:Oh, the squirrel.
Speaker 1:The squirrel song, like Mississippi squirrel, I was like I don't really genuinely plan to sing it, but if it happens I'm gonna do it like I'm fully prepared. So I had my microphone in my back pocket and thinking it like I'm gonna and I really did try to like. When I made the joke about alissa saying no, I was like I'm gonna skim past it, we're gonna keep moving. That did not happen. I was so excited to get to do that, so excited. And then sid went and arced on me.
Speaker 2:I had to. The first thing Alyssa said was, yeah, he did fine. This little thing like it plays music and he started going like this and I'm like, all right, I got to tell you. I'm like I'm probably going to be the first one to tell you.
Speaker 1:I was like I got in the house and he goes. Sid told on you. I was like what the heck you? You weren't even out of the building and she knew.
Speaker 2:I had to. Oh geez there was no other way of explaining that.
Speaker 1:Now fun story about that because we recorded that service. That microphone that I used to sing is not in the live stream portion. It's not in there. So I had to go back and cut three minutes of silence out of that podcast. So when somebody listens to that, they're going to hear me talking about it, not hear me sing it and then go right back into preaching.
Speaker 2:It's a really uncomfortable, like Transition.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I just thought it was funny. Well, pastor Roger, it's your turn to pray tonight.
Speaker 5:Okay, Heavenly Father, we do thank you, lord, for this day. Lord, we just ask that you just take and be with each person you know that's sitting around this table, lord, and be with all those that have brought us to you, lord. Yes, just be with them, lord, we just ask that you give us safe travels home, Lord, and safe travels to Sunday, so that we can be here to worship you and to honor you, lord, and we ask this all in Jesus' name, amen, amen.
