Ep 13: The Great Blessing of Struggles

Richard and Pat discuss the blessings and joy that come from going through hard times in your life. How putting your faith and trust in Jesus during life's trials, will lead you to great joy and peace when you come through them. 

Transcript

Pat: 0:23

And welcome to the two Unlikely Christians podcast. I am comedian and recovering idiot, pat McCool. And now across the Great Blue Ocean to London, England, where we find our co-host, world renowned. A psychotherapist and addiction specialist and a man who once broke into Windsor Castle to use the bathroom just so he could find out what type of toilet paper the royals used. Richard Turrell.

Rich: 0:55

Thank you, pat, for, uh, that introduction could probably get me like hung for treason. Um, but uh, yeah. As long as you didn't get caught. Richard, what kind did they

Pat: 1:08

do?

Rich: 1:08

They're gonna come after me now though, aren't they? You know, with a big fur hats and, you know, red jackets, you know, parade me off to the Tower of London. I'll be there for years, pat.

Pat: 1:19

Well, you know what, well, hopefully at the Tower of London, they use the same tissue paper they, that the Royals use. So you'll have that going for you.

Rich: 1:26

Well, I'll be able to let you know when I'll write to you, you know, scratch out a letter. Scratch,

Pat: 1:33

scratch out a letter and make sure you put, uh, Richard was here in the stones on the Tower of London before they take you off and hang you or draw and quarter you or whatever. Uh, you guys have a history of some really nasty ways of. Ending people's lives. I've

Rich: 1:52

just, oh, yeah. Yeah. It's funny, we, I was looking at this the other day. I've seen the history of this and like we, you know, we, like burning was quite common until a few hundred years ago. You know, um, burning people at the stake. Hung, drawn. Do you know what? Hung, drawn, quartering involved.

Pat: 2:08

Yeah. Yeah. That was the one that really got my attention. That's, that is what would've kept me in line, uh, had I been, uh. It's

Rich: 2:16

like they continue to abuse your dead body and do terrible things to it. You know, like,

Pat: 2:22

I mean, you're dead. It's like, yeah, in America, we're, we really just, we hung people. They just cut'em down and that was it. Put a bullet like, okay, the bloke is dead. Let's see what we can do to him now. So yeah, that's really drive the point home anyway. Yeah. Well now that we've enlightened everybody's day by getting them to picture, being drawn and quartered, let's move to our topic of the day. The blessings of struggle. And I have to tell you that the greatest blessings in my life has come from the times of my struggle because you look back with such gratitude. So much of the peace and the joy and happiness I have comes from the gratitude of coming through times where I struggled, where I was devastated with something, and everybody goes through this. If you're a follower of Jesus, if you believe in God and you keep your faith in God, you will come through it and you'll look back and realize some of the best things that ever happened to you were because of the struggle that you went through. Uh, and people that are going through that now should know that I've had so many times I can't even count and I'm not gonna go through all of them. But there, and I don't know if well, God's testing me or if you're, you know, I never know what that all means. I just know we all go through struggle and if we put our faith in Jesus and get our strength from him, that we will come through on the other side in a much better situation. And that struggle will end up giving us great peace, great joy, and great gratitude. And gratitude is the. The biggest recipe for living a life of joy and happiness. You can't be sad. You can't be upset. You can't be depressed when you're focusing on gratitude and all the things that God has done for you. And if everybody that's listening, if you go back through your lives and you look at it, you will see. There were times when God brought you through things, even before you came to faith because he knew you were coming eventually. Because as we discussed in the last episode, God chose you and he's had his eye on. You just like he's had on me and Richard and I, I touch on that in my book sometimes where there's so many examples. But, uh, I'm just, lemme start with a, an example of, you know, in my book where I mentioned I went through my life of a heath and I end up in this jail cell and I come out. I'm going to, you know, I'm waiting to see if I'm gonna get free room and board by the state of Mississippi and, uh, in an orange jumpsuit. And I don't, and I'm starting to put my life back together and getting things together. I don't know if I'd even mentioned this in the book, but I started dating this girl. I went to work at a company that my, um, my brother's father-in-law owned. He owned one of the biggest, the, the biggest manufacturing company in the city where I live. And I go to work there and it's actually. It kind of depressing place. You know, guys, it was a paper company where they made envelopes and they cut paper and stuff and all these guys walking around missing fingers was a little alarming. Um, and the, uh, I think I was making, probably pulling in a good 115 bucks a week. So, but it was actually quite, quite a motivating experience.'cause after a few months I was like, I, okay, I gotta go make something of myself. But I met this girl. Remember, I'm really down on my luck. I'm start, I'm, I've had my moment where I'm starting to follow God, but I got a long way to go and I start dating this girl. I fall for this girl. Uh, we're going to get married. We even had the marriage certificate. That's how close we were. So, you know, even though I found myself in this bad situation, I found this woman I think of, of my dreams. And I'm smitten. I'm in love. She's a country girl, and I don't know if you know what I'm talking about. She lives way out in the country. I even went out, I, I bought some cowboy boots. Richard bought some cowboy boots. You'd be proud of this. I got a John Deere hat bought a fishing pole. I had never fished in my life, but I was gonna be a country boy. I started listening to Barth Girth and you know, whatever. Country music I could find. And I was ready to, uh, you hot

Rich: 6:38

one young.

Pat: 6:39

All in, all in, oh, probably eating the jerky. I would've eaten the jerky, chewed the tobacco, all the stuff, the stereotypical stuff that you thought that I did, I was probably doing it back then. I'm fishing pole. What's that? Moonshine. Moonshine, yeah. Could have brewed my own moonshine, the whole nine yards. And she lived in a trailer way out in the country. I could have easily set my still up out there. I just, the whole, you know, the whole thing was I was in and a woman will do that to you. And fishing. I went fishing. One day to learn how to fish. And I was enjoying it because it was very peaceful and it was kind of at the end of the day and then a fish hit my line. And you know what an animal guy I am, I felt so bad for the fish and I'm like, geez, what have I done? I got this hook and this fish, I mean, I'll eat all the fish in the world. I just don't wanna be the one with the dangling on the line. So I, uh, that was my end of my fishing, but I was full on country Boy. Then one day the girl dumps me just out of the blue, just breaks up with me and dumps me and I'm crushed. And women can dump you in a way that that really hurts.'cause they'll tell you the truth. It's like, you know what? Because she had met this other guy. She's like, no, I'm now seeing the, and I'm like, well, what does he have that I don't? She was like a good paying job. Like, okay. And she was right. The guy worked offshore, you know, he made pretty good money. And so there I was, and I mean, I'm, I was heartbroken, so I've, I've. Starting my journey, following God. I'm trying to put my life back together. But now this is a massive setback. I am not only heartbroken, but I am being dumped.'cause I am a toll loser. I'm knocking back 115 bucks a week. Uh, I'm probably going to only have about eight fingers. You know, if I keep working at the same job that, that I'm working, uh, I'm double knit on parade. I, yeah, I was one of these guys that didn't know how to dress. You know, I didn't have sisters. I was the guy that would buy like the members only jacket five years after they went outta style. Do you remember the members only jacket?

Rich: 8:55

We, I'm aware.'cause I've spent time over in the US I'm aware of members only, but we did, we don't have it over here, but, um, but yeah, no, I'm, I'm aware you, you paint a picture. I mean, I can, you know, in my, in my mind's eye, I've got, I've got a vision of you. Yeah. Right.

Pat: 9:10

But yeah, the point is, not only am I a total loser, not only have I been broken up with, not only have I been dumped, not only am I not making any money, I'm working at the I'm working this, uh, this dead end job. Uh, I don't know how to dress, so I don't have the things going to, you know, collect the woman that I'm wanting to. And I tell the story in my book of how when I do the day, I do meet my wife and I'm going to pick her up. And the family, the far family, you're not familiar with them. Uh, do you know Brett Farve is? No. Read my book. Okay. Well, he was a Hall of Fame quarterback. He played here at Southern Mississippi. Basically lived with me his last year or two in college. His, I had his, his brother had one, lived in one of my rooms. And Brett and I spent a lot of time together and I actually took his wife to the hospital when she had her, her first baby, uh, which is another story. But their family would all come to my house before I had a house right off campus of the college, and they would come to my house to. A tailgate before the game. It was right behind the football stadium. So we would all eat, the whole far family would come. Sisters, aunts, well he had a sister and I was going to pick up my, my wife for the first time I had met her. And I was walking out of the door and I had on this really nice pair of, of dress slacks.'cause by then, you know, I'm in the insurance business. I'm now making a good bit of money and everything, but I still have not learned how to dress, which is important to attracting. A quality girl, I'm sure Shereen, you know, picked up on, on your ability, uh, on your ability to match clothes. I had on a pair of slacks I had on penny loafers with a bite taken out of'em.'cause one of my dogs had bit the top and I had on, yeah. I had dogs that slept with me, but the pants covered that, that wasn't my biggest defense. My biggest defense was I put on a a hundred percent polyester football shirt that said the University of Southern Mississippi, and it had an eagle on it. And in other words, it just did not match. But I didn't know it. I thought I was, I thought I was showing style going to the game. I'm walking out and Brett's little sister looks up and says, whoa, whoa, whoa. Where are you going? I'm like, I'm gonna pick up my date. Why? What's the problem? She said, well. Okay, I'm nevermind. She said, I don't wanna embarrass you. And I said, well, I would rather be embarrassed now in front of the far family than I would when I go pick up my date. So my wife goes, and, uh, so Brandy takes me, but she says, what have you got in the closet? She got any other shirt? She goes in the closet and starts going through my, my dress shirts, pulls one out and says, alright, put this on. Put that, roll that sleeve up. Unbutton it right there. You're Gucci take off. I'm ready to go. I go on the date with my wife. It all works out. Obviously we get married within a hundred days before she discovers that I don't have a fortune stashed into Caymans. And weeks later, after we were married, she told me, she said, you know, one of the re I said, you know, how did I, you know. Uh, that I did, I reel in so quick. She said, you know, one of the things about you that I noticed when you came to pick up pick me up that night was how well you were dressed. She said, because a well-dressed man, it's, that says a lot about them. And then I took her back there and showed her the a hundred percent polyester double knit on parade I was wearing, she said. I would've not gotten in the car with you. So it all worked out. But back to my story, I'm crushed in all of this. So I continue my faith in God. I'm growing, I'm following God, my faith in, and I haven't really given my life up to Jesus like I told you later, but I kept going and that led me. To getting the job, you know, in the insurance business. I'd started going back to school, led me to meeting my wife, which led me to getting the position with the Fortune 500 company and led me to everything that I have now. 35 years of marriage, three daughters, eight grandchildren, filled with incredible joy and.'cause that girl dumped me and that girl, without getting into its life, did not work out well. I'm not saying that in a celebratory way, but it just was not a path and wasn't something that, the point is, I, I, I can remember thinking, I'm believing in God. I'd started believing in God a year or two too earlier. And I'm like, well, how could this happen? I think I'm believing in God. I'm following Jesus, and now this has happened. I, I thought following God meant everything works out for you. That is not the case. What it means is everything does work out and end, but you are going to go through struggles and. That's just always been an illustration. I always just look at my wife, who, who just is this shining star to me that has been the cause of so much joy. So much happened. It's the person God had for me. And I just think, wow. Had that not happened. But I have a good memory and I remember how horrible I felt at those times. Back when I was at one of my lowest points. God was working and he was, he was. Preparing. He had a plan for me, and that's what I just want people to take, um, to take solace in. When you're struggling, you are really going through something that is setting you up for great joy and peace, and I'm sure you have some illustrations yourself.

Rich: 14:44

Yeah, absolutely man. And you know, like of phrase that always I really like is, um, sometimes the best gifts come wrapped in very strange packages. You know, and, um, you know, I mean for me it was like being, you know, sometime into my sobriety. Many good things happening in my life externally. Um, but being so unhappy and lost and, and kind of wrapped up in, uh, different um, like non-drug and alcohol addictions, you know, deeply like troubled and, um, yeah, just miserable man, like, so empty. And um, and then it was it getting. Really caught out for some of the stuff that I was doing and, um, you know, having to go back into treatment, uh, you know, with years of recovery behind me. And that was where it, it really happened for me. That was where I already found my faith. You know, that was where I really started to experience it, was in this period of like extreme pain. And it was so, it was being so lost and being so empty and being so hopeless that that brought me into the church in the first place. And that was where I started to come to know Jesus. Right. And then, you know, when I got baptized and there was some relief from the, you know, the kind of, you know, my, my demons, right? You know, we use that expression that's kind of part of our common like language, even if you're not in faith, right? You say like, he's got his demons right. And I like, I have my demons, right? And I, and I, and actually now I know what that means, right? But like, so I was baptized and I, and I got some relief from, from, from all these things that were plaguing me. And I went through the Purpose Driven Life book with, with a group of friends and lot of Christian friends. And I've had this, you know, I had this, um, I had this sense that my life was supposed to be different, but, and I, and I would pray and I would ask my life to be, you know, please show me what it is that I'm supposed to be doing. Please help me be less wrapped up in like the world. Please help me. People are less, just, yeah, just less lost really in, in all of those things in the world. And, um, yeah. And then it happened, man. Do you know what I mean? My life changed in really, like, quite a dramatic way in that, you know, a lot of stuff that I'd been up to came out and, um, you know, I had to go away and, and do some serious, like, psychological work on myself, right? But it was in that place in the, you know, in the desert of Arizona, right? That, um, but things started to happen to me. You know, there was a chaplain there who's an amazing man. Um. Best friend, really the Amanda became one of my best friends, came, came into the facility as a patient who was man of, and he was a real man of God, you know, not without his own struggles'cause that's what he was doing there, but, um, but yeah, like he was a pastor,

Pat: 17:38

right?

Rich: 17:39

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was, he was going

Pat: 17:41

for,

Rich: 17:42

yeah. And that was, and that was where it really started to happen for me. And it was just in that, like, in that pain. It's just that absolute desperation. There's something about getting to that place, place of brokenness where you can just let him in. For me, it was like actually, like that place of brokenness is the place where I realized that actually, like what I'm, you know what, what I'm doing doesn't work. You know, like what I'm doing doesn't work and what. You know, what I need to do is allow someone else to take the reins of my life, you know? And, you know, like we spoke about before, it's like, I, I, I don't do that. I'm not an A grade student at that. You know, I'm not someone that sits in faith acceptance, trust, hope, you know, like every minute of every day far from it, right? But like, I do have a deeper, you know, when I look at my life, I can see that actually, like I was led to, I was led to a place where things could change, you know? And, um. I remember feeling so when I was in my act, you know, chaotic, active drug addiction, remember feeling so lost like that I, that I'd started to pray. I'd started to get on my knees and pray and like, I didn't really, you know, I certainly wasn't praying to Jesus at that point, but I, I had a belief in God. Um, it also about that in the Alcoholics Anonymous big book, it says, you know, deep down in every man, woman, and child is, is a concept of God. And so I had this idea. And anyway, point being when I look back over my life, like I can see that I was like in the care of, and I was taken care of and I was guided and there were, you know, a number of times when, you know, one in particular as you know, where I should have died, right? It was very close to death as a result of this stuff I was doing. But, um. I was led to that place and I really believed that, you know, but it was only, it was, I would say the greatest periods of growth in my life have been born of the greatest periods of struggle. You know, simple as that, you know, simple as that.

Pat: 19:36

Yeah. Well, that's been my experience. That's where you get closer to God. That's when you get a much bigger awareness of Jesus and in Him and your life. So you get closer to God if you do that when you're in the struggles. If you put your faith in God and put your faith in Jesus, get closer and get closer. I don't, like I said, I don't know if God just tests us on purpose. He knows where we're gonna go through it. There is a scripture, Philippians four 13, and I think gets misunderstood a lot of times. It says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Well, a lot of people misconstrue that into I can do anything well, like, you know. I can't be the quarterback of the New Orleans Saints. If I'd started trying, working out when I was two days old. I can't be a nuclear physicist if I tried. There's, you know, I can't do that. That's not what the verse is saying. People think of it like, I can do anything I want if I just have faith in God. What that verse is really, if you look at the context of that verse, I can do all things. Yeah, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. What he's saying is you can get through anything. Mm-hmm. I can do all things. I can, I can Not, that I can accomplish, uh, all things. I mean, if you have a calling, you're gonna have a struggle and you can accomplish that. There's, there's part of that, but a lot of it. Is the gist of what he's trying to tell us. You can get through anything. There's nothing you can't get through if you put your faith in Jesus because he strengthens you and that, and people just need to remember that as a great example that you gave because your journey and your struggle brought you closer. To God. It brought you to the understanding of Jesus. It brought you to the point where you gave it all up and it has led you now to this incredible, joyful place you're in about to get married, and it's just, I don't know if you're like me, but I, I daily am reminded. Of the things I went through when I'm watching TV or watching something about prisons in jail. I think when I was 18 years old, I could have easily been in one. I'm, I thank God for everything sitting on my porch, looking at the lake, drinking water. I think about all of the times I went through financial struggles and God was always there for me, always. It worked out. It's just led me to this in intense sense of gratitude, and I don't know if you have that. Um, but you're now about to marry this beautiful woman, and do you look back like I do. And, and or do you just kinda leave the past behind? I tee it stays teed up in my mind of all of the bad things that I went through. Not that I'm focusing I'm on in a bad way, it just gives me joy. Like, oh wow, look how fortunate I am.

Rich: 22:27

Yeah, look. So for me it's like there's this'cause I, you know, I've, I know what it is to have nowhere to live, right? I know what it is to like, live with, um, you know, to be scared every day. You know, that like someone's gonna catch up with me. That the, you know, be that the police or people I owe money to, you know, I know what it is to be like scared a lot to not, you know, to be wondering or I'm gonna sleep that night to be wondering, you know, if I'm gonna have anything to eat. I know what it's like to be scared of like, am I gonna be able to get the money to together today for the drug'cause that I need to stop me being sick, you know, like, um. So I know what it is like to, you know, I know what it is to like live in that place. So like, although I don't, I'm not, I think different to you Pat in some ways in that like, it's not an intense gratitude that I feel all the time, but there's this base level of gratitude. Like just, you know, even for having a bed, you know, to have a bed to sleep in. You know, every night and to have a front door that I can close. And I know it's not gonna come flying if it's hinges, but, you know, like to be able to, you know, to have choices like in what, you know, like, am I gonna go, you know, am I gonna go and eat in a restaurant tonight or am I going to get something out of my fridge, which is for the foot? You know what I mean? It's like that, that is never, that never escapes me. You know what I mean? That never escapes me. Like how fortunate I'm, you know, um. Hundred percent. That's, well,

Pat: 23:46

yeah, that's the gratitude, the, that's you, it gives you great joy. I get great joy out of everything that I have or everything that's going on because of the struggle. Had I not gone through the struggle. I wouldn't have the intense, uh, gratitude that I have now, and you wouldn't have that. Oh, this feels so good laying in the bed, and I just want people to know that are out there, that are going through struggles. Uh, you're going to come outta it and, and that struggle is going to give you great joy. As you go on through life, and if you do it right, if you put, if it causes you to put your faith in God, it causes you to learn about yourself, you get closer to Jesus, you're gonna get that peace and joy in life, and you're gonna benefit great greatly from the struggle. And if people just know that when you're going through it, hang in there. I, uh, just to, to close one story of. And I did talk about my book, you remember the TV show that I had created, you know, just to make the small, uh, to condense this. You know, I gave up a job making an awful lot of money. I go out, I'm doing comedy, I'm in New York, and people kept telling me, you know, you got this amazing story. Why don't you, because the guy, you remember the New York guy that I ran into a bunch of really funny characters. So we start writing this sitcom and it's a, it's a, a very funny sitcom. I'm not just saying it myself. We had, we sent it to a producer, um. I had, I didn't know how to write a sitcom, so I hire a guy to start helping me with it. And this guy's a professional writer. And after a few sessions he said, look, I'll make a deal with you. He said, I'll start charging you if you give me co-writing credits on this.'cause we're going something with this. We're going somewhere with this. And. We, so I make that deal and he said, and then I'll, I'll hook us up with my producer that's working on, you know, this guy's doing a lot of stuff. You ever see a movie called The Deuce, uh, a show on HBO called the Deuce? Aware of it? I've not seen it. Yeah. Um, it was a pretty, pretty big hit. Well, this guy was the, was the creator of the original creator, the producer. So we, anyway, we write the show. Um, I, you know, I'm excited. I got the writer on board. I send the show to the producer and the producer. Loves it. We're waiting to hear, he's flying to LA and he sends the things back. Uh, he sends a message back saying, this is great. He wants it. He buys the show and he's gonna p uh, pitch it. He brings a guy named Montel Williams on, you don't know. Probably don't know. Do you know Monte? I know who? Monte

Rich: 26:16

Williams. Yeah. He is a talk show host, right?

Pat: 26:19

Yeah. So Montel comes on board and they, they form a partnership just to pitch this. This TV show that yours truly created, just started putting together, had no clue what I was doing, but they loved this. Montel was reading the script and he's bouncing up and down his chair. So I think I'm on my way, all the struggle because I didn't include in the book a lot of the struggle I went through in the comedy business. But man, it's, you know, it's not easy building yourself up to have some success. So it's all about to pay off. As a matter of fact, going to this party, uh. After he's bought it and they're getting ready to pitch it. And then when I met Montel, I go to this party in New York City where Macy Gray is performing at the party. There's only like a hundred, 150 people there. It's like$25,000 to get into the party. Uh, the Prince of Luxembourg. Is there, I don't know who the prince in Luxembourg, but you know how impressed I am with you Royals. I'm like, Scott, I'm, I'm in a party with the Prince. Something's going on here. Uh, and I get on the elevator and Danny Glover, you know who Danny Glover is?

Rich: 27:25

Yeah.

Pat: 27:26

I get on the elevator with Danny Glover riding, riding up to the top and I act like you can. You'd appreciate this for me. I act like I know him'cause I step on the elevator and there's a couple other people on there. He looks at me, I look at him and I said, Hey Danny, how you been? Not how you doing? How you been like, I've seen you before. And he is like, oh, fine, how you been? And so we walk off the elevator, I walk beside him like I'm buddies with, with Danny Glover. So, so I'm high hatting it and, and I end up sitting next to this woman who does the Fox business news. Maria Barter, Romo. I'm sitting next to her. I'm feeling, I'm really feeling like I'm about to step into the big business. And so these guys go to LA and they pitch to, to a number of networks. And he sends back a message and he said, look, we are in a marathon session with Netflix. They're really interested in this and we are on, uh, he said, we, uh, we have found our network, and he's coming back and asking me questions. About, you know how I, they're asking him, he doesn't, you know, you'd have to understand how Hollywood works. They don't really want you there with them. They want to control the situation, but he's asking me questions. The point is, I feel like we are about to close this still. I'm about to get this TV show going so excited. And while we're waiting, they said it's gonna be a few weeks. At that time of year, Hollywood kind of closed down or the movie TV business, and he said, we'll, we'll know in a few weeks, but they're really liking this. I'm pretty sure we're gonna get a pilot out of it. So I'm driving through New York City listening to a baseball game, a Mets baseball game, and I won't bore you with this, but I became a Mets fan because I did a show at City Field for a guy named Ron Darling. He's, he's the guy that does the play by play for the Mets. Tv, uh, games and he has a charity over there. So I went over and did the, the comedy show and I met all the Mets players. And, uh, after the show I talked to him for about 20 minutes. So, naturally, since I talked to this guy for 20 minutes, I felt like we were like this, you know, we're, we're obviously. Buds at this point. So I'm, I'm considering myself friends of these, these players. I'm being sarcastic obviously, but, uh, so I'm listening to the game as soon as the game ends. And so we had breaking news, uh, HBO producer, uh, Hollywood producer, or whatever they call it, Mark Henry Johnson. This was the guy's name of Mark Henry Johnson. Production has been arrested in the death, and then they named the woman. She's a well-known doctor. In New York City. So he had been having this, not really an affair, but he was kinda live, living the Hollywood life and doing a lot of drugs and the cocaine, and had a relationship with her. She OD'ed at a, an apartment in Chelsea. With him and the drug dealer. Although the drug dealer in, in the TV and movie business isn't like Skeeter on the corner, you know, it's not like what me and you dealt with. Yeah. You know, this, this guy's living in a really big doing, you know, he, and they don't want the police to to come, so they don't call 9 1 1. They act while she's having this. Part of this, this overdose, they take her downstairs to try to take her to the hospital'cause they don't want the police coming there to the drug dealer's house and she dies in the vestibule of this Chelsea apartment complex. He calls 9 1 1. They come, he walks away. She's very well known. Um. You know, he made a horrible decision and he was arrested for it, and the guy ends up doing a year in a federal penitentiary and that completely blew our TV show up. That was it, and you have to know how Hollywood works. You don't get a crack at it. Two and three years, he kind of saw that guy has come back and gotten his life back together. Actually, it has brought him to faith because. Uh, I had just written my book. The book ends with him telling me, you know, we, we found our thing and I'm saying, uh, you know, whatever, wherever God takes me, I'm fully prepared.'cause I, you know, I know it's joy and peace. It's very ironic'cause I don't know that in, after I finished the book, while we're getting into publication a couple of weeks later, this is, this is going to happen. But this happens, destroys everything. And boy, if you think I, I mean I am really lost'cause I, I had made this deal with God that I'm gonna get into the entertainment business and you're gonna make me a big deal. And then I'm gonna tell everybody that I put my faith in you. Do you see how that works? I, God didn't really, wasn't on the other end of that deal, but that's how I had decided it in my mind. So I'm sitting here and this is completely blown up. Um. The, the, the show's dead. I'm sitting there. I had postponed while I'm working on the show, writing the book, I have, uh, you know, not done a lot of the shows that I've been doing. So I'm absolutely devastated. But a funny thing happened. The book came out and I'm thinking, I'm, I'm talking to God. Like, God, I don't get this. I, I've done all this. My, I've put my faith in you. I thought this is what you wanted me to do, and where do I go from here? And then the book came out and some people start, started reading it. And somebody in a church or a recovery center read the book and invited me to, to come perform and do my show. Well, I had a, maybe a PG 13. Type act. I didn't, and I cleaned it all up, wrote a G-rated show, and then included my testimony in the show. I went and did it. I'm on stage and I'm going through I'm, you know, I, I'm telling, doing my comedy, and then I get to the point where I start telling my testimony and Richard, I started crying. Just bawling in the middle of the show. I got these chills that came all over me and it was just in this incredible joy, and it was almost like I could hear God going, this is what I want you to do. Mm-hmm. This was the purpose I had chose. The purpose I had chose. Was a lot of money, lot of fame, a lot of fortune. You know, I had a great thing that I had lined up for myself. He had something else, but I had never experienced that type of feeling, and it was just this incredible joy that came from, from using my comedy. To spread the gospel, to spread the word of Jesus and, and the feeling that I got after that. And someone approached me after the show with telling me, look, I was just crying listening to you. I, because I make jokes about some of the stuff that I did, but then I tell them, I run into people all the time. They were like, you don't know what I did. And I'm like, I bet I can top you. And I start telling'em, and, and I realized I'd made a difference in a person's life and that that's what God wanted me to do, that Richard led me. To what I do now, which is, uh, has filled me with joy. I love doing comedy, but making a difference, living in God's purpose. So I thought that everything was gone in the down the tubes, but God was using it. And God was working. God plays the long game in all of our lives. He knew what you were going through all the time. You were going through it, and he knew where you were going. Think of the difference that you make now. I've had people that have sent me texts like I've listened to what, um, Richard, your English friend has said, and it's made such a huge difference. You're making this difference in life. It's just given me incredible joy to find that purpose. And I just wanted to share all that to people that are struggling. Your struggle is leading you to joy. Your struggle is leading you to a peace and a, and a happiness and a purpose that God has for you, and it's far better than anything you've experienced. So I just wanted to, uh, to share these stories with those that are experiencing the. Revival and the new found spiritual waking, or anybody that's just like us that's going through struggle. You will put your faith in God. Put your faith in Jesus, you will come out of it. Uh, and I'm gonna close with one scripture and you could add whatever you would like. But Isaiah 43 19, do not lose hope in times of trouble, for God is working on the unseen. His hand is steady and his timing is perfect in bringing good out of difficulty. Everybody should, they should write that in their heart and they will come through it. So, uh, any closing thoughts before we leave there? Rich? Just thanks

Rich: 36:12

for sharing that, pat. Really like, I think it's just we all, we have these ideas done, we about where our life should be going, you know, and we've become so, become so attached to them, you know, and, um, you know, the loss of them can feel so devastating, but it, you know, it's. Sometimes it just need to surrender to the fact it's not, it's not our path. There's a saying in, in the fellowships, in know, to throw step fellowships. It's like bands are things you make while God's laughing at you. Yes, yes, yes. But, uh, I, yeah, he's off again. Do you know what I mean? With his ideas. You know, I, I, I sometimes think, you know, I've experienced success in my career. When I look at it like there's two or three key decisions I've made, you know, like not many. The rest of it's just life's just sort of happened, you know? And um, I think we, we have this idea that our hands are like so securely on the tiller of our life, you know? And we are the one plotting the course and. Not that, you know, it's not the case. When I really think about it, when I really look back at my life, it's like there's two or three key decisions that I made. You know, walking through the doors of a 12 step meeting, you know, uh, making the decision to move to London and work for myself. You know, like, I dunno, man, the rest of it's just gonna happened really, you know? So, um, yeah, a hundred percent I think it's. Understanding there's a plan and a purpose. And, and you know, another saying that I I like from the fellowships is like, if it, if you're, if you're going through, hell keep going. No. Um, yeah.

Pat: 37:52

That is a great way to end it because I didn't think about that, but that is my life. Two or three decisions and the rest is just bumbling along. There are times I look back and go, man, how did a fool like you? That was the name of the TV show, by the way. Not McCool, it was Mc Fool. Like why would a guy do such foolish things? And I, I Like You, sometimes thank God is just sitting up there and he goes, Hey. Peter, Gabriel, y'all come around and watch what this moron is doing right now. So great way to end it, rich. Great, uh, great talking to you. And, uh, now you can go back down and help Shireen, uh, put together some more of that IKEA furniture, my man. So God bless you brother and everybody out there, and we will see you next time. God bless you. We'll see you later.