Ep 26: Sharing New Found Faith

With Richard out of England on business, Pat talks with Joe Nealvice, who recently became a follower of Jesus at 40 years old. They discuss his new faith in Jesus, the incredible impact it has had on his life, and his passion for sharing it with others so they can have the same experience.  

Transcript

Pat: 0:24

Two unlikely Christians podcast. I'm comedian Pat McCool coming to you from the Piney Woods of South Mississippi. And today, Richard. Our co-host is normally is coming to us from London, England, but he is over in Belgium somewhere. Which he, uh, didn't think I actually knew where it was on a map. It's amazing that stereotypes that Bretts have of us guys from Mississippi. But joining us is as my new friend, Joe Neil, vice from Lincoln, Nebraska, and we're gonna have a little conversation about sharing your faith, which is what Joe, did a couple of weeks ago. So, uh, Joe, how you doing buddy?

Joe: 1:05

I'm doing well. How are you?

Pat: 1:07

I'm doing good. It is finally starting to warm up a little bit here in the sip. How about Nebraska? Are you guys still?

Joe: 1:13

It's about 50 degrees and windy today. You guys down in Mississippi are the new tornado alley and the new, uh, you guys are getting all the bad weather now.

Pat: 1:24

Yeah.

Joe: 1:24

Don't just goes through it here.

Pat: 1:26

Yeah, I, I don't know about new, I mean, we, we, we've had tornado,

Joe: 1:31

well, I mean, it, it has, it's, it's well known that the tornado alley has shifted towards you guys more.

Pat: 1:38

It

1:38

has,

Joe: 1:38

and you guys are the ones who got the snow recently. That is crazy. I used to live in the Carolinas. Like when you're in the Carolina, like in the South, you guys are not prepared for it the way we are.

Pat: 1:50

Correct. And

Joe: 1:52

so it's like very problematic.

Pat: 1:54

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, well, if you, if you, if you saw what happened, now I'm down in south Mississippi, so we didn't get the snow and the ice.

Joe: 2:01

Okay.

Pat: 2:02

Uh, but what happened was in, uh, up in north Mississippi, it was just an unbelievable disaster. Where Ole Miss is in Oxford, there was shut down for a couple weeks. I mean, people were really in dire straits.

Joe: 2:14

No, you're not prepared for it. You like, like we, in, in areas where this happens, there are, you know, salt. Rock trucks, the assault trucks ready and snow piles ready to go. So when it hits you guys, you guys, you guys struggle with it. I lived in the Carolinas, yeah. Yeah.

Pat: 2:33

I lived in New York City and I lived in New Jersey for a number of years. Okay, and, and so I know exactly what you're talking about. The salt trucks are right before this weather gets there. The salt trucks have covered the road. Yeah, everything's ready. We don't have it up here. And I 55 literally shut down. Right. For hours and hours and people were stranded out there. I mean, they were fearing for their lives. It was a really bad deal. But

Joe: 3:04

no, I, I lived in the Carolinas for a couple years when I was a kid, and I remember one time we had about three inches of snow and it shut the state down for a week. It was called the storm of 92. Wow.

Pat: 3:16

We get, if we get a half an inch of snow school's out, businesses close and nothing happens. But what happened down here was this massive ice storm, uh, that hit the, and, and it gets on the power line. So people were without power for, and some of'em still haven't gotten it back, but like, like I said, Ole Miss will just now go back to school. Tomorrow, I think, or Monday after, uh, I mean, Monday after a long hiatus there, but, uh,

Joe: 3:43

right.

Pat: 3:43

Well, 50 in Nebraska. I, I would take it because in, in New York and New Jersey, like spring didn't happen till like, may, like that spring was like 15 minutes and then you went boom summer.

Joe: 3:55

Oh, right into it. Yeah.

Pat: 3:56

Yeah. So you guys were doing good. Well, I appreciate you joining us. Uh, so do you grew up there in Lincoln?

Joe: 4:02

I, well, like I said, I grew up all over the place. Really. My dad traveled, uh, he was a grocery, grocery store, but while I was young, I traveled all over the place. I actually lived in sea. It's too long to list right now, but yes, mostly grew up in Nebraska.

Pat: 4:21

Awesome. Well, the, um, I lived in, uh, Kansas. I lived outside of Kansas City in a place called Leavenworth, and my dad was an army officer. So being an army officer, meant every year you packed up the station wagon, started across the country. Dad would stop and, whip mine and my brother's butt a couple times, pull into the next. Uh, post and we'd be there for 12 months, meet friends once we got settled in, boom, back in the station wagon. So I, I,

Joe: 4:50

I, it was exactly that way for me too. But it was grocery stores, it was promotions, constant.

Pat: 4:57

Yeah, well that's, uh, that's a, well, and Kansas City's kind of like, right, right along, uh, up there around where you are in Nebraska, so I know what some of that wind, what are some of that wind feels like?'cause the wind was what used to, I remember walking to school with my ears stinging. I mean, it was just,

Joe: 5:14

yeah,

Pat: 5:15

so,

Joe: 5:15

well, I also, I was born in Wyoming, so there really isn't a windier place that I know of in Wyoming.

Pat: 5:22

No, I don't remember

Joe: 5:23

that. But

Pat: 5:24

that, that's one of the few states I haven't been. But, but to get, to get to today's podcast, I have mentioned on here be before Joe, uh, the main board, which, mm-hmm. Which is where we met our acquaintance. I mentioned it before, uh, in other podcasts actually. Some people have had issues. Richard, or my normal co-host is an addiction specialist and a psychotherapist from London. So, you know, we've covered a couple of the issues and for people that don't know, you know, the, the main board is really for college football fans and, but it's a big cross section of America and, and the ironic thing is, one of the least things that gets discussed on there is college football. So,

Joe: 6:07

right. It's, uh,

Pat: 6:09

but it, it's a cross section of an awful lot of people and Right, and I think you may have joined six months, a year or so ago, but you posted something, I don't know, was it last Sunday or the Sunday before? Yeah, I click on and you post the Bible verse, I don't remember exactly what it was, one Peter or something along those lines. So I look at it and I'm kind of curious'cause I know all the characters on the main board. You know, some come in and joke, you know, you, uh, some or guys of faith, some aren't. You know, you, you've got a few atheists that you know will always show up. Uh, you know, to make their, you know, opinions known. So I was curious when you posted that, what the responses were, uh, were going to be. But I don't have the, the, the thread pulled up. But what really surprised me was all of the people that came in, I mean, they were coming in saying, thanks. Oh, thanks for posting that. Oh, thanks man. Yeah. Oh, I've been dealing with anxiety. Was that your response? I mean, did you, what did you think when, what prompted you to post it in the first place and what was, what

Joe: 7:19

prompted? What prompted All of this is something that has. Hit me like a ton of bricks and transformed me. Like I, I've You said that one of your friends is, or the other co-host of the show is an addiction specialist? Well, that's something I've struggled with my whole or the last 20 years of my life and I, and throughout the whole thing I have always, I've studied religion, I've studied Christianity. I've asked him, my heart, God, why won't you send me something? I've cast my anger upon him, let him know. Like the Book of Job, for example, is like Job was an upstanding guy and Satan crushed him for the hell of it. And now in my case, I'm not an upstanding guy, but God reached me in the same way that he reached Joe. So that's what prompted me. And um. Actually part of the prompt was that I'm, I'm not really courageous enough to be Christian, outwardly spoken, um, in real life. So I go to the internet and do it, but I'm working on trying to get outspoken about it in real life, which you're helping me do here. So it, it was just, it was a top of inspiration. It just, I, I just, yeah. Inspiration was the prompt. I mean, say, yeah.

Pat: 8:42

Well, that, that's awesome. And it was, courageous because on you, well, you've been on the main board long enough to know it's a bunch of jokesters on there. You, you go posting a Bible verse and up there and I'm thinking, well, you're just asking for people to make, but, but that's not, oh, what happened? And did you see all of the people posting? That were saying. Thanks. I needed to hear that. I needed to read that today. And then people started talking about their, their other problems. Um,

Joe: 9:11

right.

Pat: 9:11

You mentioned, struggling with addiction. Well, the podcast is called Two Unlikely Christians. One because me and Richard are unlikely. Uh. Buddies by me being in South Mississippi and him being over in London, England, uh, me being a comedian, he being a guy that's, uh, you know, with degrees from Bath University and a PhD and all of the stuff that he has. But our conversation started when we became, um, I had a very troubled start. When to my life, and I wrote a book about it. It's called Bonai. Wasn't really that big of a hill. One man's walk towards God and it just talks about all the trouble, all the destruction and everything I was dealing with. When I was, uh, you know, when I was growing up and when I was a teenager and then, and Richard had hard addiction problems, bad heroin. You name. Today I'm hearing another voice coming in on the side there.

Joe: 10:12

Oh, Tarro tv. Hold on. I just walked into a different room and charged my phone. Lemme just turn it down. All

Pat: 10:19

set.

Joe: 10:19

There we go. Sorry. There

Pat: 10:20

you go. Excellent. Uh, but so that's what brought us together. We were talking about how our faith in Jesus completely changed our lives, completely took us from lives of destruction. Uh, in my book, it ended up with me, in a jail cell at 18 years old, and, and Wow. At a total dead end, Richard almost died and. When we started talking, we just got to the, we reached a point where, you know, we, we love sharing what it's done for us. Both of us are people that have joy in our lives, happy lives. I went from a guy that was almost going to get free room and board by the state of Mississippi, for a number of years, and a fresh, uh, orange jumpsuit to wear to a guy that's been married 35 years, three daughters, eight grandkids, and I'm probably one of the happiest people That's awesome. On the planet. That's

Joe: 11:11

fantastic.

Pat: 11:12

Uh, and then Richard just got married. And, and you know, Richard, all of all of our problems were created by ourselves. And, you know, we, we detailing a lot of the other, uh, pod, uh, podcast.

Joe: 11:24

Yeah.

Pat: 11:24

But in your case, you're following the same path that we have. Because what happens is when, when Jesus changes you Yeah. And you go from that destruction and that addiction, and I wasn't physically addicted, but I was emotionally, you know, addicted to just either drunk pills, whatever. I was just a right miserable kid. And, uh, yeah. And, but once that happens, you start getting this joy, you start getting this piece and then you wanna share it. And so that's what you did. Yeah. And that's why I'm thinking, well, this is, you know, this is what he wants us to do. He wants us to go out. And a lot of people, they gain their faith, they become a Christian and start following Jesus and they think they gotta go off and become pastor or, you know, or they gotta start going off. Being spokespeople that you don't have to do that. It's the way you live your life, the fruit of the spirit, and just letting people know. And the fact that you posted that that day, uh, I was kind of surprised because I hadn't seen anybody do that in a long time. And that means you have. Courage. It doesn't matter whether you do it online or whether you do it somewhere, you just post the Bible verse. And I, I thought, I thought you were gonna, I thought the resident atheists were gonna show up, you know? And I thought some of the other jokesters were going, you know, you're on, you're on the main board. You know what's, you know what goes on there.

Joe: 12:49

Right? Yeah.

Pat: 12:49

But, but what surprised me and really encouraged me to, Invite you to do this was the fact that all, did you see all the responses that people were, were they were posting Bible and it turned out to almost be a, a Sunday school or a Bible study and it kind of ended with, um. You know, one guy saying, Hey, we ought to do this. We ought to do this every Sunday. I was like, Hey,

Joe: 13:18

right,

Pat: 13:18

this,

Joe: 13:19

well, somebody else, somebody else brought that up. Uh, I think it's a good idea. I, well, like I said, you talk about not having courage. I really, I struggle with doing this in real life. Like this is an, an entirely new thing that has happened to me. Um,

Pat: 13:36

well,

Joe: 13:37

Joe, so when,

Pat: 13:40

go ahead. What'd you say?

Joe: 13:42

So that's why I took to the main board. It was a way that, that was like my starting point of my faith. And for me, it, it is important to be outspoken about it. Bible calls us to be, you know, when prompted,

Pat: 13:56

that's what he says.

Joe: 13:57

So that's why I went there. And, and I mean the, I think the reason that I got the responses that I did is because for me, the heart of the gospel, the heart of the message is very, very simple. Now, there's another. Thread right now going on, told a powerful story of Mary's intercession, where they're just arguing. And, uh, I, I popped in there and said, you know, you guys are probably arguing about matters that are supposed to be holy. Like, what I figured out is the heart of the gospel is very simple. It, it is so simple. Um, trying to figure out a way to describe it here. Uh, I posted that post about the thief on the cross. Did you see that video that I posted? No. The thief on the cross' name was Desus. And this to me is, I'm gonna tell you the story. It's very beautiful. Um, Desus was a murderer, a thief, a renegade, and he had actually met Christ, um, before this. And, uh. He didn't do anything to him'cause he thought Christ was so beautiful. He just saw him. He said, God, that's just a neat guy. And he didn't do mess with him. Fast cross together, dying Desmond's, darkest hour. He's been a murderer his whole life and Christ was there for him like that. That to me is the heart of the gospel. Like the reason the Bible is so thick is because of all the stupid stuff that we do to each other. But the heart of the gospel is very simple and like that is, that's why when I post, uh, when I post things, I post very graceful things. I, because that's a need for me. So like when I posted that, uh, what was it, Peter five through seven. Um. What the heck was it?

Pat: 15:52

Yeah. Oh, it was, I think, it was one Peter five through seven, which was amazing because the day earlier as I, when I reached out to you the day earlier, I was actually, I was re, I just started reading Peter and I had just read that and closed up., I'd gotten through maybe a few, a few verses past that and I literally just read it and, and then you posted that.

Joe: 16:17

I, well, I can't that, that's funny the way you mentioned that.'cause you pick up the Bible, that's how it works. One thing I like to do with the Bible and it blows, and this is something that I've done, that I've done throughout my entire life, even before I became a believer like I am now, I swear. You pick up the Bible, you open up a random page, put your finger down and start reading, and it just hits you like a ton of bricks. I don't know that there's another book like that.

Pat: 16:41

Well, there's not, that's a whole, it's

Joe: 16:43

shock. Yeah. It's chock full of substances, the whole thing.

Pat: 16:48

Yeah. Boy, you're making some, you're making some really good, you're making some really good points there on the Bible,

Joe: 16:54

right? All,

Pat: 16:54

all of

Joe: 16:55

it.

Pat: 16:56

Go ahead.

Joe: 16:57

No, it is rough. Most of it. But like, the reason I posted the posts that I posted was because like, I. Like the stuff that I personally need is the very simple stuff, like the very inviting, welcoming, graceful, simple stuff. Like I need that personally because, you know, the rest of it is rough. It, it's mostly rough. It's, it's a similar story told over and over again. Like in the new, I just read the book of Jeremiah the other day, the whole thing. It's basically the same story over and over again. It is God pouring out his wrath, sending people into exile, and then bringing them back around again.

Pat: 17:39

Uh, something you're going, I think that you will learn the more you keep reading The Bible is. Because I've been going in, you know, reading it for years and years and, but it, it, it keeps revealing itself. When I first started reading, you think, well, it's saying the same thing over and over, but it's actually say there's so much. It's so much deeper in every verse, every chapter, every story. There's a reason he's telling us this. I thought it was a historical book, a book telling about how we get salvation through Jesus. I thought all that. But the, the more I read it, the more I listen to other people, uh, that, that study the Bible and I start realizing there's a deep meaning in every single thing that he says in there. Yeah. So it's literally a book. Like if you take a regular book. Which the Bible's not. The Bible is

Joe: 18:32

no,

Pat: 18:32

you know, written over hundreds of years. The prophecy in the Bible, the, it, it's a matter of fact. The Bible is an absolute miracle. You nobody can explain how the Bible came and all the prophecies in the Bible, but if there's a message in at. Everything in there. It's a great point that you're making, but God gave us this instruction book. You take a regular book and you read it Well, you know everything in that book. But when you read the Bible and you go back and you read that chapter over again, you'll start seeing deeper meaning in everything. Yeah. And, and understanding the context.

Joe: 19:06

Yeah.

Pat: 19:07

Uh,

Joe: 19:07

it's, it's,

Pat: 19:08

go ahead.

Joe: 19:09

The context for me is a struggle. I'm somebody who likes to, uh. Look at it and cherry pick the graceful parts, the parts that are simple, you know?

Pat: 19:19

Yeah, you're probably like me. I got the A DHD. See, I'm older than you and know if you have the A DHD, but I have the attention span of ager. I mean, I just, yeah. You know, in school they, I was just, they weren't diagnosed, diagnosing us with a DHD and things like that back then. Uh, they were pulling, pulling us outta class, giving us a, giving us a whooping. But I'm like, you, and so just sitting down and focusing on it. But I do that. I will, I, I'll have the bookmarked where I left off, but sometimes I'll just pick it up and I'll just start reading and Right. It, it, the, the more you read it. The, the more meaning that, that you'll get from it to, oh, he's saying this now I see this, which I didn't see the first time I saw this. I wanted to make one point, uh, or bring up one point that, that you made.

Joe: 20:08

Yeah.

Pat: 20:09

Uh. Just in passing, you were talking about the, there's a thread in there about Mary's intercession and you've got people in there that believe in God, believe in Jesus, that are fighting amongst each other. Yeah, and this thing that just blows my mind, I tell people, you can't pick up social media today with without Christ. Fighting Christians. It's right. One pastor saying, if you have a pastor telling you this and telling you that, well, this is heresy and then this one, right? And I, and I got this pastor's over here,

Joe: 20:41

right?

Pat: 20:41

Clearly making a social media post about this pastor. I mean, if it's really, somebody's doing some kind of evil, but it's like the attack each. Other more than, you know, than people that have it in for c for Christian. So that was a very good point. No, I, I did start reading on the intercessor, but I, I kind of

Joe: 21:00

right,

Pat: 21:00

left it.'cause I'm like you, I'm like, okay, you're over there arguing about something.

Joe: 21:04

We're unholy like that. That's what it is. Like something I've thought about is like, in that thread, I, I did make a comment. I said, I, I think you guys are arguing about things that should be who matters.

Pat: 21:17

They are

Joe: 21:18

right now.

Pat: 21:19

It's,

Joe: 21:20

yeah. What, what, what would we talk about right now if we were holy? Do you have any idea? Like we're sitting here debating things right now, you and me. This is not a holy conversation. You know, it's back and forth at each other a little bit. You know, we're not on the same page. What would we really talk about if we were holding? We don't even know. It's terrifying.

Pat: 21:42

We're supposed to be encouraging each other because one thing you're gonna find out as being a, and I don't know how long that you've, that you have, you know, had your faith, uh. Couple months the biggest thing. Oh, is that right? Fantastic.

Joe: 21:56

A while, but like I said, something had hit me like a ton of bricks lately, so.

Pat: 22:00

Yeah. Well, here's what happens. It, like mine and Richard have both told our stories on here, and they're all different. I had some moments sitting in the jail cell at 18 years old and I had. This, God, if you're a real, I'm ready to find out moment. Right? So I, I'd made a decision and some things that happened to past that to make me realize that I do okay, God is real. I'm gonna follow God. So I start following. I decide, remember, there's different things in deciding and believe me, so I decide in my human mind. God's real and I'm gonna follow God. Well, things did start changing. I was not a follower of Jesus and a Christian, but I, so I start, things do start changing. I start making better decisions. Yeah. I start working my way out. But it was actually years later before I actually realized, okay. I, I'm giving my life to Jesus. Jesus is my Lord and Savior. When that happens, things really start changing a lot. And so what's happening, uh, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you. You know, you heard about, I don't know if you've heard about Pentecost. I don't know if you've read that that far, where everybody, where they receive the Holy Spirit. Yeah. You have that in you as much as any pastor in this country, as any of the. Uh, the apostles, you have as much of that in you. It's as, it's now how much of the Holy Spirit controls comes out of you and runs your life. Yeah. And that's what happens. And that's these impulses you're having, that's this impact that's having because it's inside of you. And it's, and that's what's moving, I think. So for you to come out and, uh, and start saying these things, start making

Joe: 23:37

difference. I, I've thought of something. It is a thought that I have. I wanna share it real quick. Like the nature of the belief that I have now, and I'll bet that you can relate to this. I would bet that any pastor or anybody who's ever received this can relate to this. You can come up to me right now and tell me Jesus isn't real. It's all a lie. It's false, and I would say to you, I'm gonna pursue it anyway because there's nothing more beautiful than that. Does that make sense? Does that resonate with you?

Pat: 24:07

That's awesome. That, yeah, that, that's awesome.

Joe: 24:10

Because like maybe it's, it's. And see it's beyond, it's super rational. That's,

Pat: 24:15

I love it.

Joe: 24:16

You did something else entirely.

Pat: 24:18

You know, because, because if that's how I would've felt all those years ago would've been like, yeah. Well, I'm gonna go ahead and I'm gonna continue looking into this myth because, right. This myth over here, because before I started believing this myth, I was a darker addict.

Joe: 24:33

Oh, me too.

Pat: 24:34

Yeah.

Joe: 24:34

Well, you, you said you turned over at 18. I, I'm literally, I'm 40 and I'm just. God is, I didn't find God. God found me.

Pat: 24:44

Yeah. Alright. Alright. Listen, I did not turn over to 18. Well, here's what happened. I end up in this jail cell. I make this, this, I detail it in, in my book. Uh, but, uh, if anybody's interested, they go to Pat McCool. Dot com or just Google, it pops up. But anyway, uh, I'm not, not trying to sell the book, but at 18 I'd have made a decision. I'm like, God, if you are real. There were some things that happened, Joe, that started realizing some bodies looking over me because there are some incredible miracles that have taken place. Uh

Joe: 25:16

mm-hmm. I,

Pat: 25:18

I've, you know, bullets, pit trees in front of me and crawling out of, of destroyed automobile. Just all these things somebody's looking after. Wow. So I made a, a human decision in my mind that, okay, I'm gonna see if God is real. Now there is a difference. As a matter of fact, you can go anywhere you want today, Joe, and on the main board or wherever you go, and you can say, uh, God. All you want and, and people are uh oh yeah, the man upstairs. Yeah. I believe in God, when you say Jesus, you're gonna find out. When you mention the word Jesus, all of a sudden people start getting a little nervous. They, yeah. The room kind of thickens up a little bit. I don't know why that is, but, it's a,

Joe: 26:02

yeah. Well, I was listening to something the other day. Uh. Rob, Bishop Baron, Robert Baron. He's a Catholic priest that I really like. He, he's pretty famous. He started the word on fire website. I wanna join Catholic Orthodox or Protestant. Those are pretty much the main three. But, gosh, I forgot what I was saying here. Uh, he has, he just has a cool message. You gotta, you gotta get me going on something again, I just forgot what I was saying. What were we talking about?

Pat: 26:37

Well, what I was gonna say was when we, when I started believing in God, that was one thing, but then when I became a follower of Jesus, that's what being a Christian is. You accept the fact that Jesus died. He's your Lord and Savior and follow him. You get the Holy Spirit. Things start and then everything start changing. But it is a long process, Joe. That's what I wanted to tell you. You're talking months now. You said 40. I was 18 when I made that decision. Right. That was just a mental, I'm gonna believe in God, I'm gonna start pursuing this. I didn't actually. Probably at, at 27, I kind of thought I'd become a c an actual, or no, a few years later I'd become a, an actual Christian, a father, but that still wasn't real. It didn't really didn't happen until I was 30 something years old in a church. Okay. Really gave it over. So you need to understand something. You're not,, you're not in rare. Air here. This is the way it happens most. Okay. Richard, uh, who's probably about your age or may maybe a little older, uh mm-hmm. Richard literally struggled all through his life, and it was th he was th three or four years ago, I think he was like 34, 35 years old. So he was about your age. So that's No. Hey, long term. You know, uh, thing just because you've started doing it, but you, it's a process that you keep going through and you keep learning and you keep learning and then, and the joy inside of you continues to increase. Right. And build and, and build up. And,

Joe: 28:06

well, it seems like, seems like maybe what you're saying is some of us have to go through some stupid stuff before we realize it. Maybe, maybe God is understanding about that. He talks about patience. Jesus does. Being one of the virtues that you learn as you follow him. I guess maybe I was just being patient my whole life up until two months ago when this hit me like a ton of bricks and then he changed me for me, like that. That's how, that's how we could do it. And, and like I'm still struggling with the same addictions and everything. I'm big cigarettes. I still drink. I know I need to quit'em all.

Pat: 28:42

Well, well, I, that's a whole different, that's a whole different topic. I will say, the, I mean. Somebody smoking a cigarette and somebody having drink. It's not a sin in the Bible. My, per my personal opinion, I mean, if you read Mark, seven 15 through. 23. You don't defile yourself by what you put in your body. It's what you come in. Well, it comes outta your mouth. It's what comes, comes outta your mouth. So I, you know, I, the one thing that Satan will come in and he, and because he is real and he will come in and he will beat up on you, Joe. He will come in and he'll tell you, you're not worthy. You're a fraud., You're not worthy of this. That, and that's what he's doing. So if you, yeah, I,'cause I saw you were mentioning something about, Hey, I. But I use Zen or something like that. Boy, that's the small stuff. I don't wanna get any pastors mad, mad at me. But it's Do you follow Jesus? Do you follow what he tells you to do? And do you exhibit the whole, the fruit of the spirit and the fruit of the spirit is, uh, joy, peace. It's, it's happiness. It's general fortification for me.

Joe: 29:46

I honestly don't, I don't, I honestly don't have a lot of joy and peace in me right now because of the things I'm dealing with in my life. But what it has done for me is. Fortified me. And that's something I, I wish for everyone. Like when I was, I'd pretty much been agnostic my entire life. Um, I was raised by beautiful faith from my grandparents on both sides, and my mother, um,

Pat: 30:13

well

Joe: 30:13

see.

Pat: 30:14

Go ahead.

Joe: 30:15

Yeah, go ahead.

Pat: 30:16

No, you, you go ahead.

Joe: 30:18

Yeah. So they have this beautiful faith and I, I, I was a. Basically an antichrist my entire life up until two months ago, and then, but I studied it. I cast my burden upon God, like I literally was angry at him. I just prayed angry prayers, why don't you reach me, which the Bible says you shouldn't do. Jesus himself said, you should just simply believe in me. In spite of all that, he reached me. That simple.

Pat: 30:51

If you read the Bible there, there are people that got angry with God through, through throughout the Bible. Uh, yeah. But y you know, there's also scripture in the Bible that if you raise them, um, they will return. And that's what you did. As a matter of fact, I bet you would be amazed. I'll guarantee that the grandparents that raised you that way have prayed for you and prayed for you. Prayed for you. Yeah. And that made a difference in your life. And in my book, I, again, I'm not meaning to refer back to that. There were people I didn't even know praying for me. And that's probably what's happened to you and any of our listeners. I think. So any of our listeners out there, uh, same thing with them. There's probably people praying for you, but God is your father. He loves you. Yeah. He wants to have a relationship with you. He's delighted with you. He says that over and over in the Bible. Right? So he's there waiting for you. Waiting for you. Uh, and I kind of, like I said, I don't mean to mention my book again, but that's kind of what I touched. Oh, he's waiting. I'd like to read for, for somebody to come and, um. And you know, that's what's happening in your life. And your, your life is an inspiration. It's 40 years old. People think all the time, oh, I've waited all this time. I'm not worthy. I'm a dirt bag. Uh, you know, I, I worked against God as a teenager and a young person, and it was a selfish, uh. And yeah, everything changes once you start following Jesus. And yeah, that, that joy will come more and more, but you just keep praying and keep doing what you're doing. And I honestly, I'm just very impressed the way that you shared that. I've seen people that become a Christian and then they, they start shouting from the roof to, it almost looks sometimes like they're going, look at me. Look at do, do you see what I'm saying? You didn't do right. You, you didn't go out and go, Hey, look at me. I'm holier than thou. You just posted something on there and, and you, you wrote a paragraph or two that it seemed like, well, this is a pretty wise person that this what this guy's saying, and, uh. And then look what happened. And then you, I guarantee you, that day there were people that got off that phone and got back into the Bible and it just made a difference. And there were people that read that scripture that needed to hear it, that needed a difference. So now God is using you. All those prayers of the grand, the people that raised you up are now all coming. I'm getting chills actually. I'm thrilled to put you on here because this is what it's all about. It is. You've spelled it out perfectly. It is

Joe: 33:34

like, yeah, like, like literally, I, one of the, my favorite books is Job. I haven't read it all yet, but it it is crazy. That book is, yeah. You're, are you into comedy? You're stand up comedian? Actually, I'm,

Pat: 33:49

yeah, I'm stand up comedian. If, if you just Google Pat McCool, you'll see, you'll see all my stuff pop up.

Joe: 33:53

I did a little, I think what you should do sometime. Just start reading from the Book of Job as a standup routine.

Pat: 34:00

Yeah. Well, okay. Listen, I'm gonna have to tell you, look, we got, we have, we have one minute left. And the reason I'm gonna cut you off to tell you this, okay. Because my least fa and I do a bit in my, in my comedy act about job, because job is my least favorite

Joe: 34:17

dude. Oh really?

Pat: 34:19

No. Listen to me. Yeah. Lemme finish. We we're gonna, we got like, we got one minute before, before my recording cuts off. The Book of Job. My wife loves the Book of Job. The book of Job is her favorite book of job. I mean, I mean, it's her favorite book in the Bible. I love the book of job, and we have a joke around my house. I'm like, I hate job because anytime you're in the book of job, we struggling and we struggled for years. Yeah. I'm like, I don't wanna, I don't wanna hear about the struggle. I want to hear about what it, I want to hear about it. Come outta the wilderness and come out. He

Joe: 34:49

just, he just lamented. I

Pat: 34:52

can

Joe: 34:52

lamentations

Pat: 34:53

Yeah. Enough with the, I'm, I, I feel like I'm gonna wake up with boils. Could we stop?'cause anytime we're the books. Anytime you're reading a book of Joe, it's going south on us. Struggl, but uh, well maybe we'll pick that up later at a different time. But my wife loves she. Yeah.

Joe: 35:09

We should do another show. It was fun. We, we only started touching on stuff.

Pat: 35:14

That's it. Well, we'll try to do it again because we're about to run out of time. Joe, appreciate you, uh, in, uh, joining me and uh, God bless you and everybody out there. Thank you. Keep doing what you're doing, Joe.