The Priorities of a Meaningful Life with Jerry Shirer

In this powerful conversation, Jerry Shirer breaks down one of the most important questions every person must answer: What truly matters most in life? In a culture that constantly pushes success, status, and achievement as the ultimate goals, it’s easy to build a life on the wrong priorities.

Jerry challenges listeners to examine the order of their lives and consider what happens when our pursuits—career, money, recognition, or even good things—are placed ahead of what matters most. Drawing from biblical wisdom and personal experience, he explains why getting your priorities right is the foundation for a life of purpose, stability, and lasting impact.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

You know, I'm grateful for where all you guys are, but I wish I probably would have listened to your mom a little bit more and made you guys struggle more. Um uh, but you know, I just wanted to give my boys everything I didn't have. Right.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

And on behalf of me and my siblings, I want to say that we appreciate you for being on that side of the spirit of the hey family.

SPEAKER_05 0:35

I hope y'all are doing well today. Welcome to Full Fledge the Homie Podcast. I am here with my esteemed co-host, JC Shire. The Mr. JC Shire, my second of three sons. I would like to acknowledge the fact that I have on a baseball cap. I don't know if y'all can read this, but isn't that cute? It says, read it for the people, JC.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

It's uh it says mother.

SPEAKER_05 0:58

Just to be clear, I'm the mom. This is my way of saying that I'm the boss of me and of this.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

Yeah, anyways, so um absolutely mom gets what she wants.

SPEAKER_05 1:11

Janessa Wade sent me this, and I just want to acknowledge thank you. She just wanted to remind me that I'm the mom.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Yeah, and and and it's funny because like we are very similar. Like, like people look at me and I'm in like you look like your mom. Like y'all's personalities are like your mom. Like y'all are very similar. Yes. But what people don't really know if they don't know me, is that a lot of my personality traits, a lot of how I think comes from Big Jerry.

SPEAKER_05 1:38

Big Jerry, the dad.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Comes from the dad.

SPEAKER_05 1:41

So I should have gotten a baseball cap for him that says dad.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Father.

SPEAKER_05 1:45

Father.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

And and the dad, you were the most requested to come on a guest. So we're here with the only, one and only, Big Jerry Shire Senior. Big Jerry Shire. I'll give it a round of applause.

SPEAKER_05 1:59

Yeah. You know what? I'm just realizing as we introduce your father that we didn't do our opening song. And I'm just wondering if that is good because then he can do it with us.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

I don't think he knows it.

SPEAKER_05 2:11

Sure, he can catch on. You ready? All right.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Let's see if he'll do it.

SPEAKER_05 2:14

Here's the opener. Hey! Hey, come on, Dad. Hey. Hey.

SPEAKER_04 2:20

Hello? Hello? Is anybody? Is anybody? I'm I'm not used to being on this side. I'm just with the behind the camera. Hello? I'm not sure if this is working.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

How are you feeling today, Dad? Well, how are you feeling?

SPEAKER_04 2:32

I am feeling um different. Yeah. Feel a little different. You know, I I I let this, you know, you and your mom take care of this right here. Uh I'm used to being behind the scenes.

SPEAKER_05 2:43

Yeah, that's what people, that's what people I'm I'm good. That's what people need to know. Because, you know, a lot of folks have wondered. I've even been asked the question quite a bit. You know, we don't see your husband much on social media, for example. Like if I'm on my page, which I don't post every day or consistently, but when I do post, Jerry's rarely included. I've been asked about that. And you need to know the reason why is because he is a very behind-the-scenes person. And this is, he doesn't prefer to be on a microphone. So we just want you to know we appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

We really appreciate you. We know this is a little out of your comfort zone, you know, it's just not normal.

SPEAKER_04 3:19

You know what I mean? Well, you know, I had to put a little bit of myself, and then you put me in a onesie, so I had to put my skull cap on or something.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

You know, just just to feel a little plug it up. Right, right, just a little bit. Just a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 3:31

Because you don't you don't know how you feel about a onesie. However, people should know that we wear onesies in real life. Yeah, you included, right? Around the house.

SPEAKER_04 3:38

Yeah, around the house in private, not on not on recorded film anywhere where people can actually see.

SPEAKER_05 3:45

Well, babe, I want you to know you look very manly.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

Yeah, thank you. I think so too, Bob. You good. I would I I wouldn't put you in nothing that would be too left. You know what I mean? You would trust me enough to know I got your best interests at heart. You know what I mean? I do. I do. Okay, we're just making sure we we got that locked in, no doubt. No doubt.

SPEAKER_05 4:01

We have been married going on 27 years. So I have known your dad for I guess nearly 29 years, 28, 29 years. Um, that's that's like a lifetime of knowing somebody, really. Um, longer than you've been alive. Obviously, I've known this man right here. And so I was so glad when everybody kept saying to us in our chats or live feeds, can we please get an interview with the dad? We need to see who Jerry Shire is and hear his story. So why don't you start with some questions for your dad, JC?

SPEAKER_02 4:33

No, no doubt, Dad. I think, well, I don't know how many people know. And I think y'all were on a podcast, Dear Future Wife here with Taves Whifield. And I don't know how much of like your background or whatever you said, but I'm gonna say it again just for people who may have not watched that. Like, what what how did you grow up? Like, what was your childhood like? Like, like the overarching themes of you know that part of your life.

SPEAKER_04 4:56

Um yeah, grew up with a wonderful mother and two siblings. I'm the youngest of three, as you know. Um, and mom was a single parent, raised us. Uh she uh, man, she was an incredible woman. I tell her all the time how the prayers of one woman changed the entire generation. Oh, yeah. And so, you know, while they were outworking, me being the youngest, while they were outworking, uh, I had to be at the house cooking and cleaning. So I was probably, I would say maybe nine or ten when I started cooking, I had to learn she how to cook my first meal. She gave me a recipe, she said, follow this recipe right here, have dinner ready when we get home, the house cleaned. And uh, so that's where it kind of started. So it started with one recipe, two recipes. Uh, you know, I would then, you know, have the house cleaned. So it was, and so I the cooking thing kind of started, but I was still in sports, so I would go to school, have practice, and then rush home to uh to take care of the task at home.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

Yeah, and let me let me just pause right there and say that I feel that as a son right now, in two in two ways. One, the cleaning. Like, I I think you're borderline OCD just a little bit. Like, like, like genuinely. It's yeah, you maybe okay. I just I was trying to be nice, yeah. You know, but but like I mean if you say clean something and it doesn't get cleaned, you'll get mad, but also clean it. Like you like, like mom gets mad and makes us clean it ourselves for the principle. Like you get mad, clean it, and then spank us. You know what I mean? Like, like so it's a little different method, but like you just like like even he's very particular, very particular, like it and it's crazy because he has everything a certain way, like everything he knows exactly where everything is at all times. And like, even if me or my brothers or mom will go and move something or take something, just you know, we want to borrow a pair of sweatpants, and we know dad, you know, we want to get into a pair of we'll go in there and you know we'll we'll a very little thing will be off. And he will text the group chat or go in the house and be like, who was in my stuff? Like, dad, we who was in my stuff? And someone, you know, one of the brothers, it was me. I know my stuff was moved. I just so it just it shows up in that way in cleaning and then cooking. You we all benefit from the even on a pro previous podcast episode, we were talking about how you were cooking.

SPEAKER_05 7:22

I think it was Thanksgiving, and yeah, he's a very good cooker, he could have a restaurant, he could have a restaurant, he could have a restaurant, he's that good, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

So, anyways, I just had to say those two things because we we we we that happening in your life is that we we we don't we noticed.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

Yeah, I and honestly, it's uh it's uh I I wish I didn't have it because it actually uh has been a disservice to you in a way, yeah, being that particular, especially with being married with kids, right?

SPEAKER_05 7:47

Absolutely when I was by myself, emphasis on the married part because see, this is what the Lord will do to you. He had him marry me. And I am not the most organized person. I'm definitely not particular, I'm very relaxed about things, so this poor man had to deal with your misorganization. Yes, and I mean, I you know, I keep stuff put together, but I'm not nearly as yeah particular as he is. So that's one of the ways, and then when you have kids, you have to relax to a certain extent because stuff is not gonna be exact. Yeah, your schedule is not gonna be exact, your living room space is not gonna be exact. So that's something you're saying that's been hard for you to relax in during the end.

SPEAKER_04 8:27

And actually, I've been jealous of actually you two.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

We are wired the same in that way.

SPEAKER_04 8:34

Specifically, you, um my wife, Priscilla, is because I wish I had that freedom. Uh yeah. But I don't. Um I'm in, I'm I'm in bondage, kind of to a degree, because seriously, because it's like, you know, right now we're talking, I'm like, let me move this cup over just a little bit here, and there we go.

SPEAKER_05 8:51

And do you think that you're a perfectionist nature and also nurture? Because you were just talking about it, it wasn't just that you're wired that way the way you grew up, but also your dad was a military guy. So the hospital corners on the edges of beds and all that. Do you feel like that that perfectionist tendency has been a hindrance to you? Meaning, has it been hard for you to start projects because you can't see how it's going to be exact? So maybe you don't start them or you don't embark upon something because you can't put it in a box and make it make sense and be exact?

SPEAKER_04 9:23

Yeah, it it it has actually been a hindrance that I had to grow in and and and let go. Um because again, it needs to be for me almost exact to make it work to make it work. But you know, I've had some great people in my life to to to help me move past that uh and just kind of really watching you a lot of it over the time, like, you know what, she's happy and I'm stressed over here, and you know, and and I'm like, you know what, I gotta I gotta listen out and relax a little bit and that's what happened.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

I do think that like even though you feel, huh? Like without that part, mom wouldn't be able, and we're gonna get into it in a second. But you know what I mean? Like without that thing that feels like hindrance to you, there wouldn't be a going beyond ministries at this level where mom be able to impact as many people as she's been able to, even as like you there's so many like behind the scenes organization meticulous things that may have been stressful for you, but everybody knows. Don't do me now. I know what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

I know when we started going beyond ministries, um, I remember your mother, I'm like, okay, let me sit in the office, which you've been doing, and let's go back to your childhood. Let's get there in a minute. She gave me a folder. One folder. She had like 20 events, but one folder. Right. You said stapled together. I'm like, what is so what had happened was we're we're see, we're we're all in the timeline.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

We're gonna get to that. We're not in the timeline. We go we we all. We all back. Okay, so we can go back. Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_04 11:01

Cooking, cleaning house. Yeah, so so that right there just really taught me about uh actually it taught me about family and uh really how to to to survive and make it work. You know, when you don't have anything, I mean, you know, people say, you know, we I we were we were poor, you know, and you know, couldn't afford the O and R, so we were Poe. And um uh and but we had we had family. And I remember uh one Christmas uh that uh my mother couldn't afford much, but she got this is when VCRs were out and she bought a VCR for the family. That was the Christmas gift. That was it. And I remember being a young kid and being so disappointed, you know, because I'm like, you know, when you go to school the next day, kids want to know what you got for Christmas and all this, and yeah, you know, VCR. What else? But she did that for the family, and it just really taught me, she taught me really the value of family and even the value of this season, because we're in the Christmas season with the season that we're in right now. And so I had to learn that, you know, as you know, early. It wasn't it wasn't easy because being a kid, you wanted these certain things, but that helped mold me into uh and really appreciate I think life and family uh most important than anything else.

SPEAKER_05 12:24

I think that's one of the things you told me through the years that he can remember kind of regretting from his childhood was his disappointment about that VCR. Yeah. Because when you get older and you realize if your mother is working for tips at a grocery store, which is what Granny, which is what we called Miss Mary, his mom, Granny, when when she's working for tips at a grocery store and has saved up enough money to buy the family a VCR, you don't realize the amount of effort and energy and diligence that took until you're grown yourself. Yeah. And you realize how much she had to work to make that one gift happen. And so, you know, when you're a child, we're we're all kind of self-absorbed. You don't realize the the value of things and how much effort people are putting in to do things for you. And so that's one of the things as you got older, you look back and realize, oh my gosh, my mom was out there sweating, pushing carts to make enough money for this.

SPEAKER_04 13:15

And so and the reason she got in and and knowing that was because the VCR, it allows us to spend time together as a family to watch movies or whatever. So it was more of a family thing for her, not just uh something to buy you.

SPEAKER_05 13:27

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:28

Wow, yeah. So it was to cultivate something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:31

So you moved around a lot growing up because um your dad was in the military. So you lived like you were born in Anchorage, Alaska, but tell everybody like sort of where you bounced around to.

SPEAKER_04 13:41

Man, I can't remember all the states. Um you know, one of my favorite places was probably Greece, Athens, Greece. That was probably the favorite. Uh parents uh are from dad was from Philly, uh, mom's from Alabama. Uh hence why I am, you know, an Eagles fan. Go Birds. I was about to be. And uh and roll tide. Yeah, baby. Yeah. Um and it was, you know, you know, of course, your your cousin Glenn, like my little, like my little brother, he was Saban's, one of Saban's first recruits there at Alabama. And, you know, he walked away with three national championship rings. So it's great. And of course, he wanted to give up. You know, he you know, he was playing football. He's like, man, this is my body's hurting. I think I'm good with this. And uh he foregave going up to the NFL and decided to become an FBI agent. And he's probably one of the biggest FBI agents probably out there at 6'82 80, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:39

But yeah, but just the you know, that family aspect, as I was saying before, has been my driving force probably in life. You know, we're talking about my dad. He left, of course, early on in the military, but he left, you know, uh a few years after afterwards. Um and it was just um, you know, um, I I look back on my life, and the thing that uh made me the person that I am today, and I tell parents all the time, is the struggle. You know, your mom used to tell me this all the time because I wanted to give you guys a what I considered a better life than what I had. And um I didn't want you guys to have to struggle like I did. And now looking back on it, you know, I'm grateful for where all you guys are. But I wish I probably would have listened to your mom a little bit more and made you guys struggle more. Um uh but you know, I just wanted to give my boys everything I didn't have. Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

And on behalf of me and my siblings, I want to say that we appreciate you for being on that side of the sp of the pendulum.

SPEAKER_04 15:55

But that but that's what actually motivated me, you know. Everything I had different seasons what motivated me to work to try to succeed in life. But when I got married, um married your mom and had kids, I was determined to to make sure that I uh was able to at least give you guys the opportunity at a future that I didn't have.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:17

So when you graduated from high school, you were playing sports at the time. And so where did that take you after high school? What was the next step for you?

SPEAKER_04 16:27

Uh after high school, uh looked at you know, had as had offers to different schools to play to play sports, uh, ended up at uh UNT and uh really did not ever get a chance to play because I dislocated my kneecap, two screws in my left knee. Following year tore my ACL uh in that same knee. The following year after that, tore my SC under the other knee. So that was it for me, you know. So I never had that opportunity, you know, to actually get on the actual game field of collegiate sports.

SPEAKER_05 17:04

Um did you regret that?

SPEAKER_04 17:05

Oh man, I was so mad at God. I was angry with God. Oh, I was angry. I'm like, you knew this was my dream. This is a way to get my family, you know, provide for my family, you know, retire mom so she didn't have to work anymore because she's worked so hard all of her life, you know. So, oh man, I was I was bitter.

SPEAKER_05 17:27

And Jerry, how did you keep that from derailing the other parts of your life? Because as we're about to talk about in a minute, you were very successful in other parts of your life during those next years. So if someone is bitter about one part of their life that maybe was a priority to them, a passion for them, and for whatever reason the Lord has allowed it to be derailed, how did you keep that from letting you like go into such a deep cave of discouragement or depression that it derailed everything else that you were working towards? Because it's easy to let that ripple effect into your whole life where you just sort of give up.

SPEAKER_04 18:00

Yeah, two things. Um you know, it it it it's it's funny. I tell the boys, I tell the boys, uh, I used to tell them all the time, you know, this lady that you call granny, I have no clue who she is. She kidnapped my mother and became your granny because my mother is no more. I don't know where she is. But I say that because the two things was she refused to allow me to just waddle in my disappointment. She goes, I really don't care about sports, your knee, whatever. You know, you're gonna finish college and you're going to be greater than any man that ever was in your family. You know? And so she just kept pushing that on, pushing that on me. And at the time, I'm like, okay, you know, that's great. Granny didn't want to go to church anymore. I'm like, yeah, but you know, I'm I'm injured, I'm back at home, and in Granny's house, you're going to church. We're going to church.

SPEAKER_03 19:03

You going to church.

SPEAKER_04 19:04

And man, I went to one of these traditional black churches. Oh, so it was long, you were miserable. Boy, man.

SPEAKER_05 19:10

Not only was it three hour services.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

That was just in the fellowship. You know, then the then the then the church service and then and then you know, you got to go home for maybe an hour and then came back for evening service, evening music thing. I'm like, I mean, it was all day. Yeah. And I remember like, I got all day. I'm I'm I'm done. But yeah, so but I didn't have a choice. So anyway, sitting there, I would go, but I was sitting in the back, you know, with my crutches and I'm in my cast or whatever. And but uh she just continued to not allow me to wall in that. But then the other thing was um I knew that I wanted to be great, you know, and I didn't know how to make that work except through hard work.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

I've only seen greatness through hard work. And what what was your definition of great at the time?

SPEAKER_04 20:06

Uh my definition of great was being able to still retire my mom.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

That was great for you.

SPEAKER_04 20:13

That was great for me. If I can be able to retire my mom and look at her in her face and her eyes and say, You no longer have to work, you just tell me what you want.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

Yeah, that was it. That was great. That was it.

SPEAKER_04 20:23

Yeah. And actually, when she turned 50, my brother, my sister, and I retired her.

SPEAKER_03 20:28

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 20:28

Yeah, so you, Granny, you no longer have to work. You do what you want to do.

SPEAKER_03 20:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:33

And life, we got you. That's that way. And so every month, you know, we would always put certain money in her account. Granny would live her life. That's such a great win. Right. And that was the win. And the great thing was I didn't realize how much of a blessing that was because when we start when your mom and I started having kids, she was there to travel with us that first year of you guys' birth, wherever we went. And that was just great to be able to have her in that support. Um, to be able to do that. So I didn't realize how you were giving your own self a gift and giving her a gift.

SPEAKER_05 21:11

So the reality is, and again, I know we're skipping ahead a bit, but you know, when you're your when your dad and I got married, we had no clue the adventure the Lord was going to take us on. Um, he'll tell more of the story, but he worked in a different capacity. I had no aspirations of being in full-time ministry, I had no idea that that would be what the Lord would call me to. That's not wasn't the plan. When we started to see the Lord taking us in that direction, there were many hurdles we had to get over as we sort of that started started to come into view. But one of them for me was that this is not what motherhood looks like to me. In the idealistic picture I had in my mind, which was based off of my mother, I was literally going to stay home and raise y'all in a very traditional way. Well, well, as we were getting these invitations to do ministry and we realized we can take you with us. I'm still wrestling. I'm glad you can be with me if I do it, but I'm still wrestling. Like, Lord, is this, is this okay? Is this what you want for me? And the main answer to the prayer was Granny. Because she looked at us and said, I will be with you everywhere you go with my grandchildren. It was almost like for me, and I have it written down in a journal from 20 something years ago. It was almost like for me, the Lord said, I got it. Just do what I'm asking you to do. And every need that arises, I already have something or someone in place to answer that request. So just to kind of reinforce what you're saying, you guys succeeding in doing that for your mother actually turned back around, not only a blessing to her, but became an answer to prayer for us, a blessing to us, and became the bedrock of the reason why we actually decided to continue to go in the direction the Lord was taking us in ministry. So what a gift that you guys did that for your mom.

SPEAKER_04 22:57

Yeah. And when I realized, and I think it was a conversation that you and I were having today about life and about why do we do what we do. Um and when I look back on it and I look back on the life of Jesus or disciples or whatever, they didn't do things for themselves. They did things that would help others. And so I think that has always been my driving force is doing things to help others, which was mainly my family at the time. Yeah. Which was uh, you know, my brother was amazing. You know, he gave up his education to take care of his siblings and help my mom. Um, so the sacrifices he made, um, it was it it it has ingrained in my life forever. And you guys, you know, saw that with Uncle Vaughn. I mean, you know, when even when you guys got older and mom and I were on the road and we couldn't make it to a game, Granny and Uncle Vaughn were there. Oh, they were gonna be there. They were gonna be there. They were gonna be there. And so, and so um, you know, they they were my motivation.

SPEAKER_05 24:08

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, y'all, y'all are you your whole family is just phenomenal. Yeah family, Granny, Uncle Von is his brother. Y'all were like twins, honestly. He looked exactly alike, honestly. And then Aunt V, who is Vernita, y'all's sister. Um, so your mom, you said, was the impetus to keep you encouraged and not wallowing in the despair or the discouragement of football. Um, and then also your drive, your your your resolve that you had to succeed. So at the end of college, what did that look like for you or you know, finishing your degree and moving into life? What did that look like for you?

SPEAKER_04 24:47

Well, one of the things is this. Uh, you know, I do want to mention this because this was kind of kept me, I think, on track because Granny knew when I left for college and she said, you know what, I I'm not gonna be able, you're not gonna be in my home, I'm not gonna be able to track you. I'm not gonna be able to know exactly where you are, you know, anything's like anything like that. And she said, I just need you to make me one promise. I'm like, man, what what, Granny? What's that one promise? Um, she said, I want you in church every Sunday. I'm like, what? I'm thinking, you know, right, I just told you how long our services were. I'm about to take me a break. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_05 25:24

So I'm like, so there was no telling what your dad was gonna be doing on Saturday night. He wasn't sure he wanted to be committed to anything on a Sunday morning.

SPEAKER_04 25:32

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 25:33

Your dad, your dad was about their life, yes.

SPEAKER_04 25:36

So it was like Granny, you you know, she goes, that's the only thing I'm asking of you. I'm like, oh man. So I told her, okay, I would. And uh, she gave me a Bible and inscribed in the Bible, it said, uh, this book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book. Wow. And that that was the thing that kept me going. And then, you know, there's been other things that have happened, and even meeting your mom, you know, we were in the same church for seven years, never met. And as she was saying, I, you know, I was out Saturday night. And then I remember my brother and my sister invited me to the church. Uh-huh. Um, and I went, and I'm like, oh man, this church is great.

SPEAKER_05 26:23

You know, because the services didn't last three hours. That's why it's a good thing. I'm not going to church.

SPEAKER_04 26:28

And so, but I remember coming on many a days, leaving the leaving the club, stopping off at IHOP or Denny's, and get a quick bite to eat and then hitting service. Now, there's many times I was sleeping there, you know, but I was there. In the balcony asleep. That's right. You was you was in the building. I was in the building. I told her, I would go. But you know what? There was some traumatic that happened in my life, and that's when the Lord kind of grabbed me again and just kind of shook me from my spiritual slumber and just brought me um back full circle. And I can remember probably um maybe two years. That was two years, maybe 18 months or something prior to meeting your mother.

unknown 27:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:15

So just before we met each other. We had been, like he said, in the same vicinity at the church. He'd been going to the church for seven years before we actually met each other.

SPEAKER_04 27:24

And you're saying just a couple years before that.

SPEAKER_05 27:27

Is when the Lord sort of like kind of arrested your heart.

SPEAKER_04 27:30

Yeah. Yeah. And he's like, you know what? I've already, you know, I had your I had your bride already waiting here for you. I was just waiting for you to get straight.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

Yeah. Uh it which is crazy. But so many things is happening, like going on in my brain right now. But one of the main things is like you touched on it earlier, but like thinking about the real impact that a decision can have on generations. Like, I think about it from like obviously, like talking about granny, like granny, like her decision to be faithful to God and go to church and all that type of stuff, it is the reason why you are the way you are today. And the reason why you guys met and were able to have me in is one of the motivating factors of like they made decisions. Like, I need to make a decision so that I can continue on. Cause I I mean, if it just if I just decide not to, I it just stop the whole totally, you know what I mean? So it's like it it the the impact of and I'm talking like I say it's young adults or even like people who are not young adults anymore are older, but like the decision to um commit your life to God, surrender to his lordship, like is this is like like like physical evidence and proof that it it has rewards beyond just yourself. You're not just doing it for yourself anymore, you know what I mean? Like, and I think and and goes back to what we're talking about, like it's always for the purpose of others. Like, if if it's really, really important to you to create a legacy in a generation and people around you like like to help their life be better, then if it was that important to you, then you would make the decision first. You know what I mean? Like that's how you change generations, and so I think for people, especially young adults, as there is this season of life, you know, transition, whatever, and it it's more acceptable to not submit to Jesus' lordship. Um, it it it's it's important, I think. At least one of the factors that people should have in their head is legacy generations. Yeah, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

It's a big motivator, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:39

Absolutely, it's a big motivator. And I'm gonna tell you this how serious Granny was. I mean, like I say, she was, as your mom mentioned, uh, she was working at a grocery store, tips only, to put food on the table. I just remember there were times, you know, like mom, you're not eating and all that. She goes, No, I ate earlier, I'm good. You guys go ahead and eat and realizing, you know, she's making sure that her kids, you know, were good. Uh, but this is the amazing thing. She would come home every day, count her tips. Let's say she made 50 bucks that day. First thing she would do is take out five dollars. And she had a little black purse in the top right hand of her uh corner of her closet where she would put her tithes for church. And every Sunday she would take that roll of cash she would have, you know, after the week and put it right there in the in the offering. I mean, that's how serious she was. I'm like, mom, you know, we trying, we're trying to pay these bills and trying to eat and she wasn't messing around with the thing. She wasn't messing around. I'm like, I think I think God knows he'll be all right. He'll be okay. She'll be like, nope.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:44

You know, so just seeing that dedication, that simple dedication, you know, it changed things. So it to me, you know, it was more important for your grandmother, because she didn't have much, was to leave a legacy rather than an inheritance.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

And see, here this is so like even I've I've heard this like like you know throughout the course of my life in like different sections, but even hearing now, it's like so inspiring. It's like like she didn't have nearly the amount of resources or anything that I'm able to benefit from because of, you know, and like am I gonna allow the resources to take away from my commitment to God? When she didn't even, you know what I'm saying? Like her commitment was still way greater than her feelings, like it in every aspect or her comfortability in every aspect.

SPEAKER_05 31:33

Her comfort, that's it, right?

SPEAKER_02 31:35

And so I'm I'm just like like now, I'm like, I have all this, and I'm sometimes like I'm still like, oh, making, you know, or whatever. And it's like, I don't want to give tithes, I don't want to give this. And she was like, I'm giving tithes, and I got 50 bucks. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, it it's just it's just inspiring to be like, man, like that faith is what's supposed to be what I, you know, carry and embody in my daily whatever I do.

SPEAKER_04 31:56

So it's just yeah, it's it is, and I just think even back then, um, I I think that I I I just think that that people who follow Christ who are part of the church and all they had this awe, this majesty about yes, about you know, the church and all that. Oh yeah, yeah. And and and and and they live that way. And so over the past, you know, decades, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:29

Decades, you know, I don't see that as much in the church, unfortunately, anymore, because we will do things or say things that back in the day, real bike you would never and as a community, it wasn't just like even if people weren't Christians by name or didn't weren't church going, yes, there was a reverence for things that were right and wrong and morality, and that you knew that if your kids were running around the neighborhood, somebody else's parents would come outside and tell you, uh-uh-uh. We don't talk like that to our elders. Right. Like, you know, so even going beyond just the Bible, just respect for authority, just regular, civilized, respectful ways of living. You're right. The the culture has sort of just slowly diminished in reverence for things that are black, should be black and white.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

Yeah, yeah. I I mean, I I kind of want to touch on this, like like a fear of the Lord. I mean, we said it, but I I like I think that term is is very like like we've heard it overused, overused, but like to really sit and think about like God is God, like He can mess this whole thing up if He wanted to, like He can absolutely do whatever He wants. So me my disobedience like can come at a cost that's unimaginable And so Because he's gracious and kind and all that, he is also just and has a sense of wrath. Yes, yes, and we be messing around with We be messing around like it is funny and he's like this is not this is not funny to develop that like like it's not just like oh I'm fearful now like you know I'm saying it's a it's a development process for me it was of all like like this is God's nature, this is who He is, and this is in the the emotion that I am now grasping or adopting Um needs to be reflected in my everyday actions.

SPEAKER_04 34:21

Yeah You know what I mean respect for His presence But this is the thing I just feel like that we as Christians will we we we I think I think we ask God and we pray things to God that He can't answer And what I mean by that is when Jesus was on the cross being persecuted There were people yelling back at him Oh you know what if you're the Son of God you know you can get down, get down. If you're this, you know, you know, get out. So they're mocking him, teasing him, and and tempting him. Um but because God is so gracious and God and He was there for a reason, he could have gotten off the cross, but he didn't because this is why I'm here. Okay, and so the thing is this it is you can't tempt God and mock God to a degree and then ask him to bless you. He can because of his perfect nature, even though he may want to, he can't. So if you're saying I'm doing this and I'm running a business or I'm and I'm asking God to bless something, well, the first thing you need to look at is how am I living? Because God said I can't bless you if you are not living this way. Yeah, wow, you know, so for example, let's just say that you're out there, and and again, I'm using something you know simple, whatever, but um I can say that you are uh a some kind of communicator or whatever. Yeah, but man, you you you you use profanity like crazy. And the guy was like, Man, I would love to bless you, but my word is pretty clear about how you utilize your word, your tongue, and all that. And again, that's simple, but it is this that's what I mean by that reverse and that all because as a Christian, we would never, you know, back then they're like speak like that. Well, yeah, and but and and again, we take it for granted, like, okay, yeah, but that's today's culture. Yeah, well, right, Jesus hasn't changed, his word hasn't changed.

SPEAKER_03 36:40

You know, because we have, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:42

Yeah, we have. Yeah, and and I think that is the thing that we need to get back to as followers of Christ, is that majestic uh that that that or majestic you know aweness of of God and who he is, because that will actually change our perspective, what we do, how we communicate, how we talk, how we handle situations, all of that. None of us are perfect, you know, which is why we need a savior. But it is it is the the uh the posture of repentance that we have when we do disappoint.

SPEAKER_05 37:17

So let's talk about your work ethic. Because you mentioned your work ethic um and how that was ingrained in you, but also it's part of your nature as well. So I I want you to talk about after college, what happened with your career and and how you were driven in that way, but also mentoring and the importance of that and what happened and unfolded next in your in your in the timeline of your life.

SPEAKER_04 37:41

Yeah. After graduating, I had a uh um a buddy of mine. Um we we we we actually graduated high school uh together, actually go actually going to college together, and we were mates. Uh, and I remember graduate, we're getting ready to graduate, him not getting ready to graduate, and his dad asking us, um, what are we planning on doing after college? And we both had the same answer, whoever's gonna pay us the most. That's what we're looking for. Job, who's gonna pay us the most? And he said, wrong answer. He said, the answer is uh you want to go where you're gonna get the most information, most knowledge, and then go start your own. I'm like, no, I want to get I want to get I want to get go get who I'm paying. I'm gonna hear you, but right. But that was some of the best soundness at advice that I ever received. Because uh basically what he was saying was money's gonna come and go, but the information that you're gonna receive and build uh is gonna carry you for a lifetime and for generations.

SPEAKER_05 38:48

Man, I think there's a whole younger generation that needs to hear that right there. That if you can put yourself in a position where you are making less, maybe it's even an internship and you're not making anything, but you give six months or a year of your life and you're networking, you're absorbing information, you're building relationships, you're getting skill sets, oh my gosh, your resources are in your relationships. That's right. So if you can be in a pool of people that uh become comrades of yours and peers of yours and that you can look up to and and you develop that, oh my gosh, that is so much more valuable at 22 years old, 24 years old than it might, then, then you know, making $60,000 that year would be. So that that was great that you shared that.

SPEAKER_04 39:30

Yeah, so we have that. Then, okay, so I started, you know, right out of college, started working for a uh a hotel chain, and um, and actually it it was just this was just God's God's, you know, I think intervention in my life. Uh uh, the president at the time, he just for whatever reason saw me and took an interest in me. I don't know what it was. And maybe, you know, and the only thing I can think about, I remember going and, you know, it was a a you know, casual office. They, you know, they would wear their uh um a lot of a lot of people would just wear their khakis, polos, you know, dress kind of business casual and all that. But I always came in a suit. I don't know what it was. I came in a suit.

SPEAKER_05 40:10

And uh because you've been at that black church all the years. That's why you came in the suit.

SPEAKER_04 40:15

And I just remember my grandpa saying, Hey, you look good, you feel good, you feel good, you do good. You know?

SPEAKER_00 40:19

There you go.

SPEAKER_04 40:20

So so and and he's like, and he came to me, he goes, I always noticed you wearing a suit. I'm like, he goes, I'm I said, I'm coming here to do business.

SPEAKER_01 40:27

Well you go.

SPEAKER_04 40:28

And so and so uh I just remember afterwards him and I used to just go play. He used to invite me to the country, his country club, and we'll play racquetball and stuff. And I mean, I you know, my your mom met him, still know him today. He's he's great.

SPEAKER_05 40:43

Damn.

SPEAKER_04 40:43

Um, and so uh he just kind of he just kind of mentored me.

SPEAKER_05 40:47

So this man is 25 years his senior. Yeah. So think about that. Your dad's 24, 25, 26 years old, and this man that's 50 is basically going, come come here, come with me real quick, let's go play racquetball. Let's what value that is to a 24-year-old to be in the orbit of this man that is the president of this hotel chain.

SPEAKER_04 41:06

Yeah. And so anyway, yeah, so just kind of worked my way up. I worked hard, worked my way, worked long hours, um, and uh, because I was determined to to to be the president, actually. My goal was to take his take his job someday. And uh uh actually never happened because I had met your mom and and uh you know new direction. But but those years there um man were so valuable to me and in and helping build that was the next building block on my stage of life. And so what I learned from him, how to uh look at data spreadsheets, um uh forecasts. Um so those type of things helped me uh you know where we are today. Those were building blocks from where we are today, and it helped to, you know, build the the ministry that the Lord has entrusted to your mom and I uh and then some of the other businesses now that I that I have uh to to to start those because you know I've I've never been one to shy away from work. And uh and and so it's just okay, what's next? Uh I I want to do what's next. And so, you know, and I tell people all the time, you know, everybody's different, but um I never want to make an excuse. The reason I couldn't succeed is because of where I came from. I want to say the reason I'm successful is because of where I came from. Um uh because I had to to to work harder than a lot of people uh to get to where I am. Uh and and uh I wanted to make sure that was it. So I can remember, you know, there at the hotel chain, I remember there are people who put in eight-hour days. I'm putting 12. Yeah, you know, if they put in 10, I'm putting in 14. I just wanted to make sure I was the first one in, last one out. You saw me.

SPEAKER_03 42:59

Right.

SPEAKER_05 43:00

And I do have to say, don't forget your point, though, because I just want to make a statement that one of the things that I have grown to admire most about your dad, I don't think I knew it clearly, but you know, when we were younger. But through these 26 years, one of the things I've grown to appreciate and admire most is your work ethic, that you you are going to do the most. And sometimes you do the most the most, like too most, and you're like, you know what? I need to, you know. But the point is, for you know, any young women that are listening right now, I want you to know you you want to marry someone with a good work ethic, someone that is not always trying to take the shortcut, trying to find the easy way, trying to not do nothing, trying to, if that's their default, you need to be aware of that. But if their default is even if they're prone, like my husband will admit, prone to overwork and he has to recalibrate, you want to marry someone that is that has a work ethic where they take pride and they value hard work, putting in time, effort, and energy to see an investment come back to them. That matters when you're building a family. When you're building businesses, when you're trying to cultivate a steady home life, it matters to have a husband that is not trying to shy away from working.

SPEAKER_04 44:09

So that, like, you know, like sometimes, you know, uh my sleep pattern sometimes gets off.

SPEAKER_03 44:14

And I was really off.

SPEAKER_04 44:16

And then the other day, you know, she doesn't really get up. So I got up. I went to the garage. I washed her car in the garage. Filled it up with the.

SPEAKER_05 44:24

Sometimes he'd be doing too much, but I'm grateful.

SPEAKER_04 44:28

So that I knew she I knew she had some running around to do the next day. I'm like, well, my wife's gonna go around the clean car in the full tank of gas. Yeah. So that's just but the thing is this, I was, I was uh, you know, acts of service was my thing for her at the time. So, you know, my goal, you know, for for years was to to to at the end of the day, I wanted to make sure that I outserved her.

SPEAKER_02 44:49

Oh, wow. Well, outserved her. Um, we have two things. One, we have this, that just reminded me of this quote that we have in our locker room right now. It says, um, doing three dollars work for two dollars pay. Like, like, can I do a job that's worth more than what I'm actually getting compensated for? I think that's a a skill set. I think that's something that has to be adopted, a mindset that has to be cultivated.

SPEAKER_05 45:11

Just to be clear, it's not about the dollar amount. That's just a that's a symbol of what he's describing, that you always give more than whatever you're getting back. People will take notice of that, that you wore the suit when you didn't have to.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:22

People go, why is he going the extra mile? Why is she going the extra mile? They take note of that. And then they want to pour into you because they're like, oh, this one has a little fire in there that I can help to stir.

SPEAKER_02 45:32

Yeah. And that, and I want that you and like embody that quote to me when I hear that, it's like, oh, that's daft sure. Um, but most people, as they're kind of figuring out now, very like hardworking, driven, business, entrepreneur-minded person. Like, that's just that's just your your thing, you know what I mean? Very much your thing. So um, like, and I I I feel like I gratefully kind of adopted a little bit of those characteristics. Like, I I love business entrepreneurship. I don't know how many people know that, but I like I love building businesses. I do real estate um and this podcast, business side, you know, all this type of stuff, which I love doing. But all that, even like hard work when it comes to like basketball and you know, wanting to work hard and be the best. Like, I feel like all that was a lot gardened, not saying you don't do that, but a lot of it was garnered from like learning from you, seeing you, even if it wasn't like direct, like, oh damn, it works hard, just replicating the stuff that you just did naturally. So I just thought it was natural. Um, but I want to talk about like But let me just say this like man, cut you off real quick.

SPEAKER_04 46:32

I think God bless you with both because you have probably that aspect of me, but then on the other side, you have the vision, the relaxed, the communication skills, the the uh the the the you know wanting to dive into scripture and different things, and uh you got that from your mother.

SPEAKER_02 46:52

Yeah, right, you know, I'm like not all the way on the as it because you're very administrative in in certain areas, and I'm not super administrative. Like I'm hardworking, but administration organizations not my you know what I mean. So I take it the first person that we're gonna hire for you isn't is a detailed administrator, absolutely, unless I'm saying I take off of that part of you, and then some stuff when it gets too far left, I'm like, okay, I don't I don't got that. Yeah, same with you a little bit. I'm like, oh yeah, I love scripture, but you the Bible work study is a lot, you know. I don't know. It's a little bit, you know, I'm like right here. Y'all are like right there, you know. But anyways, I would have kind of like moved to the topic of like when you started like going beyond. Like what made you choose to leave the the work chain uh the the hotel chain that you were at to you know start this with now is a a company that has impacted. I mean, I don't I got I an uncountable number of people. Like, what was the transition? You and your brothers look like you and your brothers.

SPEAKER_05 47:53

Y'all were the reason he made that decision.

SPEAKER_02 47:56

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 47:56

And what I I you know, I thought I would be in corporate America forever, um, working the hours, girl in hours, take care of my family, provide for my family. Um and then I remember uh one day telling your mom, I'm like, man, I'm getting up early to go to work. The kids are asleep. By the time I get home, they're asleep. So, man, my kids are grown up without a father, with a father in the house, even though I grew up without a father with a father not in the house. It's the same thing. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_05 48:31

Say that one more time a little bit slower so that people can hear what you just said because that's really phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 48:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:37

So basically, I grew up without a father in the house. My kids were grown up without a father in the house. That was the point. And I'm like, yeah, it's not gonna work for me. So I was willing to sacrifice income and revenue to have impact in your life. That was it. Wow.

SPEAKER_05 48:58

And not just not just revenue, there's a sense of value that comes to a man providing, providing, but even providing on a certain scale. Yep. Like when you are as on the upward mobility track that he was on as a very young man, by the time we got married, he was 30. So you, so this is around 33, 34. You're in the prime of your life where you're building this career. You've already given a decade to at that point, and you're on the upward mobility track. Sam would have probably said, You're gonna be the next president. Like as much time as he had spent with you, I might be putting words in his mouth. But but it it was very clear that you were on an upward mobile track in this hotel chain. So you weren't just giving up revenue, you were giving up the potential of being at the peak of what some would call making it. Yeah. And you you could see clearly where you were headed, and um, you were willing to give that up, even even more than the income. That to me, when I look back on it, and I've described it to the boys through the years because they don't know they were babies when you did that. So I've described it to them through the years. Y'all's father is always around. He's at every game, he takes you pretty much to every practice. He's around in the home. It's not life, home life is just me, and then dad comes home from work and participates for an hour or two before you go to bed. He's a part of the ins and outs of our daily life because he works from home primarily. We all travel together. The reason why that is possible is because your father made a decision while y'all were young that he was choosing you. And it will look different for every family on what choosing you looks like because people can choose their kids and it looked differently than what your twice were.

SPEAKER_04 50:34

Mine is not the only way. There's multiple ways, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 50:37

But for you, yeah, that's for me. The sacrifice was significant in terms of manhood. It wasn't just about income, it's about you had to reset your value in terms of what my value is as a man, what I'm bringing to the table, what I'm bringing to my home. That would have required a whole emotional and mental reset.

SPEAKER_04 50:54

Yeah. That is because I wanted to make sure they were better men than I could ever be, that they were more successful than I could ever be. And like I just told, you know, I told them multiple times before, they're not gonna find another man in their life to to to uh wish that they were better than they are. You know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 51:16

But a good father will always hope their sons are better better in every aspect of life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:23

How did you um balance um your that ambition that you had to, you know, provide, but also ambition or whatever that to provide um to be an impact to your family at the same time? Like how did you balance those two things?

SPEAKER_04 51:37

Early on, I think maybe your first year or two, you went when you went off to school, you know, you went off uh to a little school, you and your brother, Jude wasn't around yet. Uh, and you know, I had hours there to work. You know, your mom, she, you know, uh her schedule was very flexible, had you know, she she may travel, we may travel on the weekends, whatever. So during the week, I worked. I did. I mean, I just I I I put that put the work in.

SPEAKER_03 52:03

Yeah, I guess I guess I wouldn't have known that because I wasn't there at school. Right. Which is great because I was home. Maybe like got home using the yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:09

I put the work in. And then of course, then when you got then when your mom pulled you out of that, we started homeschooling. She homeschooled for I don't know how many years. Uh it's the same thing. You know, you guys would be working there at school, and we would all be working. You'll be working in your school, I'll be working on the business. Uh, but I'll also be looking at ways to maximize everything that we're doing. So everything that I I did, there was always two or three other streams of revenue that I built off of that one. You see what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_05 52:41

So that's where his acute business mind comes in.

SPEAKER_04 52:44

So, so so nothing was ever just one. It was all about multiplication and it made me think that is because that's where our God thinks. He doesn't think in ones or addition and subtraction, he thinks in multiplication. You know, when he made something, it was multiplied.

SPEAKER_03 52:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:58

Uh, and and and that has been my whole philosophy in business is uh one stream has to at least generate two or three other streams. Not sure.

SPEAKER_03 53:10

I gotta start thinking about that now. I'm like, okay, how do we do that?

SPEAKER_04 53:13

And so and so and so what I wanted to be able to do, my vision was always be able to do was to actually gener more more revenue while I was asleep than when I was aw while I was awake.

SPEAKER_02 53:25

Which by which technically buys you autonomy and creates the freedom to you know do the things that you really love doing, which you love working, but you love impacting the time more.

SPEAKER_04 53:37

And and and for me, you know, I oh, you know, uh everybody's built different. Even you and your brothers are built different. And everybody's not necessarily built to be an entrepreneur and understandable. Um, but for me, then even if you have a nine to five, whatever, then hopefully you can think of something else. You know, if you want to, you know, diversify, think about different things that you can do, talk to people, have communication with people, because especially in our culture today, it is so many opportunities out there. It's very we have a very opportunistic world that we live in. And uh, so you know, my thing is, you know, put the phone down, you know, quit scrolling through Instagram, TikTok, and all that. Because if you really look at that, I mean, people spend, let's just say, some there are some people spend 20 hours, 30 hours in a week on just scrolling. You don't realize it's a good thing. You're not even productive.

SPEAKER_05 54:31

And then you look at that screen time, you're like, oh, yeah, you go, oh my gosh, I've been on here for four hours and oh my god, it's 2 a.m. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 54:37

And what do you so you know, and so and for me, you know, like what are you learning? And so my thing is, what is it that I can learn today? Or even at the end of the day, I I always ask myself, what did I learn today?

SPEAKER_03 54:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:49

You know, did I learn anything today? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 54:50

If I didn't learn anything today, then this is off, this is a little bit off topic, but I was even having a conversation with your younger brother about this because you know, we just are always thinking about that. What could you be doing that is productive? And I said, you know, even on Instagram, there is a lady I just ran across who now her business is she has two dogs, cute dogs, and she basically built a business off of these two dogs on Instagram. She she takes cute pictures of them. She has all these following, you know, all these little captions, and so now she has all these followers. So now companies pay her to post certain things. And I said, Jude, do you realize that even on Instagram you can learn? Because now part of her business is to show people how to do that. I was like, buddy, you got a dog. Do you know that you can learn how to have income come in using Instagram? So, so my point is to your point that that you can still be on scrolling, but be using it productively.

SPEAKER_04 55:40

Yeah. But it's exactly.

SPEAKER_05 55:42

Instead of just a consumer mindset, you can have a producer mindset. What can you garner and gather from what you're looking at on YouTube or what you're looking at? There's so much out there for you to learn from.

SPEAKER_04 55:52

And I think that is the key word right there, you know, instead of being a consumer, being a producer. Uh, I'm not saying that you don't consume things because you know we do, but I don't want my consumption to be more than my production.

SPEAKER_02 56:03

Yeah. And also here's the thing, like when I talk when I say consuming, like I have a so YouTube has a thing called YouTube Shorts. It's basically just like integrated. We know what it is.

SPEAKER_05 56:13

We're not we're not old.

SPEAKER_02 56:14

I didn't know. Yeah. He'd be explaining stuff like we just it's a new feature. I didn't know if y'all were up to date or not. I didn't genuinely know. We still have one at home, so he keeps us updated. Right, my bad. That's on me. That's on me, my bad. I shouldn't have assumed. Um, but I had a I have a whole separate account that I only liked things that were business content. So I curated my algorithm to be like it was Dave Ramsey or dude named Alex Carmozi or Myron Golden's clips, like whatever it was, but it was stuff that I was scrolling, but I was actually learning something. Like it'd be like putting a HELOC in the first position, primary equity of your home, or you know, talking about marketing strategies for business. So while I was scrolling, I just decided, well, if I'm gonna scroll, at least I'm gonna scroll and be consuming stuff that actually is able to produce. You know what I mean? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 57:07

Because there is a certain amount of work ethic, there's a certain amount of discipline, there's a certain amount of um resolution that is required for you to say, let me go make this other YouTube channel or this page over here and make sure my algorithm is set to feed me what's good for me. It's just like feeding your body a certain kind of food. You have to decide not to drive through McDonald's and fill your pantry up with a bunch of carbs and sugar. It takes a resolution though internally. Nobody can make you do that. You know what I'm saying? Or your mama can make you do it, but it don't you're just gonna go through Wendy's when she's not with you. Right. You you have to decide what am I gonna consume mentally, spiritually for my soul that's gonna be a blessing to my life. So to do that at 21 years old, I mean, I know that there are other young people watching this right now and listen, hear that, hear that. That's a great discipline for you. Decide what you're gonna eat physically, mentally, spiritually, and enjoy yourself. Yes, have the donut every once in a while, but also make sure that the major thing you're consuming is something that is developing you.

SPEAKER_04 58:10

Your mom and I were at dinner with uh with a with a couple recently, um, and we were having a conversation. I don't know if you remember this, but um one of the things, one of the questions, we always ask each other questions, but one of the questions was, you know what, if God said, like Solomon, what do you want? You can have anything. What do you want? And Solomon already had wisdom, so you can't take wisdom, what would you ask for? And I just told you and I told your mom, mine would be discipline.

SPEAKER_03 58:39

That's good.

SPEAKER_04 58:40

Mine would be discipline because I think what she just said with discipline, the reason we don't succeed at a lot of different things at life that we want to succeed at is because of discipline. You know, and for example, having a discipline, open the scriptures, spend time with the Lord, the discipline, you know, giving him that first, you know, when I say 10th of the day or whatever, right? Um, uh, the discipline to, you know, uh uh uh be a faithful husband, provide for your family, to be a good father, that discipline thing is uh it would it would help you to um I think uh not be so tempted by the things of the culture.

SPEAKER_02 59:20

Yeah. And I think um also I know you this word was weaved in there when you were saying the meaning, but like consistency, like you discipline, you were talking about consistency as well, but I want to break it up just so people know like what you mean. Um, like discipline is you know, doing the thing that you said you were gonna do like long before the mood or the feeling you said it is over, long after the move, like Inky Johnson said that. But then consistency, like you know, plays a part where it's like, how long can you do that for? Yeah, because I can be disciplined today and then not be dis but can I be disciplined inconsistently? Like throughout the that's where progression, like I think another quote by Alex Farmozzi um was Um, you will beat out 90% of the competition, or 99 maybe, just by not giving up. Yeah, like just by not quitting, you already beat out most of the people. Just keep going. And you already at the top of the list. You know, that's how you know, like like runaway people have gotten or people are just by nature, just by information.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:20

Everybody wants instant gratification, so nobody's going the long haul.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:24

Yeah, especially in today's culture, because today's culture is if you don't like it, leave. Yeah, you know, there's no stay to power, there's no, you know, how I I ran into this wall. How do I get around this wall instead of just turning around finding something else?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:39

Yeah, there's a grit, there's a resourcefulness, there's a character, there's determination, there's all this stuff that's developed when you have to go through challenges and you can't just like opt out or buy out or transfer portal out. Yeah, yeah. When you have to just be in it and deal with difficult people in difficult circumstances.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:59

But I remember, you know, a story with you, son. I mean, you have always been a you're all your brothers have been very intelligent. Um, you I remember coming home with a 95. And your mom was like, son, you knew this. You could have got a hundred if you would have just spent an extra hour or so studying. And your response was, Why would I do that? Yeah, why would I do that? It's an A. An A is an A. Yeah, 95, whatever. Yeah, I should remember that too. And then she said, Yeah, but God could have been that 5% that you did not go.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:36

That's still hard for me to do today a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:38

I know, but it's hard for everybody. But the thing is, and I'm not saying that you always want to take the long path, right? But whatever, but there's sometimes that the reason the guy that kept them in the wilderness for 40 years because you saw the distance, he they didn't have to be there. It was multiple reasons, but it was something he that he wanted them to learn in there. In in in the in the journey.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:56

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah, I have nothing else to say.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:01

Well, if I I just think a good way to close would be, you know, you just basically ended up finished up by telling us the sacrifice you made that the primary reason you made it is because of your family. You wanted something for your sons. So if there's kind of like one thing that you really want to make sure you communicate to not just your sons, but young men like that are in this season of life, something you would have gone back and done differently, or something that you want to encourage them to do in this season of their life that will matter when they get to your season of life now. What what would that one thing be?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:42

Uh the one thing I would say is to find you a a mentor, really. I I I would I would say find you a mentor that helps somebody walk this journey with you. Because for me, this is this this is what I believe. I believe that I'm not here to speak to your generation. I'm here to speak to you so you can speak to your generation. You know, so me, I I you know, I I I and and again, I you know, I'm I'm here and I want to take an invest in the group of guys in your generation so that you can invest in your generation because your generation wants to hear from you. Right. Yeah. And so that's what I the what I see. And I think, you know, if I look through the Bible, I see that as well. You know, you know, if you look at David, want to build a simple whatever, the temple, and no, Solomon, I'm gonna have you do it because you're gonna lead in this season. And now Solomon, you're gonna teach they're gonna lead in this season. So God has different people leading and see, and he's you know, telling even Moses, nope, I'm not gonna let you to go so far here, you know. Uh, you know, it so I I see that as a as a string through the Bible where the olders will communicate and teach the younger, but that is to teach them to communicate the purpose to communicate to their generation.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:58

Expansion. Yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:00

Yeah, exactly. And so my one thing that I would say is for these for for for people in in your generation, all that find somebody that you can uh uh who will in who is willing to invest in you, you know, the time, the attention, the the the information. But also that what that means also is that you have to be willing to you have to have a teachable spirit and willing to learn.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:24

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:25

Which I don't think a lot of people are. And the patience. Yeah, I don't think a lot of people, my my peers, when I say my peers, I mean my category of generation of my age really has. Like I just I I mean, it's hard for me to have, and I've seen it it's hard for other people to have around me just naturally. I mean, for whatever reasons you want to say social media, whatever. So yeah, I I I see that.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:47

Well, you've been a good example of that though, as you talked about being with your mentor at the office there when you were in your 20s. You used to also sit with your grandfather on the front porch, grandfather Levi was his name. Um, and a lot of people aren't doing that anymore, just understanding the elders that are around you, the grandfathers, the grandmothers, the aunties, the boss at the job, like making it your business to go be up under those people and just sit with them and glean from them. That's something that will be invaluable throughout your life.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:18

So yeah, and then also remembering this, and this is how I kind of balance life, because if not, it can get outbalanced. There are three kinds of people in my life there are people I eat from, there are people that I eat with, and there are people that I feed. Okay. And because the thing is, if you're always um feeding somebody and not getting fed, you're gonna get hungry and crash.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:46

So I make sure I have those three. So I have the people that are my mentoring me and talking to me even now in my life. I have people that we communicate and we kind of share ideas off of each other, and then there are people that I feed. That I that I invest in.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:03

Um and so that is how I can because the thing is, if not, if I don't put it in that kind of category, then I will wear myself out, even for my own family, but I will not be effective to the people that I am saying that I'm mentoring because I'm not giving them all that I have.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:20

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. That's good.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:24

Thanks, Jerry Shire Senior.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:26

Received. We appreciate you. Father, I mean, you, you, I mean, you say, you know, it's you not a mic's not really a thing, but when you roll in, you be rolling, doc. You be, you know what I'm saying? You got some stuff that people need to know. You know what I'm saying? And you communicated well. Yes. Every time I see you on, like, you know, you've done a couple things that, you know, a little thing we were at, uh, an event, and you got like on the couch and started speaking, or even uh like you were doing something at mom's movie set with the Kendrick Brothers, something like that. And I was like, man, you know, Pop, you be getting up there. You could dog on, you could pass for a preacher, doctor, sometimes.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:59

Not a preacher, but again, you know, right now this season is about giving back. Even like I said, some of the boards that I'm on, you know, some of the, you know, uh the biggest boards in the in the in the country, you know, uh, but all of them are about giving back, giving back to the people. Yeah, which is great. Awesome. Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:16

Well, you've been a great example for me, and I'm adopting these principles, watching you. So I appreciate it. Good man. Great, great dad.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:24

Thanks, babe. Appreciate you. Thank y'all for joining us too, Eric. I hope so.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:27

But I just need to get him on a budget.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:30

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:31

And this is ridiculous. We want to talk about something. I need to get you on a budget.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:36

That is the conclusion of the homie podcast. We thank you guys for coming. Um, we'll end it right there. Um, be blessed, stay blessed, and something else after that. I wanted a three rhyme scheme, but I couldn't get it.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:48

Well, you said blessed twice, so it didn't even rhyme. It was just the same word twice.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:53

Have a blessed one.