Episode 34: THE LEAST OF THEM

Just Two Cousins Chattering!! 

"WWYD" (What Would Ya'll Do?) Need Advice? Email Us at JUSTCUZ80s@gmail.com & We'll Chat About It On The Next Episode. 

New Episode Every Monday at Midnight!  

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey y'all! Welcome to Jessica's Podcast. It's Jay. And this is Katina. How y'all doing? We missed y'all. Yeah, people. How y'all doing? Y'all had a good weekend? I sure hope so. Yeah, I hope y'all had a good old independence day, y'all. I hope y'all had y'all little fireworks and enjoyed your little cookout, even though it was hottest on nowhere in some places. But I um enjoyed your family, enjoyed your friends, all that wonderful stuff. You did that, Tina? I did. Well, some of that, not all of that. Not all that. No, no, not all of that. Because we didn't do like the big time, like the big full family cookout and all that stuff. We put a little something on the grill and we just enjoyed and relaxed just us. So we didn't do the whole. Everybody from all over the world. We didn't do that. Everybody's tired. We work hard all the way home. And you get sometimes you don't feel like hosting people. Sometimes you don't feel like spending your um relaxation time trying to host other people. Yeah. Well, back to rest. I was invited and I pulled up. I know that's it. And then it was too real hot and I pulled out. See? That's it. See, it was so hot. Ain't it better when you're invited to something than when everybody wants to come to you? Yes. All the work is on you when everybody wants to come to you. But dang, invite me. Let me come to you. And to be honest with you, nine times out of ten, I still might not come until girl. It was hot. It was hot. It was super hot. I wouldn't have came this weekend. It is just entirely too hot. And like I said, plus, I just wanted the rest. Mm-hmm. I need the rest. So yeah, y'all. Fireworks, hamburgers, hot dogs, you know, all that great stuff. But anyway. And yes, I did have an amazing birthday, but you know, I already spoke about that. Anyway. Um, so today, guys, our topic, our meat and potatoes today is talking about the least of them. Those that um are less fortunate than you. And what that means. And so we're gonna get into it. We're gonna see how it goes. We're gonna see which way it rolls. Because, baby, only God know. Say that. Okay. Alright, y'all. Here I come. You know right around the corner. I'll be playing with it. Happy birthday to you. Happy, happy, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to you. So it's your birthday. It's hot outside. You are a summer baby. You uh I hope you ain't like the weather. Because baby, sometimes I have my little attitude be like the weather too, get a little, get a little hot, get a little, you know. But happy birthday to you and many, many more. I pray that God bless you abundantly. And if you're doing like me, we're celebrating all month long. So every time I tell y'all happy birthday, and my mom tell myself all over again. Just so y'all have birthday. Look, so every time you tell whomever it is that's close to you happy birthday, just know that you're telling Jay happy birthday. That's it. So just throw that in there. Just start that in there. Just be like, yeah, it's your birthday, but it's also Jay's birthday too. So happy birthday to her. What's today say? Oh, yeah, it's Jay's birthday. Period. My birthday is technically the third, but it's actually the first, the second, the third, the fourth, all the way through to July 1st. Just saying. All right. Tina, what's your mood today? Yo, I ain't even gonna lie. Today is a press. Today is truly a press. And, you know, sometimes you don't really feel like doing what needs to be done, but you just do it, whether it be that you don't feel well physically or that you just aren't feeling it emotionally, whatever the case might be. But because there's a commitment that is there that and a responsibility that is there, you still just do what has to be done. It's just like paying bills. You know, if you don't pay them bills, you know them lights get turned off. You know you don't pay that money and come pick up your car. You know you don't pay that bill therefore close on your house. So sometimes you just gotta press beyond what it is that you feel and do what is necessary. So I'm in a press today, but um, we're gonna get it done and we're gonna honor God even in the press because one thing I know about the Lord is that when you press for him, he will show enough, show up and bless you. So I'm gonna press and look for this blessing. Period. Well, y'all, we have to check in with our people. We have to make sure that everybody is good and that everybody is doing well. Do these mental checks, these mental health um assessments with one another. That's right, James. So for for me today, um, I feel I ain't gonna lie, I feel frustrated. I feel frustrated. I feel transparent today both of us. I feel I feel frustrated, I feel bothered. Um, and it too shall pass. That's right. It too shall pass.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Um, sometimes you can have different things that happen around you that ain't even connected to you, right? That affect you. And that's just my reality, and that's where I am right now. And even though it's out of my control, God is in control. Say that. And because God is in control, I know that it's gonna be taken care of, and I know it's gonna be rectified, and everything is gonna be well. And so for that, I can give God a glory and say that I'm full of joy. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. Yeah, I mean, can't say nothing after that. That's it. That's all right right there. Ain't nobody got no excuses on today. Mm-mm. No excuses. And y'all see how transparent we're being with y'all on today. Y'all, that shows you that we are transparent. Like, as we give you this, this is who we are. We're not coming to you, bringing you any fake mess, any bull crap. We we just are who we are. So on today, you had a press and you had a frustrated. But ultimately, you still know that there's the joy that comes from all of it at the end because there's gonna be a blessing, the glory. So we still good. We still good in spite of. All right, y'all. We moving right along to WWYD. It's my favorite, it's your favorite, it's your kids' favorite, it's your doll's favorite, it's your cats' favorite, it's everybody's favorite. Wwy D. This one today is from Laura K. Now, Laura K, she took the time to write in. She used just 80S at gmail.com on the email, and baby, you can do the same thing. You can also DM us on these socials because you know we on all of them. Anything that you want to talk about, if you need advice about something, if you just want to say, cousin, this is what's been on my mind. Like, we are ready and willing and happy to hear and talk about it and help you work through it. And we pray that it's edifying, we pray that it helps you, and we pray that um that you will be blessed overall, that we'll say something that's gonna help you along your way. So before you because you just did all of that. You just did all of that. I just gotta bring, I just gotta bring attention to this. Yeah, don't Jay sound like she would be the perfect radio personality. Oh my she sounds like she would be the perfect radio personality. Y'all, she does this like every week. She does it every week. She brings it to you every week, and this this is not with notes. This is this is just straight off her dome. This is how she flows for y'all every single week. Y'all, ain't this girl? This girl is already gonna be. She is so gifted. I told her I was like, Stop making me ever get sick. We just won't be able to record because that right there is not in me. Yes, it is. She needs to stop it. No, it's not. We're gonna give props where props is due. Yeah, girl, you be flowing with that. I just wanted to just tell you that. You know, take a few minutes. I appreciate that. I take them flowers. I take them flowers just on the name roses, because roses stink. Yeah, you you already made that clear. Yeah, you don't like no roses. They pretty, but they stink. They stink. All right, Laura K. Well, we're gonna help you, honey. Let's see what we're talking about today. So Laura K said, hey, Jessica's with exclamation marks. I am your cousin from Ohio. I found, I found out there is one of my core workers making more money than me. No, no. And we have equal experience, and I am confused. I need advice, ladies. How do I handle this? That's oh Lord. That can be, well, that's that's a little personal to me because I didn't experience that before. But Jay, you go ahead. Well, Laura, first and foremost, you didn't say how you found out. So that might be a problem too. How did you find out? You did not say how you found out. So hopefully, hopefully you didn't do that. But now you were supposed to. So now you know. And then to be honest, in some job, um, in some job um professions, um they are industries, their pay is public knowledge in some jobs, not all jobs. That's more like state jobs, counting, you know. So I don't know what job you're at, but if it was me and I found out that somebody was making more than me, and we have the same experience and the same years and everything, I'm gonna need to have a conversation. And I'm gonna need to have a conversation with my boss. You gonna have a conversation? Yes, and my conversation is gonna go something like this. Hey, um, I wish you could see our face. Just wanted to drop in. You say you have an open door policy. So it has been brought to my attention, can't necessarily say how, but it has been brought to my attention that someone, my counterpart, we are making not the same, nowhere near the same amount. And I just need a little bit of feedback of what that would look like for me as advancing to where I need to be so that my money is reflect or my pay is reflecting my service that I provide every day. Right. What can I get some feedback? Like, is I mean, and I'm gonna want to talk about it. And then they're not gonna be able to give me an overview or like uh like a chat GPT answer. Right. No. I need to know exactly real answers. Real answers. Because I know that we have the same amount of years, I know that we have the same experience, we're doing the same job. What happened? Oh, and I don't know if that's the best approach, but that's what I would do. Because I need somebody to tell me something, and the one that's making the more money than you can't tell you nothing. They sure can't, they just have to do that. So they just happen. They come to work every day, they probably come to work early. Sick of it. Uh-huh. Because most of the time, the one that is making the most, they put in less effort. Usually that's what you end up finding. They put in less effort, but they make more money, and there you sit working hard all the time, doing everything you're supposed to, showing up on time, all that good stuff. But yet, and still, you got this one over here that makes more money. Look, I I've had that to happen before, like a a few times. Like a few times I've had that to work before. And I'm gonna tell you, look, I'm just gonna be transparent with you about me, but I'm an entrepreneur for a reason. Period. I am an entrepreneur for a reason because I just don't have I don't have the patience nor the um I I I just don't I don't have the patience for it. And and things like that, they bother me. I'm just gonna be real. Stuff like that, they bother me because I know that I'm a hard worker and I know my value. So you are so that when I see that there's someone else or I know and it becomes relevant to me, and it's like it's it's fact to me now that you make more than me and I do more work than you and all that stuff, then I look like I feel as if I'm being taken advantage of. So, but here's the thing though. You know, when I was in those situations, I I still did the job and I still worked. I still did my job just the way that I was supposed to, because I am who God made me to be. And everything that I do, I do it unto the Lord. I don't do it for man because my thing is, even though you slight me, you slight me, God still sees my value and he sees what I'm worth. So I ain't even gonna be here with you too much longer, anyhow, because God's gonna bless me up out of here because you ain't doing me right. And seeing that you're not doing me right, when he blesses me on the other side, it's gonna be greater than anything you could have ever done for me, anyhow. Come on now. So that's the way that I I view it, but I just I kept on doing what I was supposed to do. The Lord just kept reminding me, everything you do, do it unto me. Do it unto me, do it unto me. Mm-hmm. Because I done had some jobs and I done had some jobs that don't, that doing stuff that um that nobody wanna do or don't nobody likes or whatever. You know what I'm saying? They ask you to do this this stuff, and you like, wait a minute. I that's not even in my job description. But you're asking me to do this and you asking me to do that. But you know what? I went ahead and I did it because number one, I needed the paycheck at the time. I needed the check and I needed to make sure that I was responsible to my household and to my needs, to the things that I needed for me and my family. So I took care of those things. But you better believe that I prayed about every last bit of it, and while I was doing it, I was praying and I was talking to my Lord and I was telling on them people because I'm gonna go to my daddy about everything and I'm gonna tell on you if you ain't doing me right, I'm gonna tell it, I'm gonna tell it. But I just did what I was supposed to, and everything that I did, I did unto the Lord, and I just prayed and I asked God. I was like, Lord, I was like, you know how I feel about this, mad, angry. I was like, you know how I feel about this. This ain't gonna work for me. I need you to give me an out, give me something else, and every time the Lord would do it. Now, you may have been on this job for a long time, and if that is the case, that might not be what your solution is. Like I say, I can only give you from my point of view. I am an entrepreneur. God made that to be in me. I was never meant to always have to work for someone else because God just put that spirit in me and that characteristic in me to work for myself. So that's how it ended up turning out. You know, for me, it ended up turning out for the good for me because it pressed me to do what it was that I needed to do for me and for my enjoyment, and so that I can make my money and don't nobody get a cut. Period. So do what Tina said. You might not want to do what I say because I I'm a conservative. You just said go talk to them. I said go confront them. I said go confront them and ask them, and you go to you go confront the people that write the checks. Well, like don't go confront the person that's making the money. They don't care. They're making their money. You go talk to the person that's gonna be responsible for your promotion, gonna be responsible for your you can even pose it as this. I would like for you to do a valuation. Ooh. To see if I'm eligible for a promotion or a raise. Ooh, that's good. Something, baby, because something's gonna have to give, because what I won't do is sit on my behind and I know you. That's what you it look. If you're trying to keep that job, look, you got responsibilities and for real. And coming by a good job that uh a job that makes good money nowadays, I won't say a good job because I don't know what your job is. Right, come on. I'll say good money. Coming by a job that makes good money nowadays, you know, you kind of gotta hold on to that. So be smart about it and don't let your emotions take over. Sometimes you gotta subside your emotions and you gotta walk smart. You know, you gotta work in it wisely and walk smart in it. Don't just go throwing, what did they say? Throw the um the baby out with the bathwater. You can't do it. Please don't do that. Don't just go in there like, oh my gosh, you know, and then you know next week, like you gotta pay the you gotta pay this bill. But remember, it ain't just next week that you gotta pay your bills. You gotta pay your bills indefinitely. Come on now. So make sure that you're smart about your decision if you decide to do an approach. But then again, like I said, on the other side, if you are, if you have an entrepreneurial nature about yourself, then start to um start to pray about that and start to do workings in the background, um, you know, to try to build up that, you know, for yourself and for your business on the side, you know, as you're working that job. Because if you do that, you will still be fulfilled. You'll have your job and you'll be making your money, and then you'll be doing your side business for yourself, and you'll be making your other money. You'll be making your good money over there on that side, and so you won't be bothered, and you still got your benefits over here because that's another thing about entrepreneurship, you know, that it don't come with benefits unless you pay, you know, handsomely for them jokers. So, so you know, so you got the best of two worlds, baby. Do what's gonna be best for you, honey. And I think that we have given you um, you know, some different, some different avenues to kind of look at. Because just like Tina said, if you're able to do something else that can supplement it until you're able to, you know, figure out what that's gonna be for you, that's great advice. Because if it's if it's the lack of the finances, then you gotta you gotta change whatever the lack is. You gotta you gotta minister to whatever the need is and then go from there. But baby, you don't want me to be your co-worker. Because if I was your coworker and I was your friend at your job, I'd be like, girl, if you don't go talk to your manager, whatever his name is, Mr. So-and-so, Mr. Manager, um, can I holler at you? But anyway, girl, all right, Laura in Ohio. Thank you so much. Thank you, Laura. All right, y'all. Here we come with these meat and potatoes, this little main course, this little steak. Some of y'all eat pork chop. We're about to come in here and talk about it. So, the least of them, when I think about this, and I'll go ahead and start because this is this is one of those, one of those topics where we don't really know what direction the Lord is gonna take it into. But when I think about the least of them, I think about how we're so quick to um look down on people or to judge someone's situation because they're not as far as that what we think they should be. And even though we're not much farther, right, um, we're still looking at them as though, well, what did you do, or what did you did and what did you not do that put you in this situation or to where you can't help yourself, or you know, you may be homeless or you may have hard times, or even down to the point of when you think about people being poor, um, some people are not poor money-wise, they just may be poor in their spirit, they may not have wealth as it relates to spirituality or knowledge of um of Christ, or you know, it's so many different facets that you can look at as you think about the um word poor or less than or what have you. And so I think that for us as believers and for um, especially if we say we're followers of Christ, we have a responsibility to those that may be less fortunate or those that may appear to be. Because sometimes they may appear to be, but they may not be. And so I think we have a responsibility to lend our hand to our neighbor and to give a helping hand when we can, to show up when we can on their behalf, and to be and to be edifying in our words and what we say, because life and death is in the power of the tongue. And so you have to be careful about what you say to someone. And that's just not to, you know, people that you don't know, but this is to people that you do know as well. And you have some people that are less than that you know, that's in your family that you may not have reached out to or may not be willing to lend a hand to because of their situation or because of what you feel like you might know, or whatever. But if we say that we are believers, there is a responsibility that I believe that comes with that, that in wisdom we move. In wisdom we respond. And I know. That there have been times in my life, um, even growing up, that if it hadn't been for other people reaching out, or if it hadn't been for um, you know, a loved one caring enough to stop by and to um give words of encouragement or speak life or whatever, uh the outcome could have been different. I uh I agree. I agree uh 100%. When when as soon as you said the the topic, as soon as you said it, the first thing that came to mind is it could have been me. It could have been me. We get so we get so high and mighty and prideful in thinking that we can never hit certain situations. None of us are exempt from the things or the trials that um that we face in life. It could have been you. What if your card, what if what if the hand that you were dealt was the hand that, you know, your brother, and I say your brother, what if the hand that you were dealt is the hand that your brother had, you know, dealing with cancer, or that your brother had where they um, you know, he lost his job, or that um they went through divorce, or that um they lost their home, or that they went completely bankrupt, or um it could be so many things, or that they deal with addiction, because this thing goes really deep when you talk about the least of them because we like to judge as people. We like to judge other people based off of what we see with our with our naked eye, and that is so unfair. You don't know what people go through in life, and some people, like you said, some people are more put together on the outside. They look like they're put together, but they're all messed up on the inside. And and we'll give more attention to that person that looks like they're put together on the outside than the person, than the person that doesn't look so put together. And we'll be we'll go to that person first to help them. That's just like the rich giving money to the rich. What what reason is it that the rich would need your money? They already have your money, right? So so when you said it, the first thing I thought about, and the Lord is honestly, he's really been dealing with me about this a lot lately, about the way that you treat people, about the way that we handle people and the care that we give them. You know how boxes and packages have um handle with care. That's how we should represent ourselves with every single person that we come into contact with because you don't know what that person is going through. And for us to sit and to look at them and to think that, oh, uh, you know, this person, they got it together, and they their life is probably tow up as as bad as the Katrina hurricane storm coming through. Yeah, and yet and still you want to glorify something that's a mess, but then you got, you know, brother man over here might not have everything, might not have everything all together, and it could even be somebody that's homeless, but they sitting out on the street and they minding their own business, and you happen to um get ready to walk into the store or something like that, and you drop something, but they notice that you dropped something, and instead of them going to pick it up to keep it for themselves, they say, excuse me, ma'am, you dropped something. They let you know that you drop whatever it is that belongs to you, and they could have just got up and they could have and they could have kept it. But but then on the other hand, the other one that was walking right behind you, walk, get ready to walk into the store and to pay for something. Say we were walking into the store, you going into the store, I assume that you're gonna you got the money to pay for it, and you drop what you drop, but the person that's right behind you that has money, they pick right up what it is that you drop and keep it for themselves. But brother man that was sitting right over there, that was more in need, had more integrity, had more grace, and said to you, hey, listen, you dropped something. Yeah. Man, I tell you, we are a backwards nation. Like the the like the hearts, the people is so backwards, and our mindset is so distorted to where we look at the outside of everything and we take the outside and feel like that we can we can understand the substance of what's in the inside. It is not necessary that what you see on the outside, what the you know, um what it's a saying, um, things ain't what they always appear to be. That's the truth. It is true. Not always what they appear to be. And don't judge a book by its cover. Yes. Um, and the other thing too is when when you put yourself in a position to where you think that you can look at someone or look at a situation or look at um, you know, anything and make a full analysis or judgment. Playing God. Um yeah, on what that is to determine the way you're gonna move. Because if it was in you to help, you should have gone on to help immediately. If it was in you to help. Yes, amen. It didn't call for you to go and question. It don't call for you to go and ask, well, if I give you this, then what you gonna do with it? Amen. And all that stuff. If it was pressed upon you to be that person, to stand up in that moment, you be that person, you stand up in that moment, you do what the Lord is telling you to do, and you go on about your business. That's right. What people, I feel like what we don't realize, especially when we say that we are that we follow Christ, right? And I'm being very specific with this. When you say that you want to be like Jesus and you want to follow him, and you want to be used by him, then you are already a minister. Nobody had to ordain you. Right. So you are already a minister, you're already an evangelist, you're already those things that that we are called to be. Because we are called to whenever the Lord speaks upon us to do something, that we do it. We go forth and we do it, and we know, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt if it's the Lord telling you or not. That's right. We know it. And I think the biggest thing for me, and I've seen it happen so many times, is for people to look at and judge who they're gonna help that's on the side of the road based on what they perceive around them. They look like that might be their car. Oh, I think they got out of this. Oh, well, he was just over there, but I think his wife over here and all that. My thing is if you are gonna help, do what you're gonna do. That's right. Either you're gonna do it or you're not doing it. Because what you end up doing is if you, after you've done your whole assessment and judgment, and then you sow that seed, your seed tainted. Oh God can't do nothing with it. You just preach the word right there. You just preach the word. That's good. That's good. That's good. That's right. It wasn't pure, it wasn't from heart. The the Lord tells us to be cheerful givers. He tells us to be cheerful. If you're doing all of this analyzing before you actually give, you don't know what the whole story is. They might have got out of that car and walked across the street and they might have uh camp set up, you know, down at every corner or whatever, but you don't know what the purpose is behind it. Suppose all those people are actually coming together because they got a mortgage this due and they're about to be foreclosed on and they got to come up with this money. Suppose that the purpose is that they got a loved one that's um that's in the hospital and then they gotta figure out how they're gonna take care of this loved one because they gotta move this loved one out of the hospital into therapy. Suppose that the answer or what they're trying to do, I mean, you just don't know what the backstory is, but we always look for so many details. Either you have the heart to give or you don't. Or you don't. And if you don't, then that's fine. That's fine, then don't. Because, like Jay said, your seed is already tainted. God told us to be joyful. If you're not a cheerful givers, and if you're not giving out of your heart for the Lord, then you shouldn't be doing it. It's thankful. Like Jay said, it's tainted. You don't know what it is, you don't know what it is that's going on with folks. Life is hard right now. Life is hard for people. Everybody is really truly just trying to make it. And this is not about just this is not about just giving money. Like this is for helping, this is about helping people in general. There might be somebody that you know and you know that they need a job, and you work at a um, you work at a place and you know that they're hiring, and you know that this person has um you know has the ability to be able to perform that job. And even if they don't, but you know that the job will train, will train on the job, and you can tell this person, help them. Yeah let the person know. And if they choose not to, if they choose not to pursue, at least you did what the Lord told you to do. See, this thing is much more difficult, it's deeper. It's deeper. It's not just it's not just giving money. It's it's sometimes it's time. Giving your time, yeah. Sometimes it's time. Don't you know that all these things we do, we're sewing? You can sow, if you don't have money, you can sow your time. How uh you know, growing up in the church and all that stuff, you know, I remember they used to um they used to preach when you know when I was a little girl or whatever, you would hear older people say that, well, if you don't have money, then that's fine. Then just donate some of your time. We need help getting these programs together. You know, the churches do um vacation Bible schools and all this stuff, and they need volunteers for this and that, and they want to do these programs and they need volunteers. Sometimes it comes down to not the money, but your time. And sometimes it comes, it may be not even either of those things, but it's just the word of encouragement. Maybe God is just calling you to do something just to encourage somebody, but you sit there and you don't say anything when God has already put something upon your heart. Yes. It could be a safe, it could be salvation for someone. Go ahead, Jay. And the thing about it too is like I think about nursing homes, I think about um, you know, the kids that are that are in a hospital that won't get well. Um, I think about the people that are that have been in um the hospital for a long time because they might have terminally ill um diseases, cancer, what have you. And if you are, just an example, if you are a singer, do you know it it don't cost you nothing to just go and spread some encouragement and joy and just to use what God is giving you and your gift is your voice. That's one. Another thing is like you were talking about time. Like I may not have money or I may not be able to say, okay, here's this, take care of this bill, do this, but I can go and I can sit with you. Look, I'll I'll I'll be here, I'll sit with you for a little bit. Right. The parent might want to go eat or something. Like it can it can be any of those things. And the thing about it is when you think about children, they're a little bit more, you know, apprehensive because um you may not they may not know you and they're a child and they may not want you to come in without being supervised. That's fine too. But what I am saying is whatever God presses upon you, even if it's to help a child read, even if it's to to go to a classroom and read a book, um, like I mean, the smallest things means the most to people. That you took the time, that you thought about them, that you say, you know what, I'm gonna take time out of my day. So many times we have days off and we sleep all day, we eat, we do all the things that we our hearts desire. And I'm not saying that you don't take do self-care because that's important. Right. But what I am saying is when you find yourself sitting like, I ain't got nothing to do. What? What can I mean? Somebody call you and you tell them no. And then, yeah, somebody call you or or the Lord will bring somebody to your mind. Maybe it's a maybe it's a loved one that you ain't seen in years. Some of our older seasoned loved ones that's at their house waiting on Jesus to come get them because now nobody comes see him. Just waiting. Just waiting. Because, like you said, nobody comes see them. Vimlo come see him, nobody comes see them. Don't nobody see nothing. Don't even care about them, don't even know if they're still alive. On no time they know if they're still alive. Right. That part right there. And then they show up in droves. Where was all these people at before to go see them while that was so true? That's true, Jay. That's so true. Like, all like people, sometimes I think that when it comes to funerals and stuff like that, most of the time it's remorse. People are just showing up for the remorse. It's not for the support of the family, it's because they didn't do what they felt like they should have done or what the Lord dealt with them about, what he convicted them about, and then they end up showing up for that remorse for them to try to get rid of that guilt, to try to get rid of that conviction. Well, at least I went to the funeral. No. Have mercy. That's not how that goes. You never know. Because that person probably laying there, like, why are you here? I ain't seen you. If I get the seat, if the Lord allow me the seat, yeah, anyway, I ain't even gonna go. I don't want to go down that road. No, but why are you? I mean, but think about it. Who told you to come right to see me now? Right. Think about it. Be like, that's fake. Anyway, but yeah, I mean, you know, just just being real, just being real. But I okay, so the Lord told me to back something up and to say this, this is what I am supposed to proclaim because I am a child of Christ. We are the least of them. The children of Christ, we are the least of them. Remember where we came from. Israel came from slavery. So if we go all the way back, we are we are the least of them. That's why we should know how to treat other people because we are the least of them. And the Bible also says that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Well, Lord, I want to come in first at some point in time. So if I ain't first right here on this earth, that is okay with me. Let me be first in heaven. Then let me be first in heaven. And I think sometimes we get so caught up in positions and status that we lose sight of, we lose sight of how we're supposed to live. And we lose sight of what the assignment is. And our assignment here on earth is not that we worry about the things of the world and that we flourish. It's not that we worry about flourishing with vanity and stuff like that. It's that we do the work of the Lord while we're here. It's that people um receive salvation, that we spread the gospel, that everybody knows Jesus Christ, that they know that you know He He was crucified, dead, and buried and raised again on the third day and just for our sins. It is for us to spread that gospel. And we, I think we get away from that because we get blindsided about everything that happens in the world. Yeah, and here's the thing though, but when you are walking in obedience, when you are walking in in what God has told you to do, and you are living that, then God rewards you openly. So that's where your blessings come from. You're not coveting them, you're not honing in on them, you're not every move that you make is for you to have this car and that house and this, that, and that. That's not what your mission is. Your mission is about the work of God and what God has called you to do. And so when you focus there, seek first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness, and all things will be added unto you. So all things are yes, you live in abundance. But guess what? You live in abundance, not just for you. It's for you to help somebody else. It's not for you to hold it and have a death grip on it because you can't take it with you when you leave here. So it's important that you spread it. I I know when I pray, I say, God, bless me abundantly so that I don't have room enough to receive it. So that I have to pour it out. I have to give it away because it's so much abundance that I can't contain it. That's good. I wonder how many people actually pray that prayer. Um excuse me. How many people pray that prayer? Lord, bless me that I can be a blessing to other people. Bless me and allow me to overflow that I can overflow into other people. Yeah. Because most of the time, a lot of the times people pray and they pray selfish prayers. Lord bless me and give me this. Lord bless me and give me a house. Lord bless me and let me win the life. Lord bless me and give me this car. Lord bless me and give me this job. Okay, so when God gives you all of that stuff, when He does all of the things, then what happens? Then what happens? Are you going to help somebody else? Are you going to, okay, you you got that, you got that nice ride. You got that nice car. And um, you know, somebody call you, your friend calls you, your cousin calls you, you, your, I don't know, your sister, your brother call you, and and they need a ride. You gonna give them a ride? Or or or nah, you you can't you can't get in my car. You you can get in my car. I ain't got time. I ain't got time, I ain't got time. Sometimes you just can't get in my car, it's just cause I just don't want to fool with you. Cause I'm just better than you than that. You know what I'm saying? Or same thing with um with the house and and and the money. The Lord bless you. He blesses you with the house, he blesses you with the money, and people and they have plenty of space in their house. You ask for a house, and the Lord give not only give you a house, but give you a house with five bedrooms, and it ain't nobody in that house but you. And you need somebody that needs that needs housing, that needs shelter, and you don't help, you don't bless someone else. That's craziness. Because you don't want nobody to innovate your space. Nobody to innovate, yeah. Because you, you know, because that's just your blessing. That's just your blessing, that's just your flow. But you know, like I always say, I'm real careful with stuff because I know how quickly God can give you something. I've experienced it before. And take it away. And take it right away. Because if you mishandle the things of God or you mishandle what God gives you, he will surely remove it and he'll surely take it away. And sometimes God will do that not just not for a punishment, but sometimes he'll do that just to remind you, just to remind you of who is the source and that things aren't the thing. No. That he is it, that he is it, that it is all him, that it is the I am, and it's not and it's been him all along. Oh and the thing about it is I I I cringe when I hear people make the statement that they make it happen for them. No. Or they have gotten themselves to this place. Um, not the help and the strength of God, not God has led me and guided me and allowed me or put me here or anything. But because of my expertise, my knowledge, my this, I've been able to accomplish this in my life. And there's no reverence. Jesus helped me. There's no reverence. Jesus helped me. And I cringe about that. Even with like when you hear celebrities and they give their speeches, not all of them say I first give honor to God. Most of them is like they are for their crew. Yeah. Your crew. And it's just like, God, like, I don't ever want to be in a place to where I forget that I'm the least of them. That part. That part. Because we are always the least of them. Just as quickly as God give it to you, He can take it from you. Always make sure that God comes first. He has to come first above anything, above all things. God has always got to come first. And like Jay said, as long as he comes first, everything else will be a blessing. And the Lord will bless you out in the open. The things that you do in secret, and see, that's another thing. That's another thing. With the, you know, there is the least of them, right? And then you got people that do have money and they do have the ability to give, and then, but they want to make a show out of it. People have gone, people have gone crazy with social media making spectacles out of their giving. You are not going to be blessed by that. God says that your blessing from that is the attention that you cried out for. That's the only blessing that you're going to get from that. Some things don't have to be told, some things need to be done in secret. Please allow people to have a little bit of privacy and a little bit of pride left in themselves because of the situation that they're going through. Social media has created monsters out of people and they've turned what should be good, giving. What should be good, they have turned it into a moneymaker. They turned it into a business. Well, people actually they only go on social media because they got the money and they only go on social media and they give, but they gotta film it for the whole world to see. But see, this is the thing that's happening. You're you're filming that you're giving to these people, but then because you're viral, you're making that money right back. So, I mean, really, truly, what like what is it that you're doing? You've turned it into a business. Breaking even? Yeah, you've turned it into a business. You're not even giving out of your need. It was the it was the widow that um, I think, yeah, it was the widow lady that lost her coin. She had coins and she lost one of her coins and she swept the place. She swept uh up the whole place looking for that one coin because that one coin had so much value. Sometimes we got too many coins. Sometimes you some folks, they just got too many coins. They don't even care that they drop a coin or two on the floor. They don't even care about it, they don't even go look for it. But you know, but those that carry value, those that see value, they see value in everything and in every piece. Instead of it being, oh well, I can only give if it's on a viral level, or I or if it's on a platform, or I can only be who um you need me to be or who the world perceives me to be on a platform, and then on the backside, they ain't even that person. They ain't even that person. You give in front of public and you give on social media, but you ain't even that type of person because if somebody comes to you personally, you talk to them nasty. Well, what you need it for? Well, what you need it for? What is it going for? You know, how did you get in this situation? Exactly what. We just talked about a few minutes ago, but they can only do it on a platform. That's a scary place to be. It is. It is. And you set yourself up. You set yourself up. Failure. And when you set yourself up for failure, baby, but trust and believe me, you're gonna fall flat on your face. And somebody else is gonna have to come. And that's how good God is. He'll send somebody else to bless you. Yeah. When you could have been blessing everybody else that you saw that was in need. And you know the part you know that you said about that, he'll send somebody else to bless you. Usually it's the very one that you turn down. That you turn down. The very one that you turn down, God will send to be the blessing to you. Because he done raised them up. And now, and now look, that one that you look down at, now you gotta work for them. Come on, now you gotta look up. That's real. That's real. That's a real situation and really and really how how um karma and and life goes, it happens to you.

SPEAKER_01 44:54

It comes around.

SPEAKER_00 44:55

Yeah, so you have to be mindful. So the whole premise behind this is be mindful when you come into the presence of others, because you never know when you're entertaining angels. That's right. Don't be uppity. Don't be uppity. If you gotta have if you can have it. No, you can't leave it right there. You got to go, you got to keep talking on that. You never, that was good. That you never know when you entertain the angels. You don't. You never know. And you have to, um, so if the Lord tells you and puts upon your heart that you need to um bless someone or help someone, because God's gonna tell you what you need to do. That's right. You need to do it. Because you don't ever know if that's a test. That's right. You don't ever know if God is testing you and testing um and testing your spirit. That's right. Testing your heart, testing your compassion, testing your love. You don't ever know.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

Because it could be him. That is so true, Jay. It could be him. Jay, that's so true. I'm gonna tell you. And you turn them away. I'm gonna tell you that's true because um I had this to happen to me once. And it you you just brought it to my remembrance when you said what you said. I had this to happen to me once. I had pulled into a parking lot. And I was being, and I'm and I'm getting ready to be transparent with you because I'm not perfect. I am not perfect by no means. And sometimes I be get I be on that, oh Lord, they came from this car, oh Lord, I ain't getting ready to give. And so I don't, I don't, because I already know my heart ain't right. So I don't. But I'm gonna tell you, I had pulled in this parking lot. I had just got off work and I pulled in this parking lot because I needed to stop by, um, I needed to stop by Walmart, pick up something on the way home. And when I pulled in the parking lot, I seen this gentleman. I knew he was homeless. I could tell he was homeless. I seen him walking through the parking lot and I seen him asking people for money. I knew he was asking for money. I I even though I wasn't standing there, I knew it because the Holy Spirit had already revealed it to me. But I had made up in my mind and I had already said, he looking for some money, I ain't gonna be the one he's gonna get it from. I'm gonna sit right here because he ended up walking from across the parking lot to the car that was parked right in front of me. I said, Lord, you got to be kidding me. I said, You gotta be kidding me. I ain't doing it, I ain't doing it. I ain't giving no money today, I ain't giving no money. I always give money. The Lord don't care if you always do something. You always do what he tells you to do when he tell you to do it. This man walked clear across the parking lot. Now I told you I seen him when I was pulling in from the entrance. He walked clear across the parking lot to the car that was parked right in front of me and asked those people for money. And I sat there. I sat in the car because I was like, mm-mm. I said, I'm gonna wait until he leaves. I'm gonna wait until he leaves. I sat in the car and I waited. He asked them people for money and he got ready to leave. And when he got ready to leave, I opened my door to get out of the car. Before I could get three steps away from the car. Before I could get three steps away from the car, the man was at the back of my truck. Now, you um you got a you got a few dollars. I looked and I ain't even gonna lie. I looked and I said to myself, and me speaking to the Lord, like, Lord, really? Like, really, I just said to you, I did not want to do this. And God said, be obedient and do what I say because I have a word for you out of that man. When I looked and turned to that man, I said, wait a minute, hold on one second. Stay right there, I'll be right back. The Lord sent me back to my car to get a couple dollars out so that I could give it to the man. When I got ready to hand the money to the man, the word of God came out of that man's mouth. Even though that man was a homeless man, God used that man. God can use whoever he wants to, whenever he wants to. He used that man, and that man prophesied to me. And that man had prophesied to me based off of what I had just prayed that week. I asked God for an answer and that he speak to me and give me an answer about the things that I had asked him about, I had prayed about, and God used that man to speak the very thing that I needed to hear, to speak the very answer that I needed to hear. When I tell you the shame, the conviction that came over me, the conviction that came over me. Because you can say shame, because I didn't been there before. It was shame. I was shameful. And I had no, I had no choice but to honor that man and to say to him and to bless him with a word because God told me it was something that I was supposed to do. It was some it was something that I was supposed to speak to him to pour into his life. He was there for me, but I was also there for him. And I was about to abort the assignment because I was in my own flesh. Yeah. I was in my own self. What? Not because I was too sadity, but because my mind and my heart wasn't right. And that's another thing. Your mind and your heart being aligned and being correct. Don't say that you're trying to follow Christ and you can't walk right and your heart ain't right. You can't be judging people just based off of. I look, I watched that man from across the parking lot as I pulled in and said, I know he's asking for money. The Holy Spirit told me he was doing it, and I said, No, I'm not gonna give it. And the Holy Spirit said, You watch this, yes, you will. Just as sure as I said no, he said, You will. You will be obedient. That man had a word in his mouth for me, and the word that he had in his mouth for me is the reason why I am where I am today. Wow. I asked God a specific thing. I asked him a specific thing, and it's the reason why I am where I am today. Just think how I missed it. Just think how I missed it. Yeah, because we don't realize um when we hear the voice of the Lord, it's not for sometimes it's not for your right now, it's for your Shelby. Come on. And your destiny is tied up in it. And if you miss it, you can set yourself back some years. Sometimes some of us has missed it all together. Say that. And there is no getting it back. Jay. That was like seven or eight years ago. Guess how long I've been in real estate? Seven or eight years. Yeah. I would have missed what God had for me. I would have missed the next big blessing. I would have missed I would have missed my instruction and my direction on what I was supposed to do and moving forward. The very things that I had prayed for. I had prayed about National. You never know when you are entertaining angels. Just because he worked that way didn't mean a thing. God had a word in his mouth. God can use whoever he wants to use. That's why when people, you know, I've had conversations with folks, and I've been like, and I tell them, hey, look, if the Lord made a donkey talk, okay. I'm not about anything that God can do. Okay. I believe everything that God does. I believe the whole book, the whole Bible. All 66 books, I believe it. God said it, I believe it. I follow him, I trust him. It is his word, it is his truth. I believe it. I'm not gonna who am I to think that I can come up against it? Who can who am I that I can come up against it? God done showed me too many times. He done proved himself to me too many times. Too many times has he had to pull me out of the fire. Yeah. And God will also clarify that word too. Won't he? He will cut, he will give you understanding. You ask him for understanding, he will give you understanding. And he will make sure that you get exactly what it is that you need to get. Because some of us, we see the Bible and we be like, uh-uh, I don't understand the this, the that, I don't, I don't get it, I don't know, or whatever. But if you ask him for understanding, he will make it plain for you. And he will make it clear. Yes, he will. So, y'all, that was good, y'all, because I ain't know I ain't know which way it was gonna go. We had no clue. We had no clue. But God always, but we like I like I always say, and like Katina say, we always decrease. Amen. So that God increased in us so that you always get what He has. That's right, not what we have. That's right. Because we, me, her, she, I'm gonna use some. We don't ever know sometimes. You don't want to hear what I got to say. Cause I have to tell myself, hey, TV, that's a role. Yeah. But the stuff that I be thinking, do you know how much I had to repent? Just because of my mind. I don't even think like that. That's what I've been thinking to myself. I girl. Nope, nope, nope, nope. You don't want what I got to say for sure. But we definitely do have to decrease. And we don't just, like we said before, we don't just come in here like, you know, like, like this is our show. No, we allow the Holy Spirit to have his have his way. And listen, like we actually do prep and we do prepare in the spirit. We do have to study, we do have to pray, we do have to seek God, we do have to fast, we do have to do these different things in order to be able to bring you what it is that God says. So, so for those that believe that this is just that we just come together and we just do this thing and and it's just it is what it is, and every so often we just hit it. No. No. If if if you hearing what you're hearing, it's it's by the Holy Spirit. Believe that. Believe that. Yeah, because baby, uh We ain't got nothing to pour out. I ain't got nothing to pour out. I don't. I told you I was frustrated. I d last week I told you if it wasn't for the Holy Spirit, I couldn't get out the driveway. I mean it. Mm-mm. I mean it. I mean it. So can't uh uh um loading well page. What you talking about? Girl, I be done got in the car without the keys. No, all of that. Can't do I can't do nothing without them. I can't do nothing apart from them. Nothing at um all right, y'all. So we we gave you the meat, we gave you the potatoes. Well, we didn't do it, but God did it. Amen. Gave you all of that and hoped that it was edifying to you. Now, we getting ready to take a trip back in the day, back in the day, back in the day. Okay, I was young, I'm not a kid anymore. So listen, y'all. My back in the day, and I thought about this over the weekend. Do y'all remember the swing set that your mama or parents bought for you? And it wasn't, it was, it looked like it was like plastic, maybe, but it wasn't. It was like made out of tin, like some type of steel, but it was flimsy. Yeah. And it had the it had the little the little thing to go back and forth on the one side. On the one side. Then it had like a swing in the middle, one or two swings in the middle, and then it had like a little horse pony looking thing or a slot or something on the other side. And I remember them summer days. Oh my god. Being outside forever. Yeah. Playing red light, green light, mother may I. Oh, girl, you know. Like I remember, I remember those days. I remember hopscotch. We didn't really do too much too much of that in the country because we never could like find anywhere because it was dirt rubber and stuff. And the grass, so we we can really find nowhere, and they didn't really have no spray paint and stuff like that. And then like you had to make up your yeah, you had to make up your own things and do your own stuff. We didn't even have chalk. We had to draw it. We threw it in the dirt. Yeah, for real. We had to draw it in the dirt. Yeah. And I remember, I remember um standing on the steps of my grandma's house, and she had um, we used to call it the big greenhouse, but she had um steps. They were long steps and they were um made out of like concrete. And it looked like it was about maybe four or five of the steps, but they were long to get up to the front. Yeah and we would stand on them steps, y'all, and we would be in the choir. That would be our choir step. Oh my god. And we and we would separate in our parts, and we'd be and we'd be out there singing, selling a hot mess. Yo, yes, I don't even think we had a choir, um, choir director. That is so good. But then we would be singing RB songs too. My point. Yes, my cousin my cousin used to sing early in the morning. I'll put breakfast at your table. I would be like, that is not choir. Y'all tried it. That is so funny. Oh my gosh. Them honey suckles. I remember the hair. And I don't know why we thought honey sucles was good. Because it was the aftertaste. It was nasty. It wasn't good. But we would eat them. It was nasty. Yo, we used to back in the day, we would pick wild strawberries. We picked wild strawberries when the strawberry season came in, and we would have a bowl, and right across the street from my house on the hillside, it was wild strawberries all up and down the road. So we would pick strawberries and we would get enough strawberries and bring them back home, and our grandma's would make strawberry pie. It would be so good. And then at the same time, while the strawberries were um were producing, so would the blackberries be producing. So we would pick blackberries, and my uncle, he had a um, what do you call it? He had a um muscadon. He had a muscadine. And we would pick the muscadines. Oh gosh, I really. They still there. I want them muscadines. Girl, I used to love the muscadines. I used to love that. We had an apple tree. We had a green apple tree, and we also had a um red apple tree. Really? Mm-hmm. You know what? My uncle had the green, he had the green and the red. We used to sit under the tree. We would sit under the tree, ride bikes all day, and then when it gets hot, you know, for shade, we would go and sit on his um bank under the tree and eat apples. You know, yeah. You better be careful because it might be a worm. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We had peaches. Yeah. We had peaches. Yes. We had pears. We had a pear tree. We had a persimmon tree. Nobody wanted to be. I can't remember I can't remember if we had a pear tree. We might have done. I remember um getting water out of the water hose thing, but it didn't have the hose attached to it. It had the um, it was just open and you put your hand under the faucet and get it. Right after the dog, we ain't care. Nobody cared. You didn't care when you was that age. Yo, I tell you something else I remember. So it when like growing up and becoming a little bit more mature as like a teenager or whatever. I remember the magazines. Word Up, Source. Yeah. I remember all those magazines. We go out of magazines and we had out, like you get the posters out of magazines and you hang the posters up. Street, one of them was street, yeah. Yeah. And then it was a yo, yo, yo, yo, something. What was it? Yo, yo, yo, with an exclamation mark. Yeah. I remember those magazines. And it would uh you wanted the you had to make sure you got the magazine every single month. But you know what I did every month. So, because you know I grew up, you know, in the church too. And so I would go to the grocery store and I get missing because I would be on the magazine. I'm reading the magazine. I'd be looking at the posters and everything. Girl, Usher was oof. Usher during that time. Who else did I have a push on during that time? Oh, oh, L L. That was my man. Oh, Lord Joe. Joe, that was my man. I can't even talk about him now. My husband gets mad. Okay, man. This girl still Jolie C. Yeah, yeah. Jolie C was really my mm. All those green back in the day, big and came. Like all of them. All of them. Oh my gosh. That is the back of the day. And baby, Southern Pepper, when Southampton Pepper came out, baby, I thought that I was a part of the group. Southam Pepper, MC Pepper. Kid MC L. All of them. Yes. I was ready. All of them. All of them. See, y'all don't learn about this. If you was born, if you was born in the late 90s and the early 2000s, you ain't really. You get all of it. You ain't get all of that. You don't know about it. You don't know got it. But them 80s and under, they know that. Come on now. Them, them, them, what, under 90, I'd say under 95. I think 95 too. You say 95 too? Yeah, probably. Probably like 91, 92. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They be the ones to know. Okay. They be the ones to know. Alright, Jeff. Well, if you feel nostalgic with us, drop a comment. Right, right. Tell us about your what you remember. Tell us about what you remember. Tell us what you used to do when you was a child out in them streets. In them country, um, country fields. Dude, look, tell us if you borrowed the car or if your family let you use the car to go out and hang out with it. You didn't have no driver's license. You know you didn't have no driver's license. Girl, I was driving before I was the driver's at. I'm the dirt world with my uncle. I knew how to drive. No, you ain't got no license. And my mama was shocked when I went there and got them licenses at 16. She was like, You know how to drive? She's talking about some. You passed girl and did. Let's go. Give me your keys. Yeah. She said, girl and did. Give me your keys. Alright, just cuz. Well, we love y'all. Yes, we do. We enjoy spending this time with you all and sharing with you all and having a laugh with you all as well. So, you know what we're gonna do? What we're doing, Tina? We gon' live. Ooh, we're gonna laugh. And we're gonna love. Until next time. Alright, y'all. Peace.