Biffle, Busch and Mortality

In this episode of My Brother's Journey, Baron and Greg sit down to process the shocking and untimely recent losses of NASCAR legends Greg Biffle and Kyle Busch — and take an honest, heartfelt look at what mortality means to them.

Transcript

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Well, welcome back to my brother's journey. Again, I'm part of the tag team here. I'm Greg Joseph Chuck, and with me is Baron Fink. Baron, great to see you. Great to see you too, Greg. It feels like it's been forever for some reason. It hasn't really been that long. We missed one week, I think. I think we did. We missed one week, and it feels like it's been a month. Well, we're trying to make up for today. That sounds good. Um well, listen, as we always do, we start in prayer, and I know I usually toss it to you, but this time I'm gonna volunteer it and say, I'll lead. Go right ahead. Go right ahead. In the name of the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. Dear Lord, we thank you for this time together. We thank you for the opportunity to discuss matters of hopefully importance and relevance to building your kingdom here on earth, to doing your will. We ask that you bless our thoughts, bless the words that come out of our mouths, and bless our hearts and the hearts and minds and lips of those that may be listening to this podcast. Please bless them, bless their families, and please uh grant us wisdom as we head down this podcast this evening. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Fire Son and Holy Spirit. All right. So you know that generally speaking, our podcasts are built on spontaneity. Yes, indeed. For anyone that's listening to this that doesn't realize it by the rather poor quality, it's because Baron and I uh we have no script. We a lot of times we don't, we're not even sure what we're gonna talk about. But um usually uh hopefully somewhat inspired by maybe the Holy Spirit or or something else. Uh a few minutes before we we we record, we come up with a topic. And we've been very lucky that we have brothers here that we invite to discuss their faith journey. Some of them, as you know, uh we invited uh moments before we recorded. Yeah, even what it's been thinking about poor brother Jack. Uh, you and I went to Friday Mass and saw Brother Jack and said, Hey, brother Jack, how would you like to record a podcast right now? That's the way it happens. That is the way it happens here. So, but um on this one, I've actually been thinking of this topic for a few weeks now, and there's a particular event that has happened that kind of brought it uh to front and center for me. And the topic's uh maybe a little heavy, I don't know. It's it's a topic of mortality, and uh and I'm gonna tell you why. Uh I'll give you the background first, and then we can kind of get into the topic if you're okay with that. Sure. So 12 days ago, um NASCAR champion Kyle Bush died suddenly and unexpectedly, and kind of shocked the racing world and the sporting world at large. Now, what um it really affected me and my family very heavily. Um and it's not so much because we were huge NASCAR fans, uh I would say we were minor NASCAR fans. But the reason is because we knew Kyle Bush. He was our next door neighbor for many years in living in Mooresville. Um I don't know the exact amount of years, but I would say at least five and maybe seven years, somewhere in that range. He was our next door neighbor. He moved in, he bought that house when he was 18 years old. And uh and we got to know him, and uh, you know, we had a I mean just had a really nice relationship with a friendly neighbor. I mean, he was busy, as you would imagine. The NASCAR driver would, and he, you know, he had a certain routine. Um, but he's very kind to us, he was very generous to us. Um uh, you know, we were raising three boys at the time. Uh, our oldest was probably six years younger than Kyle, and then farther down from that, and occasionally he'd come over and shoot basketball, you know, shoot basketball on our court and play with, you know, kind of with the boys. And he had a nice swimming pool we didn't, and he'd invite the kids over from time to time to to you know swim there. And um uh shortly after he moved in, uh he he landed up having a move-in girlfriend who my wife got to know very well, and uh her and and my wife, you know, saw each other from time to time. And um, and so Kyle, you know, he he we we had family that would come into town and they were actually big NASCAR fans. And so we asked Kyle if we could get some free pick passes. He he he he granted them no problem and uh actually invited us back to his his private RV at the racetrack and took pictures and all of that. So it was shocking that uh that he died so quickly. Um we saw the news report flash on that he was in the hospital, and next thing we saw, it seemed like five or six hours later was Calbush is dead. Um that shook me, okay. Um but even prior to that, six months prior to that, another shocking NASCAR figure. Again, not a big NASCAR fan, but I certainly admired this guy, Greg Biffle. I didn't mind you know, I didn't know much of him as a race car driver. I mean, I recognized the name and all that, but it was really more of the work he did humanitarian for the hurricane relief out in western North Carolina. And people can go Google it and watch the YouTubes, but Greg Biffle organized many, many, many uh uh rescue flights and and flights of goods to get landed into places where where uh uh car where it was inaccessible. Um and so I I greatly admired him for that. And and he too died very shockingly um in his family, unfortunately. Um and I combined that with the fact that my father-in-law is battling stage four cancer and has been battling for almost three years now, two plus years, and originally was given a very short diagnosis, just weeks. And so we're blessed that he's continuing to be here on earth with us. But uh, but the reality is is you know, he's he's probably closer to the end of that journey now than ever before. Um and so all of that got me thinking about the topic of mortality. And um, and I know that you've you've got family also, I believe, battling with cancer. Sure, sure. And uh and so I guess you know you start thinking about our own lives. I mean, you and I, you recently retired. Uh I retired from the corporate world a couple years ago. I'm kind of semi-retired now. Um, but you know, uh you start thinking about things like what am I here on earth really to do? What kind of you know legacy am I going to leave my children, my family? Um maybe even a lot of self-reflection on you know what's my purpose? Like, am I living the life that Christ called me to live, or have I been living my own life and not really listening to that call? And I think for myself, I'm just gonna speak for myself. I would say it's probably a letter. I probably have been living more for myself than for Christ, but now that I'm you know semi-retired, um, I'm hoping to change that. I'm hoping to uh correct a lot of the mistakes I've made in the past and and maybe listen, try to hear God's calling, try to understand what what the gospel and the Bible has to tell us. Uh try to understand our wonderful and and incredibly rich faith, uh Catholic faith. Um and you know, try to try to help others to to come to know Christ, you know, because I think that's one of the things we're called to do, right? Is to to to be Christ's hands and feet and and to evangelize and to bring others to Christ so that they hopefully can attain heaven, just like I think we're trying to attain heaven. Right. So I guess with that, uh let me ask you, like, what are your thoughts about mortality? What is your thoughts about um those that are maybe dealing with cancer and know that they don't I mean I think any time that you're dealing with cancer, um, it's a scary situation. The word cancer scares people, and it I think there's a good reason for that. Because generally speaking, the outcomes when you're dealing with cancer are not necessarily good ones, right? Um and so uh let me ask you this. If you were if you were told by your doctor today, Baron, I hate to tell you this, but you've got a cancer, it's incurable, and at best, at best, we're giving you 12 months. How would you deal with that? Well, I think you know, it's it's funny, Greg. I think that over the last few years, particularly as I've I've I've paid more attention to my faith, I've grown in my faith. We talked about, you know, I mean, it's it or it's Bible study and everything else. I think it it kind of changed your perspective. And I think that's the point. Yeah, I read something the other day that says that, you know, that most people either live in the past, you know, thinking about their failures and regrets, or are are planning for the future and and with plans and dreams and things like that for days that may never come. But few people actually live in the present. And I I think that that that's what really God's teaching us to do is to live in the present. We just talked about, you know, even in scriptures, about, you know, this today's enough. My grace is enough for you today, and that's all you really need to worry about. The words of today are sufficient though, you know. Um and so I think that that once you kind of think, I think about that, and I think, well, if I take advantage of today and just live today for what today is for, God's giving me this day for something. Well, it motivates me, instead of instead of spending all my time thinking about tomorrow and the next day, for things I might ever never get the chance to do, if I'm taking advantage of that and growing in my faith and growing in my relationship with God today, then mortality and passing to that next life is a lot less scary. Uh, you know, I was relating it to you before this podcast started about a book I was reading. And and uh and this it it really brings drives on that point. And it and it me says that basically, you know, we're living in the kingdom of God today. It's here amongst us, right? And we're if we're willing to be part of that kingdom and be willing to be part of doing God's will, well, we can do that today. We don't need to, we don't need to die and go to heaven in order to do God's will. We can do that here today. And so that our passing from this life to the next life is is like a change of address for when it comes to God, because God's like, well, you're living in the you're living in my kingdom. It may be in this realm here on earth today, it may be in the realm of heaven tomorrow, but you're living in my kingdom. And I love you, and you're part of that kingdom, you're never gonna be not part of that kingdom. So it actually allows, and I've seen some people who have been very comfortable in their old age passing of just you know, whatever, where they will tell you, I'm completely comfortable with with passing on. I'm I'm you know, I know that that God has me. And that's that. And I think that's that's a testament to their their confidence and their faith in God. And it doesn't come overnight. Um, but but at the same time, if that's completely foreign to you, then the then that's just like saying, well, won't just go bungee jump, you know, and you know I've never done that before in my life. You're gonna be much more you know cautious about doing that because you've never done it. You have no idea what that's like. We don't know what heaven's like, but we do have confidence that what God tells us is true. And I think that to me that changes the entire perspective. So going back to your question, if I was told that I had 12 months to live, it would certainly it would erase the the past and the future. Okay. So I'd be forced to live in the here and now. And and there's actually some benefit to that. I mean, you go back, you talked about what happened to to Greg Biffle. He had 13 seconds to think about that. Yeah. You know, or or or you know, uh Kyle Bush, same thing. Two days. I mean uh uh 12 months would be a gift. Right. You know? Would it change you? Would it change how you're living how you're living right now? I think I think even even preparing for this, not preparing for this talk, but actually it's just kind of uh just incidental to what we've been talking about in our study, but also what I've been reading about some other things, it's already starting to change my life. Because and again, it's easy, it's probably easier for me than it is for a lot of people because I I've you know reach retirement study, I don't have to think so much about the planning and the financial planning and stuff like that. But even if you even if you don't have to think about that, it's hard to let go of it. Because uh because you want to say, oh, do I have enough? Or hey, do I have enough to leave my kids? And and and do I have enough, you know, you you start thinking about all that stuff, and oh, we want to go on this trip and we'll do this and that, and those pull you away from living this day. That's the only one that's gonna guarantee you. Yeah, I mean uh you ran your own business, right? And so there's a lot of, I mean running a business it's a terrible, it's a it's a tremendous weight on your shoulder. I mean, you're you're I assume you're the you were the breadwinner in the family. And I was uh certainly the breadwinner in my family. Um I was fortunate that I I I made enough income my wife didn't have to work so she could raise our three kids. And you know, that's a blessing in and of itself. But my you know, my whole week was consumed by thinking about my work, my job, um my next uh uh my next review, because of course my salary was based. I I didn't run my own business, I worked for uh several other businesses, but um, you know, and and then all all the financial planning, uh insurance, and you know, just it goes on and on and on. I mean, you know, taking care of the house, taking care of the car, taking I mean, it can be it's it's almost to the point where um, yeah, Sunday to me was you know, go to mass, check the box, and get back into this world of all that craziness kind of working around. You can't escape from it. It's with you all the time. It's with you all the time, right? And then you, you know, you you finally say, all right, I'm gonna unplug from that retirement. Um, and I and uh I don't know, you know, I feel like I had to, and I I didn't fully retire, right? I when I retired from corporate, from the corporate world, I immediately went into real estate, which for me is more I make my own hours, right? And I like that. It's because I've been in sales for so long, I don't know how to stop selling, I guess. But I just enjoy it. I enjoy people, I enjoy the relationships. Sure. Um, but I'm still, I think, trying to deprogram myself. And I'm what, two and a half, almost three years now retired, semi-retired, deprogram myself from that life I was living before, you know, running through airports and all that kind of craziness. Are you still deprogramming yourself from uh you you retired a more recently? I retired last last uh summer, so this would be almost a year coming up by next month. And um Yeah, I think I am. You know, and and certainly I didn't realize until after I retired, my wife was telling me about it all the time, but I didn't realize just how mentally wrapped up I was I was in the in the average day. You know, and that and that I basically was working all the time. Because my mind, even though I wasn't physically there, my mind was thinking about things. Right. And that's that's I've had no problem with letting that go. The question is, Greg, was is what replaces that? And and you know what what things still are kind of baggage left over from that? And and you know, if you if you run a business, particularly if you run your own business, you're always thinking about what's next, what's the future hold, uh, you know, uh financially, you know, can is it is it is are we stable? Do we need to do something different? Well, that hasn't really changed. It's still that that even though you know it shouldn't be, it's still something I think too much about. And so and so you know, it's it it's it's it's funny because the other day I was I was watching these birds fight in this out of this birdhouse that we made. And I couldn't believe it that because this birdhouse looks like it came from out of uh Dr. Seuss or something. That's awful. But anyway, the birds birds took nests in there. And and they're there for you know maybe three or four weeks while these birds, you know, hatch and then they're gone. Never to return to that. They have no home. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And we all know that. Yeah. But uh you know, the whole freeze-a-bird thing, but you know, d if we just made some if I made some strides to live more like that and said, you know what, I don't I don't need to worry about these things. I don't need more material things that I I can't use. I don't need I I just I want to live for today and and try to to discern what God's will is for me and to do it. Yeah. And it's really gonna be to help people in some form or fashion. You know, it it's not that hard, but it yet it's very hard because we had to deprogram ourselves from the the human aspect of life to to to be able to appreciate the divine aspect of life. That's a very good way of saying it. I I I agree with that. Getting back to the mortality question, so I'm gonna stick with this scenario 12 months to live. Sure. Okay. Are you going to heaven? You know, um that's that's up to that's up to God. I hope so. I hope so. You know, I mean, do you have a belief? I have I have a belief, I have a belief in a very merciful God. I have a belief that, you know, and not not because it benefits me to say this, but I have a belief that God is more merciful on us than we are on ourselves. That that God knows what this world's like, God knows who who the enemy is here and and how how uh um good he is at what he does, okay? But also God knows that we are what you're instructing. Are you trying? Are you do you you know what are we told? We're told, you know, you know, John, you know, 23, you know, it you know, believe in me, that's it. I mean it and that sounds super simplistic. It's like, oh, but then you can just pass, you know, hey, all I gotta do is say I did that. But do you believe it though? Do you you know when you talk about believing in God with your whole heart and your whole mind, no matter all the mistakes, no matter all the failures, that has to manifest itself in some way in the way you live. You know, you can't say if you said one thing, if I said I love my wife, but yet I'm going uh out to the strip club, well that's those two don't they don't they don't match. That doesn't work. Right. Okay. So same thing with with God. If we if we say that we we are we really love Jesus, even though we're not perfect at it, even though we fail at it, are we really trying? Are we improving? And you know, like I said, I'm that's probably I'm probably hoping for that. You know, yeah. How about you? Yeah, I I mean I don't I don't believe in any in any stretch of the imagination do I merit heaven. I absolutely do not. Nor do I. Um and I do believe in purgatory, and I do I guess I I almost when I reflect on my life as a sinner over these many decades, my hope is that I get to purgatory where I can, you know, somehow pay off my sin debt, if I can say it that way, and through the Lord's forgiveness, gain heaven. I don't I don't I don't see myself as I die and I go straight to heaven. That's just my personal belief. I think I I don't I certainly don't merit it, and I don't think I get I don't think I should get a pass. I think I think I think I should be held accountable for for the sins I committed in my past. And I think purgatory is a good way for for me to somehow uh work through that, but I don't really know how. Okay. I I guess it's more of a hope. I I I you know if I'm candid, I think I I think I merit hell more than I definitely merit heaven. Okay, but I'm hoping, but I'm hoping that uh that I at least somehow am allowed purgatory before and maybe through God's many graces and and his infinite mercy, at some point he says, you know, now's the time for you to enter heaven. Now you're in the now you're in the right state, your soul's in the right state to enter heaven. That's kind of how I think about it. Uh and I don't know if the theology is sound there. And you know, I say several times I'm not a theolog a theologian, I haven't studied it that way. That's just uh my it could be an immature belief, but that's my belief right now as we record this podcast today. So, oh no, look at this. I can't believe this. I mean yeah, I mean we're yeah, we gotta wrap this. Holy cow, I'm looking at the counter here. Yeah, but uh um hey, listen, great conversation. And uh I know we have Bible study tonight, so uh we're gonna wrap up here. Hey, I just want to thank you for tuning in and being a part of my brother's journey. Seek Jesus in all you do and be fishers of men. God bless you, and please join us again. Viva Jesus.