This is Jimmy and Annette and we are Sands
Mr. Chevy. I know that means he's not with us. No. Why? Where is Mr. Chevy? I don't know if we can. I don't think I can do the show. I need to talk to my director. It is kind of odd because he's not in my lap. I need to talk to my manager. You know, we talked about last week. I think it was last week how sick he got the last time we right boarded him at the vet, right? And a friend of ours, Jennifer Marshall, who was listening to our show. Thank you, Jennifer. I'm just saying it up front right now. And she
she text me and said, Let me take care of Chevy. And so I was like, Are you sure? I mean, you know, this is a lot of work. It's a week. He's not a lot of work, but he is because he's he's like a toddler. It's like having a toddler. But he's he's really pretty low maintenance. He is. He's smart. But she didn't know him. She's never spent time with him. But we felt comfortable enough to say, You know what? This is this is probably a good thing. That way we can come back and he won't be sick. And so we took him over to her house.
Today and he just he became super comfortable immediately. She sent us a picture of him standing up standing up doing his gopher. He does his signature go from up like a gopher sits on his haunches. Is that what you call it? Yeah, his song is hilarious.
He looks like a gopher. Maybe you could put it in our newsletter next week. That picture. I can. It is so hilarious. And she's she's like, Well, he's comfy here. And I'm like, Oh, yeah, yeah, he's very if he's already doing the popping a wheelie thing and popping a wheelie. Yeah, yeah, he's totally comfortable. So we feel great. Thank you, Jennifer. You're amazing for doing this. And we literally just got home from Austin. It's been a long day with like four.
For O's long with four. We had a memorial service. We had to be at first we had to take Mr. Shavey to Jennifer's and drop him off and get him acclimated. And here we are. And I'm in a suit here. And we're both decked out, ready to go this funeral that I'm leading that you're leading. So my mind's kind of there thinking that through. And then and then she had a new puppy that she just got. And we didn't know that. And so we're like, Wait, Jennifer, Jennifer, you're taking me home.
I'm taking care of a brand new dog. And now you want a brand new puppy in the mix. But it was the cutest. It was really cute. But she is in for it. That puppy's like a real baby. Yeah, like taking care of somebody else's dog is like having a baby but to have your own new baby. Oh, but it was so
cute. A little girl and absolutely stunner. I've never seen a Jack Russell like that. Yeah, tiny Jack Russell terrier. How big will it get? I don't know. But right now it's like a teacup. Looks like a little rat. Now that's not the bad word. I just think of small. Okay, rats can be cute. So so cute. And Chevy was cool. He was like, Yeah, whatever. You know, there's another dog here. I don't care. So we went to the memorial service. Yes, we did that. That was a beautiful,
beautiful time. And always, I'm weird, because you're weird. I'm weird. I'm weird in that. It's not like I enjoy funerals, but I don't I don't dread them. No, because you're so good with families and helping them through crosses. And this family had already just buried their mom and now they're
burying their dad a year ago to the day to the day. And so you're so good. And it was great. I got to spend a lot of time talking to the family, which usually I know precious, wonderful family. And it was just and now they're wanting to move to
Fredericksburg because they don't live here. And I was really, I hate that I get to know people at a funeral instead of, you know, in other areas of life, because it's, you know, it's a sad time, but most family reunions are around funerals. That's true. They really
are. The reason, one of the reasons why I'm tender towards funerals is because of that. It's pulls people back together that have forgot to call or haven't visited as much as they should. That's all of us. Well, they haven't seen them in so long. Yeah, that could be all of us, right? And so that a funeral is a ground leveler pulls them all back together. And then they're tender to Jesus, they're tender to God, and they're they're open. And that that's powerful to me. And so anyway, it to me, it's always an honor. I consider
it sacred ground that I get to walk on. And the beauty in this one is the precious man that passed Alan Smith, I got to spend a good bit of time with him on the day just before he passed away. And so that was a huge blessing to me. One of the things I wish you would have brought up though, I meant to tell you this, and we were driving to Austin is you didn't bring up the widow dinner. Do you remember we did?
Yes. Yeah, I wish I would have remembered that. We had so many people pass, we did a widow widower dinner when we've talked about this on our podcast. But he literally got up and he said, I never speak in public. But I just want to share about this church and what y'all have done for me. Right. And it was so beautiful. And I thought, when you started to talk, I thought, oh, good, he's gonna share about that. And you didn't. I was like, he forgot you forgot.
Yeah, I know. It's, it's one of those things where, when you're in these moments, it's hard to boy, there's so many thoughts going on. I can't even imagine. I've never done a funeral. So I wouldn't I wouldn't know. But it was a sweet time, a beautiful time. I'm honored to participate and be able to just share from my heart a little bit just to encourage but anyway, so that that was that was all morning. So we're already like kind of I was already tired. And then it's like, okay, we're gonna run over to Adam and Tina's and we're gonna jump in the car.
I mean, and I had a quick change. I had to change in their bathroom. I kept the lid down.
Oh, of course. Wait, you gotta play your keep the lid down. Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. Yes. Keep the lid down.
There it is. Adam Curry special. So it was down when I got there, which was good. So I didn't have to bust Adam like I did once before. But anyway, so I had to do a super quick change and changing out of a suit is no small task. And there's like layers of clothes and a tie. And so I did all that through on new clothes. And then man, we just jumped out the door and drove late for our own party. Not too late. We got there in pretty good time.
Yeah, it wasn't bad. And then we we did a meetup. And so explain what a meetup is.
Well, a meetup is when you know, you're for us, it was three different it was for no agenda, all the listeners that are in the area of Austin that listen to no agenda living up in a down world and curry and the keeper. And so they all come together at a restaurant and we were at an outdoor restaurant that was indoor outdoor. And you just they just want to talk to you and they just want to get to know you and spend time with you. And, and it was a lot of fun. It was
it really was great just meeting people who love living up in a down world but love no agenda love curry and the keeper got to meet all different people from all different walks of life. It's beautiful. And people that came over and said, you know, your podcast, I've listened to every one of them. That blew me away means so much to me. And it's something that's building my faith. And of course, that's what I need to hear. It's building your faith. Yes, because if this is just us just yacking.
I know yacking my dad used to use that word quite a bit. To me, it's it's got to be it's got to be more meaningful. And so I that that meant a lot to me to hear that. And yeah, Rhonda was so sweet. She walked over to us and said, I've listened to every one of your.
Thank you. Adam another Adam that just we just met so many cool people. So many wonderful people. And like you said, from all walks of life, which makes it fun. That's I thrive in an environment like that. I mean, just talking to people and engaging people.
Yeah, any tiredness you had from us because we were we're packing to because we're leaving early in the morning. Yes. And we're doing this podcast is what 830. By the way, this is number 45. Yes. Up and down world. Yeah, we're chugging along. But yeah, you're right. I mean, you were tonight.
Yes. But is it your you got your energy back very quick when you get around people. You used to be the kind of person that got around people and it drained you. Now it energize. I don't even know you. Who am I? Who are you? Maybe I'm not who you think I am. After 31 years.
Speaking of 31 years, we have an anniversary. Yay. 31 years of while I'm just so excited. There you go. So we're going away to Pagosa Springs in the morning. So excited. Oh, just for a week of just nothing. No plans.
Speaking of no agenda. We have no agenda about you know, we were talking about. Excuse me, I'm going to move my mic a little bit. It's a little someone asked me about packing and and I said, yeah, I've got everything in cubes because we bought those are awesome.
And they said, well, are you do you do it like what you're going to wear that day? What are you going to wear? And I said, no, because we have no agenda. We may not wear anything. I know this is not a this is a piece of a cheese show. You know what I mean? We're not we don't if we don't want to get dressed. I see what you're saying. We don't have to we can wear our pajamas. We can wear our sweats. I have no agenda do not want an agenda. Although we do have some people gave us some gift cards to some places to eat.
Very blessed some cash so that we could go do something if we wanted to go do something fun. Thank you. I don't even know what I want to do. Thank you, Todd and Debbie. And Mark blessing and Mark Crane. Yes, Pastor Mark Crane, a blessing who lived in Pagosa Springs for 4040 years.
Probably most he lived there for years, but he was a pastor there on staff at a church for 30 years. So he knows the town knows the lay of the land. He sat down with us this week and told us what to and where to eat everything out. Oh, it's beautiful. Beautiful. Got some food waiting for you. Totally totally blessed us. Yeah. So we're looking forward to that. Very excited. So yeah, so I jumped off the meetup. But yeah, what a blessing there for the meetup. So we got home and we're like, fried.
Now we're like, okay, we got to do a podcast show. The reason we're doing our show tonight is because we fly out and we didn't want to haul take our equipment because we didn't even know if the Wi Fi is any good there. Yeah, because of where we're staying. Yeah, we're staying at a cabin in the mountains outside of Pagosa. And it's a campground like praying for snow. Well, supposedly tomorrow night and I want to see. I can't go to Colorado and not see snow and inch accumulation tomorrow evening. I'm hoping. Oh, yeah.
We're gonna need that great time. This is gonna be we're gonna have a wonderful time. But that's why we're doing the show tonight. So this is Saturday night and we're gonna go ahead and release it and get it out there. And then we're gonna just go and breathe and kind of have a like a little refresher sabbatical mindset. That's what I've been thinking about. This is a sabbatical week sabbatical mindset. Not that we need it or anything. But you know what? What we're pointing we came back and we hit the ground running and oh, I have never
I mean, because we've had all this energy, we're running so I mean, I just can't believe what we're what we're doing because we have a podcast we're doing every week. Two services. January 7th, we're going to three services growing 830 1011 30. Yeah, it's wild. Back to back. And we started our own YouTube channel. What are we what we're crazy is what we are. You know, so that's why we needed the sabbatical to give us
the energy at our age, most people starting to think about landing the plane, you know, shooting your approach on retirement, not us. We're thinking, what's the best way to get the gospel out? And it's through podcasts. It's through YouTube. Yeah, it's through our church. Yeah, we're gonna be transparent like we always are. But we're gonna share our good stories are bad stories, the good bad the ugly as you say, real relevant. But one of the reasons why
we wanted to do the show today is with Thanksgiving coming up on Thursday, I can't believe it's already gonna be here. And then Christmas is going to be here before you know it. I really felt like we needed to talk about gratitude, which not the song which I love the song.
Brandon Lake song is so amazing. But I feel so compelled to to bring up the fact that we need to live a life of gratitude daily. And as I was sharing earlier with you, most of the time, I mean, we don't really grasp gratitude without the challenges in life. If you
have challenges in life, and then things begin to go well, you can you can walk in gratitude, because you know where you've been. You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, I was gonna ask you so because we were mentioning this earlier, and I was like, Oh, it's so true. What about people who seem to kind of have it easy?
They don't they those types of people that have it so easy don't understand. It's not like I know anyone like that. Because everybody I know, been through a lot. It's rare that there are people that don't need God. They're just going through life. Maybe they've got a lot of money in the bank. Things are going pretty well.
Business is going good. You tend to not have the gratitude unless you really have the challenges. And you know, I've had a lot of challenges. You've had a lot of challenges in this lifetime. And I with the last probably the last 10 years of our life have produced more gratitude in our life than we've ever had. And I live a life of gratitude. I wake up thanking God, I go to sleep thanking God. Not that I'm going to be able to do that.
It's not that things are always going well. No, but you know what, I think you can be thankful when they're not going. You can because you can be thankful that they will go well because he's in the details. He's in those challenges. And he's going to get you through it because those are his promises. And it may not be the way we want it or the way we perceive it to look like. But he's still going to get us through and he always has.
I none of the things we've gone through. Did I ever expect it to go come out the way it has always had in my mind. It would be, you know, a whole different story. But God writes his own story. And we just have to be ready to be on board with his story, not try to get God on board with our story.
You just nailed that. You know, our dreams at the end of the day don't matter. It's not that God's trying to fulfill our dreams. We're trying to fulfill God's dreams. What are God's dreams?
And he gives us dreams.
He does, exactly. His dreams. That's what I mean. They're not ours, but they're his.
Yes.
And there's such a difference there because one of them is me centered and the other is God centered. And gratitude puts God in the center. That's what it does.
It repositions him. Can you imagine being thankful but not having anyone to say thanks to?
Right.
I mean, it's like, what does an atheist do? Who do they thank? Oh man, this is so good. Oh, I don't have anybody to thank. You know, the Christians going, thank you Jesus. Thank you God. Thank you Holy Spirit.
They just think they thank themselves.
Yeah, I'm not putting down.
The universe.
And by the way, I'm not putting anybody down because man, you don't know what you don't know. There's a lot of people who just don't know. So I don't want to come off caustic or rude or anything like that.
But it does make you wonder. I mean, I have somebody to say thanks to every day, even when it's not going good, even when things are not working out. Listen to the scripture. I have a scripture.
Oh, of course you do.
Believe it or not. As you're talking.
Pastor Bruitt.
It's not like I'm a walking concordance. I look it up. So Philippians 4 6.
Do not be anxious about anything. Now listen to this, but in every situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God by prayer, every situation, all things in everything.
That means even when things aren't going great. In fact, it takes a lot of courage to say, God, I don't get it. I don't know why I am where I am or why I'm in the storm, but I'm going to praise you in the storm.
I'm going to praise you in this thing. I'm going to say thank you anyway because I know you and I know your heart for me and I know you're going to turn it for good because that's your character, your nature.
And so I love that. Don't be anxious about anything, but in every situation with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
We have history in God. When you have history in God, then you know what the outcome is going to be. You know what I'm saying?
Absolutely.
Like I said, there are things that have happened in our life that I wouldn't wish upon anybody. I wouldn't wish upon anybody. But then when we get through them, we're like, how did I get through that?
And how am I better? And what did we learn from it? And then you go, if I didn't go through that, I wouldn't be the person I am today.
So again, we've talked about this in the past. I don't have regrets because every challenge takes us to a new place, a new level of new growth period in our life. And we need it. We need growth.
We do. I remember we talked about us being without work, that we got let go of a church in an unrighteous way.
And it just, man, it was like, took the wind out of ourselves, took our legs out. And we ended up in Nashville, Tennessee, living in a 10 by 10 bedroom.
And it was one of those things where we had choices to make. We could just be so angry about everything. We could be bitter about it.
We could just think that we have the worst luck in the world. It's just terrible. It's just horrible. And we had those moments where we were.
There were a lot of crying moments. There were. It's like, what's wrong with us?
There were pitch and fit moments. Yeah. Is there something defective in us? Is there something innately defective?
But in the middle of that, I just remember having moments of gratitude, you know, of saying, you know what, thank you, Brian and Naomi Mandel for letting us live in your guest room.
Exactly. All three of us in a 10 by 10 room. With our two year old in the next room.
Exactly. And yet we did and we made the best of it. But the only reason we could make the best of it is because we were thankful.
I remember getting up and going into the dining room, kind of the unused dining table in the mornings and the sun was streaming in through the window.
And I remember the sun hitting this wood table and had my journal out and I was seeking God. I was writing in my journal and I was just like, all I know to do is say thank you, Lord, that we had a place to sleep last night.
There are people who don't, especially in our situation. Not that we were homeless, like out on the street or destitute, but we did have no place to call our own.
We were caught in between. Because we didn't know where we were going to land and we didn't have the income coming in.
And we, I mean, literally, honestly, I thought we would get something really quick. Even one of the pastors that was involved in all this said, you're going to land on your feet real quick.
And it took a year. It didn't happen. 11 months. If you'll remember, I mean, it got to the point where I finally said, I've got to do something.
So I applied for Frito-Lay. I remember $15 an hour. $15 an hour, baby. And I was going to be loading chips, sorting and loading chips into the back of semi-trailers.
But it was a job. And it was... My mentality was, you know what, I'll be thankful to have it. Exactly. So I went and I had to drive into downtown Nashville in the industrial area, which is, looks like a gulag or something.
I mean, it looks like it's just dark and dank and all old tin metal buildings. And I went down there and I went through the training. I was with this group of people.
And the supervisor kept saying, now, why are you doing this? And then when I explained what happened, he said, you're not going to be here long. He said, you're a good guy.
I just... And he was a guitar player too. So we hit it off immediately. He was like, you're going to be okay. He goes, I'm not going to... I'm going to hire you because you need a job.
I want to help you. He said, but hey, man, I know when it comes time, don't feel bad about it. I know this. He was so gracious to me. I just felt favor in that.
So I went through all the training. I was on the computer, you know, the HR training and risk management and all that stuff. And, you know, if you cut your finger off, this is what you do.
You know, just all that kind of stuff. And of course, did the whole tour of the building. This is what you're going to be doing. And then he called and said, hey, got the job.
And so I want you to come in. And so I was scheduled to go in. In the meantime, I was interviewing with Ramsey Solutions, Dave Ramsey's organization.
And that was a job I was praying for because the church is just nothing was opening up in the church world.
But this was something where I felt like I could still be a part of a faith based organization, a ministry, and yet make a difference, you know, in people's lives.
And so I interviewed. Do you remember how many interviews I have?
Did you have six in one day? No, I had seven interviews, three in one day. Okay.
Back to back to back to back. No, it was three in one day. Okay. The last interview, they interviewed you.
Well, I remember that. It was they took us out to eat and we thought this would be nice and friendly.
And man, it was like the wives, the wives were interviewing interviewed you. Yes, that was like, whoa, I've never seen this before.
Remember, I think I got in the car and said, did they work there?
Why were they interviewing me? But they they wanted to make sure the whole family, I mean, when they hire you, they hire everybody.
I wouldn't be in hired. It's kind of an all in thing. It's a family. It really is.
And they have a they have a very defined culture at Dave Ramsey's place.
So but if you remember, though, through the other interviews that I would go through and then I would call you when I walked out the door.
There's no way no way on God's green earth that they're going to hire me.
Really, I should have applied for that job. I was more suited for I was more suited for the type of job.
But you were more suited for what the job ended up being, which was more of a chaplain.
It really was. And and I fit the culture. Yes, you did.
So anyway, so the job I was going to go to Frito Lay and and I was trying to be excited about it.
But in my heart, I was like, I can't believe I'm doing this.
Now, I wasn't embarrassed about the job. I was glad. But it's just not me.
This is not you've been a preacher for years and years and years.
I'd pastor churches and planted churches and done ministry all over the world.
And I'm going to go to work at Frito Lay at some weird schedule to God honored that.
He honored your desire to work and your and your courage to go wherever it takes you and not just set, not go to, you know, it has to be this.
Yeah, I wasn't prideful at all. It was just like, OK, we didn't take any unemployment or anything.
I have no idea what I deal with this is going to do, but I need to work.
And so what was interesting is when I when I said yes, and I got the job and he offered the job.
And then talk about Frito Lay and I said, yeah, thank you so much.
I'll see you tomorrow. Night. Neek. So I was scheduled to come in the next day.
Six o'clock rolls around the night before and the phone rings.
My phone rings and it's one of its Ramsey Solutions offering you the job saying we are proud to offer you the job.
And you're like, what? And I mean, I was blown away.
You were because you said there's no way they're going to hire.
I was shocked. Absolutely. You got to call Frito Lay and say I'm so I called him the next morning.
They can go into like 11 or 12 and I called him the next morning and say, you're not going to believe this.
And they said, yeah, we do. He said, yeah, he said, no, this totally cool.
I'm happy for you. Good luck with all that. I mean, it's just a cool thing.
But just it was a kind of a ram in the thicket thing.
I thought I was going to have to do this thing. And it was like, no, God, God's got something else.
I was jealous because you ended up working there a couple of years and you had the most fun job.
Every day you would come home with gratitude and thanksgiving. Didn't make any money hardly.
No, I wasn't making money. But you had fun. It was a healing place.
It was. And I think God was just saying, you know, and that's going to take care of us, which I had to.
And you need to rest and you need to enjoy and you need to just relax and let me just let you soak in this culture.
Yeah, that job was that culture and the job was therapeutic for me because I did get to do a lot of ministry.
I mean, a lot of ministry. Yes, just in the relationships I built there.
And then the floor supervisor called me to his office not long before I resigned two years later to go back into the ministry and churches.
But he called me and he said, you know, his name is Brent. He said, you know, Jimmy, the reality of it is you're a pastor.
I thought he's about to fire me. He goes, so what I'm going to do, I'm going to make it official.
You're now the church department chaplain. There you go.
We've never had one of those, but I'm just going to do it because it's already happening.
He said, we're going to put a chair by your cubicle. We had cubicles, 50 plus employees on that floor.
He said, we're just going to put an extra chair there because people keep dragging Erwin's chair over somebody else.
We're going to put a chair and leave it there because people are coming to counsel with you.
Well, how am I going to get paid if I'm doing that?
No, I didn't say that. That's what you said. I did. I was honored because what God was doing was reaffirming my call to ministry.
And building relationships that are lasting forever.
Your boss ended up becoming a board member for us. Before that, he became my best friend.
Exactly. Now he is one of my board members and a best friend. So he's still kind of my boss.
He was my boss. That's not the relationship we have. It's just beautiful.
It is beautiful. But here's what happened. Coming out of that, you remember when I got to jobbing, immediately what flushed up in us?
Gratitude. Thank you, God. I was thankful for the Frito-Lay job. I was. I was willing to do it.
But this was a whole other thing because it was actually a place where I had had a kind of a foresight that I might work there someday.
Because we decided to visit there one time. It's like a year or two before that.
Yeah, we were visiting Nashville. A year and a half.
And we said, let's go check out Dave Ramsey's place. Yeah, we've heard about Dave Ramsey. Let's go check it out.
Remember they had the granny, I don't remember what it was. Martha's Place.
Martha's Place. And they would make cookies. Cappuccinos. Cappuccinos. It was all free.
And give it to the visitors who would come in. I said, we ought to go over there. And the employees.
And the employees, yes. But I wasn't an employee. But when we walked in, I remember looking around, seeing all these hipster Nashville kids working up there.
And you saw yourself working there. And I literally said, I could work at a place like. There was something.
You have to be careful what you say because God says, hmm, okay. Let me rearrange his life and produce this.
Was it about a year and a half later that I was there? I think it was.
And I remember sitting in one of those rooms because there were these big glass conference rooms.
Sitting there with Irwin and Brian and all these guys. After you went on with the job.
During lunch, we'd do these Bible studies at lunch. And I remember looking around going, this is exactly what I was seeing.
It's like God gave you a vision. He gave me a total vision of it. So same way with Fredericksburg, Texas.
So I had a vision to come into Fredericksburg. You did. 25, 28 years before we got here.
Oh no. 30 plus years. Oh yeah. Because it was before we were.
And because I'm older than I think sometimes. So anyway, all this comes back to gratitude though.
Because I remember walking in for my first day of work. I was going to shadow Irwin Gunnels and he'd been there a while.
And so I just walked in. I'm so full of gratitude. They could have told me, okay, for your first job, you're going to clean all the restrooms in the building.
And you would have been happy to do it. And I would have done it in a heartbeat. Why? Gratitude.
Because when you've been at the bottom, or at least you feel like you're at the bottom. It was your bottom.
It was my bottom. And when you've lost what you feel was everything you've worked hard for and then it's gone and evaporates.
Then at that point, everything's up. And so you're grateful for everything.
Every single thing. And it made everything sweeter. Sweeter. Every victory. Every cordial. Every connection.
Every nice thing somebody did for us. We were just grateful. Just grateful.
And we look back a lot. Oh, we talk about it all the time.
Not like Lot's wife who looked back and shouldn't have. Right. Not like that.
But we look back with gratitude and say, God, look what you've done. He's restored everything.
Double what we could have ever. I mean, easily. Easily. What we lost.
And double for your trouble. Double for your trouble. And we love living out here in the Fredericksburg area. Love it.
Love our church. Don't want to move. No. Lord, never want to move again. Please leave us here.
I see myself, Lord, working anywhere again other than here. Yes.
Because we love our people. I mean, even today doing the funeral and just seeing our people.
I get giddy when I see people that we're doing life with. I'm thankful. I am too.
And that's what Thanksgiving is about. But really it's what a Christian life should be about.
Good point. Thanksgiving is a moment. It's a time for you to gather with family and friends and be thankful.
But every day your life should reflect gratitude for what he's done, especially as Christians.
If we don't have gratitude, how can we really truly love God? Because everything comes from God.
Every good and perfect gift comes from above. I think I have that verse. I know I saw that verse a minute ago.
I don't remember the scripture reference, but I love that verse. Everything here is so good.
Listen to this. I've got more Biblical Bible verses. Of course you do.
1 Timothy 4, 4, and 5. For everything God created is good. And nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.
There you go. Because it is consecrated by the Word of God in prayer. To receive it with thanksgiving.
I received the job at Frito-Lay with thanksgiving, having no idea what I was about to get into.
But I was thankful. I was thankful to Brian and Naomi because they opened their home to us.
In a 10 by 10 room with three of us in that room, we were still just thankful.
And we cleaned their house. We took care of their house.
I think when we left they were depressed because we took care of them.
But we did everything we could to help them out because they were helping us.
Value for value, right? That's exactly what we were doing.
I've got another verse. Colossians 4, 2. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
You know, so like we were talking, you were mentioning this a minute ago about thanksgiving.
It's a day. It's a day that we commemorate. Of course there are historical references to the pilgrims and all that.
But really I'm in agreement with you. We should live a grateful life.
Not just have a grateful day, but a grateful life.
You know, we traveled to Austin with the Curies today. We came back.
All I can say to them is thank you. And they're saying thank you for going with us.
It's always more fun when we do it together.
We're like thank you for inviting us.
We're like thank you. And I'm thinking, wow, we just did about 15 thank yous in a row.
Because we're all living grateful lives.
And believers should be the most grateful people on the planet.
Because of where we were before we were saved and where we are now.
Or where we would be if we weren't saved.
Oh my goodness. I can't even imagine where I would be.
I can't imagine living a life apart from God. I can't even comprehend it.
It doesn't register, does it?
No. And I was the first one in my family to get saved.
I was 10 years of age when I was introduced to Jesus and began to walk with him.
And I can't imagine, you know, I fell off for a little while, you know,
like a lot of us do when we become teenagers and so forth.
But I look back and I'm like, Lord, thank you for drawing me back to you.
I can't even imagine my life.
Because my dad was miserable. Miserable.
I never saw my dad happy unless he won a golf game or won some money gambling.
Or he buys a new puppy dog and he's playing with it.
That was always fun.
But literally he didn't live a life like that.
Yeah, there wasn't a quality of life. There wasn't a vibrance or a vitality.
Jesus said this in John 10.10. I say this all the time.
It is.
He says the thief comes only except to steal, kill, and destroy.
And then Jesus flips the script.
But I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly.
And that's why he came.
Abundant life didn't always mean like more money or bigger stuff.
And it might sometimes for some but not for everyone.
But it's much, much further. It's way beyond finances.
It's way beyond resources.
There's a vibrance of life, a vitality that a believer who's living a grateful life
and is received and their face is radiant because we look to him, the Scripture says,
those are the people I want to be around.
I don't know about you, but when I get around people who are ungrateful,
it is like toxic to me.
It is. It just pulls you down.
It's poison.
It is. It's poison.
It doesn't happen often, but occasionally you run into people who you've been around
them a little bit and you notice one day they never say thank you for anything.
I'm an over thinker.
I just I want to appreciate people.
I want to extend value.
I want value for value.
Then if they're breathing, they've brought value to me.
They mean something to me.
And so I tend to just say, just thank people.
I walk through the church.
It wears me out because I'm saying thank you for serving.
Thank you for what you're doing.
Thank you for being on the host team.
Thank you for being on the worship team.
Thank you for being on production.
I can't stop saying thank you.
And I think it's because we have gone through some hard, hard seasons in our life.
And it makes us all the more grateful.
And so I always wonder about people who aren't grateful.
Is it that they haven't gone through anything or is it that they're just jaded?
I think they're jaded.
I think they're really jaded.
Or I've met people who are very entitled and they don't say thank you because they think they deserve what they're getting.
Oh, gosh.
And those are the people.
I don't deserve anything.
That's hard for me.
I don't do well around people like that.
Not for an extended period of time.
I mean, not more than 10 minutes because thankful people want to be around thankful people.
There's something that gratitude begets gratitude.
Honor begets honor.
Love begets love.
You know, these are things that beget something else or beget something else.
And so to me, gratitude, when you're a grateful person, other people who are grateful are attracted to that.
Right.
The friends that I have in my life that I consider close.
And there's not a lot.
I mean, I love everybody.
But in terms of those inner circle friends, there's not that many.
But the ones that are are grateful people.
Right.
I don't think I could have anybody in my inner circle that wasn't.
No, you couldn't.
It just doesn't work.
No.
I think the amount of life we've lived and the things that we've gone through, we have to be around grateful people.
We have to be around people who are living up in a down world.
Yeah, absolutely.
And if they're living down, then I feel like it's our job to help them know how to live up.
Amen.
Yeah.
I feel like.
Do you remember, did you ever watch the Wide World of Sports here in Grosvenor on Saturdays and Sundays?
Oh, yes, of course.
What's the same?
I can't remember the dude.
But I always remember the.
Oh, Kosel.
Howard Kosel.
How do I remember that?
And I'm not even into sports.
That's so crazy.
OK.
Back to my story.
OK, sorry.
OK.
I get excited that I can remember something at my age, you know.
Hello.
So.
So the roll in for that, you know, the bumper commercial, you know, it's it's that guy coming
off a ski slope.
You remember that he's going to do a ski jump and he crashes and burns and it says the thrill
of victory and the agony of defeat.
That is our life.
We have we have experienced the thrill of victory, but we have also experienced the
agony of defeat.
Well, it reminds me.
That's what produces gratitude.
It reminds me of the movie Father of the Bride and the and the mother or the grandmother
said, oh, yeah, life is a roller coaster.
So I don't remember movie lines very much, but I'll never forget that beautiful moment
because it is a roller coaster.
It's up and down.
And she said what did she say?
Like I like roller coasters.
I love that.
Yeah, that's that captures the heart of it.
Doesn't it?
It really does.
I am looking forward to getting away with you.
Oh, I'm so excited.
Thank you for for allowing us to take some time away again.
I know seems like we're gone a lot right now, but we're really gearing up to work so hard
with three services.
We really are with everything that we're doing in our offices are closed.
Our offices are closed.
We close and we give all of our staff the week off.
And they just have to make sure that this stuff gets done to be prepared for following
week.
But we always do this because and we give time off at Christmas because we we want to
be generous to our staff and we want we're grateful for our staff and we want to give
them time off other than the time off they want to take off.
We're very generous people because we're grateful people and we're grateful for them in order
to be a blessing.
Exactly.
Thank you for saying yes and that we're going to be able to go get away by ourselves.
I'm so happy.
The only weird part about it is that we're flying out on Sunday morning.
I know that is bizarre.
Oh, it is.
So this week I didn't prepare a sermon.
I did get to prepare a little bit just to talk about then at the funeral service.
That's totally that's different.
So it was really weird not doing my typical and we had had someone scheduled and they
got sick just today.
So Pastor Russ, our worship leader is awesome.
Guess who's preaching?
I didn't say it like that.
How did you say it?
I said so I said we're need somebody to pinch hit somebody's have to step up and he he looked
at me said I'll do what needs to be done.
And he said, OK, then it's you.
You're the man.
He's never preached at our church.
Not our church.
He's done some things where he speaks here and there and he's always does a great.
He's comfortable.
Never preached a sermon.
Comfortable with a mic.
He will do fantastic.
I'm nervous for him because I know excited for it.
Well, I am too, but I know how nerve wracking it is because there was a time.
Do you remember when we were living in Abilene and we had Wednesday night services?
Oh, yeah, I do.
I do.
And we were about to leave.
We had about 30 minutes before we were about to walk out the door to drive to the church.
We had about a 20 minute drive.
And you said, Oh, yeah, I'm sick.
And I was like, what?
You said here, you have to preach my message.
I'm like, I got so sick.
Yes.
And I was like, wait a minute.
No, no, no, I'm not preaching the series.
The series you were always fasting, which was the thing that I have the hardest time
with.
And I said, I cannot preach this.
This is not my heart.
And you said you have to.
You have to go preach this.
And I remember reading over the notes and I remember driving going, I cannot believe
I'm going to do this.
And I remember praying and saying, Lord, I can't do this.
And I don't want to preach what you have written, which you only had scriptures and a few bullet
points.
I said, Lord, you got to make it mine.
I can't do it.
And I remember I'll never, ever forget getting up to teach.
And I don't even remember what I said.
I just remember people came up to me.
It was elders even said that was one of the best messages I've ever heard.
I can't believe that you could preach.
And I said, well, it wasn't me.
It was all God because I was put on the spot at the last minute and by my husband.
And so I think that's what's going to happen.
I think Russ is going to hit it out of the park.
I have no concerns.
Because when it's in your own strength, it's not that great.
But when God anoints you.
He's such a brilliant guy and he is deep, deep in his walk with Jesus.
So I have no worries.
I'm excited to hear it.
It'll be fun.
We won't be able to hear it until it's over.
We'll be in real time, but we'll get to hear it later.
So we fly to Pagosia tomorrow.
And do we fly to Durango?
Durango.
So we landed in Durango.
It's a little over an hour, I think, and supposed to be snowing and icy, rainy.
Not icy, but rainy.
No.
Yeah.
No ice.
Looking forward to that.
And we're packing light because there's washing machines in the cabin.
I'm so excited about that.
So we get to kind of pack light, not feel like we're dragging around.
You know, we're moving.
So yeah, I'm just excited about getting this week with you.
That means so much to me.
The church needs to know how much we adore each other and how much we love spending every
moment of our life together because that's the strength we have as a couple.
No doubt.
Yes.
And pastors of the church is we enjoy spending time together.
That's why we love working together.
We do everything.
We work together.
We diet together.
I mean, we were doing the carnivore lifestyle journey together.
By the way, speaking of that, just one quick note.
I told Adam Lacey of Carnivore Today, he has a YouTube channel and I did an interview with
him.
I think we met and mentioned it last week.
Yeah.
That thing went over 10,000 views.
Views.
So I mean, it blew up his channel and God just was all over that interview.
And so you should check it out.
If you hadn't listened to it or watched it, you can go.
Just look up Carnivore Today.
That's his channel.
And you'll see me and Annette on the cover and it says Carnivore and Faith.
That's what it's about.
And we just spent an hour, he and I, on video talking, doing a little split screen thing.
You were excellent.
Oh, well, thank you.
And I love, I think the reason why he's getting so many views is because faith.
We're mixing carnivore with faith and that people are hungry for God.
Yes.
It's not just hungry for me.
They're hungry for God.
Amen.
And that's the whole reason why you wanted to do that show with him.
It is.
And that's the only reason why I decided it's time to start a YouTube channel.
So we did that as well.
I've only got one introductory video on there.
Very short.
It's short.
It's just 10 minutes long, but it's called Meet, Pray, Love.
Check it out.
And it's just a short introductory to our lifestyle.
What we're doing, we're doing mind, body, and spirits, total life wellness.
So we're going to talk about our carnivore way of eating, but we're also going to bring
faith into that.
Yeah, it's a biblical worldview.
And so yeah, it's been a wild week with all that because that's just sort of created a
new avenue for us to share life and share hope.
And we have how many new subscribers that listened to you on that interview and now
they're listening to the show.
Yeah, I think I put in 25 new subscribers to Living Up and Down World just because of
that.
So now they're listening to us here, which is great.
It's exciting.
So we're ordering gear and equipment and we are building out a studio and a church in
my office.
Yes.
And turning that into a studio where we're going to be able to really have a nice setup
and a good, nice presentation.
And the sound will be better than what you're hearing right now.
And then when we're going to do video, so the lighting will be better.
It's just going to be better all the way around.
I'll no longer have to put a big blanket over my glass doors here just to...
Because of the sound.
...down reflection.
I can't wait.
And then we'll be ready in probably 30 days.
Yeah.
Oh yeah, easily.
Easily.
At least when we make the turn...
We may not leave the church.
We just need to put a shower in there.
We got a lot going.
And we're going to do a lot of church videos there also in the studio with our team.
We've got some plans.
We have plans.
We have visions.
And so super excited about what God's up to.
And we're just thankful.
So one little challenge.
This isn't a challenge.
It's just I want to ask you to do something.
When was the last time you took maybe a journal or just on your computer on a document and
just listed out, made a gratitude list?
Oh, I love that.
I would encourage you.
This is Saturday night.
We have a few days up until Thanksgiving.
But I'm going to invite you to just in a loving challenge.
It's more of an invitation.
For every day from now, this is Saturday until Thursday, make a gratitude list.
Just make a document or your journal.
Just put Monday or tomorrow Sunday.
Just put Sunday, I am grateful for dot, dot, dot.
And then just do bullet points.
And nothing is too simple.
In fact, sometimes the simple things are what?
That's the spice of life, right?
You know, it's funny that you're saying this because when I was a school teacher back in
the 90s, mid 90s, every day I had our kids, they were junior high kids, write a journal.
And they every day they had to write the one thing they were thankful for from the day
before.
I for the whole school year, we did that because I wanted them to start their day off with
Thanksgiving and it was powerful.
I'll never forget it.
It's powerful.
But also I would like our listeners to if you've never had a Thanksgiving where you
truly sat around the table with your family and friends and talked about what you're thankful
for, you just kind of maybe you just are like a lot of people and we just can't wait to
eat the turkey.
And so we just say a real quick prayer and you know, make this Thanksgiving more meaningful.
As if this was the last day on your earth.
So I'm going to do something.
I'm challenging myself to do this.
When we get to the go, so every waiter or waitress that waits us on us, I'm going to
say happy Thanksgiving.
And by the way, what are you thankful for today?
There you go.
Just a simple boy that provides that provides lift for people.
They get a chance to say, and then they're probably gonna look at you like, what?
You know, it's Thanksgiving week.
So, so keep me accountable on that.
Let's do that together.
Let's tag team and just, this is like some candles.
Let's just turn on some lights.
I want I'm hoping for our listeners that this will be a Thanksgiving that they will always
remember.
Yeah, maybe better than they've ever had because I feel like I said, such gratitude and I just,
I want to live that life daily, moment by moment, always thankful even when things aren't
going well.
It's amazing.
The lift that can happen to your spirit when you bring God into everything.
Beautiful.
Let me just, I'm applauding for you.
So let's thank some people.
Okay.
So I'm going to start with this.
I'm just kind of, I've just jotted these things down with some beautiful things come in this
week.
So from a Sats perspective, this is poem 435.
So I didn't put a name or anything.
So that's all it is.
It says, sent to my brother, sent the podcast last week to my brother who is frustrated
with his ministry with a homeless and disappointed with people he's recently worked with.
I've been here before too, he says, and the message you shared in this episode really
resonated with me.
Thank you and God bless you.
Well thank you for saying thanks poem 435.
We appreciate it.
Sorry, that was a bump.
I know I bumped my hand.
He bumped the microphone.
So he, that was with 3,333 Sats, which is part of value for value.
And you're on podcast 2.0 platform like fountain or castamatic.
You can actually boost a grandmas and that's what some of these are.
Adam, the pod father, Curry.
Wow.
I wonder how much you gave.
777 Sats.
Wow.
That's called a striper boost right there.
He wrote this another dynamite episode.
Y'all were on fire.
We were a little bit energized.
I had so much energy.
I had to tell someone, you might not want to listen to last week because I love the
energy.
I feel like I was on speed or something.
We were really excited about our topic.
I wouldn't know what that was.
Well, I wouldn't either.
I'm just like, wow, I was a little embarrassed.
When I heard it, I'm like, oh my gosh.
Honey, that's the joy.
We're on, it's because we're alive.
We're a lot more comfortable.
We're super comfortable here now.
So and then another 7777 Sats from the Balderdash boys.
What a good word.
I love that Jesus never quits on me.
Even though there have been times I don't consider him.
I was quote on fire early too and grew quickly, then grew weary and then stopped attending
church and he had kept on me to keep pursuing him as he continues to pursue me.
I am thankful for the patience and grace of God.
Blessings to you both, Sir West.
That's beautiful.
Sir West, thank you for saying thanks.
We want to just say you're a blessing.
We've all been there.
Oh brother, brother, brother.
Sir West, we have been there.
Just Damonette and Pastor Jimmy have been there, done that.
We got the t-shirt to prove it.
So man, blessings to you.
Thanks for being honest and opening with us.
We got from David Wicker.
Man, I love David Wicker.
Sir, what's it?
Sir, any a sir?
He is.
Oh my gosh, you can't remember.
All right, David.
We met so many people today.
Oh my gosh, David, you're going to have to write.
How many people did we meet at?
It's not sir.
Oh, that's Brian.
It's oh my gosh.
You're getting it mixed up.
Yep.
I can't remember.
David Wicker, thank you for the PayPal donation.
You are a blessing, my friend.
Yes, thank you.
And thank you for the emails.
Man, he sends these encouragements from Charles Stanley.
These little clips, little 30 second clips, really powerful.
So thank you, David.
You're a blessing.
And then also Nancy Johnson also.
Oh, today.
Yeah, she blessed us and she said, not sure what to say.
So thank you.
That's enough.
Thank you is the best thing you can say.
She says, I am an avid listener and believe in value for value.
Well, we do too, Nancy.
So thank you for extending value to us.
Just those of you that are listening, listen, go to our websites, livingupandadownworld.com
and hit the subscribe button.
Go ahead and subscribe and we'll put you on the list.
We usually we just send out one email a week and all it is is a general reminder of what's
coming up next and when the next podcast is so that you won't forget and you can just
mark a calendar.
So check it out.
We do little updates and always try to throw pictures in there.
So about our life and what we're up to.
So anyway, hit the subscribe button and you can always do a review.
In fact, I've got a review here.
This is a review from quote a fan.
So we have a fan.
We have a fan.
Oh my gosh.
What is that like?
Like a celebrity or something.
Right?
No, that's funny.
I know.
But we have a fan and here's what they wrote.
It says the real deal.
Yes.
Isn't that sweet?
Already I'm happy.
If you are wondering whether pastors Jimmy and Annette are for real, they are.
Some folks have an on air personality, but what you hear is what you would hear if you
sat down with them for a big 16 ounce sirloin medium rare of course.
It's got to be someone we know, but they won't tell us.
I think that's awesome.
And it says, can you trust them?
Yes, you can.
It's all about Jesus.
Thank you so much.
Whoever did that?
I wish they would let us know.
I know it's going to be a secret.
We almost cried when we read that.
I know.
When I read that I was blown away.
And they knew that I love sirloins.
And 16 ounce whole pound medium rare.
Oh my gosh.
New York strip.
Okay, stop.
Okay, I'm getting hungry.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you for doing that.
And thank you for doing a review because that goes right on our website.
It's such a blessing.
And then our dear friend from our church, George Kirchner.
What a great brother in Christ.
I love this guy.
You know what?
The whole time I was doing this podcast, he was in my head.
Really?
Yes.
George, did you hear that?
I know.
George.
Miss Annette's thinking about you.
He's an older gentleman, wise gentleman.
Sharp, yes.
And I just appreciate that he wants to listen to us.
I know.
Us kids.
Yeah.
It's just, yeah, that makes me happy.
He's a blessing.
So.
He wrote this.
He says, Hi Jimmy and Annette, just finished listening to number 44 and pairing with number
43 where you bared your inner selves.
We do that, don't we?
We do.
Show up and throw up.
I know you don't always say that, but it's true.
No, I don't want to say that.
Bared your inner selves and shared your heartaches with us.
I just wanted to let you know that from my perspective, you did a masterful job of showing
us how important it is to know the why and the who we believe in.
We cannot overcome what the world throws our way on our own, but through Christ who strengthens
us, thank you.
Preach it.
George, you're on fire, brother.
That was good.
That's beautiful.
You were reminding us of last week's show where we talked about the why and getting
your why clarified.
That has come up all week long.
I have a feeling this is going to become a central theme.
A lot of arenas because you got to know your why and everything in life.
Everything you're doing.
You know, your why behind your what?
What is your what?
Your what may be your faith, your what may be your health, your what may be your mental
health or relationships.
You can go on down the list, your job and career.
You need to know the why behind.
The why is behind your what.
So with that, hey, let's go to bed.
It's bedtime for us old people.
Oh my gosh.
No, that's wrong.
I never turn that clock back.
It is actually 9, 11 p.m.
Okay.
It is past our bedtime.
We have to get up early.
Early what?
430, 445.
Get ready to get out on the flight.
So hey guys, we love you guys.
We are thrilled that we get to do this life with you.
And I'm Jimmy and you are Annette.
And Mr. Chevy will be with us the next time.
Only.
Well, probably the next couple of weeks and then we are not going to bring him to the
church.
We are not going to bring him.
Oh, that's right.
We are just posting pictures or something.
Yes.
Alright, love you guys.
Hey, have a grateful week.
Hey, do that gratitude journal and ask every waiter and waitress, hey, what do you thankful
for?
God bless you.
I wish you the best of luck.