Duck Call Room - 'Duck Dynasty' Cast Member Found Out His REAL Birthday at Age 16

Episode Date: December 28, 2023

Uncle Si fans love hearing about the life of Bryan Rucker, a former Duck Commander employee whose life has had some wild ups and downs. Rucker is back to give more insight into his rollercoaster life, from growing up and selling drugs in the roughest neighborhood in Houston, to working at Duck Commander and getting into silly shenanigans, to becoming a faith-based counselor to other people with difficult pasts. Go back and check out the other Rucker episode at: https://youtu.be/oYQRGD76cFs. - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The people won't Rucker and they want Bella. Two totally different. Hey. Is that what's happened? Too totally. Well, you know, we plan to cover all the bases. But anyway, welcome back. Before we get started, what are you doing?

I don't know. The whole TV's doing it. Oh, that's just your volume. You're connected to the TV, man. All right. Well, look, hey, New Year, New Us. We all of a sudden don't know how to work this stuff. But happy New Year, everybody.

New Year. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. It's a new year. You didn't realize it was new year? Oh, yeah. We in 2024, Big Dog. Come on.

The Big Two, for sure we are. And to kick off the new year, we are bringing back. By popular demand. I would say to this point, our most popular guest, like, as far as the comments go. Phil Robertson. No, Brian Rucker. No.

Rucker's back, baby. There's Phil and then there's Rucker. Amen. We're, you know. We're going to make a new stick. that says Rucker podcast host 2024. I am second. We're getting off the homeowner.

We're getting off. Oh, that doesn't move you up, dog. Uh-oh. Yeah. Yeah. Fields. No. We'll get him out of there.

It's record number one. That's right. Hey, let's go. Let's take what I'm talking about. Hey, this is the real deal, boy. That's what we got here. It's the real deal, Holyfield. I will say on the last one, it's been a long time since I, when you were here,

that I've seen sighs so quiet just listening to somebody tell a story. Well, I think he's enamored with your storytelling ability as well, right? Good storytellers just appreciate each other's work. They appreciate the craft. Yeah, no. Well, look, no. His story, okay, is, you know, I don't even have the words to describe it. Incredible.

Oh, yeah. Let's say that. Yeah, I don't have the word to describe it. Yeah. Somebody that's gone through what he's gone through, okay, and turned out like he's turned out. Yeah. Is, you know, awesome comes to mind, but no, that ain't even good enough. Well, I don't know.

It's spectacular. It really is. Well, that's why I want, you know, just talking to you. Yeah. I would say, you, I would, you know, someone would ask me, I would have said, yeah, all that guy's got a PhD. Well, he does. Behind his name. Okay.

He does. His records just are a little. Well, no, no, no. He's got a bunch of pieces of paper. Yeah. There is a lot of paper. He's definitely got a trail. There's a pot.

There's a, there is a paper trail for sure. And look, here's the thing. I'm done. There was a point when I thought that I had somehow magically avoided the paper trail. Yeah. Like, I thought, I thought, okay, I fell through the cracks. There's no way. Right, I got away with it.

Right, well, so here's another... Because you moved three hours west. No, east. No, you want to know really what it is? It's the birthday thing. Oh, my goodness. This is fantastic. The birthday thing.

The birthday thing. You don't know about his birthday? No, I fixed it. That's going to know about. He didn't know about his birthday until about 25. Wait, for real? No, so I, on paper, depending on how you look up, Brian Rucker, have two different birthdays. Grandma ruled, man.

Yeah, yeah. So my grandma, you know, we're just. We talked about my grandma a little bit. Entrepreneur, if you're in grand. It's close. Oh, yeah, yeah. Entrepreneur. We was really close.

She had to get him in school and there was only one way to do that. A lot of my identity issues started very early in life. Okay. And some of them are because I didn't know my real birthday for the majority of my life. So just to put it like this, okay, I was born and raised being told my entire life that my birthday was September 1st, right? Okay. And this is what they, this is what my mom and my grandma told me.

They celebrated it. They told me, hey, this is your birthday, everything else. I'm incarcerated 16 years old at a place called Gulf Coast. And the only way to be eligible for a release is for you to get a learner's permit, a GED, and a builders train. Well, I'm up at the DMV. They take us up there in Shackle. up to the DMV to go take the test.

And the lady at the DMV tells me, I don't know if you're going to be able to take your test. And I'm like, well, why not? And she says, well, the birth certificate that the state has says your birthday is September 1st. But in the national computer here, it says your birthday is September 13th. I said, well, somebody made a typo.

I know my birthday. My birthday is September 1st. Wow. You've been living. in the future you're all along. Well, so I said my birthday, my birthday September 1st, she goes, well, if you want to be eligible for release, if you want to take this test, we're going to have to put it as the 13th. I said, whatever, okay, I was upset about it.

My grandma comes to visit me a week later, and we're sitting down and we're talking. And I say, man, can you believe that they put my birthday as September 13th whenever I went to the DMV? And she just starts laughing and says, well, that is your real. birthday. Grandma is savage. No, no. And I said, what?

And she's like, well, that is your real birthday. And I said, what do you mean? She goes, well, September 1st is the cutoff for school. So we would have had to wait an entire year for you to go to school. Oh, free child care. And she goes, and you were just so smart. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, miss me with that. She's like, you're just so smart that we wanted, we didn't want you to have to.

I had to wait to 13. 12 more days. Right, right. We didn't want you to have to wait until next year to start school. So we just put some white out on your birth certificate, recopied it and recopied it until it look legit. Just whited out that three boys. Right.

And then she goes, I said, well, why didn't you ever tell me? She said, well, because you've always had a big mouth. You just go up there and tell everybody. Loose lips, sink, shit. The real reason is you'd been wanting two birthday parties every year. And so I go, I'm like, so. So obviously my whole, my whole world is shaking at this point. I'm like, what else is a lie?

Is my last name, Rucker? So before, but when we got done with visitation, they used to have to take us into this room and search you before you go back out into, you know, the commute. And I remember I got in that room and I cried. I was like, man, what is real and what isn't real? You know what I mean? It was just as. Do I even exist?

Right. So for 16 years. of my life. I thought my birthday was September 1st. Come to find out. No. September 13th. I have a lot of questions. Which one do you celebrate now? I start on the first

and I end on the 13th. Hey, there you go. He covers all the bases. Hey, when you've been through what you've been through. Absolutely. You got to think about that. That's smart. That is smart. Hey, hey, hey, just say, you said, you said I started the first, hey, and then you said me later, I thought I was actually really

the 13th. So, hey, what I'll do? That's hilarious. Well, the truth was that story? You didn't know that day? Oh, that's a great one. I mean, I've heard y'all talk about his birthday issues. I had no idea there was a 12-day discrepancy all because they wanted to see him to school. Yeah.

What he said? I'm so smart. Miss me on that. Yeah. Miss me on that one, grandma. Look, look, so I, uh, and then for years, for years after finding out, I just always held true to the September 1st. So I used it as almost like. this alias, right? Like, well, you, I'm off the grid because you don't know the real

birthday. You just know September 1st. Literally, up until, this is no joke, up until about, this is, uh, no, uh, this is January, January, this is January 2020. Yeah. Right. Up until, up until September, 2023, it was September 1st on my Facebook. What about on your driver's license? Well, you didn't have one for a minute. Didn't have one for a while. We discussed that. But when you got one. When I got one at September, which made me think I fell through the cracks, right? Like, oh, man, I'll get.

What about your Texas driver's license? That always said 13th, huh? September? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I thought that I felt, like, I thought that, like, man, you know. I want two birthdays.

Yeah. But turns out I didn't fall through the cracks and I still owed Texas about 11 grand. Yeah. So. I remember. No. I remember that. That's becoming clear.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's cool. kind of. My papal had two birthdays, but it was just because his mom said one thing in the hospital said a difference. So he's like, but they were back to back days.

Yeah, I think if I was going to have two birthdays, I'd want them like six months apart. Yeah, it was also 1925, not 1989. Yeah, there's a lot stuff going on back then. Well, and it wasn't just based on a downright lie. You know what I'm saying? It wasn't any type of like, like this just blatant dishonesty, okay? There was no other way to shake it. Grandma, honey, right?

So you were the young kid in all the grades. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was the young kid. Well, yeah, because he wasn't even allowed to go without a little white out in the copy machine. I was late August birthday, so I was always the youngest kid in the class. Like all the milestones, everybody else's reaching, I'm over here still like 15. Like, what's up? Yeah.

Go freshman in college. Still can't go to a bar. still waiting on being in college for about three weeks for I can get in somewhere legally. Remind me, where did you go to college? ULM. ULM. Yeah, go Warhawks, baby. Cah!

Talons out. Yeah. It was strictly a financial decision. Amen. It was a great one. That's a good one, yeah, solid. Cheapest school around, do it. Rucker just, man, when I thought you couldn't get any more interesting, my man has got two

birthdays. I had some more things to discuss that we need to discuss that I don't, he, He disagrees with all of us because his grandma told him something. Oh, okay. You know what it is, don't you? Oh, is it? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, let's take a break.

We'll be back right after this. All right, look, springtime is here. It's warming up. You know what that means? That means more outside cooking. And y'all know, we love to eat beef around here. And that's what because of our friends over at Triedales beef makes such a good product, baby. Ain't it good?

It's so good. Our friend, Cy Robertson, would say, Buy on the grill. Look, before we got Tritels, getting ready for a cookout, man, somebody had to run the grocery store, do all the things, grab whatever was left in case you were late in the day. And you never really know where that beef comes from. But with Tritels beef, we skip the grocery store and do it a different way.

Tritails comes from a family ranch out in Texas. They're a fifth generation American ranch. So they've been at it for a while. Now, look, the beef comes straight from their ranch and other ranchers they work with who raise cattle the same way. their steaks are properly aged and shipped straight from the ranch to your door. We threw a couple of ribbys on the grill. Look, salt, pepper, garlic, hot fire, that's all you need.

Look, because I tell you what, when the beef comes from people who raise cattle for a living, you can taste the difference. The tenderness and the flavor are fantastic. So if you're stocking the freezer for grilling season, go check out Tritale's beef. I know in size case Christine loves it, which is just a, she doesn't eat meat. She isn't a big meat, folks. Yeah. Just go to trybeef.com slash.

That's trybeef.com slash support ranch families and eat some dang good steak. So, Rucker. There you go. I just, um, there's a thing about you that everybody, you know, it's 20, 23. I think we can get past this. What ethnicity are you, Rucker? Because you said you're from South Texas, kind of dark or complexed. Yeah.

Got a little gangster training day about you. Does your environment determine your ethnicity? No, but I'm just... I'm about to put together a sermon based on that statement. All right. But I'm just wondering what... Technically, you're Texan. He's Scottish, English, mutt.

Yeah. I'm a mutt. Technically, I'm just American. Yeah. But that's right. I'm a world-class mutt. So what are you, Rucker? So, according to my grandmother...

We already know there's trust issues with this point. According to my grandmother, Mammal, Oh, Joyce. I was, I'm French and Native American. Do you believe that? Yeah, yeah. You're very French looking. Well, so here's the thing.

I'm 99.999% sure that I'm not Hispanic. There you go. My Rucker's a very American name. Is that your mom's last name or your death name? Yeah. Yeah. So we offered in this office to 23 and me, But he turned it down.

I'll never do it. Don't do that. I'll never do. Do you know the past my man's hand? Yeah. Have you heard all these stories? Yeah, but I'm just interested. I just don't know.

Some stuff is best left just back there. Well, and here's the truth, right? Here's the God's honest truth. Growing up where I grew up, that was always a huge insecurity for me. Like, I remember whenever I was real little, like to try to fit in with everybody in my neighborhood who was African American. I would tell people, yeah, my mom's white and my dad's black and Mexican just to try to fit in. Really?

Yeah. And then I'm just over here asking you if you're Mexican for 10 years and just bringing up old. Yeah, trauma, basically. That's what you do. I'm sorry. I don't know if you're aware. We're just going to solve it right here with the world to hear. I got a question for you because my great great grandmama was full Cherokee.

Mm-hmm. Native American. Okay. But hey, but like you said, what tribe? I have no idea. No idea? No idea. So like I said, my mom and my grandmother are originally from here.

So my grandma's roots go back to a lot of French, Indian, you know, they're Louisiana natives. Oh, no. Like born and raised. So that's kind of what I always went with. You know what I mean? And, you know. But like I said, growing up, you know, being in that environment, whenever I was, young, I'd lie about it. I'd just be like, you know, because I was trying to fit in. I didn't

want to have to fight as much. So I thought if like maybe. Yeah. And, you know, eventually just in my journey, I got to a point to where like it wasn't a big deal to me. Like, ultimately, I know who I am and, you know, who my dad was or what country he was from or anything else doesn't really matter to me. Yeah. And so I just kind of got to a point to where like, man, I'm good with it. And that's why the 23 and me thing always was like, which it's funny. You know what I mean? I don't want anybody hearing this to think like, oh man, dude, look. Like who cares? You know what I'm saying? Like, really. Like, I don't care what anybody's ethnicity is. I don't even care what my own is. You know what I mean? Amen. So, so, you know, but that's why whenever it always got brought up,

I was just like, man, I'm good. Yeah. Right? Because, and if I'm just being totally honest here, entire time I was locked up, I had to fight certain ethnic groups. And I would hate to see something that made me think differently about that. There you go. If the world took your view of that, would be way better off. I agree, man. It's the human race for crying out loud. Yeah, absolutely. I just think it kind of catches you off guard if you've been around a man. And he said, well, what exactly are? And he goes French Indian. I remember that day well, and I was like, not where I'd have started. Not?

I mean, just using context clues and knowing his past and his history. I was like, yep, not where I'd have started. But, you know, but grandmama's grandmama, man. Yeah, well, so from here, so you really just a lot of redneck. Well, that's what I, well, so French and Indian, though, is actually like, you, you know, can we say a cunass on this thing? You just did. I don't know what I did, but that is.

with it. Yeah. I mean, just short of the white rubber boots. Right. That's what I'm saying. Cajun Reebok. Like, Cajun people. I mean, any of you. Oh, we're, we might as well be from Missouri to those. Oh, yeah. We're just, we're, we're from Arkansas. Like, they, they don't even consider us Louisiana. And you know what? I've been down there. We're not. We're not them. No, no. Well, Louisiana's got like five states in and of itself. Yeah. Well, and here's the thing, a lot of the people that I work with in recovery and a lot of the people in our. Sober living homes, a lot of people at CR. Here in West Monroe, Monroe, Louisiana, we have this huge recovery community. So people from all over the state of Louisiana specifically come here to get sober. Yeah.

And so. That's because there's nothing to do. Well, yeah, there's not much to do. But we're blessed. We really have this bubble, man. Our community is geared towards helping people in recovery. Yeah. You know, like most employers in this area.

have employed somebody that lives in a sober living home. So it's almost the new normal. And so saying all that, like, I meet a lot of guys. 80% of our sober living home right now has got southern Louisiana people in it. Oh, yeah. And yeah, it's vastly different. But whenever I meet a lot of those guys, like, from South Louisiana, like, we resemble each other. Oh, yeah.

You South, maybe you are just South Louisiana. You are just the deep south. Yeah, that spot, he's kind of like that spot in between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. There's a lot of folks. And huge. That area down to like, what's that other deal down there? Homa. Homa.

All that area. Ponchitula. Yeah. Ponchitula. Yeah. I could go with that. But yeah, it just, it was just. But the key to the whole thing, though, is there's one thing that he is, and that's just Brian Rucker.

Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. You'll never meet another one. I'm with you. big dogs. Stay away from that 23 of me. Yeah. I'm not, and here's the deal with the 23 of me is

like, A, how'd you get all that information, right? How do you know all of that stuff? And we know my man already thought he slipped through the cracks. What he ain't about to do is put his DNA out there. It's bad enough they found the right birth certificate. Right. Yeah. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. That would be

an interesting thing to do. Yeah. What? I'll check his DNA No, I wouldn't Yeah, it wouldn't No, that's not interesting That's traumatic Si's gonna pay for it

It'd be hilarious If I was gonna pay for it It'd be hilarious If I walk up behind you and you have a handful of hair Don't run Don't let him get to root Man Don't let him get to root of your hair

I would not advise that I'm just saying like I got people running up behind me It's very triggering It's very triggering Oh man, I love this. What are you talking about? Rucker, you're in a lot.

I miss you here. I never realized how much I missed you here every day until I've had you here like three, really almost like four times in a kind of a short period of time because you've just been stopping by. I'm glad I got to meet the man. Okay, I really haven't been introduced

but I really hadn't spent time with him or learned about who he really is. Oh, you ought to see what... It's been a hope. You ought to see what that man could do the chicken quarters on Friday, buddy. Man, we used to smash. Oh, yeah.

That was good times there, man. It was... Well, y'all remember the lunch crew? That's, yeah. I mean, just like the everyday... We had a crew. We had a lunch crew with a pinini press, some sandwich meat.

And look, we'd go over there, we'd press up some sandwiches, grove, and then we'd go play disc golf. Disc golf. Yes, Mario, Card. Mario Kart. The Golden Tea game. Throwing some bags, cornhole.

We were working for one of the most popular brands in America, and we were all pitching in $5 for lunch and playing disc golf into a tire swing. But what's amazing is when like 12 guys go together at $5 a week. $5 a week for lunch is what we did. And we had money left over to buy premium lunches on Friday. Did we still do that now with inflation? Really? No, that's not.

Wrong podcast. I think we'd have to go up to eight bucks. Yeah, we'd have to be. Probably. Price goes up. Yeah, but we did. I mean, it's amazing what you can do as a group of people. Like, you can eat sandwich meat.

But we just got so tired of eating out. Like, but it saved everybody money. Literally, that's halfway where this podcast came from. Because we all just sat around and talked. And every once in a while, Corey or Willie would walk past and see what weirdness was happening. Yeah. And they're like, what if we throw a sign to that mix?

Yeah. And here we are. Here we are. Here we are. This is what you got. But let's take it. Hey, you're going to take another break. You can opine all you want to right after this.

How old are you? I was going, Fred Gend. 34. 34. You were born like five months after me, right? September 1st or 13th. And or. Have you always been this down to earth honesty?

Yeah, I think so. I mean, you know, kind of like what we was talking about last time. I mean, I just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just telling you. You were a drug dealer. You were a liar. Yeah, come on. I mean, business is one thing. I mean, I thought we were talking about personal.

You're talking, you're talking apples and it's oranges here now, buddy. When you said, get on the business side. No, but what made me. You don't have to be honest in business. No, but honestly, this is the truth. What made me really, like, I hate to use the word successful at it, but what made me good at it was, man, I was just cool with everybody. You know, I was from the projects. So I was down with everybody there, cool with them. I got cool with the essays, we made sure I got good prices.

Okay. And then... Hold on. Hold on. You're blowing Hunter's mind. Time out. Yeah. Just for all of us that grew up on the street, Willie lives on. Now, um, essay? What is that? It's a person of Hispanic descent. Yeah, I would, I think today's term for it would potentially be like cartel. Oh, I thought it was like a special agent. Yeah, I've been going with today's Fox News terms. Yeah, probably cartel is probably the one you would most recognize. I was like special advisor. You were like S-A?

Yeah, man. Yeah, he was like S.a. Could you act a little bit less private school when we're in here? Hey, just so we're clear, your kid goes where I went. That's fine. He's on scholarship. I want him to be way more like you when he grows up in. No, no, no, you want his, you want his 16 to 22 to be more like mine than yours.

Yeah, yeah. But now, I want him to be way more like you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's fair. 16 to 22, though, definitely want to keep it OCS official. You know what I mean? No, but so, but I was cool. I was able to be cool with everybody.

And so, like, you know, I live in the projects. I'm cool with everybody there. I got to connect with the Hispanic people, and then I would sell to people up in the suburbs, and I'd party, hang out with them. That's why I knew so much, like, alternative rock music. It's because, like, I would hang out with those people and, like, get high and sell drugs. He's not a alternative rock. He's over listening to Collective Soul.

Come on and shine. I know, hey, I know way more Matchbox 20 than anybody else in my neighborhood. My man. Man, that is going to be probably the most underrated comment on this podcast ever. In the history. Pull up a Rob Thomas song. Pull up a Rob Thomas song. Right.

Look, what? Praise God. Martin, what is the lizard that when he... A million. A million. Yeah, he's a commillion. In other words, this man is a comedian. Yeah, he's a master of camouflage.

He's a master just wherever he's at, he fits in. But I mean, for real, do you know anybody in our community? I've never met anybody that had a bad word to say about the guy. So like, I mean, Grant did, but Grant was your mentor and you were infuriating him. Yeah, well. And that's fair enough. Like, that's a different, that's a completely different relationship. Grant was the head coach and we all just got to be cheerily.

No, no, Grant was his teacher. Oh, absolutely. No, 100%. But that's what I'm saying. But out of everybody around and you've never heard one person say a bad word, which means, you know, at the root of it, he's a good guy. he was doing what he had to do to make a living. Well, and we were just talking,

this is hilarious. This is actually super funny to me. We were talking just the other day about you, you're newly married and we both spent some time this Thanksgiving with our in-laws and their food. And, whoa, whoa, whoa. They ain't listening. Uh-oh.

I think they might. Oh, no, no, no. It was great. It was great. His in-laws aren't as close to this as ours are. None of ours pay attention because they know we run our mouth anyways. Yeah, well, no, so I'll say this. It was, it's not.

He said, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, he's learned that lesson in marriage quick. Whoa. I'll say this. Growing up with a diverse culture of Thanksgiving food, I'll say that it was a little bit different. What did y'all eat? We ate the normal stuff, but.

No, no, because the past nine, how long have you? Yeah, so the past nine. nine to almost 10 years. I'm with like, y'all. I mean, I'm over at Willys. I mean,

that's who I'm eating Thanksgiving with. So like, that's what I was saying. Like, you grew up in the projects, but then for the last decade, he's hitting the gate code to go to a different, one year I'm pretty sure you ended up at Big Dave's house eating Christmas.

Then next thing I know, I see a picture of you at Willie's house for Thanksgiving. Oh, yeah. Then he was at Randy and Joe. Yeah. Slap at the Kirby. I used to,

I used to call it the turkey toilet. I take the turkey tour, boys. I'm starting at somebody's house and I'm ending at somebody else's. You eat for a week, son. You need for a week off of leftovers. You just forgot what I just said he was. Camillion.

He fits in anywhere, boy. He just sliding around. He's done a. I love it. I just, I call it by turkeys to work. So since you, you know, I know most of the people that you did the turkey tour with aren't going to listen.

Who was the best cooks out of your turkey tour? What was the one that you were like, I got to hit that one? All right. I'm going to say there it's, it's, I'm going to keep out anybody in particular. Yeah.

Right? But I'll say this, right? It's a toss-up between Big Dave surfing turf. Yeah. Big Dave does surfing turf on Christmas morning. Yeah. I didn't get this big by accident. No.

Okay. It's a toss-up between. between David Owen, Surf and Turf and Memo Lou Kirby. Okay. Caramel pie. There you go. There you go. Hey, too.

Hey, so I just, apparently this past Thanksgiving, ate about a half of some kind of caramel banana pudding things. Banana caramel pie is a great. Oh, banana caramel pie. That's what it is. My sister does that too. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

She ain't got as much experience as Memo Lou. Memo Lou. Miss Kirby, she's, she's been doing it a long time. She made some pie. It's on A. And that's just somebody. Whenever I think of Mary Lou Kirby, I think of just hanging out with Brian Rucker. There's 15 people that listen to this that know Mary Lou that are cracking up.

Yeah. They are close to the same height. Yeah. She's about 90 years old, sweetest old lady. I'm a little bit taller. No, she is the sweetest, you know. But, man, that whole crew over there, like, whether you're doing it at Randy and Joe Neal's, you're doing it over at Chris and Johnny's like, man, it's just, it's a good time. And it's that.

Rucker was part of it. Oh, man. I'm in the background of so many family photos. You'd be surprised. I love it. Me and Chris, me and Chris just, like, hosted live stream at the church not too long ago. And I said, you know, it's getting around that time of year where you see me randomly pop up at your house. She was like, because the food shows up.

Oh, yeah. Well, she was like, well, you think it'll happen less now that you're married? I said, probably. Probably. And that breaks my heart, honestly. So how was your first set of holidays with your in-laws? Good? Oh, man, it was great.

It was great. You know, I got something funny. Her sister lives in Rocky Branch, so it was easy. Just head over to Rocky Branch, eat, get back home in time to watch that late game and take a nap. Hey, there you go. We do need to talk about Rucker having in-laws, because that's kind of a wild thing to think about is Brian Rucker's showing up to marry your daughter. Yeah. Oh, wow.

I mean, think about it. How's that going? Well, they only know this me. That's true. They don't know that. They know this you, though. Oh, there it is. That is from a fishing trip with my father-in-law.

He showed up to the story. He said, Big Dave, I don't want to look dumb. What do I need to do? That way they think I know about fishing. And so we set him up. No, I left that. No, I kept that on button on purpose. So I pulled out, let me just give you the rundown here.

And I'm going to do a little honeyhole program. Oh, no, don't do that. No, okay, sure. Is that you, time out before we're getting any further? Is that your father-in-law's boat? Yes, it is. He's loaded. Oh, no, her dad is like legit fishermen.

I mean, y'all would get along with him. Well, he's got a ranger Z-series with power poles. That man got some cash. I don't know. I mean, he's humble. For those of you driving down the road, listening, Martin can see approximately one chair of three inches of the power pole. Yeah.

And I see where you got the Z logo from. But Martin knows boats. Yeah. Yeah. No, he's a legit fisherman. I mean, this is what, I mean, this is what he does. But this day, we're at Toledo Bin. And, you know, her family goes out there, you know, once a year for a trip.

And so basically, you know, we're going on a fishing trip. I went fishing. I was actually on one episode of Finn Commander way back with. Yeah, way way. And the whole premise of the episode was Jay Stone takes Brian Rucker fishing. But y'all called him. We caught some. Yeah.

We caught some. Yeah. But, you know, so I'm not, I'm not a fisherman. So anyways, we're going on this trip. Her dad is a fisherman. You know, he's a fisher man. He's legit. He's legit.

And so I was like, I don't want to look like an idiot. So I pull up to my trusty friends at the honey hole. And I say, guys, I'm in a bit of a pickle. And I think he can help me out. You looked apart. And you caught fish. Oh, man. Oh, man.

I caught a fish. A single. Well, you only sent me a photo, so I just assumed that was just one of men. I could have played it up, but I'm an honest guy. You know what I mean? But that's, that is the one. Not a fisherman. That's the one fish that I caught.

My father-in-law actually took that picture. But, yeah, so they equipped me with the hat, the sunglasses. I mean, everything. Still on that duck commander's shirt, I like that. That's probably mine from Shot Show. Yeah. I'm not even kidding. No, no, no, no. Sure is.

You know where I got that shirt, John Gimber. Oh, there you know. Oh, yeah. I mean, I knew it was one of ours from a shot show from years gone by. Amen. Did your, I just, before we go, you said you don't want to look like an idiot. Did your father-in-law critique you on how you're holding that fish? No, man, he knows what's up.

I think he realizes like, hey. Because next time, let's go here. Hold him out. It would have looked bigger. Not even look bigger, but like. Straight arm that thing. I'm just, were you worried about him getting away? I mean, you've got him cradled like he's a little baby.

I handle all things with care. With care. Well, you're about to knock the sides off of him. So, I mean, this is the last chance you got with him. So, I mean, I get it. Well, you know, her dad, he's like you, right? I could go out there and look the part, but he definitely knew, like. Oh, yeah, he was ducking when you were casting.

Well, so. He had a, he had that lean. You know, he taught me a lot. I actually took Big Dave's advice. He was like, man, just go out there and let him teach you since then. And I was like, cool, man, let's do that. I get to fish with a bunch of professional anglers every year that I'm fortunate enough to call friends. I don't get out there and try to do my eye watch what they do and then I try to mimic it.

And I've been fishing my whole life. So you did the right thing there. But let's take another break and we'll be back right after this. A lot of times people's defense is negativity, right? Like if it's something they don't understand, they're just going to perceive and assume that it's negative. I take it. I think they're jealous. Oh, it's 100%. A lot of that. Yeah, because some of them are probably stuck in some of the places maybe that Rucker was and can't get out of it. Well, that's what being a former police and federal correction officer, I've met thousands of Ruckers. Not many have

his story. Most end up in prison or die. Stay straight, Rucker. Yeah. Stay straight, Rucker. Yeah. I will. We're coming to get you. I'll try. Rucker doesn't have a choice because Grant will hurt him if he doesn't. Well, yeah. Well, I also, I also. I also. I also. I also. I also. I also. I'll I'm extremely grateful for the life that I have today. Yeah. I'm not risking that. And unlike a lot of people, too, you removed yourself from that environment and surrounded yourself with a bunch of accountability partners that won't let you so easily slip back

into a world. I want to comment on him from him. Yeah. My mother told me when I was a young, young person, very young person. You know, you will be known by. the people you run with. What's your comment on that? So what I tell a lot of my clients is you're the average of the five people you surround

yourself around, right? So if I'm around people that are constantly negative, constantly doing things that put them in a bad spot in life, you're only going to end up with that same mindset with those same behaviors. So if you get around people that are doing the right things that are chasing after Jesus and trying to be a good husband, a good father, a good employee, then that's what you're going to become. That's why community is so important for people. Because if you're not, if you're around nothing but negativity, it's going to become negative. You're going to have a negative viewpoint.

They've done actual studies where they put people in, you know, case studies where they've put in groups of people in a room together. And if the most emotionally dominant person was angry, then everybody else became angry. And if they were happy, then everybody else became happy. So I think that's just natural. And I think that's why God never told us to live alone. He told us to have a personal relationship with him, but to go and have community with others.

Because we're stronger together, but if we're not chasing after Jesus together, then we're probably going to end up in a bunch of things together. The other side. Yeah. No, no, because, you know, my mama told me that. And then the saying is no man's an island. Mm-hmm.

Okay, and I've always said, well, hey, look, here's the deal. Here's the best advice I can give you. It's easier to be a Christian if you hang around Christians that are chasing Jesus, like you said. Because like I had a guy that I used to work with, okay? He's the most negative person, and I literally called my brother and said, hey, I need to get away from this idiot. Mm-hmm.

And he said, well, come to work for me. Yeah. He said, you ain't going to get much money, but hey, come to work with me. He said, we won't go negative. He said, well, he's lied to you. No, no, no, no. It's turned out pretty good. Yeah, it worked out.

Yeah, it worked out. That is the story. And, hey, the reason. No, no, the reason to work out is just what he said, chasing Jesus. Oh, amen. That's why, yeah, everybody asks, I try to surround myself with people that are better than me. Like, I want to be the lowest in my group because I know that they'll pick me up. You know, I know it'll bring me to the next level.

Well, that's biblical. Okay. Jesus says, hey, if you want to be the greatest, become the least. Yeah. You got to have three types of people in your life. Here we go. You got to have your Paul. You've got to have your Barnabas.

And you got to have your Timothy. You got to have somebody that's spiritually mentoring you and guiding you. You got to have somebody walking alongside with you as an accountability partner. And you got to have somebody that you're pouring into and mentoring. Mm-hmm. And so whenever you have all of those, that's what I tell my clients, my sponsorsies, people that I work with is, you know, I use the example of what I had here. It was like, okay, I have all these dudes in recovery that are my accountability partners that I'm walking this out with. But I'm surrounding myself around dudes that ain't never got high before, ain't never went to jail that have, you know, been going to church their whole life because they have something that I want.

And so I'm going to surround myself around them. have y'all as my accountability partners to walk this through with. And then I'm going to find somebody that's a little bit fresher in this and pour into them what I've learned. Yeah. And so. Well, the main thing is the reason them three and what you said is so important is because, hey, you're not looking in the mirror and saying me, me, me, me, me, me, me.

Right. You're looking at other people. Well, that's like. And trying to do better. Oh, man, one of those comments that I read was like, Like, oh, I don't trust this Rucker guy. I wouldn't trust me either. You're right.

Without Jesus, I suck. Okay? Like, here's the truth. Like, I'm not. There is nothing good that lives inside of me. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. The things I don't want to do. No, the other ways.

Yeah. That's right. You know what I mean? Like, without the Holy Spirit and Jesus actively working in my life and relying on his power in order for me to conduct myself, I'm going to screw it up. Right? So, yeah, don't trust Brian Rucker. You know, you can, you know, trust the Holy Spirit that lives inside me, maybe, but I get it. You know what I mean?

No, you said it right, okay, because if you said, hey, you trust Roverson? No, you don't trust me. I said, because, hey, here's the bottom line. Every time you trust me, I'm going to fail you. Yep. Okay, because, hey, I'm a sinful person, okay, and I've got issues just like Ruckerson. that he's had issues and has to deal with them. It's why we lean on Jesus.

Yeah. And if you want to look at anybody and want to put somebody on a pedestal, the Lord's the one you put up there. And the Lord's the one you take with. That's why I tell people all the time, hey, put Jesus in your shirt pocket. Yeah. And I'm really telling you,

hey, you put him in your heart and you put him in your mind. And look, you take him everywhere you go. That way, hey, you need to think one thing when you're going somewhere. Is it okay if I take Jesus here? Because if the answer is no, then you don't need to go there. Mm-hmm. I can dig it. No, for sure.

Let's take our last break. We'll be back right after this. I spent the majority of my life afraid I was going to die. That's why I did what I did was because... That's why you ran. Yeah, I mean, like, because I, I mean, your entire life is built on the fact that, like, so I was nine years old, I seen somebody get murdered. right and it was right by the apartment that I grew up in and I came to this realization that like man

like that you watched your life your life could be over well are you you saw I mean I'm not trying to well so I seen it I was I was on my porch and it was a guy there was a car chasing another car I actually know the guy he's an older dude in the neighborhood I used to see him you know by the corner store but it was a car chasing another car and the apartments that I grew up in it was one way in one way out. We called it the hole. And so they chased the car down to the dead end. Dude jumps out of his car and he starts running through this field that we used to play games in. And as he's running through the field, the guys in the other car jump out and they just start shooting at him. And I see him fall down in the field. And that's when I was like, okay. Your life, your life is, well, I used to

I used to watch like Full House and Family Matters and stuff. And it was like, Urkel. Like, yeah, man. Like, you know, you watch that stuff and you're like, man, that is not real. Like, what I was going outside and seeing? It wasn't that. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. I remember thinking, because, you know, what was it? Full House was in San Francisco, right? That's where it was. I thought that was a whole other world. I was like, where are these?

It is. I don't know if you've ever been there. Yeah, yeah. It's not the full house we grew up with anymore. No, it's way closer to Mars now that it is. Uncle Jesse was legit. I prefer Uncle Joey, but whatever. How rude.

Anyway, sorry. That Danny Tamborelli. It is wild. I mean, nine years old. I mean, I'm just trying to think about that. Like, at nine years old, just, I'm saying, like, a different circumstance. Like, that was never a part of. my childhood. And I don't say that to, and, you know, to belittle or like,

no, yeah. Anything like, it's just so wild how we live in one place, one country, and you can have such vastly different experiences. But when you know that that exists, it makes it easier to realize why some people get caught up in it. Yeah. And it, like, I mean, you used to think, how can these people do this? We've shared the gospel with them. We've done this, we've done that, we've done everything and they're still in this trap. Why don't they know better? It's because they're a product of their environment. Yeah.

And it's like, so I asked the question, what can we do to make it better? Like, as a human race. You know, that's, I mean, that's one of the answers is try to remove that environment from even being here, right? Like, a nine-year-old shouldn't have to see that. I don't know. The only thing a nine-year-old should see shot in a field and fall over is a deer. No, no.

Well, that's why. Not a human. When people ask me, if I had a time machine, I'll always tell them, okay, and it's probably because I'm real naive, okay? Mm-hmm. But, you know, why can't we just love each other and get along for crying that loud? The Bible uses this way in the prodigal son. He actually was jealous of pigs eating slop, and it said he came to his senses.

Mm-hmm. this is 2023 and you turn on the news and you got war everywhere. Yeah. When is the human race going to actually come to its senses and, yeah. Because like you said, a nine-year-old child sees the friend get murdered. Yeah, that shouldn't happen. That shouldn't happen. That shouldn't even be in the realm of possibility.

Yeah, that shouldn't even be in there. I mean, all your innocence at nine was just ripped from it. Yeah. Well, and then the ripple, so the ripple effects from a traumatic experience like that is, I mean, even after, you know, I quit living the way that I was living for so long, it still affects you. Lo and all. I mean, it's stuff that you got about, like, how could it not? When you see the capacity of what humans are capable of doing, A, it's made struggles in my marriage and in my relationship. You know what I mean?

It's just like, how do I fully trust people whenever I know. know what they're capable. No, no. You know, as a father, it makes me overprotective sometimes. Like, man, I, you know, and that's where, you know, faith comes in and having to trust that, like, God is in control more than I am because as a, as just a human, a natural, living, breathing man, you see all that kind of stuff and you begin to, like, try to protect everything that you're around, including yourself.

And you over, you overreact. I kept people at an arm's distance my entire life because I don't want nobody to hurt me. Yeah. You know, the question that I was asked is, how many times in your life did you feel like you was going to die, man? From that day, almost every day is like, I can die today. Yeah. You know, and that didn't stop whenever I moved up here either.

You know, up until I was 30 years old, I used to have to sleep in the living room on a couch with a light on at each end of the house, right? Because I mean, and this is the stuff that most people don't hear about. They hear the story. They see you go through it. But they don't realize that I'm a 30-year-old man having to sleep on my couch in the living room with lights on at each end of the house. Because I've just seen some grimy stuff, man. You've got to live with it.

It talks about the brokenness and the fallen world that we live in. Oh, yeah. Right? And I think that's why now, even as it always has been, and we got to turn. to Jesus. We got to re-instill our relationship. That's the only thing that's going to solve it. It's the only thing. That's the only thing that'll change it, right? Yeah. Yeah. You know, love is a purposeful commitment to sacrificial action. There has to be purpose and commitment to the self-sacrificing acts for somebody else. Jesus displayed that perfectly by going to the cross for people that hated him.

That's right. For people that couldn't stand him. That it was his enemies. People that would spit on him, people that would curse at him, people that would deny him. And still are. And still are. Right? And here's the thing. Jesus went to the cross for all of them. All the people that even to this day are like, I hate Jesus, right? He died for them.

And they have no reason. And they have no reason. Yeah. Other than being a human. Other than being a human. And maybe what they were taught was something that is not of God, right? Yep. You know, and it's also an interesting thing, too, that a lot of times, you go to these different parts.

of the world. Like you talk about warfare and stuff, man, there's a lot of people in different parts of the world that are doing stuff that we find completely insane and un, like just unholy. And it's normal for them. Well, they think they're doing the right thing. Yeah. Yeah. Right. They think that they think that they are honoring their God by doing it. Yep. Right. And so, you know, I was talking about that with, uh, with an, with an elder today was just kind of like, man, the moral compass for people is based in, you know, what they believe. And that's why understanding, like, what you believe is so important because one person's belief might lead them to have the moral compass that does something completely against

what another person's moral compass is. And so it's pretty interesting stuff. Yeah. You're an interesting guy. Rucker. Rocker. We don't got heavy here, folks. Well, the thing about it, and I was going to say something a minute ago,

and I'll just, you want me to land the plane with a Bible verse? Yeah, treat it just like Nicholas Cage on Conair, so I'm put her down. But the thing about it is... That was a great movie. That's just a great movie. Conair. Truly is. Nicholas Cage with long hair.

You know what I mean? When's the last time you've seen that? The best part of Rucker's story for me, and this is the second time he's been on, so you've heard a lot about him, it's not even... It's what he did for me. Because, you know, I get made fun of a lot for having a king-sized bed and growing up on a fancy street or whatever. I thought it was a queen. Oh, yeah, it was a queen.

See, you know, everyone's, it gets bigger. The struggle. You're sitting around. The struggle. The struggle. We can't trust you, J.D. You shouldn't. You shouldn't trust me either.

I got some bad stuff in my mind. You can't trust you anymore. But the thing about it is, you know, I played Christian for the first most of my life at this point. Been there, done that. And I was always the guy that sat up and going, well, I'm better than a lot of kids that were born four months after me, give or take a couple weeks because they don't know their birthday. Like, I'm not doing those things, but I was never doing the right things. I just wasn't getting in trouble. That was the essence of Christianity to me.

And then I started hanging out with a dude named Brian Rucker from the streets of Houston and wildly different childhoods, wildly different. But now we do. stuff together sometimes in the name of the Lord and ministry. And it's just so cool that Jesus called me to do stuff with my background that Rucker might not can do, but he called Rucker to do stuff that I could never do, you know. And so Jesus uses every one of us to further his kingdom, no matter where you're at in life, no matter what ethnicity you are, no matter where you were born, good side of the tracks, wrong side of the tracks. Jesus Christ loves you. And he wants to use you, and I'll wrap it up with Galatians 3.26. So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God

through faith. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs, according to the promise. The best part about heaven is I'm going to be there with people that I don't know and I'm going to be there with people from all over. Yeah. And it's going to be a bunch of reunions like weird people that would have never got to be friends like you'll be shocked.

Yeah. There's going to be more than you think. You're going to be shocked that who ain't there too. Well, that's true. That's true. That's true. I'm just saying. Look, I'm just saying.

No, yeah. Those, you can't have one way without the other on that deal. Let's just be the last thing we'll say, hey, your goal, hey, you want to be there. Yeah. Come there. That's right. Let's all get there. Let's all get there.

Go to heaven. Amen. Rucker, come back next quarter. That's right. Maybe not in 2024, but I said go to heaven in 2024. Make it your goal to eventually end up in heaven. And you just tell everybody that's going this year. We want you to die this year.

Ensure your place in heaven in 2020. Hey, for me to die's game. Hey, ain't that the truth. But Rucker, we'll see you in a quarter. Sign me a. Rucker, podcast, 2020. 24.