Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 692 | Uncle Si FINALLY Wins Big Over Willie & Jase Unveils a Unique Talent

Episode Date: June 1, 2023

Jase provides a play-by-play of Uncle Si’s big win at the poker table at Willie’s expense! Guests Allie Beth Stuckey and her father, Ron Simmons, join the guys to talk about Ron’s new book. It turns out that the Robertsons have some crazy coincidental connections to Ron from way back in the day! Jase shows off his cool party trick, and Phil remembers the first time he ever spoke at a funeral.  https://philmerch.com – Get your “Unashamed” mugs, shirts, hats & hoodies! "The Blind" hits theaters on 9/28/23. Get sneak peeks, updates & insider exclusives: https://theblindmovie.com — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So welcome back to Unashame. Jase, you were telling us a story about your poker reunion. I thought, yeah, for all you legalists out there, you might already go do something. I had your ears. But I am not a gambler. And, you know, if you do things for entertainment purposes, it's, find anyway. I always love the disclaimer.

What's your line? It's not gambling if you can't lose. If I know I'm going to win, see my wife who's never. You're not, you're not gambling, but I wonder some of the people who you're taking their money are. I saw Robertson. You're right. So it's, I knew you, you don't even know the story I'm fixing to tell. But when we were, when we were teenagers and we, you know, we read verses like the Lord went to these groups of people, the tax collectors and the sinners. Well, you know, these tax collectors, what do they do? What do tax collectors do?

Collect taxes. They collect taxes. So there's a game that's called poker. And it's a similar function as to a tax collector. People bring money. They sit down. And there's a tax to teach you how to play this game better. And so the same guys, not just me.

So you're the tax collector. Yes. Okay, good. In this city. By the way, this is not in the Bible. This is not in the Bible. You're very, I'd speak to say, there's no verse that speaks out against it. Not one.

That is true. In fact, there shall be no gambling with the hard-earned. But I actually, Jay, you're not. The psychology is pretty good because the people that are paying the tax do not like the tax collector. I mean, they're coming, but you're not exactly a liked man. So, you know, we played at Willys for years and brought a lot of people to Jesus through our ventures, as hard as that is to believe. And we would tell people, look, if you can't afford this or, you know, if you have a problem or if this, leads to something else.

We would have numerous conversations with people frivolously using their money. But what we were doing as a family is, you know, playing cards for small amounts of money to where everybody's budgets are. And every year on the vacation, everybody play. Everybody plays. And I'll let you tell who usually wins. Zach has been a part of some of those games. I've been a partisan, and before it was poker, you have to keep in mind.

This goes back to monopoly, to spades, to dominoes, to, I mean, it's the hearts, to rook. I mean, this is not just poker. I mean, this is everything, right? And for you who are saying this is sinful, I will confess my sins. For years when I had no money, the only way I could make money to spend, have money, because whatever I did for my job, I gave Missy all my money. because we didn't we didn't have much so if i wanted any money i had to go play cards and uh it's like it's like that golfer said who was the golfer who said you want pressure

because they said you know how do you uh what was the guy yeah is leitra vino he said you know how do you get up there and handle the nerves when you're when you're putting for a put to win the tournament win a million dollars he said oh that's not pressure at all he said what's pressure is when I was up and coming and I got to make a put for $5 and I didn't have $5 in my pocket. That's right. And so you either learn how to play this game of skill where luck is involved called poker or you lose all your money and go do something else. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So about a few nights ago we had a bit because we've all gotten busy. I don't play cards like I used to. I mean, you know, I try to show up at a game here and there, but I hadn't played in weeks. And we had a little poker reunion type of... We're getting the band back together. We're getting the band back together. It was Willie, the people in my family who were there,

Willie, myself, and Si, and we had a little poker reunion. Remember the time we used to play down at Willys and all this? It was so funny as nobody ever got... mad except Willie when he lost. I mean, there's famous stories about him humming the cards out through the yard or whatever. And having said that, Willie is an excellent card player. To Zach's point, that goes back to our youth, because I can remember a few stormoffs during games from Willie back when we were kids. He's known for that. I never played a game of cards.

So you're off the hook, Phil. You didn't lead us down this. Not because of religious reasons. I just looked at that thing. I said, no, it looked like to me. I thought about the losers. I was going to give y'all a little insight, because I know some of our guys play and gals. And so I was going to tell you about the game. Now, I'm not telling y'all this story because I ended up being the big winner,

but that is exactly what happened. So I guess I just got lucky. But it was so funny. because we play the game, all the usual suspects, you know, we used to play. And there was a couple of guys who we play with now there. They just wanted to watch. And Sai's there, and Sae makes the game fun.

Now, I'm going to be honest, Sae rarely wins. And Sae's got plenty of money, so nobody's worried about, you know, about that. But the reason he, it's not that side doesn't know how to play, and it's not that he's not a great player. but sigh has a flaw to his game and it is that he wants to win every hand no matter what he plays every hand like he wants to win well it's just the law of averages and odds and

statistics sometimes you just don't have the cards you don't have the cards you can't win every hand sometimes you got a folk that seems like common sense yeah you know that song you got to know when to hold them and when to fold them yeah side just says you got to know when to hold them got to know when to hold them. And that's every hand. And I will beat you every hand. So that's the flaw. One thing not in your favor, out of all the individuals I run up on, the only person

that old Matt Dillon just didn't like was gamblers. He didn't like them. Because it would produce some fire. Somehow we would get back to gun smoke. So, and these games are long. You know, they're ours. That's why we don't have time to play anymore. So I started off.

I lost, you know, the first couple hands. I went busted. So, you know, I like the art game as you just re-bu. And so I did. So I started off bumpy, but it's a long game. It's a stay in. You hadn't played in a while. Well, it's more about putting the odds and percentages in your favor.

There's a reason casinos are successful. So if you can develop a game where you have the odds in your favor, all you need is time. eventually. So you were kind of priming the pump, too, just to let him know. It's just a mathematical equation. We're going to beat him tonight. You come up with a formula where the odds are more in your favor, and the longer you sit there, the better chances you have.

Unless you don't know how to phone them. Well, right. If you're going against the odds, guess what? You're going to lose. So I need to listen to more Kenny Rogers. What time did the game start? What time did it start and what time did it end? Like, how long are we talking here?

The game started at 7 o'clock. The game ended, I think, at 1.30-ish. And, yeah. So. I know you've seen this before, Jace. Oh, boy. Here we go. Here we go.

Phil, I was doing this as a prelude to any Bible activity. Yeah, well, I was just saying, go ahead. It's necessary to choose some of the men since of Judas. Oh, you're going to cast in the lot. That's true. And I'm thinking, there's actually more luck of the draw.

There's actually more evidence of gambling, you know, in the Bible than there is what we're doing. Because usually the same people win. So let me finish the story. So because there were two big hands that I wanted to tell you about. So one is Willie played really well, executed a couple of nice bluffs. He just, he's a, oh, Willie's a solid player. He kind of, he's a mover and a shaker. And he has a lot of bells.

and whistles in his game. But he's actually a very excellent player. So him and Sa, I was actually involved in the hand at the start. We were playing a game called Texas Hold'em, and I'll reveal the cards in their hands beforehand. It's called Texas Hold'em. Yeah, and it's too long to explain that. I don't even want to hear about it.

So Sa has pocket Tens. He has two Tens in his hand. I have Ace King, and Willie has Ace Queen. well i would usually raise before the community cards come out if you don't know how to play read a book for the next two minutes so but i just called because sye is so crazy that he everything goes through sai yeah he raises all the time he re raises so i was just waiting to see what sire was going to do you know so i have ace king sigh raises he size on my right yeah and uh So I just called.

Well, Willie, I think he just called. Yeah, he just called. So the flop comes out. There's a community cars. There's a queen, and then there's two other meaningless cars, like a seven and a two. Well, Si bet, and since I have Ace King and there's no Ace or King out there, because he bet big, I folded. Well, Willie re-raises Cy. Because he's got a pair of queens.

Well, Sa has two tens. Now, you don't have to be a card player to understand this. Willie is way ahead here. Because he has a pair of queens and a pair of queens is better than a pair of tens. The only way Sae could ever win, because you still have two community cards to come.

Si's going to have to hit a 10. Well, there's only two left in the deck. Out of 52. That's why I gave you the speech about the odds and mathematics and percentages. Right now, Willie, if you don't know how to play cards, has Si in his dear feeder. And Willie has the bull's eye looking through the scope right behind the shoulder. It's all but over.

The Si then says re-raise all in. Willie, call. I got Ace Queen. So I turned over. I got two tens. Well, everybody's sitting there thinking, what is Cy doing? This is dumb. Next card?

Ten. Ten. What does Say do? He says, Boo yeah! He said, hey, the best hand won out.

Then it was crickets. I said, Sa, you didn't have the best hand. Willie had a queen as Willie's gathering his gear up to exit. Willie's not rebying after this. So I said, well, I had the best hand before. I was like,

Sa, all the money went in when you were so far behind, you basically needed a miracle, one of the last two tens in the deck. So now he's feeding with adrenaline. And so he just, he raises the next hand. Well, now I feel like, as a card player, size real vulnerable, because it's just like battling when we did this illustration about the evil one. So you'll know.

Yeah. I'm never going to do that. Well, let me tell you. I'm never going to play cards. I've got enough. When there's a guy. Texas hold them. I'm Texas.

Look, Phil, I learned this from doing spiritual war. My little brain, can't handle it. When a guy thinks too highly of himself or too low of himself, he becomes vulnerable. Be careful when you stand. Si thinks I can do no wrong. Oh, tonight's my night. He's got more money than anybody at the table. Next hand, I have the ace three of diamonds.

Si has the eight deuce of diamonds and he raises before the fluff because he just won. Now he's raising with one of the worst hands. He's old now. Oh, he's raising. Well, I don't know he has that. So I call him.

Well, the three community cards come out there and there's only one diamond and there's no ace. But I bet because I'm trying to slow Cy down over here because he's just, so I'm representing I don't know what I was representing because I had nothing, but I bet a smaller bet than I thought he was going to bet. It was a defensive bet. And, well, everybody folded except Sai.

Cy has no pairs and no draws, and he calls, because this is just what Cy does. Well, the next card is another diamond. So now there's two diamonds. It takes, it'll take another diamond for me to hit my flush, which is the best half possible. But now that I see hope here, I bet big and try to get Sigh off his hand. I'm bluffing with the best hand.

I didn't know that. I actually have Sai technically beat. He's got eight high. And so I bet big, well, Sai calls. So I don't know what he's got. But he's thinking, I want another diamond because I'll have a flush. But I'll have a bigger flush because I have the ace of diamond. Well, wouldn't you know what the last card is another diamond?

I now not only have Si beat, I have the best hand possible. I cannot be beat. But he also has a flush, so he thinks he has the best. He also has a flush. So look, I did something really clever. I bet small. So Sa'i, he's got a flush.

He says, I raise. He raises me. He was trying to put fear in it. Which he broke another role. He didn't realize that you are the tax collector. That's what he didn't realize. So I do a tell in poker because now since he raised me and I have the best impossible, I had to look back down at my cards and make sure I had the best half possible

because I thought, what was this clown doing raising me? So I re-raise. I didn't go all in because I just didn't think he would call, but I re-raised him. And so I said, call. I got a flush. And I said, well, I have the best flush possible. He said, you're sneaky. And he said, I will break you and take every tip you got.

And everybody laughed. You sound like Fester Hagan on Gunsmoke. Anyway, I finished this story to say, Sigh and I finish one and two on the night, which is crazy because he donked off half his money to me on that one hand. So that was the story. Lisa stayed among the family. The story of the tax collection.

All right. Well, that's a great way to lead into our podcast. We have two special guests. They're going to join us on the other side of the break, and I see that they're here. And so when we get back from our break, I'll introduce our guests. So welcome back to Unashamed. We have a couple of guests that are joining us, Jay's.

We do, and I know it's kind of the elephant in the room. How are we going to make this transition from me telling a poker story that went way too long? And so I now have thought about it, and I realize what the segue, way is for this because a wise man once said on the reason you should vote it's not because you're voting your unlocking opportunity well that's what i was doing when i was playing car i wasn't i wasn't gambling i wasn't playing cards i was unlocking financial opportunity for my family and my well yeah i wonder who that politician was that do we do we know who he's talking about about it? I think the words were in reference to unlocking spiritual opportunities, but

Oh, nonetheless. Yeah. Yeah. Although, actually, Jay says a perfect segue because our guest today, one of them happens to be a guy who knows about finances, so he might have something to say about that. So we got Alliebeth Stucky, who does a great podcast on, she's one of our fellow Blaze host, relatable. As I was telling somebody, Annabeth, about your podcast. I said, you know, she does that Unrelatable podcast. You know what? To some people, it might be unrelatable. Hopefully to the right people.

It's unrelatable. It's very related. We always love having Alliebeth on. And as Jay said before we came on, our podcast intellect goes way up when Alliebeth. Oh, Alibeth. You're a superstar in the podcast world. And it's awesome to see someone,

especially of your young age, being so articulate. and especially with your faith comes through and your relationship with God. I feel like ours are the most spiritual podcast on Blaze, and I don't listen to all of them, but I definitely have listened to Alice. Well, I had never watched your podcast,

Allie, until you were on ours. And so then I was like, man, I like this. I had a conversation with my lovely wife, who was already all over your podcast. And she was like,

well, where are you been, Jace? And I've never listened to our podcast, but I've listened to several. of your sense. You are on here. Well, thank you.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And so we are super excited today because not only do we have Allibet, but we also have her dad, Ron Simmons. Hello, Ron. Welcome to Unashame. Hey. Yeah.

Glad to be here. Thanks. So Ron has written a new book that I have here in my formerly nicotine stained hands. That's a Rush Limbaugh reference. It's called Life Lessons from the Little Red wagon. And we're going to talk a little bit about that. But, Ron, you have, you know, I read your book. It's excellent, by the way. And so you've done a lot. You're three times a Texas rep in the state house. You have a financial guy. The governor puts you in charge of things. I mean, you've got a

pretty amazing past. So we're just glad to have you on a shame. Well, it's an honor to be here, especially with the connections that we have personally. to the Robertson family through Junction City. Exactly. And that's the first thing I want to ask because I did not realize this. Well, Alabeth had told us there was a connection. But until I read your book, I wasn't sure about what it was. So you said you moved to Junction City, Arkansas in 1973. And that immediately put my antenna up, because we got a movie about to come out that set in that era. And so I have to know. So did you know us then? Did you know Dad? Did you, what was?

What did you know about the Robertses in 1973 is what I was one? We knew you probably like you wouldn't want us to know you. That's what I thought. We moved into the same house that y'all lived in there by the school. You remember that White House, Phil, that you all lived in by the school in. Oh, no. We moved into that house. You came in after?

I was the band director after y'all because you had left some of your dog residue behind. Oh, man. I left more residue behind than that. I can say that. Well, you probably did. We had a good spring cleaning. But yeah, we moved into that same house because my dad was the band director.

And the people said, well, this guy named Phil Robertson used to live here. And he was out hunting all the time. And he was a, you know, football player. tech and then came to coach up here. And of course, you know, I was coached by Al Bowling, which you've talked about Al in the past. And I was coached by Johnny Sweet, which you probably knew Johnny Sweet. I knew both. And also and some of the other people that you knew.

By the way, I baptized Al while I was up there one after about, about, about, 10 years later. After his baptism, after I had repented, turned to God, you all saw the early stages, all bad. they made a movie of it it's embarrassing but al was one that after was an avowed atheist and he called me after about 10 years my conversion first he wanted me to keep running with him drinking whiskey and all that i said nope that one is dead and this is the one that's alive i said i've turned my life over to god so two years goes by he calls i think it was about about 10 or 12 years I shared the gospel with him, baptized him, and two months later, he fell dead on the third base. He coached in third base at a baseball, high school baseball game.

He coached me high school baseball and football. So they asked me the family of Boland to come up there and do the funeral. I said, I don't even want a suit. I don't know. I don't even know whether I could do that. But they said the family wants you to do the funeral. So him being a brother of two months, I went up there, and I told them what I told Al. You know, he conquered death for us all.

Yeah. It was your return to Junction City by the first time. It's the only time I've ever returned to Junction City was at the funeral of Al Boland, which he. To preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. Was that the first time you spoke to in public or no? Pretty well. Yeah.

I just told the audience, you know, that you know, rest assured he's a son of God, he is my brother, and I pointed to the casket where he was, his body, and I said, I shall see him again at the resurrection. Wow. Well, that was me. That was really good. I thought you would enjoy this. You probably remember this. This was my jersey back at Junction City.

Oh, look at there. The dragons. Remember the dragons. Yeah. Good, nice. I know. It was amazing. So you were, what, like a middle schooler when y'all moved there?

Yeah, I was seventh grade. So seventh grade. So just played junior high football there. And, yeah. Well, you know. And then I finished high school there. I finished, I graduated from there. Yeah, I saw your pictures in your book, which were amazing.

And it took me back because, you know, we were there on campus. And, of course, you know, our stories run are very similar. Because you kind of gained independence at 17 when you graduated high school. I did as well. Now, your story was much better because you went in a good direction. Mine was not so good. But we share that, and we both, I guess, started early because I was an early graduate like you. And we both married women named Lisa, so I thought, you know.

Oh, there you go. I like this guy. But as I was going to say, Jace, I hadn't thought about this until you mentioned the house, but when Jace was a toddler. I was four during this time. Yeah, he got out one night. and got under that house. Here we go.

And we could hear him like say, my mom, but it's in the middle of the night. And we're searching the house looking for him. Do you remember this, dad? Oh, yeah. And we're trying to find it. I was trying to send you all a message.

Clean up what's going on inside this house or I'm out of here. At four years old. I don't know why I did that. I just remember it was, and then you got a whipping, I think after. I think I did. And I'm still under protest about that.

Because we were all just reacting. Let's take a break. So in your book, Ron, the red wagon is kind of a metaphor, but it's really good. So explain a little bit about kind of your mindset and what that means and kind of what you were, what that metaphor stands for in your life. Because I thought it was really interesting. Yeah. Well, thanks very much. Yeah.

You know, most of us had some type of wagon when we were little. little kids that was a toy and what have you. And we did a lot of things with it, right? It served a lot of purposes. But as I began to think about, you know, as you get older, you look back on your life, you know, when, you know, your baby gets out of college and starts having our own babies and gets married and all that type of stuff, you start reflecting. And for me, the wagon, the parts of the wagon were literally like parts of life and that if you grabbed a hold of the handle, you were going to lead, right? If you were the front wheels, you could change directions, but you still follow the lead of the handle. If you were the rear wheels, all you do is turn, right? You don't,

you don't have any control other than pushing forward or pulling backwards. And then sometimes you're just the cargo. So the point was, is that at different points in our life, we, we are represented by all of those things. Yeah. And a lot of people believe that they should only have the handle and should never be the cargo. But sometimes in our areas of our life, say, our spiritual life. Say I'm in a valley. I just need to crawl in and be the cargo and let somebody else have the handle. And, you know, we have a son that has a disability, has autism. And Lisa and I had to realize that he's going to be cargo for us the rest of his life, no matter what. And so I just thought it was a good metaphor to use through the different areas of your life, whether it be spiritual,

business, relationship, finance. And it related to me that way. And the purpose was a lot like you guys. I mean, there's a lot of people, you know, there's not very many Tiger Woods in the world or even Billy Graham's, but there's a lot of everyday people that if they'll just kind of take the next steps, they can have a significant impact, you know, for the Lord. Good advice. No, it was, it was great. It spawned a great discussion between my wife and I this morning because she, I told her our guests and who was going to be on. And she said, what's the name of his book? And I said, the little red wagon.

lessons from the little red wagon. And she went, oh, she said, I have so many good memories of what we had a red wagon. I was like, you had a red wagon. Of course, Al, you remember, we had a red wagon. Oh, yeah. Ours was dangerous. Well, that's what I was fixed to say here. She told me about cute puppies going in the wagon and doing picnics.

And I said, the last time I saw our red wagon, the handle had been broken because it was used like a spear. As a weapon. Yeah. And I said, we were trying to go down this big hill during an ice storm. That's right. On the wagon. It was our, we were racing various things.

I don't know where y'all were because this was really extremely dangerous. One of us was on a piece of tin. When somebody was on the red wagon, somebody else had two pieces aside. Because, you know, we don't get a lot of snow here in Louisiana. What's crazy is if you had pivoted left. In the river. You're in the river. I mean, you're dead, hypothermia.

And so I told her our stories, you know. And she said, well, maybe there's somewhere in that book about y'all needed just to hand the handle to Jesus. And I said, that's what we needed, babe. But, you know, it's so crazy that that metaphor, I mean, it immediately, who didn't have a red wagon when they were little? And I just, I love the way, Ron, that you, by the way, I just, you're a person. personal, to do a life journey. I mean, the metaphor was great, but you were so transparent, even about your own life, which I thought was really powerful. And I wanted you to comment, one of the things that the chapter that really locked me in was the one called taking the next

uncomfortable step, which I thought was a really powerful one. So tell a little bit about that, kind of what that was for you, but also how important that is for other people. Because, you know, we don't like the idea of doing something uncomfortable. But you may have, such a strong point that that's at the point where you grew the most is when you took that step. So talk a little bit about that. Yeah. I'll let Allie comment on it as well because we've had these conversations within our family before. But, you know, what I found was that most people stop just before something happens.

And whether or not that's our own fear, whether or not that's Satan trying to keep us from doing what God wants us to do, I'm not always sure. but what I've tried to learn myself and teach other people is that, okay, most people know what the next step is, but it's uncomfortable, so we want to stay in our comfort zone. And I've just encouraged people that I've worked with, people that, you know, my family want to just take the next uncomfortable step. Yes, it could be embarrassing. It could make you take a step backwards, but take it anyway, because that's the only way you'll be able to discover what's on the other side of the mountain. And I don't know. Well, Ali probably has thoughts on that too, because we've talked about that a lot.

I think my parents did a really good job of, of course, leaving us in faith and not putting too much pressure on us to make the next big decision perfectly. For example, when I was trying to decide where to go to college, I grew up in Texas and I decided I wanted to go out of Texas. But I was nervous. I didn't know if I was going to know anyone at this college that I ended up going to in South Carolina. and both of my parents did a really good job of giving me peace by saying, you know what, you're not in control. All you can do really is the next right step or the next uncomfortable step. And I say a lot, do the next right thing in faith with excellence and for the glory of God,

which is the same kind of concept. Ultimately, like, God is sovereign. We're not in control of the ultimate conclusion of our life. God is. So we have to do the next right thing in faith and leave the rest to God, which is a very free and a very liberating feeling. They said, college is not prison. You make the best decision that you can with the information that you have right now. And God is going to guide your steps. And having that really kind of like smaller view of yourself rather than as someone who is, well, I'm in charge. I dictate all my steps. I'm going to determine the direction this goes. And just saying, you know what,

I only have the capacity and ability to do the next right thing. As a finite person, that's all I can do. That's a very, I think, just like joy-inducing feeling knowing that I'm not ultimately in charge and I can only put one right foot in front of the other. So, Allie, you actually had one of the lines that's in the book that jumped out at me is your dad attributed to you. He took you hunting and you said, I don't think this is a hunt. it's more like a nature walk.

So did you guys hunt a lot? I mean, did y'all do a lot of stuff when you were young? Obviously, from the book, you can tell you I had a close relationship. But what was that like? Yeah, that's probably the extent of my hunting expertise. Sorry, this is probably not the right podcast to share that on. But, yes, we didn't go hunting a lot. We did have a property in Texas that we would go out to.

There were a lot of nature observing opportunities. I think we went hunting a couple times, tried to hunt squirrels when I was eight, I liked the whole process, the picking out the different camouflage outfits and things like that. But I probably had the same attitude about hunting that I did about sports, which was, what are we doing for lunch? Yeah, that's right. And yeah, I can't, I can't say that I was any, I don't know, Annie Oakley, like that with the gun. I know a woman who shares the same thoughts that you do, and I've been married to her for 32 years. So I understand that completely.

I grew up, I hunted when I was young. We lived down in, we lived outside of Junction City in Lilly, if you're a member of where Lily is. Oh, yeah. We live down there on some property. And so I hunted by myself and then duck hunted as a young man and still that today. In fact, I have a, I should have brought a picture of him. I have a champion chocolate lab that's actually going to be in the national finals for the hunt test and the super retriever series. Well, yeah, I'm excited about that.

That's good. Yeah. I've got a whole bit I do about Chocolate Lab, so I'm going to mention that. I have two dogs being trained as I speak and come out of old blue, Jace. Yeah. One of them's name is Deuce. Are they whining? No.

That's my dog's name, Phil, is Deuce. Really? Well, oh, you know. What is going on? I'm telling you, we've got synergy here. We've got synergy working with this family that we come up the same name. He's been trained, and I'll pick him up in September 1,000. for teal season and we'll see what he can do.

Because old blue, his dad, that dog's still alive. He's about 14, but he has retrieved. Oh, my goodness, hundreds and hundreds of ducks for us that we never would have gotten. But he rounds them up. So it's a lot of fun working with dogs while you're out there on the hunt. I love that more than anything, really. I mean, that's the favorite part. So you mentioned in the book, you have an illustration there from Lonesome Ducks.

And this statement got me, you said that Lonesome Dove is the greatest TV mini-series of all time. Well, we have another thing in coming. There you go. I had to mention that because we talk about it all the time on this podcast. Oh, my gosh. We quote that all the time around our house. That was a qualifier for my future husband. Jason, are you ready for you a musical a little bit?

No, I'm not doing that for a lot. I was making dove calls earlier. That was the good, bad, and ugly. by the way. I'm not going to make any more bird sounds with my hands. Now Dad's trying to get Jay's to perform. I like that.

Perform for our guest. Loansome do. I can do a dove sound. Oh, Lonesome dove. With my hand. We do the dove sound, Jay's. Come on. Oh, my goodness.

Everybody did this one. You might have done this, Allie Beth, when you were taking your nature walks. So if you put your hands together and put air, which is a dove. And if you want to show an exciting dove, That's impressive.

I didn't work hard on it. I've been doing it since I was four back in a little place called Junction City, Arkansas. I was under the house one time making the sound. And later you got a whipping for it. So it's a conflicted thing now going forward. Yeah, and a guy wrote a song about it when the doves cry. And no, I'm just making this up. I think that was a friend song.

So, so, uh, right, our last little bit here, tell folks what, what you hope they get from the book. Kind of, kind of, you know, people always ask somebody, why did you write this book? But I think I know from reading it, but tell folks kind of why you wrote it and why you think it's something that would bless them. Well, first of all, I wrote it because I believe that, again, there are a lot more people that are like me out there than there are like the superstars of the world. and that I want to encourage people that, that, you know, you have in front, no matter what your challenges were, you know, you have in front of you the opportunity to take the next uncomfortable step, to look to have your life guided by God and your faith and what have you, make sure that that stays in place. But that also, I believe God honors righteous action.

And so, you know, if we wait forever, we'll end up, you know, probably going to, get to heaven, but we're just going to be waiting. And so I want people to be able to go out there and not only have their faith, but live their faith through the actions that they take, not only in business, but also with their family and realize that if you need to understand that at sometimes you're going to be the cargo, sometimes you're going to be the back wheels, but sometimes you're going to be the lead. If you think you're going to pull that handle the whole time, you're going to have a very frustrating life. You have to realize, where you are at different points in your life with different areas of your life.

Excellent advice. I thought it was a great book. And I loved, I was glad you brought it up about your son about Daniel, because that chapter touched me as well, that not only is it what you teach people and your children, especially, but what they teach you, which I thought was really much. Well, I want to say, too, you know, we're in the book of Luke in our normal podcast, and I think it's probably the number one book for sure. showing that Jesus was for the poor and those who were sick and suffering and those from the

wrong side of the tracks. And it just over and over, which is very inspiring that, you know, our Lord is a champion to all people. But I know you had to be vulnerable right in this book. And I think I heard on one of your podcasts where I saw that you and your wife were diagnosed with cancer. And I just thought, wow, y'all have talked about that. y'all have attacked that, y'all have discussed that, the things you wrote in that book.

And it just, you know, it just made me kind of emotional, you know, when y'all said that. Because I was like, well, well, they're just dealing with this head on. And I wanted to say that we've been praying for you and your wife. And it's been inspirational to kind of just see you living your life based on what you just wrote about, you know. So I wanted to mention that. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that. And we're proud of all of our kids.

We're very proud of Alibeth. As you know, she's taken the best of her mother and just expanded that. And we're very, very proud of her, what she's done. So Alabeth, we joked about this before you guys came home, that it seems to be either you're on our podcast or one of us is on yours when you're pregnant. I don't know what that means. Somehow it's all aligned, but you're expecting again, correct? I follow you on Twitter. so I already knew that.

But yeah. So tell us kind of what's going. I thought that was from the first time I saw you four years ago. I said, I bet it's big again. I know. I thought I was still pregnant. What he said was that, Beth,

he said, I didn't want to say anything, but I wasn't sure if you were pregnant or just was hooked on cornbread. I think was the way he, he's so articulate. Yes. It's a good chance that it's probably both. I met Phil for the first time a few years ago

and he was gracious enough to come on my podcast. And he didn't say anything. I was like eight months pregnant at that point. So he could have safely said something, but he kept his observations to himself. And I learned later it's because he actually has a kind of muddy history with this. He of actually telling someone that they're pregnant when they're not pregnant. So even though I was about to pop,

he was like, nope, I'm not going to make that mistake again, which is probably good. Yeah, you got to figure it out now, Alibair. Which shows you that we can. That's, yeah, that happened on more than one occasion, unfortunately. Yes. But let me just say, if I could just say one thing, just about just to tout my dad's book, is that you can tell he is. I mean, this is sincere. He's a very humble person.

And of course, he wouldn't take any credit for the accomplishments that he has achieved. And it is to God be the glory and the grace of God. But I just like, he has led such a life of success really coming from nothing. I mean, you guys know Junction City Roots, not necessarily the fanciest place to come from. And he has endured a lot of adversity. I mean, time after time in different stages of his life, I feel very fortunate to have gained the wisdom that he has gleaned from the hardships in his own life. And his, you know, one of the themes that he has told us is that you don't, you shouldn't have to learn from your own mistakes. Like, learn from someone else's mistakes.

That's actually how you can gain wisdom. And he has just been so diligent in passing that wisdom down to us. And if there's anyone who embodies taking the next uncomfortable step, I mean, everything that he has accomplished has been because he has been willing to take an uncomfortable, inconvenient, sacrificial step. And that's why he has achieved all the things that he has achieved, of course, by the mercy and the providence of God. And so if that's something that I know, especially for my generation,

we just were so used to instant gratification. We're so used to things coming easily. We're like a microwave generation. If you want like the time tested stuff, the stuff that our generation typically just kind of like puts off and says that's too hard, then you should read this book. Good thing is it only takes like a day to read. But you're going to get that timeless wisdom of, oh, how do you build a legacy? Like how do you build a life that's not just glorifying to God, but is successful because you did the next hard but right thing. So I know my dad won't brag on himself, but I just wanted to brag on him because all the wisdom that I've gleaned and been able to apply to my life, he puts in this little readable book.

And it really is such a helpful tool. Well said, that's the best endorsement ever, Mr. Ron. Can't be that. Well, Lou, right, if we had never met you just based on our time we've met and spent with Alibeth, I would have known that you were a good person. and you had something going on because to produce children who are adults that impact the world and the kingdom the way that she's doing and that we're trying to do says a lot about, you know, your values and who you are. So we commend you on that. Congratulations on the book. I'm assuming folks just get it where they get books.

Is there any special place they can go? Anywhere you get books, Amazon. It'll be coming out on Audible here in a couple of weeks. It's, yeah, if people want to contact me, they can reach me at Ron. at ronsimmons.com. Okay. Love to be able to help any way I can. Well, look, I read it.

It's outstanding. I highly recommend it as well. So we appreciate you guys coming on. It's always a good excuse to have Allibethon, but now, Ron, with our Junction City connection, we feel like we're brothers from another mother now,

so we got that. I feel like there's a duck hunt coming somewhere that we can have to run out. I think you're going to have to come get in a blind with us for us to get the whole Junction City story. No doubt about it. I can't wait to do that.

That'll be fine. Where we're doing this podcast, all the vehicles and the mud vehicles and the decoy, that's where they are right here all around. Not on the other side of the wall. Yep. Nice. Nice. So you'll love it. It'll be your playground.

It's actually quite scary, but it is where we. I bet Alley's is a lot nicer than ours. Yeah. If you want to bring your family out, you can hang out with my wife uptown. That's right. We'll put you so. That's awesome. I was about to say, y'all can do that.

I'll be inside eating cornbread. still. Tending to babies, I'm sure. Thank you guys for coming on. Congratulations, Ron. And folks, be sure and go and get this book and check it out. It's always great to have Allie Beth on. And, you know, I mean, it was really amazing because I felt a real connection to his story.

He didn't, we didn't get into this on the podcast. So his parents split up when they were in Junction City. And so then it was a lot of difficulty. Yeah, he was a teenager. Yeah, he was a teenager. young. I saw that he worked at a grocery store too. You did the same thing.

Yeah. I mean, there was a lot of similarities. What are the odds that I would run back into somebody who lived in Junkson City, Arkansas. Yeah. Well, lived in a house. But the house was on school property, so it belonged to the school, which is why we were there. And then, of course, his dad was the band leader, so then they were right after us. What are the odds of that?

He said, yeah, we had to do a little spring cleaning. What do you say? A little. leftover dog issue. I don't even know what that meant. He was being real nice, but he was saying, boy. So you know what's funny? Jay, so I spoke up there not too many years ago, and so I went back over and looked,

and it was so amazing because like anything from your childhood, first of all, the whole area was just so tiny, but in my mind, it was huge. It was, we roamed and, you know, it would go away for hours, I thought, and everything was right there within view of that where that house used to be. The house is gone now, and there's a bus bar in there now. But this, in my mind, there was a mountain behind our house. What, it was a hill. You know, it was just a, but, you know, when you're a child, everything looks, yeah, I've felt that many times in my life. Yeah. I was like, man, this was tiny. That's right. All these, my exploration areas were all within, you know, side of the house, which is pretty amazing.

Well, anyway, I just, we love, Alibeth is just so sharp and her stuff is so good. And look, she's very godly and spiritual, but then she's, you know, conservative and, man, cultural wars. She takes on everything, which, you know, she's an amazing person. Yeah, I enjoy listening to her. It's always good. So anyway, be sure and check out their book, his book.

It really is good. And he's got a lot of really interesting things in there about his life. So we're going to talk a little bit more about that, as well as what we're going to be talking about on the next podcast in our overtime, if you want to follow us over, blazedtv.com slash unashamed. That's where we're headed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes.

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