Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 750 | Phil Robertson’s Bodyguard Relives His Experience as a Fire Chief on 9/11

Episode Date: September 11, 2023

Jersey Joe Congemi, a former New Jersey fire chief and Phil’s close friend, recalls his experience on September 11, 2001, during the deadly attack on New York’s World Trade Center towers. The guys are amazed by his experiences and the story of how Joe came to be a Christian and a resident of West Monroe. The guys and Joe give thanks and praise to all veterans, military, and first responders. Also, Jase gives an update on Mia’s recovery from her recent surgery.  In this episode: Isaiah 41, verse 10 — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Jace, I do want to thank my cousin for taking the time to come visit me in the great state of North Carolina. It was very meaningful. Black Mountain. So you were up in Black Mountain, Jay's? Well, it's one of my favorite places. I love to go visit Zach and family. Hey, no, he was here, but unlike you, he literally drove within, I would say probably, less than a half a mile from my house. Because you're right off the interstate there.

I know, I know your place well. Did not stop. No, I came and visited you. He just sailed right on by. Here's how arguments happened. I came and visited Zach, but evidently his expectations of what was going to happen on the visit were a little

more lofty than mine. I said, I'm going to come by. I came by, Jop and I, Jep was driving. We drove almost 14 hours. Yeah. And I blew the horn. He did call me. He said, I'm driving by.

I said, we'll stop by. I said, I love what you did with the mountains. I thought the smoky mountains would be a little more smoky. But they were interesting. Yep. So, well, we had, there was a hurricane that hit Florida. So we're, I'm not sure when this will be. aired. And we hadn't been here for a while for a variety.

Yeah, we actually had a couple of weeks where we hadn't recorded some. We loaded up on the front end. My daughter had a very challenging surgery, and I wanted to be there. So I thank y'all for maneuvering the schedule. And she turned the corner here. So now we're two weeks after that happened. But this has been a pretty rough. Yeah, this was, I think this was our 15th major surgery and was not. It was kind of unexpected, right? I mean, it was not on the schedule. And the gist of it was one of the procedures they had done before with the hardware.

And I'm only sharing this because, look, the prayers of everyone and the skill of the doctor team, I just want to, you know, thank them. So that's why I'm talking about it. But so one of the things that they did before, they put in basically brackets, four brackets and pieces of metal to secure her jaw and make it functional. Because her top jaw doesn't grow like it should. So she has an apparatus in there to help. But what happened was the apparatus started breaking down.

Yeah, he said it was due to the softness of the bone that these contraptions were screwed into. And so it started giving, you know, kind of like you're driving and all of a sudden you get a tire flat, one, one, one, one, one. So you start experiencing a lot of pain. So they had to go back in there, remove that, and replace it. And they have another innovative piece of hardware that they're using now. So it was replaced with that. It's really this whole process, Judge, just from my perspective, and you know a lot more about it than me, but, you know, I mean, Mia's 20 years old now.

And so the development of technology, of innovation, of, because this is all kind of a new science, you know, with cleft palettes and all the different, you know, facial stuff. And so really, she's kind of just kind of almost been that edge of, you know, you know. Yeah, one of our surgeries, I think, was the third one in the history. of mankind. Right. It's a, and you got to remember,

there's not a lot of cases as severe as she is where, and you don't have a lot of doctors who can do this. So it's a very kind of small world that we live in. And all kids are different, all conditions are different. That's the biggest problem. So it's not like you can come up with a surgery. Obviously, this piece of hardware she had in, you know, metal and screws, it just didn't fit her.

Yeah. And it started breaking apart, which was really interesting because after this surgery, you know, Missy, only Missy was allowed. She was an intensive care for, I don't know, a couple days, I guess. But, and so only Missy was allowed in some, or, you know, they say one parent, but Missy is like side by side with her through the process. and because she has to have constant care the first, you know, 10 or 12 days. And but Missy was like when she got to the room in intensive care, she like spit something out of her mouth, which was pretty impossible because she's got a stint. She's got the new deal, and her head is 10 times the size of the shit.

Yeah. And Missy's like, she heard something hit the floor. So she went over. I was thinking, was that a tooth? And of course, part of the problem is also is, and the reason she had such a difficult time. So your mouth is open. They're operating. They're cutting.

They're putting in metal. Well, the amount of blood that you ingest during three and a half, four hours is off the charge. So it takes you a few days. The human body doesn't react well to that. Well, not. So the biggest problem in all this. this nausea, why she's in intensive care. They don't want her to choke.

All that blood's coming up. It's very terrible to watch. I mean, but anyway, she was like, well, what was this? And she reached down and picked up. It was a screw. Oh, boy. It was like, was this? Is this supposed to be there?

So when that doctor came in, she was like, she had it screw in her hand, she'd like, explain this. Yeah. What do we have here? He was looking. kind of, you know, like, hmm, not supposed to be spitting up screws after the surgery, but we finally figured out that it was part of the old system that was in there. Yeah.

But still, you know, I'm saying. How long have just been since it happened? The last, the last surgery. A couple weeks. She's been, this is like day 12 or 13. She became functional yesterday, so I'm feeling better. But I just wanted to, you know, thank everybody. She's doing better.

I mean, this was a challenge. It was the first time we ever had to take her back to the hospital after we got home. Yeah. But she dehydrated. She had thrown up so much. She couldn't keep anything down. So we had to take her to a local hospital and with IVs. So anyway, we appreciate it.

Yeah, and I have to say we talk a lot of times about people. As generations go by, those of us who are older, always see them as a little snowflakier, I guess, than our generation. You think kids aren't tough anymore, but I have to say, as your daughter is as tough as they come. I mean, to deal with what she's dealt with, and her attitude has always been very positive. Yeah, well, I had missed. She's pretty amazing. I'd missed a couple days.

Because I had to fly to, I guess, New York the day after. Yeah, I've been like all over the. Yeah, I went to New York and North Carolina. but I went to New York, like two days after the surgery or whatever. So when I got back home, she was home. But when I walked in, well, like, she was moaning on the couch. This was right before we had to take her back to the hospital. Of course, I'm thinking, what's going on here?

You know, and Missy's frantic in a positive way, but just like, she's like, we've got to take her back to the hospital. But just to tell you her attitude, you know, Mia and what you said about being tough, So I was like, well, she couldn't walk because she had become so weak, you know. Well, she's like you said, she's 20 years old. And I'm like, well, how are we going to get her to the car, you know? And Missy's like, well, pick her up and carry her. I was thinking, ooh, I'm pushing 55 here.

I'm not sure what she weighs, but I know it's under, you know, it's over 100 pounds. And there's, she's got contraptions all over her head. I just said, Lord, give me the strength, you know. And so I picked her up and I could make out. She said, am I heavy as I was walking with everything I had in me saying, do not drop my daughter here. And you're like, no, no, you're good. I got you.

No, I said, yeah. And I said, yeah. I mean, it was everything I had in me because it was a longer walk than you think because we had her all set up. And I'm waiting for the car to get, you know, she's in pain. So I said, are you, when I said, Yeah, you're heavy. And she was like, I'm sorry.

And I thought, oh, I felt like an idiot. She's apologizing for being heavy. For being heavy and I'm having to, you know. But that just shows you. She's good as go. Well, Ms. Kay hired a young woman. And she's about 50, 50-something. I like when that's young.

Yeah. She, oh, Ms. Kay had to go up the road for something, have her hair fix or something. so she wouldn't be back for an hour or two. And this girl, I call her Blundie. The door just swung open. I'm sitting there reading the book, the old boy, the lawman that wrote a book, I'm reading the book. I look up and she's on the floor.

The girl is. And I'm seeing red down there. And the blood just pouring out hitting the floor. So I get up, she said, help me. And I, she, she was working outside and she comes inside where I am in the living room. And she's just in the door. And the blood's hitting the bottom of the floor. So I get up and get out there.

Well, on my way to her, I get about four, you know, paper towels. Yeah, paper towels. I said, you're going to need this. I said, you got about four or five stitches worth looked like. of an injury. I said, what were you doing? So I said, hold your hand on that, hold that press that right there. She did.

So when I got a little bag of ice, I said, we're going to put that on the hip a little bit. So I gave her a bag of ice and some, and then I said, you got to press on that. I said, and right under her hair line, we got a little old building out there with the dog's day. And she, the building's low. well right there where that's the end is she just ran into that and the blood started to fly as you were helping her did you ask her why would a woman run into the edge of a building something like that that building i did the same thing i did the same thing in the same spot oh you did ran slap right into it well you should have a warning put up i brought it up and uh taller people The caution tape up for the next point.

Yeah, Phil being a nurse always makes me nervous because I remember all the... I'm glad you were there, at least you after. But you remember? But you all spent very few days in hospitals. No, we didn't do a lot of... I was talking to your mama the other day. I said, you know, that's the group of kids, four sons. I said, they spent less time with injuries.

You did a lot of self-doctoring, which we made it. I mean, it's all good. It was a rolling of the dice. y'all made it but it was we're relatively normal well yeah it's hard to spend time in hospitals when you're not taken to the hospital no my my medicine record my medicine record stands out as positive it is we're all still alive we're fairly functional i'd say we're been pretty good all right so we need to take a break but we got a special guest that i'm super excited about today i know today is is 9-11

And so we're going to talk about that with our guests. And he's someone you've heard us mention on the show many times. I love we have someone that's been a lot of part of the show in our conversation finally on the show. So we come back from the break. I'll introduce our special guest. So we talk a lot about different, I almost want to call them characters, but they're people. But it's kind of like, you know, when we talk about people in the Bible, they were real people. but it's almost like they're larger than life characters.

So on this podcast, names come up, you know. So recently we talked about Burley a lot. So I came with these emails. When are we going to see Burley? Is he a real person? Is he a figment of, you know, Jason's imagination? So Jersey Joe is another one of those characters. Your name comes up a lot, Joe, because, and welcome to the podcast.

Thank you. Because, Dad, you spent a lot of time. with dad. You probably spend as much time with dad almost as we do. And because you cook for him and all that kind of stuff. So welcome to Unashamed. We're glad to have you here. And I just, I want to start by you telling how you got here. We talked a little bit about that on the podcast, but you're from Jersey, obviously, since you're Jersey, Joe. Yeah, ironic, huh? Exactly. New Jersey. Yeah, Phil has a habit of naming people he meets from far off states, the whole state.

Because first you were just New Jersey. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And now it's Jersey Joe, which is, you know, I think that's a step up. Yeah. Funny parts, listening to a lot of the stories. So obviously I do spend a lot of time with Phil, and he has his Bible study, the Unashamed class that he hosts at WFR on every Sunday morning. And when he talks about me, he says somewhere downtown New Jersey.

and it always, I scratch my hand out, where is this downtown New Jersey? Phil, have you ever been to New Jersey? Never even looked at a picture of it. Like it's just one big town, New Jersey. One big town, and I'm from it. That's it. That's it. I heard about some of the rumbles that come out of there.

But other than, you know, one time we got somehow another, the flights couldn't leave the next, that eight, that night. So they recommended a motel. And they said, under no circumstances, do you go within six miles of where you're standing right now? I said, don't go within six miles. I said, what is it? Some kind of bomb or something? I said, what's going on that? She said, you don't have to know what I'm telling you.

Just don't go within six miles from where you're standing right now. And when we got there at a motel, I don't forget what. You drove to New Jersey. Yeah. And I looked up and they had a tower with men with machine guns, I guess, AR-15, and there was two of them to get in the door of the motel. And I thought, what the world? I mean, I was surprised.

It seemed so militaristic. Yeah. I believe he's talking about Newark, New Jersey, I think. Because we've flown in there before a couple of times. We were going to New York. Well, the joke always was on television, people from New York always said disparaging remarks about New Jersey. I mean, so in their New York, so there are all the TV, the news, the, you know, all that

stuff. So Jersey's always kind of got that. But Lisa and I went to Georgia. We went to Ocean City a couple of summers ago and spoke, and it was a fantastic place. I mean, they had a beautiful boardwalk. and the beach and all that stuff. We thought it was fantastic. So I was surprised.

I did an event in New Jersey at Willie's request because he wanted to see the Yankees play that when the stadium, the last year, the stadium that they placed. Yeah, the old stadium. And he wanted to go to a game. So he figured out a way where I could pay for it by doing a duck seminar. But it was in New Jersey. And it was, I mean, I don't think. but maybe 40 or 50 duck hunters showed up,

and that was probably, you know, from most of the state. But they showed up. Yeah. And it went well. It was a pleasant time. New Jersey is a very, it's a little long state, but there's a saying that we have when you're from New Jersey, right? You tell somebody, hey, I'm from New Jersey, and they go, what exit?

So the New Jersey turnpike runs from all the way to the northern tip, New Jersey, all the way down to the southern tip. So for those of you listening to the podcast, want to know what exit, it would be exit four, was where I'm from. So southern New Jersey is more like kind of what we're used to down here in Louisiana. There are rednecks all over this country. And there are people like us that are God-fearing, that are just looking to do the right thing in New Jersey as well. Now, you get up in the northern New Jersey, they got a little bit of a different mindset. You get a little different mindset there. But all in all, there are good people everywhere, all throughout the state.

I love the state. I was born and raised in New Jersey. I have a lot of good friends and family in New Jersey. So it is a nice place to be, southern New Jersey, by the way, by the pine bearings. Because that's where you can do a lot of, you know, pine bearings remind me of where we're at here and coming to the house, right? Pine trees everywhere, all you can see in just a road with no streetlights. Do you just go down two lane road? Pine trees, as tall as can be on either side. And that's really what it was like in southern. New Jersey as you're heading towards. And didn't you say there were sections of it north of you, I think you said, I think you said, where people hunt, they hunt. Oh, yes, sir. Yes, sir. There is duck hunting in New Jersey, just like a lot of the other states. I've never duck hunted in New Jersey.

I've never done it until I came down here with you guys because I wanted to learn from the best. So, you know, it's definitely worth it there. But, yeah, to get into how I ended up here, because I know that's where we're going here, right? So I never, ever seen the show Duck Dynasty when it was on. I was very heavily involved with work and with the fire department. So I would literally work a full-time job during a day in IT, and I'd get home. I'd go to the firehouse and do a tour overnight where I'd basically bunk in the station from six at night till six in the morning and then go to work the next day. And we just trained and ran jobs and we really didn't watch TV. So I had no idea what Duck Dynasty was. Let's fast forward a couple of years to about 2018.

And I'm sitting, I'm now working from home at that point, so that was a nice thing. So I'm at my desk, and I got this message that come across where they suggest different videos that you can watch. And I saw one for this unashamed. I said, what is this? So I clicked on it, and I saw you there. I said, I've seen that guy before, and obviously you guys were on it. It was the old studio back that you used to have before Tony and Phyllis moved in. Tony and Phyllis's bedroom, man.

Yes, sir. And I'm watching it, and I'm just listening. And I'm hearing Phil say some things that I never really heard before. Now, I was baptized when I was a baby as a Catholic, and my grandmother was very, very, very religious. Every Sunday we'd go to church. we were a strong Italian background family that believed in Jesus. I really didn't understand it. I had a lot of questions, and I just really had no interest for it, to be honest with you.

I just wasn't there. But watching and listening to you in the podcast and you guys here, I thought, you know what, maybe there's more to this. I never heard it put the way that you put it, Phil. So I said, this is interesting. They seem like good guys. They got this show, this, this, some duck show. I really didn't know what it was.

So I said to my wife that night, I said, you know, I saw this podcast today with these three guys and they're duck hunters. They had this big show that, have you ever heard of this Duck Dynasty? She says, no, what's that? I said, they're duck hunters. I said, I want to watch this show. She thought it was about a Chinese restaurant like me, right? She had no idea. said, what do you want to watch a bunch of guys duck hunting for?

You don't duck hunting. You don't know anything about duck hunting. I said, I don't know. It just seemed like they're, I said they just seem like interesting people. And I want to watch it. So we watch it. So we start binging this thing and binging it hard. I mean, I'm talking four or five episodes a night.

We're eating dinner at the couch. We're watching it. We're laughing. I'm like, this uncle sigh, this guy can't really be this crazy. What is this, right? And I'm just like, these guys. that what got me the most is I never ever seen a show where you ended it at a table with a prayer. And that got me. And I said, that's what I'm looking for. And I got chills the first time I seen it. I'm getting chills now talking about it.

Because that wasn't like that for me in my house. And it's not something that you're, you talk about in school. It's not something, you know, the firehouse, every, every firehouse, you know, they have a, what we would call like a preacher or some type of priest in the firehouse who would make sure that, you know, he helped during situations that might be a little bit tough for you or funerals and things like that. He or she spoke. So, you know, I knew what that was, but it was nothing like the way you guys presenting, right? So. Hey on jail. Let's take a break. So like I say, it was something that I found very interesting. interesting watching the show. And I said to my wife, I said, I really like what these guys are doing.

And it seems like those are the type of people that I want to be around. Because where we're at now, we're now getting very close to the beginning of COVID, the beginning of the shutdown. So things are getting really rough now. You've got looting going on and in the cities around us. You're reading things that are very, just depressing. like, I mean, it's literally like the Hatfields and McCoy's going on up in New Jersey there. So were you still at this point? Were you still at the fire department? I was. I was actually towards the- But you had already started your IT stuff on the side? No, so I have, so let me explain a little bit for people to understand. So about 90% of your fire departments in this country, believe it or not, are ran and staffed by volunteers. Yeah. Now, you have career firefighters in some of your bigger cities, and then you have,

what's called combination departments, which are career firefighters and volunteer firefighters. So I have always been a volunteer firefighter and well, as well as had a full-time job in IT. So I've done IT my entire life as well as firefighting. I have 28 years in the fire service. So what was happening towards the end of COVID, I was winding down on my career in a fire service anyway. I had retired as a chief and I was finishing up as a fire commissioner in the town that I lived, and I was getting ready to start that next phase in my life. So as we start getting closer to COVID, I actually sent you an email, Al. I guess it got lost in your inbox because, you know, I didn't. I was just about to get on that, Joe. It's sort of like with those text messages.

I don't understand why the man gave me his phone number because I text him and I never get an answer. You know who taught me my phone and email etiquette, Zach Dasher. See, I would have thought it was Phil, Because for anybody that's had a conversation with Phil on the phone, it's like, what about it? Well, hey, Phil, I'm going to come by on Wednesday. Say what? I'm coming by on Wednesday. I'm going to bring some grub. Who?

I'm going to bring some grub on Wednesday. Yeah, Phil, you've got a, he's got an owl because he doesn't have the, I don't have a cell phone. Me and Al, we don't have that excuse. So I and Phil, my wife said they seem angry when they're on the. the phone. What? Who is it? They hang up on you. You see the, uh, we did a little, we did a little funny skit for the, uh, promote the movie and, uh, a contest and Willie calls Phil, Phil answers the phone. Hey, he says, Willie. Phil says, Willie who? Willie Robertson, you son. No, that's funny. He did that to me one time, too. I got it was a dad. He was preaching at

WFRA. I said, Daddy, he was ready to go tomorrow? He said, yep. and I said, all right, it's going to be good. And he said, yep, he said, who is this? I said, your oldest son. We had a whole conversation one day about dessert. And he says, that sounds great. I can't wait. And I said, all right, I'll see you tomorrow.

Who's this? I said, Phil. He thought you were just a random dessert person. And I'm like, Phil, do you just pick up the phone and talk to people? I just, you know, but anyway, to get back, yeah, so Al, Al never, Jason, too, never responds to him. Yeah, well, he's not even try. It's like, I at least try. You got to remember, I'm coming back for a trip where I visited Zach, and I just blew the horn as I went by. And then called him to say as he went, as he went, a quarter of a mile past my house. 14 hours away from his house. Yeah. So, like, long story short, yeah, I was winding down my career.

in the fire service and I said, you know, to my wife, my wife was completely stressed out because again, COVID's on now. They have folks working from home. I had always had the luxury of working from home because of the job that I do, but my wife didn't. She was working in an office every day and they had moved her to working from home during COVID and she was so stressed out of her mind. And I just saw what she was going through. And I said, this is, this is just crazy. So I said to her, I said, I think I want to move. And she says, move where? I said, I want to move down south.

Where down south? I said, I want to move to West Monroe. And I said, I want to be around people like we saw on Duck Dynasty. And she looked at me like I had three heads. She said, are you crazy? She says, what do you mean you want to move down there? And I said, I just want that way of life. I want to have less stress.

I want to have God in my life, and I want to have people around me that believe in the same things that I believe in. And she says, well, I don't think you got to move all the way down south for that. And I said, well, let's try. What do we have to lose? I said, you can quit your job. I'll support us. We'll get a nice, big area where we'll get a lot of property.

We'll hunt. We'll have chickens. We'll have cows. We'll do it all. and she thinks I'm just absolutely nuts. She thinks this is a mid-life crisis. I said, let's just try it. Let's go down there and visit.

Okay. So we come down and we go over to WFR. We meet a couple of folks over there. We say we're from New Jersey thinking about moving here. We're looking at some property. And they're like, oh, well, great to have you. Why? And I'm like, they're like, why West Monroe?

And I'm like, well, because of the Robertsons. And I said they just have, they just seem to be the kind of people we want to be around. And I said, I'm going to go over to the university because Phil was preaching at the university at that time. And I said, I want to go over there and meet Phil and Miss Kay and tell him my story. So I did that. And again, Phil kind of looked at me funny too. He went, New Jersey. And you're going to, what?

I'm going to move here. You're going to move here. Yes, I'm going to take my whole family. I'm going to come down here, and we're going to live here. Huh. I'm surprised he didn't follow up with that. And you look perfectly normal. That's what he usually says.

We got that later. Let's hang on, Joe. Let's take another break. And then I met you somewhere in there because at DFR. You did. You did. You met us after we moved. Right, right.

After we moved is when you met us because that's when I went up and decided that, you know, I wanted to get baptized. I was, you know, very new to Christianity, and I didn't even understand thinking I was ready for it. So Jeremy Shacrofort had an interesting comment for me, which really turned me, and then you baptized me, and then the rest is history. We develop our relationship from that point. They all, starting with Georgia Joe, obeyed the gospel, all the way down to the kids, all of them. and I was taken by that. I said, I tell what, these people,

if everybody followed, wanted to follow, Jesus and obey the gospel, I said, there's the bunch of them right there. Yeah. I mean, it was great for me too. Well, it keeps us humble during this process because we realize that you're drawn to the spirit of God in us.

That's right. Right. And it's hard to, you know, because when you go through that story, which is really a lot of people are thinking, well, that does seem crazy. But the Holy Spirit is real. And when it works in people, there is a draw there. And that's how God, you know, uses this. I was curious on what the comment you said, Jeremy said. Yeah. I, so we moved down here. We're here. And I go to my second service at WFR. And I met Jeremy. And, you know, He said, so at that point, small town, word gets around, right? Everyone now knows that there's this family, this guy, Jersey, moved down here, his whole family. He's crazy people. There's something going on. What's this guy's story, right?

So Jeremy introduces himself to me, very, very nice guy, and I met Dave as well. And, you know, I said, I'm ready. And he said, ready for what? I said, I'm ready to become a Christian. And I said, but I want to be baptized. And he says, okay, well, who do you want to baptize? I said, I want Phil to baptize me. And, you know, what do I need to do?

He says, well, you need to go down there and say, you need to be baptized. And I said, well, I don't know that I'm ready. And he goes, what do you mean? You don't know that you're ready? I said, well, don't I need, like, training or something? I mean, you just, I just want to wake up one day. Hey, I want to be a Christian. And that's it.

He said, do you believe that Jesus died on a cross for your sins? I said, yes. You believe he was entombed and he rose from that tomb? I said, yes. He said, and do you believe that he sits at the right hand of God and will come back for you? And you'll have eternal life once you're baptized. You will bury the old you and the new you will come up. And you will be forgiven for the mistakes that you make going forward. And I said, yeah, I do. He says, then you're ready. He said, go see Phil and tell him you're ready. So I did.

And Phil sat down with me. I might get emotional. He sat down with me. He sat down with Christine. And, you know, I said, I'm ready to do this. I want to put the old me behind. And I want to step forward with the new me, the better me, the improved me,

the me that cares and loves people and just really wants to share with others what I've learned and just continue to grow as a Christian. And Phil, just being Phil, Jersey, we're going to take care of you, and we're going to make you a new man. Today is the beginning of the rest of your life, it's said to me. And I'll never forget it, and he was absolutely right. And I love you for it, Phil. I do.

You know, it's been amazing. I had you here, man. Because, of course, the con jimmies have become part of our forever. family here. His son is dating my granddaughter. They're very close. And our families are very close. And so it's been really interesting how God has continued to open doors.

There was one thing that happened, Joe, that I thought was really telling that you told me about when you guys first moved down here. Y'all had only been here a week. And it was a couple of years ago when we had a super busy hurricane season, or I guess it's been three since you guys came. And a hurricane comes through. They're here a week. and they're not living where they are now, but originally Monroe.

And a tree falls on their house, or his office. And so the next day, there's a group that comes from WFR, who are part of our One Kingdom, who do relief stuff. And they're cutting that tree off. And Joe tells me about it later. He says, I've never experienced anything like that. He said, you know, I could have set out by a tree on my house for a year in New Jersey. and nobody would have ever picked up with anything to come help me,

and nor I help other people except through my work. He said, but here people just showed up because they love the Lord, and I didn't even know these people. And so I thought that was really telling, you know, about now this experience. And you had just gotten here at that point, but there was just another way God was showing you that you had done the right thing, you know.

Yeah, I mean, it truly, you know, you hear that term southern hospitality, and you really, you know, you don't understand what that is. You know, where I come from, you don't wave to people that you don't know when you're driving down the road. You might get shot. Everybody waves at him. Everybody waves. And they do have a wave up north that I'm sure most of you are familiar with,

but it's not the wave that we're thinking about. The one-finger salute, yeah, yes, sir. But what was amazing when that happened, right? After the storm had hit, I mean, I didn't really have numbers. I didn't know people yet. I mean, I just knew Phil from Sundays, but I got a text message from Jeremy, and he said, how did you fare the storm? And at that point, I was living in Monroe.

I wasn't in West Monroe yet, because I actually moved twice when I moved down here already. I wasn't happy where I ended up the first time, so I had to get closer to the field. You get you on the right side of the river. Yes, sir. Now I'm on the right side of the river. It's a Westland, right? But, yeah, Jeremy sent me a message. How did you make out?

And I said, ah, a tree hit the house. I said, we're working on calling contractors to try and get it resolved. He said, I'll be in touch. Literally, within an hour, there was a group of people with saws, gloves, and water bottles. And this wasn't like one tree. This was a massive amount of damage went through the roof. These folks are tarp in the roof, cutting trees, pulling trees out to the road. And I'm thinking, all right, where I'm from, we have to pay people to do this.

I'm now in the house searching for money. I'm like, do I write a check? And I come out and I'm like, you know, what do I owe you for this? You don't owe me nothing. Like, what do you mean? Just donate to One Kingdom if you really want to help. And I will tell you that today. One Kingdom is a wonderful organization.

They do such great things, not even locally, but around the country, around the world. And it's a great thing to donate to. So I would highly recommend that they are great people. So let's take another break. So John, I want to ask you something. We want to talk about a little bit. You have quite a 9-11 experience. Today's 9-11.

So we want to hear about that in this last segment. Before we do that, just quickly, I know you watch the movie, The Blind, because that's coming up soon. What was your impression of just seeing that, knowing us now, knowing Dad as well as you know, seeing that young life experience? How did that impact you just watching the movie? It affected me in an awesome way. I got chills right now just thinking about it because, you know, I know Phil and I know everybody now, you know, the way they are today, right? I knew a little bit from Phil were telling the stories about his past. But, you know, when I watched that movie, it made me very emotional to see that side of Phil. And it grounded me because it basically showed me that Phil is human, just like everyone else. And he can be overtaken by the devil just like all of us can. But I think that movie proved to me that no matter who you are, no matter how bad you think it is or how bad you think you are, there's a way out. And I look forward to that.

Yeah, that's awesome. I just was curious about that. So let's talk a little bit about 9-11. Obviously, a huge day in our nation's history, something we must always talk about. I feel like I can remember this anniversary. It's one of those days where you remember where you were, sort of what was going on in your life. I certainly do. I remember it so crystal clear for me.

I was going back to school and I was at ULM taking some classes. And I remember watching in a corner of TV and seeing the tower, seeing that second plane he had to just remember. We're under attack. This is for real. Tell us a little bit about, because you're right there close. You obviously in the fire department. Tell us a little bit about your experience. I want to talk about that in our last.

segment in our overtime as well. So just tell us what you're experiences. So whatever, so believe it or not, 22 years ago this happened. So unless you're over the age of 30, 31, 32, you probably really don't remember or understand what happened that day. And that's a, that's a fairly large size of the populations. It really doesn't know. And they do not really teach this in schools. They don't tell you about what happened. Especially today in our society, the way that we're teaching our children specific things and we're trying to leave other things of historical value out, I think it's important to make sure that we teach our children and we teach those that don't understand what happened and really why it happened. And we make sure that we honor those who our first

responders, our military, our doctors, and our nurses. So, you know, 22 years, years ago, four planes, 343 firefighters, eight EMTs, 23 NYPD officers, 37 Port Authority employees, 184 Pentagon personnel and civilians, and 40 passengers on Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. For a total, a 2,97 souls lost their life on September 11, 2001. I remember the day like it was yesterday. I was working in an investment firm doing my computer IT work. Like I said, I did. I wasn't at the firehouse that morning. I was on a phone with a gentleman by the name of Paul in California. And we were working on connectivity between the two offices for the trading day. Now, when you're an investment firm, you have televisions all around you. So I happened to look up why I was on

the phone with Paul and I saw that there was a hole in the tower of the World Trade Center. It was the North Tower. And I had said to Paul on the phone, I said, a plane hit that tower. I said, it must have been like a small prop plane or something because there's just a hole, there's a lot of smoke, it's burning. I'm like, I don't know how that happens. I mean, it was that low, flying that low, how could it possibly hit the building like that? And he said, yeah, that's crazy.

It was the North Tower. I said, yeah. So literally, we're back to talking about the IT work to fix the issue. And then I happened to look up at a corner to my eye. I actually see the South Tower get hit with a commercial airliner right around the 90th floor. And I just saw it. And I was stunned. And my life changed at that moment.

And I said to Paul on the phone, I said, another plane just hit the other tower. I said, this is not an accident. He said, what? I said, another plane hit the other tower. He said, my brother's in that tower. I got to go. And he hung up. I never talked to Paul again.

I don't know what happened to Paul. If you listen and Paul, reach out to me. There's a lot of chaos. You know, as a firefighter, you know, what's going through my head is what they're dealing with right now in New York City. Because you have now two commercial planes

that hit these buildings. Now, these terrorists, they knew what they were doing. They planned this methodically. They made sure that they picked planes that had the most amount of people. and the most amount of fuel because they want it to inflict the most damage. See, when jet fuel burns, it burns at temperatures that are unbelievably hot that will melt steel. So they knew that they would create an inferno that would literally melt that steel

and the pressure of the building's weight above it would cause it to collapse. Now, so at this point, all of the departments in New York City are now on, on all call. So they're basically all call is they're calling in everyone that is off vacation, whatever. If you are in the city, you are required to report to the station and get over to the, to the site. So the fire, it's total chaos. I can just imagine what it was like on the ground, right? So it's total chaos running into these buildings. You have, you know, they got a command post that they have set up in the bottom of one of the towers where you got your chief officers that are reporting out the situation to the mayor and to the other officials in town,

basically telling them what they have. You're trying to now work out rescues. Now, understand something as your average firefighter. He's wearing, or she are wearing turnout gear that consists of bunker pants, a jacket, boots, and a helmet, similar to what you see here, and an airpack. But that's not all. You have to climb up 90 flights of stairs in that turnout gear. carrying your hose pack and your tools.

So they have what's called high-rise packs. So the high-rise pack basically is about 250-foot inch and three-quarter hose that's on their back that they're carrying up. All that weight probably weighs another 100 pounds. They're going up all these flights of steps in a building that is filled with smoke with people running down the other way. So they're trying to save people, get them out of the building, and go up the building to the fire because you want to basically set up the floor

below the fire and advance into the fire to fight the fire. What they aren't aware of is that the jet fuel is going down the elevator shaft and it's creating a fireball and then basically an inferno that is pushing fire up through the elevator shafts of this building. And it is just, it's horrible. It's a horrible scene. You know, as a firefighter when you see that and you're looking at it from the outside like I was, you're thinking about, you're looking at the heavy fire and you're thinking about the people on the floors above. you know that they're unfortunately, you're not able to get to them. And you have to make a decision on who are you going to be able to save. So all of this is going through their minds.

I cannot imagine the amount of stress that they were under. To make matters worse, they already know that they lost one of their own. The very first firefighter to die was hit by a falling body jumping from the building when he was on his way up. So they were already dealing with the loss of one of the first. own and they have to put that out of their mind and do the job that's in front of them. They manage to save thousands of people and we commend them for that. I have this helmet here today. I am a past fire chief. If you notice, I have that 343 on there.

And I use that because it represents those 343 souls that lost their life that day, fighting for others. And it wasn't just firefighters. Like I said, and when I opened up on this, it was the EMTs, the police, the Port Authority police, the Pentagon, civilians at the Pentagon, and military officials at the Pentagon. It was a sad day. There was a lot of destruction and a lot of damage. So once the towers started to collapse, I actually have the times here, At 846, Flight 11 crashed in the World Trade Sauer north. At 9.03, the South Tower was hit. At 937, the Pentagon was struck by Flight 77.

At 958, the South Tower collapsed. At 1003, those 40 passengers that decided to take their own lives to prevent that last plane from crashing in to the capital was taken down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. So it was lots of chaos for the world. I remember telling my wife, get the kids, go home. I'm going to the firehouse. I will not be home for a few days. Because I knew what we were in store for. Because all of the surrounding departments up in northern New Jersey were either covering in New York City somewhere or stranded in New York City.

because as they made their way into the city, once the buildings collapsed, the towers were shut, or the tunnels were all shut down. So we had a crew, the department that I was with, and we started heading up to that area. And when we got halfway up to Turnpike

and Central Communications turned us around due to the fact that they realized the tunnels were shut down and they couldn't get us in there. So we diverted some medical personnel over to the opposite side of the Hudson on the Jersey side to act as their triage area because what they were doing

when they were taking debris and what they could get from the building site, putting it in Bards and basically moving it across over to the Jersey side where they were going through it forensically. So it was just a devastating thing. I like to talk about it because I feel that in this country with the things that we're going through today and when you look at where we're at as a country, we're divided. We're highly divided. You're either on the right or you're on the left. God didn't want it this way for us. When you look at the vision that the Almighty has, he wants us to love each other, be part of each other's lives. We're allowed to disagree, but we need to just get along. So, you know, I honor these people for what they did,

the sacrifices that they make, and I continue to honor our police, our fire, our EMTs, our doctors, our nurses, most importantly, our military. They're the ones out there on the front lines fighting for this country all around the world. Without them, we have nothing. We wouldn't be able to do what we're doing right here today. So I thank them for that. Do you think, Joe, that it's your being a firefighter all those years, being close in proximity to the city, do you think all that kind of plays into why it was so impacting to you?

you think you would have felt that if you'd have been one of us down here in Louisiana if you'd never been there. I would have looked at it. I would have looked at it differently than I did. I wasn't very religious when it happened. I was a 27-year-old deputy chief, one of the youngest deputy chiefs in that station at the time. I wasn't really religious at all. So, you know, I had a lot of people say, you know, if there's a God, why would he allow this? Why did God let this happen? there's no God. And I said, I guess not. I don't know.

I don't know why that would happen. And that was the way I reacted back then. But it planted a seed, you know, I've said before, when you see the groups of people you mention, our military, firefighters, first responders, our doctors and nurses, you know, in that moment, they're all showing sacrificial love without prejudice. You know, they're not going in the building saying, what color are you, where are you from, Everybody is on the same page and they're risking their life to save others. And, you know, when you come full circle to what Jesus did, he actually, that's, that was what his death on a cross hinged on.

It was sacrificial love, you know. Absolutely. That's why it does make our country stronger and more brave and brings us together when you see moments like that. because these people are, you're like, well, you can make a case, the skeptic, oh, well, they're getting paid. And in those moments, you're running toward the burning building. You realize you could possibly die and you're helping all people. And so I think that is a seed for all of us, you know.

I definitely agree with that all and all. I mean, you know, after being a Christian now for three plus years, you know, when I look back and reflect on this day and in, in general when I reflect on my service, right? One thing that comes to mind is for all of those that said, you know, well, if there's a God, why did this happen, right? God didn't do this. The evil one did this. What God did was gave me the courage to get through it.

God gives every single one of these first responder that sacrificial love and the courage to get through it. And that's what it's all about. And, you know, there's going to be death. There's going to be destruction because the evil one is out there trying every day to manipulate us and get us to do things that we know aren't right. So, you know, it's having God in you, in your heart and in your mind that will help you overcome whatever challenge you get. No doubt.

No doubt. There are a lot. There's a big, so, you know, when you start talking about, like, post-traumatic stress disorder, it's a big thing and it is real. and especially in the fire service and in the police force and even and in the military. It's real. I have it. I went through it. You know,

we see things as first responders that the average person don't see. You know, one thing I would always tell my new recruits when they'd come in when I was a chief, I'd say, you're doing a job here that few people do. When you see people, when you see the public, you are meeting them on their worst day.

people aren't calling the police or the fire department to just say hey how you doing come on by no they're having an emergency either someone's having a heart attack or someone fell and hurt themselves or the buildings on fire or there's a criminal breaking into their house so you know it's the things that they see you know are just horrible so like i would tell these recruits you know be on your best because it's their worst remember that. Well, I don't want to thank you, Joe, and all the others that listen for their service as first responders. I join you in that. You did that as well. This is a solemn day always for any of us, and we remember what happened, but also some of the why, which is what you talked about. Dad, would you just pray for our first responders out there in our nation on 9-11? Father, I pray for these first responders and people. who work to serve us really. We've seen some, the last 20-something years,

we've seen a lot of death and a lot of destruction. We thank you, Father, on bended knees that you sent Jesus to remove all of our mistakes because you loved us so much. Help our country, Father, look around and learn as rapidly as they can, what it takes to love you and to love each other. Thank you, Father, for saving us. Thank you for giving us a great hope to live beyond the grave, because we surely are going to need it.

In the name of Jesus, amen. Joe, thank you for being on the podcast. People have asked about Jersey, Joe. That was excellent. Many times, and so we're glad to have you on here. we'll have to have you back sometime and talk more about new adventures. I didn't mention, but every Wednesday he has a He cooks for mom and dad, yeah.

He's a great cook, but he didn't even get into your cooking stuff. Italian food. Is it great Italian? All Italian, no, yeah, and you don't get the recipe. Now that he's down here, by the way, it's fusion, so it's like Cajun Italian because he puts some boudan ball meatballs. I heard about that. All like there is, welcome aboard, Jersey.

So we're going to talk a little bit more to show in our overtime. say if we want to follow us over at blazathev.com slash unashamed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV at blaztiv.com slash unashamed.