Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 884 | Phil Welcomes Jersey Joe to the Family & Jase Loses Sleep over Mia Studying Abroad

Episode Date: May 9, 2024

Phil’s family has grown again after his great-granddaughter marries Jersey Joe’s son — and Phil welcomes Joe to the fold with a gift he found under his bed. Jase has been anxiously awaiting Mia���s return from studying abroad in Central America and is glad to finally have her back on American soil. Joe presents Phil with a touching gift for his birthday, and the guys discuss the spiritual importance of weddings, family, new beginnings, and surrender to Christ. Zach reveals an interesting fact about the word for “creation” in the original Hebraic language. In this episode: Proverbs 11:30; Hebrews 2, verse 10 -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Now everybody gets their feelings hurt. You got to have thick skin. I have thick skin around here, Joe. I can't imagine that you would actually hurt somebody's feelings. Every time I turn around every Sunday, somebody says to me, so it's either I hear you shuffle in the blind,

I hear you shoot with your eyes closed, I hear you haven't shot anything, and I'm like, this chase is tearing me. me up every time and I have no rebuttal. I have no way to combat that and these people just laugh at me. It's true. I was just like, oh, good night. I was just calling it like I was saying. So, uh, officially Jersey Joe now is part of the family. We know that because he's seated at the table doing the cold open. That's how you know you made it, Joe. Uh, next level. Next level. Welcome. Otherwise, we'd have to wait to bring you in as a guest. Well, there was a reasoning for

that are y'all going to talk about that on the while we wait no why why jersey jo's here that's why what it happened was well what it happened was we we had a joining together of families a couple nights ago and uh so we're you are officially now we have children that are married and he's he has noticed the sweetness of the state of louisiana a may hall the male Phil brought props today for you who are listening. He just held in his hand a jar of what it says MH 23, but Phil, it's actually 2020. It's a very helpful thing. 24.

And some might be a little confused on what it means. That's to live in the path. But check this out. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. and he who wins souls is wise. Where's that at, Phil? That's in Proverbs 1130, and for some reason another,

I already had that underlined. Proverbs 1130. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. What wordage? And he who wins souls is wise. So I'm saying to you, Mr. Jersey, welcome to that party right there. Welcome to the party, pal.

We got direct Bible verses. Oh, are you giving him jelly? Is he in that much? Is he getting to take this home? This is my gift to him. Wow. This is a dowry. And you say, well, what's next?

I used to have to go into the secret hiding place. He is in training right now to win the souls. But as he's doing so, he needs to remember the fruit or the righteous is a tree of life. And he who wins souls, any way you want to slam it is wise. So having said that, these two are coming your way. These were last years. I had them.

The reason they lasted until today, I didn't have but two of these left because I had them hidden in a good place under my bed. Well, now the world knows. They're going to break into things. The world is out there. You said, what's going on in your bed? I said, I don't know, but there's a lot of sweetness down below it. And this is right here.

And the sweetness comes from, look, you see this? Look. So Phil Bromperry's. In my yard. In my yard, I am today officially two years shy of 80. Today's dad's birthday. Yes, happy birthday. Here's my birthday celebrated.

I looked over there at the clock this morning, and I noticed it, and I said, this was the day I came in. I said, how long did those mayhawes grow? Because I planted the trees that this fruit came from. 30 years ago, I planted Mayhaal trees. Just look at that, what the Almighty has done. And if you put that on some of the things you make because you're a great cook, tell the truth. I mean, did that help?

Oh, absolutely. So you served this at the wedding rehearsal dinner. You had Mayhael jelly as a topper for your duck wraps, chicken wraps, alligator wraps, and they were delicious. Oh, the food was delicious. That's the backbone of that. Just thinking that. So we used to, I would make bacon-wrapped scallops. and I would put raspberry preserves on them.

And that was how I came up with the idea to try the mayhole because I knew Phil was coming and most of the family was coming. So I figured, you know what, we'll do some duck wraps and we'll try that mayhole on it. I bet you it would be unbelievable. Sure enough, it was a hit. It was a jersey yet. So a couple of things.

One is at the wedding. Joe did our blessing prayer after I married Joey and Carly, his son, my granddaughter, because there's about 10 years different, well, eight years different between me and Joe. And Joe officially in front of his family, so I guess it's official now, said he is, even though he's Jersey Joe, because dad's giving you that name, he is officially now from Louisiana. He has come out as a Louisiana man at the wedding. So that was a big deal.

Yeah, it's still Jersey Joe. Yeah. But, yeah, my home is here. My roots are here. Have you renounced the boost? Are you still drinking the boost? How do you know about the boost? We talked about the boost.

Oh, he went down that rabbit hole the last podcast. I was, they made me nervous because I thought it was like some secret way, kind of like Phil's secret place of what lies beneath Phil's bed. That sounds like the title of this podcast. It's a sweet place. The only reason it's under the bed, it tends to be more, I noticed, more secure and safer. But Phil. It's hidden under my bed.

I would ask you. Nobody don't say, we'll have to go get some jellty jelly. I have to address this. Phil lives behind a gate that is military-style level. It would be hard to get that gate down. You're in the middle of nowhere. No one, the GPS, they give up before you even get out here anyway. So I'm like, Phil, I don't think you have to hide it under your bed.

He's hiding it from us, Jay. You hadn't figured that out yet. Well, now the world knows where it's at. Those of us who can get through the gate is who he's hiding it from. But he told us where it was. That's why there were only two left, Dad. They're never going to make it, Dan. We've all been there, Dad.

God made a may haul. It's just a little bit of fruit here. Phil. When he did that right there, what he did. I hope you're watching today. He gave the world a little sweetness today. It is. And it comes from this right here.

What a God. Well, I tell you. And he who wins so, the fruit. to the righteous it's a tree of life i mean man but i think you picked your own birthday present today which is amazing you went out in cabbage there was no one else to get to me to say good job nobody else was there now so willie came over uh yesterday he was in rare form and we had a discussion about mayhaw's because he planted i'm sure because of your influence dad he planted a a mayhaw grove next to his lakes slash pond that's behind his house.

It's about 31 trees, but they've been there for 10 years, and they've never produced a single mayhem. So Stone started doing some digging because now Stone is kind of Willie's right-hand man and found out if any cedar trees or anywhere nearby, they put off something called cedar rust, and no fruit trees will produce fruit. Yeah, and none of the, to his trees he de-planted, he planted, not one of these came forth from it for for how old?

Ten years. Ten years. So now in the 11th year, Stone found out there is something you can do to spray the blooms and it will take the effect of the cedar rust off. And this year, they are loaded for the first time. Oh, that sounds like another adventure for Jace. So, Jay's I'm saying, and look, it's right there close to your yard. It's nice hard ground underneath.

They'll fall. They're easy to pick up. I've already been noticing. Well, he snuck up on me yesterday morning. I was out there early, which I was surprised he was up because he thought I was fishing in his pond. He eased up all of me, but I was actually chipping golf balls on his little green, you know. He's like, is he picking up any fruit yet? I think they're just starting to fall.

I mean, just call this a hunch. I know he loves biscuits. He gave it away. He knows his way around the biscuit. So we had that the wedding was fantastic. It was, it was very, Carly was, she wanted it simple. She didn't want it to be bid. There was no attendance.

It was just her and Joey and me up front. Our family came in. It was just the two families. Pretty simple. We did it at Jason Missy's property. It's beautiful where their property is out on their, where their estate is, the Logtown estate. Thank you.

That house was built into 1800s. The oldest house. and watched all paris. Absolutely beautiful. Well, the fact that it was 60 degrees, no bugs, blue skies. One of three good days in the week. We get three days a year like that day. And we don't know when they're going to hit,

but we happened to hit it on her wedding day. Fantastic. There's something we were talking last night, Joe. I had not realized. I'm talking to Carly and Jimmy now. Yeah. Yeah. I'm having to say that.

She, we were talking about how she said, you know, she said, we've all got married on fours. And I even took it back to mom and dad, because they had their pioneer wedding, as mom calls it, in 1964. Lisa and I got married in 1984. Joe, I mean, Jay and Anna got married in 2004, and now Carla and Joey got married in 2024. So I'm not sure what none of us planned it that way,

but it seems to be through my lineage every 20 years. Your mother, I'm going to Rustin because I have a scholarship, football scholarship. So I'm going there. I'm a senior in high school and fixed a graduate. I said, but I just want to let you know you're a junior in high school. So you got, I'm heading out and you'll stay here and go to school or whatever. She says, let me explain something to you.

Where you go, I'm going. So don't worry about me. I said, you better tell you. She pulled the Ruth, the Ruth on you. Your people are my people. She said, when she did, she said, I told her, she said, go for it. You know, see you. You know, I was.

There was one factor that I was part of the party, too, so I went as well. I was raised it. Well, that's right. And she was pregnant with me because I was born in January. You burst forth from her large. I burst forth in 1965, January the 5th. I was the first baby born in Lincoln Parish. So, you know, it's one of my great accomplishments.

You were the first baby born in Lincoln. baby born in Lincoln Parish in 1965. There's a picture. Oh, just the first of the year. I thought you were the population of the one. That's what I was thinking when he said that. There was a picture in the paper of mom holding me because somebody figured out I was the first baby born.

And I had no idea that he who wins souls is wise at the time. Yeah. But eventually that's what happened. If you want to see that, watch the blind. That's the story of how it all worked out. So it's 60 years for mom and dad together, 40 for Lisa and I, 20 for Jananna, and now Carl and Joey started their life Monday night as a couple. Well, you've got to have four sides to have a square.

That's my answer. So that's like a, what would that mean? What is that square? That's a foundation for, you know, a house or rectangle applies also. I sat up there. I noticed, you know, Jay, I call him Stone, that's just always what I've called him, but we'll call him Jay. He doesn't care. But so the audience knows, I'm talking about Jay, but he got me.

He was in tears when he's tired. Oh, it got me. He ugly cried down the owl. And I was fine up until then, and then I kind of like started to get emotional, and I was sitting there, and I'm looking at Joey. I'm looking at Carly and you in the middle there and your little belly bump. I noticed you couldn't button. That was my middle for the middle. Couldn't button your jacket.

No, there's no button in that jacket. That's about, that's about, that's a 15-pound jacket ago. Oh, okay. Trust me, I got no room to talk. But anyway, I remembered back, oh, man, it was like 27 years ago when I was in that same position with my wife. And I met my wife when she was 16, and I was 19, just joined the fire service. I met her at the firehouse. and we had this whole firefighter wedding and I just started thinking about where I was in my life then

with the gospel and having God in my life versus where I am now and where Joey is. So when I was in that position, and this is all going through my head why I'm watching the ceremony, right? And I'm starting to get emotional about that because I'm thinking this kid at 19 and Carly at 18, they are so much more mature than I was, especially in the gospel. I was not a believer when I got married. So I got married in the church, because I, like I said before, it's no secret. I was Catholic. I got married in a church, and we went back to the firehouse for the reception.

We jumped on the fire truck, did her ride around town screaming this iron. She's in her wedding dress. I'm wearing my hat. It's a tradition thing. And we get back to the firehouse, and what do we do? We drink. party and I'm thinking to myself the other day, that's not happening here. And that was part of the prayer that I gave about, you know, these are two kids that are coming together as one under God

and our families are joining together to create that support structure that I didn't have back then. And there was no outside influences back then telling me how I needed to be and what I needed to do to be successful in marriage. So all this is going through my head while I'm sitting there and I'm saying, this guy is set up for success now. And I just get to sit back and say, I did my job. I brought him here four years ago. I let him sit with Phil, get the gospel, preach to him, get it into his head and what he needs to do to be a good person under God and how to have a marriage surrounded by the Lord and learn to love the Lord first before you can possibly love anyone else. And all those emotions came over me. And right then you asked me to come up and speak and I was just like, man, I got all this going on in my head.

I want to say so much, but I don't want to, you know, just talk for an hour. So I had to dumb all that down. just done a whole wedding in 10 minutes. Oh, yeah. It was 11 minutes. That was the second fastest wedding. Well, the fastest one I ever did was Richard Anderson's son, Coulton. And the reason why is because they got married next to a lake. This was a couple of years ago.

And there was a lightning strikes all around. And I thought, I don't know if the almighty, this is a light show or he's against this. But I did that one in six minutes. That's short. Because of all the lightning and everything else. No, I was really special, Joe. It was really great. And I told you after the wedding that, you know, I was preaching last Sunday out of Hebrews

too. Jesus mentions that he didn't come for angels. He came for Abraham's descendants. And I was so glad that the Hebrew writer put Abraham there. Of course, you see him throughout the whole book. Because Abraham is such an interesting story because he's really all of us. It's before Judaism, before the law, before all of us. He was just a guy.

who was some place, and God said, I want you to go to another place. And he said, it didn't even tell him where. He just, I'll let you know when he get there. And so I've considered that Joe's story, Joe and Christine's story, is like an Abraham story. I mean, they're in Jersey. You know, they're kind of spinning their wheels. And, you know, then all of a sudden they find us. And when they found us, they found Jesus.

And then it's like, you know what? We're going to go to this place. And we're not really sure why. but we feel like God is leading us to go. So it was an Abraham moment for you, and now you got down here and look at, you know, what guy's done in your life. It's pretty amazing.

You know, I, Phil and I, we do the, we do the Unashamed Gospel. Joe is Dad's right hand man for the Unashamed Bible study we do every Sunday. And Phil speaks, and then I get up, and I kind of close out the show, and I speak a little bit. And I just, I talk about how I've learned so much from film mentoring me all these years, right? And, you know, you take something as simple as this, right?

You know, you got, I said it, one of the classes that I did, I said, you know, we pay, as in we, this, the world pays scientists, billions and billions of dollars to unlock the key to life. And I said, I'll give it to you for free. It's right here. Yeah. Right here. He's holding his Bible up. You don't need to spend any money at all. It is all right here.

And they say, oh, well, science explains everything. And I said, can science explain this? This little thing I'm holding up the mayo. How can something so perfect be created, flawless, be turned into food, but have a purpose? Everything in this world has a purpose. every bug, every leaf, every grain of dirt. It all has a purpose, and it was created by a force that was so spectacular that we can never possibly understand. So I said, you take your scientists who can tell you all of these, oh, well, it's because of this, this, this, and this.

The world, see, there was this massive explosion from nothing that created the earth and the moon and the stars and the sun. And I'm like, well, that's great. You can explain all that. Can you make this for me? fruit is raining down on us. Make it. Or I have chickens. They lay eggs.

Make me an egg. Prove to me that you have unlocked the key to life and make me an egg. They can't. You know, it's funny, Joe, you say that because a lot of people say, well, now they can do other stuff and they make these hybrid things and they clone things and all this, but it still always has to start with something that they couldn't make. And then they can out of that do some amazing things, again, because we're made in the image of God. I did want to mention one more thing before we move on from the wedding because our wedding festival or our wedding feast started Sunday morning.

Actually, it started when your guest started arriving that weekend, Joe. Yeah. And Joe started sharing with some of the folks that came down. And so Sunday morning, we mentioned this, I think, on our last podcast. Right. Sunday morning, Dad and Joe baptized folks together, usually that come to the class, if anybody who's, request to be baptized. And so they're baptizing folks, which usually happens at where we meet on Sunday. And we look up and one of them is one of the young men that was there. And I noticed

he had a really snazzy camo vest of them. I was like, I'm impressed. They brought, they brought camo down, their dressed camo from New Jersey. And but then your mom, which you didn't know what's going to happen. She comes up in the bad ministry and you looked at dad because I was standing there watching you guys and you said, that's my mom. And then she came down and you were able to baptize your mom. And he didn't know she was coming. Right. So what a moment, right, for the whole, you know, to your description of the wedding,

it was really, it's more than just a young couple getting married, even though that's a great thing. It really was an even bigger spiritual moment for all of us. But that was just really special. How did you feel about that? I mean, it came full circle, right? My mother, again, she raised me. And we weren't a very religious household. You know, there was drinking, cursing, you know, not, I wouldn't say there wasn't much love there,

but it just wasn't, it was your typical American family, hustle and bustle, no time for anything. My parents were divorced. She got married, remarried, and then divorced, and then remarried again. So my mom's had it rough in her life. She recently lost her father, my grandfather, who really wasn't a good, good man. He wasn't around a lot for her. so she kind of had to fend for herself and, you know, take on the world, so to speak, as a single mother, and raise us. So, you know, things happen, whatever.

She, you know, when I moved down here, she saw the change in me, and she said to me about a year ago, she says, I've noticed a major change in you. You seem happy. You seem calm. And your knowledge is growing and growing in the Bible. You're not afraid to talk to people about it. And she says, that's really starting to, you know, change my vision of you. And, you know, I had no idea what was going to happen. She came to Phil's

class. She sat in the back and she heard Phil speak. She heard me speak. I asked who wanted to be baptized. We had a few hands raised, not hers. So we baptized four people. And one of those folks that we did baptize, his name was John. And he was one of the friends of a cousin in my family who came down from New Jersey, and this was the first time I really met him, and we had time to talk. And he had that typical question where, you know, I've heard a little bit about the gospel, but I just don't understand. Tell me about it. So I, you know, I shared the gospel with them sitting out back, and it was nice. I mean, we had a whole crew out there. We had about five or six people out there. My wife's aunt was out there, who you spoke with, too, yesterday. But it was nice. We spoke for about

an hour and a half. And, you know, I just shared the story and shared it the way that Phil does because he's taught me basically how to share the story. And I got through to him because he seemed to be the most interested. And he committed to doing it on Sunday. And that was great to be able to do that. And I turn around and I see my mother standing there. And I looked at Phil and he looked at me and he says that's your mama i said yeah and phil said you know what to do i'm here with you but you do it so you know i said to was that was that emotional beyond i mean to baptize your mother not knowing it was fixing to happen the one the one who birthed you you got to be a part of her new birth and she told me she had been uh talked to her about it she told me she'd been thinking

about it a while and uh she's the last couple times that she's come down here and she's the last couple times she's come down here. She almost did it. And she said, but this time I just, you know, I finally just broke down and said, you know, this is what I got to do. That's why the first text I looked at, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. And he who wins souls is wise. You're right. And that's what happened. Well, there's a reason I think that Jesus's first miracle was revolving around a wedding gathering. That's a great point. I really believe that.

Even because you mentioned, you know, you brought up science, which, you know, God is the greatest scientist. I'm all for science, but. He is science. Yeah. Just like everything else you can say that. You know, I am life. I am the resurrection.

I am science. But the verse I thought about is, when you were talking about that, is in your Hebrews 2 that you talked about. It said, in bringing many sons to glory, this is Hebrews 210, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists. So you listed a few things, but you could have just said everything, everything that we know exists, should make the author of the salvation perfect through suffering,

both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family because it's all talking about he became a human yeah and so jesus is not a shame to call them brothers but there's just something spectacular about family and families coming together jesus's first miracle was that you remember in ephesians where everybody goes there to get the roles of husbands and wives and but at the end of that paragraph in Ephesians 5, and he said, this is a profound mystery, but I'm talking about Christ and the church. Yeah. I mean, we're the bride of Christ.

We're sons and daughters of God. There's all of this about being children of God all over the place in the Bible. And there's just something spectacular as family when you realize that God is the architect of this family. Yeah. So when you think, well, what are the major breakdowns in society right? now currently going on. Well, one of them that's got to be at the top of the list is the breakdown of the family.

Right. And the purposed evil attack on that at every single level has taken another break. Which is why I've been so much out there promoting our new friends, the Small Bones, who I was having an interesting conversation with last night about. And the movie's out by now, but I really encourage you to go see it because it is. Unsung hero. What I just described in these passages is basically what they're doing. It's a family from Australia that you show, I mean, you can see what God did through this family.

And it's not so dissimilar as to what happened in Jersey Joe's family. And in our family. And in our family. It's just another family. And you're like, oh, oh, I'm seeing a pattern. That's why I brought up during the wedding. We were talking about this before we got started. So, because I seem to be the person people come up to when they don't agree with something that they hear on the podcast.

It seems to happen a lot to you. I mean, we're at a wedding. It's moving. Stone created this atmosphere by, you know, he, because he's a man's man. He's got like a crust around him, but underneath the crust when it cracks. Zero body. He's a jujitsu. Zero body fat.

I'm sure he's somewhere lifting a weight right now as we speak. And I mean, he was a basket case. His daughter, escorting his daughter to give her away in marriage just made him weepy. Oh, yeah. I mean, he was overcome with emotion. And so we were all considering that. But so 11-minute wedding and most of the time was family time. We had a meal together.

And I was actually talking about the John, too. that there's a reason Jesus did that miracle. I was given the same sermon to my table. And there was a guy who we've known for years that we love, who's also an excellent cook. But he said, yeah, I've been meaning to ask you. There's something you said, I don't know if I agree with. He said, you were teaching a class you brought up when you were in Israel

that it was filled with Apollosus cat, which that was an okay thing to disagree with me on. He's never been to Israel. Yeah. I've been there. And he may not even know what I believe his cat looks like. Yeah. And he, so we started talking about that.

I said, oh, yeah. I'm tasting fish. I said, they're there. I said, there's a reason Jesus had that meal post-resurrection. And he's like, well, that's what I was going to ask you about. I'm not sure that's true. And I thought, you're not sure it's true. He ate four meals post-resurrection.

He's like, yeah, where are you getting that? I said, the Bible? The Bible. I said, now look, most of the time I'm open to criticism. I said, but you need to go home tonight and read your Bible. I said, he had four different meals post-resurrection. He did. You were correct, sir.

But you know what he said, which was so funny? He said, well, why would he do that if he was imperishable? And he didn't use the word imperishable. I think he said immoral. And I said, that's the point. I was like, we, he was the new image of God. I said, you know the verse. Did you think a man who can cook as good as him would take that as one of the greatest things that could ever be?

That's the way I'm looking at. That's what I said. I said, look, you have a special talent. No heart disease, no fatty liver, none of that. God values people as family eating together. and you're seeing a sign that this is going to happen forever. What we're a part of him bringing families together as a family of God, and that's why he came and died.

He wouldn't have been having these meals post-resurrection. It also testifies to the fact that God values the physical world. You know, so much of Christian theology in the way I grew up, I always associated it with spiritual. and physical, spiritual good, physical bad, but that's not what, that's not the gospel of the kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom is that it's all gods. And so it's an embodied spirituality, too. That's another thing.

It actually takes, God takes the form of a human body. And post-resurrection, the fact that he is still eating tells us that our physical bodies matter. And that there's value to that. and that God values that and God values his creation. He values food. He values a wedding feast. It's not, you know, this whole secular, sacred divide is not in the Bible. It's all, it's all sacred.

It's all his. And really, Zach, you just described the Hebrew writer's whole point in Hebrews 1 and 2. He said it wasn't for angels he did this. It was for us because he became one of us. And it is interesting. After the verse I quoted, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. and he who wins souls is wide. If the righteous receive their due on earth,

how much more the ungodly and the sinnery. Yeah. Which that's a, yeah. Bring them all together and show them what the kingdom of God looks like. Oh, that's true. If you look at the discussion you guys are having earlier on science too, I mean, science is not a bad thing.

It's limited in how far, science is our inquiry into the next. natural world to look for cause and effect. But it's not going to lead you, I mean, to a point it can. I mean, you mentioned the beginning of the universe. You know, in Genesis 1, it says that in the beginning, God created, the heavens and the earth and the word there for create. You kind of hit on this out, but the word for create there is a word that means to create

out of nothing. Yeah. To create X-Nahiloh, it's Bhara, B-A-R-A, and it means to, there's nothing. that the stuff is made from. Now, we create stuff like this table right here. Somebody made this table, you know, 50 years ago, but they made it out of stuff that was already made. That's a different word than what the Hebrew writer says in,

or what it says in Hebrew in Genesis 1. That's the create out of nothing. And so the idea then is that the physical world was not created out of other physical stuff. It was created out of nothing. which, by the way, science does kind of show us that now that the universe had a beginning. It's impossible to deny that. And because it had a beginning, then it had to have someone who began it. And there's a whole, like, apologetic behind that.

But I just, for me and kind of what we're seeing here in our church is, is the more we can move into an embodied spirituality, I think a wedding feast is like the epitome of that. like when Lila got married, I felt the same way, you know, Joe, it was, yeah, it was,

I mean, yeah, just, but like being in there and seeing your kids, your grandkids, like seeing them take on a covenant marriage, and to be able to celebrate that.

It's not a church service, but man, is it not just filled with Jesus? And I think that's the thing that, that the, that you experience. And we've said that so much because it mirrors that. Let's,

let's take another break. I wanted to mention something that, because the podcast helps, this. So I did something I've never done in a way. I've done a lot of weddings. And I realized when I was looking to do this wedding, putting it together, that 2023, I broke a 30-year streak of doing at least one wedding every year from 1992 to 2022. And 2023, I didn't do a wedding because I don't work for the church anymore. So that's kind of, but it's weird because I didn't realize it until I looked at this spot in my nose. So I told Carly and Joey, they were starting a new streak. you know, in 2024. But someone, one of our podcast listeners named Carole, she communicates with me because she also watches our live stream. She sent me this little poem as a wedding point.

And she did it for me and Lisa because she said, I've been trying to pray and about a way to encourage you once she heard about Lisa's breast cancer. And so she sent me this thing about us. But when I read it, I was like, oh, man, this is so good for the wedding. It really fits in a conversation we're having today because when I first read this, I was thinking about the hands of Jesus, the physical hands of Jesus and what he did with him while he was here because he blessed children, remember, and so many different things. He stretched them out and allowed himself to be nailed to the cross.

And so I want to read this because Carly sent it to me and she's a podcast listener. So this was the first time I've ever used this in a wedding and it happened to be my granddaughters. I had them join hands. And then I read this. These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you that are holding yours on your wedding day as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever. And so just watching them as they're holding their hands, you know. These are the hands that will work alongside yours as together you build your future.

These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you throughout the years. And with the slightest touch will comfort you like no other. These are the hands that you will hold when you fear or grief fills your mind. These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes, tears of sorrow and tears of joy. These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children. These are the hands that will help you to hold your family as one. These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it. And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged will still be reaching for yours,

still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch. And so then that led me into talking about the hands of. Jesus and what he does for us because it says he holds us up, he lifts us up. It's still that idea that even as glorified God and man, his hands still matter to us. And so my point was to Carl and Joey, you have to always be holding his hand. You have to have that spiritual relationship that then makes your hand stronger as well. So it was a really cool thought that I'd never done before in a wedding, but Carrey, thank you. I know you listen for sending me that because that wound up being kind of something new that I've never done before in a wedding.

Well, that's why I think this is so appealing. You know, when you read Revelation 21 and see this picture of the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband, which is this image of us being married to Jesus as the family of God, you know, that word beautiful stands out to me because, in a world that seems just to make us all grumpy and think this play, you know, where is there some kind of diamond or hope, you know, out there? Where's something beautiful?

And for us to be described, inspired by the Holy Spirit in the last book of the Bible, that this is what's beautiful. What God does in people's lives and brings them as a family. and married to him, these are the beautiful things in life. It just made me reflect just in the last couple days. So my daughter's been in Central America for months, and she got home last night.

Oh, really? 11 o'clock. So my wife, we were in Nashville, we drive back because I had to do the podcast, and we had the wedding. So my wife, she drives all the way back. Then the next morning, she leaves, goes back to Nashville.

because she wanted to meet Mia when she flew in. And since we went and visited her, which I didn't get into the details about it because us being famous people, I didn't want to tell anybody where my daughter was. It was pretty much a third world country. But ever since I've gone and visited her, I just didn't feel good about it

because it was a big city. And I love the places we went and the people, and we had numerous Jesus conversations. And we went during Easter week. But still, where she was. staying. Sketchy is not the word. And I just thought,

here's my daughter. And she's only with five other students for this abroad program. They're six of them. And only two guys. And so I just, I've been waking up in the middle of night. I mean, I told Missy,

I was like, I kind of wish I hadn't had gone, you know, because I want her back on American soul. And I just didn't feel good about it. And it's a long ways. But last night, at about 11 o'clock, Missy sent me a video.

And I thought Missy was just picking her up at the airport. But it was about seven or eight of her friends that her little core group, and they all love Jesus and they're beautifully charactered people in the Lord. She sent me a video of when Mia saw them. And Missy had gone and bought all these American, like, mask, headbands, a flag. It's like, welcome back to America. It's like July the 4th. But the video, which is only about 20 seconds,

it looked like Mia had just made the winning goal, you know, in a basketball game, and they were just jumping and screaming in a circle up and down. At the airport. At the airport. Just incredible, you know, it moved me. Because I thought, now this is what the family of God, you know, looks like.

Because Mia looked a little bewilder. I mean, I'm back, but this, it was just, it was really special. And I thought, this is what you find in the family of God here. And, of course, I was thinking, thank goodness. And she was, they were going to some fast food restaurant because she just missed America. Yeah. Also. But that was one story I was going to tell.

And the other was I was watching the LSU baseball game last night, which LSU, they won the national championship last year. But this year has been difficult. I think we're next to last in the SEC. So I pretty much figured out that I was the only person watching LSU play Nickel State. And Nichols is good because they made the tournament. And they're good. Yeah, I was like, I hope we win.

So I'm watching this game, and it's six to nothing, and we're winning. And so I'm feeling good, feeling like, because Missy's gone. She's meeting Mia. Yeah. And in the eighth inning, Tommy Tanks gets up. He's, he's good if you don't know what I'm talking about. He hits his second home run to make it nine to nothing. And now I'm positive. I'm the only person watching this. What happened on that home run was one of the funniest things now that everyone is okay. In the moment, it wasn't funny. But he hits this rocket. And there's a guy. on the top row, and this guy is very large. Think, just the first thought of my head was this looks like the Michelin Man disguised as a Cajun for one night. Huge man on the top row of the bleachers, he brought his glove, he has a buddy next to him, and I guess his wife or daughter next to him, he reaches up to catch this ball,

and it goes over his glove and hits him right in the forehead. And bounces off his head out of the stadium. So look, the guy calling the game says, It's way back, it's a deep flower, boom, it's out of here. Someone help that guy. That guy needs help. I'm serious. Because it was such a dramatic shot.

And they kept putting the camera on him, you know, and he was just bewildered. And you could tell, and you could see blood right under his, his, uh, His hair line, not this cow, Paul. Well, then you know how things go in the TV world. He became the story. And you could tell he was talking, and they were like, get him some help. So then next inning, they're still on him. Josh Pearson, who's from Westboro, he's playing left field.

Well, then he brings him a ball because the sad thing about this, not only did he miss the ball. The ball went out of the stadium. He can't even get a ball for this. You know, so Josh Pearson throws him a ball. Well, he's already proven he can't catch a ball. So his buddy reaches over and catches that next shot that was fixed to have something bad and gives it to him. And so then they, even as the game ended, there were camera crews around him. They were interviewing him because he came in the story.

And he kept waving to the crowd and they going crazy. It was really funny. So I thought, well, I'm the only person who saw that. So this morning on the way down here, my son sends me a text. And I didn't read what it says because I was driving. And so I called him. And he's like, Dad, did you watch that LSU game last night? And he was what my son was probably the only other person.

And we sat there and laughed for five minutes about that instance. But what made me think is this is what family is and does. You know, you're a part of something. And the fact that he, my own son, happened to be watching that game, was incredible. It kind of made me get choked up. That's hilarious. So we got just a few minutes left. So it's dad's birthday.

Yeah. Joe, by the way, I want to thank you in front of our whole podcast audience. You've been basically feeding dad for the last six weeks because mom's been out of commission. So you've been bringing him food. He's been keeping you some sustenance with his great cooking. And you also brought a birthday presence today that we want to present to dad. It's here on the set. And so grab that.

We'll show it to the audience. If you're listening, it's a picture of our property. Yeah, here it is. Well, a place on our property. Yeah, a place. And so this was a picture that he took that. Oh, my maho trees. Well, look, let's guess this blind.

Hang on. That's because it's named the view from the blind. Yeah, that's the name of it. View from the blind. So I got to figure out which line. It's right at daylight. This is. Yep.

Do you remember which bond? I know exactly where it is and when it was. And so, you know, dad loves our hunting property. I think I know it. Is that what we call the Barrett blind? Nope. No. Nope.

I was thinking it was the lake blind. Nope. Is that the south end of the privy at all? It's the dog. That's the dog? Mm-hmm. Dog. Oh, yeah.

Teal season. It was during teal season. First one. Oh, that's the scalpel blind on the doll. Yep. So, Dad, this was issue. So you did get a birthday present today. You weren't it?

Yeah. It wasn't just you, Joe, had this blown up for you at May because he knows how much you love our property. So there's a story behind it, actually. So if you look at the, if you're looking at the actual picture itself, I named it the view from the blind. So I have now become the lowest man on the totem pole when we hunt as just. Jason will tell you.

You didn't become that. I can't see, I can't shoot, but I'm good at picking up ducks and taking care of Phil. You didn't become that. You started that. Yeah, you started as that. You started as a rookie, but you have now, now you're in the, it's like the AAA system of baseball.

Moved that to triple-off. You're up. Moving up. You're still not quiet at the big leagues, but you're on your way. Yeah, this is just the nature of duck hunting, you know, or any event. I know. I'm only kidding because you like to, you like to get them digs in on me during hunting season. And I can't, I can't, like, reply quickly enough. So Joe is Jersey Joe conjimmy.com. Jersey has a website. He does some cooking things on YouTube. He's got some cool stuff. You did check him out. He's, he's now officially part of the family. But really, it's been for a long time because Joe and Christine have been coming out and cooking a meal for mom every Wednesday and I. for years.

That's where we do our Bible study. Right. So they have a personal Bible study. And Joe and Christine feed mom and dad food, but mom and dad feed Joe and Christine spiritual food. I think it's a powerful evidence of guy. Where else in the

world could you see Jersey, New Jersey, and Louisiana get married, and a guy from Jersey become a part of a Louisiana duck squad. That's a long shot. Well, and it is. It is. Jesus brought us together, and that's what creates adventures on this life.

That's the reason I was sharing those stories. All those family stories, they matter because we're doing them together. That's it. I knew Joe had arrived when I saw the LSU license plate on his truck. I knew he had fully embraced his culture. So Joe, it's been great to have you on today, kind of reminisce, but also a good spiritual discussion as well about the importance of family. So I love you guys out there.

an unashamed nation. So thanks for sticking with us. You're our family. 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 Blaze TV at blazed.com slash unashamed.