Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 989 | Jase Makes a Fool of Himself for His Foster Kid & Throwing Shade at Immaturity in Grown Men

Episode Date: November 8, 2024

Jase freely admits to some embarrassing things he does for the sake of the toddlers in his life, and Zach’s old Disney reference has Jase jokingly sounding off about the problem with immaturity in grown men. Edward Graham, COO of Samaritan’s Purse and son of Franklin Graham, gives an overview of the long- and short-term work his organization is doing for Hurricane Helene victims. He is proud of his crew’s hard work and looking forward to aiding the people of Appalachia and Florida for as long as they need it. See how you can help Samaritan’s Purse at https://SamaritansPurse.org today! -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. Nothing's really changed for us, Jace. We're still where we were five minutes ago. Jay's still selling Tupperware. He's still does. Is there any deal on those behind you, Jay? Buy one, get one free?

Yeah. I told you all, I'm just visiting. I'm not sure what part of this. The producer. Maddie said, sit there, and I look behind me and thought, but I know how Si is, I'm sure, because I do this, he has a childlike spirit. Because this is what I spend a lot of time doing with toddlers, grandkids, and the little man that we get to keep.

We build towers like this. And that's a good thing about Sai. He's always had, I'm positive, Sai built that. Now, how they got him to not. tear it all down. That's just to say, it's not destroyed. So I don't know how it was. Yeah, because that's the next step.

I mean, you build it. I mean, what's, I did it as I was a kid. I did it yesterday with a little man. We built, we call it a Mickey Castle. For some reason, he likes Mickey Mouse. I don't, I didn't get that started. But we'll take all these cups and we'll build a tower just like that. And then they'll put these little, they're like little figurines of, you know,

Donald Duck and all this stuff. And as soon as it's all built, he just goes, wham! And then guess what the next words are? Let's build the Mickey Cup. I mean, it's like you do the whole process. Yeah.

Now, Zach, you did a sermon illustration one time. I never forgot about your kids. One of them, one of your kids took all this time to build this beautiful Lego village. and hours and hours to build it. And then one of your other kids came in and destroyed it in 30 seconds. And your point was it takes a lot more time and energy to build something than to destroy it. Ain't that the truth?

That's why I don't have a lot of, I don't get like, if you want to get online and like blast everything, I'm like, well, yeah, I get in line. It's easy. I mean, you can pick apart anything. But it's difficult. And saying that with church, by the way, you build a church. And it's easy to come in and critique and destroy and deconstruct. It's a lot more difficult to construct and criticizing it's easy.

But then like, what do you actually, like, what do you say we do? And I take that approach with my kids all the time when they complain. I'm like, okay, what's your solution? Yeah, I mean, what's the solution then? Yeah, I think that's the harder part, you know, is to find the solution. So, yeah, that was a good analogy. I need to resurrect that one. Yeah, I still remember.

Well, part of being a grandparent now is that you kind of learn this next stage, where, you know, you keep the grandkids. And there's really, if this just doesn't go well, you just say, hey, come pick them up. Yeah, that's going to be nice. So, but we have this little, little man. And somewhere at, on his little school, preschool project, they visited, like, the fire trucks and the police cars.

Yeah. So now he is obsessed with being a firefighter. And so my wife got these little. outfit and it's got a little fire helmet and you wear the jacket. But then he gives it's a whole, I mean this is embarrassing. I'm being real vulnerable here. The first thing he does when he wakes up, he goes, gets that fire helmet, puts it on

puts his jacket and he's like, I'm a firefighter. But then he gives us the costumes for us to wear. And of course my wife did it and I thought, oh, here we go. So he struggled because there's kind of a safari one, which is what I wanted, you know, but he came and handed me a shelf hat and some, they got a little spatula and I'm like, come on, man. Spatular. Spatular. Well, I don't even know. I call it egg turner, but I was trying to. Yeah. I think Missy corrected me on that too. I was like, hand me that spatula. And she

He's like spatula. And I was like, babe, at this point, we're playing a kid game with a two and a half year old. Does it really matter? Egg Turner. I hadn't heard that one in a while. That's what I call it. Egg turner. And well, Missy's like, well, what if you're not turning eggs?

I'm like, but that's what it is. It's an egg turner. So then she gets the doctor's outfit, which actually is functional. I mean, this whole guard, you know, costs five bucks probably. and you have the stethoscope and you know she has the little and so then but then he'll change our outfits but he's always the firefighter so anyway i told you all that to say missy found this little fire truck you know how they have the the motor operated you know a little little toddler can get in and everyone we bought for our kids lasted about 30 minutes yeah and then it was you know you sold it for scraps to somebody else but now it's been so long technology i mean because missy bought that i was like i cannot believe you bought this and uh she said well it it's no big deal and she got the box out i mean thing weighed

50 pounds i mean so he this is the one that he gets inside of he gets inside of and i thought this was a terrible idea i was griping the whole time because i said babe you know i'm not good at that she said it never occurred to me that you were going to put this together she said i'll put it together. She's like, it's 30 minutes. Well, three hours later, I looked down at the drive shaft on this thing and it's hanging on the floor. And I didn't say a word. And so when she got it all finished, she's like, this thing won't work. And I was like, well, it could be because the drive chef is dragging the floor. And she was like, oh, I didn't put that on the sides where the wheels could be turned. And so she had to take it apart again. And so she had to take it apart again.

and what you think, well, why didn't you do it? I could not have done a better job. I'm terrible with this kind of stuff. And we already know, we're at peace with that. But I'm really good at looking when something goes wrong and saying, you need to fix that because that won't work. So that's how we did it. And look, tempers were never raised.

That's what you're called a consultant. That's what consultant is. I'm a consultant. Yeah, they come in, they tell you what you're doing wrong. Yeah. Somebody told me one time, if I could just get access to your entire business. I can, I could critique, I could probably tell y'all where you are going wrong. I was like, I know where we're going wrong. I need the problem. The problem is I didn't know how to go right.

Yeah. How do we fix it? Yeah. So what? So we got it done. And I thought he was just going to get in it. And because I was nervous about it. I was like, this is just a bad idea. You shouldn't, there's a reason two and a half year old shouldn't be driving. Yeah. But then she handed me a remote control. and I was like, what is this new development? She's like, well, he operates it, but you can override it through the remote control,

which is why I've been pulling up my thumb sitting here, because I've lost all function out of this. Because you were working the remote. That's what happened. When he got in it, so he cranks it up. I mean, look, you push a button,

and he immediately got all that figured out. So he pushes the gas pedal, and it takes off. And he's turning the wheel. But I'm over there on the side, and we just did this in the driveway for hours until it went dead. And we just made loop after loop. And I literally could not keep my thumb functional,

which was disturbing because now when I heard that the average age of a video gamer is not what, it's not 15. It's 35, a maturity problem. I'm putting out there. No, it is. I mean, we're talking about maturity here. The average gamer.

Let's go there for a second. It is 35 years of age. And you think that's a maturity problem? Oh, it's a maturity problem. Yeah. Do it to your 15 and then move on. You got responsibility. Can I tell you something?

Like, this has potential to make people mad too, but I don't even let them in my house. I think they're addictive. I think you sit around. I mean, I think they're addictive. If the average age is 35, yeah, it's addictive. I mean,

don't play video. Don't live in the virtual world. Go out and do it in the real world. But that's interesting development, though, on the remote control. I have to say that that if had I had that little apparatus, because we had a, when Max was little, Max is now 19, but when he was about, I guess about four. We got a little something we like to call Lightning McQueen.

Because I'd just come out, cars was like the big, that was the big Disney movie. So we got the same thing. A little something called Lighting the Queen? No, Lightning McQueen. You know what that is? Lightning McQueen. No, I, you don't know. Maybe eight people on the earth who knows what that means.

I promise. It's slightly below how many people. Jay is what I love about, the little thing. He says the little thing. and then it's some obscure reference. That's not obscure. Are you guys kidding me? You've never heard of Lightning McQueen.

Oh, the producer has actually entered the discussion and said... The fourth wall has gone back. It's been broke. Thank you, Maddie. You're welcome to coming anytime like that. Lightning Queen. Lightning McQueen.

The only McQueen I know is Steve McQueen. He used to make pretty good movies back in the day. Okay. Well, I'm just going to tell you, the audience is definitely going to speak to this, but do you all know what like do you know who lightning McQueen is it's a movie it's a kid's movie a Disney movie one of the biggest hits Disney's ever made called cars and it's about this car who good but the course their cars have like a persona and a personality and they talk and all

was Larry the cable guy in this movie the cable guy was in he was okay let me give you a quote maturity is not found in Disneyland so if you're listening and you got offended by the maturity comment about video games, just know that he's also criticizing me as well for watching car. No, I'm beginning to think you're having sigh tendencies. No, no, no, no. Because about five years ago, I heard Sai say, there's a little something called Tupperware,

and it's going to take over the world. But he was just a few years behind. Well, no, and he became the flagship of that. Well, you know, they just found bankruptcy, by the way. Tupperware, I'm pretty sure. Well, that was my next line. Well, they sold it through parties that, like, women in the 60s. But the whole thing's gone under.

I think Si killed it. Well, people don't have parties to sell products anymore. Do you think Si had anything to do with the demise of Tupperware? Yeah, he pushed it over the cliff. I think he had, he, for a while, he, it was a big rise. And I think Cy single-handily kept it afloat for years. Yeah. At the end of the day.

Well, anyways, where I was going on my story is that we had a similar vehicle. It was a Lightning McQueen race car that Max would drive. We lived on one of the busiest highways in West Monroe that was probably the worst highway for like car wrecks and stuff. And particularly at our turn. But our driveway went down this long hill that was probably about 300 yards, 200 yards. And I'm driving home from work one day. and all of a sudden I see Max at about four years old, he comes out of the driveway in his Lightning McQueen

and hooks are right. And he's headed down the interstate, I mean, down toward the interstate in his Lightning McQueen. So we had the, if I had the remote control, that would have probably kept him safer. Yeah,

I was impressed. I mean, I was impressed with this thing other than I can no longer use my thumb. You know, I'll need a few days of recovery. because he just, I mean, he knew I was a part of it somehow. It's so weird how kids even at that age, they know, because I would stop. And at first, he would push the gas and I'd stop again because I'm like,

you're literally heading in a place of danger, you know. And I'd stop again. And then I would back it up. And so finally, after by the third time I did that, he looked at me. And he was like, I want to go that way. Point out. So he knew. He put it together. He put it together, which I thought was interesting.

That's funny. But it just may, it had so many kind of practical implications of what we're studying here. Because we are, you know, when he makes this statement about his goal is to bring everyone up in maturity. And he's already given these illustrations of the gospel being like a seed being planted and growing. And ultimately, you know, you think about when Jesus talks about. about the parable of the sewer and full maturity in Christ is where you're producing fruit and giving and so I just thought it was a it was a pretty good illustration well you know it's funny about the idea of fruit and maturity as you just mentioned fruit maturity and

how fruit is connected to like a plant or a vine I was there is a connection even like how Christ always really connected those two in his teachings and what he was doing when he came to essentially overthrow the temple structure and the whole system and implement what we're now a part of, which is Christ said us that we're the new temple living stones. And Mark 11, he starts off with this before he goes into his triumphal entry. I mentioned this in the previous podcast. He looks at a fig tree, which is a fruit-producing tree that wasn't producing fruit. and he cursed that, goes into the temple, overturns all the tables in the temple. And then this other thing that happens in the very next chapter

where he tells this story about a vineyard. And you say, what's the point of a vineyard? Well, a vineyard, the reason why you plant one is that so you can get grapes so you can get fruit and create this new wine. And he talked about this vineyard that he had loaned out to these guys and the father or this particular owner had loaned this vineyard to these people. And he said, I'm going to come back and I'm going to get a portion of what you, you know, create here, a portion of the fruit.

So he sends the servant, which represents the prophets. The servants go to get the, you know, the owners share the fruit. And they run him off. Another guy comes back, run him off. Another guy, they kill him. And everybody he sends, they either kill the servant or they run them off. And so finally he says, well, I'm just going to. send my son. Surely they'll respect him representing Christ. They send the son and they kill the

son. And he says this interesting thing at the end of all that that I thought was so strange how he connected this vineyard idea, this vine idea with growing fruit, this idea of growing fruit and producing fruit with the structure of the temple. Because he quotes this verse out of Psalms 118 in March 12. He says, have you not read the scripture? scripture, basically this is how the Lord's going to be upset with what you've done. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. And they were seeking to arrest him but fear the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them.

So they left him and went away. But I just think it's interesting how these two veins in scripture, one is about fruit production and vine. and trees and abiding in the vine and all that. Like that's a consistent theme in scripture, fruit production, and then where does God live in a temple and that you're the temple? And what Christ does and the Holy Spirit is they bring these two things together that Christ produces the fruit in us

when we are connected to him in the temple, which is the vine or the tree. And these two themes are, that's why you can't talk about the temple without talking about the Holy Spirit. That's why you can't talk about fruit without talking about the Holy Spirit because they're interconnected. And at the Holy Spirit, Galatians 5,

the action produced to a person's life, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, all those things that come out are fruit. And they're his fruit. And I always say, you say, well, you know, I'm not good at this or I'm not good at that. Well, the Holy Spirit is great at all of it. if you're not good at one of those elements of actionable things you see in Glacons 5 is because you're blocking what the spirit is trying to grow in you. Because what we try to focus on in the church is we try to focus on behavior modification

and let's go do these things. But Christ is not interested in modifying our behavior. What he is interested in is transforming our hearts and our condition. And so what happens is we move from like, okay, I have to now be patient to, I'm not like producing this in my own life. I actually become the kind of person that patience has manifested in. I actually become the kind of person who actually love. I'm not just treating someone kindly because I have to.

No, I actually develop genuine love for them. And I don't, I'm not, I'm not trying to act like I'm joyful and then I'm good with everything when I'm really not to try to conjure it up. But I actually am joyful, even intense situations because the fruit of the spirit is a description of, of what we become as we live in Christ and stay connected to him. So going back to that Colossians passage that we in the last episode on, that's the contingency. It's not a contingency in the way of like, if you do this,

then God's going to give you a reward and going to do this. It's not, it's not a quick quote pro. What it is is, he's saying if you, basically, if you stay connected to the source, if I stay connected,

If I stay near the water fountain, then I'm going to have a place to drink water from. If I don't, then I won't. It's that simple. So the contingency is more of a description of where life is. And so obviously, if life is only found in Christ, then, yeah, I'm only going to have it as long as I'm connected to him. It's not a quid crow pro. It's not a workspace thing that he's promoting there in Colossians when he gives that caveat when he says, if. It's just describing of the condition of what we must be connected to or rather who we must be connected to in order to receive.

Well, and it's like Jay's brought out the three S's, you know, the suffering, the serving, and the struggling. Because that's usually when you find out where what you're lacking in. It's essentially you think about one of the fruits of the spirit is patience. I've always struggled with being a patient person for whatever reason. You know, I'm always in the wrong line at the bank or the wrong line at the grocery store. And I'm just like, oh, if I had to pick this line, just instantly going there and being impatient. So you know what the Almighty did to help me learn patience? He gave me a wife.

He gave me two daughters. And then he gave me two granddaughters. And so all I had was women in my life for about 30 years. You know what that taught me? I need to be patient. Yeah. You know, I had some struggle. I had some suffering.

I had some sitting in the car fuming. And then I learned that, you know what? To be patient to exhibit this fruit of the spirit in your life makes you a much more pleasant person than being an impatient person. Yeah, that's why I brought up that illustration. It's because, I mean, to be honest, you're not going to mature going to Disneyland. When everything's fun and rosy and things are going good and it's all in the struggle and the difficulty, you know, somebody said the gift is in the gap between the, struggle and the crying out to God. I mean, there's a reason, even yesterday at church,

they preached on the beatitudes. And it's all, it doesn't sound appealing. You know, blessed of those, you know, or the poor in spirit and the meek and those who mourn and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and those who are being persecuted. And then when he did the same thing in Luke's version in chapter six, I mean, it gets even worse. Yeah. I mean, blessed are you when you're poor when you're hated when you're mourning i mean it you're like what but there's a gift in that i was doing i read uh psalm 63 just in one of my little quiet times and you know david's in the wilderness his family's in disarray he's wondering what happened to his kingdom and in that moment and i'll read it uh it's it's a very

moment when you realize you're looking to God's power and sustenance to sustain you. And it's the same reason I told that illustration about overriding what a two and a half year old is doing because the reason you don't let them have full control is they'll pull out into the interstate and get run over. But him realizing that I had that power, which it took hours for him to get over the frustration because he like everybody else, whether it's a physical maturity or spiritual maturity, we want to drive the fire truck. We want to go where we want to go, do what we want to do. And I kind of learned that in those few hours, it's very difficult to let some other power

override you without being frustrated, which is why I think it was a good illustration based on that last verse of Colossians. When he made that statement saying, you know, my goal is to present you fully mature in Christ into this, and I labor struggling with all his energy, which is so powerfully working in me. I mean, we've been overrode by God's power. and so I did a little dive into that and this Psalm 63 which is where I launched from but it says oh god you are my God earnestly I seek you my soul thirst for you my body longs for you in a dry and

weary land where there is no water I mean he's out in the desert thinking where did it all go wrong I was in charge I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory and just listen to this statement. I mean, this is where he's just broken. He says, because your love is better than life, which is quite the statement. I mean, I really reflected on that. It made me think of that verse where it says, while we were powerless and sinners, God demonstrates his love for us while we were sinners. Christ. The enemies, yeah. Yeah. While we were enemies, Christ died for us. I believe that's, what's that, Romans 5? Romans 5. Yeah. It says, and I and in your name I will lift up my hands

I will praise you as long as I live my soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods with singing lips my mouth will praise you and really that's you know gets at what we want

and to find satisfaction on earth really is every human's goal I mean everyone is looking to be satisfied And here, when he's at his worst and relying on God, he realizes that he is my satisfaction. And he goes on, I want to read the whole psalm. He says, on my bed, I remember you, I think of you through the watches of the night, because you are my help.

I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you. Your right hand upholds me. They who seek my life will be destroyed. And it's just like everything else. He had met resistance. but he realized not only is God my help, he's my satisfaction,

his love's better than life, all these people that are attacking me, he's going to work it out because it says they will go down to the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals. But the king will rejoice in God. So I don't know about the Lightning McQueen,

but according to David. It's a little something called Lightning McQueen. the king will rejoice in God, all who swear by God's name will praise him while the mouths of liars will be silenced. And so it made me go on a little power trip about why we should pursue struggling

and suffering and why we should share Jesus despite resistance. Because it's his power. And through that process, we grow. And Christ is formed in us. I mean, we're willing to take chances and be vulnerable and be vulnerable. vocal about the Lord. And so you come up with all these passages in my effort to wrap

up. But it makes you think about that verse that says, we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not us. That's, where's that at? Second Corinthians four, seven. And even First Corinthians four, 21, it's like the kingdom is not about talk, but it's about power. And even the gospel being presented, the power is in the gospel. That's why he's saying in Colossians 1,6, all over the world, this gospel is bearing fruit and growing. Well, that realization is why that we offer ourselves.

We struggle. We suffer. We serve. And I like it because it's struggling with his energy as well. So we've got a guest for the rest of our podcast. It's perfect timing because when you're talking about serving and you're talking about suffering and you're talking about this idea of struggling with his energy.

And this is a guy that helps a lot of people in difficult days. So we come back from this break. We'll introduce our guest. Welcome back. We are joined by one of our favorite family members, Edward Graham. Edward, welcome to Unashay. Thank you. So the Graham family and the Robertson family go way back.

But it's interesting because I asked you off camera if we had ever met because I didn't remember meeting you. then we've done so many different things through the years, either with your dad or with your brothers, and I see Cissy all the time. We're out doing pro-life stuff. And so we have not met. So it's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for your service. I know you spent quite a few years serving our country in the military, and so we appreciate you for that. Thank you. I enjoyed my military service. I tell people it was all I was really good at, but then God had called me to come serving ministry out of nowhere. And so I got out and been working with

dad for really about the last six years. Well, it's a good thing you knew some people who know a little bit about ministry. So that was been nice, but he had the greatest line I've ever heard, Al, when you asked him before we started running, have we ever met? And he said, no, I was busy fighting terrorists. So I don't think. We didn't cross paths. Yeah.

Unless I went to Afghanistan. You weren't on the terrace wash house. He was at that donut place. You were fighting terrorists. He was eating donuts. So I'm close to, the closest in your family probably to Will because we spent the most time together. And he's the oldest and I'm the oldest. And so we lament about our younger siblings and how hard it was to try to raise them and get them right.

So I sent him a Texas morning because you would come on the podcast. And I said, so what's an older brother question that I can ask Edward? He said, well, ask him, why did he pull his hair out when he was young? and which forced him to then have a military haircut. So that was the question of your older brother asked me to ask you. I don't know if it's because I had a nervous twitch because of Will being my older brother, but it's just my coping back and I sit there and I twirl my hair into knots when I would sit there and think and I'd be doing homework. And so they used to make fun of me.

But like I said, when I will stop growing, I didn't. And then our last fight didn't end well for him. And we've been best friends ever since. But it's Will that actually helped lead me to the Lord and not for the reason why people may think it. I was at a Billy Graham Crusade when I was about five years old in California. And Will started teasing me that I was going to go to hell because I wasn't a Christian. And so I went to Mom and told him to set them straight. And mom goes, no, he's right.

You're going to hell. So my mom led me to the Lord that day, but it was because of Will's gentle nudging. Your mom is one of my favorite people. You know, being in ministry, and I was in full-time ministry too, the conversation that we had with her, Lisa and I, because she reminded me so much of Lisa in the fact that she never had it in her mind to go into ministry and be a pastor's wife and all that. And she says what she thinks, which I love that about her. She is an amazing woman. She actually reminds because I've met your mother and your father, but they remind me a lot, they've never met a stranger. You know, they can be in the line in a grocery store, can carry on a conversation with someone they've never met before, and you would think they're best friends.

But that's my mom's strength. Dad's an introvert. So am I. You know, I would say we're high functioning, but we're, we've married women that help bring it out of us and, you know, put us in our, and to be uncomfortable, put us out of our comforts in, which is a good thing. I need that. And that's my mother. My mom's been my prayer warrior. She knew when I was misbehaving when I was off at college at West Point.

I wasn't living for the Lord. She prayed for me, put me before the Lord. And I'm here today because of a praying mother and a praying wife. So that's why I've been a firm believer of the prayer. But my mom's incredible. So was my grandmother. There never would have been a Billy Graham had there not been Ruth. We called her Teta.

It means old lady in Chinese. But Tete was my favorite. I love that woman. Yeah. There's a lot of strange similarities here. It's kind of a John the Baptist preparing the way. We're like the wilderness version of your family. I have a brother named Willie and the last fist fight I had. Now, I was older. I was 19 years old and he was 17. And we had a fist fight over who was going to access my parents' oven first, even though. One of them had a pizza and one of them had toast. I remember that. Yeah. And it was a fist fight that I won.

The old was the last one. Yeah. So I was wondering how old y'all were when y'all had this, this. I was in, Will was in seminary. Oh, you know, wow. Y'all were older than us. Yeah, and I was a, I think a junior in high school, but I'd started wrestling and, you know, I was a senior actually, I think, in high school. And I'd gotten big. And Will told me to do something.

And I was like, I'd smarted off to him. And he put up my face. And we got in a fight. Now, the corner of my eye, my dad was watching the whole time. And so after I whipped up on them, we went downstairs. Mom had thrown the dinner away. and said there's no, you know, y'all aren't eating here. And so dad looked at me, told me to get in the car.

We went and got pizza. Not a word was said. The pizza came and he looked at me and just said, Edward, I think you two are getting too old for that. You know, I love my brother. Will, we're best friends after that. And that's what brothers do. People, you know, brothers fight. Yeah.

But we also love each other and we'll fight for each other no matter what and defend each other. But I share that story because my dad let us be boys. And he let us grow up and find our own ways and our own. path, but he always brought us to the Lord. He put us on our knees every night for devotions. He'd pray with us in the morning before he went to school. And so, yeah, we made us try to solve our problems the wrong way. But dad let us learn that, but brought it back to scripture always. So he raised us to be men. Yeah. Well, we had a similar deal because my dad said, who won? And I was shocked. And I was actually convicted because we had a new Christian who witnessed the

fight, which was embarrassing. And so after it was over, like Willie took off and got in a vehicle. And, you know, he was like, I'm going to run away from home kind of mentality, which is what he usually did. But then he realized this was no longer our home anyway. So, but that new Christian said, well, that was a fine way for two Christian men to act. And when he said that, I just thought, because I was still like, I guess I would p him, you know, I had the adrenaline of don't mess with me and when he said that, you know, immature at the time as I was, I thought, oh, that was bad. This guy just watched two grown men fight. And so it was a stepping stone to maturity. But you know, Willie used to run away, but he always came back at supper. So that part's

never changed. So, Edward, you, well, I want to talk something about Samaritan's purse, because on the podcast, we have talked a lot about it. Obviously, with Zach being right there at Ground Zero. And the first thing I was going to ask you about, because you guys, like back in 2016 in West Monroe, we had a huge flood in Louisiana down south and in West Monroe. And Samaritan's purse was right there on our parking lot as the staging area. So I got to see the operation up close and personal back then. And they've been a huge supporter of what you guys are doing.

But was it different for you? In this case, you guys were right in the middle because you're based in Boone. That's right in the middle of some of the worst part of this hurricane in the storm. So what was that like having it right there in your own backyard? Yeah, this has been challenging. Where I'm sitting right now in this building was surrounded by water on both sides. I couldn't, when I walked down here, the water, I was wearing knee-high rubber boots, hunting boots. And it was coming in over my boots to get into this building.

But we had staff members that lost their homes, their cars, Unfortunately, we didn't have any staff members that lost their lives. But everything really from Boone, and we're kind of up in the northwest corner here in Wittag and Ash County. We're right on the Tennessee, Virginia line. And so everything from here all the way down past Asheville just got decimated. And so these are areas I know well because my family was raised in Montreat, North Carolina, which is right beside Black Mountain where Zach is. And so these are, everything in between was our driving route.

You know, to get here, you go through Mitchell and Yancey counties. And those have just been unlawful. unbelievably decimated with these beautiful valleys, these green valleys that you're used to see. And they're no longer, they're like a rock quarry. They're like a canyon bottom. It's all gone. And the houses, the churches, the businesses that are, they're all wiped out. And so this one's been hard, A, because we're not maybe used to storms like that up here.

We don't have flooding like this in the pound. We've had floods, but nothing like this. And to see your own staff trying to crawl out of it, but then that same staff go lead and respond, God's given us the best people. and I couldn't be more proud of them and more excited to work beside them because it's not about doing good work, it's about sharing the gospel.

Yeah. And they believe that. Well, I want to say something, because I'm here on the ground, and we've raised money. I mean, I've been blown away at the Unashamed audience,

how they've given. And we've mentioned you guys every time as well. And mainly because we know you, know your reputation, know your family, know what you guys have done, but I can tell you guys, being in the epicenter of a lot of what you just talked about,

you guys, mobilized in a fashion. It was, I mean, those orange shirts were, they descended on Swananoa where, where our church is at. And I mean, mucking out homes. I mean, the Beacon Village, that whole area, you could not find a house down there that wasn't flooded with people in orange shirts, just doing the hard yard. So, I mean, I just want to tell you, like, I'm very thankful for your presence here.

I mean, it has been very, very meaningful for a lot of people. And the testimony that you guys are leaving here is, I mean, it's life-changing. Well, our teams, that's what they do. They mobilize right away, and we got volunteers that come from all over. But this storm was different just because, you know, water, when it comes down in Florida or in Louisiana, where you are, it'll come in, flood and devastate, and then it goes back. Usually it doesn't take the infrastructure with it necessarily, the roads. And so it knocked out roads and bridges, so people were cut off. So we had to change what we normally use our helicopter for, you know, maybe in the,

in the Caribbean, for hurricane season. Island hopping where we deploy it in one of our cargo planes to Africa, we're using here. And when we started using it that Saturday, to help, really, it was a college that was cut off in Avery County. We're feeding the students water and food. NASCAR started sitting there, like the team owners that we know, like Joe Gibbs Racing and Rick Hendrick sent their helicopters. And they started partnering with us. And that grew at least two UH60s.

And then old military contacts, they started sending us MH-47. So we had, I think, in two weeks, we flew over about 365 air missions. That's probably the largest civilian airlift in history. That's tons of needed supplies. It started off with food and water, and then any storm transitions, and we transitioned to generators and fuel and heating sources. And, I mean, we're just flying them into small churches that we had from our Operation Christmas Child list up in the mountains that help partner with us. and then the emergency fire stations.

It was an unbelievable network. So the team I usually use for international disaster relief that set up our hospitals overseas. We can have a field hospital anywhere in the world about 36 hours. We use that apparatus to run this. But we also responded medically. We normally don't do that here. We did it during COVID, but we set up a Tier 1 hospital in Avery County. And then we also set up oxygen stations in tents at these hospitals to recharge people's oxygen tanks

because they were out of oxygen. And then we also, we usually can't touch water. They won't let us do water filtration systems here. Now, we have desalilization units that could take salt water and make fresh drinking water for tens and thousands of people. Each system, there are huge systems. We've got one in Swananoa right now taking water. That's how bad the water situation has been in Swaranoa. I saw it this morning.

And now the need is going down and that's good. But we were providing a lot of drinking water there the first few weeks. Well, we still don't have, you know, at least in Black Mountain Swananoa area, I think, We have water, but not drinkable water yet. And I don't know. Without what I've been told is talking 20 plus miles of water pipes that have been just gone, they're gone. I mean, it's going to be, that's, there's still a need. And the rebuild is a, what do you, I'm not to hijack the question now, but I'm just curious.

What are you guys recommending in terms? Because you've seen it. It's going to be a major rebuilding process. Infrastructure's been destroyed. I mean, what can our audience do? Yeah. to help in that effort. That's a great question.

First of all, I still need people volunteering, and that's for the long haul. So I still need, we'll be doing work orders through Christmas. When I say work orders, that's chainsaw work, mud outs, tarping a ruse. We'll be doing that at least through Christmas. We have a lot of work orders to still go through. So I still need volunteers, overnighters, and day laborers coming out. But as you said, rebuild, we normally transition into certain areas if God's given us the resources to do a rebuild.

Those are remodeling of homes. Those are building of new homes. Those are mobile home projects. Mobile homes because if you lived in a mobile home, if we built you a stick built building, you'd probably lose it with taxes. So we have to work with municipalities. A lot of cities and communities will zone out mobile homes

after something like this, unfortunately. So how do you put someone back into a home? So we're working through that right now. I've already got the team set up. We're growing that team because this will be our largest rebuild over. Our last one had been down in Houston, Texas, where we did over a thousand homes. We're looking way over, we budgeted for over a thousand homes in western North Carolina.

And we're starting that process. But this challenge, you know, in places like down in Texas, usually you're able to rebuild back on the existing lot. In this case, the land's gone in those cities places. It's like I said, a canyon bottom. So there's no land to build on. So we have in past, like I'll just, the day of the storm, I was actually in Mayfield, Kentucky. You remember that tornado came through and destroyed all of Mayfield.

feel about three years ago. Well, we just dedicated our last home there. We put 82 homes in Mayfield, Kentucky. 60 of those were in a plot of land that we bought and we built our own community from the ground up. And so I dedicated the last home in that community, got on the plane and flew back in the rain and landed in the rain, didn't stop raining for about three days. And so Samara's Purriss, we won't leave until the job's done. This is home. This is personal to my father and I, where you're talking about in Swananoa, that's his backyard that he grew up. open as a kid. We have friends there. We have family there, Black Mountain and Swanano area still. So my brother Will lives in Asheville. So we'll be working hard, but that rebuild starts here

probably, the paperwork and all that after Christmas, after we can get done to the work orders. It's not that we haven't started it already. We're working ahead and got the team moving forward on it. It just takes time with municipalities and getting approvals and paperwork. Corps of Engineers will condemn land, and we just have to work through that. But these are free homes, by the way. when we build these, there's no mortgage. It's a gift from God. We said that we always say it was paid in full with the blood of Christ up on the cross. And so unlike other organizations, when we build these homes and remodel these homes,

there's no calls to that. We only work with the underinsured and not insured. And in this case, everybody's underinsured. There's no insurance in Western North Carolina for floods. Yeah, no one had it. And I would just tell you, I mean, if you're looking for a place to give, like I appreciate the money that's been given to our church. and the volunteers.

It has been so encouraging and it's been abundant. But I will say we are a small church and we're not equipped to do it, what you guys can do. So if you really want to help here, I mean, we are telling people Samaritan's purse. Thanks. You know,

if you're connected with me at all and you're like, I mean, what you guys are doing. I mean, you are equipped to do this. And so let's hope, you know, and I think a lot of people need that.

It's encouraging. And it brings that in, which is, relief work is such a Jesus thing because, you know, Jesus had that same way about him when he was on the earth. And especially for the three years we get to read about in the red letters, he cared about folks. And I think that were what's impressed me so much about knowing your family.

And I got to meet your grandfather before you crossed over. And we had a really interesting talk. And he laughed. He said, oh, look, these bearded guys from Louisiana. You know, because Willie was with me and when we got to meet him. But what I love about it is the gospel has always been at the forefront. I love what you said. It was paid for on the cross.

But the expansion of gifts and talents in your family. I mean, just, and I'm just getting to meet you, but obviously just from hearing you describe what you're doing at Samaritan Spurs. It's obvious that the Lord trained you through your military career to be ready to do exactly what you're doing now. And everything goes for the ultimate, which is the salvation of souls, but at the same time, to help people who are struggling and help people who are suffering. And so it's all part of that same process, but getting to heavens what's all about. You know, our founder is a guy by the name of Bob Pierce. My dad, he's not the founder of Samarra's Purse. He took it over from Bob.

Bob started World Vision first. But he had some things when he started Samarans Purse. He always wanted your heart be pierced and broken by the things that break the heart of Jesus Christ. That's a certain tenderness. And he named it Samaritan's Purse. because you don't pass by anybody in the ditch. It doesn't matter their background, who they are. We go to everybody and serve, and we want to meet their immediate needs.

But the story of the Good Samaritans, he provided medicine, food, water, transportation. We do all those things that Samarra's purse, provided housing, you know, the end. That's what we do. But the most important part of that story is the debt was paid. He paid the innkeeper, the debt. That's the blood of Jesus Christ. And that's why we go. And that's what we want the whole world to know that they're not.

forsaken during these storms. They're not forgotten. God loves them. Love him so much. He sent his only son. And so this is the ministry of Samaritan's purse and the ministry of my grandfather's organization, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association that my father and my brother will run. The purpose isn't any different. The mission's not different. We just have different tools to do it. My grandfather, my dad, my brother will. They can speak in the stadiums to thousands of people at once on TV to thousands, millions. Samaritan's purse. So we go after that one person in the ditch. that couldn't make it to the stadium. It might have been war, famine, in this case, flood,

but we meet them where they are. And that's why we go, and we appreciate, we're built off the widow's might. And so if we ever lose the trust of the widow, we don't exist anymore. And I think she gives us her might, her $20 a gift a month because she's on a fixed income, because she expects us to share of the gospel and be bold about it.

Unapologetic. So I'm not ashamed. That's why I love dad. I've learned a lot from them. You know, he's, I came here to learn grace and mercy from him. Most people don't understand that, you know, how he uses grace. I think because he was showed grace. He was a wild kid growing up.

Yeah. And he had loving parents that forgave him were patient with him. But it's, we've got a lot of work to do in Western North Carolina. And we work through the local church. That's my model. We always worked. I've been asked by a lot of people, how do you all respond so quick? You're, you're beating, you know, the government in places.

Well, we respond quick because the local church knows the need. You go with them, they get their credit. God gets to glory, not Samarans' purse. Because we're going to leave one day. And what does that local church look like after we leave? Real quick, if you want to give or volunteer, you can go to Samaritanpurse.org. We'll put that in the notes, the show. And I just looked it up.

It's very easy. I actually have a green tab that says give and an orange one that says volunteer. Yeah, volunteer. It'll show you how to volunteer. I want people praying and volunteering. Absolutely. Amen. Well, I didn't even get to get into hunting because

the grams are hunters as well, just like the Robertsons. I think Jason's right. We're the backwoods redneck version more of the Graham family. That's why we love you guys so much. So give everybody our love. And man, we appreciate so much what you guys are doing. And we're all in Unashamed Nation on doing our part to help you. Thank you very much.

You know, we're proud of your family and the ministry and the opportunity you have. Know you're prayed over as well. And if there's anything we do to serve you or your family or your church, you let us know. Thank you, everyone. Appreciate you. 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

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