Speaker 1: Happy Monday, everybody. Welcome to the Grangersmith Podcast. I am
Speaker 1: excited about this episode because I have Amber with me,
Speaker 1: and she is definitely the most requested guest I've ever had.
Speaker 1: She's been on here once. I'm going to bring her
Speaker 1: on today, and she is so insightful and so eloquent
Speaker 1: in her words. I think she's going to be perfect
Speaker 1: at helping me answer some of your questions that you've
Speaker 1: sent to me through Grangersmith Podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: I have all those emails, I have the questions ready.
Speaker 1: Amber's on her way. I'm also very blessed that this
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Speaker 1: Amber right here, roll the intro, did chant in d
Speaker 1: times and long line, fool up and down on back
Speaker 1: crazy co Yeah, gation, you young lady have been highly
Speaker 1: sought after for this podcast. Oh. I have been talking
Speaker 1: to your agent trying to you know, a book of
Speaker 1: time for you to come to EU Farm and be
Speaker 1: on the podcast. And I finally got you today. How
Speaker 1: much am I getting paid? We'll talk about that. Your
Speaker 1: payment comes later. Different forms. Oh, take kisses and hugs
Speaker 1: and acts of service. Yeah, that's Amber's love language is
Speaker 1: acts of service. It didn't used to be. Yeah, it's changed.
Speaker 1: Do you know what mine is currently? Yeah, because it's
Speaker 1: changed too. Yes, quality time. Yeah, what did it used
Speaker 1: to be physical touch. Yeah, and words of affirmation affirmation
Speaker 1: you're so handsome. That's not you're so handsome. It's not
Speaker 1: words of and strong. No, that's not it either. That's
Speaker 1: just that's just flattery. Words of affirmation is like, man,
Speaker 1: your podcast is actually really reaching a lot of people,
Speaker 1: and I'm really proud of you for making the podcast
Speaker 1: that that people listen to. Noted yep, but that's not
Speaker 1: it's not as much as much anymore quality times. What
Speaker 1: it is that now and yours is acts of service. Yes,
Speaker 1: so funny. I think everyone's love language changes. So Amber Smith, Yeah,
Speaker 1: do I talk to you here? Or do I talk
Speaker 1: to the camera? You talk to me? Okay, you talk
Speaker 1: to me because this is a podcast and a lot
Speaker 1: of people listen only and there are people that watch
Speaker 1: on YouTube. But it's also it's more listen doable. Got it.
Speaker 1: So let's talk real quick about Arise with Amber. That's
Speaker 1: your segment of our show. The Smiths Our Family blog
Speaker 1: comes out Tuesdays and Thursdays, but you're Arise with Amber
Speaker 1: comes out Sunday mornings. And I'm so proud of Arise
Speaker 1: with Amber. And if you guys have not seen that
Speaker 1: tune into the Smiths on Sunday mornings at what time
Speaker 1: eight thirty eight am, eight am Central, eight am Central,
Speaker 1: and you do your Arise with Amber, and I have
Speaker 1: encouraged you now to start a Facebook page. Yes, that's
Speaker 1: a You've always had a Facebook page, obviously everyone does,
Speaker 1: but you've just started for the first time. Cannot believe
Speaker 1: it took you this song to make your public figure
Speaker 1: Facebook page, and so you're gonna start uploading your Arise
Speaker 1: with Ambers to that. I am. So that's the next step,
Speaker 1: and just kind of differentiating from the Smith's channel because
Speaker 1: I don't want it to get lost. I don't want
Speaker 1: people to remember I remember Amber said that on an
Speaker 1: Arise with Amber she talked about this exact subject, and
Speaker 1: then you can't find it because it gets lost in
Speaker 1: the Smith's flog. So I want it to live somewhere
Speaker 1: on this Facebook and there might even be another place
Speaker 1: that lives. Maybe one day it'll get its own YouTube channel. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm also coming out with my Arise with Amber website,
Speaker 1: so all the videos will be embedded there too, so
Speaker 1: perfect if anyone. I don't think anyone listened to this podcast.
Speaker 1: Everyone that knows me knows Amber. I think so. There's
Speaker 1: not very many people that don't know. But you're an
Speaker 1: amazing personality, speaker, motivational woman, teacher, servant, study your thank
Speaker 1: you so thank you, babe. That's why I got you
Speaker 1: on today. I appreciate those words of affirmation. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: happy to be here. I watch it every week and
Speaker 1: I'm happy to be sitting beside you. Well, thank you. Wow,
Speaker 1: let's get to so. I have set up an email
Speaker 1: for this podcast, Grangersmith Podcast at gmail dot com. Email
Speaker 1: me your questions and I'm going I always answered these questions.
Speaker 1: I would like to no matter who's on the podcast,
Speaker 1: start incorporating your questions. It could be anything that you
Speaker 1: want to know about. And I just went through a
Speaker 1: couple of these and grabbed I didn't really screen them.
Speaker 1: I just I got some girls, and I got some
Speaker 1: people that mentioned your name, so I just threw it
Speaker 1: into a folder called podcast Amber. I have not seen
Speaker 1: or heard any of these nuestions. I haven't really either.
Speaker 1: I'm not prepared. I haven't either. And that's kind of
Speaker 1: the fun of all these is answering off the cuff
Speaker 1: so that it feels like we're just you called me
Speaker 1: with something and I'm answering it in the truck or
Speaker 1: the living room or whatever. So do you want to
Speaker 1: dive into this? Yeah? Okay, this one said. I'm glad
Speaker 1: I didn't say the name because it says the first sentences,
Speaker 1: I would like to stay anonymous. I'm from northern Minnesota.
Speaker 1: I want to start off with thanking you for your
Speaker 1: music and all the content that you put out. It's
Speaker 1: really changed my life. Thank you, says I have a
Speaker 1: question for you. How do you get over the loss
Speaker 1: of a loved one. I've recently gone through the loss
Speaker 1: of my dog that I handled in my eighth month
Speaker 1: deployment in Afghanistan. I suffer from really bad PTSD and
Speaker 1: my dog did too, but when we were together, we
Speaker 1: were fine. I can't sleep some nights. Any tips on
Speaker 1: falling asleep without having to take meds. I'm trying to
Speaker 1: stay away from that kind of stuff. Once again, thank
Speaker 1: you for your music and all your content. You'r Podta
Speaker 1: cast has changed me as a person and has changed
Speaker 1: others around me. From that way that I am now
Speaker 1: much love so our anonymous writer. First of all, thank
Speaker 1: you for your service. I can't imagine and I shouldn't
Speaker 1: even get into why you suffer from really bad PTSD
Speaker 1: and why your dog did as well. But thank you
Speaker 1: for your your deployment in Afghanistan. And I'm I can
Speaker 1: only imagine the things that you've seen and the and
Speaker 1: I can only imagine the reasons why your dog became
Speaker 1: a crutch for you. And we all, I mean, we're
Speaker 1: dog lovers huge doy F three, So I get I
Speaker 1: totally have empathy for the attachment that a dog could
Speaker 1: could bring to you, and and I totally have empathy
Speaker 1: for the loss of a dog. I've had dogs my
Speaker 1: entire life, and I've lost some amazing best friends of mine.
Speaker 1: Do you want to get into this? Yeah? Do you
Speaker 1: want me to just answer a little bit first in
Speaker 1: the yeah? Yeah, we could both just kind of play
Speaker 1: off of it. Okay, So the first thing I saw
Speaker 1: was how do you get over the loss of a
Speaker 1: loved one? And I just want to say, whether it's
Speaker 1: a pet or a person, you're never going to be
Speaker 1: over it, at least in my opinion. I don't feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, we've lost your dad, we've lost riv. I
Speaker 1: don't feel like we're ever going to be over those losses.
Speaker 1: They are pieces of our heart. They are pieces of
Speaker 1: our history and our love, and our family and our blood.
Speaker 1: And I don't think you ever get over that. I
Speaker 1: think you learn, as we've said, you learned to carry it.
Speaker 1: You absorb that, You absorb it, and you learn a
Speaker 1: new way of walking kind of with that limp. Now
Speaker 1: you know, we have what did we say in one
Speaker 1: we kind of have a little a disability nowah, yeah,
Speaker 1: nothing against true, you know, true physical or mental disabilities.
Speaker 1: But you you learn to live with the disability in
Speaker 1: your life and and you have to just try to
Speaker 1: do the best that you can moving forward. You're never
Speaker 1: gonna You're never gonna forget. You just have to do
Speaker 1: the work of grief, which is a lot of work.
Speaker 1: Do you want to go from Yeah, I was going
Speaker 1: to say, I think, yeah, you did a great setup
Speaker 1: for this and you lost you lost your dog, and
Speaker 1: it probably I'm imagining that that loss is a lot
Speaker 1: tougher for you because of what you went through with
Speaker 1: the dog during your eight month deployment. I'm imagining you
Speaker 1: saw some really bad things that that people see in war,
Speaker 1: and with your dog by your side, when you came
Speaker 1: back off of deployment and you had that dog that
Speaker 1: dog was the one good, positive thing that you brought
Speaker 1: home from the war, and then when you lost your dog,
Speaker 1: it felt like it amplified all the bad things that
Speaker 1: happened in the war, and you lost your dog, it's
Speaker 1: like you lost what you lost in the war all
Speaker 1: over again. And that is a detachment that's going to
Speaker 1: be really hard to break away from because normally I
Speaker 1: would say, and I still am going to say this,
Speaker 1: but normally I would say, at the loss of a dog,
Speaker 1: the best solution for after the loss of a dog
Speaker 1: is a puppy. And not quickly, you know, like not
Speaker 1: like the day after or anything, but once you feel
Speaker 1: like you've stabilized a little bit of that loss. I
Speaker 1: feel like a puppy changes the dynamic of the household
Speaker 1: because we're dealing with it right now. They're just they're
Speaker 1: so energetic, they're crazy. There are a lot of work,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of responsibility. And while you're working
Speaker 1: and frustrated and crazy and teaching and laughing and you
Speaker 1: are at the same time you're starting a new love
Speaker 1: for this creature. And then all of a sudden years
Speaker 1: go by and because of that, the adversity that you
Speaker 1: went through with the crazy puppy years. Eventually you go, wow,
Speaker 1: I actually I love this dog. Now, this is gonna
Speaker 1: be hard for you, the anonymous writer, because you're gonna think,
Speaker 1: if you get a puppy, you don't know what I've
Speaker 1: been through, and you don't know what my dog's been through. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but here's what I would say. This is how I
Speaker 1: can't counter that if you get a new puppy now,
Speaker 1: it's going to be dealing with your PTSD and the
Speaker 1: changed person that you are, not only from what you
Speaker 1: saw in war, but because of the loss of your
Speaker 1: last dog. And so you could argue that this dog
Speaker 1: is going to war for you as well. This new
Speaker 1: puppy will be going to war for you and going
Speaker 1: through something now that your other dog didn't as a soldier. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's never it's never going to replace your other puppy,
Speaker 1: Like it's not. It's never going to replace that. But
Speaker 1: in a kind of a good way, it's going to
Speaker 1: keep you busy, and it's going to keep your mind occupied.
Speaker 1: And for me, I know, if my mind is idle,
Speaker 1: it goes to bad places and I but if I'm
Speaker 1: busy and I keep my mind occupied, I'm good and
Speaker 1: so so here's my mission for you. Take your time,
Speaker 1: do what you got to do. You don't move on,
Speaker 1: you move forward, Get that new puppy, take a picture,
Speaker 1: and then send it to this podcast email Grangersmith Podcast
Speaker 1: at gmail. It's just I won't have to share it
Speaker 1: on the air or anything. I just want to see.
Speaker 1: I want to see your smile with your new puppy.
Speaker 1: And forgive me if this is If this answer is
Speaker 1: insensitive at all to you and your situation, I hope
Speaker 1: it's not. But it's the truth of what I think. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, well we Luna's brought us so much joy.
Speaker 1: Our new puppies brought us so much joy. Can I
Speaker 1: just answer one more thing? It because they said how
Speaker 1: do how can I sleep? And I know you're having
Speaker 1: trouble sleeping? Quiet your mind before before bed, you do
Speaker 1: a lot of meditation, you know, listening to maybe soft music,
Speaker 1: or read a book, or do a lot of prayer.
Speaker 1: I felt the same way as you. People kept saying,
Speaker 1: you know, after our situation, well just take some sanax
Speaker 1: and you can sleep. I didn't want to take medication either,
Speaker 1: So stick with that. If you fill againsto that, stick
Speaker 1: with it and do a lot of pray and do
Speaker 1: a lot of praying before you go to sleep, and
Speaker 1: hopefully that can can rest your mind a little bit
Speaker 1: if anyone has never prayed before. Sometimes you could hear
Speaker 1: people faith based people talking about prayer and it sounds
Speaker 1: it sounds like something you got to learn, or you
Speaker 1: have to say specific words, or you have to read
Speaker 1: about how to pray. But I promise you there's a
Speaker 1: lot of prayers that have started like this. Hey God,
Speaker 1: it's me. I know you know me, even though I
Speaker 1: feel like I don't know you, I don't know how
Speaker 1: to pray, but I'm learning here and I just want
Speaker 1: to say that I'm kind of scared and I could
Speaker 1: use your help. Yeah, I need you. Boom. That's it.
Speaker 1: That's first prayer. Yeah, see what happens and take it
Speaker 1: from there. You ready for another one? Sure? Okay? The
Speaker 1: subject line on this one is Amber so oh okay,
Speaker 1: since hey Granger, and my name is Dee. I live
Speaker 1: in Sugartown, Louisiana. The Smith Channel is how I found
Speaker 1: her music. I've watched every episode of y'all's channel. Thank
Speaker 1: y'all for all that you do. After y'all lost riv
Speaker 1: I know Amber had a hard time filming the Smiths.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you did too. A lot of her parts
Speaker 1: were filmed in the closet of y'all's bedroom, and once
Speaker 1: she said she was unsure if she wanted to continue
Speaker 1: doing videos, but you told her just to try. My
Speaker 1: question is, how has it been for you watching Beauty
Speaker 1: from the Ashes as she does arise every week? Her
Speaker 1: honesty and openness and heart make me cry every week.
Speaker 1: I feel like your mom. When you asked her in
Speaker 1: the smith video about Amber, your mom teared up and said,
Speaker 1: I just love her, and that's how I feel. She
Speaker 1: brings me a little bit closer to Christ every week.
Speaker 1: Thank y'all for making Faith and Family videos. They're the
Speaker 1: best thing I watch every week. God bless D. Thank
Speaker 1: you D so much. Shout out to Louisiana. I appreciate
Speaker 1: you writing this podcast. And I bet you didn't know
Speaker 1: when you wrote this that she would be sitting next
Speaker 1: to me. Amber would be sitting next to me. I
Speaker 1: bet you didn't know you were going to make me cry. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and let me be honest with you, D. You said,
Speaker 1: how's it been watching Beauty from the Ashes If she
Speaker 1: does arise every week? Her honesty and openness. It's been
Speaker 1: it's been very difficult for me to watch her. It
Speaker 1: was really difficult for me to watch her in the closet.
Speaker 1: And I'm I love seeing what Arise with Amber is
Speaker 1: now and I feel like it's just the very very
Speaker 1: beginning of a rise with Amber. I feel like it
Speaker 1: has it has so many more people that it's going
Speaker 1: to reach one day. But but it's been hard. It's
Speaker 1: it's always was hard to watch, you know, your wife
Speaker 1: broken on a video because you didn't hold anything back.
Speaker 1: You still don't, and so I would I would have
Speaker 1: to those early Smith days when she was in the closet,
Speaker 1: I would have to just skip forward because I can't
Speaker 1: sit there and watch her, you know, cross legging on
Speaker 1: the carpet, just letting her heart out. I couldn't do it.
Speaker 1: So but that's okay that I couldn't do it. I
Speaker 1: knew that you being able to reach other people would
Speaker 1: be not only part of your healing, but healing to
Speaker 1: so many others. And that was a responsibility that you accepted.
Speaker 1: And it's been incredible to watch. I remember that day,
Speaker 1: I think you were going on tour. You were on tour,
Speaker 1: and it was and I hadn't filmed anything for the
Speaker 1: Smith since and you said, why don't you just try
Speaker 1: to film something today? And I remember that moment, I
Speaker 1: remember what I was wearing, I remember where I was,
Speaker 1: and I just thought, I don't think I can. I
Speaker 1: don't think I have anything, and you just said, just
Speaker 1: turn it on and see where it goes. And thinking
Speaker 1: back now, that has been such a catalyst that's led
Speaker 1: to a rise with Amber, because that was the first step,
Speaker 1: was just turning that camera on and just letting my
Speaker 1: emotions out. And then so that turned into talking about
Speaker 1: my feelings, talking about my faith, which turned into the
Speaker 1: arise with Amber. And so just for just to for
Speaker 1: people to say she brings me a little bit closer
Speaker 1: to Christ each week, like that makes me cry because
Speaker 1: I've said it on my arise. If you would have
Speaker 1: told me fifteen years ago that I would be sharing
Speaker 1: the love of Christ, I wouldn't have believed you because
Speaker 1: I didn't know it in my heart. And so for
Speaker 1: me for people to tell me that I'm bringing them
Speaker 1: to Christ just makes me so happy. And it's not
Speaker 1: by my doing of any way. It's just by the
Speaker 1: glory of God and his work and his love in
Speaker 1: my life, and I'm just I'm so happy for you,
Speaker 1: for people that are that are coming to Christ because
Speaker 1: of riv or me or Granger or our story. I
Speaker 1: just hope you keep on that path, and I just
Speaker 1: thank you for supporting us through our journey. Thank you.
Speaker 1: D I answer another one, or take a break, whatever
Speaker 1: you need to do. Let's take a quick break and
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Speaker 1: I said, I just I kind of grabbed a couple
Speaker 1: of these as This one says, Hey Granger, my name
Speaker 1: is Amber Jackson. I'm from North Carolina. Shout out to
Speaker 1: North Carolina. My question is, before you got a big
Speaker 1: name in country music, how did you and Amber stay
Speaker 1: faithful during the rough patches in your marriage and financial
Speaker 1: struggles that came with it? Thanks so much, and I
Speaker 1: hope you read this. My daughter ray Lynn loves you guys,
Speaker 1: especially London. Ah. Hi, ray Lynn, you'd go to that one. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's see, before you got a big name in country music,
Speaker 1: how did you neighbor stay faithful during the rough patches
Speaker 1: in your marriage? I mean, I think you've answered this before.
Speaker 1: We we haven't really had rough patches in our coupleship.
Speaker 1: We've we've gone through rough rough times, but we haven't
Speaker 1: had really rough patches where we had to stay I mean, well,
Speaker 1: part of this. Part of this question is before you
Speaker 1: got a big name, how did you neighbor stay faithful
Speaker 1: during rough patches. I can clear that up easily by
Speaker 1: saying that it has nothing to do with me having
Speaker 1: a big name or not, because we've had Yeah, we've
Speaker 1: had financial struggles, and before before I was making better money,
Speaker 1: it shows money was really tight for us. But the
Speaker 1: crazy thing is that as you get bigger and you
Speaker 1: get a bigger name, as you said Amber, then you
Speaker 1: have more expensive overhead. You know, there's a time when,
Speaker 1: for example, we have two buses and a semi truck
Speaker 1: and fourteen crew guys rolling down the road. You have
Speaker 1: to make a lot of money each night to pay
Speaker 1: all those people, all that diesel, that all the lights
Speaker 1: that were in the semi were all least, all the
Speaker 1: music gear and all that stuff is so expensive. So
Speaker 1: then you rewind ten years when we were in a
Speaker 1: van and trailer and we weren't making nearly as much money,
Speaker 1: but we also weren't paying nearly as many bills. So
Speaker 1: what I'm trying to say is we've had rough, rough
Speaker 1: financial patches in the height of my career because all
Speaker 1: of a sudden you can get you could get hit
Speaker 1: with a bill that's astronomical for because of a hurricane
Speaker 1: came through and canceled a festival like whatever, and you
Speaker 1: just go, oh no. I mean COVID is the perfect example.
Speaker 1: COVID canceled my whole year, you know, and devastated us.
Speaker 1: That's actually probably been more of a financial struggle than
Speaker 1: anything before I had a record deal, because that started
Speaker 1: hitting my band and crew hard, you know. But go ahead.
Speaker 1: I was just going to say, the way she words it,
Speaker 1: how did you andighbor stay faithful during the rough patches?
Speaker 1: I don't know if that means staying faithful to God
Speaker 1: or keeping our faith or staying faithful to each other.
Speaker 1: I think she means each other because she's talking about
Speaker 1: financial struggle, and she's probably insinuating that when when times
Speaker 1: are tough and you can't pay the bills, couples usually fight, yeah,
Speaker 1: and argue with each other, and we just never did.
Speaker 1: I think we just read each other. And I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously we get frustrated, and I you know, I can
Speaker 1: tell when you get a little heated, and you can
Speaker 1: tell when I get a little frustrated or heated, and
Speaker 1: we just kind of back off. But it's it's our
Speaker 1: commitment that we made to each other to stay faithful.
Speaker 1: We made a promise to each other just through thicker, thin,
Speaker 1: better or worse, and that we just work through that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and talk. We talk financial struggles. We've almost had fun
Speaker 1: with it. And it sounds crazy, but like when COVID hit,
Speaker 1: we sold our house, we sold a ton, We paged Craigslist, Facebook, marketplace,
Speaker 1: we purged so much. We sold everything that we didn't
Speaker 1: need we sold, and I picked up in my crafting
Speaker 1: in my Etsy shop and started selling more stuff, more
Speaker 1: little hobbies type stuff just to bring in a little
Speaker 1: extra income to it. So we've always kind of compensated
Speaker 1: and just never worried about where the next meal is
Speaker 1: going to come from, knowing that we'll be provided for
Speaker 1: even if we got to eat ketchup packets for dinner. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, and you know we've had times and when
Speaker 1: when we were first married, when we had nothing, we
Speaker 1: had way more death than we had in the bank,
Speaker 1: and we just we knew we were going to be okay. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're both on the same path. Yeah, So thank you
Speaker 1: Amber for the question. I hope we answered it. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: this question comes from Kenneth. He says, Hey, mister Smith,
Speaker 1: I watched a video of you making chicken noodle soup
Speaker 1: at your old house with the kiddos. My wife was sick,
Speaker 1: so I decided i'd make it for her to help
Speaker 1: her feel better. And I cannot find that video. Please help.
Speaker 1: PS If you film another music video in Smithville, can
Speaker 1: you request to have the fire department. We're much better
Speaker 1: than the police department. Hey, Kenneth, what's up? Shout out
Speaker 1: to Smithville, Texas. That's where we filmed. You're in it
Speaker 1: music video. I filmed Beneath the Darkness there, and you
Speaker 1: filmed a movie there called Beneath the Darkness with Dennis Quaid. Yes,
Speaker 1: so we know that town. So and you're talking about
Speaker 1: you said chicken noodle soup, but I think you're talking
Speaker 1: about chicken and dumblings. Yeah. Yeah, that's probably why you
Speaker 1: can't find it. Yeah, maybe so. So I could tell you, though, Kenneth,
Speaker 1: you could use this video as your reference. It's so
Speaker 1: easy my recipe, so yours is much more complicated. Mine
Speaker 1: is so easy. I know. I like my little creamier. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you get you go, get you some go to
Speaker 1: the grocery store. And grab What I usually do is
Speaker 1: the chicken breast or bone in chicken. It doesn't really matter.
Speaker 1: You get any kind of chicken you want when you
Speaker 1: go in the backyard and get your chicken. So boil
Speaker 1: that water and put your chicken breast straight in there
Speaker 1: and boil it for it's like twenty minutes. Pull it out.
Speaker 1: It's super hot. But then you just kind of shred
Speaker 1: it right there and get it into the chunks that
Speaker 1: you like, the size chunks that you like. Then you
Speaker 1: get you some biscuits, good old fashioned whatever you want,
Speaker 1: butter biscuits, the kind that you roll up and you
Speaker 1: hit it on the table and you wow, scaresy it
Speaker 1: pops out, and then you pull those chunks and get
Speaker 1: about the size that these are going to be your dumplings.
Speaker 1: Get chunks about the size that you want, and start
Speaker 1: you put that in the back into the boiling water,
Speaker 1: the broth, and you fill that with biscuits and they're
Speaker 1: all floating, and then you put your chicken back in there,
Speaker 1: or vice versa, however you want to do it. You
Speaker 1: put a little salt and pepper seasoning, and then as
Speaker 1: the dumplings sink, that means it's ready. It's literally it.
Speaker 1: You need you put veggies in there, like carrots and celery,
Speaker 1: only because you like to do it. But you do
Speaker 1: not have to put any veggies in there. You could
Speaker 1: just haveastr chicken and biscuits and water. Yeah, you could
Speaker 1: have chicken, biscuits and water. And it's amazing. Chicken and dumplings.
Speaker 1: It is. It's good. But you need a little bit
Speaker 1: more than that. And for me, I forgot to say
Speaker 1: that at the beginning, when you put the water in it,
Speaker 1: you it takes a little bit to figure out how
Speaker 1: much water so that you don't have too much, because
Speaker 1: the less water, the thicker the brew is going to be.
Speaker 1: So is that what you call it? What you call
Speaker 1: it rude broth? No, there's something that's not right anyway.
Speaker 1: Do not come to us for cooking advice. Oh but
Speaker 1: these chicken dumblings are good. There you go, Kenneth. That's
Speaker 1: for your wife if she gets sick again. This one
Speaker 1: says high Grangeer. I have been listening to your music
Speaker 1: since you released color Blind and then got into your
Speaker 1: previous albums. They're on repeat. Your songs from the start
Speaker 1: are considered hits to me. And I was wondering if
Speaker 1: you ever considered putting on the greatest hits album including
Speaker 1: those Those are greatest hits to me too. Thanks deb
Speaker 1: Thank you. Deb You still wake up to color Blind,
Speaker 1: don't you. I used to put our kids to sleep
Speaker 1: to color Blind. I love his old albums, Guys, if
Speaker 1: you haven't heard them, go search his old albums. They
Speaker 1: are so good and you could tell it's crazy. You
Speaker 1: can listen to how his voice has changed so much
Speaker 1: over the years. But I still go back to some
Speaker 1: of those really old good songs. So, Debra, there's something
Speaker 1: you know. There's a lot of problems that technology has
Speaker 1: brought to the music business, but there's way more good
Speaker 1: that it's brought. And what's amazing. I'm a Spotify user
Speaker 1: hashtag not sponsored. But it's the same with Apple Music
Speaker 1: or Pandora. There's a million different music hosts. I'm a
Speaker 1: Spotify user personally in my personal life. I have to
Speaker 1: facilitate all of them for my job and have to
Speaker 1: talk to all of them, make all of them happy,
Speaker 1: make sure my songs are all on all of them.
Speaker 1: But in Spotify in particular, you could carry any song
Speaker 1: by any artist and go all the way back and
Speaker 1: that's why I love it. And the Greatest Hits albums
Speaker 1: are more way more of a novelty now than they
Speaker 1: are a music discovery. Like back in the day, I'd
Speaker 1: go get George Straight Greatest Hits Volume two, and that
Speaker 1: would be a way to collect all my favorite songs
Speaker 1: from George or I remember the Eagles Greatest Hits Volume
Speaker 1: two is amazing album, and that's a great way to
Speaker 1: put in your vehicle on a CD, your favorite songs
Speaker 1: from that artists all collected in one. But these days
Speaker 1: you don't. Everything's on your phone anyways. Spotify could get
Speaker 1: you any one of my songs. So the only reason
Speaker 1: for me to put out a Greatest Hits album would
Speaker 1: be a novelty reason to make a physical copy so
Speaker 1: that I could sign it. And it's part of a
Speaker 1: promotion deal for you guys, But it really has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with the actual songs themselves, can you because
Speaker 1: you can get those anywhere for free right now. You
Speaker 1: can go on YouTube right now and listen to most
Speaker 1: all of my songs and definitely on Apple Music or
Speaker 1: Spotify or all that kind of stuff. Yeah, but thank
Speaker 1: you for thinking about Deborah. If you see me, do
Speaker 1: it it's not because I want you to listen to
Speaker 1: the songs for the time. I'm just trying to get
Speaker 1: something to autograph and get to you, all right. This
Speaker 1: question comes from Dylan from California. He said, I'm seventeen
Speaker 1: years old. I love the Channel and I just listened
Speaker 1: to my first podcast today because I've never been a
Speaker 1: podcast person, but it really had me thinking about myself.
Speaker 1: Life right now really sucks for me. So much death
Speaker 1: and suffering for me within all the quarantine, as so
Speaker 1: many family members and close friends have died within all
Speaker 1: this and it's been brutal. A close friend and teammate
Speaker 1: of mine died in a car accident about a month ago,
Speaker 1: and I still haven't taken it all in. I've also
Speaker 1: lost a great great uncle that was very close to
Speaker 1: me due to cancer, and I couldn't even see him
Speaker 1: due to the regulations in California and all our hospitals.
Speaker 1: I haven't been outside to hang out with friends and
Speaker 1: my family, and I can't do anything. I feel so
Speaker 1: alone inside of this quarantine. My grandmother has also said
Speaker 1: she doesn't know if she even wants to live anymore
Speaker 1: because she's so lonely. And I tried my best to
Speaker 1: go see her as much as possible, but she lives
Speaker 1: three hours away, and it sucks because she lives how
Speaker 1: she lives. Anyway, my question is what is the best
Speaker 1: way to grieve with all that's been that I've been through,
Speaker 1: especially during these terrible times. Thanks Granger, Dylan. I just
Speaker 1: sat there kind of shaking my head out of my
Speaker 1: heart just hurts for you. And I know California is
Speaker 1: much different than Texas, but you even said, we even
Speaker 1: said at the beginning of this pandemic or a couple
Speaker 1: months in that the effect that it is having on
Speaker 1: people mentally is so much worse than and not to
Speaker 1: discount anyone who's been sick or who's passed away from COVID,
Speaker 1: I understand, but there is the mental aspect that we
Speaker 1: have to look at that it's making people not want
Speaker 1: to live anymore. Yeah, with respect to going to see
Speaker 1: your grandma or getting outside, Dylan, strap on some gloves
Speaker 1: and put on a mask and get yourself outside, buddy,
Speaker 1: go I would be traveling to see my grandmother, I would.
Speaker 1: You know, you need that relationship, you need you need
Speaker 1: to see people, You need to see your friends and
Speaker 1: talk and and I know that might be going against
Speaker 1: the rules and the law, but I think for your
Speaker 1: mental health, you gotta talk. You gotta be talking to somebody.
Speaker 1: You gotta see the sunshine. You gotta fill your grandmother's hug.
Speaker 1: For me, I just my heart hurts for people who
Speaker 1: are suffering that way alone locked in a house. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So the first thing that I see from you, Dylan,
Speaker 1: is that you're seventeen. And when I was seventeen, all
Speaker 1: my emotions were heightened, whether that was happiness or sadness,
Speaker 1: excitement or worry, stress or joy, all they're all super
Speaker 1: sensitive when you're seventeen years old. And that's not a
Speaker 1: knock on you at all. That's just, you know, that's
Speaker 1: how the human body is kind of built, is that
Speaker 1: there's a time in your teens when I always look
Speaker 1: at it, when I look back in my teen years,
Speaker 1: when I look back at seventeen, it sounds like a song.
Speaker 1: I feel like I was a horse with blinders on,
Speaker 1: and I can only see straight ahead of me and
Speaker 1: right down the path that I was on, and so
Speaker 1: much so I wish I could have knocked those blinders
Speaker 1: off and taken a look at the world around me
Speaker 1: with a new perspective, and I feel like, in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, this is what's happening to you, because
Speaker 1: I understand you've lost a close friend and a teammate
Speaker 1: in a car accident a month ago, and you've lost
Speaker 1: a great great uncle that you're very close to. I'm
Speaker 1: assuming that those are the only two people that you've lost,
Speaker 1: because you said you've I'm assuming that's that's what you're
Speaker 1: going through. And that's terrible in itself. Lost is terrible
Speaker 1: and all relative to the person. But I will say
Speaker 1: that I would not I would hesitate with letting the
Speaker 1: world tell you that life sucks right now, because that's
Speaker 1: what the world's trying to tell us right now. The media,
Speaker 1: social media, the politicians, they're trying to tell us that
Speaker 1: life sucks right now because the more they tell us that,
Speaker 1: the more we rely on them. And this is not
Speaker 1: a conspiracy theory, this is not this is not like
Speaker 1: a weird, quirky point of view. This is just this
Speaker 1: is reality. The more you tell someone that they should
Speaker 1: be scared, the more they will rely on you because
Speaker 1: you're the You're the person that obviously is bringing the
Speaker 1: the information to them. Don't let that happen don't let
Speaker 1: the people feed you. And I'm not I'm not even
Speaker 1: saying they're lies. I'm not saying they're feeding you fake news.
Speaker 1: I'm not going there. I'm just saying, don't let doom
Speaker 1: and gloom come into your life because someone's telling you
Speaker 1: you should doom and gloom because you lost a close
Speaker 1: friend to a car accident and you lost your great
Speaker 1: great uncle. That just happens. I'm so sorry, man, Dylan.
Speaker 1: I hope that I'm not the first person that told you,
Speaker 1: that has told you this. But life in humanity is
Speaker 1: so much about suffering. We will suffer, we do suffer,
Speaker 1: We continually suffer, and we will always suffer. But that's
Speaker 1: not the point of life. The point is what will
Speaker 1: you do with it? What will you learn from it?
Speaker 1: How will you overcome it? And will you realize and
Speaker 1: this is the truth, will you realize that through this
Speaker 1: suffering you will be better because of it. That's a fact.
Speaker 1: You will if you choose to accept that challenge. You
Speaker 1: will take this suffering. You will take the loss of
Speaker 1: your close friend, and you'll be better because you knew him,
Speaker 1: and because you went through this and because you were
Speaker 1: fundamentally broken and rebuilt. You will take the loss of
Speaker 1: your great great uncle to cancer and you will learn
Speaker 1: from that. You'll be better because you were close to
Speaker 1: him and you knew him. You'll take all the best
Speaker 1: things that he was and you'll drive forward with armor.
Speaker 1: Now it's all about, like you said, it's making a choice.
Speaker 1: And I'm so sorry for what you've gone through in
Speaker 1: your pain, and it makes it so much worse when
Speaker 1: you're stuck inside somewhere and you couldn't be there to
Speaker 1: be with your uncle. Was it your uncle or his
Speaker 1: friend he couldn't be there with But if you switch
Speaker 1: the channel in your mind, maybe I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: you're a believer, but maybe God was protecting you in
Speaker 1: some way that you weren't supposed to be there with
Speaker 1: them at that moment. But allow yourself to grieve, allow
Speaker 1: yourself to feel every emotion, and then pick yourself up
Speaker 1: and make the choice and honor their lives moving forward.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how long ago this was that you
Speaker 1: lost them, But when you feel the time is right,
Speaker 1: allow yourself to grieve, pick yourself up, and then choose
Speaker 1: to do something to honor them in some way. I
Speaker 1: think that has helped in finding meaning in our situation, Yeah,
Speaker 1: joy comes from suffering. There is no joy, There is
Speaker 1: no happiness without suffering. Because if you don't have suffering,
Speaker 1: if you don't have adversity, if you don't have hard times,
Speaker 1: you have no perspective on what's good or bad. It
Speaker 1: doesn't even matter. You're just in a living void of whiteness.
Speaker 1: You're just in a pale, gray nothingness, and you don't
Speaker 1: know what's up or down, or what's good or bad
Speaker 1: until you have the bad, until you know the darkness,
Speaker 1: until you know the pain. Then there's your level. There's
Speaker 1: how you build from that, from the ashes, as like
Speaker 1: we said in that last comment, and build from the ashes,
Speaker 1: and then you experience the fullness of joy. How do
Speaker 1: you know when you eat? When you eat cake, a
Speaker 1: really sweet, delicious cake, how do you know that cake
Speaker 1: is good until you've had something super bland and gross.
Speaker 1: If all you have is cake, that's just food, it's
Speaker 1: nothing until you eat something that's blanded, like dried, stale bread,
Speaker 1: eat that enough, and then you have that cake and
Speaker 1: you go, oh, life is truly rich and beautiful and good,
Speaker 1: just like the cake is truly rich and beautiful and
Speaker 1: good and I know that because I've had so much
Speaker 1: of the stale stuff and you, but my friend, Dylan,
Speaker 1: you're going to be stronger, You're going to be better.
Speaker 1: There is hope, there is joy in your future. There
Speaker 1: is also suffering. But embrace the suffering is something that's
Speaker 1: going to make you better. Challenge yourself to say more suffering.
Speaker 1: Why are we suffering? Why is the world broken? Because
Speaker 1: it's supposed to be. That's the world doing what the
Speaker 1: world going to do? Choose like it? All right, let's
Speaker 1: take another break. We'll be right back. Sponsor on this
Speaker 1: podcast today is Amazon Music, and for a limited a time,
Speaker 1: you could get three months of Amazon Music for free, unlimited.
Speaker 1: That's access to seventy million songs, so you could play
Speaker 1: all the songs you want, when you want them on
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Speaker 1: it's getting a lot better. And with this free access
Speaker 1: to all these songs, that's that's an offer that I
Speaker 1: don't see anywhere else on music streaming services. I like
Speaker 1: to put little playlist together for myself, like I have
Speaker 1: my nineties country playlist, I have my relaxing playlist. I
Speaker 1: have my music co ranch Era playlist, which is like
Speaker 1: instrumental Mexican music guitar, like gut string guitar. I love
Speaker 1: that for like cooking makes you feel like I'm in
Speaker 1: a Mexican restaurant. I really I like all my playlists.
Speaker 1: So and Amazon Music is so cool for that. So
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Speaker 1: Go to Amazon dot com slash granger that's Amazon dot
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Speaker 1: seven ninety nine a month. New subscribers only. Terms apply.
Speaker 1: Offer expires January eleventh, twenty twenty one. What are you
Speaker 1: waiting for? This question comes from Mallory, says how Granger.
Speaker 1: My name is Mallory. I'm eighteen years old from Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Pennsylvania, and I'm a strong Christian and
Speaker 1: I'm so thankful for you and Amber and all that
Speaker 1: you've taught me through your joy pay and everything in between.
Speaker 1: My question today is what do you do if you're
Speaker 1: scared of losing someone that you love. I recently lost
Speaker 1: my grandmother that I was very close with, and it's
Speaker 1: hard these last few months. She was older and suffering,
Speaker 1: and it's no surprise. What advice do you have, if any,
Speaker 1: about not fearing the sudden loss of a loved one.
Speaker 1: And there's a theme to these questions, you know, like
Speaker 1: there's a theme to this podcast, and there's a theme
Speaker 1: to so many questions like this, And I hope if
Speaker 1: you get anything from this, I hope that you realize
Speaker 1: that we're all going through something. You're not alone. Like
Speaker 1: if you're thinking, like Dylan, wasn't the last question, dude,
Speaker 1: no one else is having these problems. And then you
Speaker 1: pull up the next question from Mallory all the way
Speaker 1: across the country from California all the way to Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: and she just lost her grandmother And that's the same
Speaker 1: with everyone between. So we're all grieving something, whether it's
Speaker 1: a person or a job or a dog, we're all
Speaker 1: grieving something. We are all suffering in some way. And guys,
Speaker 1: I'm not screening these questions. This is what you guys
Speaker 1: are sending me. So okay, let's see. So this is
Speaker 1: a legit question. This is a good when you're scared
Speaker 1: of losing someone you love. So it's just Garth Brooks
Speaker 1: the dance. Here's yeah, here's my thing. And I'm sorry
Speaker 1: if it sounds blunt. It's like you said, we're promised
Speaker 1: suffering in this life. Thanks, thanks Adam, But I was.
Speaker 1: I was scared before we lost riv. I was scared
Speaker 1: something was going to happen to one of my children.
Speaker 1: I was kind of living in fear, always behind them,
Speaker 1: always picking them up. And guess what, we don't have
Speaker 1: that much control. We don't have as much control as
Speaker 1: we think we do. So you're just doing yourself a
Speaker 1: disservice living in fear because you're stealing your joy from today.
Speaker 1: And it's cliche as that sounds mallory. Whatever is going
Speaker 1: to happen in your life is going to happen, and
Speaker 1: we just don't have control over that. So if you
Speaker 1: can find the good in the day and try your
Speaker 1: hardest not to live in fear, you can have so
Speaker 1: much more joy, so much more fullness. If you're not
Speaker 1: constantly worried about worried about losing somebody close to you,
Speaker 1: because we're promised that we are gonna we are going
Speaker 1: to so lose people that are close to us every
Speaker 1: single day. But that's why we're so big on being
Speaker 1: in the present moment now and enjoying that time together
Speaker 1: and being being together in that moment and living for today. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you have a choice in life to not love
Speaker 1: that closely, to not attach yourself. And then you go
Speaker 1: back to Garth Brooks the dance and say, I could
Speaker 1: have missed the pain, but I had had to miss
Speaker 1: the dance. And you don't want to miss the dance.
Speaker 1: You could miss the pain. You could live in that
Speaker 1: great twilight, like we talked about before, You could eat
Speaker 1: stale bread every day and never never get a chance
Speaker 1: to eat that cake. But you're going to miss it.
Speaker 1: You're gonna miss You're gonna If you don't love fully,
Speaker 1: wholeheartedly with everything you've got and risk that heartache, then
Speaker 1: you're missing life. You're missing the joy that this life
Speaker 1: really is, and you don't want to live in that
Speaker 1: gray twilight. And they say that the price of grief
Speaker 1: is the love that you put into it. So you're
Speaker 1: grieving for your grandmother because the love you paid into
Speaker 1: that relationship. If you didn't love your grandmother that much,
Speaker 1: you wouldn't grieve her that much. It wouldn't be that
Speaker 1: big deal, and you could live your life where you
Speaker 1: don't really love people and you don't really agree. But
Speaker 1: what kind of life is that? Imagine right now, how
Speaker 1: lucky you are that you had your grandmother that long,
Speaker 1: that long. Imagine you're eighteen years old. You had your
Speaker 1: grandmother eighteen years of your life. You loved her. Imagine
Speaker 1: taking all that away. You never knew her, she was
Speaker 1: not a part of your life. She died before you
Speaker 1: were born. It didn't even matter, and you wouldn't be
Speaker 1: grieving right now. But is that what you want? Do
Speaker 1: you want to not grieve just because you loved her
Speaker 1: so much? No one wants that. So eventually you'll replace
Speaker 1: those feelings with her. The sadness will be replaced by
Speaker 1: the good memories, the gratefulness, and the joy that you
Speaker 1: know from having her for eighteen years, something that was
Speaker 1: so special to you. And if you ever question that,
Speaker 1: just imagine in your life one of your friends that
Speaker 1: doesn't have a grandmother at all, and you'll feel lucky
Speaker 1: that you had yours. Yeah, with great love comes great
Speaker 1: grief for sure, and just trying to remember the memories,
Speaker 1: the good memories that you guys had together, all that
Speaker 1: time you had together. Just changing the channel in your
Speaker 1: mind to what you think you're missing, to focus on
Speaker 1: what you had and what that meant to you, and
Speaker 1: those memories and the hope and the promise of you
Speaker 1: seeing her again. So to answer your question, what advice
Speaker 1: do you have, if any, on not fearing the sudden
Speaker 1: loss of a loved one. It's natural to fear it,
Speaker 1: but live it fully, put it out of your mind.
Speaker 1: Because there's one there's one statistic that's one hundred percent
Speaker 1: with humans death, ten out of every ten humans die.
Speaker 1: So it's going to happen. It's going to happen to
Speaker 1: you and me and Hamburg and everyone listening to this
Speaker 1: podcast right now. One hundred percent positive we're all going
Speaker 1: to die. So that's gonna That's the same with your
Speaker 1: loved ones. It's going to happen. So all we have
Speaker 1: is today, in this moment, love as much as we
Speaker 1: can today. That's all we have. Can do. Another one, sure, okay,
Speaker 1: you want to go heavier, light, whatever you want to do, baby,
Speaker 1: or she'd go light. Oh you have heavy, you have
Speaker 1: them separated. Yeah, just start throwing them in heavy and light.
Speaker 1: So I'll just randomly hit this. You and a girl
Speaker 1: or a boy can pick. We just did a girl,
Speaker 1: so we'll do a boy. Okay, Okay, this is Hey Granger.
Speaker 1: I got to meet you in Dallas, Bool and Tampa
Speaker 1: back in February. During the meet and greet, I told
Speaker 1: you how much our six year old son loves your
Speaker 1: music and your YouTube videos. You made an awesome shout
Speaker 1: out video for him when we were done with the
Speaker 1: meet and greet. So my question is related to this.
Speaker 1: What do you think makes you appeal to children as
Speaker 1: much as you do compared to other country artists. I
Speaker 1: noticed a lot of parents posting their kids excited about Earl, you,
Speaker 1: and Yee in general to yee Facebook group and Twitter.
Speaker 1: I assume the Smith's videos helped, but I was just
Speaker 1: curious what your thoughts are. I know, for us, our
Speaker 1: son loves your music separate from the Smiths. While he
Speaker 1: likes watching your kids and the adventures on the Smiths,
Speaker 1: his first exposure was your music. Holler is by far
Speaker 1: his favorite, and we've caught him trying to lip sync
Speaker 1: with Earl's part he loves all your other songs, but
Speaker 1: has built a big eee in Minecraft in his Minecraft game,
Speaker 1: which he's very proud of. Thank you James in Longwood, Florida.
Speaker 1: We'll shout out to Florida and Dallas, Bull and Tampa.
Speaker 1: That was one of the last shows we played before COVID.
Speaker 1: And I've thought about this a lot, James. I've thought
Speaker 1: about the appeal we have with little kids, probably specifically
Speaker 1: little boys in Earl Dipples Junior. And this email was
Speaker 1: sent all the way back in February. I'm excuse me,
Speaker 1: This email sent in September of this year, September twenty first,
Speaker 1: James sent this email. So that was before like Halloween,
Speaker 1: and we saw a lot of kids and Halloween wear
Speaker 1: an Earl. And I've seen that for the last nine years.
Speaker 1: I don't know the appeal that Earle and my music
Speaker 1: and city Boy Stuck seems to be another one. If
Speaker 1: they don't say holler, they say city boy stuck or
Speaker 1: don't tread on me the country boy song. About to
Speaker 1: put out two new ones for Earl on this new
Speaker 1: album coming in a few weeks. That will probably I
Speaker 1: assume little boys will like that too. I don't know
Speaker 1: the answer, but I do know this, that James that
Speaker 1: puts a great responsibility on me representing Earl and representing
Speaker 1: Yee Yee and maintaining the integrity of the brand and
Speaker 1: everything that Earle says, everything that Earle does and says.
Speaker 1: I always think to myself or tell my brothers, is
Speaker 1: this okay for a six year old boy? And I'm
Speaker 1: thinking about your son, and I'm thinking about my son
Speaker 1: who's six years old, and I'm thinking about all the
Speaker 1: kids out there that look up to Earl. And I
Speaker 1: cannot break that trust or I can't break that you know,
Speaker 1: if they think Earl is there here, I can't mess
Speaker 1: that up. That's a massive responsibility. That's not worth messing
Speaker 1: it up. So I'm looking after you, man, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna let you down. I appreciate the trust that you've
Speaker 1: given me with your son. It means a whole lot,
Speaker 1: I think. I think just looking at you, I think
Speaker 1: Earl is such a It's your time to come out
Speaker 1: of your shell. It's your time to unwind at the
Speaker 1: end of the night and just be a little wild.
Speaker 1: And I think every little boy, even little girls, have
Speaker 1: that little bit of wild in them. And I think
Speaker 1: maybe maybe maybe partly they just like to get their
Speaker 1: little wild country boy out. I don't know. All right,
Speaker 1: I'll buy that. It's just good music too. Thank you
Speaker 1: for the email, James. That's awesome. You're gonna go heavy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: do one heavy and then we'll get out of here. Okay,
Speaker 1: looking see you could see I'm just do this random? Boom?
Speaker 1: Is that the same? How do we do that? I
Speaker 1: landed on that? Okay, let me go again. Maybe you
Speaker 1: just need that. We have to get in the habit
Speaker 1: of deleting every time I read it so it doesn't
Speaker 1: pop back up. Okay, boom h. Everyone put on your
Speaker 1: seat belt if you're driving, or you should do that anyway,
Speaker 1: head Granger. I've been a Christian my entire life. I
Speaker 1: was raised in the church. Most families go through a
Speaker 1: few churches in their lifetime, but unfortunately, the time spent
Speaker 1: at churches my family went to always ended in tragedy.
Speaker 1: Our first church was when I was young. It was
Speaker 1: rather cult like with radical end times ideals, and leaving
Speaker 1: that church was a terrible experience. The next church turned
Speaker 1: out to be actually a cult again, it ended in
Speaker 1: a sad way. Fast forward to when I was a
Speaker 1: teenager and I and my now wife led the worship team.
Speaker 1: Untrue rumors spread by someone with a grudge got the
Speaker 1: both of us kicked out of the band, and we
Speaker 1: left the church, bonded and ended up getting married. The
Speaker 1: next church was much larger and hard to find community,
Speaker 1: and again it ended poorly. I won't get into the details,
Speaker 1: but to sum it all up, I've never had a
Speaker 1: positive experience in a church, and I grew frustrated with
Speaker 1: the whole thing. I gave up on church, I gave
Speaker 1: up on my relationship with God. But then I started
Speaker 1: listening to your podcast because I love your music, and
Speaker 1: it tugged at my heart. I felt like the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit was tugging me that I needed to come back
Speaker 1: to God and where I belong. My question is, is
Speaker 1: church itself really the important part? How do I maintain
Speaker 1: a relationship with God on my own? I don't feel
Speaker 1: ready to try church again yet, But when I do,
Speaker 1: how should I approach it? Mentally? The lasting scars of
Speaker 1: previous church experiences don't fade quickly. Thanks, that's a lot
Speaker 1: packed in there. Yeah, okay, you and started me you start? Okay, First,
Speaker 1: let me just say sorry for your experiences in the church.
Speaker 1: I know a lot of Christians, a lot of people
Speaker 1: go through hard times in their church. And you're not alone.
Speaker 1: And one reason is because we live in this fallen world.
Speaker 1: We are all sinners. We doesn't matter if you're the
Speaker 1: pastor of a church, We're all sinners. And also, let
Speaker 1: me say that Satan is alive and well, and Satan
Speaker 1: is trying to get in between your relationship with with
Speaker 1: Jesus and so, and that of course means he's going
Speaker 1: to go straight for the church. I mean, why why
Speaker 1: you would go for your best He would go against
Speaker 1: you the other person's best army. So Satan is going
Speaker 1: to try to tack you and pull you away from
Speaker 1: God and your church. False prophets, I mean, there are
Speaker 1: false prophets and they can be leading churches. And so
Speaker 1: all that being said, do okay, let's see at the end,
Speaker 1: do you feel like church is an important part? I
Speaker 1: feel like that for me, I feel like the most
Speaker 1: important part is your personal relationship with Jesus. And but
Speaker 1: do I feel church is important? I used to say,
Speaker 1: before I had Christ in my heart, I would say
Speaker 1: I don't need to go to church. I can have
Speaker 1: my own relationship. But God created us for community. He
Speaker 1: created us to not walk through this life alone, to
Speaker 1: walk through this life together. So I think moving forward,
Speaker 1: I would go to I would visit a couple different
Speaker 1: churches and just see if you feel the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: moving in you. Like you said you felt the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: I feel like if you have, if you seek God,
Speaker 1: and if you develop a relationship with God daily, you
Speaker 1: will feel that Holy Spirit taking you and pulling you
Speaker 1: to where your perfect church home would be. Just like
Speaker 1: you said, you felt like the Holy Spirit led you
Speaker 1: when you listen to this podcast. Yeah, so it's the
Speaker 1: same voice. And you've already admitted that the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: speaks to you. So that's Amber's exactly right. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: think I was going to say that pretty much what
Speaker 1: you said. If you if you start with your acceptance
Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ as your savior, and you submit your
Speaker 1: life to him and pent to him and want to
Speaker 1: change and start on a new path, which is the
Speaker 1: essence of Christianity, that's it. Then at that point start
Speaker 1: with that boom. That's done. Then go Okay, now that
Speaker 1: I've done this, I want to try to find a church.
Speaker 1: And it's the same little prayer. I said at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the podcast, like, Hey, God, it's me. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna try a couple of churches. I would really like
Speaker 1: to know. I would really like the Holy Spirit to
Speaker 1: compel me when I'm in that church, if it feels
Speaker 1: right and you could feel it. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: non Christians call it a conscience, yeah, but Christians believe
Speaker 1: that the conscience it was placed into you by the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. And I believe that you could sit in
Speaker 1: a church and go this sels creepy, like this guy's
Speaker 1: not saying he's asking for the offering plate like fifteen
Speaker 1: times and I just feel like this is all wrong.
Speaker 1: Or you could sit there and you go, man, this
Speaker 1: actually feels at home. You'll feel it. You will definitely
Speaker 1: feel it. It might take you twenty churches, you know,
Speaker 1: you just keep on going down the street to find it.
Speaker 1: Find one so you're on the right path. You're not alone.
Speaker 1: But I want to say this, what's crazy about your story?
Speaker 1: And you just skimmed over it like it was no
Speaker 1: big deal. But right in the middle of your story,
Speaker 1: as you're going through these bad experiences, you met your
Speaker 1: wife in church and and a bad experience you got
Speaker 1: your wife out of it. So it's almost like bonus, bonus,
Speaker 1: you've met your wife. And now if you hadn't have
Speaker 1: gone through those bad experiences, you wouldn't have met her.
Speaker 1: So if you had been in a nice, little, perfect
Speaker 1: little pew where you felt all warm and cozy all along,
Speaker 1: if you know, you were led through suffering, through this
Speaker 1: bad experience to the joy that you have now. So
Speaker 1: God bless the broken road. Yeah, I don't think. I
Speaker 1: don't think your story is bad learning And we've all
Speaker 1: been there and we continue to be there. And even
Speaker 1: if you feel comfortable in a church ten years from now,
Speaker 1: it could change and you could not feel comfortable anymore. So, dude,
Speaker 1: great question, You're not alone. All these were great questions
Speaker 1: and none of them were abnormal or weird or they
Speaker 1: were all reflections of where we are in our life
Speaker 1: and crazy twenty twenty and it's like you said that.
Speaker 1: The theme was you are not alone. We are all suffering.
Speaker 1: We are all a different way, let down by people,
Speaker 1: have been let down by church, have been let down
Speaker 1: by our government, have been let you know, we're all
Speaker 1: suffering in some way. Yeah, if you put your faith
Speaker 1: in man, you're going to be let down every time,
Speaker 1: every single time. Doesn't matter if you think they're a
Speaker 1: good man or not. We just can't live up to
Speaker 1: that comment, Belove, you won't think Amber should be back?
Speaker 1: Do you want to come to your second time? Comment Beloved,
Speaker 1: you think Amber should should be back? And spread the message.
Speaker 1: Spread the message about a rise with Amber and yeah,
Speaker 1: I see you guys on Sunday. Yeah awesome, Thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, lunch, love you, Okay, bye bye. Thanks for
Speaker 1: joining me on the granger Smith Podcast. I appreciate all
Speaker 1: of you guys. You could help me out by rating
Speaker 1: this podcast on iTunes. If you're on YouTube, subscribe to
Speaker 1: this channel, hit that little like button and notification spell
Speaker 1: so that you never miss anytime I upload a video.
Speaker 1: If you have a question for me that you would
Speaker 1: like me to answer, email Grangersmith Podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: Yie