WEBVTT - Spiritual Sunday: Finding Hope and Learning to Keep Going with Rev. Danté Stewart 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:04.600 Hey, that folks, it is Sunday. 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:07.960 So there is time great, very special edition of any 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:10.840 and TJ roades quickly once again has become probably our 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:13.400 favorite segment of the week because it's one that we 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:16.840 can finally relax and it's not just news and it's 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:19.400 just been an onslaughter rope. So I have appreciated that 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:22.480 we have brought this segment back to a certain degree 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:23.640 and we're doing this every Sunday. 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:26.840 Yes, we used to call it Friday when we were 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:30.280 on GMA three, but now we call it Spiritual Sunday. 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:31.800 We're not committed to that title. 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:36.519 Committed has stuck around and it might end up becoming 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.960 permanent just because you know, it makes sense. It explains 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:43.840 a lot. We're talking to spiritual leaders, faith leaders from 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:48.760 all different avenues, Folks who believe in God, folks who don't, 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:54.160 Folks who are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, whatever. We welcome your insight. 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:56.560 And today we're very excited. I got someone coming from 0:00:56.600 --> 0:01:00.720 the state of Georgia. Got to say a little little partial, 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:05.880 but we have Reverend Dante Stuart. I'll forgive him that. 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:09.280 He was a former Clemson football player, the University of 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:16.360 Georgia and I are just I'm still You're sorry. We're 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:18.880 all in the sec It's good, it's good, it's good. No, 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.679 but we're so excited to have you. Reverend Dante. Well, 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:25.679 how are you referred to? Reverend Stewart Reverend Dante Dante. 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.800 No, it was so funny in church bases, it's Reverend Stuh. 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.360 Pretty much everybody at my church at Tabernacle back to 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:35.200 the church, they call me Reverend Stue and anybody outside. 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:36.240 You know, it depends on where you're from. 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:38.880 You're from South Carolina, you call me, you know, Dante, 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:41.800 you called me, you play with me, you call me Stu. 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:43.760 It just depends. It's cool. What do you want to 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:44.400 call me? It's cool. 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:47.560 I'm Dante, Reverend Dante. When I need to put on reverend, 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:49.160 I'll put on reverend. When I could just be Dante, 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:49.960 I'll be Dante. 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.240 Well, I like Reverend Dante for right now. 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:54.960 Okay, I like that he is a Yes. 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:58.120 He has a former Clemson football player, Clemson grad and 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:02.200 the guy who has been there's an award winning writer speaker. 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:03.480 So it's good to have you here with us. 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:05.360 And I actually want to ask a question, if you 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:07.240 want to take this a religious way you can. 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:11.640 But it was so strike. Right before we came on, Grove. 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:14.560 Said something to you about being thirty six, and you said, oh, 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:16.799 I'm actually thirty four. And she said, oh, sorry, sorry, 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:18.600 didn't mean to age you. And you jumped in and said, 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:20.240 ain't nothing wrong with getting older. 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:22.440 And I actually want to because a lot of. 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.920 People hear it, a lot of people try to fight it. 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:26.920 Just that statement. 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:29.960 Speak on that to people right now, this idea that 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:31.360 we're all afraid to get older. 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:34.360 Yeah, I think for me, I think we're taught. 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:38.160 I think on some level we're taught and socialized to 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.240 be afraid of, you know, our humanity, our human frailty. 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:44.239 It's something that's literally a part of our lives and 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:46.200 can actually on. 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:51.360 Some level, aging and frailty is not an enemy, but 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:53.160 it can be a teacher, you know. And I'm thinking, 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:54.800 I'm gonna talk about AI real quickly. 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:56.920 Then I'm gonna bring it religious and it's gonna make 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:59.720 sense when I Lately, I've just been thinking a lot 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.200 about like, you know, like, hey, I got children in school, 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:04.720 and you know, people are talking about you know, like you. 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:06.959 Know, learning and digital learning, and. 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:11.160 We have all these talks about artificial intelligence inside of our. 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:13.000 Culture and all over. 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:16.080 But for me, it's like, you know, I think one 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.880 of the greatest gifts of our humanity is that we 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:20.600 are frail creatures, you know. 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:24.760 It's that we have limitations. And the thing that make us. 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:28.400 Beautiful is that in our own individual way, we have 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:31.639 our own limitations, which is also our stamp. 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:32.040 Onto the world. 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:37.760 And so why limit ourselves from the possibility of something 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:41.760 that can make us better individually and collectively, something as 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:45.520 simple as agent. It's something that will happen to all 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:48.240 of us. And I think because I'm so close to 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:51.640 older people and like literally like my grandmother, me and 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.640 my grandma God god Lee, I love her so much. 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:57.320 She was in the hospital for a while, and you know, 0:03:57.400 --> 0:03:59.880 she's ninety two years old, back turned ninety three, and 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:02.560 you know, that's my that's my g that's my homie. 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:05.200 We talk all the time, and I think, you know, 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:07.800 as my grandma has gotten older, you know, I won't 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.760 say I'm the favorite grandchild, you know, because because you. 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:12.960 Know, I can't. I can't claim that fame, you know. 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:15.480 But me and my grandmother love talking, and she knows 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:17.400 I'm a writer, and she knows I'm a reverend and 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:20.000 things like that, and she loves to almost like give 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:22.560 me like lessons every time we like talk. 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.320 And I think there's something beautiful about like being able 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:28.360 to live life. 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:30.919 And have something to offer to others and something, you know, 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:33.960 for me being a parent and looking at my children grow. 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:37.080 You know, I don't want to stay the same. I 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:38.159 don't want to be the same. 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.040 Person that I was at thirty two or thirty three 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:43.359 or thirty four. I won't aging to be a gift 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.000 for me and a grace rather than something that I 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:49.200 know I can't avoid. But you know, something that I 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:53.359 at least like look at with optimism and expectations. 0:04:53.440 --> 0:05:00.800 So I think on some level it's about like our 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:02.360 fighting back against despair. 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.400 You know, you have something to live for in that 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:07.919 thirty fifth year, you have something to look forward to 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.920 in that forty fifth, that's sixty fifth, that eighty fifth, 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:11.840 that ninety fifth year. 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:13.839 If God bless you to be that, And to me, 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:15.040 I look at it as as a grace. 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:17.280 Well, wow, I love that. 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:20.640 And grandparents, I mean, oh my God, when you have them, 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:24.880 hold them tight and pump them for information, because they 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:28.320 do they have lived life and that wisdom is real. 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:31.039 Can you think of maybe some just I love hearing 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:34.960 about your relationship with your grandmother. What is something that 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:37.520 she's taught you or that she is still teaching you 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:38.200 to this day? 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:39.440 Yeah, I never forget. 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:41.520 Oh man, this is this is like in the forefront 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.800 of my mind because I actually I just turned in 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:47.479 my second book, Shameless Plug. 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:51.520 It's entitled What a Broken Heart Can Do. And you know, 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:52.200 I go. 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:57.000 Across the country and I immerse myself into sisive heartbreak 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:02.720 and I write deeply, deeply, you know, human stories about 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.440 you know, heartbreak not being you know, the interruption to life, 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:08.200 but it's the material that our lives are made of. 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:11.560 And for us, you know, it's about not escaping it 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.160 or running from it, but staying. 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:14.760 Human within it. 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:17.400 And for me, I have a chapter that I've been 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:21.800 revising on heartbreaking loss, and it's about, you know, my 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:25.640 grandfather's passing in twenty twenty two and this kind of 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.839 like anticipatory grief around you know, my grandma. 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:30.279 Ain't she ain't thirty four no more? 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:32.320 You feel me, you know, at the end of the day, 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:35.120 you know, you got more life behind you than you have. 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.520 Ahead of you. And a part of it for me is. 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.000 Like I've been ever since, particularly since green Data died 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:45.839 in twenty twenty two, I've been trying as best I can, 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:50.800 you know, to love on my grandmother and older people, 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:52.320 because you know, the older you get, it's like that 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:55.400 John Prime song, you know, hello in there. You know, 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.479 you just want somebody to say like hello. You know, 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.320 all these people go through through life and people just 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:03.760 forgetting about them, and you know, and all people just 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.760 wanted somebody to simply say hello, because Hello can be 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:09.880 the beginning of something beautiful. Hello can be the beginning 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:13.800 of a story. Hello can be the beginning goes you know, 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:16.120 a listen. Hello can be the beginning of a prayer. 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:18.320 Hello can be the beginning of a conversation that change 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.880 your life. And I think my grandmother, I think the 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.040 single greatest thing my grandmother has. 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:27.040 Taught me is to keep going. 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:30.880 And I called my grandma all the time and I 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:33.200 be complaining about writing. And it was one time in 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:35.520 twenty twenty two I have went through a project and 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:36.680 it was just really difficult. 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:38.400 After Granddad passed away. 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:41.920 Grandma and Granddad would love going to go get terrible 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:45.720 coffee at Hearty's and she loves. I used to be 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:49.240 a barista, and my grandmother loves when I make her coffee. 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.080 I'm not the favorite grand child, you know, but I 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:57.760 am a good barista. My grandmother love when I make coffee, 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:00.360 So I'm making her coffee for her. 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:01.640 Qualife is nicker wobblin. 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.000 I have my own little chemics and stuff from from 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.880 Benn Rurist and I go and I, you know, make. 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:09.320 Make a cup of coffee for it. And it's nothing 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:11.360 to me. 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:14.680 It's nothing that you know, invites a kind of like 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:17.400 humility and friendship and openness. 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:19.840 Like a couple a simple cup of coffee. You know, 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:21.320 you sit down or you, Paul. 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:23.040 You got to like you can't drink it fast because 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:25.120 it's hot, you know, so you have to really sit 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:28.000 there and be present. And the more we're present, the 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:31.080 more we get access to like the lessons and the wisdom. 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:33.800 And my grandmother over coffee. So I'm going through and 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:36.880 complaining to her, she tells me. She says, Dante, I 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:39.240 want you to keep writing, Dante. I want you to 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:39.760 keep going. 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:42.599 I want you to write a book that will change Congress. 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:45.240 I want you to write a book that would do this. 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:46.800 I want you to do this and do that. 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:48.600 So I go out here, I pulled out my I 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:50.920 pull out my little no journal right because I'm like, 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:52.480 you know, I really want to write this down and 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.280 go back to it and have And I think for me, 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:57.920 as my grandmother has been agent, I've been aging, and 0:08:58.000 --> 0:08:59.920 even in this season of life that I'm in right now, 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:06.080 the lesson of keep going is as powerful as the 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:11.000 lesson of there's something in you because we all you meet, 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:15.720 anybody we meet, we're always navigating the person who people 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:19.320 see within us, the person who we actually are, and 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:21.719 the person that we want to become. And in all 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:26.120 those three relationship between thoseselves, there's a lot of insecurity. 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:28.400 There's a lot of jealousy, there's a lot of anger, 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.199 there's a lot of fear. There's all these things that 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:34.000 make us human. But if we can find a way 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:38.520 to keep going, simply just to keep stepping, keep moving 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:43.000 no matter what, then I think that like we will 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.839 learn that there is more within us than we're giving 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:49.840 ourselves credit for. And I think that's a big lesson 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:50.560 for each of us. 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:52.120 Give yourself credit. 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:56.000 Yes you're aging, Yes things are hard, Yes things are 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:58.640 happening that you don't like. Yes, things may be uncomfortable, 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:02.199 Yes you're afraid, you're secure, but the fact is you're here, 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:03.640 and that a councilor something. 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:11.240 So that's the lesson I think for her. 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:17.520 Can you give people a little quick council on how 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:20.320 to keep going in those moments when they are struggling. 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:24.120 Some people lean on faith, sure, people like it's it's 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:28.719 it's hard life. And so what in those moments when 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:30.839 people feel like quit quitting? What what can you hand 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:32.440 them or give them a little nugget right now? 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:35.679 Yeah, I think pausing first of all, first and foremost 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:38.640 something it's important for us to, like paulse we live 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:40.840 in a busy world. We're we're in social media when 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.840 in you're dated with the algorithm, I mean, we're swiping 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:47.359 that book, amusing ourselves to death. It can be now rewritten. 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:49.920 We swiping ourselves to death, you know. 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.240 Whatnot he just lives what it is right now. And 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:54.640 I think the ability to. 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.720 Just like pause like this morning, this morning, but being 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:00.679 really like I had a tough day yesterday, you know, 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:05.000 going through like writing and you know life and being 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:08.280 a father and being a husband and you know all 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.199 these I mean, I'm thirty four. These catalytic moments that 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:13.520 happen at thirty four, it's just something I don't know 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:15.920 what is in the water, you know, of life. You know, 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:18.880 a lot of catalytic moments happened during this time. And 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:21.720 I think for me, like this morning, you know, it 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:24.040 did the morning didn't go the way that I plan, 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:26.760 but I at least that the one thing I did 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:29.800 do this morning is that I paused and I meditated, 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.240 And for me, that's a win, you know. So I 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.560 think it's important for people to pause. I think another 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:39.439 thing that's important for people to do when they're overwhelmed is. 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:43.000 To get the thing that you're wrestling inside outside so 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:45.600 you can see it and alter your relationship to it. 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:47.640 So I journal a lot. 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:50.800 I literally literally, this is the journal that my grandmother 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:53.560 h fit that in that I took, that I took 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:54.079 those no sens. 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:55.040 This from twenty twenty two. 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:57.800 But over in the back part of this corner, I 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:01.400 have journals from twenty fourteen, and I usually work through 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:04.880 maybe two journals a year, at least one journal a year, 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:07.920 and I have journals from you know, when I'm this age, 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:11.320 and that granted, a lot of it is about you know, 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:16.280 I I work with words, and words are the way 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:18.760 to express myself. But then sometimes you know, even in 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:20.800 the journal, you have to get through the bull crap. 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.319 You know, you got to get through the like performance. 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:24.360 It's specially being a writer. 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.760 You know, here I am journaling like I'm Shakespeare or 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:29.800 what you know, and then I got to get to 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:31.120 the real stuff that I actually feel. 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:33.800 What I'm out bro? Okay, what are you really feeling? 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:34.839 What are you going on? Bro? 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:38.080 So, I think I think on some level, like getting 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.280 it outside of yourself and putting it in your journal 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:44.160 and being able to like see it and almost like 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.760 communicate it and talk with it. You know, you're able 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.120 to like process it so that thing that you may 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:51.600 be actually worried about, or that thing that you may 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:55.480 actually be overwhelmed about, now that you're it's outside of 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:57.920 your head and on the page, now you can actually 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:01.000 like you got enough distance to where you can actually 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:01.960 legitimately think. 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:03.880 So, I think journaling for people. 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:07.600 I think being the person that reach out first, I'm 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:10.640 a huge proponent in this. Like I know people be 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:12.800 like yo, like I ain't gonna be a type of 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:15.480 person that reach out to people, but I'm like nahna me, 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.200 like I will if I know you and I love 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:20.000 you and I'm inspired by you, I'm connected to you, 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:22.520 and we on like a text basis, like I'm gonna 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:25.240 call you, I'm gonna keep up with you because like 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:31.480 you actually may need to like let me use this 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:33.119 word as reverend. 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:36.760 You may need to minister to me, or you may. 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:40.840 Be needed to minister too through somebody else's like brokenness, 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:45.880 so frailty or limitation as like this kind of senter 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:48.760 just relationship. You might need to minister to someone, and 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:51.400 and you ministering to someone, you're ministering to yourself. 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.440 You're taking care of something within yourself that you actually need. 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:57.360 Maybe this week you felt like man, I haad like 0:13:57.440 --> 0:13:59.000 this thing that I read, and I. 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:02.000 Really want to talk, you know, Kendrick Lamar said, I'm 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:03.240 just I'm a Christian. 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:04.760 Just not today praying to the trees. 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:06.520 Gott is taking shape, and I want to talk to 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:09.680 somebody about like what's been happening about my relationship with God? 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.000 And then your friend call you about abro I don't 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:14.120 know how to write this word whatnot? Hey bro, let 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:15.920 me tell you about this metaphor, like you might need 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:18.480 that too, So it's like you never know what can 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:22.720 happen by reaching out first. I'll say Paul's journal, reach 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:26.480 out first to me, and then I run, so move. 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:30.040 You know, I was asking a question in an event 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:34.800 one time. Somebody said, you know, how do you metabolize suffering? 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:37.200 And it's to me, it's the same way that you 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:40.480 metabolize you know, sells or whatever it happens in the body. 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:42.800 I'm not in a medical field, but whatever happens with 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:44.760 the process of metabolism. 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.240 You know, in order for things to go, things must move. 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:51.200 So if you can find a way, even if that 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:58.560 next step is the step of fear, rage, sadness, grief, despair, 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:02.120 it's still a step, and as long as you're stepping 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:04.560 is the possibility of being able to move into a 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:05.360 different directions. 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:06.360 So that's what I was saying. 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:07.360 I love that. 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:08.680 I love that. 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:18.440 Look. 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:22.320 You mentioned that you are a minister at the Tabernacle 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:27.440 Baptist Church there in Augusta, Georgia. What is there a 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:33.360 common theme? Is there something that you hear most from 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:37.240 your parishioners, what they're worried about, what they're concerned about, 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.160 what they're dealing with, the troubles they have. Is there 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:46.520 a commonality to some of the conversations you have when 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:49.440 folks come to you and need your counsel? What are 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:50.400 they asking for? 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:52.440 Yeah, let me be very clear. 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:55.440 It's an interesting situation because, like I am, I float 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:58.280 between like the campuses, and so if I'm being honest, 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:02.040 this would be a better question that like our care 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:03.520 congregational care team. 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:05.240 Would be able to answer. You know. 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:08.160 But I will answer that question for people who I 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:11.320 talk to and what I experienced as someone as a 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.120 minister in this church, not necessarily as a person that 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:15.720 people inside the church has to come to. 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:16.560 Does that make sense? 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.360 Yes, you know, I don't want to overspeak my my 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.680 my my own I don't want to boost, you know, 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.120 my own importance, you know, but I will tell you 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:26.080 about what I'm what I'm. 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:28.360 Hearing from people. I think on some level. 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:32.120 You know, we're in a predominantly black church, you know, 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:35.960 historically black church. Very it's actually our church anniversary this 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:40.560 this this uh this week, one hundred plus years that 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:42.960 that God is just blessedly like one hundred and thirty 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:45.920 some years. You know that that God has blessed this community. 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:49.040 Has been many different churches inside one building. But one 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:52.560 thing has been constant is the care for the lived 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:54.920 reality of the people. You know I'm talking about. This 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:57.800 church has been a place where Martin Luther King, you know, 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:02.720 has has preached that multiple times. It was a big 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.879 church and the civil rights movement. It's a church where 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.840 Reverend Oldis Mass was at before Reverend doctor Charles E. Goodman, 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:13.360 who's a pastor there now. So it's a very it's 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:16.440 a very story in history historic church, which means that 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:21.320 whatever people are, the lived reality of people within their 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:24.720 own zip codes, at some point that reality finds this. 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:28.000 Way into the pulpit and filter out throughout the ministries. 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:30.200 And I think most of the things that people are 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:33.480 thinking about right now and is very much what everyone 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.399 you know is thinking about right now, and is the 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.600 situation that's happening in our country, that's happening in our world. 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:43.200 And as much as we're dealing with a I don't 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:45.400 want to spiritualize this too much, but you know, it's 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:46.320 very important. 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:48.280 That we do. I think on some level, like as 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:49.520 much as we're dealing with. 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:55.159 The issues of policy and practice and the historical realities 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:58.760 of those decisions of you know, those who have power 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:00.639 interests of those who actually size. 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:01.840 Real power and will that power. 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:05.880 You know, as much as we're dealing with a being inherited, 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:10.600 inheriting you know, those bad or misguided decisions of people 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:12.879 from the past, and you know those who live in 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.679 right now, their inabilities to actually come together and do 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:18.800 things to change things. I think we're actually dealing with 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:23.840 a spiritual problem as well. You know, it's economic, it's 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:26.720 dealing with capitalism, it's dealing with you know, racism, sex 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:30.520 of homophobia, all of these things, you know, bigotry, and corruption, 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:32.639 all these things. But I think on some level, the 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:36.760 deepest thing that people are dealing with is a lack 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:41.240 of security, a lack of trust, and a lack of hope. 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:45.120 I think on some level, we the people, in. 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:49.240 Order to form a more perfect union, to establish justice, 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:54.120 to ensure domestic tranquility at the beginning of the the 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:58.199 Constitution and the preamble that in some sense is the 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:02.359 ghost that hunt us right now. Spirit we're struggling with 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:05.040 we the people. Now, if I can, let me put. 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:06.440 On Reverend hat real quick, and let me turn into 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:09.119 a preacher, and let my let my Bible verse. 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:13.919 Be Stanza one, you know of the you know we 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:15.400 work through the verses real quick. 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:20.240 So when I think about the Constitution, these framers of 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:22.520 the Constitution, these writers may not have known what they 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:27.520 were doing, but but we as people who haven't been 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:30.000 the ones with the pen, can actually be the ones 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:33.760 with the microphone that can interpret these frameworks for them 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:35.960 in ways that they didn't even know. So when I 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:37.760