WEBVTT - On Being A Junkman 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:08.559 Everybody, Bill Courtney, welcome to the shop. Welcome in, Alex, 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:10.400 How you doing? That's so weak? That was like my 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:12.639 little kids doing it. The other day it was George excep. 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:13.400 If you're a grow. 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:17.079 George, I I'm a grown up beer there, Welcome in? 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:18.680 How do you like? It didn't get better? 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:20.360 Do anythink I should believe that's where I heard? 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:24.079 We just said I want George back. Okay, Hey, George 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.240 is awesome. All right? Shop Talk number fifty one on 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:33.519 becoming a junk man. Charlotte Dance, a listener sent us 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:38.240 a really cool email, and I think it's worth talking 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:50.320 about right after these brief messages from our general sponsors. Everybody, 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:53.159 welcome back to shop Talk. Charlotte Dance is a listener, 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:55.880 and I will read this to you, and the topic 0:00:56.040 --> 0:01:01.920 is on being a junk man Dance. I listened to 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:05.880 the podcast about the Whistler today. I loved it. Chris Olman, 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:07.959 Chris Olman, the whistle the. 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:12.600 Goat Whistler is Chris Vernon Golden Yeah. 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:14.680 I listened to the podcast about the Whistler day. I 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:18.160 loved it. It made me miss my dad. Although he 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:20.919 didn't really sing. He loved a whistle, and I always 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:23.760 wanted to whistle like he did. Ten years ago I 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:26.679 wrote this essay about my dad being a junk man. 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:29.120 I think you could do a shop talk on being 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:33.600 a junk man. So here we go. My dad is 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.480 a junk man. This is not an occupation that is 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:40.319 a life goal for many people. He chose to be 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:44.000 a junk man in every area of his life. I'm 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:46.280 sure that growing up on a farm during the Great 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:50.160 Depression played a big part in directing his life. True 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:53.320 junk men have to find great value in junk or 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:56.880 they can't survive in the business. My dad has excelled 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:03.279 in finding value in junk. Where everyone else saw junk, Sorry, 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:08.200 where everyone else saw junk, Dad saw physics lab equipment. 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:12.960 He used old bicycle tires to make gyroscopes and axle 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:18.080 helped students to learn the pulls of centrifugal force, and 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:21.080 even an old vacuum cleaner to make an air table 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:26.360 to teach frictionless motion. Where everyone else saw junk, Dad 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.480 saw an addition to our house so our family of 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:33.600 six didn't have to live in a two bedroom house. Windows, doors, 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:36.960 and lumber were all salvaged from houses being torn down 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:41.840 Where everyone else saw junk, Dad saw a solar greenhouse. 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:44.560 He researched it and then made it for two hundred 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:49.120 dollars plus lots of reclaimed parts. It's been working consistently 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:53.440 for thirty years now. Where everyone else saw junk meat, 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.919 Dad saw venison that could be made into sausage and 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:00.560 jerky and feed many people. It all starts when our 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.919 pastor gave us an antelope meat for our dog. Because 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.840 they couldn't even eat it in chili, he gave them 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.400 back sausage he made from it. They couldn't believe it 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:16.000 was the same meat, junk meat. Where everyone would say 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:20.000 that things in his past were junk, Dad used them 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:23.360 to make a difference for his family. His father was 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:27.320 extremely harsh and always used Dad's name and anger. Granddad 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:30.239 wouldn't have anything to do with him and didn't come 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:33.440 to his wedding. Dad decided that if he didn't forgive 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:35.800 his father, he would never be able to have a 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:39.240 good relationship with his children. He forgave him and worked 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:42.200 on making peace between them. Not only does he have 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:45.720 a good relationship with his biological children, he has had 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:50.320 others adopt him as their father. Where everyone would say 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:52.520 that a young boy could be annoying and was a 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:56.000 slow learner. Dad saw someone who was interested in everything 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:59.360 he did. This boy followed him as he worked on rentals. 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.920 Butchered set up science labs and worked on object lessons. 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:06.040 His family split up and moved away, but he remembered 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:10.840 those afternoons with my dad. He became a butcher, bought 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:15.240 a rental, and put himself through an engineering school. He 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:18.159 even went to law school. He came back to visit 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:23.320 saying I still use your abject lessons. Where everyone saw 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:26.640 a man with wasted life in prison, Dad saw an 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:30.000 opportunity to serve. He visited a man in prison for 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:32.000 six years and saw him growing to a man of 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:35.719 God after his sentence was over. Dad was the best 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:39.599 man in his wedding. Now this man is fixing junk 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.719 in the lives of juvenile offenders and helping them change 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:46.320 their future. Where everyone else would see junk in their 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:50.160 own lives, he saw an opportunity to serve or to listen. 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:54.240 With insurance payment for roof damage didn't cover the cost 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:58.200 of shingles for an elderly woman's roof, he not only 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:00.359 did the roofing, but paid for the the rest of 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.880 the shingles. One man went through many rough times and 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:06.320 Dad listened to him through all of it. He said, 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:09.600 he has to talk through everything before he knows exactly 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.359 what to do. Never once did he complain about the 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:16.200 time or effort it took. Where everyone would say it 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.000 is a hopeless case of junk. Dad didn't give up. 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.440 He prayed for his sister for twenty eight years. His 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:26.159 brother in law told him to never talk about God again. 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:28.840 He didn't talk, but he prayed and he lived it. 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:32.400 His nephew's nieceus came to Christ, then his sister, and 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.960 finally his brother in law. Recently, he counted forty people 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.520 on his side of the family that were believers. He 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:43.120 was the first where everyone would see junk that all 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.599 we go through. Dad saw an opportunity to prepare several 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.719 years ago. He felt strongly impressed that he should prepare 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.600 to die. He was in good health, but he wanted 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:57.080 to have things ready. He bought cemetery plots in a gravestone. However, 0:05:57.240 --> 0:05:59.600 his most important thing was to find people to pray 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:03.000 for his great grandchildren. Shortly after this, I was mourning 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:06.000 the loss of my friends in a canoe accident, and 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:09.360 I need something constructive to do. When I talk to Dad, 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:12.520 he suggested that I find people to pray for their grandchildren. 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:14.640 It has been an honor and privilege to do that. 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:19.040 I may not want my yard filled with recrming lumber 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:22.159 and other various treasures, but I think I want to 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.279 be a junk man, just like Dad. Looking past the 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:29.120 junken scars in people's live lives and seeing the treasure 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:33.240 that they truly are. Seems like a awful lot of 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:37.560 Army members are junk men. Thanks for having a great show, Charlotte. 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:44.720 Dance Charlotte. If my children speak about me one day 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:49.119 with twenty five percent of the reverence you speak about 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:56.200 your father, I will rest a very proud man. That 0:06:56.360 --> 0:07:00.919 is a phenomenal tribute to your dad, and can certainly 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:04.719 see why you wrote it. There's a lesson there too. 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:19.160 The junk the homeless, the foster children who were aged 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:22.640 out of foster care at nineteen or twenty and are 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:27.080 living destructive lives. The kid who has never read a 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:32.400 lullaby or saying a lullaby or read a bedtime story, 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:35.520 who can't read on grade level now in seventh grade. 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:39.400 Who we know because he's not reading on grade level 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:42.480 by third grade, is more likely to be in prison 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.040 than he is to have a job one day. The 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:51.160 junk that your dad saw opportunity in is exactly what 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:54.440 the call to an army in normal folks is is 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:58.360 to see the junk and use it, see the junk 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:03.320 and fix it. You're right a lot of the members 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:05.840 of the army of normal folks that we highlight our 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:10.120 junk people. But the call and the inspiration is is 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:13.600 that you listeners out there see the value in the junk. 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:19.240 The power of an army of normal folks is that 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:23.120 is that we see areas of need and fill it, 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:29.520 which is effectively, as Charlotte points out, being a junk man. 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:32.839 So my question is, and maybe even my challenge is 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.520 when's the last time you drove by, pasted a polla 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:40.280 junk and thought, man, somebody had to clean something up, 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:44.240 but kept on going instead of getting down to your 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:49.320 car and cleaning up yourself. We are surrounded by junk, 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:53.120 and the cleanup is not going to happen by a 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:55.880 city crew coming, buying a tax paid for a truck 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:57.960 and throwing it in the back and dumping in the garbage. 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:00.960 It's going to happen by an army and normal folks. 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.000 Of course, all of that is metaphorical, but I think 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:07.440 you get what I'm saying. Alex, she gonni id is 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:08.080 some junk. 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:12.600 So I forgot to include this in your prep. She 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:16.880 actually wrote it before her dad died, and then she 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:17.959 read it at his funeral. 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:22.120 Wow is that cool? I bet there were I bet 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:23.880 there was was a dry in the place. 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:28.080 Yeah, a couple of junk thoughts. I mean, one thing 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:31.520 Christ says is I didn't come to heal the healthy, right, 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:33.520 I came here to heal the sick. And that's why 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.080 I was thinking out with tax collectors and prostitutes. You 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:38.839 when people challenge them on that and then like an 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:42.240 interesting business case for this too, or even just take 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:44.800 the army case first, Right, That's actually where a lot 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:47.480 of the fun is. Like you're grunning to grow something, right, 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:51.559 from from nothing into something you know, significant. That's that's 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:54.040 a lot more fun. I bet Charlotte's dad had a 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:57.400 blast making a what was it a solar garden or 0:09:57.400 --> 0:09:59.520 something out of a bunch of johnt I mean, can 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:05.079 you imagine the satisfaction he felt growing stuff for thirty years? 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.319 Out of something people left on the curb. Yeah, well, 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:12.760 that metaphorically is the satisfaction you can feel by seeing 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:14.439 junk in your life and fixing. 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:15.280 It and then like a bit. 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:17.480 I mean, this isn't so normal, but I think people 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:19.640 can do it in a more normal way. There's a 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.160 guy who once interviewed who basically had a bunch of 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:24.640 energy exploration projects, but there were a bunch of things 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.120 that Exon Mobil was trying to get rid of, like 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:30.040 it wasn't interesting enough for Exon Mobile, and so he 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:32.480 collected a munch of these things, built up the business, 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:34.520 and he made five hundred million dollars when he sold 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:38.240 it one day. But it's an interesting case, like there's 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.240 a lot of things out there that aren't interesting enough 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:44.079 to the big players, but for you, you can actually 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:46.280 build a really interesting business off it. Obviously you don't 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:48.800 have to sell for five hundred million, even if you 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:50.240 you know, make a one hundred thousand, you make five 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:51.760 hundred thousand, you make a million whatever. 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:52.160 I mean. 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:54.960 It's actually a really interesting business thing to think about too. 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:57.800 What does everybody else see as junk that actually could 0:10:57.800 --> 0:10:59.280 be an opportunity. 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:01.840 Which could be a business. It could be in society, 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:06.360 it could be wherever. Yeah, Charlotte Dance. That is an 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:10.560 incredible tribute to your father and it is a beautiful 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:15.040 illustration of exactly what we're talking about. And I can't 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:20.200 tell you how much we appreciate you sharing it. If 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.720 you have any ideas for shop talk, would you please 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:26.520 Emily Bill at normal folks dot Us. I'll always respond 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:30.400 and hopefully like Charlotte stuff here, we we can comment 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.240 it because we think others will want to hear the. 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:35.880 Story and beautiful pieces of writing like this if anybody 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.880 else has Actually, that's a good idea of letters you're 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:44.040 read like World War two letters and that's letters like 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:46.120 the writing back in the day is I mean, obviously 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:48.040 it'd be real selling beautiful today. Send it to us too, 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:49.960 But especially back in the day, all those kind of 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:52.560 love letters were so much better than the way we 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:53.680 text each other's. 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.440 So it's so true. I think it's a lost start. 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:00.000 Send us, send us that stuff. If you enjoyed the episode, 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:06.000 rate review it, join the army at normal folks dot us, subscribe, 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:11.120 become a premium member there and what else you goofed 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:11.560 it up? Again? 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:13.480 You can't subscribe on the website. But it's okay. 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.040 Whatever you do, just people know you're a goofball. Then 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:19.640 now follow us, you know, listen, tell people about us, 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:23.480 and help us grow the army because the more members, 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:26.600 the more impact we can have. That's shop TALP number 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:27.840 fifty one. Is that it. 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:29.000 I'll see you next week. 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:29.920 I'll see you next week.