Rhett 0:11

What's up everybody ? It's Rhett and Justin Hanging out on our first episode of Armchair Authentic . I wish you could look at this . You've got two guys who have known each other for 38 years , practically know how each other think . It's kind of like a David and Jonathan type feel if you've ever read the Bible or ever read the reference to how much they love each other . There's just something unique about this relationship that we cannot put into words . It's crazy , man , it's crazy . So we're doing something we've always dreamed about doing , justin here we are .

Justin 0:41

You know , the first podcast ever was released about 20 years ago in the whole podcast world .

Rhett 0:49

I'm sorry , justin's laughing at me because we're so new at this podcast thing . We've got a little makeshift thing . He's holding his mic . I've got this little boom stand that keeps falling over on me . So he's laughing out loud because the mic just fell in my lap .

Justin 1:03

Humble beginnings , and so , 20 years ago , first podcast and 38 years of knowing each other . We're just now getting in on this thing . I think we were waiting to see . Is this thing going to actually make it ? Are people going to podcast ? And I think we've done a thorough analysis . I think it's here to stay ?

Rhett 1:23

I think it's here to stay . I think there's like 8 million plus podcasts . Don't quote me on that . That's just the made up number . That's what , uh , you know great communicators do ? They just make up stats on the on the fly , kidding . It's a joke . We're being authentic , okay , but when you're referencing , we've done this 30 something years ago , 38 years ago . What are you referencing ?

Justin 1:42

Well , our friendship , we um , I mean you and I , I mean we have been best friends for 38 years , and that's what makes this so special , cause a lot of people don't get that long of a friendship like we do , and that's what's hard about this . I think that's why we decided not to do it , because when we look at each other , we're going to break out into so many memories , because anybody can say anything and our mind is triggered to an exact time that happened when we were 11 or 15 . It doesn't matter . So it's like when your parents are at the table saying not another sound , well , they're just encouraging a whole other sound , and so I think we're going to need a lot of grace to get through with some of these .

Rhett 2:26

Yeah .

Why the Name Armchair Authentic?

Rhett 2:27

So if you're joining us for the first time and you found this somehow , some way , you might be wondering why in the world did we choose the word armchair authentic ? Um , it's because we were sitting around talking about being authentic with our lives or stories . I'm 46 . Justin , you are 45 . 45. , 45 . And so there's been a lot of stories , a lot of life , a lot of hurt , a lot of pains , a lot of gops , a lot of downs . One step forward , two steps back .

Rhett 2:51

This just journey , um pre Jesus with Jesus after you know , like this whole thing of what God's done in our lives , through our lives and what we're experiencing now , and so we're just trying to think of a way that we could add value to people with our stories , and in that we were like well authentic , let's be real , let's be honest . Maybe let's talk about some things that maybe are being said but maybe aren't being set through the lens of , you know , maybe Christianity , god and our lives , our perspective you made the example of eight million podcast .

Justin 3:24

That's the beauty of identity and authenticity and just the uniqueness that everybody has . You're going to get this special , something that you'll get from us , you wouldn't get from anybody else . You know that . That's a beautiful thing about this , and we're going to get to a lot of good stories over our time together , and that's our hope is that you just kind of jump in with us and we hope our life is some kind of a model that you can look at and say , man , that's really relatable .

Justin 3:51

I've never really looked at it through those lenses , because we have an interesting little lens and it's cool because we're two people getting to . You know , it's like when you hear about the gospels you have different vantage points of them .

Justin 4:05

It's the same thing we have the same life with two different vantage points , and the listener will realize , my goodness , they are spot on . There's just a little deviation in between . You're going to tell a story or I'm going to tell a story , and it's funny how many times , when we have a normal conversation , we don't remember the story and I find myself telling Rhett elaborate on that .

Rhett 4:28

Like what did , I do what did I used to do in that ?

Justin 4:31

And so it's like we're 30 years surrendered . We surrendered our life to Christ 30 years ago and there's a lot of stories that have come with that , because that is our life and that's the foundation of this podcast , and whether something is said or unsaid , you can know the bed of everything that we're doing . It's all about our foundation , our last 30 years of Jesus .

Rhett 4:58

Yeah , really . So if you're joining us for the first time , you're wondering hey , do I even want to spend some time with these guys and maybe go on a journey ? You know , you're you're listening to two friends who have obviously done a lot of life together and our hope is really just to help you the best we can with our story . Maybe you can relate . We were literally sitting in the arm chairs in my living room and we're like why don't we just call it armchair authentic ? And one thing Justin and I have done for so many years is we've I've lived all over the place .

Rhett 5:25

Justin has been consistent with living in the Birmingham Alabama area for so long . But one thing we've always done is we've always had conversations and in those conversations it's been like ironing iron , sharpening iron , and it's been so good . So I've grown , he's grown , and sometimes people you know have wondered how in the world have you kept your friendship for so long ? And I think what we're doing by creating this and you correct me if I'm wrong is an opportunity maybe to be a fly on the wall on our conversations . Yeah , what capital friendship kind of looks like , what it can look like in people's lives .

Justin 5:59

You know to in order to be , you know , real . I mean , we've , as Rhett started this out . We've been through the ups , we've been through the downs but , we have consistently been there with each other .

Justin 6:09

I have been able to celebrate you and the amazing things that has been your life . I've also been able to get really sorrowful with you with just some of the junk that goes on in life , and I think that we're going to say things . It's not going to be something you haven't heard before . I think that it's going to be relatable , though , because people go through problems and pain , and you go through people , and , and that alone makes some worthy conversation , and we just hope that we get to bring you into what our normal conversations look like .

Rhett 6:48

Several times a week for the past 38 years and we're really going to try to Not be scripted . You know there are a lot of great . If you're looking for a podcast to be like a point a , point b , point c , you know , give me something in 15 minutes . This is not going to be your podcast . Yeah , this is something you're on a drive , you're working out and you just kind of want to , you know , listen in to just some random conversations , but not just for randomness sake , but for pulling out what god did in and through and is doing in it , through every situation of our lives , and what we're recognizing and what we have learned and what we're learning from it . Well then , this might be your podcast because it might , it might resonate with you and our hope is to make you Not make you laugh , but to just have a lot of laughter . You know I shared a scripture this past sunday A cheerful heart is good medicine .

Justin 7:35

Yeah , man , but a broken spirit man .

Rhett 7:38

It just here's my version , here's my paraphrase it sucks the life out of you and we don't want to suck the life out of you . On this podcast , we want to add joy and laughter , even if it's at our own expense , because we like to laugh a lot , so we're gonna have a lot of fun . Um , there's going to be points and times where we are Pretty much scripted because , you know , like uh , justin , I have we talked about , there's going to be times where we bring on guests .

Justin 8:01

You know , and , um , I don't want to name drop any of them right now , but at the end of the day , they're going to be some people that are you can relate to , like church planners , leaders artists , whether you know their name or you don't know their name , you can relate to them because either they've taken a step that you just haven't been able to make yourself take , or it might just be a confirmation to something you have done and you just feel a draw towards them .

You Have Purpose and God-Assignments

Rhett 8:30

What we're really trying to do is help people fulfill their God assignment . Yeah , talking to real people , having real conversations , and this is happening from two friends who have learned the art of just being real and authentic and seeing Just the vulnerability , that there's just power in it . I'm not going to quote brunet brown , but that whole idea of vulnerability and how powerful it is .

Justin 8:49

Yep .

Rhett 8:49

That's something that we have truly experienced and , um , if anything , maybe maybe you walk away from this one step closer to Jesus , one step more maybe to considering a walk with Jesus , maybe one step trying to find a better friend and Making investments into relationships . I don't know .

Justin 9:06

There's going to be so much that we cover , so yeah , and what's been our life that we've at least Been able to be a part of , and it seems to be very meaningful , is I mean it really ? People are born with purpose , and you and I , we happen to see that we , as believers , we have this same purpose , which is ultimately To be passionately in love with Jesus and to be the same towards other people , which means there has to be a lot of humility , there has to be a lot of Selflessness , and that's a . Those are so many conversations right there , but we don't think it stops there with that purpose .

Rhett 9:40

Yeah .

Justin 9:41

I mean , we also believe that everybody has been uniquely designed , and so our goal is that you can listen to this , and even in a format like a podcast , that you actually can feel like man . They really helped develop my uniqueness , yeah , today , because we ultimately feel that over life you were called to so many assignments , right ? Yeah and our goal is to just help you To deliver on those assignments .

Rhett 10:12

Mm-hmm .

Justin 10:12

Wherever they are in life , whether it's being a parent , whether it's being a friend , maybe the job that you're working , maybe it's that dream that you are pursuing , Whatever it is that you feel like I am here to do in this particular season , we just want to be an encouragement to maybe just you know , I'm not like this mountain man kind of guy who just goes and you know I can like get the sun to aim down at the firewood and get it going right .

Justin 10:40

I have to go buy some of that little red stuff , I get a little bit of peace because I don't want too much to , you know , chemicals to get on the s'mores I might be making with my family . But my boys think I'm such an amazing fire starter because I like that little fire kindling and it will get a fire roaring and hey , five minutes into it it's real . Yeah . So our goal for you is that we can just be a little bit of that red kindling that can get the fire going in your life . That is going to be 100% the Lord and 100% you taking those steps in your life .

Rhett 11:17

And we recognize as we share this . We're hoping that you know our family and friends who have been along the journey of our lives , maybe from you know 38 years ago , from today or yesterday , or maybe we met you at Starbucks hours ago . Wherever you are , good chance you know , good chance .

Rhett 11:33

But wherever you are , our hope is just to invite you on a journey along with us . You know , I think

A Little Backstory On Rhett

Rhett 11:38

maybe a little bit of backstory , we don't have to go in depth , but you know with who I am , who Justin is and and who are becoming . I think that might help , especially if you're determining on whether or not you want to join us in on this journey . But you know , I'll start and I'll make it as short as I can and I think there'll be nuggets , you know , from these bullet points that we're going to talk about , from my life , from Justin , justin's life , as we move into the next episodes . But you know , born in Alabama , born and raised Birmingham , alabama , come on you gotta add the Alabama .

Rhett 12:11

You know I love . I love my parents very much but , you know , unfortunately , grew up in a broken family . My parents got a , you know , separation divorce around the time that I was , you know , two and a half , three years old and so , you know , lived with my dad and living with the dad as an only child , as kind of a latchkey kid . Around seven years old my mom died by suicide and so , you know , trying to live life with the dad and without a mom in the picture and going through all those emotions and everything . I was looking for love in all the wrong places . I met you in that process around I was eight , you were seven , yeah Right . And so we were living in a little apartment complex that used to be called Twin Gates East .

Rhett 12:52

Apartments over in the Huffman area of Birmingham and so we were living there and met this guy and so , anyways , do and get into a lot of trouble because none of us were serving Jesus , but we were very grew up in . Listen , you grew up in the south . Everybody's a Christian Right , and I tell people like this , you know who don't want to be a Christian , because I did . I didn't want to go to hell , you know , but I had no relationship with Jesus . I was 16 , at 16 . You know , excuse the Christian ease if you will , but I gave my heart to Jesus . In other words , I surrendered my life . I just went all in in a relationship with God because the guy sitting across from me in this chair invited me go to on Beatstrip . And you know , actually no , let me edit that you did not invite me to go on a Beatstrip , we have , we grew up .

Justin 13:37

I did invite you to a Beatstrip , but you did not go . I did not go . Yes , you went to hang out with your girlfriend .

Rhett 13:45

It is true . He invited me on a Beatstrip to this youth group and I said no , I don't want to do that . So I was hanging out with my girlfriend instead . But he went not because he wanted to get closer to Jesus . You went because of , if I'm not mistaken , a girl .

Rhett 13:55

That's right she invited you and you know , and he went and he came back . He went for a girl , but he came back with Jesus . And so when he came back with Jesus , it was a life change . I loved it . I was like I got to have what he has is just complete change , and I went and checked it out and gave my heart to Jesus , went all in on the relationship with God . I went from like a religion of Christian to like Not just need fire insurance , if you will , but to walking in a vibrant , authentic , real , powerful relationship with Jesus . And then my life was hard one step forward , two steps back , a lot of grieving . Got married at a young age and it went through a divorce , lost about everything and then ended up remarrying and God brought restoration of my life and a beautiful woman I've been married to for 17 years . Got a 15 year old son who is dreaming of being an F1 racer right now , which is really cool .

Rhett 14:42

Yeah , and serve churches all across the country . Planted a church , most recently in the Boise area in the appa , idaho . Come on , the appa Idaho one life church . We at and currently past that baton . And now I'm serving local church in Twin Falls , idaho , while I live in Birmingham , which is crazy , but it's happening and we're doing . You know , I'm coaching , I'm consulting , starting to 501 C3 right now . This is how I can help pastors and church planters specifically across the country to At pastoral care to them . So yeah , so many off conversations , but that's me and in that shell right now .

A Little Backstory On Justin

Justin 15:15

For me picking up where . Rhett , did you know ? Our first meet was me and my brother . We were very into ninja movies in the 80s and our parents would always give us , like throwing stars and all kind of weaponry .

Rhett 15:30

I mean we by the way , if you don't know what a throwing star is , it's not like a little star from the sky , it's a yes , like a metal thing with like five points on it . It's like a knife .

Justin 15:39

It's a knife throwing at somebody that has five chances to get you five points on it . Five point circle flat and circle that's what it is .

Justin 15:47

Picture that . And if you've seen Ninja Turtles , you've seen Ninja stars , let's go . And so Rhett was riding by on his bike . He saw me and my brother throwing and we would . It was like this would encased dumpster at the apartment complex we lived in and we would just kind of throw the stars and it would stick in the wood and that was like victory if you did that . And so Rhett rides by and he's curious what we're doing . He asked if he can throw one .

Justin 16:12

Heck , yeah , and it's been friendship , best friendship , ever since that moment . We literally have been together since that moment and whether it's been , as Rhett said , the adventures that have taken him out of Birmingham and it happens through phone calls and technology advances and you get zoom and FaceTime but we have been in each other's life and so from that moment , my story is very similar . I think that's what made me and Rhett connect . So much is , my parents went through a divorce when I was around five years old and in the same way , my dad got custody , which was such a rarity .

Rhett 16:51

Yeah .

Justin 16:52

In those days and my dad got custody and my mom you know , she has since passed and I can I'm so thankful to be able to say that she's with Jesus . But my dad got custody . She was , you know , into some strongholds with just alcoholism and pills , just a lot of stuff , to really try to cover a lot of the grief that she was facing .

Justin 17:17

I didn't know how to label it that then , but those will be some great topics as we have this podcast and the different themes of episodes , because growing up I've definitely been able to look at her and realize , my goodness , there were some missing things that could have really helped her and so . But I grew up in that environment , not really being with my mom as much , but me and Rhett connected and so in the same way . But at 15 I went on a trip to Panama City Beach . Girl who had invited me to go with our youth group absolutely said yes and I had just this amazing awakening to Jesus .

Rhett 17:54

Yeah .

Justin 17:55

And I just know that what I was seeing other people my age doing at the age of 15 , the way that they were seeking after Jesus , it's something I had never seen and I knew that I wanted it and I didn't know what to do . I just sat on the ground and began weeping and in that moment I surrendered my life to Christ and I told the Lord from this day forward , I'm living for you . There wasn't the altar call , nothing like that for either of us . We just had that moment and it was . I mean , life has had never been the same . I mean that's when that sense of purpose we talked about I mean it existed . Now I knew while I was here it was all about Jesus , it was all about helping people have encounters with Jesus . That's it .

Justin 18:41

And then what's cool is over the next month and it doesn't happen this soon to everybody , but over the next month really , these assignments already started primarily in the form of , you know , church and what we would call ministry began to happen . I had just started playing guitar . My cousin shout out to my cousin , matthew , who is in New York City . He did a lot of , you know , broadway musicals Very , very talented guy . He came home one summer playing acoustic guitar .

Rhett 19:11

Yeah .

Justin 19:12

And like he could really play and I had a guitar under my bed that I would pull out and just kind of pluck . So anyway , matt knows how to play and I'm like will you please show me ?

Rhett 19:22

His name's Matt Kaplan , by the way .

Justin 19:24

Yeah , Matt .

Rhett 19:24

Kaplan and he's . You know we said we would name drop , but he would be one of the guys that we would want to get on the podcast in the future . He'd be a great guy to interview with his what he's done .

Justin 19:33

Yeah , just for you guys , you know artistic , you know you're into the theater , you're into things like that . I mean , what a cool story . And there's fun stories later I'll share about him . But he taught me four chords and we began writing a song and from that point I was hooked . But that happened a month before I surrendered my life to Christ . So here I am 15 . I start playing guitar , I'm writing songs that are just in my heart and immediately you and I , we get plugged into our local church . At that time , yeah , you know , I'll leave out some details there , but fast forward , I get married seven years later .

Justin 20:08

I get married in April of 2000 to my wife , summer , and we then just I mean , we're the poster children for our church . And then , from that point , just as new steps happen , we stepped out , not really knowing where we're going , but we knew we were supposed to do something . Yeah , and we would meet a guy named Chris Hodges who moved to Birmingham , alabama , and he was going to be planning a church .

Rhett 20:31

Yeah .

Justin 20:32

And we were all in . We met him , loved him and you know it's a place called Church of the Highlands and it launched in 2001 and me and my wife were there since the beginning . Talk about an assignment ? Yeah , I mean a whole different trajectory for our life . I mean I would have always thought that I'm heading on out once . I could finish college or whatever , like I'm gone .

Rhett 20:55

Yeah .

Justin 20:56

And probably we always thought it'd be us on the road touring somewhere , red Nigh , and one of our other great friends , and in this case it's like I got that . I got that bug . I was like , oh my goodness , this place is awesome . Yeah , so I graduate college , I'm not going anywhere , no church , no anything With a music performance degree and I get a job at an insurance company .

Rhett 21:16

Let's go .

Justin 21:17

Because I want to stay and serve my local church , and so you know , fast forward that until now , probably seven years into the church , I ended up coming on full time and worked heavily with the worship department and most recently , I put a lot of focus in what I was doing with the worship team . Now , just as a holistic , the entire congregation , if you will , with our staff , is pastoral care .

Rhett 21:42

Yeah .

Justin 21:43

We have four boys at this time of recording 14 , 12 , 9 .

Rhett 21:49

You better get them right . You better get them right .

Justin 21:51

9 , but our six year old , I mean , he'll probably be seven by the time this airs yeah . But yeah , man , so it's .

Rhett 21:56

It's so cool .

Justin 21:59

So far it's been a journey of a lot of ups and downs . My goodness yeah , some amazing stories that have come out of it , and it's just like you look back on things and you would not go through the hell you go through when you're in it , but once you get through it and you look back , what you've learned , I would not trade any experience because it's giving an opportunity to share the things that we're going to be sharing .

Rhett 22:27

Yeah , absolutely Beautifully said . So where do we go from here ? At the end of the day , we're really excited . You know , again , format will probably be a podcast around . What about 45 minutes to an hour ?

Justin 22:41

I mean , that's kind of what we're thinking right now .

Rhett 22:42

I mean , I don't know if you've got a friend that you can call and you're like , hey , you got five minutes . Next thing , you know , you look at your time on your phone you're like , what are we ? An hour 45 in this is nuts and you ? That's . That's our friendship and that's the . That's where we can go with this podcast . But at the end of the day , what we're really trying to accomplish is just relaxing , relatable , a lot of fun atmosphere , of just some real authenticity of of honestly walking with God for 38 years what life was like before and with , and kind of the adventure of where we're headed .

Rhett 23:14

But this isn't , make no mistake , it isn't just about

Paper Bands, Luxury Pools, Laundromats

Rhett 23:17

retin , Justin . This is about what we've learned , what we're learning and how it can apply to your life , with where you are today and , you know , with what God has in store for you in the future . And there's going to be leadership principles . There's going to be stuff of oh , my God , don't , do this . Whatever you do , don't . But there's going to be moments like , whatever you do , you want to do this Because we've you know again , 46 years , still feel like I'm 16 . When I look in the mirror , I'm like Nope , nope , nope . But you know , we're just taking a next step , trying to be faithful and steward our story in a way that serves you , that serves the body of Christ , and we want to be real , authentic .

Justin 23:58

You're really getting to listen in on what we talk about and I think for years we would always joke that the outcome of our conversation my goodness , if someone could have just been a part of that you know , when you're not trying to make up something that sounds really smart . You just do something naturally and you look back and you kind of aiming yourself . You know for those who are listening and you know us for those who haven't really got to know us yet . We are very much , and always have been . We love entertaining .

Justin 24:27

Yeah , we love being the center of attention . That's authentic , that was us as kids .

Justin 24:33

And I think that over a year , as you look into certain rooms and say I need to repress this a bit . But I also think that as you get older you realize sometimes you're repressing isn't like a God thing , you're repressing as a you thing . Through conversation Maybe you realize , man , that's something that , oh , I didn't , didn't realize that I did . You know , since we were kids I always joke around and say we were in paper bands because I would draw it up on paper all the time . I mean before , long before we played or ever played in bands . We've played in many , I know . For me it would be like Justin Bradshaw , vocals and acoustic guitar . I didn't know anything about acoustic . I give like Rhett Borden , I think I gave him harmonica and singer .

Rhett 25:19

No offense to all the harmonica players . That are absolutely amazing . Yeah , if you knew Rhett , but at that point it was like yeah .

Justin 25:27

We would go . We used to go . We had in our apartment complex there were three pools , three laundromats and that sounds luxurious , by the way , when you say that I just want you to know it was far .

Rhett 25:39

It was it's that sounded a luxurious , but it was like fading fast and it was like 30 something years old by the time we moved into it .

Justin 25:48

So it wasn't like it was no , no , no , no , no . No , this was not no . We lived in some resorts three pools , three like yeah , in the heart of Huffman , Alabama . Let's go . If you could only see just so you know .

Justin 26:01

those pools are full of dirt now they filled them covered and they don't want the liability of having a swimming pool , they can't afford the insurance , but anyways . But we would go to the laundromats because we realized , my goodness , they have amazing acoustics , yeah , and we would write our first songs in those laundromats love songs .

Justin 26:25

To the girls that we dreamed of dating at the point , or our imaginary girlfriends yes , they would yeah , the ones who would have , you know You'd have on your wall that , and until your brother comes through and marks them all up it makes fun of you , which you didn't have to worry about that . I did not but yeah , so it's , it's fun , you know just when I think back to the laundromats , the , the theme parks we've created in our head .

Rhett 26:50

You know , there's one thing that you're gonna realize about us is that we're really imaginative , like Our minds , have the ability to create dream works in our head . And so we had two imaginative , very dreamy , dreamy kids that were dreaming of . You know , looking back , I'm sure really trauma that we were going through , that we didn't even know that we were dealing with our families . We were trying to create this escapism in our minds and emotions . You know , I look back in with a psychology now and seeing what was happening , but also because God gave us a gift to dream , yeah , and we had the ability to sit there and think of all this crazy stuff on our head , like theme parks in our backyard and , yeah , you know , and bands and concerts and all kind of stuff . So you know , which is makes for a crazy , crazy conversation if you're sitting there listening , like when the world maybe had a friend , like that . You know we we have not stopped doing those things . They look different now , for sure .

Rhett 27:41

And there are a lot more , you know , I hope with maturity , that goes toward tying into our purpose now in life and we're using it and we're crafting it and we're getting better and but yeah , that was our childhood . We had a lot of well , there's gonna be a lot of laughter in regards to those things you know , I'm looking forward to that .

Justin 27:57

I'm looking , I'm looking forward to see when the conversations take us , excited to hang out with some of the people that we will also Interview at different points and times throughout the podcast . Ultimately , I think that you and I read for what we've been through .

Rhett 28:16

As I said , we were very much the entertainers grow , you know , as kids , and still we have that we have that hard .

Justin 28:22

We love it , but through you , know the mindset of , of our purpose right , of walking with Jesus and Putting others before you . That's really hard for me . First of all , you're getting the very surface of that . That's a hard thing for me to say because I'm naturally selfish , but I will say the walk that we have had the past 30 years , I've been able to get a little less selfish and chip away at that . And I would say one thing that you and I are unified on , which is fun to do this together , is we

When the Light Finally Comes On Inside

Justin 28:56

honestly will tell you we want to see the people that we come in contact with , yeah , accomplish the assignments that are on their life . Yeah , we want to see them accomplish greater things than we could imagine , even though we got some . We got some things we're imagining too . So you're gonna have to step up .

Justin 29:10

Yeah but we want to see you accomplish greater things . Then you could ever imagine and we we find it such an honor in the Really in the life that we get to be in through the local church and through Relationships and just through the different areas that we end up having through coaching or mentoring , whatever it might be . I Love getting to see people have that light come on , yeah , where they realize I Actually believe in myself a little bit more just because of spending time with you . And what I've found is that's not like we have to come up with something so profound to say it's just being available . Yeah , it's just taking the time to be able to say something to somebody that you think is just everyday words .

Justin 29:59

And you know , I think back to you , rhett . I can remember back , even in youth group you had a way that you could be walking out of a room and you have maybe two or three of these guys who you could tell they probably weren't fitting in , but they were there . Their parents made them . I can remember so many times you kind of walking out . We had just walked off stage from leading the music . You're coming down and and you would go and just say something to him and Just with your personality , very just , very boisterous , very man .

Justin 30:28

What's going on , how you doing , and within five to ten minutes , yeah , they are opening up and having a blast with you , and you would just really take them under your

Taco Bell, Rollerblades, Hockey, No Soda

Justin 30:38

wing and we'd go to Taco Bell down the street , or we'd go to see them . Where I had that last night by the way , oh , taco Bell . I did . Yeah , it was also get still one of my favorites . Sorry , summer , summer rebukes Taco Bell . She says no , but she didn't have .

Rhett 30:53

That was back in the day when you could eat Taco Bell for like less than five bucks . Two ninety eight , I mean like yeah , literally , that was like two tacos to be . Hey , you know , this was two tacos for me Meat and cheese , only nothing else on it , and two Mexican melt snowpico . And that was that , was it with a side of cinnamon twist and a Sprite , because that's that's where I rolled . Now I don't eat that's like that anymore . I'm like give me everything that's on it .

Justin 31:16

But well then , I would get always my to go , my go go to order their Three soft tacos . However they made it lettuce was fine , a bean burrito , nachos with cheese and a Pepsi freeze .

Rhett 31:30

Yeah , nacho cheese with that Pepsi free . They don't make those anymore and do they I don't , I don't know , is a Pepsi freeze like the freeze , like the ?

Justin 31:39

Smoothie type thing like an icy . Oh , okay , it was , it was wonderful .

Rhett 31:42

Okay , I guess that's another thing .

Justin 31:43

I haven't had that in a long time . I haven't had carbonation . I'm on a streak .

Rhett 31:47

You're on a streak of carbon . Yeah , that's for sure . I drink carbonation every day , at least one , and Justin hadn't had carbonation in how many years since . June of 2001 so we're praying for him on that , so matter of fact create a bandwagon of get Justin back on some carbonation . Sorry , summer .

Justin 32:04

She'd be fine with it , I mean , but your downfall would be chocolate .

Rhett 32:08

You do love chocolate . You'll eat chocolate any day of the week . I'll show up with chocolate . You , justin's best friend .

Justin 32:12

I'll eat sweets . I've got the biggest sweet tooth Coffee and sweets . Yeah , those are my downfalls , and Good downfalls , good that way it's not like it's bad . Good downfalls .

Rhett 32:24

I love it in moderation .

Justin 32:26

Yeah and so . But yeah , carbonation , there was really no point to it . I just Matter of fact . It was the first small group semester we ever had we had like 11 groups . Yeah for you who don't know , small groups , or I mean , it's what it's called , it's if you have a son or small you have a Sunday .

Justin 32:43

It's like Sunday school classes if you will , but you break them out during the week and , as it doesn't have to be just like going through the Bible , it could be basketball . Well , one of the first groups that I helped with was a hockey small group , because me and Rhett have a background .

Rhett 32:56

I don't know hockey is so popular in Birmingham Alabama . It's , so it's just like you know , every kid is growing up dreaming to be a hockey player .

Justin 33:04

In the south it's odd how me and Rhett fell in love with that sport .

Rhett 33:08

But we did , by the way that is . I don't know if you can tell that's dry humor .

Justin 33:11

I'm being very facetious on that like yeah , yeah , it's the south now I have a we don't know what ice is there is no such thing is Hockey , unless it's professional level . Who can afford to put it in an arena ? We don't play outside , but Rhett and I did get into hockey is in happenstance , when we got rollerblades and Turned out playing out of date .

Justin 33:36

you right there I know , but we would play with some of these . We found herself in the tennis courts in the backyard of once again , don't think luxury tennis courts this is tennis courts that might as well have been a prison court , because like it really was .

Rhett 33:50

It was no offense to my brothers and sisters who are in prison . But let's be real . When your net is a fence , yes , you know , like yeah . It was it was . Lines are drawn with chalk ?

Justin 34:00

Yeah , it was , it was not . It was definitely not luxurious , but on , we found we would go out there because it was just at least smooth enough to rollerblade and we would come out there with our hockey gear . In one day we find that there are people out there playing hockey where they've taken the two courts but taking the half-side , where you don't have a net in the way they set up goals . Yep , and they were playing and it was . It was hockey .

Rhett 34:26

We were the only two unrollerblades as kids , but they were on their feet .

Justin 34:29

They were just , they were on their feet , yeah and they were semi-pros who used to play for , like the local area Birmingham Bulls team , yep , and we got thrown in their plan . Yeah , we didn't know , they had the time until like afterwards , like , oh , you have flavor .

Rhett 34:41

The Birmingham . I was like what , what ? Not the Chicago Bull , the Birmingham Bulls , and which are still a hockey team today .

Justin 34:47

Yeah , like on my .

Rhett 34:47

Facebook feed . I'm like , oh look , birmingham Bulls , we need to go back , need to do it , yeah .

Justin 34:51

so it was changed arenas crazy .

Rhett 34:53

So you notice how our Conversation can just go from one thing to another . Somebody like how in the world that's been up on tennis courts ?

Justin 35:00

You just you just witnessed an everyday combo and we got there , rhett , because the first small group was a hockey small group . It is all right . We played rollerblade hockey and one morning , all my way to small group , I down like two or three coats because I used to be very addicted to carbonated or really coke or Pepsi , anything like that , and I start playing hockey and I got that feeling of like , oh , I just want to throw up .

Justin 35:26

It was just that syrupy , oh , and I remember going home , mm-hmm , and I told summer , just like we all can have our words of hyperbole , I'm like I'm never gonna have a Coke again . And she says , oh yeah , that'll be the day . And just kind of jokingly , I said okay , yeah , and if you know , justin , at all .

Rhett 35:48

You never have a coke again . You just made a personal like oh , you don't think I can't do it , I'm gonna show you that I can do it . So . I don't think I can do a podcast , but we're gonna do a podcast and here we are . Well , and I took it the rest of the day just thinking .

Justin 36:03

Maybe I can survive the rest of the day and then the next day . Matter of fact , that night , if you want to date the time this happened , it was the night that the Colorado Avalanche here we go one the Stanley Cup by beating the New Jersey Devils in June of 2001 . That's how I time stamp it in my head , whatever date that would have been in June , but that's the day that I gave it up . The next day , I went without it the next day .

Rhett 36:29

We're , you know , at this time of this recording that you remember in T games that were on .

Rhett 36:34

TV and years the way that , where the sun Was setting in the sky and which way the wind was blowing and the t-shirts , people I mean , like it blows my mind . So there's one thing about Justin is that I can remember a ton of stories , but I have no idea the context of time frame because of the trauma that I went through as a kid , like putting back on ton of grief , and so like I'm just like in this moment of just Just not having a clue .

Rhett 36:56

So but the one thing is he is that he is that detailed friend that if he says it happened at this time and this date in this place , you can just take it to the bank and don't even worry about arguing , because we I've gone through 30 minutes of cover and like , oh yep , you're right , that's exactly what happened and where we were and what it was , and so I just trust it now .

Justin 37:13

But that's funny anyway , all that sporting events usually help me trigger those . Yeah , we're all tied .

Rhett 37:18

So we need to land the plane here . You know , I , if anybody's still listening we hope you are we hope you're enjoying Maybe a little bit laughter , just kind of the idea of like , where could this thing go ? You know , you know . So we are actually recording this . You know in what the end of October , a week into you know , before all the Halloween festivities and trunk retreats and all that kind of stuff , and we're really just trying to get everything set up today , see if any of this would work , and we just thought why not go ahead and hit record and throw some stuff out there , as far as when this actually releases not quite sure- making decisions .

Rhett 37:54

We're making decisions , but what we do want you to know is hopefully you can make some comments on whatever you know , venue

Wrap up, Contact Us: info@armchairauthentic.com

Rhett 38:00

. We're putting that out there . We'd love to get some feedback . There's things or topics you want us to talk about ? We'd love to hear that and love to line that up , because we obviously want to make this interactive with those who are listening and joining us , and not just a two-way conversation . But we want you know we love you and we do pray for you and very thankful for your time to listen today . We're excited about this journey man armchair , authentic two brothers who've been doing life for 38 years . We are not perfect by far . We get to do some pretty cool things right now for Jesus . Between what Justin does on staff at Highlands and what I get to do right now with , there's so many different little adventures that I'm getting to be a part of and you know we love you . Anything you want to say before we close ?

Justin 38:42

it out , brother . This has been a great start , and if you're hearing it , it's because we decided to let this one go ahead and , yeah , hit the airwaves .

Rhett 38:51

Yep , that's it , and we don't necessarily know exactly what we're gonna talk about the next time we come along , but we do promise that you're gonna laugh , it's gonna be a lot of fun and we'll have some leadership principles that we can all grow from as well with it . It's gonna be good , it's gonna be great . All right . God bless you . Thanks for your time and remember our chair , authentic baby .

Justin 39:13

Our slogan . I thought you're about to come up with some great try . I thought this is gonna be , I was like man . I remember I'm like red's got some exit like he's got like some statement . This is gonna I'm all ears Like what is he ? Yeah , about to say he's , oh , my god .

Rhett 39:27

Oh , Craig Roche has like what . And then ?

Justin 39:30

red's like , so just remember .

Rhett 39:37

Well , you know , I mean , sometimes inspiration comes when you take a step of faith . You know you step out the boat and you walk with Jesus , or you step out the boat in your sink , and well you know . Thanks for that one .

Justin 39:48

How about this ? Oh , here we go in here . Yeah , it's like it's hard to our conversation . Thanks for listening to armchair authentic with Rhett and Justin .

Rhett 39:55

We'll see you next time , all right , god bless guys .

Justin 40:00

Thank you for listening to armchair authentic with Rhett and Justin . Hey , we would love to hear from you Questions , comments , how we can make this a better experience as you take this journey with us . You can reach us on Facebook and Instagram at armchair authentic and on exit armchair off the pod that's , armchair off a UTH pod and email us info at armchair authentic com .