Overcoming Challenges on the Journey

Rhett 0:00

When you begin to make impact and you're actually doing something that's making a difference . That's when attacks come , that's when the comments , that's when the haters , that's when the trolls all start showing up .

Justin 0:10

Is that what they say ? Haters are going to hate , haters are going to hate hate hate , hate .

Rhett 0:13

Fakers are going to fake , fake , fake , fake , fake . What do you got to do ? You just got to shake it off .

Justin 0:17

I might have said that wrong .

Rhett 0:27

We're taking Taylor Swift's advice . Thank you , taylor drum roll . Today marks episode 20 the big 20 . What is going on ? Armchair Podcast family ? It is great to have you back for another episode with Rhett and Justin man . We are here to help you fulfill your God assignments in life , and our hope is to do that by having some real conversations about real life with real people . Now , justin and I are really excited to jump into today's content , but before we do , we always want to take a moment and say thank you to every single one of you who have taken the time to rate and review the podcast man . It means so much to us , but more than that , it is really a great way we can serve those who aren't on the journey yet .

Rhett 1:19

Now , if you're new to the podcast man , welcome home , welcome to the family . We're so glad that you found us . If you haven't already followed us on Instagram or Facebook , could I encourage you ? Search Armchair Authentic . You can find us both on Instagram and Facebook at that tagline , or on X , which is Armchair Auth Pod . We're having a lot of fun . In fact , we are trying to create some content for future episodes based around your ideas , based around your questions , based around the thoughts that you're thinking right now as you're driving to work . We want to create content that serves you right where you are , and the best way we can do that is if you will join the others who have emailed us at info at armchairauthenticcom . We want to hear from you , so email us again at info at armchairauthenticcom .

Rhett 2:13

All right , now on to the content a conversation with Rhett and Justin Looking forward to it . It's going to be a lot of fun . Here we go , justin , I cannot believe it . Today marks a very monumental moment for us at Armchair Authentic . It sure does . Man , drum roll Guys . Welcome to . That is the messed up drum roll man . So here it is .

Justin 2:43

Okay , so we just .

Rhett 2:44

That whole momentum going into that just didn't work the way I thought it , man . So here it is Okay . So we just that whole momentum going into that just didn't work the way I thought it would , but we're really excited . Today marks episode 20 .

Justin 2:51

The big two-oh , can you believe it , man ? It's flown by to even get here . It's crazy .

Rhett 2:56

I mean , it really has flown by . Considering how much time and effort and thoughts and conversations we've had over the past couple of years , even dreaming about doing this podcast , yeah . And then , once we put our feet to the ground and started really creating content that we started delivering in January , we weren't really sure how fast we would get to episode 20 . We're going to do one a month , one every other week , but here we are with this audacious goal to do one every Monday at this point .

Justin 3:22

So yeah , and it's been a lot of fun because I think we've also proven that , man , we can churn out some conversations and we really have replaced what was always our weekly or two or three times in a week . We've pretty much surrendered it and said we're going to do it on our recording day to keep the material coming .

Rhett 3:40

It really has . People are thinking , well , man , do you guys just sit around and think of this ? No , this is just an ongoing conversation . But you're right , We've simply tried to go hey , let's not talk about that yet on the phone . Let's save some of these experiences so that we can try to get the most , I guess , raw and authentic emotion and expressions and just the joy that comes from hearing things for the first time .

Justin 4:01

Yeah , it's funny how it's changed things for us , Like we really for this season of the podcast , however long right . Yeah , that it's changed our interaction in the sense of we don't make the calls like we did .

Rhett 4:13

Well , we still do , but we just don't . Maybe we don't spend as much time on the phone .

Justin 4:19

There were moments , bro , it's funny , we're talking about it and we keep saying to each other moments , bro , it's funny , we're talking about it and we keep saying to each other oh , let's , let's not talk until the podcast like this is too good , because we might not say it if we said it on a phone call , because it's just out the ears .

Rhett 4:31

It's gone to the next thing that we would normally talk about man , that is so true , I cannot think of how many times before I answer the phone call thinking , okay , justin's calling . I look at my watch and I'm thinking how many minutes do I have here ? Because you're the type of friend that I have in my life I don't know if anybody else does . We're like our conversations that we think , oh , man , it's got a little five minute conversation . It's like , oh , that can turn into a good hour and a half , which I know people think , man , that's crazy , y'all have that much time . It's not that we have that much time , was we make that much time ? Because our conversations there is iron sharpening , iron type of conversations , and so I guess all that to say is just the fact that , man , we are now in a season where we're thinking , hey , this is some good stuff , let's save this so we can maintain the integrity of the moment of that conversation , so we can share those with our podcast family .

Justin 5:23

Even before we do each recording , we have a little creative meeting before where we talk about a little bit of potential talking points and even how we see it in the future , Like I think you'll notice some changes over the next several episodes that we jump into .

Rhett 5:39

I mean , we're just I think it's fun just to kind of dream out loud One of the things that I really enjoy , justin , as we get going in this podcast , instead of just jumping right into maybe some of the depths of things that we've prayed about , is just catching up on our week , and I think it's kind of funny back when we first started the episodes , when we were asking each other like , well , how was your week ? We couldn't even get past that point . We were laughing so hard . But there has been some time go by since we've sat down and record our last episode .

Justin 6:07

Yeah , we were able to batch record a little bit and what that means for you who don't know .

Justin 6:11

It's where you're getting several episodes recorded and we really worked a little system where we have knocked out a couple in one sitting which can put you a few weeks ahead and we try to stay as current with you as we can . But , yeah , we've been

An Epic Indy 500 Experience

Justin 6:26

afforded to , because of life situations , that our life with traveling and schools out for the summer , as we talked about last time we have had the margin to allow those episodes to happen , so to be sitting together . It's good to see you again .

Rhett 6:40

So good to see you too , bud . Here's something speaking of Epic for our 20th episode , which is , you know , in our mind right now just trying to hit this audacious goal of doing 52 . For our 20th episode , man , I mean , I'm pretty pretty stoked to share a really cool story . So , as many of you know , if you've been following this podcast journey for any length of time , you know that my son really loves professional race car racing and he has this dream to become a professional race car driver . And even right now , as we're sitting in this home studio recording this , my son is actually racing cars right now on iRacing , which is crazy and that's another story in and of itself . But so some friends of ours called us out of the blue a couple of weeks ago , the week leading up to Memorial Day , and they were like , hey , we know how much you love racing and your son does . We actually have two tickets to the Indy 500 in Indianapolis , indiana . Would you guys like to go ? And I was like , let me pray about that . Yes , there's the answer Easy .

Rhett 7:44

But as much as I wanted to say , yes , we would love that , that's amazing . I was like you know what ? Yes , we would love to go , but let me work some logistics out , because we were not planning this within our budget . But this is like if you don't know . This is kind of like somebody calling you up a couple of days before the Super Bowl and going , hey , I got some Super Bowl tickets , would you like to go ? And the answer , of course , is , oh my gosh , yes , I don't have to figure it out . Of course , yes , I want it . And so that was our response .

Rhett 8:09

So I've got , by the grace of the Lord , have some relationships in Indianapolis , indiana . Call those pastors . They're like , oh my gosh , it'd be so good to see you come up , stay with us . So we ended up staying with some of their family , which cut our cost of hotel expense . And so then we were like making sandwiches and trying to figure out like , hey , we could get there , and we took a gas sipper , one of our Hondas . So anyway , we say it didn't cost us very much money to get up there .

Rhett 8:31

We went to the Indy 500 . And all I've got to say is this when we came back . We were on a high and so if you're not an auto racer , please don't just zone out here , because here's what I was so impressed with . Max and I are looking at each other and we're like how are we going to describe this ? How do you describe the indescribable ? I mean it really is . I know if you've seen it on TV it pales in comparison to being there live . Now , listen , we grew up with Talladega 175,000 people , daytona , probably close to the same Indy 500 . You're ready for this ? 350 000 people . Goodness , where else in the world can you go and experience an event with 350 000 people in a live environment ? Justin ?

Justin 9:20

a revival service in ug or Kenya or Nigeria .

Rhett 9:27

And so alone the epicness I don't even know if that's a word , I make up words but the fact that you're walking into an experience that you've never experienced . Forget the racing part , I'm just talking about the massy of people . You could put every major track or stadiums in the inside of this , this thing , and this would just engulf it because it's that big . And so here , here's , here , here's , what I walked away with was number one . It was just , it was an incredible experience to be around that many people . Now , if you're , you know , not a social extrovert and you're an introvert , you're probably thinking God knows , I would never want to be around that environment , but I would never want to be around that environment . But I would challenge you on that thought , because here's why Not only was it just one of these moments where there's a ton of people , but when they began to sing the national anthem , and when they begin to sing God Bless America , and when paratroopers are jumping out of the sky with parachutes , with American flags on , and when you have two incredible flyovers not just one from the Thunderbirds , but two and when you have a moment where you honor America and those fallen soldiers and people , men and women , who have given their lives in honor of our country and allowing us to experience the freedoms we have today . When they play taps , I mean , I've been to Arlington , I've been to DC , I've experienced the tomb of the unknown soldier , I've experienced . It's incredible . But when you experience that with 350,000 people and they ask everybody to go silent and you could hear a pin drop in reverence for those who have given their lives , and then if somebody comes on , a pastor begins to pray over 350,000 people and begin to pray over the race car drivers in Jesus name , asking for his presence to God and for the revelation of God to come alive on the inside of people's hearts and lives , I've never experienced anything like that . And then , in addition , you've got cars going through , you know , 235 miles an hour by you Once the race starts , I mean dude , I'm a grown man .

Rhett 11:31

In the national anthem , the God bless America , the taps , all that I'm literally . I got my sunglasses on , I'm looking straight and I've got tears just rolling down my face because of the the , I was just in all of the reverence of God . I was in all of the reverence of God . I was in awe of the reverence of our country , of our nation . I was in awe of just seeing this many people in a country that's well-divided right now seem to come together and unified , and I know the race is what brought people together .

Rhett 12:00

But it was more than that too . It was an experience like no other and I can't tell you I saw it on TV , I've watched it afterwards and it doesn't do it anything . So now , like now , so I know this is , you know , this is an impossible ask . Maybe it's not , but like now , I'm trying to like put this on the calendar , to do whatever I can to go back every year if , or anything if or anything , if or anything just to experience the Memorial Day activities of the race event itself with the family and that many other people .

Rhett 12:28

It's just a beautiful experience . I don't know how you can go to an event like that and walk away and not be touched on any level of God and our country , and how thankful we all should be for the men and women who paid the price to create events like that .

Justin 12:41

It's just incredible , even max at 16 , to be able to experience a bucket list item like that , something that most people don't even get a chance to go see . That's sounds amazing .

Rhett 12:53

Yeah , and , and , and , and hear my heart so grateful , so grateful , like I have 46 years on this planet and never experienced anything like that . And so it was a process , and it was just a God moment of his faithfulness and kind of a God wink on our life . And to look down at my boy , who one day told me , man , it'd be great to go to the Indy 500 one day , I'm like , yeah , you know , we'll see . And then God just kind of winks and goes , hey , I got you . It builds his faith , but it also I don't know man . And in the whole moment , the whole trip , I kept telling my son , my father's son , hey , buddy , I want you to know this is not normal . This is God's blessing on our life . This is not

Family Time and Impact

Rhett 13:34

, please understand , I didn't make this happen . This is God .

Justin 13:42

And in every moment , through every conversation , I was always trying to point him to God in the moment , so he would see that God's looking out for him in some areas of his life and his desires and his dreams , and it's just God's blessing and in some areas of his life and his desires and his dreams , and it's just God's blessing and I'm very grateful , very grateful . Yeah , no , that's beautiful . I mean Memorial day is such a great reminder , um , I mean for us . In the same way . It was a great week . It's very . We talked about it on one of our videos we make . You know I was getting to become the expert over the past three years that I've lived in this space and I must say I've learned pretty good . I mean , it's an immaculate . It is clear , as you can imagine . I'm very proud of that because it was very green and sludgy at one time , is it a ?

Justin 14:14

saltwater pool or chlorine it is . It's a saltwater pool , yeah , but I've learned how to shock it with the chlorine too . Let's go the chlorine too . So I make it this cross pollination of salt water , chlorine and the real deal to shock it , but okay . So my goal was to get it ready fully . You know , my boys have been swimming in it , you know , maybe a couple of weeks before , but I told him officially Memorial Day weekend I'm going to jump in the water , and so it was like that . It was a week where a lot , of , lot of swimming , a lot of grilling burgers and hot dogs . I'm a grill enthusiast and so I love grilling steaks , burgers , hot dogs . If you're a vegan or a vegetarian , hey , vegetarians , I'll grill you a good old mushroom burger too . So I don't show any favoritism towards anybody . That's great .

Justin 15:03

I don't show any favoritism towards anybody , but but summer she you know I'll talk more about it later , but she has been working hard on something for the past several years , really just getting after it . But I I worked from home , if you will really took some days off to allow her to go spend really eight to 10 hours of focus time of study and writing some intense things that she's writing and getting so close to the finish line . Once again , I'll hold on that until , you know , a few more weeks hopefully , but yeah , it gave me a chance to hang out with the four boys , that's so cool , Hence the swimming the grilling and what I thought .

Justin 15:41

You know I had it laid out nicely the morning time we're going to be electronic free . We're going to walk the dog , we're going to do all the things , we're going to be together . And then afternoon time here's some other things . You guys go have your free time . I'm going to get some of my personal . I write a lot , a lot of writing done , maybe some songwriting as well , and you know how much time I had to get any of that done , how much .

Rhett 16:08

Zero baby .

Justin 16:09

Zero hours went into that because as you know and people listening , your day gets taken up fast with just being a dad , being

Hate Comments on Social Media

Justin 16:20

a husband and making sure that your priorities are right . So it was that week where a lot got accomplished , but it wasn't what I thought . But it was a great week of my family time .

Rhett 16:32

That's so awesome . You said something there about writing and it triggered a thought in my mind about you know , we've been asking people to email us , we've been asking people to write , we've been asking people to comment and we're very grateful for all those who have , but , um , I don't know if this is a , a , a true like , um , what's the word I'm looking for ? Uh , measurement of are we making an impact in our world ? But everybody seems to tell me and I don't know the most prolific , how do I say this ? How do you ? Prolific , prolific , prolific , how about that ? I don't know the most prolific way to say this . That's a big word .

Justin 17:10

Oh , but You're just being authentic .

Rhett 17:12

Yeah , I'm really trying to be authentic . Excuse me , my Southern showing okay , okay , but you know I've heard it said prolific yeah now it's in the muscle memory . Yes , so prolific way to say this . But what I'm trying to say is , oftentimes , when you begin to make impact or influence and people begin to start paying attention and you're actually doing something , that's making a difference . That's when uh , you know attacks come . That's when the comments , that's when the haters , that's when the trolls all start showing up .

Justin 17:48

Haters are going to hate . Haters are going to hate hate hate , hate .

Rhett 17:51

Fakers are going to fake , fake , fake , fake , fake . We got to , you , just got to shake it off .

Justin 17:55

Oh , is that is that ? Is that Taylor Swift ? I might have said that wrong . We're taking Taylor Swift's advice for what Rhett's about to say .

Rhett 18:02

Yes , so we got our first hate comment . I don't know if it's hate comment on social media or just like I don't know a little , a little like stab at you to try to get you to respond . So somebody commented on our Facebook . The moment I saw it like , my natural reaction was I ain't got time for this . I hit it . I was like I just clicked it off , right .

Justin 18:25

And then I shared that with you , and I think you obviously saw the comment too , and we were talking about it the night before .

Rhett 18:28

Yeah , so I was like I don't have time for this . Forget this . We're a positive , uplifting , encouraging type you know thing and we're trying to create environments where people can feel the life and love and all that good stuff , Right , and then , uh , I share this with Justin and then , you know , you tell him , tell him what you told me .

Justin 18:44

Well , yeah , I just know that , um , we were on the . I was walking the dog yesterday , I believe it was telling you . I was like , hey , did you see some of the uh , did you ? See one of the comments and you were like are you talking about the hate ? I said yeah , you're like yeah , and I was like , oh man .

Justin 19:04

I said , hey , you know and not to jump ahead of what we're gonna say to this , but I actually it made me . I just remember the night before I was putting my kiddos to bed and I was just kind of chilling a little yeah and I don't know why .

Justin 19:11

It made me smile when I got , when I saw the hate like yes , finally , here we go , and so and your response was funny because you were like uh yeah , I deleted that , or actually you didn't say delete you said yeah , I hid that , I hid it or whatever it was .

Justin 19:24

Yeah , I was like oh , you hit it oh okay , and I didn't think anything of it . I was with my family last night . I said hey , boys , guess what ? I want them to see that hey , we're going through the same stuff that they go through with some of their youtube channels or whatever they have . And so I said hey guys , hey guys , uh , we got us some some hate mail today . They were like oh , you did . Hey , dad , y'all be encouraged , don't . Hey they , they're just , they're just mad , cause you're out doing something with your life .

Justin 19:47

So it was really cool to hear my boys say that . They were like , oh , but I want to see it . I was like , oh , you can't , um Rhett hit it , and so I'm with , I'm with summer and all my boys . And they were like , don't hide that comment , bring it back . They were like you can't be authentic and be hiding comments . And I said you know what boys you're right . So I texted red hey , what do you think about bringing back that comment ? Just let it show pure authenticity . Let them , let them hate . Yeah . And red wrote back and he said I'm trying to , but it actually won't . Let me bring it back , I guess , once you hide it .

Rhett 20:21

So I , yeah , I don't know , maybe it's my , you know , lack of knowledge when it comes to certain platforms , but this platform that it's on and I'm not going to tell you , so you can go try to search it yourself if you want to , but at the end of the day you're not gonna be able to find it , but it was on there , okay . So it's not able to pull it back up . So in my defense , I should say when I hid this thing , it was like midnight or whatever .

Justin 20:43

I was so tired .

Rhett 20:44

I traveled all day . It's been forever . I'm done . I have nothing left in the tank . I need to rest . I see it .

Rhett 20:48

I'm like , yeah , I ain't got time you've been traveling cross , yeah , I was just because I just came off a you know 12 hour trip anyway , and so I was like I ain't got time for this , so I hid it or whatever , and didn't think twice about it , and then you hold me accountable to it . I'm like you know you're right , why not ? So what did he say ? Because I know some of you are thinking what in the world did he or she say ? So it came from . So , in an effort to be authentic , this is what we're trying to do .

Justin 21:13

You can't go find it now , just know this .

Rhett 21:15

Moving forward , we're going to allow all comments , whether positive or hate or whatever , to live in our social media , as long as they abide by certain guidelines and there's not any profanity and anything else that young guys shouldn't see . But this one . This is the kind of stuff we'll leave from now on . So if you follow us on social , you'll see that we have these little videos that we basically are just trying to keep awareness in front of people . It's like , hey , man , we've got an episode coming up and drop in . We'd love for you to listen . If you haven't , go back and listen to the other episode . Now , I don't know how else to say that . I don't know if you guys , as our family , can help us try to figure out a better way to communicate this stuff , because here's the person's response to the video Okay , blair S this is the person's name .

Rhett 22:01

So , blair S , you're getting a shout out . You said it's true , I don't care . All right , neither of you look authentic . You both appear to be acting so okay . So I don't know . Like I know we're armchair authentic . Obviously , blair , you've . I hope , like I don't think you've listened to any of our episodes , but if you have and you could simply say it from that perspective . Okay , I'll give you that . But if you just saw the video , can you tell me how else we can get within 25 seconds what ? How much more authentic can we be than just standing and going ? Hey guys , this is coming up , we made an episode . It's pretty authentic . Go back and listen to it .

Rhett 22:48

It's pretty authentic making it but . I don't know .

Justin 22:51

I do want to personally thank Blair though .

Justin 22:53

Yeah , thank you I do think that it's authentic . But where I want to thank you is here's what made me smile . I took it as a compliment because she said you look like a couple of actors . And , man , I have not been called an actor in like 20 years , since we did Easter dramas or 25 years ago and getting to make our own fun little videos and we aspired to be actors . That sounded like such a fun thing and I told my wife when we were talking as a family I was like at least somebody called me an actor .

Justin 23:21

That was kind of fun getting to relive that dream well , maybe we need to make a compliment , maybe we need to make some bits , yeah , and be some actors , because I um , I really appreciated that comment . I feel like I just kind of expanded some of the depths of what we have to offer well it .

Rhett 23:38

It goes back to what is authenticity . I mean like if you got to explain something , so should we have dumbed it down and go . Hey man , I mean like we're just sitting around and just thinking oh , hey we got to drop Right exactly . Right , that's what I'm saying Like this is how we talk , this is what we do .

Justin 24:01

We're going to look in the camera and try to make eye contact and just simply just try to encourage . Anyway , we have been told by , I mean , people who know what they're talking about hey , don't respond to that . We're having fun , because it is fun to take the 20th episode and address that , because people are getting hated on all the time . And I think something to take from this is don't take yourself so serious , because it is a real thing . When you're performing or you're trying to accomplish or you're hearing the opinions of different people , like really be careful , because even little comments like that yeah , and I know we're making it sound silly , because that's really how we took it , unless Rhett was mad and he deleted it the other night- Well , I was less .

Rhett 24:42

At that point . I was like I ain't got time for this guy are you ? Kidding me ? Move on , you got right . I mean , that's just the truth . Yeah , that's it , but all in all , that's authentic Blair we really do like it's it .

Justin 24:53

It doesn't mess with us and I welcome the feedback and , by the way , if you have things you want to suggest to make it better , we'll take any kind of feedback .

Rhett 25:03

If you want to dislike something and put a reason why you dislike it , bring it on and we would love to talk about it not in a condescending way , but in like hey , this person thinks we could get better here and we made an error .

Justin 25:14

We made an error , deleting blair's comments . So in authenticity , exactly , we're . We're actually giving her a lot of airtime . Her or he I don't know Her or he where . Normally you wouldn't be getting this kind of attention .

Justin 25:26

But to make a point , we can easily struggle with the opinions and the words of man and it can affect you in so many ways , and so we want to bring attention to that so that you don't fall into what really is . It's a trap . I may have mentioned this on one of our first podcasts . I can remember being in a room with some other guys and we had read something on social media of . It was something that this , this it wasn't even really an influencer , but it was someone on social media . They made a comment and someone that I'm with read the comment and I remember him looking at that person's like account and he was like what does he know ? He only has a thousand followers . And the person who said that

Handling Constructive vs. Destructive Criticism

Justin 26:10

I mean would probably be more of the influencer with you know probably 10,000 followers . And that stuff can get in your heart because I'm on the side of the 10,000 influencer over here like yeah , what does he know ? But it planted a seed in my mind like well , god , I don't have that many followers of 10,000 . So does that mean if I say something , too , is it discounted because I don't have this many followers ? So these comments that people can make , we can so easily buy into a false narrative where that inner critic really begins to disrupt inside and it will actually put a halt to what you're trying to do .

Justin 26:50

And when these haters come on , they've got nothing better to do . They want to give the hate , but they don't give constructive criticism . Right , you know , I heard Brene Brown . I read a book a long time ago . I really recommend it . It's called Daring Greatly . It was a long time ago so I'll try to remember it the way that I can the best . But there's two different kinds of criticisms that you get . One is good , it's called constructive criticism . That's where the goal construction right . I'm going to give you this feedback so that you can be built up Wonderful . We need constructive criticism . I'm better because of receiving loads of constructive criticism . In the same way , there's destructive criticism . That's where you're getting the feedback . It's critiquing , but it's criticizing you and it's tearing you down , not to have any footing to be built back up . The aim of that is to make you feel like a loser , to make you feel like you are incapable . That is the difference when you're thinking of a destructive person critique or a criticizer .

Rhett 27:51

Yeah , so when most people that are in relationship with people want to uplift people , like in a good relationship , healthy relationship , so constructive criticism is somebody that says , hey , I love you enough to go , hey , man , I believe in what you're doing , you know . And let's take this , for instance man , I believe in you guys enough to know that , hey , you know , I know you want to be authentic in this , but I don't think that that particular one was authentic . But here's how I think that you guys could approach this moving forward . Right , yeah , that's more like can somebody please help us and let us know how we can be more authentic , because I don't , I don't know how else to say that , but you know the one , the other construction that is deconstruction , if you will , of criticism . It's the more like it's just hate for hate . It's like I don't know you but I just don't like it and y'all suck you know , or whatever , and you're like well , you don't even know me , right ?

Rhett 28:44

You don't know me , you don't know the . There's no context , there's no relationship , and so I think , more than anything , this is what the enemy does Like . The enemy wants to keep you from making a difference with your life , you know , because he's going to sit there and say well , if you take a step out , there's going to be people who won't like it and like , of course , that's the point , right , like you have to in going to make ourselves vulnerable to people like this Blair character . You know who ? I believe if we were in a relationship with , he would have never said that because he would have known that . Oh man , that's Rhett and Justin . That's exactly who they are . They're just doing the best that they can to steward that , to get people to understand where they're going .

Rhett 29:29

But without the relationship , you know , there's nothing there . So the point of this conversation for me is , if you're on the sidelines wanting to make a difference , just know there's going to be people who are going to come along , who aren't going to believe in it and who are going to criticize you . So you just got to get to the point where you're like me . You know what ? I ain't got time for that and you hide them Right . That's OK to do . You don't have to do in every context . But because we're doing this in the context of wanting to remain authentic , we're being authentic now going hey , you know what . All right , we'll leave that out there a little bit , but we've just come to expect . I'll never forget . We planted the church .

Rhett 30:02

I could not believe how many people came out of the woodwork to put comments on there , to troll us and go oh , you think you're going to make a difference by planting a church , whatever ? Well , you never emailed me , or you didn't respond to this or that , or you know . I guess if you would have responded in less than you know , 24 hours , I would have given my heart to Jesus . Somebody really did that . Oh , you know , they sent us a direct message . I didn't respond for 24 hours because I didn't know . I'm one man doing everything you know , trying to build a team and all this , and I see it . I'm like man . I am so sorry I miss this . I'm just now seeing it . Hope you're doing well , I'd love to meet you . Oh , no , I'm not interested anymore because you took forever to get back . I guess I would have given my heart to Jesus if you would have responded in time .

Rhett 30:43

And I'm like wait a minute , this guy's playing me . I'm not playing into that , but at the same time I was also like man . We must be making a difference , because people are catching wind and word of what we're doing , and it's like are you perfect ?

Justin 30:57

No , Did you probably make some mistakes in this ? 100% , the haters do not care of your confession they don't . They don't want to hear that , they want to get that rise out of you , and there's a church that I'll go , actually one of the churches that I'll go and consult . They have this phrase and I love it RULU is .

Justin 31:14

R-U-L-U , and it stands for rise up , lift up , let's go , and I love that . I went and did a staff talk with them one time and I heard that phrase and I was like my goodness , like that is good , because we got to be talking and lifting up those around us . And in the same way , when I ask you if you're perfect , I know I'm not . I know the organization I'm with and we've never claimed to be perfect . You want to talk about hate .

Justin 31:40

I've been a part of Church of the Highlands for 23 years . I've seen it since the first month of its existence . I'm still there . Love it with all my heart . Love it in all of our great differences we're making and in our imperfections as people .

Justin 31:57

But when I hear some of this stuff come out , I want to let it irritate me . But it's just so far from anything that has truth to it that I just sit back and think they don't know me Exactly . These people don't know me , they don't know him , they don't know him , they don't know her . That statement's ludicrous . This is ridiculous , because you have to remind yourself when you've had those same things said about you . Do not let it stop you from reaching the assignment that God has put in your heart and the enemy deception will do all he can to silence you , to stop you , and he will use the meanness of people who really all they're lacking If you can look through the lenses of compassion all these haters are lacking is walking in their true God assignment , and we can pray that they have an encounter with the Lord or the right people that will help them discover that they actually have a purpose . That can also help people rise up and lift up .

Rhett 32:59

I'm an overcoming people pleaser and I'm just going to throw that out there . I say that jokingly , but the truth is I love affirmation . I love to receive affirmation . It encourages me to go on and move forward and lets me know that I'm making a difference with my life . But I have learned not to give my life over to that .

Rhett 33:18

Whether I receive affirmation from man , the most affirmation I have already received and receive daily is from God , and that is enough and more than enough , and because of that I'm content . So I do not give myself over to people . So when I make decisions and making a difference , I already know that there's going to be flack . There's going to be flack . There's going to be the pushback . There's going to be the trolls , the people that are sent there trying to , you know , cause discord . I already know that's going to happen . But I've made my mind up to know that my identity is not in that . I'm going to make a difference .

Rhett 33:47

I want to move forward in who God has called me to be and who God has called me to become , and to make a difference with my life and whatever impact that might be . And as I do that , I already know not everybody's going to agree with it . But you know what ? I don't give myself over to that because I know who my God is and who I am in him and his affirmation is enough . And if he's called me to do it , he'll walk with me in and through it and I'll tell you what Jesus I mean . He is our model . Look at him . He did not come to give himself over to people , for he knew what was in man's heart and he knew what would happen . So what did Jesus do ? What we saw him doing ? He was criticized with everything he did , with everything Jesus did . He was criticized , but there were people with him that surrounded him and they made a difference .

Rhett 34:32

And we sit here today around this table , blessed and grateful for what Christ did for us . And they criticize Christ . They're going to criticize you . So go ahead and just understand . Don't let that hold you back . Don't let any insecurity or criticism hold you back from becoming all that God has called you as a man or woman in what he's calling you to and towards for your next step .

Rhett 34:54

Because I tell you what , just like Justin and I are beginning to experience with some of this , just like I mean , you just got to laugh it off , because here's the . Here's what I think of when I think of Blair . He wants to be , he or she wants to be seen right , they want to be heard , and broken people and hurt people hurt people . And so my hope is that I can empathize with Blair and go hey , blair man , my hope is that you find who you are in Christ , so you can be fulfilled and know that that hurt can be healed to where then you can use more healthy ways to be seen , and that is truly by walking and serving and loving and encouraging other people , rather than trying to stir up strife , because there's enough of that going on in our world .

Rise Up and Go

Justin 35:34

There is . And for episode 20 , what we want to leave you with is go and get it , the assignment , the purpose , the plans that God has put in your life . Just like Rhett just said go , don't let anything stop you . We want to champion you . Don't let those idle words , the godless chatter , have any effect on you , that inner critic who wants to jump in and , just from within , try to tell you you're worthless and you can't do this . Forget it . And it's like it says in 2 Timothy 2 , and it says this in verse 16 , avoid godless chatter , because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly . Listen to this in 17 . Their teaching will spread like gangrene . So stay away from the disease of the fruitless lips that will say anything that has nothing to do with truly building you up .

Justin 36:32

Episode 20 , we want to see you guys rise up , lift up . Thank you for listening to Armchair Authentic with Rhett and Justin . We had a great time talking with you today , especially about how haters are going to hate and the enemy's always going to hate on you to keep you from reaching your God assignment . We want to hear from you so that we can continue to help you along on your journey , give us some topics , give us some feedback , some things you might want us to discuss . You can reach us at info at armchairauthenticcom , and we look forward to talking to you soon .