Different Personalities, Same Journey

Justin 0:00

Me and you . We're so alike , but yet we're so different . And that's what makes it beautiful man , God could be ministering to me in a certain way where I could be getting challenged to taking a little risk , because it's not as natural to me . At the same time , he's ministering to you and encouraging you to like slow down because you're more ready to take a risk .

Rhett 0:21

I will take a risk . Let's go , I don't care , we'll figure it out , because you're more ready to take a risk . I will take a risk , let's go , I don't care , we'll figure it out .

Justin 0:28

I have the faith , man , let's go .

Rhett 0:39

Welcome back everybody to another conversation with your friends , red and Justin , right here at Armchair . Authentic a podcast where we're having real conversations about real life with real people . Now , justin and I have been doing life with each other for over 39 years and we've got stories . We have conversations all the time and we decided that we just wanted to steward our stories . We wanted to steward our relationships and even our conversations in a way that serve you , and that is what this podcast is all about . So if this is your first time with us , welcome friends . It's so great to have you along for the ride today . Now we don't want to waste a lot of time on the front end , so we're just going to go ahead and dive into the conversation right now . You guys ready . Here we

Back at the Kitchen Table

Rhett 1:31

go .

Justin 1:31

All right , Rhett . So another week of Armchair Authentic . Let's go back in our house . We are . We're back in our original digs .

Rhett 1:43

Yeah , we're at the kitchen table today . If you might hear a little bit of that echo in the background , that's because I don't have a lot of carpet , it's a hardwood floor .

Justin 1:47

And we're preparing for some stuff coming up today . But anyway , I was reading an article and it really caught my attention because it reminded me of me and my wife , and the reason I say that is I've told you before I don't know how much we've mentioned it on the podcast , but we have found certain shows that we watch and we just watch the same thing over and over .

Rhett 2:12

Oh , ok , yeah , yeah , like like Monk or something like that . Yeah , like that series or like White Collar , yes , and I'm happy to drop those names because there is White Collar happens be one of our , our shows . Yeah and psych well , there's very there's something comforting about having just the something on in the background that you already know . It's like in this laughter , it's like oh , I love this character it's .

Justin 2:33

Yeah , I know what's about to happen . Yeah , yeah , you know what's gonna happen . It's predictable . It's good , just wind down . It still suck you in , though it's like you even know what's happening .

Rhett 2:40

You've seen it a hundred times and then they do it .

Justin 2:45

I hope he gets away . We know the answer , but still we we'll joke about it , because I'm talking ret 2000 and I don't know , probably 2012 , okay , 13 , like we've watched this show for eight years at least , maybe even a little bit more . Okay , which ? What show is it ? Psych and white collar ?

Rhett 3:08

oh , yeah , yeah , yeah . Well , I definitely I knew white collar .

Justin 3:11

We just go over , yeah , and you got us and you , you and a friend of ours , uh kept telling us about monk and we gave that a try , no way .

Rhett 3:18

No , no , no , what no ? I gotta correct you . I didn't . I had no idea what monk was . You told me about .

Justin 3:24

Oh , oh , oh , my bad . Okay , yeah , white collar , I cannot believe I got you into monk .

Rhett 3:28

Yeah , you told me about monk for a very long time and I was like just the name alone sounds absolutely why do ? I want to watch something about some Hindus up in a mountain or whatever .

Justin 3:38

I don't know . I don't even know what a monk is no offense to my Hindu people .

Rhett 3:45

I just like , it just didn't interest me .

Justin 3:47

Christianity has some monks . Yeah , well , maybe that's it .

Rhett 3:50

Oh yeah , Okay , well , there you go .

Justin 3:51

So I did get you into that , I don't know . I just think like a Buddhist or Hindu type temples and different things . That's all that was in my mind , I wouldn't even think of it . I do get it , I guess . I promise I'm 47 and I'm learning something here . It's where Christian Bale , on the Batman , went up into the mountains to learn . Remember , he went through the deal and there's probably a bunch of monks up there .

Rhett 4:12

Well , all I remember is inquire .

Justin 4:13

Gregorian chants Somewhere along the lines , a lot of ones and fives .

Rhett 4:17

Yeah , one , five one .

Justin 4:19

But it's like wah la la .

Rhett 4:26

And then what was funny ? I know I'm totally messing with your story , but what's ? What's the ? Uh , there was a song in like the late 80s or 90s oh man , uh , not octal man . What was it ? What's the band ? Oh , depeche mode .

Justin 4:35

I think that was it . Did they have ?

Rhett 4:36

some songs that were maybe . I don't know if it's depeche mode or something , I don't know . Uh , or they jump into some of the gregorian .

Justin 4:41

Yeah , they got this like aregorian chance it may not be , I remember jarzeglay did that on one somebody like john ross right now is going . No , it's this song right now , it's this artist . Get it together red , come on , I'm on my run , he's gonna stop .

Rhett 4:53

He's like texting me right now .

Justin 4:54

This is the song you're talking about . He would probably know he probably would .

Rhett 4:58

Yeah so , but it's got this whole like gregorian thing , and so when I think of monk , I'd think of that which has its place . But I'm like I don't really want , like I don't know why you watch this show , right ?

Justin 5:08

yes , yeah , well , that's my . That's all I thought about . I'm trying to think back on what fans did that , but I said a while ago jars of clay because they had the song . This is the one thing that I knew . It was like , it was like more .

Rhett 5:20

Oh , yeah , yeah , yeah . Well , it was kind of popular then . Yeah , you had Sting Dude , if you want to hear some crazy funky music . That guy's the most creative . He'll pull out an instrument and he'll make his own instrument .

Justin 5:31

He's like , hey , I got some trash cans and strings , I'll put together and record it you know , Well , it's like when you think of chords you know mostly pop music you stick to the one , four , five , six chords if you're not a musician I know that might not make sense stuff . He's got all kind of modalities going where he's jumping in and borrowing from different there's a lot of borrowed chords . It's taking us back to our music theory days at uab . Shout out blazers and I love it .

Rhett 5:56

I love it and like it was so funny . I know we'll get back to what you were saying , but if I don't speak to this I'll forget , yeah . I was actually playing a song the other day and Linda was like what are you playing ?

Justin 6:10

I'm like this is stink she's like . I hate this .

Rhett 6:12

It's amazing and she's like I don't know what's going on , I don't know what country we're living in . Right now . I feel like there's this verge of like all these different middle eastern and european type sounds , with a little bit of acoustic in there , but like she's , like I can't figure it out . I'm like well , that , that doesn't say anything about the guy you marry like , because all that complexity of sound and beautiful , you know , beautification of just the creative , like god you don't , you don't hear these instrumentations anywhere else you've got to pull out , sting or I remember there was probably other artists that are like it , like a morning talk show had sting .

Justin 6:43

This is probably back in 2002 and it was like fields of gold song like that .

Rhett 6:49

Yeah , come on , but it's just him on his acoustic guitar yeah and it's some triple meter song and as an acoustic lover , I'm just sitting there watching , thinking

Monk, White Collar and Comfort Shows

Rhett 7:01

that's amazing I mean I instantly like on my couch the rest of the day trying to write a song like that I have the soundtrack going in my head right now god , it's so good upon the fields of bali , right , so good . I don't remember the words .

Justin 7:22

When we walk through fields of gold .

Rhett 7:27

I never sing promises . Yeah , likely , Whatever man His accent man goes along with , like in the 2000s when , like Hillsong showed up and you got shout to the Lord , you got all the worship leaders going come on church , Hallelujah . Yeah , you know , and it's like every song you want to sing . I know we've talked about this before , but it's like every song is like oh , the accent is like God . That's why Delirious was so popular we were singing Delirious in the car Promise . We'll get back to your thought . Oh , you're good .

Justin 7:57

This is why we're scalable everywhere .

Rhett 7:59

We were singing Delirious in the car . Oh man , what was it ? Oh God , you know , I should actually remember the things I've talked about before . Well , no , there was another one , Delirious yeah , History Maker's great .

Justin 8:11

Did you feel the mountains tremble ? Yeah , keep going . What would I have done if it wasn't for Jesus ?

Rhett 8:15

Oh , man , it's amazing you remember these songs .

Justin 8:19

I love .

Rhett 8:19

Delirious . It was another one that was really popular anyway thank you for the chance to live again I will run . It was like called august .

Justin 8:30

It had a name like august 13th and so I just walked away .

Rhett 8:33

Always for you , always for you . Like everything sounds so cool when you talk like this and I can't even do it correctly , but , like free coffee , you'll love our app . I'm reading my coffee cup . Oh man . Restrictions apply .

Justin 8:50

I was telling , I was telling my wife this we were at Taco Bell . I'm not talking about what . I don't know where that comes from .

Rhett 8:56

We were at Starbucks .

Justin 8:57

We were at Starbucks the other day and she ordered a drink called a Cortada . Well , now it's a little more known , but I was actually hosting some artists one time .

Rhett 9:08

They have a Cortado . That's how they say it in the .

Justin 9:10

South and I'll host a lot of people and so I wanted to host them , right , and I wanted to get their drink orders , like what coffee they wanted , and they gave whatever , whatever , whatever . But this one in particular , person , um , said I'll take a cortada , A cortada , and I and I I didn't want to say , I didn't know what that is .

Justin 9:31

I was like I was like so cortada , right ? He said , yeah , cortada . I was like got it . Well then I went to go study anything I could about what is a Cortada ? How do you make it ?

Rhett 9:44

Okay .

Justin 9:44

So I started calling baristas around like these , these bougie coffee houses that you know we've talked about Mark Clement hangs out at . Oh yeah , I'm calling all these places like how do you make a Cortada ? And some of these places had never heard of a Cortada . Finally , really no , it is , but this is like back in probably 2008 , 2009 .

Rhett 10:05

Oh yeah , oh , I remember this . Yeah , yeah , you actually played for him . Yeah , so that's around that year . That was so fun , that was , that was cool . You got , you got to get up there and play . Yeah , we did it together .

Justin 10:16

That's true . Well , now , I was in host mode , so I didn't play .

Rhett 10:18

You played guitar on Sunday . I can't even remember , did I ? I guess I did . You stood right beside me .

Justin 10:23

I might have music directed . Yeah , okay , cool , okay , now I'm .

Rhett 10:27

Sorry , okay , it doesn't matter .

Justin 10:28

We've played so many times . I mean it's a blur , but anyway looked up to him a lot .

Rhett 10:49

I really wanted this drink water , yeah , and so I finally got a hold of somebody and they told me what was in , or cortada , and so we ended up , and now you're asking me , and now I forgot coffee , coffee , coffee .

Justin 10:52

Yeah , it's like espresso , espresso , espresso , espresso with cream , and it's like a perfect blend of both perfect , blend and I'm saying it wrong .

Justin 10:59

You can look it up now because , as I'm telling summer the story , two weeks ago she looks up what's in a Cortada , because I was like remind me what's in it , and you'll probably find this in just a minute , red , if you want to look it up . But so , anyway , it just made me think about God . I got to know this drink order for this person because , you know , when you appreciate music , like people like that or people like St or I mean you want to know what their coffee order is . It's like . Okay , I need to learn that drink because I might have to try that myself .

Rhett 11:27

Yep and it was really really good . Well , if anybody is interested , a cartado is a spanish coffee drink cortada cortada , but it's spelled cortado okay , it is in alab . If you're in Alabama , it's Cortado .

Rhett 11:46

Part of the potato family , but a Cortado , literally C-O-R-T-A-D-O . Cortado is a Spanish coffee drink made with equal parts espresso and steamed milk . Yes , typically served in a small glass or a cup , often four ounces Gibraltar glass . I don't know what

The Jack Daniels Family Connection

Rhett 12:05

that is , oh , okay . Yeah , that's espresso glass , all right . So the milk is worn in steam , but not heavily frothed or foamy yep , that's creating a balanced , strong and smooth coffee .

Justin 12:14

It's a great drink .

Rhett 12:15

Yeah , yeah , two shots of espresso , resulting in a strong , concentrated coffee flavor with the steamed milk one-to-one ratio smaller size .

Justin 12:22

Yeah , so you get four ounces , basically Two ounces of espresso , two ounces of the steamed milk , but not frothy .

Rhett 12:28

So you're getting the kick without all the like feeling overly bloated with the liquid .

Justin 12:32

Which is funny , because they hand me my cup and it's just white .

Rhett 12:35

You're like is this a nut ? I don't think this is right .

Justin 12:38

And I remember going back to him in faith like they were they were actually playing on the stage like and you know , I was gonna walk up during soundcheck and I hand it to them and you're just handing it , hoping that he doesn't take it like you know in america we're so like it's got to be 20 ounce man .

Justin 12:56

I got a 20 ounce vendi in my hand right now as we talk , but I hand it and he was like and he took it , he didn't flinch at the , at the weight . So I'm thinking so far , so good . He took a sip and he's like it's bloody good mate .

Rhett 13:12

You know , it's funny about that oh man .

Rhett 13:14

It reminds me . Uh , you know , I didn't know who I was playing with , right , like I literally didn't know the songs . I had no idea the influence , I didn't realize the songs that I grew up singing in the nineties were really songs that this these guys wrote , right , I had no idea . I knew the places that they came from , but I had no idea . And so I , literally I I'm this here , here's Rhett . This is the honest truth . I am this way with everybody and you either love it or hate it , but I'm just myself wherever I go . So I'm not impressed by all that different things and titles or whatever , whoever you're with , but I literally was like man bro , you know , I said I had no idea , I didn't realize that you wrote all the songs that I grew up singing , for the most part that were very influential and powerful , and I started naming I said I literally like I'm sitting here in you know , in the back looking up , like I'm like Googling your name , I'm like , oh my God , this is what I'm playing with .

Rhett 14:09

And I told him and he just kind of smiled , he , I think it might've been refreshing for him because I said dude , thank you . And I literally just said thank you for just being faithful . To write these songs like this is awesome , that's so good it's made a huge impact in my life and I and and I know it has for a lot of people . But number one I love the music . Number two I had no idea , but I'm . It's an honor to be part of this it is well .

Justin 14:31

It's funny because you tell that story on the flip side . I knew , yeah , that one of them was a very prolific songwriter but you never told me like we .

Rhett 14:41

You were sure I mean we're not disconnected , but there was a weight of hosting and different stuff going on . There was .

Justin 14:48

Yeah , but the other I did not really honestly I didn't know the name , the other kind of household name to me , the other .

Rhett 14:55

Is there a reason we're not saying the names right now ? Yeah , I'm just not much of a name guy yeah , I would just say it doesn't matter . I mean , we've got , we had talk box on grammy award winner . Why don't ? Why in the world can't we call these guys up ? Yeah , yeah , just say it . It doesn't matter who did , oh goodness it's fun , so it's a part of our story it's not like we can , who cares ? But it it does bring into context a little bit so so it was reuben mor .

Rhett 15:20

Yes , that's , the guy was like I had no idea .

Justin 15:22

Yeah , yeah , prolific songwriter .

Rhett 15:24

Some people are listening now like I don't even know who Ruben Morgan is . Google him .

Justin 15:27

Wrote a lot of significant worship songs that we sang . And then the second was Ben Fielding , who I actually , who is a very prolific songwriter , but I had zero clue . I thought he may have just been the right hand man , kind of travel companion , electric guitarist , with Ruben .

Rhett 15:44

Yeah .

Justin 15:47

And so I just remember hosting him one day and I'm trying to make some small talk with him and I asked him , I said so do you write music too ? And you know , when you ask that question and you instantly think I shouldn't have asked that and I just , I still remember we're at the red light , about to turn on to this Highway 280 .

Rhett 16:07

They're the most down-to-earth people . Trust me , they loved the authenticity . Enough time has passed . It's been 17 years .

Justin 16:17

That's a long time ago . I can't believe it .

Rhett 16:19

I know .

Justin 16:20

But the story finally comes out . But I still remember being at the red light . A lot of our listeners wouldn't know . Alabama 550 cities , now 43 states that we are reaching in Birmingham . I'm kind of at this red light pulling out onto what is a very traffic-y road in our city in Birmingham called Highway 280 . I'm at this red light about to take a left onto 280 and I'm just making some small talk with him . So you write any , you write songs too , and he's like , yeah , and , and I just instantly regretted it and I kind of looked through my rear view mirror and I just instantly regretted it . And I kind of looked through my rearview mirror and Reuben was kind of in the back seat to the right and I just saw him kind of glance up towards his friend and he had just kind of like a little light smirk . Yeah , like he kind of probably liked his buddy got a little humbled .

Justin 17:15

Yeah , yeah , yeah , and so they were humble people .

Rhett 17:18

They were so humble they really were .

Justin 17:21

And I just kind of , I just drove them on and instantly when I had a chance to myself , I started looking up his name and I realized like , oh my goodness , I mean any of these songs , mighty to Save Mighty .

Rhett 17:34

Well , ruben and Ben wrote that . I think that was one of the most people are going to know that song , yeah , mighty to Save . Awakening that . I think that was one of the most people are going to hear that song , yeah , yeah , mighty to Save .

Justin 17:42

Awakening . I mean a lot of these songs . There's a lot now that he's actually been , has been a part of lately , but just even fresh songs in the body of Christ , now 100% , all that to be said , it was pretty funny . But yeah , so it was Ben that I made the cortada for .

Rhett 18:02

And he loved it and it was great . So that's what got us on the coffee talk . I remember our conversations . Um , like you know , I try my best not to talk shop with people like that as much as I can , because I love connecting with people , their story , their culture and different things . And we started talking about real estate man . We were talking about the difference in real estate between Australia and here , and not that I'm a real estate expert , because I'm not , but we were talking about taxes and the difference of what a 1200 square foot home costs versus .

Rhett 18:27

you know what a 1200 square foot home would cost in Australia , australia .

Justin 18:32

You can't even Australia .

Rhett 18:33

Aussie , aussie . You know all our friends in Australia that are actually listening to us right now and giving us a hard time Like well , like we just talk , like we like your accent . They like ours they like y'all , y'all , um , and so , anyways , good people , wonderful people . That has nothing to do with the context of our conversation , but this is what we do , guys .

Justin 18:49

We go down rabbit trails . It drifted and it was . It was a good drift . We're gonna rewind this and ret ret talked me into dropping a name .

Rhett 18:57

I'm not one to drop names , but 17 years years removed , right 17 ?

Justin 19:01

years removed . That's how I'll justify it Okay , who cares . So I have to give rightful credit back to how we began this . It wasn't you who got us into Monk .

Rhett 19:10

No .

Justin 19:11

It was two of my friends , me and Summer's friends , Alger and Tracy . They're the ones who kept telling me to watch Monk , and we did . We loved it . Now rewind further . I had to give them their rightful credit .

Rhett 19:25

That is a very good show . I wish I wouldn't have waited so long , but at the same time I'm kind of glad I did because I could binge watch it and I had to wait until the next week . It was wonderful .

Justin 19:33

Also with me . White Collar , though in psych , has seemed to really stick with me in summer . Dick with with me in summer , yeah . So those are the shows we constantly go back to and we'll make jokes sometimes like man , I guess we're just that boring married couple here because it's just we love watching it and what we do is we'll play game pigeon every night , oh . We will school , oh yeah okay we will school anybody who wants to challenge us . We we will wipe the floor with you on pool .

Rhett 20:03

Are you going to put your phone number out there ? Word hunt ? Come on , man . What's that number ? Area code 205 . For years , for years . You're putting a challenge out there for people to do this . That allows me to talk this back and no one can actually make me back it up .

Justin 20:26

That's funny , but we will play that every night and we'll watch our show , so we love it . We love us , that's just , and we're content with it . But I came across an article the other day okay , and I sent it to summer because I thought we knew what we were doing all along and here's what it says .

Rhett 20:38

Okay , here we go okay , people who repeatedly watch the same movies and shows are emotionally hey , friends , just want to take a moment and say , if you are enjoying today's conversation , could you do us a huge favor ? Would you take a moment and copy the link from your favorite podcast platform and share it with a friend ? Email it to a friend . How about air dropping it over to your buddy or your sister right now ? Man , that would mean so much to us . Thank you , all right guys . Back to the conversation .

Justin 21:09

People who repeatedly watch the same movies and shows are emotionally

Roots and Wings Balance

Justin 21:15

intelligent . A study says Okay . So a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that rewatching familiar content is often used as a form of emotional regulation . Rather than being driven by boredom or lack of imagination , it's a way to manage stress and provide comfort during periods of uncertainty .

Rhett 21:40

Yeah .

Justin 21:40

Number one the ending is predictable , the emotions are familiar and the brain doesn't have to work as hard . This predictable environment helps reduce mental fatigue , calm the nervous system and restore emotional balance , making it especially common among those with high anxiety or overstimulation . All right , so the researchers also noted that individuals who rewatch shows repeatedly tend to score higher in emotional intelligence , empathy and introspection . They're more likely to form deep emotional connections with characters and use stories as tools for self-reflection and stress relief . In many cases , this behavior becomes part of a healthy emotional routine , offering a reliable low-stress experience that supports mental well-being . So , while it may look like just watching the same thing over and over , for many it's actually a subtle and effective way to recharge , for many , it's actually a subtle and effective way to recharge .

Justin 22:45

So all of my friends out there who watch the same thing over and , over and over and you have labeled yourself as boring I'm here to tell you you are emotionally intelligent beings .

Rhett 22:55

Welcome , Welcome to that club . That's really good . That's really good . I wrote in Google really quick People who watch us consistently says what about you ? And all of that is absolutely true . It says AI overview in everything that you just said . Often people do this for emotional comfort and a sense of familiarity , right , which can be beneficial for individuals experiencing anxiety or needing break from mental stress . Are you experiencing any anxiety in your life ?

Justin 23:23

these days . It's a good reset for me because I sit with a lot of people and hear a lot of their mental stress . You do .

Rhett 23:28

And then it says these people may feel a sense of control or a connection to their past and the familiarity can reduce cognitive load , when everything that you just said like we always are connecting to our past and what god is , you know , god is done , doing all the , all the wonderful stuff right , and the familiarity and just the sense of traditions and you're a tradition guy like- like part of me is like I'm like I need to be more like justin .

Rhett 23:54

I have zero traditions like , but you're like you , everything you do . Oh , this is a new tradition . I'm like , holy crap , I mean anybody that knows justin knows like , like fridays , all the stuff and it's great and take my boys out for lunch and I ride at starbucks yeah , I walk the botanical gardens I think the only tradition I have man is just like what ? What's something new I can do ? I ? Don't know that says a lot about me and I'm like it does an adventurous side of you though though .

Justin 24:21

Yeah , I think that that's the whole roots and wings kind of deal .

Justin 24:28

You do have to have an adventure , but I think it's important that people have a home base somewhere , and I know I used to show and that's a form of it , but there is importance to have something that attaches you somewhere . You know , I think about . Remember , before you moved to idaho to plant a church , me and you kind of you were in town and it was like gold when we got to spend the time together because you weren't always in town , and so I remember we went back to our original destination where we met , so we drove to twin gates east apartments well , what was formerly known as twin gates east .

Rhett 25:04

it was twin gates east and our original destination , where we met , so we drove to Twin Gates East apartments .

Justin 25:07

Well , what was formerly known as Twin Gates East , it was Twin Gates East and and it's pretty dilapidated , broken down , and we but I mean we were there and we stood in the same spot where we first threw throwing stars , If you want to Google it . I don't know the name of each other .

Rhett 25:17

I don't know the , the name of the , the road , uh , the name of the apartment complex now , but if you look up the Birmingham area , go to Huffman Road and Old Springville Road those two yeah and go to Google Maps .

Justin 25:28

You can even look at a place called Costa's Barbecue . Yeah , there's a Costa's Barbecue , it's right across the street , but it's good .

Rhett 25:34

Yeah , I mean , that's got me thinking what in the world Let me ? I mean my address .

Justin 25:40

My address then was 703 J Old Springville Road . Because I was angled and I could see your apartment . And because you were more , you were more parallel . We weren't necessarily parallel . I was angled more towards Old Springville Road . You were right on Huffman Road , so you were 1033 .

Rhett 26:00

Springville Landing Apartments is what they're called . Oh great , okay , but yeah , I was on 1050 . Oh , that's so weird . I'm looking at this map and it's like Springville road kicks in here and then Huffman road here . That's so wild .

Justin 26:12

Yeah , so that that's why mine do you look at if you can see Angled more with .

Rhett 26:18

Springville Road .

Justin 26:18

So that's why I was Springville Road and you were Huffman Road .

Rhett 26:21

Even though we were right beside each other . Yeah , so do a quick little Google search 1057K Huffman or 703J Springville Road and you'll see where we grew up .

Justin 26:32

There's something powerful about having a landing spot and so for you to do that , it almost before you headed out , it kind of brought you back to some roots that you probably needed it out , it kind of brought you back to some roots that you probably needed . And for me , the botanical gardens in Birmingham , if you're ever in Birmingham beautiful place , the Birmingham botanical gardens they have just a combination of so many different um , I mean different things from Japanese gardens to , I mean you can see so much .

Rhett 26:58

Yeah .

Justin 26:59

And I've been all my life . Even as a young boy , my mama never drove a car . You remember that ?

Rhett 27:06

I don't , my dad's mom never , never , ever , ever , never , never . Yeah , she just it's because she didn't want to , or ? It just wasn't appropriate for that generation to drive one .

Justin 27:17

I think she just didn't want to hear like her brother .

Rhett 27:20

I cannot wrap my mind around people .

Justin 27:22

I have an uncle named Uncle Lem , short for Lemuel , but Lem L-E-M . Yeah , and if our claim to fame , if you want to check out a Jack Daniels bottle , okay , distiller is Lem Motlow .

Rhett 27:33

I did not know that that's my family . You didn't know that ? No , no idea . How did you know ? How did you know I guess we don't talk about names Maybe if you did tell me that Well , I mean , we don't sit around talking about Jack Daniels that much .

Justin 27:41

That's true , but if you ever look on a bottle , it says the proprietor , the distiller , is Lim Motlow .

Rhett 27:49

Okay , so you're telling me that you're secretly wealthy .

Justin 27:53

Well , I thought we could be Through alcohol . Well , I did ask my dad . I said , dad , dad , come on , man , we are so closely affiliated with the jack daniels company like our , your , your uncle's name like , or my uncle , his uncle , technically , yeah , because it was his mom's brother , lim motlow . I called him uncle lim growing up too , uncle lim , like it's lim motlow , which is his , okay , you know , higher up , his granddad , yeah , um , I was like how have we not seen any of this ?

Rhett 28:22

Where's our money ? He said .

Justin 28:24

Well , he said my dad's answer was half the family has the money . Yeah , the other half drank it away . We're on that side of the family , so evidently someone before us drank away our fortune . So every time that you go to a restaurant and there's like a Jack Daniels bottle , I look at it . I'm like you know , I don't I don't drink it , but it's family . Wow , Evidently . Um , Jack Daniels was a part of the family . He was a distiller and a pastor .

Rhett 28:58

You're telling me something that I don't know . There's this family tree . I mean you guys listening , you're filled with .

Justin 29:03

I'm giving you some little family tree stuff here .

Rhett 29:06

There's a song by T-Bone back in the 90s Getting Drunk in the Spirit . Yeah , that's right , that's right . La-di-da . La-di-di-di-da-di-day .

Justin 29:13

Well see I can . If you've never listened to that song back there , oh my gosh , go listen to t-bone , drunk in the spirit .

Rhett 29:20

That'll tell you what I grew up on , taking me back to early anyways . So , pastor , so so jack daniels an evangelist , yes , yeah he , he was , he was , he was making he was making you know alcohol well , or ? Or bourbon whiskey , yeah , okay , I have no idea , but he was also um he had a congregation and you had the days , too , of prohibition . Was this like Andy Griffith days where , like you know A little bit probably , otis had his little underground distillery somewhere ?

Justin 29:50

where it was evenly made . No , it was known , it was known , it was just like once .

Rhett 29:54

So everybody knew he made it , if I remember this right . Oh yeah , I bet you , his church was vastly growing .

Justin 29:58

Maybe it was a pastor , but there was a fork in the road and he had to make a decision at some point , and I don't know if I can't remember if it's prohibition that kicked in , where it demonized alcohol . I don't know what part it was , because at some point he was able to do both . He had to make a decision . He chose preaching and his nephew , lim Motlow , took the distillery from him , basically became the owner , bought it from him . I didn't know that . So that's why , jack Daniels , you'll see

Serving Beyond Your Comfort Zone

Justin 30:28

under every bottle Lim Motlow . Okay , okay , now I'm taking you back , so down through our , our line of family . Like Lim also had in his family , which led to my uncle , lim , which was really my great uncle , he and my grandmother moved to Birmingham because we were from .

Justin 30:47

I mean , if you know where Jack Daniels is from , it's Lynchburg , tennessee . That's where we're all from . We're Lynchburg Tennessee people . They moved to Birmingham . That's how . And then my dad was born in Birmingham . So that's where we come from , birmingham . And so , um , they end up just he takes her everywhere . She never drives . She just never learns how to drive a car . Uh , she lived in these apartments that you could walk everywhere .

Rhett 31:16

Yeah , I remember that .

Justin 31:16

Yeah , and it's in the mountain Brook area .

Rhett 31:18

If you're familiar with Birmingham .

Justin 31:20

Those apartments don't exist . They tore them down and rebuilt them . That hotel , oh , they rebuilt them .

Rhett 31:24

Oh yes , how about the hotel and everything is over there ?

Justin 31:25

Lane Park is still there and they built the Grand Bohemian . Yeah , so the Grand Bohemian , and there's the apartments . I didn't realize that . Oh yeah , right behind Grand it's surrounded by apartments , the rebuilt lane part , okay , and so that's where my grandmother lives . So she would always take me and my brother , my dad , would drop us off either before he went to work . Single dad , he dropped us off there and she was the grandmother who you know I won't get caught up on this but she was the grandmother who could cook , do all the great stuff and you would enjoy the best food . Okay , but she would walk us . We would walk to the store and go like , maybe to the variety store , but also get like food and drinks , all that stuff yeah but we'd walk everywhere .

Justin 32:08

But then she would take us to the botanical gardens and me , my brother and her would walk . So whenever you hear me mention like the botanical gardens , it's a special place for many reasons , but I can take it back to like my childhood monument it is .

Rhett 32:22

It's a reminder that that's what 20 , but I can take it back to like my childhood . It's a monument , it is . It's a reminder that's what 28 Seas was for me , going to where we met each other and there's a memorial .

Justin 32:30

Yeah , it's a place that I can go . It resets me when I'm going through something . Maybe I've gone through seasons where I've gotten a little big for my britches .

Rhett 32:39

If you don't realize you got to go back and go look at what God has done . I mean , this is where I was living , this is what my life was , and I was a you know , single dad , raised in a single father , you know , as a . I'm a I have . How do you call that ? I was raised by a single dad . Right In these moments where the world would say you should be a statistic , and you go back and look and like , wow , look at what God's done .

Justin 32:59

That to me that's what .

Rhett 33:00

Going back to Twin Gates East , whatever Springville Landing is now , I'll never call it that ? No , you know to those moments of going wow , thank God , God loved me enough to connect me there For that moment in time and we can go back there .

Justin 33:16

I can go back for childhood to the gardens , childhood to the gardens . A cool thing about the gardens , too , is when me and Summer first met and went on our first quote date I mean , I didn't pick it , she did we went to the botanical gardens . So , like March , of 97 .

Justin 33:31

There's a lot there , or the botanical gardens I proposed to her in September of 1999 on the red bridge in the Japanese gardens of the Birmingham botanical gardens . So I go there at least every other week , sometimes a couple of times a week . It's just , it's rare that I'm not there and I will go to that bridge and I'll stand on it and I just it takes me back .

Rhett 33:56

It's like watching the TV shows over and over and over again .

Justin 33:58

There's something about it . It resets it , it grounds you and it's almost like the roots and wings that you're . You're that linda your wife talked about , yeah before . Like you gotta have roots , but like you normally you like ret barden is a wings kind of guy I am .

Rhett 34:14

I don't need the roots as much as I mean . Of course I need roots for sure , but I am more of a like let me get out there and explore an adventure . And you know , I don't know that just for me , and so that's been . I think that's one of the difficult things of being back in Alabama for me , and not that it's difficult .

Justin 34:31

Okay , I'm very blessed .

Rhett 34:32

I'm very grateful God's doing amazing things , so don't don't get it twisted Like , but like I'm just not used to having my feet in the same place for a long time Right and I and I'm grateful for the season that I'm in that .

Justin 34:48

I get to kind of have roots and wings at the same time where I you know . Anyway , that's a great example .

Rhett 34:52

It's just I thought I was weird growing up . Like I was like why am I jacked up ? Like everybody else is okay , we're living in the same place for their entire life ?

Justin 34:59

No , everybody else is okay with living in the same place for their entire life .

Rhett 35:01

No offense , I'm like I don't want to do that , but there's probably deeper emotional issues and trauma that has happened that's created those things in me , but maybe I'm just wired that way too . I don't know .

Justin 35:09

I think there's a wiring . There is . It's the evangelistic side of me , I was studying . Like just a theologian I was studying . It may have been Dallas Willard , who I've quoted a lot throughout the history of this podcast , but from what he says , god will tend to take you on this journey where hey guys Red here Just want to take a moment and say thank you to every single one of you who have taken the time to follow us on social media .

Rhett 35:37

Now , if today is your first time to join us for an episode , man , we want to say welcome , friends , it's so good to have you with us . Could you take a moment ? Look us up on Instagram or Facebook ? You can find us there at Armchair Authentic , or you can go on over to X . Find us there as well , at Armchair Auth Pod . That's Armchair Auth A-U-T-H-P-O-D . All right , now back to the conversation .

Justin 36:03

H P O D . All right . Now back to the conversation . From what he says , god will tend to take you on this journey where me and you , we are so alike but yet we're so different .

Rhett 36:09

And that's what makes it beautiful man .

Justin 36:11

It's really cool , but he'll take you . We're , and we're both , I mean literally within a month , or maybe even two weeks . Yeah , I mean , I literally got home from a beach trip a week or two later . You gave your heart to Jesus , surrendered , rededicated . Yeah , so we're on the same journey , coming up on 32 years .

Rhett 36:30

Yeah .

Justin 36:31

Okay , so , but God could be ministering to me in a certain way where I could be getting challenged to take a little risk , because it's not as natural to me . At the same time , he's ministering to you and encouraging you to slow down because you're more ready to take a risk .

Rhett 36:52

I will take a risk , let's go I don't care , we'll figure it out .

Justin 36:55

Let's just jump off the building and God's going to come . I have the faith .

Rhett 36:56

Man , let's go , take the step Jesus is going to , god's going to . I have the faith . Man , let's go Like yeah take the step there . Jesus is going to catch me , and that's the way he ministers to us .

Justin 37:05

He makes us better , and that's where you get the iron sharpening iron because you do learn from each other and there's not just a one size fits all .

Rhett 37:13

Yeah .

Justin 37:14

We're all wired , so different , and the beauty of this journey is you're kind of learning to discover that . So you might think something's wrong with you , I might think something's wrong with me and really it's not . There's natural wiring , but there is the process . If we've , as we've said before , there's a process of growth and stepping out of where it would be like me saying I'm not going to do something and God's like nah , that's a fear of man issue . You need to overcome that fear With yours . It might be like I'm ready to go do this and God's like no , I want you to just no , it's very true , you know , and I married a roots girl .

Rhett 37:49

She grew up pretty much in the same place . All her life lived in the same home , and then she married me and we've moved 17, . I think times . And that's not evangelistic , no , that's like real . Yeah , my son's been in I think six , if not seven , different schools . Yeah , in and so . And somebody like , oh my lord , I'm like yeah , but like to me it's like let's go , let's get moving .

Rhett 38:07

You know we're , we're at year three . It's so funny we're at year three right now . Um july will be three . Three years removed from idaho blows my mind . I'm like what in the world for me , and so I'm like lindon , like okay , what , what house we get next ? You know , where are we going now ? You know , we're not going anywhere .

Rhett 38:25

I'm just saying but that well , I'm not saying never but because that's been such a , you know , natural rhythm for us and seasons of life that God is and God was a part of every single one of it . It wasn't like I was out here running rogue , but it's kind of nice to really be at a season of life . To where I go , hey , man , there is a lot of peace in the slowing down and I've always been content , but I'm so much more content than I've ever been in my life and there's just this piece of rootedness that I'm experiencing right now .

Rhett 39:02

And it's just great and I wouldn't trade it for the world and honestly , if I'm being very blunt , I'm kind of over the whole idea of getting out there and moving and restarting over again . It's a different season right now . It is . I'm not saying I . So I kind of feel as if this is where we're going to be , you know for quite a while , um , but still being able to have the experience of , of traveling and doing some pretty neat things for for Christ and the gospel kind of keep me fired up too .

Justin 39:33

So it's like roots and wings .

Rhett 39:34

It's the roots and wings things .

Justin 39:36

You're here , you can , you can , you can be here so that you can be there , yeah , so that you can come back to here .

Rhett 39:44

Yeah , and yeah , exactly , and no matter what season you're in , let's add to your point it's you know , god wants to do something to me , he wants to do something to you , and and it's all good .

Justin 39:52

Yeah , I still have people , they'll double ask me . They'll be like what when I tell them what you do ?

Rhett 39:59

yeah , I know it's .

Justin 40:00

yeah , I I know I'm like he's an executive pastor in Idaho . Yeah , but he lives in Birmingham , mm .

Rhett 40:07

Yeah . You know when you , when you when you , when you say , hey , I'm an online executive assistant to a company in California , they like oh , I get that . Yeah , I don't administrate offices . No , you know . Yeah , well , once I explain it , it's the same concept .

Justin 40:25

When I explain it to people , they're like oh wow , that's brilliant .

Rhett 40:29

Well , it's brilliant , because Pastor Clay is such us into and what we're getting to do now . Yeah , so , man relationships are everything .

Justin 40:47

Well , it also came from your heart too , of you . You love serving and you had just you know , I think back to you had just handed your church like stepped into founding pastor . You handed it . We had brought in this new pastor Right , and the church is still going .

Rhett 41:04

It's still going strong . They just sent 30 something kids and youth to Mexico .

Justin 41:08

Yeah , I mean for a missions trip . Let's go , I know , and that's awesome . It's so crazy because when you were there , the world had shut down . You couldn't really get the mission . You didn't even know about the point . You're ready to start launching missions . It's like we're shutting the world down .

Rhett 41:23

We were doing the whole mission . We were giving that's right . We were in infancy . You have to like you got to learn how to crawl and walk before you can run Right and so but I think back on that and now the benefits of the foundation you laid .

Justin 41:34

They're doing that , but what was ? It's awesome , you love serving but you have this awareness and you know it's hard with the former chief being in the room with the new chief . It would have been tough for you coming and serving your church . It would have been like they would have been deferring to you the whole time . So you graciously for the new pastor to step in so he can be successful . You step out , but I love how your mindset is .

Justin 42:01

I still am going to go serve my local church and you had a relationship with Clay two hours away and you would drive there every weekend just to serve him . And what I think is cool , you had this few month period where you're selling your house . You'd already taken care of Linda and Max to get them to Birmingham , help make sure everything is set and taken care of . So you handled your responsibility . Now your next responsibility getting your house ready , getting it sold , all that stuff .

Justin 42:29

You didn't know what would happen , but it's cool how y'all's relationship fused so that when you're now going to head home , y'all had done so much life together and it made sense for him to even extend that because he , like you said , obviously he's an amazing pastor , but he also saw the benefit and y'all have had this cool team dynamic where you're doing what you're doing now and who knew that it would be three years later . But it just says a lot that there was nothing necessarily in it for you personally , other than which is a huge other than I'm going

Finding Peace in Familiar Places

Justin 43:07

to go serve my brother , who's two hours , and I'm going to just serve until I go home and then we'll figure out what's going to happen .

Rhett 43:14

So it's really cool man . Yeah , that whole story is amazing . I didn't think we were going to get into that , but I appreciate you honoring that journey . It was really cool . I was thinking about multiplication through this because of his faith , his love and his trust and just openness to allow this to happen . This weekend he was in Meridian Idaho preaching for a brother offering relief there . I was in Wetumpka , alabama , offering relief to a pastor and his wife was preaching in Idaho at the home church offering relief there . I was in uh , wetumpka , alabama , offering relief to a pastor and it and his wife was preaching in Idaho and at the home church .

Rhett 43:45

So we had like it was just cool to see how God is just building this relief thing to where we're able to do this . You know , in other places .

Rhett 43:53

It was really cool , man , because you know it , just I don't know , it's just kind of expanding out and being a little bit more kingdom minded outside of just your just kind of expanding out and being a little bit more kingdom minded outside of just your , your local branch of ministry to help brothers and sisters across the relief pastors . So yeah , man , so anyway , hey , I , you know I love to keep talking . I know that this episode is going to be a little bit shorter .

Justin 44:13

We're not used to a shorter episode . Due to some , I mean it's going to be a short , 40 plus minutes . Yeah , we had a streak , yeah , of an hour plus podcast episodes . Oh man , I have a feeling yeah .

Rhett 44:30

It's coming to an end for our little summer series . Well , hey , this was fun , just to get to connect and just laugh a little bit and go down some roads . Did we get back to the thing , the main point , where we were ?

Justin 44:40

headed . Was it the beginning ?

Rhett 44:42

We closed the gap there . Oh yeah , we went back and talked about that it's a sign of emotional intelligence . Yes .

Justin 44:50

That you're not throwing everything new at yourself all the time . It's okay if you're watching the same shows .

Rhett 44:56

It's totally okay .

Justin 44:57

Just like it's okay if you're walking the same gardens , just like it's okay if you're walking the same gardens . There's nothing that says , yeah , you can't be rooted in a place because you'll find more than not , that it's your rootedness that will actually create the opportunity for your wings hey , friends , thank you so much for joining us on today's conversation .

Rhett 45:18

We cannot wait until our next episode that drops next Monday . So until then , we hope you have a great day , stay safe and we will see you soon , right here with your friends , red and Justin , at Armchair Authentic , thank you .