Strength And Redemption w/ Granger Smith

28:59World War II, you print it on your dog tag. What religion are you so you know what kind of priest to bring your funeral? Sometimes I wonder that about me, frankly. Sometimes, I think sometimes all of us wonder that because I think we have a relationship with Jesus, if you do, that can ebb and flow like any relationship. And you can get mad at him too. something like this happens you're like what are you doing what are you doing i'm curious by the way there's so much to unpack that i'm just going to allow people to go back and listen to this again rather than try to unpack it because it's just too profound but this slideshow everybody relates to if they've been with someone who's cheated on them i had an affair at the slideshow it just plays it just plays or a mistake they've made in their life yes it just plays and i think our minds think if i just play the slideshow enough times something new will occur to me that some tool I've got will fix this thing and what it means to me.

29:49And yet we've all proven to ourselves, you can repeat this thing 3 billion times. There's no new answer coming your way from you or a cold plunge, right? It's not going to be that. And I've reached the same conclusions you have, yet I have this vast toolbox of tools that I still use because God's put those people in my life that have given me those tools. But ultimately for me, those aren't the final answer. There are steps that may get me in a position where I'm more ready to receive something, but the final answer is I've come to the same answer you have. I'm going to ask you some hard stuff now, though.

30:23Yeah, let's go. I'm going to push you. Not that what we haven't already covered is hard, but I'm going to push you on it. The slideshow. Does that mean it never comes back again, or does that mean that you've got some peace and comfort when stress, guilt, shame does repeat itself? Because for me, you and I just share the same belief system, so I'm just going to say it in our language. Everybody can take it what they want, but the adversary still attacks. The adversary is still trying to get you. So for me, my peace and comfort comes from there as well. But I haven't escaped it entirely, meaning in my own case, the slideshows of my life have reappeared in my case.

30:58But that I know where I go for comfort and peace when it does reappear. Does that mean for you that at that day you've never had another slideshow? You've never had another feeling of guilt or shame? Or does it still resurface from time to time? Yeah, I can answer that. That day wasn't the end of the slideshow. But I wasn't ready yet. That was the beginning of the journey of who is this guy, Jesus. The guy that I called out to just instinctively because that's what kids in America do. But who was he really? That began that journey. And so I still had the slideshow, but things really changed for me March 1st, 2020.

31:38That's when the slideshow drastically changed. And so to answer your question, I do still see the slideshow even today, but it has lost its sting. Lost its power over you. It does not have its power over me. Yeah. What happened on March of 2020? During that journey from December to March, the first thing I thought was, I need a preacher. I don't really know. See, I'm a guy. I'm a country music guy traveling on the weekends. I didn't really go to church. Sure. Besides, besides as a kid, I didn't have any consistency in church ever. So I thought, well, I need a preacher. First one I thought of was Billy Graham.

32:16That's the first name that came to my mind. I don't really know him personally at all, but hey, I've heard of this guy, looked him up, found out YouTube has a plethora of Billy Graham videos, started just watching it and it had an effect on me. It's like, I dig this. I dig this guy. I like what he's saying. He was, he was pouring the gospel all over these stadiums worldwide for, for decades. And it was having an effect on me so much that I started replacing some of the self-help audio books I was listening to in my truck. I was like, instead of finishing that book, I'll trade it in for another Billy Graham classic sermon.

32:51People thought I was crazy. Really? They were like, what are you doing, man? You're driving in your pickup truck in Texas, windows down with a Billy Graham sermon playing? That's bizarre, man. One day, one of my friends goes, hey, I got some more stuff for you. Some deeper stuff. Like there's this pastor named John Piper. He's deeper, but he's super intense, very passionate. My wife is at a conference with him right now as we speak. As we're sitting here? Yeah. Okay. She loves him because his words saved her husband, you know? So that's why she has an attachment to him. But I liked this guy, John.

33:27I liked his rhythm. I liked his intensity and his passion and his articulation of the gospel specifically. What's going on? What's the mechanics of what's changing within a man when he hears these words? John was good at articulating that. And it goes down to this one sermon randomly popped up on my algorithm on March 1st, 2020, driving in my truck, County Road in Texas. I remember everything about that morning, my hands on the steering wheel, the feel of the accelerator in my foot. I know what that moment was like when he was reading out of John 14. And he said this. He said, Piper's reading, right?

34:07And the disciple asked Jesus, Lord, why is it that you manifest yourself to us, the disciples, but not to the rest of the world? Jesus answered him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. There's a pause. Pastor Piper comes in and he says, that's not unconditional love. That is profoundly conditional. Boom. It hit me. He reads it again. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him in a way that he doesn't love everybody. I thought, oh man, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Not that I needed.

34:51He wasn't saying, if you want me to love you, then you keep my word and earn it. He wasn't saying that. He was saying, there's people that I love, that I will save, redeem, restore, forgive. And you could tell those people because those are the ones that keep my word. And I thought, what's his word? I don't know it. I don't know all of it.

35:16So I went home, like all in that moment. I knew in that bus in Boise, Idaho, that I was redeemed, that I was saved. I was restored. I was adopted as a son. And yet as a gratitude and humility and a response to that, I wasn't doing what he asked me to do. So I went home and I told Amber, I said, we're going to read the Bible. Not a devotional, not something that commentates it, but we're just going to go to the word itself. We'll start, I don't know, where's a good place to start? Maybe the birth of Christ, Matthew 1. Let's just start there. And she goes, okay, I'm in. I mean, we literally. You read the whole Bible too, didn't you?

35:55Yeah, I mean, we literally knocked the dust off of these Bibles that we hadn't really touched. Calling ourselves Christians. Boy, I got in there and seeing, reading the Bible in its entirety and truly digesting it is how we learn who God is. In the same way that you know your son because you spend a lot of time with him. That's right. So much so that if you go to a restaurant tomorrow and your son's not with you, you'll go, I know what my son would like. I know what he would order. I know what he would not like. I know what girl he thinks would be cute. I know what kind of car he likes. You know him.

36:33You've spent so much time with him. So as we read the Bible, we start to learn who God is. When we learn who God is, as the sovereign, providential king, then we go, oh, I could surrender to that. not in a weakness type of way, not in a passive way, but I'm going, God, all my strength that you have given me, I hand it to you and I trust you. I follow you. And there is power in a man when he learns that kind of surrender. There's confidence, the shame, the guilt, the slideshow lost its sting. Yeah. Brother, I got to just tell you something, having known you before this and seeing you now, by the way, it's not like this is like a 30 year journey for this man.

37:14Like this, this is the last few years like the holy spirit's all over you the way these aren't your words these are like it's so awesome to be like for me it's so awesome to see god's greatness pouring through you like there's evidence right in front of me this is a dude who was playing beautiful music three or four years ago and the truth is really like most of these thoughts and words weren't within this man at that time and now they're just coming out of you i i think so many people use guilt and shame as a weapon against themselves over and over again. And they're trying to somehow grab some strategy or tool to somehow rectify this pattern that they've repeated millions of times over and over and over again, whether that be the slideshow or the way they speak to themselves or all these other things.

38:03And a lot of the things we teach here, by the way, in this space, when I say here as if I own it and I don't, are incredibly valuable things. It'd be like saying that you shouldn't eat the food and the plants that God's planted in our lives. You're supposed to consume these good things. But if you don't understand the source of where they come from, the real source, when you really need an answer, there's going to be a time where you reach that place in your life where you're just like, it's not enough. It just doesn't work. I can't go to that thing again, that trigger, that anchor. It just, it doesn't do what I need it to do.

38:37and I'm loving the way that also that you phrase this because it's interesting you actually take away many of the objections most people have probably unknowingly about these things like for me I'll just we'll just both plug different things like for me I'm a little bit cerebral is my surround surprise people since my IQ is not that high but I needed to see some like evidentiary stuff so like Lee Strobel's work the case for Christ had a big profound effect on me. Right. And I've also tried to surround myself in my life with people that are more knowledgeable about God's word than I am as I work on it to help me answer questions when I read something or when I navigate a situation and God's put those people in my life also, but those people aren't my answer.

39:25Those tools aren't my answer. Men will eventually probably let you down and And things of this world will probably eventually let you down. But in my case, Jesus never has, ever. And he can take purpose through your pain. You talk about this in the book, which we might as well get into a little bit right now. You say there's really... You reference two things about pain. One is that it's temporary, I believe. You say that in the book. By the way, the book made such an impact on me. I can picture the pages right now as I'm reading it. I want you to talk a little bit about that. Now, we found where your answer is.

40:00By the way, I want to go here first. You're so committed to what you've just discussed. Most people may not know this yet, but he's completely devoted his life to do this. Tell him what you're really not doing anymore. It's not like a little thing. You've made a massive commitment. If you're wondering, this is really interesting words this guy's got. Wow, really cool. I just felt really motivated. I'm going to pick my Bible up. It's a lot more than that. So tell them what you've decided to do with your life as a commitment towards what you just described. This is maybe a surprise for some people that haven't been paying attention.

40:38In the book of Matthew, chapter 13, verse 44. Look at you right now. My gosh, go ahead. Hey, I got to ground myself in the truth first. Jesus is talking a parable, and he says, The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covers up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. So this is where I'm living right now. I'm living in a moment where I found this treasure, the ultimate value. And I'm going, man, I found this treasure and I want to, I want to own this treasure so much so that I want to show everyone else this treasure. Now there's a word that we can't miss in that parable and it's joy.

41:25then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field because you're if you don't feel that joy you're not feeling it right because i i love this so much i love this message i love the healing that's behind it i love the transformation that it brings not from me and not from my opinion but through the power of the word itself that the bible says is sharper than any two-edged sword piercing the heart that I have decided to walk away from music just so that I could get out, write books, and tell people about this message, this treasure in a field. Did you just hear that? He sold everything he has.

42:07He sold everything he has. And that's probably why it's moved me so much. I want to ask you about a tool that you got in the book and if this is part of that. So, because you did get some answers when you went to therapy, right? Yeah. So there's this point in, I was just thinking about, you used the field analogy. This is how much I really read your stuff, by the way, when you hear this. And there's this point where you're like, I think you tell the therapist, whoever it was, you go, look, I want to be a rock for my family. She says, well, maybe you ought to think about not being a rock, but being a tree.

42:40And there's this part of me that feels like that's actually really great advice, even though it was sort of secular advice. Sure. Because it's sort of exactly what you're doing now is that there's like these branches that are coming from you with these deep roots. And you're almost I love the parable of the sower. Right. So, like, it's almost like you are planting these seeds now that, you know, Granger, even someone listening to this right now. The cool part about how God works is that what you're doing is just planting the seeds. God provides for the harvest in people's lives. And that harvest is going to show up, man, these seeds you're planting in ways that you can't even imagine in people's lives at different times.

43:19It might be somebody right now who needs that harvest. But there might be somebody who reflect on this conversation three years from now. Right. And go, what was that podcast with my let and Granger? I'm gonna go back and listen to it. And then there's a harvest then. But to some extent, isn't that sort of God's way of having you be the tree? I hope that doesn't sound corny because I think I know what I mean when I say it. Do you know what I mean? I know what you mean, man. I love trees, actually. that was a great and and to your point it just because it's secular therapy doesn't mean that doesn't have truth in it of course not absolutely of course and so he said what do you what do you want to be for your family i said a rock you know who else wouldn't say that that's the answer i want to be the rock for my family and he said who does the rock lean on when it doesn't have anything else i said oh yeah you're right and he goes that's why i suggest you become you think of yourself as a tree.

44:14You could bend and sway with the storms. You could have roots that go deep, but they can also intertwine with other trees around you to help you stand upright. You could lose your leaves, shed your leaves. The new ones will have room to grow then at that point. So the more I thought about that, I was like, yeah, that's great. That's a great analogy. And then and then spreading that seed that there is, there is this thought I have and it might never happen. Lord willing, it would that someone 10 years from now, maybe could come up and go Granger Smith. Yeah. I heard you. You, you don't know me, but I heard you on Ed's podcast about 10 years ago and you were that effect that John Piper was for you in the truck on March 1st, 2020.

45:00That was you for me. And I'll go praise God. Praise God. By the way, when you were just saying that, Just so you know, before you said it, brother, I was going to say the Billy Graham or that the reason I was going to say the Billy Graham is I didn't tell you this because I didn't want to interrupt you. But for me, Billy Graham has been that person as well. Now, by the way, most of you don't know this, Billy Graham is gone. Yeah. Right. His body's gone. Yeah. But I talk oftentimes about there's all these things you can't take with you, but there are things you can leave here. And these are the seeds that you plant.

45:26And those harvests can be many years from now. I love Billy Graham's work. I'm more inside baseball stuff with you. And I, I like watching when he's young and he's in front of those big, you know, sell out arenas in Africa somewhere and there's a hundred thousand people and he's just firing brimstone. And then if you fast forward, everybody, if you ever want to do this, and then you go watch this man when he's like in his late or early seventies. And I think he was even suffering at that time with a little bit of dementia. We've even found out, but there's this beauty to this older man and his cadence is different.

45:54And the way God used him then was even maybe more impactful for me when I would watch this man's work. And so the reason I share that with everybody is you don't necessarily have to be this like fire and brimstone, amazing communicator like Granger is right now, or even like you might think that I am like God will use your tools, your giftedness in your way. Cause the old Billy Graham stuff that I watch, there's something about this beautiful man as he's aging and he's, you could feel that he's getting closer to coming home to Jesus. Like you, you knew he knew it. That was so much more impactful in warming my heart and giving me comfort to see this man still standing up when he might not even be able to remember everything before he would get on that stage about his granddaughter's name.

46:38But somehow he'd walk out on that stage and start speaking God's word. And the Holy Spirit just took over and he was beautifully articulated again. If you ever wonder what God's power can be in your life, it's actually go watch an early Billy Graham and then go watch the older one and you'll see. So good. You agree with that? That's so good. And to that point, someone could be listening going, I can never articulate God the way these guys are doing on the podcast. But that scenario of me saying 10 years down the road, someone comes up to me, someone could come up to you, listener to this podcast right now, saying, hey, you don't know me, but I was bagging groceries for you 10 years ago and you smiled at me.

47:14That's right. And I needed to smile and it changed everything. It changed the trajectory of everything I was going through. You don't even know it. That's what a smile could do. Amen, brother. Like I think that adage that actions speak louder than words. I respond to verbal communication like you do because I'm a very verbal person. But I got to tell you, I've watched so many people in my life who aren't verbal, but do it kinesthetically. They touch people or their smile or the way they listen with a nonjudgmental heart that have made such a difference in people's lives far more profoundly than I have in anything that I've done in my life or at least equally profound.

47:57so i just want everybody to be listening to this what would you say to somebody who says okay i'm gonna push you hard good okay you ready good yep you stumbled onto god because you went through a hard time yeah yeah like so that's what happens to guys when they go to prison too right all of a sudden jesus is the center of their life and so what you're doing is you've grasped because you needed something to hold on to i told you i was going to push you because i want i want the person listening to this on the treadmill right now who's like, eh, I want to go all the way on that. And so what would your answer be to that person who goes, that's great, man.

48:28Well, when you're riding high and playing your music and there's sold out arenas, you didn't need it then. But now that you've gone through this tough time, what would you say to somebody who says that to you? First of all, I would say, yes, you're right. sometimes so many times it takes tragic events for us to see that we aren't in control okay so hey i'll give god the credit for that yeah you're right i was riding high i didn't need him correct correct he knocked you down so that you could only rely on him and then you did i would say amen amen yeah there's nothing wrong with thinking that way good i think i think that was god's purpose I'll let this guy ride high for a little bit.

49:09I'll let him see that he thinks he has the world at his fingertips. I'll let him build a platform. I'll let him learn on a stage. I'll let him learn how to communicate with people. I'll get him the authority for people to actually listen to him and trust him. Then I'll knock him down so that he could only trust me. And then he'll spin it around on his platform that he thought he built that actually I was building for him. I taught him how to use a microphone. I taught him how to have authority. Now he'll show it for my glory and the people will listen. So to that critic, I'll say, amen. Now, back to the parable of the sower.

49:46You said you love the parable. I do. We will find out over time whether or not it was a seed sown in rocky soil that grows up quick and dies off. But the seed growing in good soil will know by its fruit over time. We'll know it over time. So I would say stay engaged with me. If I fall off tomorrow, you were right. Hats off to you, my friend. But I would say I would challenge you to hang with me and watch me that we should be able to see my fruits over a long period of time. Amen. You know, the other thing that when you were talking, I want to say to you, but I want everybody to hear. It was just streaming at me is when you were talking is that here's what's awesome.

50:30You guys, here's what's awesome. Okay. God loves river even more than Granger does. Yeah, that's good. Look at you, right? That's good. And, and, and, and God loves Granger even more than any man on this earth could love him. And God loves you more. And that's just a cool thing that you get today and you'd have to do anything for it. You have to surrender to it. You have to accept it, but it's an unbelievable thing to know that river is actually with a father that loves him even more than Granger. isn't that awesome? It's awesome to know that. I just wanted to tell you that man, as we were sitting here, because I was hearing it as you were talking and I'm like, all right, maybe it's just my brain saying it.

51:11And maybe this is some prophetic word I'm supposed to give you. So I wanted to say that to you. Amen. And it's not, God doesn't have an obligation to, to let us walk through a life free of pain and suffering where it's just all glitz and happiness. Would you do that with your son? Is that how you would raise your son? No, No, you want to raise him so that he could be the best that he is through adversity, through discipline when needed, through encouragement when needed, through fierce judgment when it's needed. But it's all because you love him. You love him because he's your son and he'll always be your son.

51:49He is yours. And because of that love, the outpouring of that love equals, you're going to be tough on him sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. Is there a part of you looking at you right now going, is it any part of this surreal for you? Dude, man, I tell you what, you would have told me this, play this video back in back in time, five years, six years ago. I would have thought this is crazy. No way. Yeah. I'm just a country singer. Let me do my thing on the stage. Do you miss it? I'm trying not to answer quickly and say no, but that's not the right answer. The right answer is I love what I'm doing right now so much.

52:30I feel so much purpose and fulfillment in glorifying my king that I don't really care about what I used to do. That's amazing to me, brother. And I love it. And I see the sincerity on your face. So someone's listening to this day. They're like, you know what? And by the way, you don't have to wait around for this tragic moment in your life to come to these conclusions. You really, really don't. And so I'm curious if someone's listening to this today and they're like, all right, we got the two Christian guys. I heard what they said today. But you know what? This one landed on me different. And I have this sense about the work you're doing, brother, that I think it's going to land on people differently.

53:12And I'll just say it the way I mean it. I think God's going to use you in the unique way that he's capable of using you. And I think that it's going to be massive. Now, by the way, if you just saved one person, it's completely worth all the work. It's worth it. But I really do feel like it's going to, it's landing on people differently coming from you. The way you say it is a little bit different. You say it your way. It's landing on me differently. Be honest with you, I'm sitting here going, hmm. Okay, buddy. Where's my relationship at right now? How much of the word have I been in recently? He brought up a scripture today I couldn't quote and remember.

53:50I don't like how that felt, right? So you've done work for me today as well. But someone says, hey, I don't know where I'm at. I might be a little bit of a skeptic still. I'm busy. I was going to get around to exploring this part of my life once I wasn't so busy. I think a lot of people think that, bro. They're like, you know what? Maybe you did when you were playing. You're like, you know what? When I get into my 60s and I'm done touring, that's probably the time where I'm going to really focus on my faith life. The challenge is for everybody is we don't know. Everyone here knows my dear friend, Jesse Lee Ward just passed away 34 years old.

54:19I'm grateful for the fact that she did not wait to getting around to this. I'm also grateful for the fact that God put her in my life and I could tell her what I feel and what I know. But someone says, all right, I'd like to take a step here. What would you say to that person? What would be the step that you think they should take? That's great. I'll preface that by saying that I echo you and I have a somewhat of an evidentialist mentality about me. Things need to make sense for me. For everyone, it doesn't always have to make sense, but I'd like to put it together. I'm actually in seminary right now as an apologetic degree, a master's degree in apologetics is what I'm working on, because I love apologetics, which is defending the faith, which at some level, you're going to with some evidence and Christianity, as I have seen of all the faiths, it, it, I would say to that, to a person on the treadmill, the hypothetical person on the treadmill, test it with the world around you.

55:17And it seems to always come back at you making sense of the world around you. Yeah. If that makes sense. It does make sense. And, and to the person that's saying, well, what's the next step? I would say this, if you want to get close to God, get close to his people. Find that brother or sister around you that you know. That guy's a Christian. Call him up and say, let's have some coffee. Hey, man, I'm thinking about this whole Christian thing. I heard this thing on my Let's Podcast, and I don't know. I mean, I'm kind of not really a faith-type person, but it hit me differently. And I was wondering what your thoughts are on that.

55:58Share some coffee over that. You want to get close to God, get close to his people. What a great answer. You know, I've never had anybody say that to me before. Is there anything you wanted to add? I don't want to interrupt you on that. Just like, whoa, what a great answer. No. And the last thing I would add to that is that seeking that's inside you, what is that? I would ask you, what is that you're feeling right now that's saying, hmm, feeling something, something stirring in me a little bit. Hey, be careful with that. That's how it starts. That's right. I know that feeling. that could change your life.

56:29Be very careful. Brother, I'm amazed at how life can come full circle. So when I accepted Jesus that night, I'm going to tell you this because you're just going to feel, you're going to love this. I was on a boat, top level, like a two-story boat, not a fancy boat, but there's these two dudes that I admired. Both guys I liked. One was like a surfer dude. One was a business guy. They're both very different dudes, but they're both Christian dudes. One big self-help, motivational speaker dude, unbelievable guy. The other guy kind of like a chill dude. I knew he had a divorce in his life. He's a real dude, though.

57:03It had some stuff happen. And we were on the lower deck, and I said, hey, I'd just like to ask you all about your faith. I've got some questions and stuff. And so they go, well, it's noisy here. Let's walk up to the top. We'll walk up to the top of this boat. And the thing the dude said to me is he goes, why do you think you want to know? What's this calling you've got to figure this out? Like, what's that stirring on you? What's that curiosity? Why is that such a big question to you? And I said back to him, I said, I think it's been a question I've been asking myself all my life. I think it's been a question going on in the back of my mind, the back of my heart, all of my life.

57:38It's just moved to the front for some reason right now. And so what you just said is so beautifully profound. Like, why is it that you want to know? Why is it you're so curious? Because it's why you're here is to figure this out. It's why you're here. and I just have to tell you man I just think I'm so excited for you because as I sit here with you I see on your face like I know what it is in our faith life I'll just say it in the way there's just a love on your heart right now and an excitement and an enthusiasm and by the way a giftedness I'll just use my word there's like an anointing all over you and it's amazing that God took this unbelievably and you are a gifted man obviously you worked very hard at your music craft but you're unbelievably gifted and that you're willing to basically sell everything and do this.

58:25I'm, I'm super proud of you and moved by you, man. Thank you so much. Seriously, bro. He flew all the way out here for today. I never rank shows just when I'm in the moment. I will just tell you that I have not enjoyed a conversation or been more moved than I have been today, man. That means so much. I haven't brother. I'm, um, well, this show means a lot to me. That's why we flew out here. It does. Thank you. My gosh, bro. All of you, uh, deserve to answer that question for yourselves. And I would say one of my recommendations is, he said, go call that person. Follow Granger. Just follow him to see whether he follows through.

59:00Follow him because he's that person you can have a cup of coffee with on his Instagram, reading his books. Come and see him when he speaks. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that, brother. I'm still going to make you pick up a guitar, eventually play some worship music or something for me. Let's do it. Thank you. Man, thank you. Thank you, brother. Awesome. Freaking awesome. And usually I make the guests cry. You make me cry a bunch of times. Oh, man. You almost got me on that last ride, man. Come on. That last ride is just so beautiful. Okay, guys, listen to me. Granger Smith is his name.

59:33If you didn't know him, you've been under one of those rocks that we talked about earlier. The book is Like a River, Finding the Faith and Strength to Move Forward After a Loss and Heartache. Go get the book. Just go get the book, okay? Website's GrangerSmith.com. Got his speaking dates on there. Instagram's Granger Smith, the Smiths TV on YouTube. Just get, just follow him. He's that friend. You can have that cup of coffee with whenever you want to. God bless you, everybody. Max out your life. This is the Ed Milad show.