Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the path. And you are listening to Live From The Path, company from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston Proper.

It's good to be with you this fun evening. Maybe. It feels like cuddles to me is what it feels like. Unless you're a criminal. You're Or me. Hey. Hey. Criminals need cuddles too. Until they change their ways. That's new public service announcement. I had to stop wearing a pocket watch because of that. I didn't hey. Did you really have a pocket watch? I used to have a pocket watch. What? You use it like legitimately like a pocket watch? Well, here's the deal. Got it. So many people made fun of you. Well, well, my wife alright, Boving. Now, my wife got it for me and it was an awesome pocket watch. It wasn't like a Jerk. It wasn't like a a piece of timepiece. You know, it was a it was a was a hip it looking pocket watch and I carried it in my pocket forever till I figured out that I just don't like things in my pockets. And so I put it on my bag, my backpack because I was that kind of guy. And then eventually I just lost it and I don't know where it is now. So but it was it was pretty cool back in the day. Shoot. That was anticlimactic.

Yeah. I don't know what I thought this end of that story was gonna be, but I thought it was gonna be different than that. It got me to my Dungeons and Dragons game on time. I was expecting ninjas. I don't know what I that's just kinda what I wanted out of Alright. Here's the deal. Now that we've started the show poorly, I'm sorry. I can't promise any better. Here's what's gonna go on with the show. Actually, I think I think the folks are in the studio are gonna redeem whatever we've done here poorly. This is why we bring them in. That's right. We get we gotta we gotta buffer the card to to to save the day. So, here's what we got going on. If you're familiar with the show, we're gonna do some things that you should recognize. Mike has some Pope style advice. And so the premise here is that someone has mistaken some ne'er do well friend from high school has told everyone down at the local five and dime or the pub that Mike is the Pope. And so now, hundreds, no, thousands of folks have ended up on his front lawn and they refuse to leave unless he comes out, in his robe, underpants, whatever, and give some sort of pope style advice,

to to get them to leave the lawn. But, the catch is it has to be something relevant to his life and ultimately to, hopefully help in their, their walk as a as a Christ follower. So, Mike's gonna do that and he's got some Pope style advice. Mike is there a preview? Yeah, it actually has to do with, what other people think a person who follows Jesus looks like. And so I ran into, I said a couple things and maybe have acted in a way that threw some people off earlier today. And so I just have some advice kind of in that range. Okay. All right. Can't imagine that. Know, right? Took out my pocket watch and I said, I've got the gold. Time for bible study.

What the heck? Time for bible study. Alright. I had the church bus bring me in. So also, we've been following there's a guy, who said he he used to love Jesus and now, he doesn't love Jesus and he's got 10 reasons, 10 takeaways from this. And so we're kind of walking through those,

trying to understand where where that's coming from. Maybe is there a way that as as the as the often fallible bride of Christ that we've contributed to that, and and, we'll see if you or if we relate to some of the things that he's going through. So we're gonna talk through some of that stuff. Also, we've got some dear life from the past. Mike, people still need help. Yeah, there's a man, I can't remember what there was a five was in fifth grade that's pretty upset she's not getting an iPod. I feel like we're probably not gonna talk about a couple of things going on that we'll need some advice for we're gonna talk about. Also, I think we're gonna do a quick update on

the homeless ministry that we got involved with. For the thankful yeah. Yeah, for the thankful leper and I think there's a lot of amazing stuff kind of going down, not just what God's doing in that specific area, but just to do with people that, I don't know, that you think are outside of your range, that are you think are outside of your purview and that maybe the Lord has you not dealing with. And I will talk a little bit about that. Okay, cool. So that's the standard board affair that you may or may not be familiar with. Also, the studio, we got plenty of guests. We got three different folks in here and I'm gonna let you introduce yourselves and maybe just tell folks a little bit about yourself.

Many hope, don't you just tell us a little about yourself? Well, I'm a hip hop artist from Newark, Ohio, and I just recently moved there and been doing this ministry for going on six years now.

So Lord's done a lot of cool things, a lot of amazing things, and he's just gonna continue to do things. And I'm just stoked to see what he's gonna do next. So did you you said you're coming from Ohio. You're on the road now. Is this I don't Did you see it going here? Like, when you first got into this, was that was it something you were just trying out or you jumped full feet in and said, I I gotta be hauling around? You know, honestly, I didn't know what the Lord was gonna tell me to do. You know, I just started off just doing songs just to just make them because the Lord was telling me, hey, start doing this ministry. And I'm like, oh, okay. I really don't want to, but I just was obedient and I just wrote what was on my heart and the situations I was going through at the time and people just really connected to him. Hey, man. Every story of like the people that smell like Jesus, you guys know what I'm talking about. Like someone who we like is following Jesus so close, you can smell it. You can smell Jesus on him. Almost every one of those guys has a story where it's like, the Lord told me to do this and I didn't want to, but I did it anyway. Like that's the start of almost every cool Jesus story I've ever heard. Starts with a guy who understands what God is asking him to do and is like, ah, okay.

And then does it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, if because, you know, he wanted me to do a hip hop ministry and I'm like, I I don't know anything really about hip hop. I mean, I listened to it growing up and everything, but I'm like, I can't rhyme, you know? I'm white, you know? So, like, I mean, come on. So That's why Boova's tried to do that before, I said that I would have said that exact same thing. Awful. Yeah. Yeah. And then the beard's gone, and, yeah, he's he's he's gone. So I'm just joking. I'm MC creepy. No. It's cool, though, because, I mean, you know, I never thought that I'd be traveling. You know, tomorrow, gonna be going to Kansas. We I'm back here in Iowa, born and raised. So, I mean, I'm I'm I'm happy. You know? I'm I'm really excited to see what the Lord's gonna open, what doors he's gonna open up Cool. So and I'm I'm happy to be here and, you know, sharing my story. Gonna bust some rhymes for you guys. So Here's you. That sounds awesome. Yeah. Okay. It's gonna be dope. Alright. We're gonna we're gonna come back to you in just a second. I'm interested in that story and and and busting of rhymes.

KingMC, tell us a little bit about yourself. Alright. My name's KingMC. I'm from Phoenix, Arizona, and I've been doing this since 2002, actually.

And I didn't wanna I didn't wanna do this at all. How about that? There you go. This is a great story all of a sudden. But you can can you smell me? Can you smell me right now? Okay. Yeah, I didn't I didn't wanna do this. I got saved and I was like, I'll talk about you God and my music, but this is mine. This is mine. Uh-huh. And I went to a Rebecca St. James concert of all Mhmm. Things, right? And she said,

If there's anybody here that has a talent for God, God gave you that talent and He wants you to use that for Him. Yeah. And I knew that she was talking to me and right there I dedicated it. I was like, Okay, God, do what you're gonna do with this. And he's done some pretty cool things with this so far. I mean, I'm right here with you guys right now. That's really good. That's true. My mom's listening, so that's cool.

Hi, mom. Hi, mom. But she's not my mom. I don't know if my No, mom that's fine. She could be everybody's mom. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that'll work out. So you were doing music before? Like before you were saved? It wasn't good. We used to listen to secular rappers like Snoop Dogg and Yeah. And we would take their instrumentals and write our own versions of those songs. Uh-huh. My mom actually found our lyrics one day. Uh-huh. And she was like, she was not cool with that at all. So then we started writing clean versions of those songs. Yep. And then those just didn't sound cool. And leaving them strategically

around the house. I love kittens. Yeah. We'll spend this evening when I can pull that off. Clean clean gangster rap isn't isn't there there isn't a market out for that. So He stole my car. I'm like, hey, bro. Do you think you could give that back to me? And and then we, like, shook hands, and then we were bust. We popped a cap off a 20 ounce of Pepsi and shared it together. You're right. It's way different. It's it's like you're reading them right it's like you're reading them right now. Well, cool.

Is there a place if someone that was interested in your music, is there a place someone can go check it out? Yeah, definitely. They can find me on iTunes, KingMC, or they can go to kingmcmusic.com. That's my website. I'm also on Facebook, ReverbNation all over the Internet. What's the what's the MC part of the king? Oh, mic controller, master of ceremonies. Oh, sweet. Okay. It could have been something else. What, Mike? Don't look at me like I don't know. Matthew McConaughey. Right? Is that Oh, yeah. We learned that. Matthew Matthew McConaughey. Right. Hey.

Just bend the words That's terrible. Yeah. It's a bit gummy, but Yeah. Alright. Alright. Cool. And and our other guests in the studio, River City Boy, tell us a bit about yourself. Alright. I'm a River City boy. I'm a 17 year old high school student from Lawrence, Kansas. That's actually where we're going. What is the River City part stand for? It's it's for Lawrence. I'm like sixth generation Lawrence. So, like, my great great great grandpa. Hey, that feels like that has some street cred, doesn't it? Yeah. Does. Oh, I'm sixth generation Lawrence. I was Lawrence before you were Lawrence. Oh, yeah. That's cool. Around Lawrence like

on Big Cheese's. Oh, that's town. So, yeah, River City is for Lawrence. We got that Kansas River running through running through downtown. And so so how'd you get started? Like, like, I mean, you gotta be fairly fresh, right? Yeah. No. I started last year. I've written music all my life. My family's musical, but I actually really didn't like sharing my music with anybody at all. So this is sort of like all your guys', but

my brother-in-law and a couple other people in my family really supported me. I decided might as well record it and just see what the Lord does with my music. There you go. I feel like that's a good plan, Things that otherwise don't you're unsure of if you do it and then like either Lord the Lord's gonna do what he wants with it. Right? There's no reason to sweat that. Right? Either he takes it somewhere or he's like, man, I got you doing something else and you move on. I like that stuff. Alright. Cool. Well, we're gonna hear more from each of these guys, as the night goes on. We're gonna hear, some music from them and and I'd like to get to know you guys a little bit more, a little more of your story and how where you began brought you to where you are. So we'll be catching up with them just a little bit more later on. I want real quick, I want to get to our want to get to our guy who left the faith. So the basic nature of this guy was he was a Christian and he said that he I can't remember. Shoot. Do you guys remember the intro of the story? Like how did he how did he get away from it? Did he did he just say or he just kind of fell away from it? I thought he just kind of decided to leave and he was kind of

weighed down by it, and and he just needed freedom. That that's how I took it. I don't It seemed like he just kinda felt restricted by his faith, but didn't have a real specific, like, this issue happened, and then that's when I fell from the faith. It was more along the lines of my faith in general was restricting me and keeping me from the things that I wanted to do. It wasn't producing joy. It was just producing something different. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That sounds about right. Anyway, so, like, yeah. That long winded garbled. Yeah. It's about right, I guess. Here here are the things that that I'm I'm walking away from. And I'm buying time because I've lost the article.

You know, actually, I haven't read the article. And if I were to look for it, I would have a hard time finding it too. And so I would probably type in time.com in the inner Internet. I'm working on it. And then and then let the You know, Mike, that's a good decision. I think that might be exactly what I would do also. Yeah. If I'm looking specific to your website, I would probably go to that website. Yeah. And then check it out on there. Sweetness. Alright. Good. Seems right. Thanks, Dan. Dan's got it. One of the best side men in the business, boob. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You guys are fantastic. And just explain the entire Internet. Okay. Anyway, so, basically, what I gained when I lost my religion, we went through number one and number two. The first one was he got peace of mind. The second one was a rediscovery of love of learning. So if you're interested in, our kind reaction to those, can listen the last couple weeks. Oh boy. So number three is the ability to accept people I formally judged. Alright. Welcome kettle worms. Religious belief taught me, for example, to judge the LGBT community for being attracted to anything other than the appropriate sex. It taught me that something is wrong with these people and while it also taught me I'm supposed to love them and somehow accept them and reach out to them, I'm also supposed to condemn something that lies at the core of their identity. That's no longer an issue for me. The main reason most people I know condemn same sex relationships is because of their religion. Leaving your religion can free you from that burden. I now count several of them as my most supportive friends. In fact, I've found that losing my religion has opened me up to a much wider range of people because I do not have a 2,000 year old book

Hey, it's much older than that. Telling me how I should see the world. I think I am a better person for this change of mind. Okay. So of the list that I've seen so far, this one seems to be pretty consistent with well, actually, I guess I would have anticipated this one. Right. So I don't know fellas, thoughts on that?

Okay, here's the deal. The thing that struck me that he said is like he didn't wanna be on the condemning end of something that's the core of their identity. Yeah. And like, that doesn't apply in all situations, right? Like, for example, if you were out and about

killing people, your identity is now a man who murders. You're a murderer, right? Like would it be wrong of me to say I need you to stop murdering? Right now, here's the hold on. Don't catch me off the train here. I'm not comparing the two of of the topic that he's brought up. But what I'm saying is, is that the core of my identity, if what I what I do makes me who I am and I am a murderer, then that is indeed the truth. Is it not? Right? So like condemning something for doing something that is is harmful to one or harmful to another. I I you know, I I feel like you're just pointing out the truth in the matter. That's it. That's actually a fairly large spiritual question regardless of whether it's a Christian question or not. Yeah. Is to say what lies at the core of my identity? Am I who I am I what I do Yeah. All the time? Because generally, you wouldn't describe yourself. I I get this all the time actually. There's

people there are people that have certain habits or things in their lives and they'll say things like and you'll talk to them about it and say, look, that's just not who I am. I'm like, well, when does the real you show up? Yeah. Because like that does look like We're thirty years in the making, dude. Those are the things that you do. And so, I it's a it's a question of identity. Who are you? And, it's weird because I think most people you actually don't want to I'm not sure that I would want someone following me around and saying, Look at those things that I do during a day and say, That's me. Because I'm not sure that what I do all the time actually reflects who I am. I know who it is in Christ but even taking that away from it. So so I mean you've tied basically actions or something you feel something you do as as part of your core identity. And that's actually very I don't think we're gonna solve that in eight hours worth of talking, but like it's an interesting concept

when we drill it down. That seems actually a little too basic for me on who who you are. Who am I? I'm this. I do I've I do one thing, so I'm this. Like who's the who's the eunuch in an Egyptian court? Like that guy has no identity. Yeah. I mean, he's a yeah. Now granted, he actually felt that stigma in those times, but it's just interesting to bring that up in that type of of way when your core identity is actually much more than that. Would say you've lessened your identity by tying it to something that specific. I think part of his frustration he's had with religion is most of us in the church, myself included, we don't do the extremes very well or actually we go very extreme. Don't, but we don't do acceptance very well. And we don't do judgment very well. We balance that with love and justice and saying, Hey, by the way, that's a sinful thing. I love you as a person. We regurgitate

that love the sin, love the sinner, hate the sin. But we don't live either of them. So we spew a lot of venom and or we just don't know what to say. And we

don't communicate very well quite often what God's plan is for sexuality. So it comes across as judgmental or completely so open minded that, hey, you can do whatever you want. There is no such thing as sin. You were born that way, you can't help it. And so God loves you. So come on. We

go to extremes and bounce we all over the place. And actually he's telling the truth and it's telling of his first two points and this one included like you know his religion was kind of bogging him down. I kind of agree with that right? Like he's trying to say that a religion told him to judge people by this and this and this. I'm like maybe it did, maybe it didn't. I don't know. I know Jesus doesn't operate that way. And so maybe you're right. Maybe that religion that you subscribe to is pointing you to start casting stones. I don't think it's wrong to call sin a sin. I would do the same thing, pick any sin. I would do do the same thing for someone I loved and say, this is separating you from God. Let's talk about this. You know? Do you wanna stick the the the the track that you're on or or, you know, do you do you have faith that God's offering a a better way to operate? But, like, it doesn't matter the specific sin that they're picking. They're just picking one and and hammering on it because it's hot button and because it'll cause trouble. So when you take the words of God or you take the words of Jesus and you pull it out of his mouth and into the context of who he is as a God and as a and as a as a person and as a savior and you pull that out and you just make it a poster on the wall, you're gonna end up feeling like that.

You know I'm saying? Like it's like you've you've you've because when you and that happens actually this is one of the major problems that I think we have trying to communicate what otherwise God had had come to reveal which is we pull things away from Christ and we make them the we fight over letters and we fight over words and we fight over actions and if they were not out of the mouth of Christ, I don't care about them. Right? But I care about them because of where they came from and that means they have to sit within context of who he is and what he's done and outside of that if we're not what we're doing is we're communicating words and actions of Christ and not communicating Christ and then you those things sit out of context even if it's right. And so so I think that's the risk that we run. Yeah. This is something that Jesus did very well. And and the proof is in the way. Among other things. He's struggling a few things, but this one

one he did really well. He's the worst barber ever. Okay. Here here's where I'm going with this. The proof is in the way that the sinners were receiving him. Jesus, he in no way equivocated on sin. He he told it like it is and he's well known to as being one of the greatest moral teachers among his many identities. But look at the way that sinners hung out with him. Yeah. Jesus loved sinners. That's not surprising. But sinners loved being around Jesus. Here's a guy who's calling sin a sin and they loved hanging out with him.

Hey, prostitutes, tax collectors, all those folks, all those icky people, they loved being with Jesus. Think about that for a second. I mean, now how does that compare to our approach to ministry? So I was gonna say, I mean, so where's where's religion for example dropping that ball so badly? I don't know but in Jesus' day religious people hated him. So Yeah. Well, there you go. Well, and religion, you know, tends to

to you know, write signs and go down the street corner and yell and say, you can't you're not going to heaven. God hates you. That kind of, you know, and that type of thing. And I think that's where he has has related to. The conversation has shifted though. We're all coming from the context of, boy, that's a sin. It's a sinful action. And the conversation in our society has shifted to, no, it's not sin. They were born that way. They can't help it. You have to accept it. It's not sin. So now we're in two polar. It's not even a matter of a judgment or not. They're like, you can't even say it's sin. It's not. See what I'm saying?

He even blinks. The way that I've I've seen it break down is is I I agree in in part with Dan is the fact that it there's no point calling it a sin to these people. They don't care. Why would they care if it's a sin if they don't believe in the god that they're sinning against? Why would they care if they're breaking a law if they don't believe in the law system that they're breaking? There's no point to it. They think we're trying to make them look like us. And rather than Jesus. I don't want anything to look like I don't want I think everybody I don't wanna look anything like that. No. I think it breaks down to the whole whole concept of approaching someone who does not believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God with, hey, you're sinning. And approaching them in the way that they are doing something wrong versus hey, I believe in a God that loves you entirely. I believe in a God that that has taken care of all this for you. And they come at it from the standpoint of I believe you're wrong against my God that you don't believe in. That's exactly. And it no point. We're good at lists. Here's a list of things you can't do any If you're gonna be like me, if you're gonna be part of our religion, here's the list. Well, that's the thing is is is what religion actually boils down to, right? Is you white knuckling your way through life trying to change behaviors

that are not in line with where your heart is. Yeah. I'm not gonna follow the laws of another country that I'm not under. That's right. There's no point. Right. I'm not a part of the kingdom of God. Why would I follow those laws? So we're trying to come at them and saying, hey, in Troytopia or in Boovaland, you need to make sure that you give me a nickel every Sunday. And if you don't live in Boovaland and don't care about my government or my system or my heart, why are you gonna follow that? It's ridiculous. There's no point me expecting you. Yeah, it is. It's an outrageous Let's just say that I'm paying you that nickel for a razor. No, it's We're coming at them and assaulting what they think is their identity.

What they think is in their heart entirely. We're assaulting that before showing them that we have a bigger purpose. Our purpose is not to call sin out just because it's bad and against our God. Our purpose is to give them to the the gift of God. Give them the gift to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Bring them under that. Once that's happened, once they understand that love and that God and that grace that's there, then through that process, they understand, okay. Now that I believe in this God, and now that I've accepted Jesus Christ as the son of God and my Lord and savior and my king, I can start realizing that there's things that I'm doing that are going against his nature and against his will. God's commandments, first and foremost, were were love God and love your neighbors yourself. It wasn't go out and give sin the biggest name in the world. It wasn't go out and win the morality issues. It was go out and talk about me, win them into my kingdom, and then they'll be under my roof. Right. Right. Because ultimately, what we've done is we've hijacked the work of Christ. Like Right. We said, I'm going as opposed to introducing the Jesus, we say, well, I'm gonna tell him what Jesus would say. Exactly. Like, we're we're Jesus' poor emissary who doesn't do the right work. Our first attack is, hey. You're sinning. You're wrong. You're doing something against God. Our first attack isn't, hey. Guess what? There's a man that died for you. He was murdered for you and everything that he knows to be against him. Let's talk about the god that you don't believe in yet. Let's talk about how much he loves you and what he's done for you. And then we've made religion into this whole thing of, hey, let's talk about what you're doing wrong and make myself feel better. That's what religion does. Religion steps out and says, hey, world. You're wrong. I'm right. Let's talk about why you're wrong. And that's completely opposite of what we need to be doing. Jesus never told us to go out and point out sins of people that don't believe that it's sin. No, no. And Paul was very specific about that actually. About talking to folks within the church about where they're at and then how to talk to people who don't know Christ at all. Right? And look Christ evangelism techniques, right? Right. He led with himself. Exactly. He led with himself and with his and with his dad. He said, here's the deal. I am. Your love. You know, let's let's talk about that first. Well, you go through the book of acts that Paul didn't go around talking about his moral list. He Right. He preached Jesus everywhere he went. Yeah. That's right. I preach Christ crucified not I preach, hey, here's the things that you're you're being I preached a moral box. Here it is. Let me preach to you this morality that you need to tell you you don't have a reason to be under it. By the way, it's gonna be really tough and you're gonna fail at it all the time. Welcome to the kingdom. Yeah. We we have kind of shoved the Holy Spirit out of the the

the equation. Yeah. You know, Holy Spirit has a pretty good job of convicting us of sin and it's amazing you introduce someone to Jesus. Pretty soon they come to you with, Wow, I really shouldn't be doing this, Yeah. Should So, well, hey, listen, if you've never been on the receiving end of that conversation, you will your faith will increase like 50 fold. You know what saying? Like, you have been talking to a guy and talking to a guy and you're like, man, he's like a brick wall, this fella. And then all of a sudden he comes rolls up or calls you and he's like, you know, I feel like I'm I don't know. I feel like I should stop doing what I'm doing. And you're like Yes. Profanity. I can't believe he said that. You know what I'm saying? You're blown away. And it's

happened to me. You know what I'm saying? And like, and I'm just like, just at that moment, I'm like, man, my God is way bigger than I thought. Right. Like, I didn't think this was ever gonna happen. I was almost certain he was ignoring me. I think Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Well, I think kind of to try to wrap this up. So I think ultimately what he's proposing here the ability to accept people I formally judged. I get it like realistically I get where he's coming from. I can understand it like I think we bear some responsibility on how we've represented that because often we've disassociated things that Christ said from Christ. And as opposed to introducing them to Jesus, we've introduced the things that Jesus said and done without them understanding Christ and without that the context is king there literally. And so to that hey, See what you did there. Thank you. Well done.

Wrote a Jesus radio show. I make the big money. So however, however, it is a false dichotomy to say that to love Jesus, I have to reject people. It's a misunderstanding. It's just flat out not true. Yeah. It's it's not accurate. It doesn't mean it doesn't in reality that's not what is happening. I get that part.

But but it is a false economy. I'm glad this guy was able to give up on that. Oh, yeah. Actually, I'm I'm really excited about the fact that this guy gave up on a third thing. We're really excited about him giving up on it. It is. This is third one in a row where he's like, I'm giving up on these parts of religion. We're like, yeah. Oh, yeah. Sure. Sounds good. I I feel like we're gonna agree with a lot of this list. It's like, hey, man. I'm super excited you stepped away from religion and stop judging people randomly. Great job throwing down the sign that god hates enter name here. I it thank you. We appreciate you're doing more work for God by stepping back from that. He's a You're doing a lot better than 90% of the people holding science. Nice job, man. Alright. So anyway, you wanna read ahead, we got six more to go. Seven more to go. Excuse me. And we're we're going through what I gained when I lost my religion. It's on time.com. If you wanna search for that, you can read ahead, decide whether we're completely way off. By the way, as in everything that comes out of our mouths, be a good Berean and make sure you, vouch everything we've said with scripture. If it sounds wrong and the Bible says otherwise, go with that. We're just about to shifty guys run an internet radio program and there's no reason to take that above anything that the Lord has actually said. So anyway, keep that in good heart. All right. I tell you what, let's get back to our guests. So I kind of want to put like a title in front of your name like Doctor. Mendenhope. I don't know I don't know why I want to do that. It's just doctor?

What the heck? It just sounds I'm like nothing. I don't even look like a doctor. You know what I mean? Like Anyway, so we're gonna get to know professor Mendenhope more. Okay. I can deal with it. You like that better? I like professor Mendenhope. Okay. So so so maybe tell us a bit more about your story. Like, how did you when you were a baby Mendenhope, how did you end up here?

What has God done with your life that you're in this chair? Okay. Well, honestly, I'll I'll make this really short. You know, I didn't grow up in a Christian home and life was just really rough for me growing up and everything.

When I was baby mending hope. Actually, like I said, I was born here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. So, you know, I am a true Hawkeye, which is awesome. And awesome. Yeah. Wow. Whoo. Yeah. So I lived here for a little while, then we moved to Michigan and then moved to Washington and then

moved to Ohio, you know, because some family problems going on. And so

when I was in Washington, I started this ministry and it wasn't until actually I got out of jail that I started this ministry. Actually, was in it. And the Lord actually laid on my heart to open the book of Genesis and he led me to circumcision. I'm like, why would I want to read about that? I hear you. And I swear, dude, like, from from that moment, like, from, like, the first half of Exodus, I just kept reading. Everything that was in there is like, man, I'm feeling like this. I'm feeling angry. I'm feeling hurt. I'm feeling robbed. I'm feeling destroyed. I feel like there's, like, nothing for me, you know? And so, like, it just really encouraged me. And so, like,

I just started writing all, like, all my feelings down into rhymes. And I, you know, I didn't think I was gonna do anything with it. And, actually, we shifted, and actually, Mending Hope was was it was a joke. Started off as a joke. Uh-huh. Because I was working with my friend, and we were gonna do a a a fake rap or a funny rap, you know? Yeah. And and I we we started making this beat, and it's for for my very first song that I wrote. And I was like, dude, we could do something with this. Like, this is something that could, like like, I could just you know, I had these lyrics and stuff and just pour my heart out in this thing. And, dude, it turned out phenomenal, man. Like, it it was it's really cool. You know?

And so when I was doing that, every show that I got was by word-of-mouth. Uh-huh. Because like, I would do a show and then it's like, dude, you got to see this guy perform. He's a big guy, but man, he has got like the most energy in the world. You know? Like and and it's just cool because, like, it's not like I do only hip hop. I I I try to mix everything in it. You know? Like, I I mix dubstep, rock, pop, hip hop,

you know, I mean, everything. Worship. And it's cool because you don't see a whole lot of hip hop guys that do worship, you know? I mean, so it's just really cool to like go out there and present myself and just give it all, you know? Because I feel like I'm in debt to give that back to God because he gave everything, you know, on the way to Calvary. So it's like, you know, the Lord has done so many awesome things. And, you know, the the coolest story that has ever happened to me is the night that 27 kids gave their life to the Lord at one time. Oh, sweet. And so, like, it was just like, boom, holy spirit just like dropped down. And I'm like, I'm crying. I'm trying to pray to these kids. And I'm I don't know what to say. It's man, just it was awesome. It was cool. So that was a well, tell me a little bit about that show. Like, was it Okay. Well, actually, it was in a jail. Oh, so Okay. So so like, I go in there, and there's these kids from like 14 to nine fourteen to like 17.

And then when they and then when they leave there, they go to prison. Uh-huh. Because they're in there for, like, murder and, you know, all all kinds of really, really bad crimes. You know? And all I was there was just to share my testimony, share my experience, share my music and my heart with these kids. And I I never in a million years would have ever to do an altar call like that. Like, I just was like, I was in so much awe. Like, I was like, dude, I I can't top this. Like, there's no way and then throughout the years, we've had gang members give their lives like full blown gang members come to concerts with like guns in their, you know, their shorts or their pants or whatever and then like, they we've had, I've I've done homeless ministries. I've seen god do so many awesome things in homeless ministry. It is amazing. I love doing homeless ministry, you know? Because you go out there and it's not like, oh, I'm I'm just this hip hop guy or this rapper. It's like, I'm out here to, you know, spread the love, spread the hope. It's it's kind of why I go by spread the hope, you know? And so, the whole Mending Hope thing, actually, I wrote three songs before I even came up with a with a name. Yeah. So, like, I was I actually called my mom. Was I'm like, mom, what's a cool hip hop name? And she's like, I don't know.

And so like and so I was I was talking to my friends. Said, man, I want to do I want something with hope in it. I want to give people hope. Yeah. And he goes, what about, like, about finding hope or bringing hope? I'm like, dude, what about like mending hope? Like you're mending wounds and you're giving people hope. And I thought, dude, that's a pretty sick name. Yeah. And so like,

I was just like, wow. And you know, ever since like 2010, you know, it's just like, boom, boom, boom. It's just like so many things have have just happened, and it's just it's amazing. Cool. It's it's it's amazing, man. So, like, it's cool to see, like, how God has used me to, like and and I'm I'm not gonna say I've changed anybody, but God has used me to change a lot of people. You know? And so, like, it's cool because I actually got a phone call last night at midnight from this from this secular DJ that I I used to play with. And he goes, dude, I need a man of God right now. I need you to call me. And I'm like, woah. Like, so, like,

so, like, it that was really cool, like, to hear that. So it's like, wow. Like, I I really feel like I feel really good. It's like, god, man, you're really using me to, like, reach somebody who's, like, you know, really deep in the muck. You know? And it's like, you know, here I am reaching my hand and trying to just pull them up and just be like, yo, man. I'm here to love you. I ain't here to judge you. I'm not here to condemn you. I don't care what you've done in your life. I don't care if you've been locked up. I don't care if, you know, you have a if you grew up in a bad, childhood or whatever. I'm like, I'm just here to love you. I'm here to share my story with you and help you in any way that I can. Yeah. And so I just, it's just cool to see that even though I didn't wanna do a hip hop ministry, I wanted to do a metal ministry. Yeah. The guy was like, no. No. No. I'm gonna have you do this. And I'm like, oh, jeez. I don't I don't, you know, I I don't really know nothing about hip hop except the gangster stuff that I used to listen to. Right. So, like, it's just it's just cool to see how God is really, like, he's been molding me, you know, and just, like, it just seems like every time, like, I get a show or an opportunity, it's, by word-of-mouth or, you know, emails or Facebook or whatever. It's just like, wow. Like, man, God is, like, using me, like, in ways I didn't even expect. That's crazy. So so maybe let let maybe give us a little taste of of your rhymes. Let's see see what you've done gone from metal to this. Okay. Let's see what you got. Well, okay. I'm gonna spit this. This is an older song. It's I'll just spit a verse here

called Never Going Back. Uh-huh. And just about never going back to that lifestyle, never going back to that old life that you were living. Yep. And so the verse goes, I once was living a life of crime, but now I'm wishing I could turn back the hands of time. Wish I could rewind, but now I'm living for Christ, and I'm trying to do everything right. I never plan on going back. This is me. Alright. Alright. Yeah. I hope you could see how Vargaforum flea, but the game was still played and set into motion. I was stuck in the darkness with distortion. He came to me through a movie when Jesus laid his life down. We were free. It's why you won't find me going back to the old me or chilling with the fake old mes. So how can you say that life's not fair when the creator of life gave you air? Lord, bring me back to oh, shoot.

You said it was an old one. I said I messed up. That's right. It happens when you go to the way back machine. Yeah. You don't keep it all. I I I like it. I like the tenor of it. It's it's so wait. Did you did it say that it brought you in through a movie? Yeah. Actually, The Passion of Christ changed my life. And does that? Doesn't it? Holy cats, that movie. I I tell you what, man. I I had drugs in my car. I had stuff like and I went with my ex girlfriend at the time, and it's like me it was me, her, and my mom, and my brother. And I was just like, dang. Like, just seeing him, like, you know, everyone's like, oh, man. It's such a, you know, teary movie. You're gonna cry. And I'm like, yeah. Right. You know? It's just about Jesus dying, you know? And so and so I'm going into that with this mentality. And I'm like I'm like sobbing. I'm like, oh. And I'm like using my sleeves and everything, like, you know, to because I run out of tissues. And so it's just crazy, man. Like,

I just it's nuts. Wait. That means you brought tissues in with you? Yeah. I did. Hey, man. That was smart. Well, that's that's awesome. So That was my mom actually. She's like, you might need some of this. And I'm like, fuck. Yeah. Mom's doing everything. Love you, mom. Yeah. Well, cool. So you can you can pick up music from Mending Hope at the show. So you're gonna have to either hook up with him via email or you can catch him at the live show. Where's the what's the name of the place in Lawrence?

Grace Evangelical Presbyterian Church. That that that place. Yeah. Can we just call it like Ron's house or something? G G E P C. It's Grace. Grace Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Lawrence Kansas. In Lawrence, Kansas. You can you can run into all these guys will be there. If you wanna dig on some some recorded action from Edding Hope, can pick it up from at the show. Yeah. Or you could, you know, email me on Facebook or email me on my email. You know, check me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, YouTube. I said YouTube already. Sorry. Couple of YouTubes. Let's let's see YouTube. That's second YouTube. Youtube.com, youtube.net. Very cool. Very cool. Thanks, man. I I appreciate you sharing your story with us. Let's, let's talk to King MC a little bit. So,

yeah, it kind of the same question is, you you were born buck wild nude, and now you're sitting in this chair. What are the relevant points of your life that got you here? That's that's pretty much it. That's I just I just wandered in. I was like, hey. Where are these guys going?

This looks a nice building. I was like, oh, water. We're thankful you put some clothes on. Thanks. Thanks, buddy. Well, I guess you could say I I I grew up Christian. Mhmm. I don't I don't like saying that because

it's not true. You know, it's like I went to church as a kid, but I didn't realize this until after I got saved that my church didn't actually talk about Jesus. Yeah. You know, a lot of churches are today. We actually had a series on

Harry Potter. Okay. And finding morality in the Harry Potter series. My pastor's up there doing this. Every once in a while, Jesus got mentioned, but after high school, all my friends went to college.

My girlfriend broke up with me, and I just went into this deep depression, and it was almost like a year long depression, and I didn't want to live anymore.

And I didn't have anything to live for, and I plotted it out. I knew exactly what I was gonna do, when I was gonna do it, know, how I was gonna do it. It got to that day,

and I was just sitting in my room and I just cried out to God. I was like, If you are real, I need you right now. And He came. And it

was like something I've never experienced before. Was like I finally understood who he was. I knew of Jesus, but I didn't know Jesus. Right. And so

because of that, I I was able to to get to know Him now. Right. And it's it it hasn't been easy. It's it's never easy, you know, and and He doesn't want it to be easy. He doesn't want you to just be drinking on milk. He wants you to be eating the meat also, and

that's what my life has been, journey. It's like I've been homeless twice in my life. Once was not my fault. It was when I was a kid, and the other time, it was my fault.

And I've grown from that, and he's brought me out of that. And so, you know, it's just and I I just had all this in me, all these feelings in me, and that's that's how I started writing and wanting to get that out and wanting to share him because he impacted me, so I want to impact other people with with him.

Well, that's a Thank you for Sorry. I say any words we have to bleep out? No, no, no, Those are great. I Sorry, I was just There's just a lot of There's a lot of relevance to some of the stuff that you're talking about that we've been that we've been interacting with lately. And there's there's just a lot about that story that that strips away

that strips away a lot of the stuff that I think we we run into with lists, run into with which is church stuff and it brings it it brings it back to, you know, what are we really what are we really talking about? And we're talking about we're talking about people connecting with their Creator. And sorry that's that I was just I was I was going through my mind. I was I had something else I was gonna ask you and then I kind of got distracted because that So I don't know how did you get involved with music then? I mean because it sounds like you you had pretty rocky road there and and especially I'm trying to like I like when you're homeless you don't have access to a lot of things that like my daughter goes to a public school and has any instrument she wants just kind of given to her, know,

lent to her. But how did you turn to music too? I've always loved music. I I grew up listening to

like, my first my first, album was, Michael Jackson. And so I love Michael Jackson. And then I I just started listening to, like, a lot of R and B, which turned into, hip hop.

And I just started listening to to rap music and realizing that I could do it. It was like what Mending Hope was saying, you know, a white boy rapping. But I actually didn't know that I couldn't do this because there were white boys rapping that I saw. There was

third base, young black teenagers, even Vanilla Ice. Yeah. You know? I mean, for all of Vanilla Ice's jokes and everything about that, he could still rap. Yeah. And so there there were that. So I didn't I didn't know that I couldn't. And then, so I just did it. And I started writing it. And then, you know, after I got saved and after I,

went to Rebecca St. James for advice, she steered me along the path and I started dedicating it all to Jesus. You know what's pretty cool about that story? It's actually semi convicting to me personally at the moment. But like, it makes me wonder how much faith I have that God's gonna show up. You know I'm saying? Like, I try to do a lot of work in a lot of areas.

And, I don't know that a lot of the time I really believe that God's gonna show up if I'm being honest. You know what I'm saying? And like, I don't know. It really kind of hits home that like, of all the things that I know are true and the things that I don't put into practice knowing, you know, that God's gonna show up. I I don't know. I I just think that I'm a bit bereft of,

you know, comic jabs at the moment because I mean, it's just I just find it to be totally true and a huge void that I think maybe that I don't put near enough thought in that like of all the things that I promise that Jesus is promising is that just the fact that he's gonna show up. I kind of hold back sometimes, know? So I don't know. That's very very cool. Yeah, right. Like I mean there's nothing about what you believe that would that would make you think no, don't think this is true. But like how much is the truth of that, like the real reliance on God showing up gauge your actions on a day to day basis, right? Do I act like God will show up or do I like act like a guy that knows that is confident and one would tell anybody that. But

if I if I couldn't say anything, if my life someone was watching my life with the volume turned down, do they see a guy? They would say, yeah, he acts like God's gonna show up. I can tell by what he does. Yeah. And then yeah, I know. I probably ran into that myself. I feel like I should, mean like if I was gonna sell a cheesy Christian t shirt, it would just say God showed up. You know what I'm saying? Like, didn't know who he was. And then I did. He showed up. I don't know. That's pretty cool.

Cheesyshirts.com. I got a couple in mind. We got to make move as I've had it up to here with Zakia. Awesome. It's gonna make me millions.

Okay, well, would you mind sharing just a little bit of your music with us? Yeah, sure. Okay, this first I'm gonna do, I'm actually

a feature on one of my friend's upcoming albums. His name's Marcus J. So there's your plug right there, Marcus. This song is called On the Rise. This is my verse for it. Cool. I'm a rise up, you better keep your eyes up or you'll miss the side of my fighters as we line up, we're gonna ride up, ride up to the riot. Giving in this and in this then and not like a diet, they tell me to be quiet, not quite yet. I'm gonna keep fighting giants till there's no fight left because I was so lifeless. Now my soul's righteous, I was awakened from the dead like Snow White's kissing. I'm a rise like my city. These bonds never fit me. It's fitting in the ending. I'm taking what they didn't give me. Defending the soft spoken, meaning the heart broken. Giving them all hope and something they never chosen. You'll take notice. When life's changed. You may think you know the game, but the rules ain't the same. You spend your days chasing fame, I drive in a different lane. Go ahead and close the drapes, but you'll miss something great. Alright. Oh, whoo. Sweet. Nice.

That was it's on the on the market. What's the title that marked as Jay Cut? That's called On the Rise. On the Rise. But that's not out. It's not out yet. He's releasing it next year. So Come on, Marcus. Will you get your head in the game? Try to sell stuff. They're gonna be bootlegging versus for the Internet radio program. That right there just just completely killed my rapping career. Yeah. Did. That's sad. Right? Like, was digging on the lyrics. I'm like, I bet I could do no. Nope. Nope. Nope. Alright. Hey, man. I could do some nope. Nope. Not me. I'm a step back. So so you can find more from KingMC. You can check them out on on Facebook and the the website website again was? Kingmcmusic.com. Kingmcmusic.com.

Make sure you check that out. And just as I tell you this every time guys, but like make sure you're interacting with these guys. They're out there working hard. They have a they have a special, not only a special gift from God, they have access to tell stories and give hope to people.

That find you fraudulent. Yeah, exactly. Right. They can't that won't take you serious regardless where your heart's at. That's just the truth, We're running into that we see that now with the guys from the Thankful Leper. That guy's a he's been homeless. He's lived there and like regardless of where my heart's at that he's just has different access to people that are still in that than I do. And so the question is how can you support people that are able to communicate with people in that way that have been through those circumstances in ways that I couldn't? Each of these guys has that ability. They have unique circumstances. They have unique ways of talking about those things and about Jesus into people that can really hear it.

If that's where your heart is at but it's not where your opportunity is at, how can you best help them do those things? And so a lot of that is interacting with them, helping people come out to their shows, making sure to hit their shows, supporting their music, sharing their stuff online and through whatever means possible. You can help those guys out as they further the kingdom and you're furthering the kingdom through those things as well. So make sure you guys get out and do that with those guys. Okay. Moving to the left. It's on the it's on the we're we're a radio program. They don't know that. Yo. Moving to the left.

Alright. So so, can say same basic story. You were born fully clothed. It's a it's an enigma in life. Yeah. But you still ended up here sitting in the studio on a chair. So so tell me a little bit about, how you got into, how you got into what you're doing. Yeah. Yeah. What god's got going on in your life? That kind of stuff. Hit me up. Well, well, I guess, yeah, I'll just start at the very beginning.

I was born in a Christian home with five siblings. I'm the youngest or I guess there's five of us, but we're all musicals. So that's that's kind of Do you count your family on a regular basis? Do you count people in your family on a regular basis? Like an inventory? Yeah. Okay. How many we got? Okay. Continue on with your story. Well, there's seven. No, we're not going to go there.

But, yeah, we were my parents met in a band called Desperado based off the Eagles song. So we were kind of destined to be musical. But my siblings just really encouraged me growing up to be musical. I'm actually a percussionist, so so I'm not doing that anymore. But but

probably when I was, like, seven is when I started writing music. And just when I was seven, was just, about, you know, girls and, you know, sex You were writing about girls when you were seven? Dude, yeah. Man, I had no You ruined me. I have a seven year old daughter. I'm like, this isn't a problem yet. Then we got dudes like you. Hey. Heads up. River City boys hanging around. Was it was definitely a problem, my kid. And my biggest crushers were seven and eight years old. Man. Yeah. But that wasn't that like an old I mean, didn't tell her about it. Or something or No. No. It was like girl in my class. I was like, oh, glory. Like the teacher or something? Those are bunch of creepers. What? I'm sorry. Alright, man. You stay out this conversation from now on. Fair enough. Alright, River City. This was the rest of your story. Well, yeah. Well, then I kinda started thinking girls were gross and Okay. Now we're talking. Kept running.

Back to basics. So, well, really, my challenging, I don't have any crazy story, what really was my challenging

part of life was being the youngest. I really just love my family and always rely on my family. So, when everyone got older and moved out, my sister Hannah has been singing with me at these concerts on this tour and and she's like four years older. So everyone got old, they moved out, they got busy or something. So I was kind of left alone in the house and that was just a bummer for me. Always having someone there. So that's when I just decided to pick up a guitar. I didn't know anything. I came up with some chords randomly. But that's when I started writing.

When hard times came around, I went to music. So music and basketball are actually they're actually my two things that, got me through like middle school and stuff. I feel like music made the Bible. Basketball did not. Yeah. Hey. No. Not as much. Hey. Sorry. Sorry for a quick distraction. I was at I went out to eat somewhere on Sunday and there was some kinda some guy that produced some kind of Jesus magazine. And they said that the Bible mentions dogs like 400 sometimes and no cats. That's that's great. I hate cats.

Yeah. That's great. I don't like what you're saying. We had two cats and we we got rid of them. I think That's harsh. You were you were in the Bible. Now Get out.

Now I can wear black clothes because can't out of my cats. Neither was my grandpa. Now what do I do? That's rough times. Alright. So so tell me about the song you're gonna do. I actually changed it while we're sitting in here. I love it. Because you said, you mentioned, you said Unsure. Uh-huh. And we looked at each other and I have a song called Unsure. It's like a it's like a hip, like Jack Johnson type song. Okay. I'm not saying I can like, I write stuff like banana pancakes, and I can't make banana pancakes either. Here's the deal. The the listens to the program, so this is the time to make bold claims. If you feel like, I'm like a Jack Johnson. I Yeah. Am Jack Johnson. I pretty much am

Jack Johnson. I didn't want the social stigma with changing my name halfway through my career. So what's this? Tell me a bit about what the song is about. Well, it's called Unsure. Uh-huh. But it's just about how you have

you just have hard times and you don't know exactly what to do and you are unsure, but, you know, God's there to to help you through that. Okay. Sweet. It's called Unsure. River City Boy. You're listening to Live From The Path. You guys ready? Yeah. Alright. Let's do this thing. You're listening to Live From The Path. You don't know where to go from here because you can't see through anything

and everything's unclear. And you are getting tangled in your thoughts so just relax and shake it off.

Take this hand and let it guide you trust and please stand firm. How are you supposed to know what to do and what you don't need to do?

And Please calm these nerves of mine because

with no direction I'm misconception of waiting for you to guide me through these things that I am missing. But I'm not seen so I'll leave it in your hands because you know. Yeah.

That was unsure. And, hey, man. I love that stuff. It's good. I love everybody. Yeah. I know that. Hey. You've been listening live from the past. We got, still got a little bit more show. If you're listening on ninety nine point KTA, we've got to let you go. Yeah. Anyway,

makes oh, shoot. We didn't you have to listen to the podcast. You wanna hear updated on thankful left for stuff. Mike's got some post style advice. We got some dear life from the past still coming up. And make sure you sign up for that audio podcast live for thepath.org. There'll also be clips from the show, including interviews with past artists. And, I don't know, the past few weeks of us talking about that time.com guy. Yeah. Alright. Well, yeah, whatever. Go on with your life. Thanks for listening to Life in the Path. Alright. Hey, man. If you guys, if you're watching the live show, sorry about that, I don't know, roughly five to seven minute gap. Yeah. Here's the deal. If we took donations, now would be the time.

Yeah. Actually, like if you if you ever ever looked at the show online, you saw picture and you're like, hey, man, it looks like a shifty operation. You've pegged it correctly. Yeah. It is. Yeah. That's what goes on in here. Yeah. And like, here's the deal. If we're being honest, like Christian media in general has a they have a bit of a hard time because it's like most of your favorite Christian radio stations are right. Twice a year they come up with like the Praise A Thon or the the what I don't know the Worship A Thon or what and then it's like two weeks of them trying to get money out of you. I thought we talked about it when we started the show and we're like we just don't wanna do that. Thousand dollars for an apostle. Thousand dollars makes you an apostle. Give it the apostle level. And so, and so we're like, we just, we just don't want to do that. Right? Like, like we feel like we can, we can operate on the radio. We can get legit advertisement. And if the Lord does not, behind what we're doing, then we won't. And then we won't have a show and whatever. It's fine, you know? And so far, we we we subsist on on the Lord's providence in that area. We have a we have some, very faithful advertisers that advertise on the show and and it, to be honest is just what keeps us running. And frankly, it just takes care of our radio time most of the time. It's what puts us on the air. And so like we don't we we don't do the donation thing. We're like, you know, God God will handle it. And and and so because of that, you you get some, computer crashes every once in a while. So you're just gonna have to be alright with that because you're life from the path. Yeah. No. That's true. That's what happens when you're life from the path and,

roll with it like I do. Yeah. Thanks for loving us. Yeah. We're fine with it. I got knee sweat about it, but like, I mean, nothing that produces a note. Yeah. Ever know your knees, whatever boova, like your knees don't sweat. My knees, no, my knees don't sweat. That's what people say when they haven't come to terms with Here's the deal. My wife is, can't really My wife traded in our regular deodorant for some kind of stone that you wet. That's the stone. Hold on. Hold on. This is going to be okay. So before the stone, right? We've

had many iterations of deodorant at our place before that, we made our own and it was like a baking soda combo with some kind of smelly things. This is wrong. And it was in a Tupperware container. And so here's what you had to do. You had to scoop it out with your hand and, like, put it in there. Oh. That so far from gross, man. It really felt I mean, legitimately felt like a mouse had vomited in your armpit. That was what it felt like. And I thought That stinks. I don't feel ready for the day. I feel like I put a piece of pie in there and then moved my arms back and forth.

But here's the deal. I love my wife, and it it this stuff works legitimate. Right? It was it was my own misgivings on this pasty owner that I wasn't willing to scoop it out and shove it in there. But, like, and and and and frankly, I mean, it was it saved money. It worked just fine. You know, it was me that just screwed this up because I frankly just refused. I'm like, give me the guy that sells commercial bad for you deodorant. That's what I want. Yeah. What what's the what's the Mitchum? So great you can skip a day. Yeah. I'm gonna skip a day, man. Give me that stuff. Whatever chemicals stuff up the pores and don't allow my body to do what it's naturally supposed to do, that's what I'm for. That's give me that stuff. You know, stuff right out of Chernobyl. I'll put it on there. So anyway, the stone Okay, hold on. Here's the here's the review That's the not a right? What? Was Chernobyl the name of the place and the town? Yeah. Chernobyl, Russia. What was it? Pyrrhofit was the city like outside of Chernobyl, right? Yeah. No, the facility was Chernobyl. And it was in Pyrrhofit?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's right. I'll straighten There's no one here to rectify if you're saying the right thing or not. Eric knows what I'm talking about. Just agreed with everything you said. That makes him untrustworthy. Okay. Okay. So anyway, the stone's working out okay. So if you're against buying a regular old school deodorant, you know, get yourself any stone. I think any stone will do it and just get it wet. I can pick up any rock, put some water on it and shove it on her armpit and stuff. As far as I've looked into it. I'm not sure. Okay. That sounds all right. Is that your Pope style? No, no. Use a stone for a pit, pit detractor?

So my post op advice is actually not, it's not, very long, but it has to do with, I was, I actually talking to Ben earlier today. We were discussing some stuff to do with some, you know, working with the homeless over the weekend and some other things that we were kind of involved in. And I got off the phone and I actually, I had that conversation in front of some fellows at work and they said, Who were you talking to? And I said, well, I'm talking to my brother. And they're like, well, we thought you were talking to a Jesus man. I said, I was. They said, well, why were you yelling? I said, what do you mean? I said, he's my brother and he's a Jesus man. What's the problem? He goes, you don't talk like any other Christian I've ever met. And like, and I thought through the conversation in my head, I'm like, I know I didn't swear. And there was, what did I say? You know? And like, apparently like their version of someone that loves Jesus is some kind of, I don't know, piece of paper with the lips on it that like doesn't do anything. And it's like, they're just really stoic and like, man, I thought, I feel like you're missing the entire joy of life if you can't get fired up every once in a while about doing something. And so I thought, I talked to him a little bit afterwards with a little bit more serious tone, but like, I think my pope style advice is is that realize when you're talking to people about Christ, you're inviting them to be part of the kingdom of God, right? And like, don't sell them a false product. You know what I'm saying? Don't tell them something that it ain't. Tell them the truth and like if there's

there's you know, joy in your life, tell them there's joy in their life. If there's sadness in your life, tell them there's sadness in your life. Right? Don't paint a phony picture where it's either a, unbelievable or b, seems really lame. Like, I feel like that was most of, like, my my upbringing in church. I think I kind of had a lot of the same story is like, knew who Jesus was, but I did not know him. Right? Because like the product that I think that was being sold, I'm like, I don't know. I mean, I hear what you're saying. I should be better, but I don't know. It just doesn't seem like good times, you know? And and and so, I don't know. I I think my pope style advice is is like, make sure you understand the entire breadth of the kingdom that you're offering. Like, there's there's people in this room with stories that I don't have that show the glory of god that I can't show. It's just like what like Ben was talking with with the thankful leper and the way they interact with the homeless people or or or other or other ministries that that that interact with with groups of people that I don't have the background and I don't have that. And like just because I don't have that experience doesn't mean that it's not part of the full kingdom of God to offer. Right. And so like, and I think a lot of people get that messed up. Like a lot of, and some of that's on our generation because a lot of people that are sharing the gospel there's a huge age gap, right? They're willing to do it with the way that they've matured in Christ and like their lifestyle and mine is thirty years apart. And that's not to say that their testimony about Christ and

the things that they've brought into their life is illegitimate. It just means that I can't relate. Like I just can't see what you're saying, you know? So like, I try to go above, I shouldn't say above, I said out of my way to find people that are a step above me, a step below me and kind of where I'm at. And those are like by the people that I try to keep, I use to keep me accountable to the way that I live my life for Christ, right? Like I can help talk to people who have not quite been where I am yet and help guide them through that. I can talk to people on my level that say, look, I'm struggling with this, having a hard time with this. I'm being a coward here. I need you to help me. And then I can find a guy above me that says, look, your kids are 15, 16, 17. I'm heading up on that age.

You got any advice for me? Right? And basically long story short is, if you're gonna talk to somebody about Christ, talk to them about Christ and talk to them about the kingdom that we're offering, not just your section of it because there's a lot to it. Yeah. And it's an everybody welcome kind of deal. Right? So there's people that are doing what your buddy does for the kingdom of God and for his glory.

And just because it ain't you doesn't mean that he doesn't have somewhere to be. Right. That's not an experience of the kingdom. And you know, one of the things that we're be careful of is, know, don't kind of like what we were talking about. It's like I don't have I don't have the same I don't have the same background of story as Men and Cope. I don't have the the same background of stories King MC. But

like there's God's story is all of those. That's right. You know what I'm saying? Like it like where where where their opportunity is different than mine. It doesn't mean because I was thinking about you because like we share similar backgrounds and like sometimes there have been times in my life there's like there's a couple guys in church where like I mean I mean Jesus has done some fierce things in these guys lives and I and there's every once in while I'm like man I wish wish kind of I had a drug problem and had gone to prison so that I could For

legit reasons. You know I'm saying? Like because because I want I want my life to be that like I guess it's kind of such a cool story of what God has done. But but the deal is is like there's a couple things there. One, I haven't I haven't it's a testimony to God like I haven't been in that position and that doesn't mean that God's hand hasn't been there like that's foolish. And second of all, you know what I you know what I feel from this chair in the in the life that I live? I feel like there are 10,000 of me sitting somewhere who missed Jesus when they were growing up who thought they knew Jesus and didn't know him and that's interesting right because you can share that from any background but like I can have I can have no none of the things that people would would want to look at my life and say oh guy that guy's had a hard luck story right? I I don't have it. No. But you know what? I still miss Jesus and there's there's a 10,000 guys in my sphere of influence that that's that would be sitting in the same chair and that's that's the opportunity that I have right? And we have the opportunity to amplify stories from people who live differently

in the kingdom but live part of that same kingdom and so I don't know I was thinking I just had you on the mic because I thought we could put you in a rough spot right because you you follow two guys who had some who had some distinct stories but but your story is it's still a kingdom story, right? Like it's still God doing what he does.

And it's the same it's the same opportunity, to both amplify the stories of others, but be part of the Christian story yourself. Like to be honest, most of people that are listening to this show right now are sitting in that boat or sitting in my chair, sitting in that chair. And don't pale your life as a story of the kingdom because of that either. That's the same opportunity. No, it's the truth and actually it's

stories like that. And Ben's right, run, like running, being part of this show and being part of some of the stuff that we get involved with, testimonies are broad. I mean, they're all over the map on how God saved people, right? And how and what they came out of and what they came from. But like, it's to be honest with you, like the Bible has has put forth a pretty

straightforward picture on what God's grace can do, right? So there's not a whole bunch of stories that I'm like, I can't believe God can do that, right? Like, I totally believe that. But it's the guy that was faithful since he was like five that blows me away. Like if I'm being honest, like I'm just like, really? Like, you've been with this your whole life, you stuck with it, and like, the Lord, you've never felt like the Lord has failed you and you're bailing and you're out and you're gonna go, and they're like, no, I feel like I've just put my faith in Christ since I was a young man and or a young woman, and like, I've just been blessed and I've had joy ever since. And I'm like, no kidding. You know what I'm saying? Like that stuff just seems to blow me away. Like I have a harder time swallowing that than some of the other, you know, the big grace stories. And like, and I'm not really sure why. And I feel like it's probably because

I didn't make that, right? Like, like I was introduced to Christ when I was younger and like, I didn't tow it. Like, I left it. I'm like, yeah, I don't know about this, you know? And so people that did something opposite of what I did and and and there was still joy there. I don't know. It's it's it's humbling is basically what it is. Yeah. Alright. Well, we got time for like one Dear Life From The Path. Okay, let's hit it up. Ready? Dear I didn't have it ready. I'm just kind of stalling. Dear life from the path.

Still stalling. Slow. Here we go. My husband recently passed away. And among his papers, I discovered evidence of another previous marriage. It came as a shock to me because he never told me. Should I ask his family how long this previous marriage lasted? Or should I let it go and be grateful for the good and loving husband he was during our twenty seven years together? He was a widower with no kids and I was a widow when we met. What do you think? Wait a minute. If he's a widower? Yeah. If she knew he was a widower, doesn't that imply he was married? I think she's now finding out That's a retrospective Yeah. Anecdote. She's saying now I know he is a widower. Oh, the previous one I thought he was just a single dude when I Yeah. When I met him. Oh.

So she's trying to figure out, hey, now that I know my husband was a widower when I met him, should I ask his family about that family? How old how did you do we have an idea how old? No. They were married twenty seven years, so this Yeah. Couple

So she's the widower twice. Here's the deal. I would say that depends entirely on what your heart is in that. I think that's interesting. Yeah. I would be very interested to know. There's nothing it's it's not nefarious or anything. It's just an it's another marriage that the man had. The woman died. He remarried. There's nothing wrong with any of that. It's interesting to know what kind of life he led. He kept it a secret from her. No, that is weird. Maybe it was like a deep pain he never really dealt with, you know, I mean. Yeah, No. I'm with her. That sounds weird. I kind of forgot that part. Yeah. Shoot. That does change everything I said. Now now I look like a fool. Yeah. Well,

regardless of what the perspective is of this guy being nefarious or not, I think that it really depends on her relationship with the family. If it's gonna be something that's gonna cause a big rift in in your relationship with his family and stuff like that, you know, honestly, it's just for your informational purposes. It probably wouldn't be best to destroy that relationship. But if you have a relationship with that family to where, hey, you know, mother-in-law Sandy, you know, I I found out about John's

previous wife and and I wanna know, can you tell me about her? What what was going on I'm interested now. Like, how did that go? Hey. Hey. You haven't been married before? Nope. What did you spend the last twenty years of your life doing? Not your business. Anyway, let's get hitched, babe. Like

I mean, that's on that's on her if she went, sweet. Do you hide a marriage? Yeah, I think it's kind of strange that his family didn't never even mentioned it to her. It's like the entire family kept it a secret. Everybody's behind it? Yeah. So I don't even know if you would go to his side of the family and go, I didn't even think about that. Because everybody's been keeping that from you. That's right. And murder you say anything. You're rude. Yeah. Gone and forgotten.

Yeah. That's kind of sad. No, there's something stinky going on here. Shoot, I didn't even think about the family. Yeah. That's a good one. Everybody had to be unless like, you know, what if he hauled off to Vegas, got married for a day and I don't know why he'd keep the paper. Yeah, something stinky going on here. I'd find out what's up. Ah, crap. You're right. You gotta depend on where your heart's at. I don't wanna know. What am I gonna do with that information? It's not married for a day if he's a widower. So it means that the previous Unless, last of all, she died. Well, they went to Las Vegas, she could have died in Vegas. Yeah. And stayed in Vegas. What happens if Vegas stays in Vegas? It could be a Jewish fiance. Alright. I

think it really boils down to if it's really going to bother you. I mean, your imagination can make things worse than it really was. Yeah. I I I would have to know. I'd to I'd just be curious. That doesn't take away the twenty seven years you had together. I mean, it's odd. It might weird. I mean, well But it shouldn't. Mean, wonder if wasn't. Wasn't cheating on her. He he just didn't tell her everything. Yeah, but what else did he write? She said, That's what would that would lead me down the wrong rabbit trail. Like, what else did you lie to me about? That's a fairly major thing. Okay. Let me ask you this question. So let's say that I had, before I met my wife, I had I had published a book of erotica. What? Stay with me. Where is this going? Am I required

He's only 17. Remember this. Okay. No. No. No. You gotta keep this clean. Am I required to say that to her? Let's say I die. A little different than being married. Yeah. What if she's at the Barnes and Noble and then she sees your That's exactly right. I don't see I think that's It wasn't popular. It was irrelevant to a publisher, yes. But to a wife, no. Feel like But we're that's talking about marriage, marriage. Yeah, but that's legitimate. I feel like that's a good example. That's a fairly big thing to know that a man has done. It changes something. It doesn't change that we were married for forty years, but you're like, hey, I never knew he published erotica. That's I'm just saying. I I feel like that is apples to apples. I think the moral of the story is if you're gonna publish something like that using alias so your wife

doesn't stumble upon it in the Barnes and Noble sweetie. I don't have any reason to run from it at the time. Why is Fabio on the cover of your book? I I think they just have some some interesting and odd communication skills that lasted twenty seven years. But it still, it doesn't take away. I mean, he wasn't cheating on her. We don't know why he didn't say. Maybe the circumstances of her death were just horrific and taken out by a drone or something. Don't know. And That was likely. She died in 1968

taken out by a drone. That'd be horrific. You don't know what a drone is? It would be very horrific. In Vegas. There's gotta be something that she can access to get Oh, yeah. I I think the question she she was questioning whether she should do it. So so, bare bones, she comes and she presents this to you. What do you say, Mike? I don't care. You do whatever you want. I just I feel like it's a either way. Hey. I need help. Do what you want. Do what you want. Solid. You're worth every bit of your $78 an hour. Well, why don't you ask me a question that's relevant? Just do it or don't do it. Completely relevant to her. That's like calling her me call it's like her calling me saying, hey. Should I get a turkey or a ham sandwich? I don't care. Pick one. That's the same distinction. Do I investigate my dead husband's previously secret marriage, or do I have a ham on rye? Here's the deal. Hey, man. That decision is big. The the reason that's the exact same example is because you're trying to decide which one you will regret. And so Yeah. If you if you can look at the ham and go, if I skip the ham, I will not regret it, the turkey's your answer. If you can look at this situation and go, if I don't find out, I won't regret it, then skip it. Well, it's not a moral dilemma either way. No. Yeah. It's Yeah. It's just turkey. Turkey. What what will make you sleep better? Turkey. Turkey makes you sleep better. It does. Turkey. Alright. You wanna hear secular advice? Yeah. Secular says, your husband may have been divorced from wife number one or the marriage could have been annulled and he couldn't think it, counted. While I agree that you should be grateful for the twenty seven happy years you spent together, I can't ignore the fact that such an important piece of information was withheld from you. If you have questions and think the family can answer them, you're entitled to know. I thought I thought she died.

Who? The first wife. And Secular's saying divorced. Maybe. Yeah. She made it sound like it was a widower. She did say a widower. That's what I thought. Yeah. So she died. Secular's not very good Secular's advice is not right. No. By the way, how legalistic is he didn't think it counted

Yeah. When when communicating to your wife about previous marriages and things I like tried that with Jesus a lot. That is not the deal. Right. Lord, I told a lie. It was for the best. Yeah, right. It puts in perspective that he yelled mulligan right before he said I do the second time. The man's like, he's not trustworthy. No, I get it. Okay. But that's the definition of an old is that it doesn't count. I don't say, I told my my my girlfriend every relationship I ever had and every detail ever before we got very serious, just so she knew. Or I asked if were getting more serious. Now, granted, the details were pretty boring, but you know, we held hands to the movie theater once. Sit still. We sure can't number nine.

Be back and cheese. Yeah. But nonetheless, that you know, we hadn't we had no there would be nothing that could come out later. It'd be like, what? Yeah. You did what? I'm not hiding anything from you except for this dead old woman at the main light.

She's still in the trunk of my count. Oh my god. Can't believe I claimed to write erotica. This is real. Gotta go. Hey. You've been listening to Live From The Path. A big thanks to Mending Hope, King MC, and River City Boy. Thank you guys so much for stopping by. Thank you. Make sure you check them out in Lawrence, Kansas tomorrow and, and then stock them online so you know where they're going. Hit them up, buy their music, support what they got going on. Follow Jesus and have a good life. I love you. Have a good day.