006: See Others As Blessed
Episode 006: Comedian Chonda Pierce join us on this week’s episode to share her life story, why hominy grits are the worst and how laughter has carried her through her darkest moments.
We wrap up our RETHINK series on the word “blessed.” As we see ourselves as blessed (being made whole) even in our most stressful seasons, how does that influence how we see others?
This week’s Practice: See Others As Blessed
Next week we’ll discuss how it all went, the good, bad, the funny, with special guest Mike Erre, and then introduce the next 10000 MINUTES Experiment.
+ 006 See Others As Blessed - Chonda Pierce Transcript
TIM: Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of the 10,000 Minute Experiment. And today's guest, we've got the one and only Chonda Pierce, who's one of the best selling female comedians of all time. But I got to go on the road with Chonda and I get to see a deeper side of this woman. And as much as she is hilarious and amazing she's also got an incredible depth and profound insight, so get ready.
Chonda: Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.
TIM: So everybody that was Chonda Pierce starting off the podcast, this is Tim Timmons and to my left this time I've got Emmoe Doniz.
Emmoe: Yes. Hello. We switched seats.
TIM: We did switch seats because we're in a different place.
Emmoe: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
TIM: A very different place-
Chonda: [crosstalk 00:00:45] you all off.
TIM: It's a little weird. I feel like-
Chonda: I love that you have... And I love to be in my home turf I have [inaudible 00:00:52].
TIM: Yeah. No, yeah, we're definitely in a-
Chris: We're in the penthouse.
TIM: We're in the penthouse right now.
Chonda: Yeah.
Chris: That's right. [crosstalk 00:00:59].
Emmoe: It is.
TIM: And that is Chris Cleveland.
Emmoe: What's up?
TIM: To my hard right this time.
Chris: Hard right.
TIM: And then across from me, we've got Miss Chonda Pierce.
Chonda: There you go.
TIM: Chonda, you spell your name funny.
Chonda: Yeah. Well, no, I don't. I spell it correctly.
TIM: The P-H in the front.
Chonda: The P-H.
TIM: P-H-L-O-N-D-A.
Chonda: Yeah. [Cholonda 00:01:19].
TIM: Say that again?
Chonda: [Cholonda 00:01:21].
TIM: So what do people call you?
Chonda: Everything from Shaundra, Chanda, Chonda. Always put an R in there and there is no R. After 20 some years I don't correct them. I'm like, "Okay, that's fine."
TIM: Yeah, I get it.
Chonda: Yeah. And my nose is running. Okay. [inaudible 00:01:40] I'm fine. I just got to sleep. But this is the best humbling thing of my career, had this ceremony at my agency at the time was CAA, which I thought meant Christian Artists Association and I found that later there just really was a few Christians there. And it was... It's a massive agency but anyway, they had this big party, because I had gotten award from the [RIAA 00:02:02].
TIM: That feels right. [crosstalk 00:02:06] same letters, yeah.
Chonda: The people that give gold records anyway, said as the most awarded female comic in history.
Chris: Oh my God.
Chonda: Of like all secular [crosstalk 00:02:13]. So I'm at the ceremony and I tell this man and I said, "This is so hard believe because there's Ellen DeGeneres [inaudible 00:02:19]. And what about Joan Rivers? She was out for a long..." He goes, "I know we did the math twice because we've never heard of you."
TIM: That is so good. That's so good.
Chonda: [crosstalk 00:02:31].
TIM: Yeah, so that's his penthouse we're [inaudible 00:02:36].
Emmoe: Yes.
Chris: Top floor baby.
Chonda: Even Ellen DeGeneres [inaudible 00:02:40]. [crosstalk 00:02:41] [Ashley 00:02:42] City.
TIM: It totally. Totally. Totally.
Chris: We saw the [inaudible 00:02:45] down the street. [crosstalk 00:02:47].
TIM: And this is awesome. This place is awesome.
Chonda: [crosstalk 00:02:49] you can see over there and [crosstalk 00:02:51]. All you can see at night is the glowing McDonald sign.
TIM: Yeah, literally, they're probably 49 people that live in this town-
Chonda: That's exactly right.
TIM: ... but she lives in the penthouse.
Chonda: And most of them are here, in this building.
TIM: Under us. Which is great. And we can see the river from here, which is pretty good-
Chris: That's nice.
Chonda: Now that is beautiful. Yeah, you can get on a boat and go straight downtown Nashville right now.
Chris: Probably will after this.
Chonda: Takes about 25 minutes.
TIM: Do you have a boat?
Chonda: No. I know I'm the only person that lives in Marina and I don't have a boat. They always say the best day of your life is a day you get to buy a boat and the second best day is the day you sell it.
Chris: That's right.
Chonda: I've heard that so many times, I don't want a boat. If my husband was living, believe me, we'd have a boat. He loved fishing, I love fishing and that's the kind of boat I want. Although I have been on some of those yachts out there, I'm like, "You could live on them."
TIM: Yeah, those things seem pretty legit. We almost walked out there just for fun just yelling your name.
Chonda: There's some friends of mine that have one over there, it's three bedrooms-
Chris: Oh my God.
Chonda: Washer and a dryer and it's amazing, that's their boat. They just go hanging every now and then on the weekend.
TIM: Yeah, well, let's let's call them and we can do a podcast with them.
Chris: We could probably do it.
Chonda: That's exactly right.
TIM: [inaudible 00:03:59].
Chonda: [crosstalk 00:04:00] podcast [inaudible 00:04:02].
TIM: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we've already stolen a few things.
Chonda: Hey that might not be a bad idea. Yeah we stole it.
TIM: Yeah we just stole a few-
Chonda: Trinkets.
Chris: It's fine. Don't worry about it.
TIM: [crosstalk 00:04:11] dog is real cute, we might steal that.
Chonda: No, you can't do that.
TIM: No, no, no. You can still my dogs, I'd be fine with that.
Chonda: I need that dog because my son comes and goes every now and then in LA and I know the times come. I can tell when he's antsy and he's ready to go. He's 31 year old man for one thing. And so [crosstalk 00:04:27].
TIM: Your son or your dog?
Chonda: My son. My dog is not that old.
TIM: In dog years, you never know.
Chonda: I never know. He's only... His birthday is in July, his first birthday, my dog.
TIM: Okay. So he's six in dog years. Yeah.
Chonda: So that means he's seven right?
Chris: I heard that they change the dog years.
Chonda: They did?
Chris: They're more like nine or something now.
TIM: Who's they?
Chonda: Oh my God. The same people that... Nevermind.
Chris: You know who.
Chonda: [crosstalk 00:04:51]. The same people that said the National Guard is coming to put Trump back in the White House.
Chris: [crosstalk 00:05:00].
TIM: God, I like you so much.
Chonda: I lived through all of that you all. I lived through all of it, I was on the Faith Coalition for the President. And only reason I said yes to the job so I could go to the White House. I've ever been and I went to the White House a lot. And I had dinner and I met the man and all that but he was flawed like anybody else. I never did really drink all of the Kool-Aid, just a little bit.
TIM: Just [crosstalk 00:05:26].
Emmoe: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just a sample.
Chonda: [crosstalk 00:05:27] but talking about stealing trinkets, I remember I was at the Kennedy Center for something, it was [inaudible 00:05:35] looking at, they had this little refrigerator in there for the president now that I got little everything has the Presidential Seal on it. I got... I filled my purse up, it was like the minibar at the [crosstalk 00:05:48] I re-gifted sell much of that Black Christmas.
TIM: Yeah. Okay, so I'm going to pivot. So I'm going to go... Can you guys wink? Can you wink one eye and hold the other one?
Chonda: This is...
Emmoe: Say less. Say less.
Chonda: Like that?
Chris: [crosstalk 00:06:07].
TIM: But the other I can't move.
Chris: I can't do it.
Emmoe: It kind of moves.
TIM: I can't do it.
Chonda: I can.
Chris: [inaudible 00:06:18] about it.
Chonda: [crosstalk 00:06:18] why are we doing this?
TIM: I was looking up the word wink because we're about to talk about Godwinks.
Chonda: I know that guy.
TIM: What do you mean you know that guy?
Chonda: The guy that does... There's actual thing called Godwinks. Do you know the one who [inaudible 00:06:31].
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: He wrote that.
TIM: So is it in a song?
Chonda: He does this whole-
TIM: Is Godwink in a song?
Chonda: He has books and T-shirts and a podcast [inaudible 00:06:43] and everything is all about Godwinks? Do you know this?
TIM: No.
Chris: We've got to find out.
TIM: We don't but-
Emmoe: Oh man.
Chonda: It's real. He lives in the Hamptons or Martha's Vineyard.
TIM: He's doing well then.
Chris: He's killing it.
Chonda: And his wife was a real famous comic person.
TIM: So did he coin Godwink?
Chonda: Yes. It's a real huge website [inaudible 00:07:02].
TIM: Yeah. That's where it came from.
Chonda: And he does his little reading and that is your Godwink for the day. You got to look at at him.
TIM: Well, we might need to call him up.
Emmoe: Yeah.
Chonda: It seemed a little frightening. He'll never hear this so I can say it. And we're not real personal friends, I just met him and knew him but I really liked his wife, what's her name? She's like a famous actress and comedian.
TIM: I have so many jokes-
Chonda: Like secular.
TIM: ... right now.
Chonda: Yeah you can because I think they're still alive.
TIM: And [crosstalk 00:07:31] so great.
Chonda: Wait till they die then [inaudible 00:07:33].
TIM: They will [crosstalk 00:07:33].
Chonda: It's the Christian way. Yeah.
TIM: Yeah, so I was actually looking up wink.
Chonda: Wink?
TIM: Winking is a weird thing. If I just wink at you like, what's that mean?
Chonda: At my age you have something in your eye. Depends on which [inaudible 00:07:48].
TIM: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, it's-
Chonda: But sloppy wink, Oh my God, look he's into me because he's drunk.
TIM: Yeah. He drunk. I went to my son the other day and I was like [inaudible 00:07:59] what're you doing?
Chonda: [crosstalk 00:08:00] what happened?
TIM: That is so weird.
Chonda: If I was your son, I would be saying that too.
TIM: Well, it was just like a hey, man. And I'm like, "What did I just do with my eye? And why did I wink at my son." So in the 11th century was the first time this is the whole reason for the-
Chonda: Someone winked.
TIM: It was actually written down, it was how you knew that the battle was about to begin.
Chonda: It's a secret code.
TIM: It was a secret code in the 11th century, so apparently...
Chonda: Well, now I will say back when I was married and I was married a long time we had our signals. [inaudible 00:08:36], well, we had that one, you know?
TIM: Yeah. So [crosstalk 00:08:41].
Chonda: Yeah, let's make this party interesting. And then we had the wink where, [inaudible 00:08:46] it's time to go please. Please get me out of here.
Chris: I feel like I get a whole double eye look.
TIM: When she wants to French kiss?
Chris: Well-
Chonda: No when you're in trouble.
Chris: When it's time to go. It's very direct.
TIM: It's like open eyes like-
Chris: It's an open eye. Yeah, there's no winking about it, direct eye contact.
TIM: Apparently animals wink.
Chonda: Shut up.
TIM: Yeah, I will not shut up. I will not shut up.
Chonda: [crosstalk 00:09:10]. They wink-
TIM: So apparently animals-
Chonda: They flirt with each other?
TIM: No, what was it? It was like a predatorial... God, I could have just made that word up [crosstalk 00:09:18].
Chris: I think that is a real word.
TIM: Which coined a... There was some... It was a wink and there was a blink that are somehow different.
Chonda: Wow, in animals.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: I have never seen my dogs wink at me, that would be freaky weird.
TIM: Think about it. And this could be a next bit for you. Just a winking bit for you, so just use it, just quote us[crosstalk 00:09:39].
Chonda: No, offense but no. I'm not holding my attention.
TIM: That feels great for me.
Chonda: Can you see [inaudible 00:09:46] walk out in front of 3000 people tomorrow, "Hey let's talk about winking."
TIM: See it feel great. It feels so right.
Chonda: Just feels so [inaudible 00:09:54].
TIM: Okay, so this is total [foreign language 00:09:57], that's stupid in French-
Chonda: [foreign language 00:10:00].
TIM: ... way of jumping into today's topic. So we're talking about literally the God moment that we've been talking through this past week, the Godwinks. So apparently this guy wrote a book.
Chonda: You got to look at it. There's all kinds of stuff about it.
Chris: [inaudible 00:10:13].
Chonda: Yeah, you have to.
TIM: Have somebody ever said to you, "Man, that's such a Godwink. Or that was such a God moment." And when you hear that, what do you think of?
Chonda: When they say Godwink, I feel a little... I feel bad now we've actually mentioned the man.
TIM: I think he's-
Chonda: I don't like... Godwink, I'm not a big fan of the phrase. God moment, I've heard that-
TIM: What do you think people mean when they're saying that?
Chonda: I think they... To me and I've said it before, something completely out of the ordinary, that took you by surprise. And I've been surprised by God. I grew up in church world so it's always God blessed me today with this, God did this.
TIM: Right.
Chonda: And I remember hearing that so much that you would start wondering, "Well, what's wrong with me? Because I had to do my homework." My car broke down. So I guess God is not blessing me or he's mad at me. When you use that so much, it just as you do anything, too much salt will ruin your meal. And so, I think if we're not careful, we have made God so cheesy. And I think if we have this God moment, in this God... I think it constantly is like a rope in heaven. This is a weird-
TIM: Go.
Chonda: It's like you're pulling him down to your level constantly. Just constantly pulling God down here to live like I live, to be in the middle of my life, to do my thing, to be in my moment, to fix my life, to bless me. And so you're constantly pulling him down to your level. And I'd say this in a respectful way, I think God could care less of us, I know he loves me-
TIM: No, come on girl, keep going.
Chonda: ... I just don't know that he is so active, that I lost my hairbrush and three hours later, I found it, "Look, it was a God moment. He knew I needed my hairbrush." No, you're the idiot that forgot where you put it.
Chris: Yes.
Chonda: Because God right now is in China, there's some starving children there who really need his attention and I think we pull him down to our little tiny-
TIM: So good.
Chonda: And maybe we need to, maybe that makes it real to us. But then again, I think we're making God so much in our humanity. He created us, He loved us, He set a plan in motion, He put gravity so if I jump off the roof, I'm going to die. He got everything in motion. I just don't know if He was in me finding my hairbrush.
TIM: And part of the whole purpose of this podcast actually, is saying, we don't need to ask and invite God to come be with us in our little world. Like we get to join him in everything that's going on that he's doing. That if my hairbrush is lost, He's with me in that moment. Even in practice this past week was, I'm blessed in a sense and we've been pushing at the word blessed saying, when we think of the word blessed is exactly what you just said. It's like, I'm blessed because I just got a job, I'm blessed because this happened but wasn't I blessed yesterday when I didn't have a job, when-
Chonda: Exactly.
TIM: All these things. So that's kind of what we're pointing into and even you in your story.
Chonda: But even saying what I just said about pulling God under, I'm now remembering all my friends that are going to see this and I'm going to get mail and email, "Yes, he does care about your hairbrush. He did... He was in that moment to help you find your hairbrush, He does care if you get the vaccine."
TIM: Yes. So in that, I would love to even jump into this a little bit, that there's something there like, yes, He is in these moments, like God is so if we need to say God be with me, it's like that is a dumb prayer to say God be with us right now, as we do this. He already is.
Chonda: We already invited him into our hearts.
TIM: We get to walk with Him and whatever He's doing. And if I forgot my comb, then I get to actually do that. If I lost my job I'm doing this with Him. And am I not blessed with my job as lost, when somebody passes away, which we'll jump into. So yes, God is an all these moments but for me to go, "I got that parking spot. I was so blessed. That was a Godwink."
Chonda: Yes.
TIM: Maybe it was, maybe God did that because He does stuff. It just feels [crosstalk 00:14:28].
Chonda: But do you think He has the time? Seriously.
TIM: I think He has the time.
Chonda: So he's up there playing chess. And I'm going to Chonda two spots so she can get that parking spot. I would like for Him to be fixing what's going on in Iran and Israel right now and I'll be fine with no parking.
TIM: Yeah. Well that comes down to what we actually truly believed to be true about God. Is He up somewhere or is He always present, always at work somehow doing all these things?
Chonda: Man this is a deep podcast.
Chris: And I think we limit the capacity and the size of God. So-
Chonda: Do we do it?
Chris: ... I said I think we can limit God. When we pull Him down, we're actually putting them in a smaller box.
Chonda: Absolutely.
TIM: So good.
Chris: So I read this thing this week that says, if it's not true everywhere, for everyone and everything, then it's not true. I think when we think about God and think about blessing, like, if it's not true for the person in Africa or the person in Iran or Iraq or wherever, where's this? Ashley City or something.
TIM: Ashley City I beg your pardon.
Chris: Yeah [crosstalk 00:15:31]. If it's not true for all of us and it's not true and-
Chonda: I'd like to the statement your truth, so that's your truth?
Chris: Yeah, I think that means it's your perspective, right?
Emmoe: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
TIM: Yeah [crosstalk 00:15:45] hear that.
Emmoe: Right.
Chris: Yeah. So we all have perspective, we can all experience the same thing and walk away with different perspectives of it but that doesn't change who God is.
TIM: Right.
Emmoe: Right.
TIM: So with your journey, so people talk to me about my cancer, they're like, "That's your story." I'm like, "Well, cancer is not my story. That is the stupid story ever."
Chonda: [crosstalk 00:16:06] hate that it defines you. I hate that my testimony... Or maybe that's the wrong word, too. I would love to have a different story but now this is what I have and God does use when I'm willing to tell my story I've seen encouragement that it is to people and hope that it is to people. But there have been times that you recite it and you're on a stage and I'm really bitter about it.
TIM: Yeah. Right.
Emmoe: Yeah.
Chris: Yeah.
Chonda: I'm glad this has happened to you because it sucks to be me.
TIM: It sucks for me. Yeah.
Chonda: Yeah. It really [crosstalk 00:16:36].
TIM: You did a whole movie about your grief and depression-
Chonda: Laughing in the Dark was a documentary. Yeah. I did Laughing in the Dark and we had no idea what we were doing. I had... I got a manager who's out and he managed Billy Crystal and David Letterman and Robin Williams. That's who [inaudible 00:16:56]. But anyway, his firm. And he was fascinated at the point that my career was so big at the time, this was 10, 15 years ago, that my career was so huge and not a soul in Hollywood knew who I was. Or I guess it was seven, eight years ago. And he goes, "We got to fix that."
Chonda: And so he would start sending out this guy that was working for us doing marketing with the camera. And let's just film, we're getting on stage and off stage and film these massive crowds. And we were really going to set out to make an APK. And then some... And then I was starting to go on through some very difficult personal things. And like this sitting around late at night and you're wired and you're coming down from the stage and you got your Pepsi, or your glass of wine, whatever [inaudible 00:17:40] and you just unload. And all of a sudden, we... I think what they realized they had on their hands was some really good therapy sessions that we're going to turn into my shrink but it turned out to be quite a story. And in the midst of making it and David and I had separated, he was in rehab and trying to get sober. And-
TIM: That's your husband.
Chonda: My husband. And we had reconciled, it was just a sweet ending, we thought, "Wow, this is... This whole thing has turned out to be like, walking through this path of addiction and putting it together and being honest about it." And I would weep and cry late at night, after making all these people laugh in my personal life was just terrible. And we... And I was brutally honest about it all. And in that I had a child that stepped away from his or her family and it just captured an honest thing. And it was really sweet and we finished it and David died. So we had to go... We went back... We waited a few months and went back and filmed the ending and talked about that. Well, it's terribly... It's terrible filming, it's not done with a great camera in some places you could tell.
Chonda: But that thing resonated and we named it Laughing in the Dark because I had written a book called Laughing of Dark about depression. And we released it out there and it went nuts and then we did another one called Enough about a new... Finding my new self as a widowed woman and dating again and finding out that you're really not enough in the dating world. And we did that. So I laugh now and go, "I'm the only person who's alive that's had three documentaries about themselves and I'm not dead yet." So I have no idea what you guys are going to put together when I die. But all that to say there was some stuff in my story that I chose and this is a hard choice sometimes for people and it's not for everybody but I chose to begin to tail. I got so tired of the church life and world where you go to church and everybody's great and we are all blessed and we have our Sunday clothes on and I grew up with that and God is good in our lives. And I knew that jerk sitting on that pew and he wasn't good that way. And as a preacher's kid and I...
Chonda: My dad was a pastor and he was a terrible man and a horrible husband and a abusive father and would get up and preach. And I got so aggravated at that that I think that little seed was deep down inside me when this 25 year old woman began to start being funny somewhere. And I earned my way, you couldn't do it. The first night I did comedy I just told everything. But I begin to use increments of my story that not that I was ready to talk about. Well, some of that probably was that I was ready to talk about but that my audience could handle. And my 27 years of doing this almost 30 years of doing this has been a journey to slowly earn the right to tell you the stinking truth, my truth of this is what I went through. So I have a hard time when I am oppressed or suppressed when they say, "We're not comfortable with this aspect of your story, please don't tell it. We're not comfortable with you taking anti-depressant so please don't talk about depression. We're not comfortable with this and the other." And [inaudible 00:21:17] and I tell all and I don't know that that's right but when I die, we'll see what work.
Chonda: Now I have a brother who told nothing and he blew his life wide open. He was a pastor for 25 years and his world crumbled. And he wrote a book called Failure and How I Achieved It. And a lot of it was he stuffed it and stuffed it and stuffed it till it bubbled out and it bubbled out in other ways. It manifests itself in sex addiction and it manifested itself... I think the one thing that has saved my life is my job. And I've had wonderful counselors and shrinks tell me that. I don't hold it in. And I'm just saying don't run and go tell everything in your life, I don't know that this was the right way to go.
TIM: But for your process.
Chonda: I've gotten paid in the midst of my process. Now that, there is Godwink. But that is what other world could you be in but comedy. If there is a God is leading this and that the other and I like to believe that He is, He led me down a path and I've had shrinks tell me that when I was at Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital, I wanted to kill myself. And my doctor goes, "Have you ever really thank God for your job? Because, man, it's given you an outlet." And I would vomit this stuff up and I would... And a lot of it was in sarcasm and funny and I'd be funny for an hour and a half on stage, two, sometimes three. And then hit them with, "Here's my truth. Here's what I'm going through today. Here's what I'm grieving about or here's what happened to me when I was a kid. Here's what I learned about it." And I would always leave a truth. And that's been my MO, since the beginning of my career. It's the MO of every DVD I've ever recorded, every night I've ever sold a ticket. That's what I do and-
TIM: You do that. So when we're on the road together, that was something I loved about you is that you used the gift of humor and then all of a sudden you drop deep down into some sorrow and then you bring it right back up but it still was there. When people-
Chonda: It's very psychologically. Yeah. It's very schizophrenic [inaudible 00:23:26].
TIM: It was powerful.
Chonda: It's the process of telling your story.
TIM: So in your story, we're rethinking the word blessed.
Chonda: Yeah.
TIM: Repentance the word actually means to rethink your thinking. So we want to repent on the word blessed. So in your journey so far, in the story, how have you seen yourself being blessed? If blessed is actually being-
Emmoe: Favored, made holy, made whole, completed.
Chonda: Yes, I see that.
TIM: So the whole story of being blessed is actually this journey towards being made whole and being completed, even in the midst of the crap and all the sorrow and all the things, how do you look at your life? Or do you and say, "Okay, so how was I being blessed in this process?"
Chonda: I was sitting at a counselor's office and I spent a lot time on a lot of couches. And when I did like one counselor, I'd find one that would agree with me. No, but that does happen. I wanted a counselor that didn't just throw up the next verse. I remember distinctly, I was in Scottsdale, Arizona and I was trying to get well at this place through my depression. And I discovered in the stepping [inaudible 00:24:37] a lot of aspects of my story is where the depression started bubbling out. I always say your body will take care of itself so wouldn't you like your mind to cooperate first, then it's not so hard on the rest of your body.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: I was in rehab and I was talking about this aspect of miracles and I said, "I've never seen one." And people would always say, "You're so blessed to have a dad like you have." Okay, well, he broke my arm. He had an affair at every church he ever pastored, he was horrible to my mother, he eventually left her. And these are the people that said, I'm so blessed to have that man for a daddy.
TIM: What a convoluted idea than a blessing.
Chonda: Yeah. And how confusing is for a teenage girl. Then my little sister was 15. She found out she had leukemia. It took 21 days and it was a quick downhill journey, her hair falling out and the sores in her mouth from this horrible chemo and cobalt in 1978, they didn't know what to do. Had a big sister got in her car said it's your time to fold the church bulletins and two and a half hours later, we get a call, she's dead, she was killed on her way to work. So both sisters gone, our brother who moved away as they should and he's older. I lived with my mother in a one room apartment because no church is going to take care of the fallen woman whose pastor shamed the world and so we're out. I even had church later say, "Don't come here anymore. It's embarrassing to the denomination."
Chonda: And so these are the things in my head and I'm telling all this to this counselor, just unloading. And I said, "I've never seen Him, I wanted... I thought God was going to heal my little sister, snap my dad back into reality. And he didn't." He didn't bring Charlotte back from the dead, she broke her neck immediately and that was the end of that. My husband died, my mother died and I'll choke up saying it. I've never seen the miraculous life that I've prayed for. I've begged and pleaded God to reconcile and heal this broken thing between one of my children and I. I've begged God speaking to Zachary's life so he knows that your reals, that he... And I've never seen it. And yet, I do feel quite blessed because that counselor looked at me and said, "I think I'm looking at the miracle."
Chris: Yeah.
Chonda: Part of it is your exercise you have to do. Sometimes that's all you've got.
Chris: Yes. Do you think through all of it, that it makes you more aware even in this practice breathe in, because you're here. Do you think it makes you more aware of what's going on, like more present in the moment? I know, for me touring for years, it's like, I've lost so much life that I'll never get back. And when I'm home, I've lost so much life, because I'm in my head thinking about the other life. Some of these practices for me have been really grounding to say, just be here.
Chonda: I had to learn that the hard way because I lost a lot of life. If I had known my husband was going to die when he was 53 had gotten myself up the road a little more, we'd had a lot more sex. And we... If I'd known that that was going to happen, but I didn't know that down the road and I look back and see wasted times. And what's hard is, someone will come to you and said, "You are in Tupelo. And I gave my life to Christ and it changed my life forever." And then you feel like a jerk for going, "Yeah, what I wanted to be home having sex with my husband while you were your life was being changed." And then you almost go through that time of being a little angry at the Lord, "Couldn't you have used somebody else in Tupelo?"
Chris: Yeah. And he would have.
Chonda: And he would have. It was me that didn't say no. So, but I can't go back and fix that. But what you were saying, I think there's a concept we don't talk about enough in the... In Christianity and that is mindfulness. We always thought that that was something that you did in yoga, or new age. But being present and in the moment, that's even founded in Scripture. When Jesus talks about being calm in the midst of adversity, the first time a counselor said, "Take a deep breath, hold it for a minute." And I'm like, "Okay, there's going to be one of those [inaudible 00:29:01]." I need to know what God is saying and all this, I don't need to be breathing deep and all this stuff. We have done a disservice to the congregation by not talking about the concepts of mindfulness.
Chris: Yeah, I wonder if what we've done is created all of these things that we think we're supposed to do, our catchphrases or whatever, we'll just wait till heaven and God to make it right. And when all God has really been saying is, "No, I've made all these moments for you." And all of these moments are our moments. You just need to join me in them and that's really what it's about.
Chonda: That's really good. That's really [crosstalk 00:29:37].
TIM: Such a game changer. These breathing prayers are really mindfulness prayers. I mean, it's being mindful that my attention is on I'm in this moment with God. So even this past week of being blessed, because you're here, I'm here with you, we're in this together is a mindfulness prayer.
Chonda: Right. It's funny. I remember sitting in a hotel lobby and a guy named Rubin Welch, he wrote a book called...
TIM: Godwink.
Chonda: Maybe it was back in the day, in the 80s it was a Christian who's a counselor. It's James Dobson.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: We're so glad he's a Christian man, but there's a lot of psychological stuff that was going on.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: That the church was rebelling about. Focus on the family's gone too far. Now they're talking about counselors.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: You should hear his [crosstalk 00:30:27], I'm blessed to be friends with them and so I get to hear their stories. When Focus on the Family first started out, they're like, "What? Christian counseling. What do you mean?"
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: But all that to say I was in this hotel lobby and I was green and knew what I do and I thought this guy's a famous shrink and yet he's born again Christian. When I get a minute, I'm going to tell him my story.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: And I sat down in that Christian lobby. We were waiting for the shuttle to the airport.
TIM: Christian lobby.
Chonda: I mean, in the hotel lobby, but this big famous Christian shrink and I just told him, unloaded [inaudible 00:30:59] like what I do to you guys. And I was saying, "My sister's dead and my dad left, my mom died and I don't know why God did all that and I've been asking God for reasons and he doesn't give me any reason. And I just don't understand why my life turned out like it did." And he gets up, gets his briefcase, because he was trying to read his paper.
TIM: Right.
Chonda: And the shuttle came to take us tot the airport and he goes, "Well, stuff happens." And he walks off. And I used to say all the time to crowds... And I could have got that on a bumper sticker. [crosstalk 00:31:32].
Chris: But at least he didn't charge you 250 bucks.
Chonda: Yeah. And I was like, "Really? That's all you've got?" I was mad. I mean, you should have some answers for me. And we got in the shuttle, we got to the airport, we got in the line, I was going to American Airlines. He was going to Delta. Good to just meet you at this conference and I shook. I said, "Well, it's been nice meeting you." And I was so disappointed in him as a human being.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: And he shook my hand and he goes, "Now let me explain. Sometimes you get in your car and if you drive a little too fast, there's gravity and you'll hydroplane onto the path of an oncoming vehicle. And if you don't have a seatbelt on, you might get hit and you could die. Sometimes, I don't know if it's because of the contaminants in our air, the preservatives in our food, I'm not sure why, but sometimes our bodies just don't react well to our environment and something begins to grow and they call it cancer. And if it's not taken care of by a medical team or you don't get the right medicine, you'll die. Can't figure it out. Stuff happens. Now it's what you do with that stuff." I thought that was the most honest, most powerful Christian I had ever talked to in my life.
TIM: Right.
Chonda: To just say it truthfully because we are looking for this. I want to buy the prayer cloth. I want to send my $15 in. I've asked God to help me win the lottery because I will open more branches counseling centers and I will have more people at the farm. I should be allowed to have that money and it doesn't happen. I should be as big as Michael W. Smith. I can sing. You know what I mean? And it doesn't happen. And so why? Just stuff happens.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: It's back to that. God puts it in... So does that mean Michael W. Smith is blessed more than me?
TIM: Right.
Chonda: Nope. This is his stuff.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: And that's his path.
TIM: And the way that God is actually forming Michael in this season. He's blessing him by making him more whole in this season, whatever that looks like. You are being blessed because you're made whole in these moments.
Chonda: Right.
TIM: I mean that's the gift is we are with him no matter what, he is with us no matter what. In this moment, I am blessed and it's not something that's happened. I love it. Thank you so much.
Chonda: That was good stuff.
TIM: So good. Thank you.
Chonda: Y'all have really funny podcast. This has been so much fun. [inaudible 00:34:20].
Chris: It's fun.
TIM: So this is 10,000 Questions.
Chonda: Really? This is just questions to me.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: I feel horrible that y'all didn't talk enough.
TIM: No, it's so great. What is one food you dislike?
Chonda: Hominy grits.
TIM: Really? I guess.
Chonda: Hominy grits. I could tell you that right off the bat. I've eaten snake, frogs, I love onions, but hominy grits.
TIM: That was quick. Yeah. I didn't see that coming.
Chris: Me neither.
Chonda: Really?
TIM: No. Well, I didn't even know what a grit was.
Chris: I don't know what a hominy grits is, but I've had grits.
Chonda: Grits, I love grits. Hominy is the little puff. It's like cheese puffs before they became cheese puff.
TIM: I use it in soups.
Chonda: Now maybe that would work.
TIM: It's so good.
Chonda: I never had it too.
TIM: Okay. So what is one of the things that you'd put on your bucket list?
Chonda: It's so funny. Maybe it's death puts a lot of things in perspective. I don't. Bucket list...
TIM: Doesn't do something for you.
Chonda: Bucket list just doesn't do it for me because it's just going to... This is what you do. I quit setting myself up for failure so I don't even do a bucket list. Used to always say, "When I turn 50, I'm going to jump out of an airplane." And then...
TIM: Did you do it?
Chonda: No, I turned 50 and was smart.
Chris: Bush Senior would jump out of a plane every five year or 10 years. Something like that.
Chonda: I think the last time he was 80.
Chris:
- It was just a year or two before he died.
Chonda: Yeah.
Chris: Yeah.
TIM: Okay. We learn something new every day. So what annoys you?
Chonda: Podcast that has a list of questions to answer. What annoys me? Drunks.
TIM: That's loaded.
Chonda: Public drunkenness.
Emmoe: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
TIM: Okay.
Chonda: And maybe that's because I had a husband who struggled with alcohol and I see that and I go, "You're ruining. There's a family somewhere tonight worried about you."
TIM: That's what you're seeing. That's what you're hearing?
Chonda: That's what I see. And it could be that guy maybe's taken medicine for his sore foot and it didn't mix well with the one beer that he had and so... I know there's a lot of stories behind those drunk people, but I always want to go, "Man. You're just... Because I'm like, "I would like to do that."
TIM: Totally.
Chonda: And it's not like I never have.
TIM: Right.
Chonda: And I'm never been undisciplined and taking something too far, but fat shaming, that annoys me when someone dictates to you how you're supposed to look.
TIM: Right. Interesting.
Emmoe: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Chonda: I didn't realize I had that annoyance until I tried to get online dating. And being asked out right now has nothing to do with what I've worked hard to accomplish, of how clever and funny I can be.
TIM: Who you are.
Chonda: It is that picture on a screen and I get nothing.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: My inbox is crickets and the teaching that came out of it was, "Well, [crosstalk 00:37:13] a little humble.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: Probably the blessing is, look a mass murderer didn't ask me and kill me. And [inaudible 00:37:20] is double wide, so is it God good? I'd like to have the meal at least.
TIM: Right.
Chonda: I'm 61. I don't date and people go, "You decided not to date." I go, "No. No one calls."
TIM: Yeah. Right.
Chonda: I did have one or two dates and then right before we leave, "Can I have a selfie because I can't wait to tell my friends I took a shot at [crosstalk 00:37:38]."
TIM: Were they good meals at all?
Chonda: Yeah.
TIM: Okay.
Chonda: Thank God for that.
Chris: How many grits?
TIM: [inaudible 00:37:46]. Yeah.
Chonda: Yeah. But most of it's Dutch because they can't even afford that. But dating, I always tell people, hang on to your women because there's nothing out there guys. And I say that to women, hang on to your man. Make it work.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: Give him a makeover.
Chris: [crosstalk 00:38:03] up with me this long.
TIM: Okay. So what confuses you?
Chonda: Me. Probably. I confuse me more than anybody.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: Here's what confuses me. I have a friend who texts me that I truly believe in, who's been a great spiritual mentor to me, but now I'm going to be in sin if I take the vaccine.
TIM: That's confusing.
Chonda: And God told her.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: The people that say that to me, God said, I need to tell you this. And I have a lot of that in my life.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: And God. And sometimes when that happens, I get this little Quicken in my spirit going, "Oh my gosh, I received that. Because that was so right what I needed to hear." And then sometimes my spirit goes. So let's show you what you're saying is my sister-in-law who took the vaccine is now out of God's will.
TIM: Yeah. She gone.
Chonda: She messed. Well she didn't know, so she... There's always that excuse [crosstalk 00:38:58].
TIM: What'd you put on a t-shirt.
Chonda: I mean I have the one, I love Jesus, but it curse a little.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: And then I have the other t-shirts, I love Jesus, but I drink a little.
TIM: Yeah.
Chonda: I have those t-shirts
TIM: I already have those. It's like bucket list. You've already [inaudible 00:39:08].
Chonda: I already have the t-shirts I would want. You remember when they came out, Jesus is the real thing and they just totally ripped off the Coca-Cola shirt. I do a whole bit about our Jesus stuff.
Chris: Okay.
Chonda: How do you explain to a non-believer resurrection eggs or testaments? We have materialized Jesus.
Chris: No fear. [inaudible 00:39:30].
TIM: No fear. Right.
Chonda: Yes.
Chris: My confession, I took all of my t-shirts that I had like that onto a mission trip to Guatemala and then I donated them.
TIM: Gosh.
Chonda: Although one of my favorite [crosstalk 00:39:42].
TIM: That's not helpful at all. That was the worst mission.
Chris: With no fear t-shirts.
TIM: Yeah.
Emmoe: Yeah.
TIM: Chonda, thank you for doing this. Thanks for letting us in your house. Thank you.
Chonda: I'll cut this shirt up in little pieces and sell it for $10,000 a piece.
TIM: By the way, she just said cut this shirt up into little pieces just to enunciate. Okay. So we're jumping into this next section. And before we do that, would you just remember to even rate this show or like it somewhere or share it with some people. It's been so fun to hear some of your responses, so please keep those coming. If you want to get the text messages, just go to 10000minutes.com and get more information. I think you're going to be pretty challenged by this next part. Okay. We're back.
Chris: Hey.
Emmoe: Back at it.
TIM: And Tim Timmons.
Chris: I'm Chris.
Emmoe: Dr. [inaudible 00:40:33].
Chris: I came in so excited that it freaked me out.
TIM: Yeah.
Chris: And so then I was like, "I don't want to talk again."
Emmoe: Hey, we talk about that narrative.
Chris: I know it's bad.
TIM: Yeah, man. Come.
Chris: I'm here and I'm [crosstalk 00:40:47].
Emmoe: [inaudible 00:40:47] go dim but Chris shine. Okay. I need you to bring it out.
Chris: [inaudible 00:40:52].
TIM: Guys. Hey, come in with that energy again.
Chris: Hey guys.
TIM: Buddy.
Chris: It's Chris.
Emmoe: It's me guys.
Chris: It's me.
TIM: Yeah. Just don't pull back.
Emmoe: Yeah.
TIM: Be you Chris.
Chris: You want me to take my shirt off or?
TIM: Well that's already happening, so I don't know.
Emmoe: Yeah.
TIM: So this one time. Okay. So Chonda Pierce, that lady's awesome.
Emmoe: Amazing.
Chris: She's been through so much.
TIM: Yeah. Chonda's been through a whole bunch.
Chris: She has. And she still has great perspective.
TIM: I mean, I guess that's why she's written books.
Chris: Yeah.
TIM: On that whole story and why there's a movie being made, but what I love about Chonda is that she's totally in process.
Emmoe: I was just going to say that she's still processing.
TIM: Yeah.
Emmoe: Which I think is where we should always be.
TIM: Yeah. It's the most beautiful part, [crosstalk 00:41:43] more of that.
Chris: Also that she wasn't afraid to process it out loud. Because there's so many of us that are afraid to bring that out into the open and she wasn't at all.
TIM: Yeah.
Emmoe: Especially grief. I think grief makes people feel uncomfortable, you don't want to burden them. But to see someone still trying to figure out their life with grief made me feel really seen.
TIM: Yeah. She zeroed in on you FYI during that thing.
Emmoe: Which I was like, "How do you even know?"
TIM: Well, I think you had mentioned your brother at some point.
Emmoe: Yeah.
TIM: And she zeroed in on you. She was talking about grief and stared at you.
Emmoe: Which, tempted to say God moment. But I was like, "Man. This is... Hello."
TIM: Chonda winked at you so maybe that was...
Emmoe: Chonda winked.
TIM: Yeah.
Emmoe: I was like, "Whoa." It made me feel less alone.
TIM: Yeah.
Emmoe: Maybe it made her feel less alone but I was like, "Yeah, I relate with that." There are still parts of my story that I'm like, "Where's the healing or where's the point of it all?" And that acceptance stage, I think we run to it with anything in life. We want to find out the why and we skip over all the other hows, when, where, with who and I think there's a beauty of like, "I'm not going to run to name why this happened. I'm still going to process how I feel about it."
Chris: Wow.
Emmoe: How I showed up today with it. And I was like, "Oh my goodness, this is healing me." Yeah. It was a great time with Chonda.
TIM: Awesome. And her dog.
Emmoe: Her dog, amazing.
Chris: The dog, it was sitting on my head for a while.
Emmoe: Just welcoming you.
Chris: It's just in there.
TIM: Okay. So this next week, I think I'll probably be excited about most of these I'm excited... You know what? I'm excited about 80% of them.
Emmoe: Yeah. The 20% didn't make the cut. But 80%, season one.
TIM: Yeah. Yes. Season two's totally going to suck.
Emmoe: No.
TIM: Okay. So this is the turning of us seeing ourselves as blessed.
Chris: Okay.
TIM: And now we're turning it outward.
Emmoe: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
TIM: So this week the practice is seeing others as hashtag blessed. So what does that look like? A little sneak peek for next week. We have one of our great friends, Mike Erie, who is actually talking next week, but he said something that is so powerful that I thought would be helpful for us just to take a quick listen. It might shape our experiment for this next week. [crosstalk 00:44:10]. So Mike, how does this play when we're seeing somebody else as blessed?
Speaker 5: Well, so often we will look at people and pause words from a worldly point of view. And so we will use... And what he means is just the status markers and circumstantial markers that are common to the way that we evaluate things and what we call normal. So to look at somebody as blessed is to look beyond their circumstances, and it's to look beyond their outward appearance or their affiliations or labels.
TIM: Wow.
Speaker 5: And to not only want to see divine favor upon them, but to act in ways that are congruent with its already existing in them. You know what I mean? So when I'm blessing my children, I'm calling something out that already exists. I'm not conveying something new. I'm seeing something and recognizing it. So I cultivate a radar. My prayer is that I would be awake enough to see the good, not the happy and not the positive, but the good in situations with other people so that I'm able to draw attention to those things.
TIM: Wow.
Speaker 5: Right? So it could be as simple as, "Hey Moi, I really noticed that this was hard for you and I'm so proud that you stepped into that." And it's just letting her know that she was seen and known and literally you've blessed, you've bent your knee towards her to give her a gift of calling something out that's already true of her.
TIM: Wow.
Emmoe: Whoa.
Speaker 5: I'm not conferring something that's absent. I'm calling forth something that's already there.
TIM: Okay. So what'd you guys hear? What stood out?
Emmoe: Well, I reaffirmed that blessing is not about circumstances and that includes people. It's not just blessing my mom because she's my mom. It's seeing everyone as blessed, as made in the image of God.
TIM: Yeah.
Emmoe: Not just the ones I really like.
Chris: It's a little bit revolutionary if you really dig into this thing, because it redefines blessed again for us. It's not just made whole. It's what you are. I'm calling out who God made you to be and I think if we can do that, my goodness. Wow. I'm still processing.
TIM: So what was that powerful line that he said.
Emmoe: To bless others would be to call out what already is.
TIM: I mean, people just think about how crazy, I mean, he referred to his kids and later in that podcast, you guys, it is so good by the way and we're all still reeling from it.
Chris: Yeah.
TIM: But to call out in somebody else what already exists, the Imago Day that's already there, that's really this gift that we're giving other people, even when they're not your favorite people on the planet. And the next week after that we're actually getting into enemies, so you don't have to go there. Let's just go to people that are in your life right now, in your day-to-day, that don't necessarily have to be your enemies. But what would it look like for us to see others as blessed?
Chris: I think it comes back to us too. It re-frames that whole thing too, we are already?
Emmoe: Yes.
Chris: And can we take that and then take it to other people. It's like I am made in the image of God and there's all these things that he made me to be, and so are you and so are they, and it kind of reshapes that whole thing.
TIM: I'm going to take one step back. And this is again, what we talk about in our walks in some ways, like in a roundabout way, that it starts with who is God.
Chris: Yep.
Emmoe: Yes.
TIM: It's really starting with what is the real nature? What do we truly believe to be true about this God? And not just in theology, but our lives, how that's lived out. And then how does that shape how we see ourselves? Then now that says, how do we see other people with that same lens?
Emmoe: Yeah. It also makes you think of what Suzie said in the last episode where she said, "To be blessed is a blessing to others." So that goes back to that idea of yes, if I'm accepting I am blessed and I am made in his image, that revelation alone will bless the way I interact and love people. And so the idea of God always, not just blessing Abraham, but the generations to come. All of that has to do with the overflow of acknowledging how you are blessed.
Chris: Yeah. And then you're able to bless and people are just blessed because you are.
Emmoe: Yeah. Because you're...
Chris: And then now you're all calling out who each other are and it's just never stops. It's just chain reaction.
Emmoe: That is so wild. I think we'd be so much more intentional with our words and conversations and our time.
Chris: Wouldn't say as much dumb stuff as we do in this podcast.
Emmoe: I don't think that all has its place.
TIM: I will always say dumb things.
Chris: Me too.
TIM: [inaudible 00:49:10] stop that.
Chris: It's like my initial reaction every time.
TIM: Just dumb things. So I was like, "Why did I say that?" No. Lean into it Christopher.
Chris: [inaudible 00:49:17].
TIM: Lean into it Christopher.
Chris: I'm this far. There's no change [crosstalk 00:49:20].
TIM: Yeah. We're good. And the other thing that we've been understanding about the word blessed is that it's really this process of being made whole. So in other people, we're actually doing this as a reminder for them and even a reminder for us that they are being made whole. That's actually so helpful for me to know as I'm blessing my kids, that I might say something that is not entirely true of how they live their lives.
Chris: Yeah.
TIM: You know what I mean? It's not everything I say right now is totally true, because they're dumb at some points, they're mean at some point. But I'm speaking into them life and who God is creating them to be. And that's actually my role as a parent is, to aim them, to be who God created them to be and to do what they were created to do.
Chris: Right.
TIM: So it's going to be helpful for me to see people as they're also in process.
Chris: Yep.
TIM: They're being made blessed, made whole as I'm calling that out on them.
Chris: Yep.
TIM: And it's not my job. It's God's job actually.
Emmoe: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Because we're affirming identity. Right. We're not rewarding their action.
TIM: Yeah. Good.
Chris: That's right.
TIM: So good.
Chris: Gosh, you say things so much...
TIM: So good.
Chris: It's just how I wish I could say it.
TIM: Yeah.
Emmoe: I'm just thinking about...
Chris: You got all the right adjectives, nouns.
Emmoe: That blesses me because I'm bilingual and I'm insecure all the time.
Chris: You got it down.
Emmoe: But I think of teaching, I've been teaching kids for a long time.
Chris: Yeah.
Emmoe: And I think about how in a lesson, I'm not trying to reward their ability today, I'm trying to affirm that they are a musician.
Chris: Yeah.
Emmoe: Okay, when we do this, we're affirming identity, not so much withholding or giving more because of what someone's done today.
TIM: Yeah.
Emmoe: I know I don't do that all the time.
Chris: Yeah.
Emmoe: Even with myself.
Chris: Yeah.
Emmoe: And that's an identity thing.
Chris: I can't say it better.
TIM: I think it's more about affirming identity in people.
Chris: Wow.
TIM: Yeah.
Chris: Really?
TIM: Anyways, I just came up that by myself.
Emmoe: I know.
TIM: What do you think?
Chris: I am so impressed. I'm not going to say it.
Emmoe: Well you're serious. No hype, no emotion.
Chris: I've been thinking about this.
TIM: Yeah.
Chris: And the more that I think about it, I think about my kids.
TIM: Yeah.
Chris: So I can't.
TIM: I'm going to put some music behind that. Now I had the time of my life. Is that where we're going?
Chris: [crosstalk 00:51:53].
Emmoe: I like this game.
TIM: [crosstalk 00:51:59] the melody?
Emmoe: Yeah. You just got to finish the line.
Chris: Wow.
TIM: I'd be terrible at that. I can't remember my own songs.
Chris: I can't either.
TIM: I mean, I don't know if I've ever done a full concert where every lyric was correct.
Chris: Never, ever.
TIM: Yeah. I used to do that with, what were they called? Shoot. Piece of little clear paper.
Chris: Transparencies.
TIM: Transparencies.
Emmoe: Man.
TIM: Do you remember those things you'd print out?
Chris: Upside down and... Yeah.
TIM: Lord I lift your name on high. Crap. No, push it up. You came to [inaudible 00:52:33].
Emmoe: No. We're going to get striked. Do we have copyright?
TIM: That's so true. Okay. So if you're all thinking right now, gosh, I need to see Tim and Chris and Emmoe I am blessed. Because, they're being made a whole through their dumbness.
Emmoe: Yeah.
TIM: Through their dumbness.
Emmoe: Do appreciate you guys affirming our identity.
TIM: All right. So Hey, and would you guys even let us know how this is going or if you want text back? So if you want to get those texts, you just text 10K to 55678, the number or you go to 10000minutes.com or go to starsgodim.com. Why not?
Emmoe: Drop a comment.
Chris: May as well. Yeah.
TIM: Go listen to this music coming out. But yeah, if you want to get involved...
Chris: Just come by Tim's house.
TIM: Come by my house at this time every week.
Chris: 867.
TIM: 5309.
Chris: Yeah. Nashville.
Emmoe: You guys are killing this 10,000 melodies. Okay. I'm telling you it's a game.
TIM: Gosh. Sorry about this past 20 minutes everybody. This has been a real [inaudible 00:53:39], I was going to say something else, [inaudible 00:53:41].
Emmoe: Yep.
TIM: Okay. So please rate, subscribe, rate, hug.
Chris: 10 out of 10. We don't want to see your trash ratings.
TIM: I think it only goes to five.
Chris: Okay.
Emmoe: Yeah.
TIM: You know it's still 10 out of 10.
Chris: In your heart, give me an extra five. It's going to be great.
TIM: Once again,in 2022.
Emmoe: It's on the books.
TIM: It's on the books.
Emmoe: One of those.
TIM: We're booking it.
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