031: Love People Well
Musician Jordan St. Cyr stops by this week to talk about all things Canadian, ministry vs vocation, and how being aware of people’s needs is practicing the presence of God.
This week’s Practice: Love People Well
+ 031 Jordan St. Cyr - Transcript
EPISODE 031 - LOVE PEOPLE WELL - JORDAN ST CYR
Tim Timmons:
Okay. So Jordan, we're just dorks and we have a lot of fun.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I know.
Tim Timmons:
Okay, great.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I know. The problem with today is I'm an actual fan of the podcast.
Emmoe Doniz:
Woo. Let's go. Nice.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I know exactly who you are.
Emmoe Doniz:
[crosstalk 00:00:13] I knew this would happen. No, don't put me in a box, man.
Tim Timmons:
That's right.
Chris Cleveland:
Great, then you and understand how stressed Tim is right now because it's a zoom.
Tim Timmons:
It's a Zoom.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Oh dang.
Chris Cleveland:
And every one of the Zooms Tim just gets flustered and hot.
Tim Timmons:
I'm hot.
Emmoe Doniz:
[crosstalk 00:00:30].
Tim Timmons:
I'm looking at the AC thing on my wall going, it's 71. It's so hot right now. I'm dying. I just took my jacket off.
Chris Cleveland:
Oh my gosh.
Tim Timmons:
My shirt's coming off in a second.
Chris Cleveland:
71 Fahrenheit.
Tim Timmons:
Right.
Chris Cleveland:
You probably don't understand those. [crosstalk 00:00:44]
Jordan St. Cyr:
Well, 72 is like room temperature, right?
Chris Cleveland:
Yeah. I mean, for some people.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Is that right?
Tim Timmons:
It should be 68 at all times.
Jordan St. Cyr:
It should be 68?
Chris Cleveland:
That's kind of where I sit as well.
Jordan St. Cyr:
That's too cold.
Chris Cleveland:
I don't know what that is in the metric system, but...
Tim Timmons:
Speaking of the metric system, everybody welcome. This is Tim Timmons with another 10,000 Minute Experiment and to my sweet right...
Emmoe Doniz:
Ha...
Tim Timmons:
Because it's sweet Emmoe.
Emmoe Doniz:
All the tears. Yeah.
Tim Timmons:
Right. Right. Sweet a Emmoe Doniz.
Emmoe Doniz:
That's me.
Tim Timmons:
To my super longhaired... that's a new one. I was going to say hot right... Hot left.
Chris Cleveland:
Yeah.
Tim Timmons:
Hot mic.
Chris Cleveland:
I'm fine with it.
Tim Timmons:
Hot mic. Hot left. Christopher Cleveland.
Chris Cleveland:
Hey guys.
Tim Timmons:
CC, TT, ED. That's what you are, Emmoe Doniz.
Emmoe Doniz:
That is who I am.
Chris Cleveland:
Those are all initials of our names.
Emmoe Doniz:
That was all correct.
Tim Timmons:
And then you guys, we've got a foreigner with us.
Speaker 3:
Oh...
Emmoe Doniz:
Wow.
Chris Cleveland:
Great.
Emmoe Doniz:
Sweet.
Tim Timmons:
Celine Dion, everybody.
Emmoe Doniz:
That'd be wild.
Tim Timmons:
Jordan St. Cyr.
Jordan St. Cyr:
You got it, man.
Tim Timmons:
Yes.
Chris Cleveland:
Woo.
Tim Timmons:
I mean, it is hard having a name that you don't know exactly how to say. I mean, you know how to say it, thankfully.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah. It's the only name I've had. A lot of people think this is like my stage name, and I'm like, I'm not that creative. You know?
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
And what does St. Cyr mean? You know what I mean?
Chris Cleveland:
What does it mean? Do you know?
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah. From what I understand, it's kind of like, lordly...
Chris Cleveland:
Sounds like you made that up.
Tim Timmons:
Totally. That is so made up.
Chris Cleveland:
I mean...
Jordan St. Cyr:
Lordly like shepherd.
Chris Cleveland:
Okay.
Jordan St. Cyr:
And so lordly being more like a landowner than like, I'm better than you. Right? But maybe the owners thought they were better than people.
Chris Cleveland:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I don't know. Back in the day.
Chris Cleveland:
[crosstalk 00:02:28] So we're doing so great.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I love the shepherd part.
Tim Timmons:
Okay, everybody. So we do have Jordan St. Cyr on this episode and we are diving into how outsiders, AKA Canadians, see the American at church and what we can learn from their observations, to walking with people in the midst of sorrow. And then our practice this week of awareness for other people's needs, which is huge in this Christmas season because I'm generally consumed with my own. And then to the parental drama of pulling up to the drive through window, and no one knows what they want. These are the tough things we're dealing with on this episode.
Tim Timmons:
Hey, so if you have not yet, would you rate, like, and subscribe to this podcast? And then it is time for year end giving. So, 10,000 Minutes is a non profit so you can get your tax deductions through giving to 10,000 Minutes. Whether that's a one time gift, a monthly gift, this is completely supported by you.
Tim Timmons:
So, if this has been helpful for you, please give. You can go to 10,000minutes.com and in the upper right hand corner it says donate. Once again, 10,000minutes.com. Also, if you guys want to get the free text messages or emails, go to 10,000minutes.com as well and you'll figure that out. Okay?
Tim Timmons:
Last thing, Chris, Emmoe and myself and the whole 10,000 Minute team are so crazy thankful that you have been journeying with us, with 10,000 Minutes, and with this podcast. So, we just want to say, thank you. It is such an honor to do this with you every single week. We truly love you guys and we're thankful for you.
Tim Timmons:
All right. This is one of the last ones for the season. So giddy up.
Tim Timmons:
[crosstalk 00:04:05] We'll just call you the shepherd for the rest [crosstalk 00:04:12].
Jordan St. Cyr:
Just call me Jordan Shepherd.
Tim Timmons:
Jordan the Shepherd.
Jordan St. Cyr:
It's easier. Yeah.
Chris Cleveland:
That would be your American name, I feel like.
Jordan St. Cyr:
My American name?
Chris Cleveland:
That's very American.
Tim Timmons:
So...
Jordan St. Cyr:
Perfect.
Tim Timmons:
You... Is her the third Canadian?
Chris Cleveland:
Canadian?
Jordan St. Cyr:
Canadian. I'm sorry.
Chris Cleveland:
Yeah. It's easier than you think.
Tim Timmons:
Because Elias Dummer, we had the other week. He's a maple person. Then who else did we have? We had somebody else that was a maple person. We talked about the whole maple stuff.
Jordan St. Cyr:
A maple person.
Tim Timmons:
Maple leaves.
Chris Cleveland:
Yep. The maple leaves.
Tim Timmons:
Anyways.
Chris Cleveland:
Who was that?
Tim Timmons:
Who was that?
Chris Cleveland:
We've done so many of these episodes now...
Tim Timmons:
We are... This is episode 31.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Wow.
Tim Timmons:
Jordan Shepherd. St. Cyr.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Jordan Shepherd.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. So we're really excited. We know you've been listening since the beginning. And so, we just wanted to say thank you.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I actually... Pretty close to the beginning. I had to go back for a few episodes.
Tim Timmons:
You did?
Jordan St. Cyr:
I did.
Tim Timmons:
Well, we're...
Jordan St. Cyr:
I'm grateful to be here.
Tim Timmons:
We're just going to believe you. But so, Jordan and I met, I mean... Did we just meet and Chris at the same time? Was that our first hang?
Jordan St. Cyr:
I think so.
Tim Timmons:
In Florida?
Jordan St. Cyr:
No. Chris and I met at a festival.
Chris Cleveland:
Yeah. We did. It was right around the same time. This past summer though. Right?
Tim Timmons:
I feel like Jordan and I actually met 10 years ago, so I think we beat...
Chris Cleveland:
Oh, did you?
Tim Timmons:
Yeah, we beat you guys. We're...
Chris Cleveland:
Well, we had like a really great conversation for like a while, so...
Tim Timmons:
Oh, was it cool? Ours was longer probably.
Chris Cleveland:
It's like a one on one.
Emmoe Doniz:
Yeah. So, did you guys walk? Is that what you guys did?
Tim Timmons:
Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.
Chris Cleveland:
We shared some... I won't share it here.
Tim Timmons:
Some pretty intimate things?
Chris Cleveland:
Yeah. I won't say it, because I don't want to embarrass him. But we talked about some pretty personal stuff.
Jordan St. Cyr:
He helped me through a lot of personal things I was dealing with at the time.
Tim Timmons:
But do you remember Jordan, when we talked, that we talked about Chris the whole time? And just what a dork he is?
Jordan St. Cyr:
There's very few immediate conversations when I first meet somebody.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
You know, when I met my wife we chatted for six hours.
Tim Timmons:
Uh. Like us.
Jordan St. Cyr:
And then it was like five and a half for us.
Emmoe Doniz:
Yeah. You're really close.
Jordan St. Cyr:
It was pretty close. It was pretty close. Close second.
Tim Timmons:
Any who. Well, we just want to bring people on here that will make us feel...
Chris Cleveland:
Stroke the egos.
Tim Timmons:
Yes.
Jordan St. Cyr:
That's right.
Chris Cleveland:
All this is about at this point.
Tim Timmons:
Well, Any who. Just all joking aside. So, we got to hang out in the Floridas.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah.
Tim Timmons:
A couple months ago.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah.
Tim Timmons:
And us three kind of met, really hugged maybe for the first time. But you know, you see different artists and meet different artists that are coming up or doing whatever they're doing, and it's like, "Oh, that's sweet." But you're a really great guy.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Thank you.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. Yeah. Not like other people aren't, necessarily. You're just an easy read of a really great human.
Chris Cleveland:
I agree.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah. I don't think I'm in this for the music.
Tim Timmons:
Huh.
Jordan St. Cyr:
You know, I love it, I love to sing. I just don't believe it's my calling in life. I think there's something greater for all of us more than what we do.
Tim Timmons:
Totally.
Jordan St. Cyr:
And I think that when what we do is an overflow of knowing who we are, we don't need what we do.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. I think we're done.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Let's go then.
Chris Cleveland:
So who are you Jordan St. Cyr?
Emmoe Doniz:
Man.
Tim Timmons:
The shepherd. If that is your real name. I remember we talked about that on our long six hour conversation.
Jordan St. Cyr:
That is such a beautiful thing, and you can see that in people.
Tim Timmons:
You can really see that in people and that was really evident in you. So, one of the things... I mean, you're from the Canadas and we were talking about Celsius. Do you guys use the Celsius out there?
Jordan St. Cyr:
Absolutely. You guys don't?
Tim Timmons:
No, no.
Chris Cleveland:
I do. But you know...
Emmoe Doniz:
On the weekends.
Jordan St. Cyr:
You guys kind of go your own way. You would say that, right? You kind of go your own way?
Tim Timmons:
Is it kind of arrogant of Americans just to go, "We're doing Fahrenheit. Watch this suckers." Drop the mic.
Chris Cleveland:
Has to be a little.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Pretty much.
Chris Cleveland:
We're the only ones.
Tim Timmons:
Hey, I want to come back to... So help me come back to what he just talked about, because I think it's really genius, but I still want to be dumb for a little bit.
Emmoe Doniz:
Just a normal Wednesday over here. Yeah. Okay, cool. Got it. I'm going to put a marker right there.
Tim Timmons:
Before we jump in. So, being of the Canadian descent and now you're spending some time here in the Americas. No, I guess you're part of north America, but the United States of the Americas. What do you see? What do you learn? What can we learn? And there might be certain things you're like, "Nope, not going there." But are there certain things that we can learn from your observation? I mean, Elias has some really interesting observations of Americans when he comes over here and it's worth learning.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Man. Yeah. There definitely things. Like there's...
Tim Timmons:
Or the American church? Or just culture or whatever.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah. It's really weird to see, and again, there's no judgment.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got your own stuff. Because we've got a whole list of things we're going to talk about [inaudible 00:09:08] Canadians.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah. Right? We all have our own stuff. It is odd to see American flags in churches.
Chris Cleveland:
Oh. Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
You know, I find that very different, only because when we talk about who we are, I think there's a demotion process that happens with the identities the world says are number one, but when we follow Jesus, to put these identities on the same level as our faith in Christ, it doesn't add up to me. And so, it's an odd thing to see. And again, don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking patriotism. I'm not knocking...
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. Love of country.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Love for your country. I think it's a beautiful thing, and it's gotten you guys to where you are. But I do find that a little odd. I don't know that it can coexist very well as an outsider looking in, you know?
Tim Timmons:
Wow.
Chris Cleveland:
That's interesting.
Tim Timmons:
Preach. What's crazy is... So Elias and I actually went on a walk yesterday and he said the same thing.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Wow.
Tim Timmons:
He was talking about the American flag. We were actually talking about the Christian flag and I'm sure we're going to lose a lot of people on what I'm about to say right now...
Jordan St. Cyr:
I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag.
Tim Timmons:
Do you know it?
Jordan St. Cyr:
And for the savior who's something it stands. One brotherhood uniting all Christians and service and in love.
Tim Timmons:
No, it's not in love.
Jordan St. Cyr:
That's the one I got.
Tim Timmons:
Gosh, well the one that...
Jordan St. Cyr:
SBC.
Tim Timmons:
Oh, I like that.
Jordan St. Cyr:
1989.
Tim Timmons:
The one that I've heard lately, just says nothing about of love at all in it. It's just like this like, we are Christians, we're coming to take you over. It's like, "Oh, gosh." But it has that same feeling that George is talking about.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Have you ever heard of the Christian flag or of like the pledge allegiance to the Christian flag?
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. We just lost 400,000 people. I love it.
Emmoe Doniz:
[crosstalk 00:10:52] You know what? The spirit will do what they have to do.
Chris Cleveland:
Did you ever get that Emmoe?
Emmoe Doniz:
They don't have the Spanish translation. I didn't get it. Okay guys?
Jordan St. Cyr:
I wonder if it's a Baptist thing or if there's more denominations to it.
Tim Timmons:
I don't know.
Jordan St. Cyr:
This has taken a weird left turn, but like we used to do all of the pledges. We would do the American flag. We would do the Christian flag and the Bible.
Tim Timmons:
The Bible flag?
Jordan St. Cyr:
Just the straight up Bible. Pledge allegiance to the Bible. That's how Christian I was.
Tim Timmons:
You're legit.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I don't know... I mean, you guys will catch up, but...
Emmoe Doniz:
I don't want to catch up.
Jordan St. Cyr:
That's interesting.
Tim Timmons:
It's totally interesting. But okay. So that's really intriguing. Jordan, give us a little bit of background on you as the shepherd.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I mean, born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. City I think, just shy of a million people. When I was five, I moved to this very small community, about 1200 people. So, you knew who went to church and you knew who didn't. Right? One of those towns. I went to local church here in town and it was when I was about 14 years old, 15 years old, where my youth pastor was just like, "Jordan, we need someone to lead the youth in worship." And I couldn't sing very well. And I think I had one strumming pattern down on the guitar, so every song was the same. But that was such a pivotal moment for me because worship had already become my language to be able to speak to God. And so, I did a couple singer songwriter projects. I was in a bar band for about six years.
Tim Timmons:
Ooh. What was the name of that?
Jordan St. Cyr:
Oh, Red Riot.
Tim Timmons:
Wow.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Oh yeah.
Tim Timmons:
That could have gone a lot of ways. Red Riot.
Jordan St. Cyr:
It could go a lot of ways.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
So, basically what happened is my brothers and two of our friends actually joined me on my CD release for one of my solo projects, and so we did that show and then we just stayed together. And my brothers were like metalhead at the time.
Tim Timmons:
Mm. Red Riot fans.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Pantera. Oh yeah. Like heavy, heavy stuff. And I loved the melody in the rock landscape. I just loved it. So, we were like an LA grunge band. Like we patterned after like Stone Temple Pilots.
Tim Timmons:
Mm.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Audio Slave, Rage Against the Machine, all the way to like Motley Crue. It was an amazing time. We thought we were doing a lot more than we were.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
As a band. But my brothers, when we first started, we didn't get along at all. And if anything came out of that band, we became best friends. After that six years, God just used... What we he thought we were doing for us, he was like, "I'm bringing you together."
Chris Cleveland:
That's cool.
Jordan St. Cyr:
And so, out of that, I did a couple more singer songwriter releases and I've been a worship leader this whole time.
Tim Timmons:
Right.
Jordan St. Cyr:
You know, so we were like headlining shows at 1:00 AM and I would lead worship, get to the church at 7:00 AM...
Tim Timmons:
Been there.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Kind of thing. And I just felt like I was always the outlier in the band. I was never... I was the brother that stayed, I wasn't the prodigal child. Right?
Tim Timmons:
Right.
Jordan St. Cyr:
So I had other issues to deal with. My self righteousness and my pride. And so, I got to this point where I wasn't connecting with my audience the way I'd hoped to and these things that really resonated with my heart and the reason for getting into music, I was not singing about. And God kind of just graciously and kindly reminded me of that. And he was like, "Jordan, imagine what we could do with both feet in." All that being said, the Christian music industry terrified me.
Tim Timmons:
Right.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Because, I think, people terrify me. Especially when we... Like these quiet times, these moments that I had with God, I never wanted to monetize that or make my living out of that, or somehow leverage those times with Him because it just didn't feel right. And I had real issues with the church, I think because I put my faith in people and not Jesus. But, as I got older and began to mature a little, I just stopped fighting those battles and realized that as I pressed in with God, he kind of made everything right with people and he gave me actually more of a love for them than I ever knew possible. So, that brought me to about six years ago when I was like, "Okay, I'm going to sing about the one thing I can't not sing about." And that was just saying the name of Jesus.
Tim Timmons:
Okay. So, that story, I love that. I love Red Riot. I'm excited about Red Riot and I just I'm...
Chris Cleveland:
I've already found the...
Jordan St. Cyr:
I'll get you a copy.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Emmoe Doniz:
Yeah.
Tim Timmons:
Please send that over. We'll put that in the show notes.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Absolutely.
Chris Cleveland:
I just hear like, "Red Riot!".
Jordan St. Cyr:
That should have been a song.
Chris Cleveland:
You're welcome. You can use that.
Jordan St. Cyr:
That sounds...
Emmoe Doniz:
Wow.
Tim Timmons:
Chris is full of gifts.
Jordan St. Cyr:
The comeback is already [crosstalk 00:15:54].
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. When the shepherd... Jordan Shepherd doesn't work, this Red Riot thing's going to really...
Jordan St. Cyr:
It's going to take off.
Tim Timmons:
Really take off.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Round two. Guitars are coming back. It's fine.
Tim Timmons:
You have Jordan... You have a sense in you that you have seen sorrow. That story is great, but there's something deeper in you. In your journey, that I'm curious of how you get to this place of going, "Yeah. It's not all about me." Because it's really beautiful in you and I'm curious about it.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I'll often say, it's not how much you can put out, it's about how much you can take. And in life, when you enter that place of the grind, some of God's greatest blessings are the people around you. And if you'll just engage, and allow yourself to engage in their lives and not make it about you, God is a way of using those people to just shape you. And there's been a lot of circumstance in my life where with my brothers, with my parents, with close friends, where you just kind of got to embrace that rose with thorns, man. And know that one of God's greatest tools is the pain that we feel. And the pain is not necessarily the bad thing, it's like the engine light kicks on and it's not bad, it's just a warning.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
That you're going to enter some rough territory here, and if you engage it properly, it's going to serve you very well. I would say... I don't want to say the final nail in the coffin, but like one of the greatest traumas we experienced was with our youngest daughter.
Tim Timmons:
Right?
Jordan St. Cyr:
So, she was born three years ago and she was born with a severe brain condition. And like, as the dad, as the husband who goes out and provides and brings home the paycheck. And you know, you're a problem solver. Right? You see a challenge and you're like, "Okay. I'm going to find my way around this." And with our little girl, there was just none of that. And so my identity wrapped up in being that person, it just couldn't survive.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
No amount of money, no amount of relationship, that I had with anybody. I didn't know some special doctor that could make this all better. This is a progressive condition, that unless we have just a full on miracle, it's only getting worse. And so, that was a huge blow to my ego and my flesh [crosstalk 00:18:30].
Tim Timmons:
Because you couldn't do anything about it.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I was helpless.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
And so, the biggest blessing in that is, you get to the end of yourself pretty quick.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
And, and all that's left there is God. And so you have again, a choice then to engage with Him in a positive way, or you engage with Him in a negative way. I don't think there's any other choice there. And so, we just decided to dig in with who He said He is. In his goodness, his kindness, his faithfulness. And that is just... It's bore so much fruit in our lives. Where if we received a miracle today, but we had to give up everything we've learned, we wouldn't do it.
Tim Timmons:
Right. Right.
Jordan St. Cyr:
You know.
Tim Timmons:
Which sounds so asinine, but it's profound.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. Yeah. So how has this shaped you, or both you guys? So you're married. We met your wife.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah. Yeah. Married my wife Heather. We've been married just over 14 years.
Tim Timmons:
Nice.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Phenomenal, phenomenal woman. Just everything I'm not in the best way.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. That's what Chris and I said when you walked away. When you guys both walked away.
Chris Cleveland:
She's so much better than him.
Tim Timmons:
She's so much better than him.
Jordan St. Cyr:
She's so much better. Oh my gosh.
Chris Cleveland:
Like in every way.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Chris Cleveland:
Like there wasn't a detail where we were like, "Oh no, he's got it there."
Jordan St. Cyr:
Should Heather be on the podcast, you're thinking...
Tim Timmons:
Well, that's the funny thing is [crosstalk 00:19:55].
Jordan St. Cyr:
If you could call her in.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
And she's probably waiting by the door. Heather?
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Emmoe Doniz:
No. Nice. Nice.
Chris Cleveland:
Can we make that work for Zoom? I don't know if we can.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Oh my gosh.
Tim Timmons:
So, 14 years you've guys have made out. And then...
Jordan St. Cyr:
Pretty much. She's my one make out person.
Tim Timmons:
I love it. I love it. So, then three years ago... And how many kids do you have all together?
Jordan St. Cyr:
We've got four.
Tim Timmons:
Yes. That's right.
Emmoe Doniz:
Oh wow.
Tim Timmons:
I remember that.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Never thought we'd have four, but we've got four. We planned 50% of them.
Tim Timmons:
Yes.
Jordan St. Cyr:
So, yeah.
Tim Timmons:
So the classic thing that every old person says, "You know how that happens, right?" Every time we say you have four, they're like, "You know how that happens?" I'm like, "Really?"
Chris Cleveland:
Actually, no. How does it? Like in detail, please tell me.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. My parents never gave me the birds and the bees.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I talk about my family all the time from the stage, and then there's always one or two people who come up to you after and are like, I've got eight kids."
Tim Timmons:
It's so true.
Jordan St. Cyr:
You know, it's like, this isn't a competition.
Emmoe Doniz:
Wow.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. Every time I say, "God, it feels like I've got 20 kids." But there's really four, and somebody always comes up, you're so right, and says, "Well, I have 15." You're like, "Well, you're awesome."
Chris Cleveland:
I make this joke. I'm like anybody have more than two kids out there? And people raise their hands and I say, "So, you know the third one you don't care as much about? You just say, keep up, you know, and keep going." And so, I kind of make a whole joke about it. And so, I get the same thing. So, if they come up to me like, "I got seven." I was like, "Well, you don't care about them either. Do yeah?"
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Chris Cleveland:
"Keep up!"
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. That's your bit?
Jordan St. Cyr:
My God.
Chris Cleveland:
It's my bit. I say it in jest.
Tim Timmons:
So once again, Americans are really straightforward.
Emmoe Doniz:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Geez.
Jordan St. Cyr:
So good.
Chris Cleveland:
I'm kidding.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I kid, I kid.
Chris Cleveland:
It's a joke.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. You're an idiot. It's a joke. That's just a joke. Don't take it personally.
Chris Cleveland:
It's a joke.
Emmoe Doniz:
Love it.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Canceled.
Emmoe Doniz:
No, no, no. Come on, man.
Tim Timmons:
Okay. So in year 11, all this stuff happens with you guys. How does that shape you, as Jordan, and how does that shape your wife in the context of seeing Jesus in the midst of it all?
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah. I mean, we were broken, man. We were like... We only knew three healthy kids, and when we experienced this for the first time...
Tim Timmons:
Right. Right.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Oh my gosh, we're still joyful. Oddly, joyful for this amazing little girl, but we had no idea what she was about to teach us. Early on in our relationship, like when we first met, like when I was talking about my self righteousness and my pride.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
That like what I worked out in our first years, and my wife had her stuff to work out and we really battled. And we learned that the one key to a successful marriage, which was what we were shooting for when we met, was just to be willing. To be willing to be wrong, to be willing to be broken, to be willing to put her above my own needs kind of thing. And so that kind of created foundation for this moment in our life.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I truly believe that... People tell us all the time, the stats of a marriage...
Tim Timmons:
Right.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Falling apart after having a child with a chronic illness, and it's like, "No. I don't know those stats and I don't really need to know those stats because I never once questioned our marriage through this process." It's given our marriage teeth, you know what I mean? It's like we are dug in with each other just so much more now. There was like a depth that we hadn't experienced, where it's like this is truly the one I'm going to battle with every single time. So, our marriage is stronger than ever. She's the one person that knows who I am on this earth and we wouldn't do it any other way. My relationship with God and Jesus is just, I've realized the gate is so darn narrow to Christ. But the depth...
Tim Timmons:
What do you mean? What do you mean by that? Give us examples.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I think it's narrow because the world teaches us self-preservation and when we try and do that, it's kind of opposite to who Jesus is. He took his life out of the equation and He's showing us the way in that. And so, I just feel like when we are able to lay our lives down, that's when we enter relationship with Him and then He just takes us to the depths. It's kind of like, when I got married, I believed everything that I said on that day.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
On my wedding day. All those vows were true. But did I really know them? You know, did I know the depth of what I was saying? Absolutely not. We're 14 years and I'm realizing, I'm never going to understand how deep this goes. And I think it's the same with Christ. It's like, you say, "Yes, you're the one I want to follow." And then you just spend the rest of your life, just infinitely going deeper in relationship with Him. And I think this experience with our little girl, Emery, it was just like He was just showing us the way down into His heart, into who He is. Showing us what compassion truly is. How to serve people in their struggle, who are in need.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. How do people serve you that you're like, "Oh gosh, that was a game changer."
Jordan St. Cyr:
They didn't ask what we needed. The people that knew, knew. And they were just like, "Here's a coffee gift card." "Hey, I'm going to go mow your yard. I just don't want you to have to worry about that." "Hey, we're going to watch your kids tonight. Just let us know when we can come over." It's almost like they knew the weight of the things they could bear because they couldn't take the weight of the things God was asking us to bear. You know what I mean? All those daily chores that are still on your brain as you're walking...
Tim Timmons:
Of course.
Jordan St. Cyr:
As you're living in the hospital. As you're taking another ambulance ride back to the hospital.
Tim Timmons:
Right.
Jordan St. Cyr:
People just fill in the gaps and I think that's truly what compassion is. It's suffering alongside people, and you do that by just literally walking alongside them. You know? And I don't know you can truly understand that until you've been through it yourself.
Tim Timmons:
That was one of my questions. These people... Most of these people that portrayed this for you, or bared with you, if you will, like a stick bares to a plant and holds it up.
Jordan St. Cyr:
That's right.
Tim Timmons:
Were these people... if you kind of look at them, were most of them people that have had some kind of struggle?
Jordan St. Cyr:
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. You know, there were people that we do not have deep relationship with, that we knew. We knew of them, but we weren't close at all. And they just came out of the woodwork because they had been through stuff.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
They'd lived weeks on end in the hospital.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
They knew what...
Tim Timmons:
Right.
Jordan St. Cyr:
What we needed. Yeah.
Tim Timmons:
Gosh, there's such an eyeopening invitation there that's every day... You said it earlier, but it's just awareness really, that I forget in a lot of my weeks, a lot of my days, I just forget to be aware of the needs of others. Because there's so much going on in my life right now that I try to be aware, but that's not like a practice that I've been doing, which maybe could be our practice this week, is just how to be so aware of what's going on in somebody else's life instead of my own.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I think that is the mission. You know? If we're not busy in that, what are we busy with?
Tim Timmons:
Me.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah.
Tim Timmons:
Truly, truly. I mean, I'm...
Jordan St. Cyr:
Truly. I don't really ascribe to a life verse or a word.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
You know, that's not really my thing, but when I think about my relationship with God and the commandment Jesus gave of just love. Matthew 22:37-39. Love God with everything you have. Your heart, your soul, your mind. And then Jesus says, this is my greatest commandment. And He goes on to say, love your neighbor as yourself. You know, this commandment is like the first. I'm very competitive, or I used to be very competitive as a younger person I played a lot of sports, and I'm like, "If that's the greatest, that's the greatest." Right? Jesus said, that's the greatest. What does that mean? And how do I make my life about that?
Tim Timmons:
I am so consumed and fully aware of all my needs and all of my struggles and my worries, et cetera. So, what would it look like this week as we join Jesus in our week, right? What would it look like if we practiced being aware of the needs and struggles of others around us?
Tim Timmons:
I mean, as I write this X on my wrist this week, that's what I want to focus in on. What are the needs and the struggles and the worries of the people around me? And how do I just love people well?
Tim Timmons:
Who might that be for you this week? Think about tomorrow. Who are the people that you are going to walk alongside tomorrow? Jesus open our eyes.
Tim Timmons:
Whether we use this or not, that would be my practice this week. Would be trying to be more aware of people. Is there a season when you've been more aware of other people? So, right now you're still in the season, which you need... You guys need stuff all the time. I'm sure.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah.
Tim Timmons:
Is there a practice or some way that you've been able to join Jesus in that for other people, or is it still kind of one of the seasons that you're like, "Nope, it's a lot about what we're doing right now. And thankfully we're the ones being supported of and served."
Jordan St. Cyr:
I think it's just keeping your eyes open. Keeping your ears open. It's, are you willing to stop on the side of the road when somebody needs a tire change? Are you willing to talk with that person who takes all your oxygen away from you at the merch table and are you willing to lead through that moment? In that moment they're the least of these.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Right? And so, I think it comes down to a willingness to realize... For me again, this is a responsibility I feel for me. I don't want to put this on anybody else.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
But I just feel the weight of responsibility to make this moment about them. To be a good listener. And yeah...
Tim Timmons:
It kind of reminds me of what you were talking about in the very beginning. I was trying to remember exactly what [crosstalk 00:30:46]. It was something about Him. It's not about the music, it wasn't about being famous or something. It was...
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah. It's about just finding our identity and who God says we are rather than what we do. And so many of us dream chasers, people that want something so desperately to come true, we don't realize that we're actually gaining our identity through that. And I think if we're going to claim Jesus as the one we follow, those things get demoted. And so we need to take on the identity that He gives us.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. And I think there's something there because when you were saying that, right at the very getting of this, it just made me think about somebody who's doing the laundry right now. Somebody who is driving somewhere right now. Somebody who's doing the lawn right now. I mean, it's like all these really... In our context, we are musicians and we're going and doing these things, which seems like, "Ooh, that's ministry." But I think what I heard from you, is almost like, "Well, whoever's doing, whatever they're doing right now, that in a sense is your ministry."
Jordan St. Cyr:
100%.
Tim Timmons:
It's like just being present to the identity that you have. And I love that. I think it's really a beautiful invitation. I mean that being the bigger invitation, people think pastors or artists are the one that are really doing the work of God. It's like, "Well. I don't know."
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah. I couldn't agree more. Because you know what, this whole music thing for myself could easily just be taken away.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Right? It's not solid.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
You know what I mean? It's so inconsistent. You're basing your whole career on whether people think it's good or not.
Tim Timmons:
Right.
Jordan St. Cyr:
So you could very well put out something that they say is no good, and then you have no work.
Tim Timmons:
Right.
Jordan St. Cyr:
So does that mean, I now don't have a calling on my life?
Tim Timmons:
Right, right. So good Jordan.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Absolutely not. You know?
Tim Timmons:
So good.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I couldn't agree more. That resonates so deeply with me. Like wherever you're at, we talk about a lot doing things for God, where this is like God is present with you right now. Right now. So start living with Him.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
You know?
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
And doing those things with Him out of the overflow of who you are.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. Yeah. That's so good. That's such a great reminder. And I love... I love anytime that this stuff can go beyond just the, I'm putting in big old quotes, 'ministry thing' of like, "Well, the artist has this. Or the pastor has this. Or the...". It's like, nope. You're a mom that...
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah.
Tim Timmons:
Is doing mounds and mounds of laundry right now. And who are you regardless of what you're doing right now? We all have this ministry, this mission in just loving people well.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yep.
Tim Timmons:
I love that.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah. I think if all I was, was a good husband and a present father, I will have done enough. So I think everything else is extra.
Tim Timmons:
Mm mm. Mm. Well, good thing you're talking to Chris on that. That's really great.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I know. I just feel like he needs to hear this.
Tim Timmons:
I do.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah.
Chris Cleveland:
Every day.
Tim Timmons:
Jordan and I talked about it earlier.
Chris Cleveland:
You did?
Tim Timmons:
He said, "What does Chris need today?"
Jordan St. Cyr:
It was a pre podcast podcast.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tim Timmons:
Jordan...
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yes, sir.
Tim Timmons:
Your single right now is The Weary Traveler.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yes.
Tim Timmons:
And we're not even going to talk about it at all.
Jordan St. Cyr:
No.
Emmoe Doniz:
But congrats.
Tim Timmons:
[crosstalk 00:34:10] You've got, because it's around Christmas time, you've got a single out called Rejoice.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah.
Tim Timmons:
So, people, go listen to these things. They're really great. You also have a record coming out in 2022 called Hot Guy? Canadians? Called The Shepherd.
Jordan St. Cyr:
What was that?
Tim Timmons:
Your new record coming out.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Okay.
Tim Timmons:
Called The Shepherd.
Jordan St. Cyr:
New... Yeah, The Shepherd. It's a self-titled album, but you know, it's...
Tim Timmons:
Exactly. That's what I mean. Jordan, The Shepherd.
Emmoe Doniz:
Oh my goodness.
Jordan St. Cyr:
That's right.
Tim Timmons:
So, that comes out in 2022. If you guys are listening to this in 2022, then go check it out. Jordan, we've got 10,000 thought for you right now.
Chris Cleveland:
Let's go.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Okay.
Tim Timmons:
Literally they're thoughts for you that we want to talk about. Things that we've seen about you.
Chris Cleveland:
Couple notes.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. No, when Chris and I traveled together the other week, I finished my set and he came up and he said, "Well, how'd you think it went?" I'm like, "It was fine." He said, "Well, I've got notes for you." So he gave me a whole extensive thing of notes, which...
Chris Cleveland:
Next night it was, I mean...
Tim Timmons:
Was it better?
Chris Cleveland:
It was so good.
Emmoe Doniz:
Different set of notes.
Chris Cleveland:
Yeah.
Tim Timmons:
"This thought. This sucked. This sucked. This sucked. But Tim, you were really up there."
Tim Timmons:
Okay. Jordan, 10,000 thoughts. Quickest...
Chris Cleveland:
All right.
Tim Timmons:
Answer you can muster.
Jordan St. Cyr:
All right, man.
Tim Timmons:
Okay? I'm going to breathe. Ready?
Tim Timmons:
Nickname.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Jordache.
Chris Cleveland:
Jordache?
Tim Timmons:
Jordache. I thought you said DoorDash for a second, but Jordache. Like jeans?
Chris Cleveland:
Like the jeans, yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Like back in the day when I was a kid. Jordache.
Tim Timmons:
Okay. Bucket list.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Bucket list. Oh gosh. Just see more of the world. I want to go to Australia, Japan, Europe, all the things. But in a capacity that I like seeing things, but I want to meet new people. See what they're about.
Tim Timmons:
Okay. All right. I like that. Okay. Pet peeve or pet peeves.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Oh, pet peeve. Getting through the drive through and my wife and kids don't know what they want to order. Every time.
Tim Timmons:
Oh, we've...
Jordan St. Cyr:
Every time.
Tim Timmons:
This is now the second person that said that same thing. [inaudible 00:36:04] said it first.
Jordan St. Cyr:
No!
Emmoe Doniz:
At least. I said it in my mind. Chris is like...
Chris Cleveland:
Listen, what about... This one is the one that gets me. After you get your food, they're like, "Oh, they forgot the ketchup."
Jordan St. Cyr:
Oh, and then you got to go inside.
Chris Cleveland:
I'm not waiting here and telling him to open the thing back. I'm not driving around. I'll go to the store and buy ketchup.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Chris Cleveland:
We are not doing this.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Why don't we keep ketchup in the car?
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Jordan St. Cyr:
You know what I mean?
Chris Cleveland:
Hey, do you guys have fast food out there in Canada?
Jordan St. Cyr:
We have a few. Yeah. Yeah. We've got the McDonald's, you know the Burger King.
Chris Cleveland:
They have the same items on the menu or do you guys...
Tim Timmons:
Ooh. Do they have like the...
Jordan St. Cyr:
Yeah, we got a lot of the same.
Chris Cleveland:
Do you?
Tim Timmons:
The maple burger?
Jordan St. Cyr:
It's like the Canadian... The maple burger.
Tim Timmons:
McMaple?
Chris Cleveland:
The McMaple!
Emmoe Doniz:
Oh my gosh.
Tim Timmons:
Swish.
Emmoe Doniz:
That's our mascot. That's officially our mascot.
Tim Timmons:
Okay. Favorite movie or favorite movies?
Jordan St. Cyr:
I'm a big movie person. I mean, Shawshank Redemption.
Tim Timmons:
I'm sorry. These need to be Christian films.
Jordan St. Cyr:
These needs to be Christian films.
Tim Timmons:
No, I'm kidding.
Jordan St. Cyr:
So Shawshank Redemption...
Chris Cleveland:
Preferably Kirk Cameron starring.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Kirk Cameron. Oh my gosh.
Tim Timmons:
Shawshank, go. Give me two more.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I loved Green Book.
Tim Timmons:
Yep.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I just thought that was a phenomenal movie.
Tim Timmons:
Yep.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Oh man. This is tough. [crosstalk 00:37:12] Have you guys seen Dune yet?
Tim Timmons:
No.
Emmoe Doniz:
No not yet.
Tim Timmons:
I've not seen it yet. But it's on your list?
Emmoe Doniz:
No spoilers. No spoilers, please.
Tim Timmons:
It's on your list?
Jordan St. Cyr:
It's already... I don't like seeing movies in the theaters twice. I don't. It's not my thing.
Chris Cleveland:
Did you read the books and stuff?
Jordan St. Cyr:
I've seen it twice.
Tim Timmons:
Oh.
Jordan St. Cyr:
No, I have not read the books.
Chris Cleveland:
Okay.
Jordan St. Cyr:
I'm more of an audio book listener.
Emmoe Doniz:
Ooh. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Cleveland:
I've heard two things about it. I've heard that one, it's the greatest sci-fi film ever made. And two, that it is just setting up the second one.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Oh yeah.
Emmoe Doniz:
That's right. Yes.
Chris Cleveland:
So, which makes me not want to see it.
Jordan St. Cyr:
It's a beautiful unfolding. There's a lot of action, but there's a lot of just storytelling. Right?
Tim Timmons:
All right. Who dies?
Emmoe Doniz:
No, no, no.
Tim Timmons:
Who dies? How do they die? Okay.
Emmoe Doniz:
You'll get an mug. Please don't spoil it. [crosstalk 00:37:56]
Jordan St. Cyr:
Okay. What's the best song you didn't write? Other than one of ours.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Clocks by Coldplay.
Tim Timmons:
Ooh.
Chris Cleveland:
That's fun.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah. Yeah. Biggest regret?
Jordan St. Cyr:
Biggest regret?
Tim Timmons:
Yep. The speed round.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Probably holding my dreams too tightly when I was younger.
Tim Timmons:
Ooh.
Chris Cleveland:
That's good one.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah.
Emmoe Doniz:
Oh boy.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Realizing that it's just not the thing.
Chris Cleveland:
Pause well taken.
Tim Timmons:
Total pause well taken. We're keeping that pause in too. That was strong. Do you know a joke? Can you tell a joke? That's somewhat appropriate.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Knock, knock.
Chris Cleveland:
Who's there?
Tim Timmons:
Who's there?
Jordan St. Cyr:
Little old lady.
Emmoe Doniz:
Oh boy.
Tim Timmons:
Little old lady, who?
Jordan St. Cyr:
I didn't know you could yodel.
Emmoe Doniz:
Nice.
Tim Timmons:
To hell with the devil. That hurt my feelings.
Chris Cleveland:
I felt like it was going to be something like that. That's why I gave it a little pitch.
Emmoe Doniz:
Yes. I heard it.
Jordan St. Cyr:
You gave a little nod there.
Tim Timmons:
You knew it.
Chris Cleveland:
I didn't know it, but I felt like it was coming.
Tim Timmons:
I walked right into it.
Chris Cleveland:
Like an intuition thing.
Tim Timmons:
Well...
Chris Cleveland:
But we kind of... We talked a lot before and [crosstalk 00:39:02].
Tim Timmons:
He told you that joke earlier?
Chris Cleveland:
No, we just understand each other.
Tim Timmons:
Yes. Gosh, you spent so much time together.
Chris Cleveland:
Yes. Just a thing that we've got.
Tim Timmons:
Jordan St. Cyr. The Shepherd.
Jordan St. Cyr:
That's right.
Tim Timmons:
You have now just finished your first podcast with the 10,000 Minute Experiment.
Jordan St. Cyr:
Come on. Thank you guys. I just, I love this. I love chatting. I love to hear your heart. Like, it's just, it's beautiful. So, thank you for what you do. I'm a fan.
Tim Timmons:
Yeah man. Well, we'll send you our notes on how you did here in a little bit. We generally spend a little time doing that so...
Jordan St. Cyr:
You're going to grade my paper?
Tim Timmons:
Yep. Yep.
Emmoe Doniz:
It's pretty good.
Tim Timmons:
Yep. Good job.
Jordan St. Cyr:
It was pretty good.
Tim Timmons:
You look great.
Emmoe Doniz:
Littler bit.
