Latest / Where We Rise / 08 | "God Doesn't Waste Anything" | Trusting God in Hard Times

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08 | "God Doesn't Waste Anything" | Trusting God in Hard Times · Where We Rise

• 0:00
  Khalila McCoy: Hi, I'm Khalila McCoy, and this is the podcast that is here to lift you a little higher.
• 0:06
  Khalila McCoy: This is where we rise.
• 0:09
  Khalila McCoy: Hey everyone, welcome to the show.
• 0:14
  Khalila McCoy: Today we are talking to an old friend of mine, Chauncey Harris.
• 0:18
  Khalila McCoy: Chauncey has such a heartfelt story rooted deeply in his faith in God and Jesus Christ.
• 0:24
  Khalila McCoy: He has walked through and is still walking through some difficult and uncertain seasons, but the love, joy, and compassion that flow through him are truly inspiring, and what made me want to reach out to him and have him share his story on the show.
• 0:40
  Khalila McCoy: Today, Chauncey is gonna take us to church with a word that is for everybody.
• 0:45
  Khalila McCoy: Let's go.
• 0:47
  Khalila McCoy: All right, so we got big Chauncey in the house today.
• 0:51
  Khalila McCoy: So Chauncey and I go way back when I haven't talked to him in years.
• 0:56
  Khalila McCoy: How long has it been?
• 0:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: The last time I beat you in basketball, it's been a long time, 2008, maybe.
• 1:03
  Khalila McCoy: So let's explain this.
• 1:04
  Khalila McCoy: So we went to college together, and I'm not a basketball player, but I have an amazing three-point shot that I think he likes to forget about.
• 1:13
  Khalila McCoy: It was like so we used to go to the rec center and play hoops.
• 1:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They built so many things there now.
• 1:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I went back because I was coaching somewhere.
• 1:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: We we skirmished them, and it's so much more there now than it was when we were there.
• 1:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: All they have was the rec and the food court.
• 1:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They got a lot more now, yeah.
• 1:32
  Khalila McCoy: So yes, yeah.
• 1:33
  Khalila McCoy: Ashland is coming up.
• 1:35
  Khalila McCoy: All that money we gave them, they had to do something with it, right?
• 1:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Listen, for real.
• 1:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: For real.
• 1:40
  Khalila McCoy: It was a fun experience, though.
• 1:42
  Khalila McCoy: Like it was, it was.
• 1:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was playing college football and just uh, you know, meeting new people.
• 1:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was nice.
• 1:47
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:48
  Khalila McCoy: So I don't I don't remember.
• 1:49
  Khalila McCoy: How did we meet?
• 1:50
  Khalila McCoy: Do you remember?
• 1:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I think we met at the rec, if I'm not mistaken.
• 1:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I think that um you might have been shooting or something, maybe.
• 1:57
  Khalila McCoy: And you know you saw how amazing I was.
• 1:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I say, you know what?
• 1:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Let me go beat her real quick, doing my confidence up.
• 2:05
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah, no, I used to teach bit of a lot of people.
• 2:07
  Khalila McCoy: Yes.
• 2:11
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So we I think might have made met there.
• 2:14
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah.
• 2:14
  Khalila McCoy: There wasn't a lot of black people at Ashland, so it was easy to buy each other.
• 2:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right, right.
• 2:22
  Khalila McCoy: But yeah, it was fun.
• 2:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was.
• 2:25
  Khalila McCoy: And then what have you been doing since your Ashland days?
• 2:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Nothing.
• 2:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Just uh working, coaching football.
• 2:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Also, I just recently became a a youth pastor.
• 2:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So just just kind of moving around a little bit and staying afloat.
• 2:38
  Khalila McCoy: Where are you youth pastoring at?
• 2:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That's the church in Warren called New Jerusalem Fellowship in Warren, Ohio.
• 2:44
  Khalila McCoy: Nice.
• 2:44
  Khalila McCoy: I've seen a link it later too, but Chauncey posts his videos and his sermons.
• 2:50
  Khalila McCoy: I was listening to one of the story.
• 2:51
  Khalila McCoy: I was like, okay.
• 2:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 2:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm trying, I'm learning a little bit of it.
• 2:55
  Khalila McCoy: The one about uh Moses holding his hands up and people on the side holding it up with them.
• 3:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was like, For sure, for sure.
• 3:03
  Khalila McCoy: So I definitely was feeling that.
• 3:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 3:06
  Khalila McCoy: Um, so today we're really gonna talk about, I mean, obviously you and all the things that you're going through.
• 3:11
  Khalila McCoy: Kind of just to get us started.
• 3:13
  Khalila McCoy: You have some pretty um, I want to say intense, but some strong health issues that you're dealing with, right?
• 3:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 3:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, so um I was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2021, 22.
• 3:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um, so I've been dealing with that ever since then.
• 3:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um just dialysis and all the things that come with that uh has been, you know, I would say it's intense.
• 3:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But um, so yeah, that's that's kind of my diagnosis.
• 3:43
  Khalila McCoy: So what was it like when you first got that news?
• 3:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was, I mean, it was it was it was chilling.
• 3:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was it was it was shocking.
• 3:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um, I remember not feeling well for months.
• 3:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, you know, and as as men, you know, we don't want to, you know, I played football, I'll box, so we didn't, we didn't, I was telling, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay, you know.
• 4:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I would like just fall asleep out of nowhere or just be very like couldn't get up.
• 4:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I was wondering, like, what's wrong with me?
• 4:08
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I went to the hospital.
• 4:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um, it was after the Ohio State game.
• 4:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They had played, um, you know, I gotta watch football.
• 4:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They they had played Michigan.
• 4:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I uh I said, Lord, if I make it through tonight, I'm gonna go to the hospital.
• 4:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was like, I'm gonna go to the hospital.
• 4:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I um went to the hospital and uh, you know, they I came in, they did blood work and all those things.
• 4:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And they said, uh, it's from to the back.
• 4:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And they said, we got some good news and bad news.
• 4:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And they said, the good news is you're still alive.
• 4:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I was like, if that's the good news, what's the bad news?
• 4:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 4:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He said, the bad news is you had you've had kidney failure.
• 4:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And he said, your kidneys have failed, been failed by the by the the waste in your system.
• 4:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Your kidneys have been failed for a long time.
• 4:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He says it's a it's a miracle that you're even alive.
• 4:55
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's the thing your body that kind of measures the waste in there is called creatinine.
• 5:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And that the average, you know, creatine is like from like 0.2 to maybe one.
• 5:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That's like the average waste in your body.
• 5:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Mine's a 22.5.
• 5:12
  Khalila McCoy: Oh my goodness.
• 5:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So it was just filled with waste.
• 5:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And um, it was only a miracle that I was um that I got there.
• 5:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I remember the doctor said, you know, the amount of waste your body is very dangerous.
• 5:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: We don't know, you know, how you how this is gonna go.
• 5:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So we I was in ICU.
• 5:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They started like giving me, they put like tubes in my body and started like giving me um dialysis right there.
• 5:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, I was I was frightened, you know, I was scared.
• 5:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was like, man, because at the time, you go backstory about kidney failure in my family.
• 5:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: When I was five, my mother died from kidney failure.
• 5:44
  Khalila McCoy: I didn't know that.
• 5:45
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, when I was five, when I was five years old, my mother died from kidney failure.
• 5:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So here I am at the hospital.
• 5:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: She was she was around like 30, 31.
• 5:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And here I am at the hospital.
• 5:55
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm about 31.
• 5:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So all that's running through your head.
• 5:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And my youngest son is five years old.
• 6:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: See, oh my gosh.
• 6:02
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: My youngest son is five years old at the time.
• 6:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes.
• 6:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I was I was just like, is this about to happen again?
• 6:08
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, is this the repeat of what happened to my mother?
• 6:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And then um I was in an instant depression, but then I kind of made a choice.
• 6:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I kind of like started praying and saying, like, God, at this time I wasn't living a certain lifestyle.
• 6:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was, I was, you know, uh, a different chancey, I would say.
• 6:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um, so I was like, God, if if if you get me through this, if I could make it out of this hospital, I I promise to do better.
• 6:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I was praying, I and I was like thinking about my kids, and I had a few surgeries in there.
• 6:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because because there was so much waste in my body, I had pneumonia and just so much septic, it was just so much that was going on, but I ended up making out the hospital.
• 6:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So thank God.
• 6:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: About a month.
• 6:50
  Khalila McCoy: Okay.
• 6:50
  Khalila McCoy: Wow.
• 6:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was it was it was bad.
• 6:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, it was a month.
• 6:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And then I had to start dialysis, so all that they had to put like, you know, tubes and catheter inside of me.
• 6:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So it was just a whole new like uh bunch of experiences that happened at that time.
• 7:04
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah.
• 7:04
  Khalila McCoy: I remember um, I don't know if it was that stay particularly, but I remember seeing on Facebook you kind of updating people on like what you were going through and just saying, like, hey, pray for me.
• 7:15
  Khalila McCoy: I don't know if I'm gonna make it out of here.
• 7:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, yeah, it was real.
• 7:18
  Khalila McCoy: But the one thing about even in those videos, you always had a smile on your face.
• 7:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I think I've met that.
• 7:27
  Khalila McCoy: And I love how you just said, like, you went through an instant depression, which makes sense, right?
• 7:31
  Khalila McCoy: That's it too hard.
• 7:32
  Khalila McCoy: But then you said you made a choice.
• 7:34
  Khalila McCoy: So if you were a different Chauncey back then, just living a different lifestyle, like, how did you even know what to think of that choice?
• 7:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because the foundation that my parents and family set.
• 7:43
  Khalila McCoy: Okay.
• 7:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I grew up, like my family, my dad is very like in the church, and I grew up going to church Wednesday, twice on Sunday, sometimes Saturday.
• 7:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I was always in church.
• 7:55
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Man, as a kid, like always, always in church.
• 7:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And um, so when I got of age where I was not forced to go to church, I went totally the opposite way.
• 8:06
  Khalila McCoy: That is the story of a lot of people.
• 8:08
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, I just I just did whatever, you know, from you know, just whatever my friends did.
• 8:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I was, I was uh, I wanted to be that, you know, I mean, I wanted that freedom that I thought I missed, you know, as a young person.
• 8:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So in going through that thing, I was able, that's why it says in the Bible, it says uh train up a child in the way that it should go.
• 8:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 8:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And when he's old, he won't depart from it.
• 8:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So it's like if that foundation came back in my head, like, how did my dad get through?
• 8:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: How did my family they had God?
• 8:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They trusted God and they got them through.
• 8:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So that kind of reminded me of where I was supposed to be and how I would get through this thing.
• 8:46
  Khalila McCoy: Do you feel like I know people kind of have moments where they're like, they feel like God has talked to them when they're in their struggle?
• 8:51
  Khalila McCoy: Was yours more just like, I'm gonna live out my faith, or do you feel like you had like an instant connection right there?
• 8:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: No, I I believe that I think God has always been calling me to this.
• 9:02
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I've always been able to, like you said, put a smile on my face no matter what, or get through things.
• 9:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like that's always been who I am.
• 9:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I think it was just birthing me.
• 9:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I think that I can't say that God said something specific to me.
• 9:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, because a lot of people say that, like, oh, God told me this.
• 9:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 9:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I don't know if he said that for sure.
• 9:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I think the Holy Spirit that God gives you leads you to do good things, leads you to certain paths.
• 9:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I think I was led to come back to God.
• 9:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I mean, sometimes like the Bible says many are um called, but few are chosen.
• 9:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 9:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like when you're chosen, God might use tragedy.
• 9:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He might use tragedy, he might use something to do.
• 9:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: To get your attention to get your attention.
• 9:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, no, you can't do what everybody else does.
• 9:45
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And when I would do things, I would always get caught.
• 9:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Everything I did, I got caught.
• 9:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Everything.
• 9:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So everything.
• 9:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So that life was not meant for you.
• 9:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I got caught.
• 9:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was like my boys always got away, and I'm always getting caught, but God was always like, you know better.
• 9:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like that, that you know better.
• 10:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I I don't believe I had a divine, like, specific, like hearing something, but I had a spirit that that led me back to where I'm supposed to be.
• 10:11
  Khalila McCoy: Okay.
• 10:11
  Khalila McCoy: So you come home from the hospital after that month, did the life change immediately for you?
• 10:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Drastically, drastically.
• 10:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I mean, it changed in almost every aspect of life.
• 10:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So at that time I was working as a caseworker at a um a high school in Youngstown.
• 10:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Okay.
• 10:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I had to look quit my job because well, they let me go because I couldn't be there.
• 10:33
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because you know, we when you go to dialysis, it's it's it's three days a week.
• 10:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And for some, it's like from four to five hours.
• 10:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: My time was four hours.
• 10:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I went to dialysis.
• 10:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And after dialysis, it's it's a it's a it's a tough kind of it's hard to explain the feeling you feel.
• 10:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like you're drained, you're cramping, your body is like, it's just different for a while.
• 10:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So usually at the dialysis, I had to like take a nap, like uh at least a little nap for about two or three hours.
• 11:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And of course, you can't work on a full-time job, right?
• 11:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Missing, you know, all that time and going this Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.
• 11:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I had to let my job go.
• 11:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I then I got on disability.
• 11:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I went from making, you know, I don't want to, I wasn't balling crazy, but I went to making um, you know, a a decent wage to like $12,000 a year.
• 11:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Okay.
• 11:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So a great wage from then go to making $12,000 a year with, you know, four boys, you know, kids and family and bills.
• 11:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So that was like the the immediate change is like financially, you know, the struggle came.
• 11:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And then physically, like, you know, I've always been a I've always been kind of like an athlete.
• 11:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You can't tell by my my belly now.
• 11:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But how how my body felt?
• 11:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was just a total like after dialysis, you you feel it's it's hard to really explain like the the feeling that that puts on you.
• 11:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like your whole body is messed up, you have headaches throughout the day, you can barely just get up and go some days.
• 12:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So that kind of was the biggest two things that kind of shifted in my life.
• 12:05
  Khalila McCoy: How long were you doing this four hours dent for?
• 12:08
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I'm still doing dialysis.
• 12:10
  Khalila McCoy: Okay.
• 12:11
  Khalila McCoy: For four hours still every day?
• 12:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So it was at my I was at five.
• 12:15
  Khalila McCoy: Okay.
• 12:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And now my blood work has gotten better.
• 12:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So now I'm at three, three, four, three minutes, three hours and forty-five minutes.
• 12:21
  Khalila McCoy: Okay, three days a week.
• 12:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Three days a week still, yeah.
• 12:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, three days a week.
• 12:25
  Khalila McCoy: Wow.
• 12:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Until you get a tr, you know, if you get a transplant, all that is, you know, fixed.
• 12:31
  Khalila McCoy: Are you on a list for a transplant?
• 12:33
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So the the the issues I've had, you know, building to that place was, you know, when you are getting on the transplant list, you have to have like a smooth time without hospital visits.
• 12:45
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like you have to have time without that, and your blo your blood pressure has to be a certain place, and your blood work has to be a certain place.
• 12:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And every time I would get closer and closer to the list, I would get infection.
• 12:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So you you so it's this thing called a catheter, they put it in your chest right around here, and they use that to get the blood out to put it in a machine and bring it back in.
• 13:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Until you get something in your arm called like a fistula or a graph, and then they can put needles in your arm.
• 13:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But until then, you gotta have a catheter, and those don't do well with with multiple bodies, they don't last long, and you don't know you're infected until you're at the the sepas place, which is the a dangerous, you know, hospitalization type of place.
• 13:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I I had maybe, I don't know, like 15 sepas infections.
• 13:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And uh so every time we get closer to the list, I would get an infection.
• 13:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Closer to the list, infection, closer to the list, infection.
• 13:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And those are deadly.
• 13:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I thank God that I even made it through those because a lot of people don't make it through the sepsis infections.
• 13:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um, so doing that for so long, and so I I'm still thank God I've I've had a good few years.
• 13:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I think soon I'll be able to get a kidney, or you know, I I still believe God can just heal me.
• 13:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Just yeah, I'm not even counting that out, but I am getting closer to being on a list, yes.
• 14:04
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah.
• 14:04
  Khalila McCoy: Do you struggle sometimes?
• 14:06
  Khalila McCoy: Like thinking, so like the example you just gave, like you're so close to the list, and then you get this infection, it keeps happening over and over.
• 14:12
  Khalila McCoy: Are you ever like, what's up, God?
• 14:14
  Khalila McCoy: Like, why does this keep happening?
• 14:15
  Khalila McCoy: Why meaning?
• 14:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I think I think anybody that goes through real struggles, like when you're trying to do what's right in life, like we're not nobody's perfect.
• 14:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like the Bible says that our righteousness is filthy rags.
• 14:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So nobody, everybody has dirt, everybody's not perfect.
• 14:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 14:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But when you're trying to do right in your life and you're trying to do what you think God's called you to do, and you keep getting knocked down and knocked down and knocked down.
• 14:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's like, man, it's like, God, what's up?
• 14:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Where you at?
• 14:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm trying, I'm doing my best.
• 14:45
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I but what helped me during that time is I started reading about Job in the Bible.
• 14:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I started to read about his story and how, you know, he was chosen by God.
• 14:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: God literally said his name to the enemy.
• 14:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He said, Have you considered my servant Job?
• 15:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was chosen to go through that stuff.
• 15:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 15:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And losing his kids and losing his his wealth and losing his health, like losing everything.
• 15:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And he still was like, you know, though he slayed me yet, will I trust him?
• 15:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And it was like, wow.
• 15:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, okay.
• 15:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It helped me to like ID with that.
• 15:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I found myself in that story.
• 15:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I found myself in the story of Joseph.
• 15:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I found myself in their stories, and I say, okay, if if this can happen for them and they can be restored, everything they lost, I believe God has some something similar for me as well.
• 15:35
  Khalila McCoy: That's awesome.
• 15:36
  Khalila McCoy: So you thought back to those stories that you had heard before and then dive deep into the Bible to understand how that related to you.
• 15:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: 100%.
• 15:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You see, I can't speak for everybody because everybody doesn't believe in what I believe in, right?
• 15:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 15:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I I can I can attest and say that I know for sure without God in my life, without Jesus, there's no way that I have would have overcome the things that I've overcome so far.
• 15:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And that was, and that was even my worst year.
• 16:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 16:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That was the worst year of my life.
• 16:02
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That was that was if I can go back, that was an okay year.
• 16:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That wasn't the worst year.
• 16:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That was even the worst year of my life.
• 16:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: The worst year came a couple years later.
• 16:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I would say that without God, without faith, and without my family and people that love me, you gotta find people that love you not at circumstance.
• 16:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 16:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: A lot of people love you by what you can do for them or okay, you can party with them and have a good time with them.
• 16:25
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And that's all those things are beautiful, right?
• 16:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 16:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But it's more important to have people that love you when you can't, when you're struggling, when you can't offer anything to them but pain.
• 16:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: When you when you're when you're crying and you don't know what to do, people that love you during that time and spend time with you and speaking to you during that time, it is so much more important than having people that with you when you party and having a good time.
• 16:47
  Khalila McCoy: Did you find that the people who kind of left your life during that time was it more like they just didn't know how to approach you or what to say or what to do?
• 16:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Or what do you feel like was Yeah, I think it's it's it's tough getting around people that are going through.
• 17:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 17:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like when you when you sit in a room with somebody that's in a hospital bed or that is that's dying or in a nursing home, it doesn't, it's not a great feeling to you as well.
• 17:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I think authors, people don't know how to navigate that space.
• 17:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 17:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like navigate, okay, how what do I say or how do I cheer them up?
• 17:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So they tend to like distance themselves.
• 17:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And at that time, I think a lot of my my people that I I consider friends and homies, I feel like they I wasn't doing the same things.
• 17:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I wasn't, I wasn't smoking with them, I wasn't drinking with them, I wasn't my my conversation wasn't about chasing girls.
• 17:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like those those things changed.
• 17:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And when when those things change, you you find out kind of who is for you, like for real.
• 17:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like who, and I have some moments that still did those things, but still was like, was in my corner.
• 17:55
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So it's like it's a balance to the thing.
• 17:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, it's a balance.
• 17:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So you kind of find out who was for you when you're struggling.
• 18:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I think people tend to leave when struggle comes.
• 18:04
  Khalila McCoy: What do you feel like?
• 18:05
  Khalila McCoy: And obviously, like you said, you can't speak for everybody, but what what do you want from people in those moments?
• 18:10
  Khalila McCoy: Like in your toughest moments, what comforts you?
• 18:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I've always been a person who was it's a thing called love language, right?
• 18:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 18:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And um, I think mine have always been like words of affirmation.
• 18:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Okay.
• 18:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I've always been big chance, like talk me up, talk me up.
• 18:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like that's that's always been me.
• 18:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So when people like speak into my life, like Chance, you're gonna get through this.
• 18:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You're so much greater than this situation.
• 18:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: God has something for you.
• 18:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Hey, don't give up.
• 18:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know who you are?
• 18:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like those things has always like put me, reset me back to who I was supposed to be, like who I think I'm supposed to be.
• 18:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like it reminds me, I am, I am big Chance.
• 18:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, you're right, you're right.
• 18:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: This don't change who I am.
• 18:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So it kind of like builds that confidence back up to me.
• 18:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That's my that's my kind of language that I I love people who speak into my life positively.
• 18:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 18:59
  Khalila McCoy: Just send me a text, send me a call, like things like that.
• 19:02
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: This little thing, little thing, praying for you, child.
• 19:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Hey, I appreciate you.
• 19:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like those little things go so far, and you would think, okay, this is a little text.
• 19:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You might have said six words in that text, but you don't know that text could have been something that saved that person's day, like help them, help their life.
• 19:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So it's never being positive, somebody, it doesn't cost you anything.
• 19:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 19:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, but it it it can might it might help them in whatever they're going through.
• 19:29
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah.
• 19:29
  Khalila McCoy: Did you find, especially since this um experience brought you closer to God?
• 19:34
  Khalila McCoy: Was anything negative about that?
• 19:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Plenty of that.
• 19:37
  Khalila McCoy: Really?
• 19:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Plenty of that.
• 19:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, God's how could God be real?
• 19:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You going through this?
• 19:41
  Khalila McCoy: Like, what do you say to that?
• 19:44
  Khalila McCoy: Like, especially when you are, you know, like obviously you have the faith, but there's has to be some doubt in you at the same time.
• 19:50
  Khalila McCoy: Like, what do you say to that?
• 19:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I think people who got faith would lie if they say they don't doubt sometimes.
• 19:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 19:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Even people that's been in faith for 30, 40, 50 years.
• 20:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because life, you know, your literary your life situations sometimes point to the other direction.
• 20:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It points to like this ain't going my way.
• 20:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm praying, I'm fasting, I'm reading my Bible, I'm not doing this, I'm not doing that, and stuff.
• 20:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Well, you like, is God real?
• 20:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Are you real, God?
• 20:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 20:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I think when I've had those, when I've had those doubts or heard those people try to put doubt in my head, you have to go back to what you have already overcome.
• 20:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Okay.
• 20:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because that that puts you in the place of it reminds you who God is.
• 20:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Overcoming reminds you who God is.
• 20:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: When you go back to your mind, you think about when I was 13, I got past this.
• 20:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That I thought I wouldn't get past.
• 20:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: When I was 16, I got past that.
• 20:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: When I was 21, I got past this.
• 20:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: When the doctor said I was supposed to die and I got past that, you remember, like, yeah, no, God is real.
• 20:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You start to tug on your personal experiences.
• 20:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And when you tug on your personal experiences, it's hard to deny that God is not in your life.
• 21:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I think that has always centered me back.
• 21:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like even when I have doubts, even to this day when you have doubts, like I I think about the things that I've overcome, and I'm like, it had to be God.
• 21:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 21:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It had to be God.
• 21:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was nothing else.
• 21:19
  Khalila McCoy: What if someone's like, nah, you just lucky, bro?
• 21:21
  Khalila McCoy: Like Right, right.
• 21:25
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But um, no, you gotta be anchored.
• 21:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's the word is how you be anchored in your faith.
• 21:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That means like when you think about a boat, you think about anchor and how that plants the boat.
• 21:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Wherever it's at, it's not going to move because that anchor is is it's making it firm.
• 21:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You gotta be anchored in your faith.
• 21:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: A lot of people are going to doubt what you're saying and doubt what you think you believe in because they don't subscribe to it.
• 21:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 21:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: If you don't if you're not putting a t if you don't read your Bible and pray and worship and try to go to church, you know, if you don't do those things, you're gonna think these things don't matter.
• 21:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because God has still afforded you to live life.
• 22:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 22:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, but God is real.
• 22:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You have to put time in with God.
• 22:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That's the difference.
• 22:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It ain't about being a Christian.
• 22:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I I I I kind of hesitate always when somebody called me a Christian, because that's like religious.
• 22:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I believe in Christ, but I got a relationship with God.
• 22:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I spend time with God.
• 22:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I spend, I spend, I put time in every single day with God.
• 22:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So it's more about relationship than what a religion is.
• 22:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And when you have a relationship with God, it's He the Holy Spirit guides you a little bit more.
• 22:31
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah.
• 22:31
  Khalila McCoy: Talk a little bit about your relationship with your children, because I know you said you started this, your youngest was five.
• 22:37
  Khalila McCoy: How old were your other children at the time?
• 22:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I don't know.
• 22:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I don't know how it is now.
• 22:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I got a I got two 16-year-olds, and I have a 15-year-old and a nine-year-old now.
• 22:48
  Khalila McCoy: And all boys, right?
• 22:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, I was listening.
• 22:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was wild in college and younger than Chauncey.
• 22:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was a different dude, man.
• 22:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was a different dude.
• 22:55
  Khalila McCoy: But God gave you some blessings out of this situation.
• 22:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I thought about uh Facebook said if I was married at 19, I would have 97% less sin.
• 23:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I would have had 97% less sin in my life.
• 23:09
  Khalila McCoy: Did you get married, Chauncey?
• 23:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Huh?
• 23:12
  Khalila McCoy: Are you getting married, you said?
• 23:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Nah.
• 23:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: One day, baby.
• 23:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 23:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: One day.
• 23:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Okay.
• 23:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That part is hard, man, because I am stubborn.
• 23:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Okay.
• 23:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I can I I I know what your own ways.
• 23:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, and I and I don't, it's hard to, I don't know, it's hard.
• 23:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: When you're married, you have to like sacrifice.
• 23:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Marriage is a sacrifice.
• 23:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Relationships are a sacrifice.
• 23:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 23:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I don't, I don't, I got so many other issues right now.
• 23:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's like I don't I don't want to put somebody in a position where I'm not giving them a hundred percent of it.
• 23:47
  Khalila McCoy: No, I think that's fair.
• 23:48
  Khalila McCoy: I think that's important to think about like how you're affecting the other person and how they're gonna affect you, like not just jumping into it for, you know, the physical part or something.
• 23:57
  Khalila McCoy: Yes, yes.
• 23:58
  Khalila McCoy: Because a lot of times people do.
• 24:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 24:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I just I don't want to, you know, growing up younger, my father, you know, I kind of got my way with women by my father.
• 24:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Okay.
• 24:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, he was a smooth dude and he talked to a lot of women, and I saw that young.
• 24:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um, so I grew up in that.
• 24:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I grew up kind of, okay, this is how you do it.
• 24:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And my dad would say, just keep it in your pants.
• 24:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And that would be, that's not you can't, that's not enough to tell somebody.
• 24:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: No.
• 24:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So when I got older and I got of age, I used to sneak and do a lot of stuff, and it was like that became my a part of my identity.
• 24:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because again, you get confidence in that, you get words of affirmation, you get, oh, you did this, you did that, you're this.
• 24:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And so now and you're feeling that from multiple women, it's and then you date a girl and she and she loves you.
• 24:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 24:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And she and she does right by you, but you don't know how to do right by her.
• 24:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So you're mess you're cheating on her, you're messing around with different girls.
• 24:55
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And that kind of was my my lifestyle, you know, until I got about 30.
• 24:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was like that, you know, until until I got honestly until I got sick.
• 25:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was I was that way.
• 25:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So now I'm real hesitant on how I treat women and how I because I I I realize that they are gosh, gosh children too.
• 25:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 25:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And you got you gotta pay for those things.
• 25:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, you know, you gotta pay for those those negative things.
• 25:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I and I apologize to many girls and they didn't they didn't accept it most of the time.
• 25:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I understand though.
• 25:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I understand.
• 25:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, yeah.
• 25:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Dudes, dudes, we we get mad at our at our children's mothers forgetting what we did.
• 25:38
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah.
• 25:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, they have you know, women carry anger a little differently than we do.
• 25:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like it's you know, you know, hell has no fear, like a woman scorn.
• 25:45
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Once y'all get hurt, y'all turn into monsters.
• 25:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like and a dudu said, that was eight years ago, but she's like, you hurt me.
• 25:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, so I I put my all into you.
• 25:55
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I had to, once I realized that, it helped me to have more patience with my sons and others.
• 26:01
  Khalila McCoy: Okay.
• 26:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So now it's like, you know, I I'm I'm dating, but I just I gotta be conscious of how I'm treating people.
• 26:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Okay.
• 26:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And you know, this is the first time in my life that I was I've been celibate.
• 26:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I haven't been, you know, physically with anybody, which is difficult, right?
• 26:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But it's more rewarding because I know I'm not doing nobody wrong either.
• 26:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 26:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I I know that God is honoring my sacrifices.
• 26:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes.
• 26:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So that that's it's a growth.
• 26:33
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like if you knew me back then, you play Chauncey celibate.
• 26:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like you play, how?
• 26:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But it's only by the grace of God that I can walk that walk.
• 26:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because I I don't want I don't want to be famous for my sons.
• 26:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes.
• 26:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I realize that my sons look up to me.
• 26:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I have a unique relationship with my kids.
• 26:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, my kids love me.
• 26:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They they want to be around me and play.
• 26:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Most kids that age, 16 and 15, but nothing to do with their parents.
• 26:55
  Khalila McCoy: They want to be with their friends.
• 26:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They want to be with me all the time, like play games with me, sit with me, talk to me.
• 27:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I've built that relationship so I know that they're looking at me in everything I do.
• 27:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 27:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I don't want them to fall in the same places that I fell in or have the same, you know, pitfalls that I was I fell in.
• 27:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I always talk to them about relationships and women and you know, get you one girl that you like, that you love, and stick to that person.
• 27:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, don't try to be a player.
• 27:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It it brings nothing but pain.
• 27:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: My kids are blessings.
• 27:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I love all four of my boys.
• 27:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I love them too.
• 27:25
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: We the big chance crew.
• 27:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I love my my guys.
• 27:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Also how they came and the the struggles that I had with their mothers, you know, I don't want that for them.
• 27:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 27:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, you don't want your kid to have to um not be able to see their son because somebody's mad at you.
• 27:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 27:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like stuff like that, like have to go to court to get rights and all.
• 27:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's just so much that comes with a broken household that I don't want my kids to experience.
• 27:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I see my friends who are married, who got kids, and it's so much more peaceful.
• 27:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like they're on the same page, you know, if the father has some type of say-so, it's like, so I I always, so now that I'm aware of the wrongs I did, I always try to be like conscious that they're looking at me.
• 28:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, if I'm a I'm a if I'm gonna talk and speak in this church on Sunday, how am I at home?
• 28:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Can they say that I'm the same way at home?
• 28:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 28:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Can they say that I give them grace?
• 28:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Or am I cussing them out when they don't do the dishes?
• 28:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, how am I there?
• 28:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I feel like the last four or five years, I've kind of found a good balance with that with my kids.
• 28:26
  Khalila McCoy: Do you share like the love of Christ and stuff with them?
• 28:28
  Khalila McCoy: Are they?
• 28:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, like if my son was here right now, he if I say, Hey, pray for Khalid, he would come do it.
• 28:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He would, he would understand how to do it.
• 28:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So they're you know, I make them, I make them because you have to make kids.
• 28:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: This is a difference team, me and a lot of people's parents too.
• 28:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, I make my kids do things.
• 28:45
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like kids are foolish.
• 28:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like the Bible says that kids are foolish, like they need direction and discipline.
• 28:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They they have to have that.
• 28:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I make sure that I have to I learn the balance a bit what to be a lion to my kids and when to be a lamb.
• 29:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 29:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But lying has to come sometimes, right?
• 29:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And that's why kids need fathers, I think, too, because at a certain point, kids see mothers as like, okay, if I want to, I'll do what you say.
• 29:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But it's it's it's very rare for the kids to see their father that way.
• 29:13
  Khalila McCoy: Right.
• 29:13
  Khalila McCoy: When dad walks in the room, everything they're like, oh right, right.
• 29:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So it's a balance to it.
• 29:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So again, train up a child.
• 29:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So my kids go to church with me.
• 29:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um you Sundays, they might have a give a word or do a prayer or do offering.
• 29:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I gotta put I gotta post them on my social media.
• 29:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But um, they are they all are faithful.
• 29:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And then like on their TikToks and stuff, because I I'll be checking them out.
• 29:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They uh they'll put like scriptures on her sometimes and Jesus stuff.
• 29:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So it's it's it's it's funny seeing them how that balance because they're both they're all athletes.
• 29:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Okay, they're all pretty popular kids in their schools, but they still don't neglect their faith.
• 29:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 29:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I think that's I think that's so beautiful as a young person.
• 29:57
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah, you're building like a legacy here too.
• 29:59
  Khalila McCoy: I like how kind of like that transition, like your family, like you talked about your mom introduced Christ with you, yeah, and then now you're you know, following foot and then just going a little bit further, then it sounds like your family was able to do for you.
• 30:13
  Khalila McCoy: So then it's gonna be amazing to see what your sons are able to do for their friends and families moving forward.
• 30:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And and again, you should always want your kids to be better than you.
• 30:22
  Khalila McCoy: Yes.
• 30:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And everything athletics, spiritually, you know, school, like you should want your kids to be better than you so that they're better than they their kids be better than them, and then your whole legacy is just growing and growing and growing in a positive manner.
• 30:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But you gotta put time in.
• 30:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That's that's the key too.
• 30:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You gotta put time in with your kids.
• 30:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes.
• 30:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, especially when they turn teenagers, because that's when they start to feel themselves, they smell themselves.
• 30:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They got you, they got you in there.
• 30:45
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So your characteristics in there, so you have to kind of guide them through that that difficult time of becoming a man, you know.
• 30:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I I thank God for my kids because they are my why.
• 30:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They've always been my why.
• 30:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Even through health issues and car accidents and all the things that I've been through, they have been like what kept me going.
• 31:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I think God placed my because when I first had kids, I didn't want to have kids.
• 31:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, I I didn't want to be a father, you know, I was out here, you know, kicking it.
• 31:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So but as time went on, and as I got close to them and I started spending time with them, it was everything that I needed to become a man and to become the person that I am now.
• 31:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Without them, without God putting them in my life, the trials and tribulations I've been through, I don't think I would have made it through without them, without that motivation to be here for my children.
• 31:31
  Khalila McCoy: What are your conversations with them around your health issues?
• 31:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like we talk about, we sit down and often, they know they know what I have to Alice.
• 31:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Our conversations are kind of like, you know, take care of yourself better.
• 31:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like when I when I when I when I was an athlete, when I played football and boxing and all that, a lot of legislative, I didn't eat right either.
• 31:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I was working out, I was always moving around.
• 31:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, but so when I got older, I stopped working out.
• 31:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Wasn't eating right, and knowing the history of our family, like telling you my your grandmother had this too.
• 32:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So this is something that's probably somewhere in your system, you know.
• 32:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So you have to take care of yourself.
• 32:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You gotta eat bet you gotta work out, get each vegetables, you know, can't drink as much pop, ain't eat as much sweets.
• 32:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I try to be, you know, consistent in what to tell them.
• 32:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um, and they understand, they understand, and uh hope that they will follow.
• 32:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They don't all they're not perfect.
• 32:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: The kids is the kids.
• 32:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 32:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But uh they do, they have the knowledge.
• 32:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: One word that's important to I think every person in here is uh autonomy.
• 32:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Having the know to okay, I I have to understand you told me what I'm supposed to do.
• 32:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So now I know what to do.
• 32:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: At that point, now it's on you.
• 32:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's it's kind of on you to do what's right or do what's wrong.
• 32:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I've given my kids autonomy and health.
• 32:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And but they are they are my kids are beautiful.
• 32:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They're good they're good dude, they're good little dudes.
• 32:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Do they ever express like any fear around like your my two of my sons, Kendrick and Kellen, they had a rough year maybe a year and a half ago.
• 32:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I'm dealing with dialysis, but I'm I'm sick like during this time.
• 33:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I'm having rough, rough days.
• 33:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And their mom get cancer.
• 33:03
  Khalila McCoy: My goodness.
• 33:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, she had a rare cancer.
• 33:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I remember that day she came over to the house to them to live with me.
• 33:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I got custody of them too.
• 33:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And they she she came over to the house because she wanted to tell them in person.
• 33:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 33:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: With me there.
• 33:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I remember her telling them, like, you know, I have cancer, and I remember just seeing them, like, just deplete, like everything.
• 33:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was like, why us, why my parents, like, why why we had to go through this and crying and um just kind of just erratic.
• 33:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I remember like grabbing them and hugging them, and um, you know, grabbing their mother's hand and grabbing each other's hand and praying.
• 33:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Just asking God to give us peace.
• 33:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Asking God for healing, of course, but asking God for peace.
• 33:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 33:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And peace in in my kids' mind.
• 33:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because you forget when you're going through it, they are too.
• 33:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They might not have the physical issues, but you're their parents.
• 33:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They love you.
• 33:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They you're their everything.
• 34:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And to have two parents go through at the same time was very hard for them.
• 34:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But again, I've set that foundation of faith.
• 34:08
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So they knew how to pray.
• 34:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They knew how to go turn on a worship song in and just get in the presence of God.
• 34:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They knew those things.
• 34:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And doing that, it helped them get through.
• 34:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I remember my son speaking about it.
• 34:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I think it's one of my first TikTok videos I put up.
• 34:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: We was at church on New Year's, New Year's Eve, and he um had a testimony.
• 34:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was just saying, you know, my mom was going through that, my dad's going through that.
• 34:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I started crying, and he was like, But I trust God.
• 34:33
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, I just trust God.
• 34:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Just give just give it like to God.
• 34:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He's gonna see you through.
• 34:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And thank God, I think maybe uh four or five months ago, his mom was healed from cancer.
• 34:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So that's a that's a beautiful thing.
• 34:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 34:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: She she got a lot of things.
• 34:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes, yes, yes, me too.
• 34:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You too.
• 34:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I was I'm I was grateful that my kids got to see the other side of that.
• 34:55
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, yeah, you're gonna go through trials and tribulations.
• 34:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: My my kids have no excuse.
• 35:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, some kids have an excuse to like, I've been seeing God do things.
• 35:04
  Khalila McCoy: Right.
• 35:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: My kids can't say that.
• 35:06
  Khalila McCoy: They're watching God move every day.
• 35:08
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They can't say that.
• 35:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They see miracles, they see miracles happen.
• 35:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And uh I'm just grateful that their mom came through and they got to see that.
• 35:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And they got to like experience that that joy of that healing that God promised her and that she got.
• 35:22
  Khalila McCoy: Are all your children's moms believers as well?
• 35:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, I would I would say so.
• 35:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I would I would I mean, yeah, I think so.
• 35:30
  Khalila McCoy: Okay.
• 35:30
  Khalila McCoy: No, that's good.
• 35:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They all go to church, you know.
• 35:33
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I think they're all believers.
• 35:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They all got some faith background.
• 35:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Okay.
• 35:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I don't I don't talk to them about those things.
• 35:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: We'd rather talk about uh kids.
• 35:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, I yeah, because I don't want to get cussed out.
• 35:47
  Khalila McCoy: Hey, that's that's a good thing too.
• 35:49
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah, no, listen.
• 35:50
  Khalila McCoy: Say in your lane.
• 35:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes, yes, yes.
• 35:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But yeah, they're all believers, and I think that that foundation helps, you know, because it also helps us to not cross certain lines as far as like how we talk to each other.
• 36:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Well, how I talk to them.
• 36:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I can't say how they talk to me, but how I talk to them.
• 36:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I learned that.
• 36:08
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, I asked God a couple years ago, I said, Lord, I need peace in the situations because it would get to me when I couldn't see my kids.
• 36:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It would get to me when, you know, they try to take me through mess.
• 36:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It would it would really, you know, get to me in a in a hard way, and it was hard not to express that anger.
• 36:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But then I I said, God, you told me to love those who even hate me.
• 36:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, how do I do that?
• 36:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So what I did, I started praying for, praying for them.
• 36:33
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like literally, I started calling their names out.
• 36:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was weird at first.
• 36:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was it was weird at first.
• 36:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was like, oh, I don't want to.
• 36:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I started praying for them, and then it gave me a piece so that when even they started to maybe argue with me or say things, try to bring my character down, I thought, okay, well, you have a blessed day, and I'll talk to you later.
• 36:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, I I was able to switch over and not use that venom as venom for me to spit too.
• 37:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 37:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I learned that everything's spiritual.
• 37:02
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like everything we go through is spiritual.
• 37:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So although they might be trying to talk to me crazy or say something or keep my kids from me, that's spiritual.
• 37:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That's not them.
• 37:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's the spirit in them.
• 37:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I gotta I gotta bind that spirit and talk and talk to that spirit, but I I can't bind that person as who it's not them, it's the spirit.
• 37:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 37:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Once I saw things spiritually, like, okay, it helped me to have peace even when when they try to bring chaos.
• 37:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I I don't I don't argue.
• 37:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like once they start arguing, I said, you know, I'm not gonna argue.
• 37:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I don't I don't argue with people because I understand that nothing good comes from it.
• 37:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Never.
• 37:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You just argue, you might have said some things you didn't want to say that you or that you wanted to say that you shouldn't have said, and now all it is is more anger versus the fusing situation, and okay, I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna pray and pray about it.
• 37:50
  Khalila McCoy: How do you encourage people who just aren't where you are in their faith yet or who don't, you know, believe in God or Jesus?
• 37:56
  Khalila McCoy: What do you say to them when they're going through a tough time or a situation like that?
• 38:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I often say just give them a try.
• 38:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I think it's about the try.
• 38:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: People think that when you come to Jesus or you come to God that you gotta be this perfect saint, that you're never gonna do something wrong again, that you gotta give up everything.
• 38:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And that's so far from the truth.
• 38:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 38:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That is so far from you're not God it is, right?
• 38:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because I would make it.
• 38:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I would have made it.
• 38:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But it's it's it's the it's the truth because it's like you're not saved by your actions.
• 38:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 38:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You're not saved by your actions, you're only saved by grace and grace alone.
• 38:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like you're only saved by God's grace, God's mercy.
• 38:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So once you know that you can't do nothing to get to God, then it's easier.
• 38:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 38:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, you don't you don't have to be perfect to come to Christ.
• 38:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That dispel that, that that's a that's a false rumor.
• 38:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And the devil has to put put that city there.
• 38:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: God only uses imperfect people.
• 38:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That's it.
• 38:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That's true.
• 38:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Look at the Bible.
• 39:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Look at the the things that's murderers and so much thieves and liars and cheaters.
• 39:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Everything in that joint.
• 39:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's everything in that joint.
• 39:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like the Bible's a crazy, if you really read that, it's it's the crazy story.
• 39:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So just know that God knows you're imperfect.
• 39:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That's why he died.
• 39:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That's why he died for your sins, because he knew you were imperfect.
• 39:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So you don't, so I when I tell people it's like give God a try.
• 39:25
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because I can't, I can't tell anybody what else to do, because that's that's what I did.
• 39:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, I I can't say, you know, turn around three times and jump in the air and you should be all right.
• 39:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I I can't know.
• 39:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So that's the only that that peace that's surpassed understanding is real.
• 39:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's real.
• 39:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I tell people all the time, like, you know, give God a try.
• 39:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Give him five days, like of an honest try, like honest prayer, honest time with God.
• 39:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Give him five days.
• 39:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I believe that once you open that door, I think he'll come in and you'll realize that he's real.
• 39:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I I had a I had a friend that um recently uh that I coach with, and he was an atheist, right?
• 40:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And um, so I'm talking to him, I practice, and you know, I guess I say, hey bro, you should pull up on me.
• 40:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm speaking this Sunday at church, and his eyes got real big.
• 40:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was like, church.
• 40:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was like, um, you know, I I don't, you know, really believe in God.
• 40:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm an atheist.
• 40:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I said, Oh no, it's cool, man.
• 40:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, we all got our different ways, you know what I mean?
• 40:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's cool.
• 40:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I just give you an invite, you know what I mean.
• 40:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was like, so the practice went on a little bit later, and then we got to like the end of practice.
• 40:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He came, he said, Tossy.
• 40:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I said, What's up, bro?
• 40:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was like, Man, when I first got here to this school, you were very kind to me.
• 40:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You were nice to me, you had a conversation with me, you got to know me a little bit.
• 40:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And although I'm not a believer, he said, you know, I will, I'll, I'll come hear you speak.
• 40:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'll I'll be there on Sunday.
• 40:45
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And he came.
• 40:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He actually, he actually came to church, was fresh, had a fresh little get up on.
• 40:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Had a it was a powerful man, it was a powerful that day.
• 40:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was it was a very powerful service, and like the spirit was high.
• 40:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And he came to me afterwards and just said, man, chance.
• 41:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was like, I ain't gonna lie to you, bro.
• 41:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: This was one of the best experiences of my life.
• 41:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was like, I never felt this way.
• 41:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He ended up telling me Monday at practice, he was like, I didn't want to tell you there, but he was like, I was crying in the back.
• 41:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I cried the way home.
• 41:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Uh-huh.
• 41:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I was just like, man, crying, and I want to give God a chance.
• 41:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And he ended up becoming a believer.
• 41:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: We prayed right there, I practice, we prayed right there, and he ended up, you know, becoming a believer.
• 41:27
  Khalila McCoy: So amazing.
• 41:28
  Khalila McCoy: What a testimony.
• 41:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Well it's like, it's possible, but you gotta give him a chance.
• 41:32
  Khalila McCoy: Yes.
• 41:33
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And it's not gonna be sometimes it gets harder when you do.
• 41:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: People think you, you know, you you go to God and all Rambo's.
• 41:40
  Khalila McCoy: Everything becomes easy.
• 41:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: A lot of times it gets rougher.
• 41:43
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah.
• 41:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And because the enemy is is also like, no, come back this way.
• 41:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like he's trying to fight you.
• 41:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And uh, you gotta just have that perseverance, that perseverance.
• 41:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And um, I'm just grateful that God has been using me.
• 41:55
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, little by little.
• 41:57
  Khalila McCoy: You're a youth pastor now, right?
• 41:59
  Khalila McCoy: How did how did you get into that part of it?
• 42:02
  Khalila McCoy: Because I know you said you're coaching, so obviously you care for the young people.
• 42:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, yeah.
• 42:06
  Khalila McCoy: So it's just like your faith in God kind of was at that next step for you.
• 42:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, so let me explain probably what what led to me being a youth pastor, which what which I said like 2020 was a rough year, kidding third, and all that.
• 42:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: 22 was my roughest year of my life.
• 42:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: By far the roughest year of my life.
• 42:25
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So, as I said, I coached football.
• 42:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So we had to do film on Sunday.
• 42:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But we watched film, you kind of analyzed your opponents and your game.
• 42:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But my youngest son lives in Pittsburgh, uh Chauncey Jr., he lives in Pittsburgh.
• 42:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So he had a football game that Sunday.
• 42:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I went to his game.
• 42:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was like 10 a.m., 10:30.
• 42:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He played and had a good game.
• 42:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I hugged him, you know, got some ice cream.
• 42:45
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Was on the road back to um Youngstown to go to our meeting.
• 42:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I'm driving and then just driving and, you know, music playing.
• 42:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I get a ding on my phone, I look down.
• 42:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: My Bible app goes off around 12 with a scripture today.
• 42:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Uh so I look at the scriptures.
• 43:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Romans 8, 28.
• 43:02
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That scripture says, For we know all things work together for the good of those that love God and are called according to his purpose.
• 43:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I look at it, okay, whatever.
• 43:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Driving.
• 43:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I'm getting closer to the exit from Pittsburgh to Ohio.
• 43:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And when I come around a bin, it's traffic on the highway, like backed up all the way on the highway.
• 43:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because there's only one toll open.
• 43:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Okay.
• 43:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Why would they do that?
• 43:25
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I don't know.
• 43:25
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But it was only one toll open.
• 43:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And it's traffic, like literally on the highway.
• 43:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I'm when I'm coming around the bin, I don't see the traffic.
• 43:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So when I see it, it's like, oh, so I hit my brake, my brakes don't go.
• 43:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I hit it again, my brakes don't go.
• 43:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Then I slam my brakes and it barely catches at the end, and it slides.
• 43:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's it's it's cars to my left, cars to my right, and we're in like two barricades.
• 43:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So there's nowhere for me to go.
• 43:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 43:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I know they're about to crash.
• 43:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I boom, I crash, and I hit the back of somebody's car, and like my ears start ringing, and I'm I'm you know, I'm busted.
• 43:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Up in my face, blood everywhere, and um I'm trying to move, but I can't move.
• 44:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm trying to get out the car, but I can't move.
• 44:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, I'm kind of like a little woozy and delirious, and um, I'm there for a little while.
• 44:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Somebody comes by knock on my door, are you okay?
• 44:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I'm like, Yeah, I can't move.
• 44:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I call my family and say, Hey, I've been in a car and said, I don't know where I'm at.
• 44:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And um, but on my first view, I see somebody carrying a kid crying.
• 44:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I see right like past me carrying a kid crying.
• 44:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I started to like, you know, I hope that they're okay.
• 44:33
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 44:33
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I said, I hope that this is okay.
• 44:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And now I'm like, I hope I didn't hurt anybody.
• 44:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And then so I'm wondering why I can't move my leg.
• 44:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So then the ambulance comes and the cops come and they pull me out of the car, and my leg is like excruciating.
• 44:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I broke my femur in a car accident.
• 44:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So my femur broke, my right femur.
• 44:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So they take me into the ambulance and they put me in there and they rush me to the hospital.
• 45:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And um, they cut my shorts open, cut my clothes open, and they they get me to the room.
• 45:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And then the doctor comes in and says, Your femur's broken.
• 45:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So we're gonna set it tonight, and then a couple of days later, we're gonna do surgery.
• 45:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So then after that, a cop comes in.
• 45:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Now I haven't had any medicine, any, you know, anesthesia.
• 45:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, and he comes in and he said, Were you on drugs?
• 45:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That's the first thing he said, Were you on drugs?
• 45:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I said, I said, no, sir.
• 45:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'll just uh I tried to hit my break and it went out.
• 45:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He said, Well, you must have been on drugs.
• 45:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He said, Um, I said, no, sir, I wasn't on drugs.
• 45:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And so now I'm getting mad a little bit, but I'm not I'm trying to contain myself.
• 45:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: My aunt is in the room.
• 45:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Thank God that my aunt was in the room.
• 45:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And um, he said, uh, well, it was a girl in that car accident, and she's hurt pretty bad.
• 45:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: We don't think she's gonna make it.
• 45:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So it was like, like, what?
• 45:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was like, so it was chilling.
• 45:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was chilling.
• 45:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was like, me?
• 45:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Mm-hmm.
• 45:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I said, no.
• 45:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So they they they set my leg and you know, you know, I go back to the room.
• 45:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: This is this is the rough day of my life.
• 46:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: This is how my day went.
• 46:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So in the morning of that day, like three days later, in the morning of that day, I had dialysis.
• 46:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Mm-hmm.
• 46:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right?
• 46:08
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And then after dialysis, I had femur surgery.
• 46:11
  Khalila McCoy: Wow.
• 46:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Same day, femur surgery.
• 46:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And after they wheeled me back in from the room with my femur surgery, my dad's in the room.
• 46:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And uh, he is crying.
• 46:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I'm like, you know, I'm hurting in pain, I'm woozy from the surgery.
• 46:25
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm you know, they're giving me some morphine.
• 46:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm like, what's up, dad?
• 46:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was like, I gotta tell you something, champ.
• 46:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: What's up?
• 46:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was like, uh, that little girl didn't make it.
• 46:33
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He said, That little that little girl didn't make it.
• 46:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I was in a place that I've never been before.
• 46:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like mentally.
• 46:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, I'm like, why me?
• 46:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, on top of dialysis, on top of my kidneys, on top of this, on top of my finances, on top of all that.
• 46:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, why me, Lord?
• 46:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I said, I I'll give up.
• 46:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I told God, I'm done.
• 47:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, take me.
• 47:02
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I got I'm done.
• 47:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I said, I'm done with faith, I'm done with praying, I'm done reading my Bible.
• 47:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, I'm done, take me, Lord.
• 47:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: This is 2022.
• 47:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I said, I'm done, Lord.
• 47:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And for the next few days, my room was always dark.
• 47:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I told my family, do not come see me.
• 47:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, leave me alone.
• 47:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I need time alone.
• 47:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Room was dark.
• 47:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Then I get a phone call, and the state trooper say that I was facing 15 years of prison.
• 47:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: 15 years of prison.
• 47:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I'm like, how?
• 47:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They're like, 'cause we think we do on drugs.
• 47:34
  Khalila McCoy: So they they they're your fault.
• 47:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, and somebody's dead.
• 47:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So now that's on my conscience.
• 47:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I'm facing prison, broken femur, dialysis, all in the same time.
• 47:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: All this is going on at the same time.
• 47:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I'm just like so beaten and broken.
• 47:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like so beaten and broken.
• 47:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And what was what's special about my family is they didn't care what I said.
• 48:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They still came.
• 48:05
  Khalila McCoy: They came good.
• 48:06
  Khalila McCoy: I'm so happy to hear that.
• 48:08
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They still came.
• 48:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I don't care, boy.
• 48:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I got a lot of it's like four dudes of my family.
• 48:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's like only four or five of us, it's all aunties.
• 48:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And um, and and they came in and boy, it's dark in here.
• 48:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And they they they spoken to me.
• 48:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Okay.
• 48:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Uh my cousin Charisse spoken to me.
• 48:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Uh, my cousin Leah, my auntie Lane, my Aunt Marsha, my aunt Charlene.
• 48:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So many, so many people that came into that that time and spoke to me.
• 48:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So many people came in and just like that's wonderful, encouraged me.
• 48:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And then one night I was laying there and I was like, okay, God, if you're real, and I know you are, I need you.
• 48:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I need you now.
• 48:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Mentally, I need you.
• 48:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Physically, I need you, spiritually, I need, I need to spend time with you.
• 48:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I need you to show me you're real.
• 49:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I started listening to worship music again.
• 49:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I started reading my Bible.
• 49:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I started to dive in prayer more and more.
• 49:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And as I began to get closer to God, He began to take some anxieties off, take some depression off.
• 49:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And then I got to that place where I was like, well, if I gotta go to jail, I can go to prison, I'm gonna tell somebody about Jesus in there.
• 49:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I will.
• 49:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I will, God.
• 49:25
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I committed my life to God.
• 49:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So then now that I go to dialysis, this and I've been doing this ever since.
• 49:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So now when I got the hospital, maybe like a two months later, I started going to dialysis.
• 49:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: At dialysis now, I started devoted my whole time, my whole four hours to God.
• 49:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I'm reading my Bible the whole time.
• 49:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm listening to worship music the whole time.
• 49:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm sending I send my family devotionals every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
• 49:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I sent you one, I think, one time.
• 49:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes.
• 49:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I do that every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
• 49:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I send over 50 people devotionals every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
• 49:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I said, Lord, I'm gonna commit my most painful time to you.
• 50:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And when I did that, blessings happened.
• 50:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So fast forward maybe like six months.
• 50:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And now we're starting to go to court.
• 50:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So it went from 15 years to three years because they found out that, hey, I wasn't on drugs.
• 50:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 50:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And hey, I did put pressure on my brake.
• 50:19
  Khalila McCoy: Okay, so they found out that the brakes weren't your Yeah, they found out all that was true.
• 50:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But they still, they, you know, they're gonna try to give me something.
• 50:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 50:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So now it's three years for um vehicle or homicide.
• 50:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I'm still like, okay, God, I thank you for the blessings of not having drugs in my system because I could have during that time, I still was smoking and stuff.
• 50:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I could have been, thank God I wasn't smoking that day.
• 50:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 50:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, I mean, or it could have been that.
• 50:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That'll change my whole trajectory of my life.
• 50:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I we're in court and we had the pretrial hearing, and this is the first time that I meet their mother, the girl's mother.
• 50:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: First time I ever meet her and the father.
• 50:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I'm so like nervous and like there's nothing I could say that would bring the child back.
• 51:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 51:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And the officer was lying to them and saying I was on drugs.
• 51:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So at first they had a lot of venom for me.
• 51:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And they put that on, they put that in the so I was getting talked about on social media, you know, every website.
• 51:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, real bad, real bad.
• 51:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because they that's what that's what they that's what they told the public, because the officer told them that.
• 51:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 51:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So now that is out there, and I'm getting called so many racial slurs and just so much that, you know, it was a it was a rough time.
• 51:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So we're in court, we're in court, and um the mu the father speaks and he has something to say.
• 51:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He's he's mad, but he has something.
• 51:33
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: The mother speaks.
• 51:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So she says, Um, you know, Chauncey, you know, I didn't know what I was gonna say to you.
• 51:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um you know, my daughter is gone, my life has changed forever.
• 51:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um she said, and I had a lot of hate for you.
• 51:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: A lot of hate for you.
• 51:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And because I was told that you were drunk.
• 51:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was told that, you know, you know, you you were driving recklessly.
• 51:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And um, so I did have a lot of hate for you.
• 51:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I found out those things weren't true, but I also found out who you were.
• 52:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I I found out how you are in your community, I found out about your kids, I found out about your coaching, I found out about I found out about the things that you do and that you're a man of faith.
• 52:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I found all those things out, and I don't want anything bad to happen to you.
• 52:25
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: She said, What I want you to do is go home, and I want you to be able to go home, and I want you to be able to hug your kids.
• 52:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And have them a little tighter.
• 52:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And uh it was, and I I responded and I said, you know, I mean it was it was it wasn't a dry eye in that in that courtroom.
• 52:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: We all were crying.
• 52:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was crying and just sandhouse.
• 52:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I mean, I'll never get past that.
• 52:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 52:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like it'll always be a like Paul said, it's a thorn on my side.
• 52:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It'll always be there.
• 52:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Even sometimes when I see little girls with their mothers, I just I be like, uh, trying to break down.
• 52:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, because she didn't do anything wrong.
• 53:02
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, she didn't deserve that.
• 53:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Even though I couldn't change what happened.
• 53:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I wasn't drunk.
• 53:08
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I wasn't some days.
• 53:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I wish I was drunk.
• 53:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I haven't like I did that because I was drunk.
• 53:13
  Khalila McCoy: Right.
• 53:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, not just the happy.
• 53:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, it was it was like, why this happened?
• 53:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Why my brace go out this time?
• 53:21
  Khalila McCoy: Right.
• 53:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And so I I told I told her the mother that I and the father that I'm sorry and that I wish I could change things.
• 53:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I wish I had the power to change things.
• 53:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I said, but either way, whatever you guys need from me, whatever, whenever, like if I could be there for you in any way, call me.
• 53:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I get the mind for me.
• 53:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I just said, I can't bring your daughter back.
• 53:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I can't.
• 53:45
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He said, but whatever I can do that will help your pain will ease some of your anxieties, some of your depression, you know, I give that to you, like whenever.
• 53:55
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And again, it was just very emotional.
• 53:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And even the judge had to take a little quick research.
• 54:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was crying, the judge was crying.
• 54:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was one of those moments where everybody was like, I'll just it was it's hard, it was hard to breathe.
• 54:08
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Just to to see to see a mother who's who's lost a kid, see a father who's lost a kid, and you're you're a parent yourself, to see those things and to just know that it ain't supposed to go that way.
• 54:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They're supposed to bury me, you know, and just to understand those things.
• 54:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I was it was a rough, rough day.
• 54:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But it's miracles in that.
• 54:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like she spoke up for me.
• 54:36
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah.
• 54:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: She could have said, I want him in jail, I want him in prison, I want bad for him, he ruined my family.
• 54:45
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But on the contrary, somebody who was my enemy who showed grace and love towards me when they didn't have to.
• 54:54
  Khalila McCoy: And I love it was because she saw your character, she saw who you were.
• 54:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes.
• 54:59
  Khalila McCoy: And like I feel like almost like the embodiment of what you know, Christ, of what who he calls us to be, like, live out your faith, don't just talk about it.
• 55:07
  Khalila McCoy: She saw you living a life that she knew was positive.
• 55:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes.
• 55:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And she uh and even the judge said, I've never seen so many people here for a pretrial.
• 55:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was like my whole family was there.
• 55:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: My whole family was there, like uh so many, like 30, 40, 50 people were there just for the pre-trial.
• 55:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like it was like, you must be loved.
• 55:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: The judge said that he said, You must be a loved young man.
• 55:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And everybody said, Yes, we out loud.
• 55:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, we love my love child.
• 55:33
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, black folks, they're gonna say something.
• 55:36
  Khalila McCoy: I can only imagine all the aunties.
• 55:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Oh man, I love them girls though.
• 55:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So we go, we we recess, right?
• 55:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And then we go.
• 55:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: My lawyer calls me outside and shout out to uh Demetrius Macretis, he's a great lawyer in this area.
• 55:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: A great dude.
• 55:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: We put he's a little older.
• 55:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was a freshman, he was a senior playing football.
• 55:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He also played for Ohio State, but he's a great, great lawyer, great person.
• 56:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because I didn't have money during that time, and he still represented me.
• 56:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He still looked out for me.
• 56:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I always big up him.
• 56:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And if you need a lawyer in the area, he's a he's the one to go get.
• 56:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So He called me to the to the outside.
• 56:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Nobody's out there but me.
• 56:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And him.
• 56:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was like, his eyes were wide, he was like, chance.
• 56:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was like, man, I've never seen this happen before.
• 56:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was like, what?
• 56:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: What?
• 56:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was like, after your testimony and her testimony, and the circumstances that really were behind the accident, they won't, they don't want to give you any prison time.
• 56:34
  Khalila McCoy: Oh my goodness.
• 56:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And you're not even getting a felony, you're getting a misdemeanor, and you just gotta do probation for a while.
• 56:41
  Khalila McCoy: That was a miracle.
• 56:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I went back in the room and I told my family, and it was the joy and emotions.
• 56:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes.
• 56:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And just like, wow.
• 56:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Not even a felony.
• 56:55
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I was just thanking God for all that he did, and I had to go to processing to like sign some papers for my probation.
• 57:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And the mother was walking past, and um she stopped me and she was like, You hug your babies?
• 57:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I said, Yes, ma'am.
• 57:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And she gave me a hug.
• 57:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And we hugged for a long time, and she cried on my shoulder, and I just said, Thank you for your grace.
• 57:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And um months later, she sent me a message on Facebook and she said, My family doesn't want me to, you know, do this, but I'm a woman, and you know, I've been having dreams about you.
• 57:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I I I'm not really a believer in God, but I would like for you to pray for me.
• 57:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And, you know, we messaged a little bit, and you know, we haven't, we, we, we haven't got to meet yet, but she wanted to meet.
• 57:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: We sit down with me and pray together.
• 57:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, all that has happened.
• 57:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And she wanted to sit and pray with me.
• 57:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I just thank God for her grace.
• 57:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I thank God, I hope God is blessing her in ways that she can't imagine.
• 58:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I know that it's still rough because her daughter was only, I think, one turning two.
• 58:06
  Khalila McCoy: Okay.
• 58:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes, um, a little girl.
• 58:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I know that's still hard on her.
• 58:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It'll be hard on me forever.
• 58:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So, but I think I thank her for letting God work to her and give me grace.
• 58:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because she didn't have to.
• 58:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And so the fact that I came out of that situation first facing 15 years of prison.
• 58:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: To three, to nine, yeah.
• 58:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's hard for you.
• 58:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Somebody tell me God ain't real.
• 58:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's hard for me.
• 58:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: My experiences.
• 58:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And then after that, I'm healing up, getting better, getting better, and broke my femur again.
• 58:36
  Khalila McCoy: How'd you bring it again?
• 58:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It just broke.
• 58:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I was walking, I was cool, I had a cane, I was cool, and one day it started hurting.
• 58:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Oh, like, dog.
• 58:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I go to the uh doctor, he like, your screw broken, yo.
• 58:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's like again, I gotta go back to rehab again.
• 58:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Oh no.
• 58:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: In a hospital again.
• 58:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And it's like, after that, femur surgery again, rehab again, months and months and months again.
• 59:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And this time they said, I might never like really walk normal again.
• 59:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But God is a healer, man.
• 59:11
  Khalila McCoy: I feel like, yeah, when you start to hear these things at this point, are you just like, okay, thank you.
• 59:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm gonna take this up with God.
• 59:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like now, now I'll start to accept my afflictions.
• 59:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes.
• 59:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Now I was like, okay, I know that something better is coming from there.
• 59:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So one day I go to church.
• 59:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I got invited to uh my home church where I used to go.
• 59:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was going to a different church.
• 59:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was going to church in Youngstown, but this time the pastor invited me to come to New Jerusalem.
• 59:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I said, I'll come.
• 59:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And um, I gave a testimony that day.
• 59:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: My kids did too.
• 59:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They all gave testimonies.
• 59:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And the pastor said, I've never seen kids like that.
• 59:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I've never seen a father like what his kids like that.
• 59:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And um he said, You should start coming here more.
• 59:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I didn't want to, because it's an older church, and I go to a younger church that's turned up a little bit.
• 59:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, so it's like, oh God.
• 59:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I said, but I'll I but I'll respect it.
• 59:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So he called me to his house one day, and then his pastor Al Tamaro.
• 1:00:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He said, Chauncey, you know, I don't do this often, but I believe God is calling you to more than what you're doing.
• 1:00:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I was like, okay, cool.
• 1:00:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You want me to be like a deacon or something at the church?
• 1:00:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He's like, nah, I want you to be a youth pastor.
• 1:00:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I was like, I don't have no experience.
• 1:00:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I said, You sure me?
• 1:00:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I got baby mama's pastor.
• 1:00:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You sure?
• 1:00:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was like, No, I see it in you.
• 1:00:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I thought that night.
• 1:00:25
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: God kind of led me that night.
• 1:00:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And so I said, I'm gonna pray about it.
• 1:00:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I went home and uh I called my astral pastor, Mark Jackson from the light church.
• 1:00:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm like, he ain't gonna let me leave.
• 1:00:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like he's gonna say, no, I need you here.
• 1:00:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 1:00:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I was like, what's up?
• 1:00:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I said, Pastor Mark, what's up?
• 1:00:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I said, What's up, shots?
• 1:00:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I said, man, uh, I gotta ask you something.
• 1:00:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like this pastor Warren has asked me to be the youth pastor there and called me to start doing ministry.
• 1:00:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: What do you think about that?
• 1:00:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm thinking I'll say, nah, we we could do that here.
• 1:00:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was like, No, I think that's great for you.
• 1:00:55
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I was like, what?
• 1:00:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He was like, no.
• 1:00:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He said, that is you are that.
• 1:01:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He said, you are that.
• 1:01:02
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I believe that you can start your own thing and I and I'm gonna support you.
• 1:01:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I'm like, no.
• 1:01:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, that's all you were supposed to say.
• 1:01:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: No, stay, stay.
• 1:01:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 1:01:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And once he gave me the push and I prayed about it, and I got a piece with it, because maybe four months before, somebody prophesied that to me.
• 1:01:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Okay.
• 1:01:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They said that they saw me, they don't know how, but they saw me in a suit on stage talking the gospel.
• 1:01:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like four months ago, four months before it.
• 1:01:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And five months later, I was on stage.
• 1:01:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: In the suit, talking the gospel.
• 1:01:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And ever since then, I've been a youth pastor, and and I think maybe the church only had about three youth there.
• 1:01:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Now they have now we have about 30.
• 1:01:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Okay.
• 1:01:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And uh I think seven of them are getting baptized in two weeks.
• 1:01:52
  Khalila McCoy: That's awesome.
• 1:01:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Please God.
• 1:01:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, some of them have one of the kids, his name is Gavin.
• 1:01:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He had a car accident, a really bad one.
• 1:02:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And my first message was about that.
• 1:02:02
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And he started to come to church, and he was having mental battles and and going to like, you know, mental hospitals and all those things.
• 1:02:08
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Uh, since then, he hasn't been to a mental hospital.
• 1:02:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He's been doing better.
• 1:02:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And a lot of kids have come to Christ.
• 1:02:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I just thank God for the ministry he's given me.
• 1:02:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I've always been a decent speaker.
• 1:02:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um, I've never been too shy.
• 1:02:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, that I came up to you.
• 1:02:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, give me the ball.
• 1:02:23
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah.
• 1:02:23
  Khalila McCoy: You're very outgoing.
• 1:02:25
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 1:02:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I I got that from my dad.
• 1:02:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I just I'm naturally my dad's a very confident man, so I naturally got that from my dad.
• 1:02:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I thought I would be like nervous and like out of place.
• 1:02:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I mean, like being like, is this message gonna be good enough?
• 1:02:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, right.
• 1:02:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because I don't, you know, I don't I try to study different pastors and preachers.
• 1:02:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm like, is this gonna be good enough?
• 1:02:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, do I got enough in there?
• 1:02:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Mm-hmm.
• 1:02:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: What should I say?
• 1:02:49
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And God kind of guided me, the Holy Spirit guided me to say, your first first summer should be about your testimony.
• 1:02:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Tell people what you've been through.
• 1:02:59
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah.
• 1:03:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Tell people how you got through.
• 1:03:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Tell people how they said you'll never walk normal again.
• 1:03:03
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Now you walk smoother than ever.
• 1:03:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, tell people those things.
• 1:03:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Tell about, and I did, and it was a very like explosive experience.
• 1:03:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It was a great service.
• 1:03:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I think four or five people got saved that day.
• 1:03:16
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So it was it was beautiful.
• 1:03:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So ever since then I've been, you know, the youth pastor, and I'm learning and growing and learning and growing and making mistakes, but getting better and learning.
• 1:03:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I'm just grateful that God has put me in a position to do that, to be a leader of young young people.
• 1:03:34
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah.
• 1:03:34
  Khalila McCoy: Sounds like they need you.
• 1:03:35
  Khalila McCoy: You're a good role model for them as well.
• 1:03:38
  Khalila McCoy: So that's good.
• 1:03:38
  Khalila McCoy: I try to be.
• 1:03:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I try to, but I'm real though.
• 1:03:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I don't think that's what people need.
• 1:03:43
  Khalila McCoy: Like people don't want the fluff.
• 1:03:45
  Khalila McCoy: They don't want the like, oh, like we talked about before, just like, oh yeah, I did this and now everything's perfect because they don't see that in their own life, so then they can't relate to it, like the Instagram version of life.
• 1:03:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes, you gotta be real.
• 1:03:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I tell people I say it often, just because I'm on this platform don't mean I'm perfect.
• 1:04:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I ain't sinless or I don't make mistakes.
• 1:04:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: We are all sinners.
• 1:04:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: We all have our own struggles, we have our own battles.
• 1:04:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm just trying to do what's right.
• 1:04:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 1:04:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And you can too.
• 1:04:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You're not gonna be perfect on this walk.
• 1:04:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You'll never be perfect, but you can't be righteous, you can't do it the right way.
• 1:04:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I try to put that message out.
• 1:04:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Even my life, even in coaching and in the community, I try to always be transparent.
• 1:04:25
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, just do your best.
• 1:04:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: God, God doesn't require all of you, He requires your best.
• 1:04:31
  Khalila McCoy: Right.
• 1:04:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That's it.
• 1:04:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: If you do your best, that's your best.
• 1:04:34
  Khalila McCoy: He's got the rest, right?
• 1:04:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He got everything else.
• 1:04:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He does.
• 1:04:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So that's been beautiful.
• 1:04:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 1:04:40
  Khalila McCoy: Gosh, I learned so much about you today.
• 1:04:42
  Khalila McCoy: I didn't know all the things that you were going through and dealing with.
• 1:04:45
  Khalila McCoy: I see your messages, I see your smile on there, but like there's so much that comes with that.
• 1:04:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And most people don't know.
• 1:04:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: They would think my life is like peaches and cream.
• 1:04:54
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah.
• 1:04:55
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because of how how my person, even at the at dialysis, like when I see people there, they are missing limbs, they are crying and screaming because they're cramping and they are delirious.
• 1:05:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I walk in there and I'm in there playing my music, and I'm different because God has set me apart.
• 1:05:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah.
• 1:05:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, and even at dialysis, I pray for people at dialysis, at dialysis, like with needles in my arm.
• 1:05:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But the other hand, I'm praying for somebody.
• 1:05:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I've done that for the nurses, for other patients, for the doctors.
• 1:05:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So God has been using me through my affliction every step of the way.
• 1:05:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I'm just grateful that, you know, even in spite of, in spite of, you know, in spite of his affliction, in spite of the hard times, God has shown himself faithful every single time.
• 1:05:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Even in finances.
• 1:05:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I got four boys.
• 1:05:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Four.
• 1:05:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And my backtown ain't crazy.
• 1:05:47
  Khalila McCoy: But never have we all those needs are provided.
• 1:05:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Never have we needed anything.
• 1:05:51
  Khalila McCoy: Yes.
• 1:05:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Never.
• 1:05:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So God has just shown me.
• 1:05:53
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I know that things are going to get better, and things have been getting better little by little from a period in life.
• 1:05:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I know that God.
• 1:05:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Is going to take care of me.
• 1:06:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: The Bible says the Lord is my shepherd, but that means I have everything I need.
• 1:06:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That's it.
• 1:06:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It don't say nothing else.
• 1:06:08
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: The Lord is my shepherd.
• 1:06:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I have everything I need.
• 1:06:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That's enough for me.
• 1:06:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And he's been that.
• 1:06:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He's been that.
• 1:06:15
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I've made him my shepherd, though.
• 1:06:17
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: See, a savior can a savior.
• 1:06:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Anybody can be a savior.
• 1:06:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You save somebody.
• 1:06:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 1:06:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But for them to be your Lord, that means you listen to them.
• 1:06:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That means you obey them.
• 1:06:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That means you follow them.
• 1:06:30
  Khalila McCoy: Yes, you let them guide.
• 1:06:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And that's what I have.
• 1:06:33
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes, God is my savior.
• 1:06:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Jesus is my savior for sure.
• 1:06:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But he is my Lord.
• 1:06:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He is my friend.
• 1:06:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He is my father.
• 1:06:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I spend time with him.
• 1:06:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And in that time, nothing but peace has come over me.
• 1:06:45
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Even when chaos is around me.
• 1:06:47
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I've been through chaos in football this year.
• 1:06:50
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: With my school going through some crazy stuff.
• 1:06:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like I've been through chaos.
• 1:06:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And it's still like I never lost my faith because I know what God, I've had the experience to know that God can do things that are impossible to be done.
• 1:07:04
  Khalila McCoy: So what's your final message to the people, your big takeaway that you want them to have from hearing your story?
• 1:07:11
  Khalila McCoy: Where do they go from here?
• 1:07:13
  Khalila McCoy: How do they arise?
• 1:07:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So to hear my story and to hear a little about me, and I want people to know that to not give up.
• 1:07:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You you might, your trials might look nothing like my trials, but you still got trials.
• 1:07:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You still got tribulations.
• 1:07:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You still got things that you're gonna go through that are gonna be hard.
• 1:07:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: It's gonna be difficult.
• 1:07:33
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, you're gonna have battles, you know, the enemy is gonna try to get in your mind and get you to say, My life is terrible.
• 1:07:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I won't make it, I have nothing, nobody loves me.
• 1:07:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: He wants to get in your ear and say those things, but that's a lie.
• 1:07:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: God has you, and God has people for you.
• 1:07:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You might not you might not want those people, but he has people for you that's going to help you get through.
• 1:07:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because that's what it is what I'm talking about.
• 1:07:58
  Khalila McCoy: No, I like that.
• 1:07:58
  Khalila McCoy: It's funny, I didn't think of it that way, but you're right.
• 1:08:00
  Khalila McCoy: You want somebody in your life right now who that positive that you're gonna do.
• 1:08:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But you're like, no, you ain't you don't kick like that though.
• 1:08:07
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You ain't doing that, you ain't doing certain things.
• 1:08:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: God has somebody for you.
• 1:08:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because God always uses people to get you out of situations.
• 1:08:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, the Bible says, confess your sins to one another and you'll be forgiven.
• 1:08:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like, you gotta tell people things that you're going through.
• 1:08:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And so what I would say is like, trust God no matter what.
• 1:08:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: If you don't believe in God today, say a prayer, you know, put a prayer out there and say, Lord, I'm gonna try.
• 1:08:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I don't know if you're real.
• 1:08:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I don't know if you, you know, show me you're real, give me a chance, and I will, if you are real, I will dedicate my life to you.
• 1:08:37
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And once you, once you put God first, everything else will be yours that you need.
• 1:08:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, the Bible says in Matthew 6 33, you know, seek ye first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
• 1:08:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So seek God first.
• 1:08:54
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Whatever you do, we we got a job situation coming up and you don't know what job to pick, pray about it.
• 1:09:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Talk to God about it.
• 1:09:01
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Your kids acting a fool, pray about it.
• 1:09:04
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Daily.
• 1:09:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your husband, your wife getting on your your last serves.
• 1:09:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Pray about it.
• 1:09:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Bring it to God first, keep doing the work.
• 1:09:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And He will He will handle everything else.
• 1:09:19
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, I didn't understand that day when I got in a car accident why Romans 8 28 popped on my phone.
• 1:09:26
  Khalila McCoy: Yes.
• 1:09:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I and I and I didn't realize it till about two years later.
• 1:09:32
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Literally all things work together.
• 1:09:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Work together for your good.
• 1:09:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: If you it if you allow God, if you allow him to be all things, everything.
• 1:09:44
  Khalila McCoy: I'm so excited to see like what happens in the mom's life, like the fact that she's reaching out to you and wanting you to pray for her.
• 1:09:50
  Khalila McCoy: Like, yeah, that's just another level of God moving.
• 1:09:53
  Khalila McCoy: And we don't even know like who in that courtroom was also affected by that.
• 1:09:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, because it was a miracle.
• 1:09:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I mean, if you was in that building and you felt a miracle, if you knew what happened that day, you you you had to believe God is real.
• 1:10:06
  Khalila McCoy: Yeah.
• 1:10:06
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because things don't just happen by happenstance like that.
• 1:10:09
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I didn't understand in 2022 why that scripture popped.
• 1:10:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because I'm thinking in my head, I remember getting to the hospital, like, all things, this is this isn't gonna work out for my good.
• 1:10:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I remember thinking that I see that all things are working for my good.
• 1:10:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And God was just putting that there to let me give me peace.
• 1:10:27
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, it's gonna be rough, man.
• 1:10:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You're gonna have a season.
• 1:10:29
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You're gonna you're gonna have a season that not too many people on earth have.
• 1:10:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I chose you to do some things that most people on earth can't do either.
• 1:10:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And since then, people have been healed from diseases, and so much has happened that God has used me for, and all things are working for your good.
• 1:10:45
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I would tell people out there, trust God, give God a chance.
• 1:10:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And when you're going through things, talk to somebody.
• 1:10:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Talk to family, talk to somebody you trust, and don't spend time alone a lot.
• 1:10:55
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Like get around people that love you and pick you up.
• 1:10:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Not anybody, the people that pick you up and love you.
• 1:11:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 1:11:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And if you do that, God will do the rest.
• 1:11:04
  Khalila McCoy: I love that.
• 1:11:04
  Khalila McCoy: Where can people find more about you or listen to your videos?
• 1:11:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um Facebook, uh Chon C.
• 1:11:13
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Braun Harris Sr.
• 1:11:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um, Instagram at X is last L-A-S-T underscore Chan C-H-A-U-N-C-E.
• 1:11:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: My TikTok is C V Harris5, I believe.
• 1:11:24
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm not sure if it's that, but I think it is.
• 1:11:27
  Khalila McCoy: We'll find out so we can see it.
• 1:11:30
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, but that's um social media new jewels of fellowship for every third Sunday.
• 1:11:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I usually speak.
• 1:11:36
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Um, so if you're in the you know, Mahoney Trumbull, Cleveland area, pull up on me on Sunday and pull up, pull up on me.
• 1:11:44
  Khalila McCoy: Yes.
• 1:11:44
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And um, I would enjoy we enjoy to have you.
• 1:11:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So that's that's what I'm doing now.
• 1:11:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I also just got part of a fatherhood initiative in the area.
• 1:11:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I just I've got chosen to be the lead for this area, which is a beautiful thing.
• 1:11:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Again, nothing God takes you through is wasted.
• 1:11:59
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Right.
• 1:12:00
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Because all the issues that I had as a father with, you know, their their the mothers and all that, and and the things I've been doing as a father is gonna help me help people, you know, that's dealing with similar things.
• 1:12:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So God doesn't waste anything.
• 1:12:12
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So I'm part of the fatherhood initiative in the area.
• 1:12:14
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So if you're a father and you are kind of have some struggles, yeah, give give me a give me a give me a ring.
• 1:12:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: My email is cvharris88 at gmail.com.
• 1:12:25
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But uh the fathers in Mahoney and Trouble County, I helped them out.
• 1:12:28
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So if you need help, you know, I'm your guy.
• 1:12:31
  Khalila McCoy: Awesome.
• 1:12:32
  Khalila McCoy: All right, Chauncey.
• 1:12:33
  Khalila McCoy: Thank you.
• 1:12:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Thank you.
• 1:12:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I appreciate it.
• 1:12:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I'm gonna say thank you for uh allowing me to be on your your platform.
• 1:12:38
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You've always been a beautiful girl and a beautiful student.
• 1:12:41
  Khalila McCoy: Thank you.
• 1:12:42
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: From the get-go, you always been.
• 1:12:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I I felt bad beating you in basketball sometimes.
• 1:12:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I did.
• 1:12:46
  Khalila McCoy: I felt bad because you're maybe I'm just really nice and I let you win.
• 1:12:50
  Khalila McCoy: Okay, okay.
• 1:12:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yeah, we'll we'll say that for your viewers.
• 1:12:53
  Khalila McCoy: No, it's not true.
• 1:12:54
  Khalila McCoy: I'll be um I appreciate you.
• 1:12:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, I I thought about doing podcasts so many times, and uh a few people have approached me to do podcasts, and I've said no every time.
• 1:13:05
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: You know, um, but uh, you know, like I say, you've always been kind, you've always been generous.
• 1:13:10
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I appreciate that.
• 1:13:11
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I I pray that whatever you whatever you're doing in life teaching and your podcast, I pray nothing but growth to come from there.
• 1:13:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I pray nothing but favor to fall upon it.
• 1:13:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I actually want to pray before I get off.
• 1:13:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Yes, please.
• 1:13:23
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But I I just I just I'm grateful for you and and I felt comfortable um speaking with you because of your character, your integrity.
• 1:13:31
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: So you're a blessing as well.
• 1:13:34
  Khalila McCoy: Thank you.
• 1:13:35
  Khalila McCoy: So I don't know where you are in your faith journey, but as someone who believes in Jesus and is always trying to grow and improve our relationship, this episode moved me.
• 1:13:48
  Khalila McCoy: I recorded this seven months ago, and I still will often think about Chauncey's story.
• 1:13:54
  Khalila McCoy: This conversation made me think of a song called Waymaker.
• 1:13:58
  Khalila McCoy: You can listen to it on Spotify.
• 1:13:59
  Khalila McCoy: And part of the song says, Even when I don't see it, you're working.
• 1:14:04
  Khalila McCoy: And it's talking about God.
• 1:14:05
  Khalila McCoy: Even when I don't feel it, you're working, you never stop, you never stop working.
• 1:14:11
  Khalila McCoy: It's so nice to be reminded that God is still doing miracles and he loves us and is always there, especially when we don't understand why life is going the way it is.
• 1:14:23
  Khalila McCoy: Think about Chauncey and the accident, right?
• 1:14:25
  Khalila McCoy: Think about Chauncey continuing to get sick so he can't get on the kidney transplant list.
• 1:14:31
  Khalila McCoy: He might not feel it and he might not see it all the time, but God is working in him and through him.
• 1:14:37
  Khalila McCoy: And he loves Chauncey and everyone Chauncey comes in contact with.
• 1:14:41
  Khalila McCoy: I do echo Chauncey's call to rise and encourage you to give God a chance.
• 1:14:48
  Khalila McCoy: But I want to encourage you and everybody, no matter what your faith is, to make a choice, just like Big Chaunce did when things got hard.
• 1:14:55
  Khalila McCoy: We make choices every day.
• 1:14:57
  Khalila McCoy: We make the choice to be good, the choice to be kind, make the choice to be positive, make the choice to see others in a positive light and assume good intentions over a personal attack.
• 1:15:10
  Khalila McCoy: I also want to encourage you that if you're going through something, to fight.
• 1:15:15
  Khalila McCoy: Chauncey made the choice to fight for his life, to fight for himself, for his kids, for his family, and for his friends.
• 1:15:22
  Khalila McCoy: Find those people who will pour into you, who will speak life over you and encourage you to move forward.
• 1:15:29
  Khalila McCoy: And if you're that person who can do that for others, go out and share that love with someone.
• 1:15:35
  Khalila McCoy: If you are someone who has joy and whose life is going well and you feel like you're on the mountaintop, stay humble, stay grateful, and then share that joy with others.
• 1:15:45
  Khalila McCoy: Send that text.
• 1:15:46
  Khalila McCoy: Let people know that you're thinking about them and just be encouraging.
• 1:15:50
  Khalila McCoy: I want to challenge all of us to rise up and be more and do more than we ever thought was possible.
• 1:15:57
  Khalila McCoy: I cannot wait to hear and read what you thought about this episode.
• 1:16:03
  Khalila McCoy: So take your time, write out your thoughts in a comment, send me a message, and definitely share this episode with someone who you know will be inspired by it.
• 1:16:11
  Khalila McCoy: All right, you guys, before you move through the rest of your day, Chauncey is gonna send us off with a prayer.
• 1:16:20
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Father God, thank you for your love today.
• 1:16:22
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Thank you for your grace, thank you for your mercy, thank you for your kindness, Jesus.
• 1:16:26
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Thank you for the opportunity to give you glory through our testimony, our stories, our trials and tribulations.
• 1:16:34
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I pray, God, that you will bless this platform, continue to expand it in the name of Jesus.
• 1:16:39
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: That people who are going through mental battles and things they're going through and situations, let them find this podcast, find this art that my friend has made.
• 1:16:48
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I pray God that you bless it and that you bless them through it.
• 1:16:51
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I pray, God, in the name of Jesus, that you bless her, touch her mind, her body, her spirit, touch her students that she teach.
• 1:16:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I pray God that you increase and enlarge her territory, Lord.
• 1:17:02
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: I pray God that anybody that watches this, grain faith and knowing that you have them no matter what the situation is, no matter what the circumstances, no matter what they're going through, that you have a plan and a purpose for their life, that you have good things for them, Lord.
• 1:17:18
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: But sometimes you got to go through hard times to get to those good things.
• 1:17:21
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I pray God that during those hard times, during those stresses, during those rough days, that you give them peace that surpasses all understanding, that you give them joy, you give them a sense of a hope and a future.
• 1:17:35
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Let them know that you have them, that you will not withhold any good thing for them.
• 1:17:40
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Lord, we just thank you for being God.
• 1:17:41
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Thank you for being our Savior.
• 1:17:43
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Thank you for loving us in spite of all our shortcomings.
• 1:17:46
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: And I pray, God, that you bless this day, bless the viewers, bless the hosts, bless the platform, and just give be with us.
• 1:17:52
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Lord, we love you, we thank you, and we bless you.
• 1:17:55
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: In Jesus' name we pray.
• 1:17:56
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Amen.
• 1:17:57
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Amen.
• 1:17:58
  Chauncey Harris Sr.: Amen.