Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / Ripetide From Javier And Elizabeth Guzman Underground Or Undercover You Decide

Transcript

Ripetide From Javier And Elizabeth Guzman Underground Or Undercover You Decide · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: How many times have you been in the car, you're
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: at a red light for just a brief moment, and
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: it wasn't enough time to switch podcasts? Because I am
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: a podcast listener. I know what it's like to be
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: so involved in a story. And then from out of nowhere,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: it's like, I'm bored. I'm bored. I got to get
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: out of here. How can I find the next podcast
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: like right now? Well, you have to go searching. How
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: many platforms for it? How about this?
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Arrow.net. A-R-R-O-E.net.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Enjoy your exploration. How you doing, dude?
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: I'm doing well, and I've got my wife here, Beth,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: with me. Hello.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: You too. You too, and this book. I hope to
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: God that every day you realize that through the power
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: of writing that you are going to be changing people's lives.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: More importantly, you're going to be educating people about this
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: big old world that we like to shove aside, but
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: we also like to dream about the bad guys.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Well, I hope your words to God's ears.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine. First of all, the two of you
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: collaborating together, that inspires my soul. I just think that
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: is so beautiful because we don't see that a lot.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Husbands and wives are writing together as a collaboration. To
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: bring it together, Riptide, this is pretty serious stuff because
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: we do write things off when we see it on CNN.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: But you guys really go into the deep dark. And
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: I don't know how you did it. I really don't
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: know how you did it.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It was very difficult for both of us. And
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: we have been living in this small town, and we
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: have literally been undercover just living our lives. When we
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: moved here, Beth was an assistant attorney general at a
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: psychiatric hospital. Oh, my goodness. Very important job. So I
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: wanted to not only, first and foremost, protect her, Physically,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: because I didn't know whether there were still any sinister
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: operators out there. I didn't think so. But just in case.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: And then also from the potential stigma and how it
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: would affect her. She she didn't sign up for what
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: everything she went through. So, yeah.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Well, that's a moment of being called to. I mean,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: there are times, I mean, I know that Stephen Furtick
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: at Elevation Church will endlessly tell.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: You, walk to the fire.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Don't walk away from the chariots. Get in there, make
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: it happen. And that's what I get out of this,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Javier and Elizabeth, is I'm sitting there going, they went
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: into the fire. Oh my God, why would I not
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: want to be inspired by this book?
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Well, it was fire, all right, but... You know, the
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: easiest thing for me to say, and it's true, is
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: that it was love, my love for him. And my
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: belief that God would carry us through all of this
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: and that hopefully other people would be inspired, would be
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: strengthened by it, would believe that there is life on
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: the other side of hard times and good life.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Beautiful life. Yes. And to keep going.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Now, I know a lot of listeners may or may
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: not understand this story, but why is it that when
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: I read this book, I actually feel like, especially when
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: you're talking about going into areas that people would shy
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: away from, it's almost like the woman at the well.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: He did not have to sit down and speak with her,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: but he knew that she would take that word back
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: to the people. You go into these cartels, the cocaine world,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: everything that's going on. It's almost like you were chosen
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: to go sit down, have these conversations and start planting seeds.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: But don't do it offensively. Do it in a way
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: that you know that's going to affect other people.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, wow. That is so uncanny. I just just had
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: that conversation. and use that same exact example. This weekend,
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: this weekend, we were talking about, because Arrow, I did
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: some bad things. I deserve to have gone to prison.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: I owned it. I have many regrets that I still
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: live with, that I still struggle with and all that.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: But If ultimately the message is to bring a message
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: of hope that whatever people have gone through in their past,
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: that their worst behavior does not define them, but can
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: be used to actually refine them. And they too can
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: bring a message to others. And that's our goal.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Did you guys take your blood pressure while you were
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: writing this? Because I know as a reader, yeah, because
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: you feel something emotionally. And I think it's the way
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: that you guys are writing or you make it so
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: real to us that it's almost like this is really happening.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: And you can feel it in the chest of what's
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: going on inside Riptide.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: That is some great feedback. And we are encouraged by that.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: It was difficult.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: It was difficult to to dredge it all back up.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: And and remember and relive those things. I mean, there
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: was there was my part. His was obviously much more
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: dramatic and difficult. But but I have watched him go
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: through the difficulty of reliving it, even just in in
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: our conversations today.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Okay, now we got to put focus there. And the
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: reason why is because, first of all, you're courageous to
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: be able to do that. I'm a daily writer of
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: 34 years. I can never go back into my journals.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: How you were able to relive this story when I
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: myself cannot even walk into my journals of 34 years.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Yes, and that's very insightful point. It took us a
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: long time. It took a lot of prayer and tears
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: and reflection and examining our motivation. There have been some
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: critical comments about doing this for money. and Arrow, we
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: are in the black. We're in the red. We're in
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: the red. I'm sorry. We're in the red. We're in
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: the red. We have invested money in this project that
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: we may not get back. People think that because you
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: get a publishing contract, uh, it was just a little
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: bit of money up front and we didn't do it
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: for the money. We, we did it to get the
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: message out.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: Well, and he had written, fortunately, um, probably 140 or
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: so pages for therapy while in prison. And he would
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: send the pages to me and I would type them
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: up and thinking, well, maybe someday, maybe someday.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: So let me ask you a question about that writing,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: because I I'm one of those people call me a hoarder, whatever.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: I hope to God, you still have those, those letters
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: because that to me is a dear future reader moment
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: for somebody in your family or somebody who's going to
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: find it many decades after we're gone and And they're
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: going to learn from that because you had to go
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: to hell to keep people out of hell.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Wow. Yeah. Yes. We do. And I have other writings
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: that it was a daily journal that I cannot, it's
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: hard for me to read. In fact, Beth, Beth, I
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: started reading some to Beth and she just walked away.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: She couldn't take it. And it was very difficult. Uh, So,
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: you know, they say writing is good for therapy. Yes.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: And that's why while in prison, I began writing. But
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: even reading through some of those daily entries was and
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: is very difficult.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: How did you even get your editor to do that?
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Because my editor for my second book said, I ain't
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: doing this. I said, do something because I need you
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: to do it. And she goes, I'm going to spell
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: my name 100% backwards because I don't want my name
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: attached to this at all because it's so dark.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: So we, we were, we were really blessed. We, we,
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: we thought and prayed and just a lot of uh,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: emotional investment. And we came across, uh, a man, uh,
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Tom is his name. We, we felt like we needed
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: a professional onboard to help us. And he helped us
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: so much because it was so emotional for us that
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: we needed an outside source. And, and, and, and it
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: was a great collaboration between the three of us and
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: to cut through some of the stuff that we needed
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: to cut. In fact, we cut five chapters, uh, out
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: of the book because it exceeded the guidelines of publishers.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: And so, yeah, it was a, it was, it was
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: a team effort. I have to credit my wife a lot.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Well, you know what, you know, what's great about those
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: five chapters. Congratulations. You now have a reason to have
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: a podcast. I mean, because seriously what you've got here,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: in fact, I really do want to question this. And
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: if you want to knock me upside the head, like
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: my dad, you can, I think it should be a
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: graphic novel as well, because I think that's where the
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: YA people are. And if you're going to change the world,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: you've got to go to where they are, which is
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: in a graphic novel. You being blunt as all can
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: be inside Riptide, I just think that I feel something
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: here that the generation that needs to feel this as
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: well are those YA people.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Interesting. Yeah. Something for us to explore.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Food for thought, definitely.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Now, all the way through the book, I kept going,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: were they undercover or were they just underground? What is it, man?
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Figure this out, dude. Figure it out before you have
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: to ask them because I want to figure it out.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Were you undercover or were you underground? And you laugh
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: about it. That's what I love. But I can't be
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: the only one that is sitting here because we've all
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: been tainted by Hollywood, but you lived it. And you
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: can't help but sit there and go, if it was me,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: what would I do? And that's what you keep talking
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: to me in this book. And I'm going, you're not
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: even here. But yet you're talking to me through these words.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So, you know, it's that's interesting. We we wanted
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: to put our past behind us. And and me, you know,
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: I have a from my childhood Catholic background. So this voice.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: From my Catholic upbringing, I need to make amends. I
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: need to make amends. And I tried. We volunteered in
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: the community food banks and did a lot of different things.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: And I wound up being a pastor along with my
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: full-time job. in HVAC and didn't take a salary from
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: the church. And I taught at the community college and
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: just all kinds of things that you want to do
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: to make amends, but yet keeping your pastor secret for
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: 20 plus years and really never thought about it. It
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: was until I got invited to a law enforcement conference
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: a couple of years in San Diego, and I spoke
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: to the most difficult audience I could ever speak. In fact,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: the venue was at Miles McPherson's church. He's a former
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: NFL football player, and he's got the Rock Church in
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: San Diego. I believe it's the largest megachurch in San Diego.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: So the venue, he allowed the law enforcement conference to
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: be there. And I spoke to 900 cops, and I
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: just opened up my heart. Wow. I opened up my
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: heart to those guys. I knew going in that it
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: was the most difficult audience I could face. And surprisingly
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: to me, they received it well, and they encouraged me
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: to write a book. I came home, back to the Carolinas,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: with a new... new mission to work on that.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: I got to ask you, only because we have talked
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: about the Carolinas, and only because I've been here since 85,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: and now you speak of being the preacher. Now I'm going, okay,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: so did you do one of the churches, the small
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: churches alongside the road where you know when you go
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: in there and you deliver that word, it's that guy
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: or that girl in the back row, you're trying to
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: reach them, but you got to get through the hallelujahs
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: and the worship band to get to them?
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Yes, it was.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: So, you know what I'm talking about with the Southern church.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Yes. Yes. And, uh, and, and I often said to
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: the congregation, I am, I am, as Paul said, I
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: am the chief of sinners among you, but they had
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: no clue how bad or, or the, the story, uh,
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: I talked a little bit about it, but not the
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: full scale.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: Well, as much as you bring up Paul, why do
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: I feel Peter? Because Peter's the one that turned around
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: to help up his fellow man. That's who I think
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: of when I think of this.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: Ah, interesting. But yeah, it's, my heart has always, has
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: always been to Well, first and foremost, gather the courage. Absolutely.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: To gather the courage to come out and hope to
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: inspire others, to help others. In fact, I just got
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: an email from a fellow in Chicago that I've never
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: met who has a similar, very similar story to mine.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: And he just reached out to me that already... listening
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: to my story has helped them. And that was encouraging
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: because ultimately that's why we went into this project.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: The name of the book, Riptide, Cartels, Cocaine, and Undercover
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Cops Fall from Grace. Oh, we're just getting started. Now
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: you have no idea what's sitting in front of you,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: but I'm telling you, you're going to be a different person.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: We're going to be right back with Javier and Elizabeth.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: The name of the book is Riptide, We are back
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: with those who not only lived it, but they're sharing it.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Javier and Elizabeth Guzman. To do the investigation, I know
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: what I can, what I can't say, what I do say,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: what I want to say, but I can't because I
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: don't have the courage to do it. I find you
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: to be so inspiring because I don't know where you
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: got the energy to do this. It has to be
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: God himself in the way of saying, get in there
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: and do it. Because other people are not doing it.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: They've gone through the experiences, but they don't have the
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: courage to do it. Elizabeth, how? How did you? Because
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: you know we're going to be talking, and so are
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: the people on the other side of that fence.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: How did I?
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: To be so honest and transparent with the community, the
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: people that are going to pick up this book, as
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: well as being open and transparent to the people who've
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: lived this story going, oh, my God.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: Oh my God.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: He, I thought there was a silent rule. We were
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: supposed to abide by a code of silence.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: Oh my God. They went there.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Well, I, I feel like I can't waste this. It's,
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: I would be, it would be tremendously selfish, um, to,
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: to not share our story. Um, people are hurting.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: And, and people are, especially these days, it's just getting,
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: seems to be getting darker and darker. And, um, And
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: if this can inspire people, married couples, anyone, if this
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: can inspire anyone, it's all worth it. Particularly if it
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: points to Jesus, which is, he has been our rock
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: throughout all of this and continues to be. So who
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: am I to not? You know, obviously it was more
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: my husband's story and he had to, Had to agree,
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: but I don't think that was an issue. I think
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: he always, in some way, in some shape or form,
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: wanted to help others. And initially it was without telling
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: the story, but we got to a point where, how
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: can we not tell? How can we not share it?
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: So then when you release it, that's one thing, because
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: as I always share with more authors, you lived it,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: you wrote it, but you relinquished it. That means the
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: book is ours now. How does that sit inside your
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: heart knowing your words are on our path now?
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that realization has truly set in. Interesting that
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: you bring that up because we are seeing it online.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: We're getting so many comments Phone calls and texts and messages.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: And we're like, oh, what has happened here? What have
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: we done? What have we done? It's honestly, there are
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: mixed feelings, but we have to refocus on what was
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: our motive and our motives were truly to use our
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: pain to use my sins, my failures, and everything that
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: happened associated with it to hopefully bring hope to people.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: There's so many hopeless people. And also, as a side note,
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: in the book, I came so close to taking my life. So,
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: so close. And I want to bring hope to many
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: that are silently contemplating that, to bring a message that
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: you have value. You are loved by people, by your creator,
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: by even those that you may not even think of.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: And I want to bring that message somehow if God
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: gives me a platform. Yeah.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: I got to tell you, one of the things that
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: I do only because I love people so much and
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: in my daily writing, I kept saying, God put me
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: deeper into elevation, put me deeper into elevation. God said,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: I'm not putting you deeper into elevation. God put me
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: in a grocery store.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: And I went, what?
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: And in a grocery store, that's every walk of life.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: And you know how many people. It's not a bragging thing.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: that they do, but they'll come in and say, I
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: just got out. I'm just trying to get my life
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: back in order. And I'm sitting here going, I've got
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: to get riptide into their hands. I have got to
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: figure out a way to get this book into people's
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: hands because when they're coming out of prison or if
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: they've been in jail for two or three weeks, they
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: need to have something that says, Oh my God, I
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: now have an identity. I now have a face. I'm
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: not alone. I can make this happen. And I just
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: feel in my heart that, you know, people always laugh
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: at me when I say, God's writing the third book.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: Of the Bible. No, he's not.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Have you read these books? Have you read these books?
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Of course he is.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: That's so inspiring, Harold. Just, yeah, that's... Great way to
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: look at it. Great way to look at it.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: You always want to limit God.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: A lot of people don't want to deal with the
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: reality of where we presently stand. And I think that's
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: why I'm so inspired by the two of you. In fact,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, look at this. One of the things that
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: I really want to talk about, a wife's resilience and determination,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: the power of repentance. Oh my God, put that on
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: a t-shirt, please. Let's get you guys some extra stuff
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: in there so you can keep doing the outreach.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Yes, you said it, the power of repentance, because that's
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: where it begins. That's where it begins. I was a
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: very broken man, just broken and full of shame. And
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: it was inside a jail cell. This thing was like
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: a fish tank because I was under observation. Oh, God.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: And it was the lowest moment in my life. And
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: I looked around contemplating, how can I end this misery?
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: And it was on my knees, Arrow, that repentance came.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: And that was the key. And that was a... I
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: talk about it in the book, how it was... a
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: moment of hope that washed over me. It was as
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: if a father comforted me at that moment. The consequences
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: and all that did not go away and they did
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: not need to go away. I did face that, but
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: I faced it with a hope, with a helper, with
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: a redeemer. And that's That's what it's all about.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: For the two of you, we live in this generation
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: where everybody is tattooed up. I look beyond that because
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: I believe there's a story in everything. What on you,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: a tattoo or a scar? People come up, they're so
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: fascinated by it. And do you ever sit down and say,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: do you want to.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: Know the real story?
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Because I've got it for you. Have you done anything
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: like that?
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Uh-huh. No, no tattoos.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Am I getting too real?
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry. I think we're just too old. Oh God.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: You sound like you're 19 years old. What are you
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: talking about? Your souls are beautiful.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: Oh God bless you.
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: You're my new best friend. Um, no, no visible scars, but, uh,
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: they're definitely, they're definitely there.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Hmm.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: But don't you love those moments, though, where you know
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: inside your heart it's time to share the real story?
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: This book is going to put you in a place
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: where you're going to have to look at them deep
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: in the eyes. Because when you're writing, you don't see
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: their eyes. But when you go out, there they are.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: That is true.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: That is true. And yeah, we have our first upcoming
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: book signing. And I'm terribly anxious about it because... I
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: don't like attention. Uh, you know, it's hard to believe
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: because I would stand behind a pulpit every Sunday morning,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: but I, I do not, I'm not a person that,
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: that likes attention. Uh, so I'm anxious about it, but yes,
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: I hope to look into the eyes of people that,
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: that will come and, and that would be the reward. If,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: if I can look in the eyes and if maybe
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: there is a glimpse that, Our story has brought encouragement
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: and hope. That's it. Wow. That's it.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Are you going to come to Charlotte? Are you going
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: to be speaking? Because, I mean, Park Road Bookstore would
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: probably love to have the two of you in there
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: sharing this journey and being so open. Because, once again,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: like I said, I work at this grocery store that
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: is in the community of all people, all ages, all
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: walks of life. And I can't help but sit here
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: and think that Riptide is all about this area where
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: I work.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: Interesting. Yes. Well, if we get an invitation, we definitely
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: would accept because we are about spreading a message of hope.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about not
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: only Riptide, but everything that you guys are up to?
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Because there's a lot going on.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: So we have a website if they want to look
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: at photographs and synopsis of the book. And it's at RiptideBook.com. RiptideBook.com.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: And there is a contact information. There is an email
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: there to contact us.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: I wrote something today and now I know why I
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: wrote it. And I've got to get it out of
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: my journal here immediately because I think that you are
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: the reason why I wrote it. And I just want
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: to get your response to it because I didn't know
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: why I wrote it until I'm having this conversation with you.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: And that is that learning how to deal with the
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: art of perception versus projection. And I feel like that
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: so many people are on the outside with their perception.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: but they don't understand the projection that, that what your
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: goals are, what, what everything is, is reaching toward and everything.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: And I just feel like that, that as I wrote,
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: what was that? Six 24 this morning, I put that down.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: I don't know why until this moment right now.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: Wow. Wow.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: Well, as you were saying that, what I just thought
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: about was how, how often we misunderstand each other because
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: we don't, we don't take the time. we prejudge, we
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: close ourselves off to what the Lord is trying to
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: get across to us. I mean, he did say to
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: love our enemies, love others, but it's very difficult to do.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: And just getting to the point where we can at
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: least allow for the possibility that the person in front
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: of you has value, has something to say, has something
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: to speak into your life, boy, that's a, a diminishing
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: thing these days. And so I, I, with all my heart, um,
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: feel that. And it's something I've been praying for as
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: a formerly pretty closed off person that's been forced into
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: the light and forced to, to trust the Lord to, um,
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: To lead me and guide me more and more each
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: day in a world, in a society that seems to
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: be closing evermore. That's a very inspiring thing that you wrote.
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: And I pray that that's something that manifests in my
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: life and everybody else's life that reads this book.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: We got to get back together again. And if you
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: do come to Charlotte, we got to do a face
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: to face. I mean, we've got to we've got to
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: be able to look in each other's eyes because I mean,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: here we are. And it's the art of listening and
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: it's our souls that are receiving. And I just I
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: would just love to be able to have an eye
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: to eye with you guys if you guys come to Charlotte.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. That'd be great. Yes. I love it. Yeah.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Well, please come back. Even if you guys don't make
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: it to Charlotte, this door is always going to be open.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Let's get the word out there and let's keep pushing
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: that word out there because you've got something here that
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: is really going to change a lot of people's lives.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Incarceration is one of those things where people, they're getting out,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: but they don't know where to grow. Not go. I'm
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: saying grow. And that's what this book is about. It's
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: about growing.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: Yes. Absolutely. Yes. And we look forward to it. Any
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: opportunities to do spread that.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Well, you guys be brilliant today.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: And please, once again, come back to this show anytime.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Thank you for your time.