Latest / TAKEN TV Podcasts / Jesus Calling: Stories of Faith - Facing Tomorrow When the World Feels Unstable: Bill and Gloria Gaither & Chris Blue

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Jesus Calling: Stories of Faith - Facing Tomorrow When the World Feels Unstable: Bill and Gloria Gaither & Chris Blue · TAKEN TV Podcasts

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Life Audio.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Make the holidays memorable when you bring home the new book,
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Christmas Spectacular, starring the Radio City Rockettes. Rooted in the
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: wonder of New York City at Christmas, this giftable book
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: invites you to create your very own holiday magic with
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: crowd-pleasing festive recipes, elegant DIY craft ideas, and behind-the-scenes stories
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: and history of the spectacle that is the Radio City Rockettes.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: capture the wonder of the season with Christmas Spectacular starring
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: the Radio City Rockettes, available wherever books are sold.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: I'm grateful back in 62 that God looked at two
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: school teachers in central Indiana and said, I think this
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: is a good thing, because when it's that good, it
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: has to be God, and just blessed it.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: Welcome to the Jesus Calling Podcast. This week we hear
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: from legendary husband and wife songwriting team Bill and Gloria Gaither,
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: who went from teaching school in a small Indiana town
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: to writing some of the most sung hymns and songs
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: in the modern church, including Because He Lives and He
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: Touched Me. They'll talk about the lessons they've learned about failure, success,
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: and how one of their most famous songs came from
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: a time when the world around them felt anything but stable. Next,
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: we'll hear from The Voice Season 12 winner Chris Blue.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: who initially turned down multiple opportunities to audition for The Voice,
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: he'll share how he eventually returned to his family's gospel
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: music roots after years of pursuing a different path. Let's
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: begin with the Gaithers.
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: Hi, I'm Gloria Gaither, and I'm a writer, lyricist. We
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: have three children, and we have traveled most of our
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: lives together. singing and being a part of groups. I'm
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: an old school teacher. Both of us taught English, and
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: I taught French as well. So we've continued to teach,
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: just different classrooms.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: And I'm Bill Gaither, and I'm married to the lyricist,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: Gloria Gaither. And thank God for that. I'm a whole
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: lot more today because of meeting her and falling in
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: love and starting a marriage.
• 2:33
  Speaker 5: There are times when you don't know what to say
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: to God. We think times are bad now, but we've
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: been here before. The Vietnam War was a big controversy.
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: The soldiers that came home got spat on in the
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: street for serving. The whole drug culture was beginning. And
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: in that time, we were expecting our third baby. And
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: we looked at each other and said during that time,
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: who in their right mind would bring another baby into
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: this world? What's it going to be like in 17
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: or 18 years when he really has to face it?
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: But all that changed the day they brought us that
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: little boy and laid him in our arms. And it
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: was like one of those aha moments when you say,
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: we don't have babies and buy houses, move to St.
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: Louis or Nashville or stay put. We don't do what
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: we do because the world is stable. When has it
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: been stable? Jesus himself was born into the most unstable
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: of worlds. I mean, there's never been such a wicked
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: leadership as the Roman Empire. And so you look at
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: the baby and you say, we go on with our
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: life because the resurrection is true. It's not just one
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: time shot in history. The resurrection is built into every
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: fiber of creation. It's everywhere around us and in We
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: can believe as we hold this little child that because
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: he lives, we can face tomorrow. This child can face
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: uncertain days because he lives. And because he lives, I
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone.
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: Because I know he holds the future, then life is
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: worth the living just because he lives.
• 4:24
  Speaker 6: And because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives,
• 4:41
  Speaker 6: all fear is gone.
• 4:47
  Speaker 7: Because I know.
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: When we finally... quit teaching to write songs and do
• 4:56
  Speaker 5: what we do, travel full time. We just felt like
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: that the young artists that came into our lives, we
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: had a chance to mentor them. And so we just
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: changed classrooms, babies, basically.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: Stewardship is a very important thing in our lives. When
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: I think about stewardship, I think about the gifts that
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: God has given to us And how we take those
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: gifts and how we can see if we can multiply,
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: you know. Jesus said we are salt, lye, and yeast.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: So how do we do that on a day-by-day basis?
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: The old song was right. This little light of mine,
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: I'm going to let it shine. But how do we
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: do that when it comes to other human beings? And
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: here again, the teaching comes in handy. In our situation,
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: I didn't ask for it. But I've been thrown into
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: management of some young artists who have great, fantastic voices
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: and who are singing some great notes way up above
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: in a range that I can only dream of. But
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: I don't know how many times I have said, be
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: good to that gift that God has given you.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Bill and I are still teaching. We teach every day.
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: People in and out of our house, people that ride
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: on our bus, people that sing with us on the weekends.
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: We're constantly teaching. And, you know, one of the best
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: teachers is probably failure. I think we learn from failure.
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: Failure doesn't hurt. And I grew up in a house
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: that said, you can't say you can't. If there's something,
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: if there's a problem to be solved, there's a way
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: to solve it. But I think a lot of kids...
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: need to not be so fearful of failing. If you
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: learn from failure, it makes you wise. The thing I
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: think we have warned people more about is success. Most
• 7:01
  Speaker 5: people can handle failure, but they don't handle.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Success very well.
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: One of our favorite poems is by Kipling, and it's
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: called If, and I hope everybody listening will look up
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: that poem. But one of the lines says, if you
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: can meet with triumph and disaster and treat both those
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: imposters just the same. And they are imposters. Most of
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: life is regular. Most of life is.
• 7:31
  Speaker 8: Normal.
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: Most of life is getting up and putting on your
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: socks and fixing breakfast. Most of life is mowing the
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: lawn and hoeing the garden and taking out the trash.
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: You have to make your own magic And I think
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: that whole attitude to life is most of it's regular.
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: But if there is triumph or if there's disaster, treat
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: them as exceptions, not the expectation. If you get up
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: in the morning with expectations, you are bound to be disappointed.
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: But if you get up in the morning with expectancy, saying,
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: what is God going to do today? What is going
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: to be on my plate today? What is going to
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: interrupt my life today? then you're never disappointed and you're
• 8:17
  Speaker 5: always in awe of what God does. But it means
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: you have to notice the pines are green, the sky
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: is blue. It's a riotous circus of color. Now, I
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: can either just go about my business and not notice that,
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: or I can take that in and realize that God
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: is sending us love letters from his heart every minute
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: of every day.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: It's up to us whether we read them or not.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: We've been married 63 years. What we say yes to
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: and what we say no to will involve our time schedule.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: And when our theology and our philosophy of life intersects
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: with our decision-making as to what we say yes to
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: and what we say no to is going to determine
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: the kind of person that we're going to finally be
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: And our family is going to finally be. And our
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: age periods were obviously in the last years of a
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: wonderful life. And we are extremely grateful for it. But
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: we are still confronted every day with the yeses and
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: the nos. Jesus Calling is a good example. When this
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: interview request came up, we told our people, yes. Yes.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: We know those folks, and that is a good use
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: of our time. Time is extremely important. And as you
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: get older, it becomes more important. We have this moment
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: to hold in our hands and to touch as it
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: slips through our fingers like sand. Yesterday's gone. and tomorrow
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: may never come, but at least we have this moment today.
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: And Jesus said, I've come to bring you life, life
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: more abundantly. And that is the abundant life when you
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: could use the God-given resources to that he has given
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: to you, your mind, and make right choices on how
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: you spend your time.
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: In our marriage, that is probably the biggest discussions we
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: have ever had, is why did you say yes to that?
• 10:42
  Speaker 7: Why are we doing it?
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: One more time, we want to check, make sure our
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: motive is right. And I know that even sometimes good
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: ministry can get in the way of a real relationship
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: with God. And the relationship with God happens only through
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: the revelation of Scripture and what the Lord says about
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: this day and what you're trying to do. He speaks
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: in that way. And that takes time. And that takes quiet.
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: And I think that makes sense at 25 years I
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: just had my 90th birthday, and it still makes sense
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: at 90 years old. What I say yes to, what
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: I say no to. And you can call it prayer time,
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: quiet time, whatever you want to call it, but you've
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: got to find time for that to happen.
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: I want to show you, this is my Jesus calling,
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: and I want you to see how beat up it is.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: As the others came out, I got them and I
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: read them.
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: And one of the joyful things about Jesus Calling is
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: not only did Bill and I read those in the
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: morning or whenever we got together to ponder the word,
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: but my son, who is probably the most not religious
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: person you know, but he loves the Lord.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: He has the greatest heart.
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: He would read Jesus Calling every morning. So when I
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: called him and I'd say, did you read that this morning?
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Benji, did you hear this?
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: And so it became something that we shared in the morning.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: And that's just really personal.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: We'd already had a wonderful career. We thought before we
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: hang it up, let's do this one video and salute
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: artists who have gone before us. and say thank you
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: to them because many of them were already forgotten. Sometimes
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: artistry can be a pretty painful thing to an older artist.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: We've been blessed. So we got 15, 16, 17, 18
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: of the old-timers together and got around a piano and
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: started singing songs that turned them on back from the
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: 1940s and 50s. I just sat by and wondered, saying,
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: How did all of this happen? And was grateful that
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: it did happen. So that was in 91. This is 2026. Still,
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: about once every two years, we get together. But with
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: a whole bunch of new artists who say, we don't
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: want to forget our past. So we get together. And
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: we did a year ago at the TBN Studios in Nashville.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: 250 artists. And we played a couple, three old stuff.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: old things, old videos, and got to sing. And one
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: of the new projects that came out of it was
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: I Go to the Rock, which we did not write.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: Donnie Rambo wrote it. The second one we did was
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: what we finally ended up calling You Are Loved, which
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: is the song that we had written about 70s or 80s,
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: telling people that the one who knew them best loves
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: them most. I am love. I am loved. I can
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: risk loving you. But the one who knows me best
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: loves me most. And this was harder for me to do,
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: but basically highlighting the big songs that Gloria and I
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: have written. So we are excited about both of them.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: And the one is already out. I go to The Rock.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: And this fall, the I Am Loved project will be out.
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: I think it's a wonderful gift. That prayer is portable.
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: We had a friend that said, prayer before paper. I'm
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: not going to read the paper until I have my
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: prayer time.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: That's my priority.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: And the Bible was a very important part of that.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: All different translations. And when the Jesus Calling book came out,
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: that was a very important part of our lives also.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: July the 17th. Come away with me for a while.
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: The world with its nonstop.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Demands can be put on hold. Most people put me
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: on hold, rationalizing that someday.
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: They will find time to focus on me. But the
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: longer people push me into the background of their lives,
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: the harder it is for them to find me. We
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: live among people who glorify busyness. They have made time
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: a tyrant that controls their lives and Even those who
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: know me as Savior tend to march to the temple
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: of the world. They have bought into the illusion that
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: more is better, more meetings, more programs, more activities. I
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: might add more concerts, more whatever. I've called you to
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: follow me on a solitary path, making time alone with
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: me your highest priority and deepest joy.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: It is a.
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: Pathway largely unappreciated and often despised. However, you have chosen
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: the better thing, which will never be taken away from you. Moreover,
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: as you walk close to me, I can bless others then.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: True.
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: To learn more about Bill and Gloria Gaither and their music, videos,
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: and podcast, visit Gaither.com. Stay tuned to Chris Blue's story after.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: A brief message.
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: Enjoy abundant gratitude this fall as you reflect on God's
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: overflowing blessings.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Jesus Calling, Harvest of Blessings, can.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Help you focus on your blessings and cultivate a gratitude mindset,
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: allowing you to center your mind more on Jesus and
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: less on stress and anxiety. This inspirational full-color devotional includes
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: stunning autumn seasonal photography, Bible verses, and words of hope
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: from God's heart to yours, and 50 Reflections on Gratitude,
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Thankfulness and God's Blessings from Sarah Young's bestselling, Jesus Calling.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: This volume is perfect for families who want to cultivate
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: a tradition of counting blessings together, those who are looking
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: to deepen their experience of trusting God, and those who
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: want to walk closely with Jesus and begin daily habits
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: of expressing thankfulness. Be inspired to walk more closely with
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Jesus as you focus on Him and the blessings He
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: has put in your life. Find Jesus Calling, Harvest of
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Blessings at your favorite retailer. Chris Blue, winner of The
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: Voice Season 12, shares his journey from singing in a
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: small-town family gospel group to national stardom. He discusses overcoming
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: initial hesitation to audition, navigating post-show fame, and ultimately returning
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: to his gospel roots.
• 18:07
  Speaker 7: Hello, everyone. My name is Chris Blue. I'm a country boy, man.
• 18:12
  Speaker 8: I grew up in central Florida, just outside of Orlando
• 18:17
  Speaker 8: in a small town called Winter Haven, Florida.
• 18:23
  Speaker 7: I'm the youngest of seven kids.
• 18:25
  Speaker 8: So we grew up poor, very, very poor, struggling. But
• 18:29
  Speaker 8: you could never tell me I was poor because we
• 18:32
  Speaker 8: were all so happy, you know, together. Mom and dad
• 18:35
  Speaker 8: did a great job at keeping life light and just keeping,
• 18:40
  Speaker 8: you know, the reality of being poor kind of away
• 18:43
  Speaker 8: from us. But we were very, very, very poor. Nine
• 18:47
  Speaker 8: people living in a two room house. There was a
• 18:50
  Speaker 8: kitchen and then there was a separate bedroom. So like
• 18:53
  Speaker 8: two bedrooms and then the living room and the kitchen.
• 18:56
  Speaker 8: Our bathroom never worked. My mom worked at a salon.
• 18:59
  Speaker 8: So anytime we needed to like shower or do anything,
• 19:03
  Speaker 8: we would go to the salon to like shower, get
• 19:06
  Speaker 8: cleaned up and grew up singing. I've been singing since
• 19:11
  Speaker 8: I was three years old. I did my very first
• 19:12
  Speaker 8: concert at age four, June 4th, I believe 1994. And
• 19:18
  Speaker 8: I led like eight songs, just an incredible experience. And
• 19:22
  Speaker 8: I knew that day that's what I wanted to do
• 19:24
  Speaker 8: for the rest of my life. I knew that's what
• 19:26
  Speaker 8: I was called to do. I knew that's what I
• 19:28
  Speaker 8: was supposed to do. Our family band was called the
• 19:31
  Speaker 8: Blue Family. We were like the gospel version of the
• 19:34
  Speaker 8: Jackson 5. And I was little Michael because at first
• 19:38
  Speaker 8: they were singing without me.
• 19:39
  Speaker 7: And then I wanted to sing. I wanted to sing.
• 19:41
  Speaker 8: Then we transitioned to the Blue 5 and did that
• 19:44
  Speaker 8: for about 20 years.
• 19:46
  Speaker 7: We sang together. That was awesome.
• 19:48
  Speaker 8: I transitioned to being the front man of my family
• 19:53
  Speaker 8: band around age four. I was three years old when
• 19:58
  Speaker 8: I first sang inside of a church in front of
• 20:01
  Speaker 8: people and the place went wild. Like my mom, I'll
• 20:05
  Speaker 8: never forget, we were singing this song called Dr. Jesus.
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: Dr.
• 20:09
  Speaker 7: Jesus said he'll make everything all right. And then at
• 20:14
  Speaker 7: the end of that chorus, there's a line where it says,
• 20:18
  Speaker 7: for you.
• 20:21
  Speaker 8: And that was my line. I was the you who
• 20:23
  Speaker 8: who who guy. And I did that like perfectly on pitch.
• 20:26
  Speaker 8: And the church just went crazy. Music has always been
• 20:31
  Speaker 8: interwoven in every aspect of my life. All of my
• 20:35
  Speaker 8: siblings are musically gifted. My grandmother was an usher, but
• 20:40
  Speaker 8: she sang in the choir. all of my uncles and
• 20:44
  Speaker 8: aunts on my mom's side, they all sang and had
• 20:47
  Speaker 8: singing groups.
• 20:48
  Speaker 7: And so growing up, we would go and attend.
• 20:50
  Speaker 8: Special services to listen to my uncles and my aunts
• 20:54
  Speaker 8: and my cousins. Like everyone had a singing group, like
• 20:58
  Speaker 8: all of my grandmother's siblings as well. They all sang
• 21:02
  Speaker 8: and their children sang and their children's children sang. So
• 21:06
  Speaker 8: my second and third cousins, they all have singing groups.
• 21:09
  Speaker 8: And to this day, they still sing. So Music and
• 21:13
  Speaker 8: singing is literally all I've ever known. I knew God
• 21:17
  Speaker 8: had called me to The Voice. I didn't audition because
• 21:20
  Speaker 8: I wanted to be famous. I wanted to be recognized.
• 21:23
  Speaker 8: In fact, I declined probably five offers to go on
• 21:29
  Speaker 8: The Voice. And those offers didn't come from The Voice
• 21:33
  Speaker 8: at all. They came from friends, family. And three of
• 21:36
  Speaker 8: those offers came from God. God was like, I want
• 21:39
  Speaker 8: you to audition for The Voice. And I said to
• 21:41
  Speaker 8: God of all people, I was like, no, I'm not
• 21:43
  Speaker 8: going to God. I told Jesus, no, what an idiot.
• 21:47
  Speaker 8: And so I said that like three times. And on
• 21:50
  Speaker 8: the fourth time, I was like, all right, God, if
• 21:52
  Speaker 8: this is true to you, then I'll go. And that weekend,
• 21:56
  Speaker 8: I received confirmation after confirmation that this is something that
• 22:00
  Speaker 8: Jesus had been calling me to.
• 22:02
  Speaker 7: And I did it.
• 22:03
  Speaker 6: I went out.
• 22:04
  Speaker 8: And I trusted God through the entire process. Having national
• 22:08
  Speaker 8: exposure on The Voice was such an incredible experience for
• 22:13
  Speaker 8: me because I couldn't see like visually, like literally see
• 22:18
  Speaker 8: the millions of people watching at home, like over 20
• 22:21
  Speaker 8: million people watching you every single week. I couldn't see them.
• 22:24
  Speaker 8: All I could see was people in the room. And
• 22:27
  Speaker 8: so I just pretended like I was at church. I
• 22:31
  Speaker 8: had led worship and been a worship leader for several
• 22:35
  Speaker 8: years at that point. And so I just pretended like
• 22:37
  Speaker 8: everyone in the room was like the congregation. I'm singing
• 22:40
  Speaker 8: to them. I probably gained a lot more knowledge or
• 22:44
  Speaker 8: information from watching how everything works. Just watching the producers
• 22:50
  Speaker 8: and how they move. The band, the MD, the stagehands.
• 22:55
  Speaker 8: Just kind of watching everything and taking notes and just
• 22:58
  Speaker 8: studying the room. I'm a studier of rooms and when
• 23:03
  Speaker 8: I got on that platform and sang on that platform,
• 23:06
  Speaker 8: I studied every second I got from the vocal coach
• 23:10
  Speaker 8: to the janitor. Like I wanted to know everything. Honestly,
• 23:14
  Speaker 8: I didn't think being on that show, I win it
• 23:19
  Speaker 8: because I was the last one selected. Like all the
• 23:23
  Speaker 8: slots were filled. The numbers are dwindling down and I'm
• 23:27
  Speaker 8: hearing whispers. This person got picked. This person had four chairs.
• 23:30
  Speaker 8: This person had three chairs. This person And you're doing
• 23:33
  Speaker 8: the math, you're calculating everything in your head because you're like,
• 23:36
  Speaker 8: all the numbers are dwindling down and I'm still here
• 23:38
  Speaker 8: and I haven't had a chance to sing it. And
• 23:41
  Speaker 8: it was definitely a nerve wracking position to be in.
• 23:45
  Speaker 8: But when it came down to being selected and being
• 23:49
  Speaker 8: the last one, I thought, man, I'm I'm wasting my time.
• 23:53
  Speaker 8: Jesus never called me to this. Maybe I heard wrong,
• 23:57
  Speaker 8: but I didn't. He was saving me. The first to
• 24:01
  Speaker 8: be last and the last to be first. After winning
• 24:09
  Speaker 8: The Voice, everybody's in your face and the excitement is
• 24:14
  Speaker 8: like through the roof.
• 24:16
  Speaker 7: And so I was literally on top of the world.
• 24:20
  Speaker 8: Couldn't go anywhere. Couldn't do anything. A life adjustment for sure.
• 24:24
  Speaker 8: And then things started to fade. We started to go away.
• 24:27
  Speaker 8: And it's just like, ah, okay. So the smoke and
• 24:31
  Speaker 8: mirrors phrase is a real thing. I experienced that firsthand.
• 24:35
  Speaker 8: For a while, everyone and everything was like up here.
• 24:38
  Speaker 8: Then it just kind of started to fade and went away.
• 24:42
  Speaker 8: But people still remember, man. It's been almost 10 years.
• 24:49
  Speaker 8: Like next year will be the 10 year anniversary since
• 24:52
  Speaker 8: I won that show. After you win, you get money,
• 24:55
  Speaker 8: you get the accolades, you get the deal, you get
• 24:58
  Speaker 8: different opportunities.
• 24:59
  Speaker 7: And all that. Then it goes away.
• 25:02
  Speaker 8: And that was hard at first because my expectation was
• 25:05
  Speaker 8: you win and you just keep climbing.
• 25:07
  Speaker 7: You just keep going. You just keep going.
• 25:09
  Speaker 8: But that wasn't the reality for me. It's not the
• 25:11
  Speaker 8: reality for a lot of contestants that win. You got
• 25:14
  Speaker 8: to really work. You got to continue grinding. You got
• 25:18
  Speaker 8: to continue pushing as if you never won. After I
• 25:23
  Speaker 8: left The Voice, I was singing pop music and secular music,
• 25:27
  Speaker 8: and I did that for several years. And then one day,
• 25:31
  Speaker 8: Jesus began to call me back into gospel music. I
• 25:36
  Speaker 8: didn't want to come back to gospel music. I was
• 25:39
  Speaker 8: called back into singing Christian music. I was fine singing
• 25:43
  Speaker 8: pop music and R & B and all that.
• 25:45
  Speaker 7: I was good over there.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: I was okay.
• 25:47
  Speaker 7: But when I was.
• 25:48
  Speaker 8: Called back, when Jesus called me to sing Christian music again,
• 25:52
  Speaker 8: I knew that I needed to let the world know that, man,
• 25:56
  Speaker 8: sometimes you can stray away from your path, but like
• 26:01
  Speaker 8: the GPS, it'll always recalculate and get you back on track.
• 26:06
  Speaker 8: It's super important to connect with God daily because we
• 26:13
  Speaker 8: are flawed human beings. The Bible talks about the washing
• 26:17
  Speaker 8: of the word being something that we have to do.
• 26:22
  Speaker 7: It's like taking a bath, right? The word of God
• 26:25
  Speaker 7: is your soap and your water.
• 26:27
  Speaker 8: He cleans you up. We all need to be cleaned
• 26:31
  Speaker 8: every single day. Like we can't afford to go two,
• 26:35
  Speaker 8: three days, four days a week without a shower. No
• 26:38
  Speaker 8: one would want to be around you. Smell awful. You
• 26:40
  Speaker 8: probably look awful too. So it's important because it keeps
• 26:45
  Speaker 8: you clean.
• 26:46
  Speaker 7: It keeps you feeling like yourself, feeling revived and refreshed.
• 26:51
  Speaker 8: So I tell people all the time, man, connect with
• 26:54
  Speaker 8: God every single day, even if it's just five minutes, like,
• 26:58
  Speaker 8: That's better than nothing, trust me.
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: To learn more about Chris Blue, you can follow him
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: on social media at ChrisBLive. And be sure to check
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: out his latest project, a 10-song collection called Foundations, The
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: Hymns of My Heart. If you'd like to hear more
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: stories about the voice winners who leaned on their faith
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: as they pursued their dreams, check out our interview with
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: Jordan Smith. Next time on the Jesus Calling podcast, we
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: talk with Kelly Rizzo, wife of the late comedian and
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: actor Bob Saget, who opens up about grief and the
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: experience of losing her husband.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: When I lost him, I was like, of course I'm
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: going to keep going. I'm not going to let.
• 27:43
  Speaker 9: His memory and his legacy be in vain of, like,
• 27:47
  Speaker 9: he keeps going, but what, I'm going to curl up
• 27:50
  Speaker 9: in a ball and never get out of bed again?
• 27:51
  Speaker 7: Like, I'm just not going to do that.
• 27:53
  Speaker 9: So I think it was... Definitely a big part of
• 27:58
  Speaker 9: his legacy was helping me then move forward.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to the Jesus Calling Stories of Faith
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: podcast on the Life Audio Network. Every week, we'll bring
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: you stories from people who share their journeys of faith
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: and how prayer and a relationship with God transformed their lives.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: Be sure to follow us on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: wherever you listen to podcasts. and leave us a review
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: so others can be inspired weekly by these stories of faith. Finally,
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: you can find encouragement, resources, and more on the Jesus
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: Calling website at JesusCalling.com.