Latest / Just Heal with Dr Jay / The Sound of Healing: Christopher Mitchell’s Journey Through Music and Faith
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Welcome to jess Here with Doctor J, a production of
- 0:02Speaker 1: The Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
- 0:47Speaker 1: another episode of Just Here with Doctor J. And I
- 0:50Speaker 1: am your host, Doctor J.
- 0:52Speaker 2: Barnett.
- 0:53Speaker 1: Listen, before we get started this episode, I will encourage
- 0:56Speaker 1: you to join our healing hub. We call a healing community.
- 1:00Speaker 1: I don't know, healing circle, whatever you want to call it.
- 1:02Speaker 1: All I know is we are healing over here on
- 1:05Speaker 1: this podcast. I want to encourage you to subscribe hit
- 1:08Speaker 1: that like button, do all the things.
- 1:10Speaker 2: Don't just flirt what us, Come on over here and
- 1:12Speaker 2: join us. Right.
- 1:13Speaker 1: So, I have had a unique journey of meeting some
- 1:18Speaker 1: amazing people, some amazing dope talented brothers. And I'm excited
- 1:23Speaker 1: about my guest today because he's a brother that I
- 1:26Speaker 1: met many years ago when I was living in Sugarland, Texas,
- 1:29Speaker 1: and we actually kind of started our journey at the
- 1:31Speaker 1: same time, our journey of healing, self discovery, our journey
- 1:36Speaker 1: of just like wanting more. I was on my journey
- 1:39Speaker 1: of going to therapy, and what I would do I
- 1:41Speaker 1: would go to the Town Center and just sit at
- 1:44Speaker 1: the Town Center and just sit by myself. And one
- 1:46Speaker 1: night I went out set at the Town Center and
- 1:49Speaker 1: I heard a sound and it was a sound that
- 1:52Speaker 1: I'm telling you, man, I love musical instruments. And I
- 1:56Speaker 1: heard a brother playing the saxophone. And I heard a
- 1:59Speaker 1: brother that was playing a sound. I said, I gotta
- 2:02Speaker 1: go meet this brother. Met the brother. We talked that night.
- 2:06Speaker 1: At that time, he was taking tips. He was taking tips,
- 2:09Speaker 1: and I was like, man, let me get his brother
- 2:11Speaker 1: ten dollars, man, because his brother's killing it. But now
- 2:14Speaker 1: this brother is not just collecting tips. This brother is
- 2:16Speaker 1: collecting bags because he's all over the world. And I'm
- 2:19Speaker 1: so excited to have my brother and friend. The amazing, talented,
- 2:24Speaker 1: gifted saxophone is Chris Mitchell.
- 2:27Speaker 2: Man, welcome my brother.
- 2:28Speaker 3: Thanks for having me, man, this has been a pleasure
- 2:31Speaker 3: to be here.
- 2:31Speaker 2: Man.
- 2:32Speaker 1: Now, before we get started, Now, that is a saxophone, right,
- 2:34Speaker 1: soprano saxophone. Okay, So what's the difference between that saxophone
- 2:38Speaker 1: and the one that's just kind of like the kind
- 2:40Speaker 1: of J shape.
- 2:41Speaker 3: All right, So it's like a choir. You got soprano,
- 2:44Speaker 3: alto and tenor the divorces. Yeah, so with the saxophone
- 2:47Speaker 3: is similar to that. So soprano saxophone will be like
- 2:50Speaker 3: the sopranos, an acquire altos, like the alto's an acquire
- 2:53Speaker 3: tenor and bolkalo. So this is more of a brighter sound,
- 2:57Speaker 3: more of a higher pitch, you know, her octive sound.
- 3:01Speaker 1: So yeah, wow, man, listen, I just wanted y'all to
- 3:04Speaker 1: have that quick moment, because quick teaching moment, because I
- 3:07Speaker 1: didn't know what it was.
- 3:08Speaker 2: I didn't know that. I knew it was a saxophone,
- 3:10Speaker 2: but I didn't know what type. Man.
- 3:12Speaker 1: So, brother, I am so excited to have you joining
- 3:17Speaker 1: the Just Hell podcast. Man, we have been friends for
- 3:21Speaker 1: ten plus years.
- 3:22Speaker 3: Yeah, over a decade.
- 3:23Speaker 2: Yeah, over a decade.
- 3:25Speaker 1: And to see your journey and to see your growth,
- 3:29Speaker 1: to see your name be on Arenas, it's something amazing, man,
- 3:34Speaker 1: because I remember using sugar Land playing in front of
- 3:36Speaker 1: that court restaurant, Turkoise restaurant and what was it Mediterranean restaurant. Yeah,
- 3:43Speaker 1: And to see where you are now, brother, I'm so
- 3:45Speaker 1: proud of you, man.
- 3:46Speaker 3: I appreciate it.
- 3:47Speaker 2: Man.
- 3:47Speaker 3: Yeah, that was the start of my journey because I
- 3:51Speaker 3: graduated right after the recession from college. I was jobbings
- 3:54Speaker 3: for two years. A lot of stories. You didn't know
- 3:56Speaker 3: that I haven't told you, but when you saw me
- 3:58Speaker 3: that day, I just started playing on the sidewalks seven
- 4:02Speaker 3: days a week, eight to ten hours a day. I
- 4:04Speaker 3: was playing for tips. Only to two years of not
- 4:07Speaker 3: finding a job after the recession was a problem for me.
- 4:09Speaker 3: My car was stolen. All my instruments in there. Right
- 4:13Speaker 3: after I left church. I was playing at church for
- 4:15Speaker 3: you know, twenty five dollars a Sunday at a time,
- 4:18Speaker 3: and that's all they could pay me. So I went
- 4:20Speaker 3: to the movies. And after I left the movies, thank
- 4:24Speaker 3: god the girl I went to the movies, we drove
- 4:26Speaker 3: because after I walked into our car and I walked
- 4:29Speaker 3: to my car, my car was gone. I had my
- 4:32Speaker 3: saxophone in there. So I went to the pastor and
- 4:36Speaker 3: asked him if I could have one hundred and fifty dollars,
- 4:40Speaker 3: and I went to the paun shot and bought a saxophone.
- 4:43Speaker 3: And that's a saxophone you saw me using on the sidewalk. Yeah.
- 4:47Speaker 2: Wow.
- 4:49Speaker 3: Shortly after I marry you, that's when my life really
- 4:51Speaker 3: started to change. There was a guy at the restaurant
- 4:54Speaker 3: called Harry Seisha, that's his name. If he lost his
- 4:57Speaker 3: mortgage to day, I'll pay his mortgage. I'll tell you
- 4:59Speaker 3: this guy here really saved my life. Harry Sacha came
- 5:03Speaker 3: out on the Saturday afternoon and he was looking around
- 5:06Speaker 3: in the town square and he says, you know what,
- 5:08Speaker 3: you should be collecting people's information, man, So let you
- 5:11Speaker 3: know when it's gonna be back out here. I said, man,
- 5:13Speaker 3: you're right. So I went into the manager's office, got
- 5:17Speaker 3: on Microsoft word putting Nain email phone number, drew a
- 5:20Speaker 3: bunch of lines, and printed out about twenty pages. Went
- 5:23Speaker 3: out there at my table, the table you saw, I
- 5:26Speaker 3: had my bucket on it, and I put uh the
- 5:30Speaker 3: tablet down there with the with the sheets of paper
- 5:32Speaker 3: on it. I started collecting with four hundred emails and
- 5:35Speaker 3: phone It was a day. Now I was out there.
- 5:37Speaker 3: You think that's a lot, but I was out there
- 5:38Speaker 3: for eight hours, you know, seven days a week. So
- 5:41Speaker 3: after nine and a half months, I collect collected over
- 5:44Speaker 3: half a million people's information.
- 5:45Speaker 2: What yeah, wait, wait, wait, wait wait, Chris.
- 5:48Speaker 3: It's gonna be a lot today we go.
- 5:51Speaker 2: So out man, you collected all over half a.
- 5:55Speaker 3: Million, over half a million, and at the time I
- 5:57Speaker 3: didn't have the money for weeks, so I had to
- 5:59Speaker 3: end put it all by hand, so I didn't have
- 6:02Speaker 3: I didn't have any money for iPad, so when people
- 6:04Speaker 3: wrote it down, you know, they wrote it down. So
- 6:07Speaker 3: I got to transfer to the computer. So I had
- 6:10Speaker 3: hundreds of Gmail accounts because you can only upload so
- 6:14Speaker 3: many and only saved five hundred emails per day, so
- 6:17Speaker 3: I had to I had to create so many Gmail accounts,
- 6:19Speaker 3: so I was busy.
- 6:22Speaker 2: Wow.
- 6:22Speaker 3: Yeah, this wasn't too long after we met, man.
- 6:25Speaker 2: I just so I want to go back to where
- 6:29Speaker 2: you started.
- 6:29Speaker 1: You go on a date with the young lady and
- 6:34Speaker 1: you come back. Your car is gone, but your instruments
- 6:42Speaker 1: are gone as well.
- 6:43Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 6:44Speaker 2: Yeah, when when you when you walk out there, what
- 6:47Speaker 2: what was the first thing that went through your mind?
- 6:50Speaker 3: It's funny to show the podcast is about the show
- 6:53Speaker 3: is about healing. By that time, I've already heald. I've
- 6:58Speaker 3: been through a lot of my life, man, that you
- 6:59Speaker 3: don't know about. The most traumatic experience was Mother's Day
- 7:04Speaker 3: of nineteen ninety seven, when my father tried to kill
- 7:06Speaker 3: the whole family. He stabbed my mom five times in
- 7:09Speaker 3: the chest, my sister, and the stomach, and came after me.
- 7:12Speaker 3: I held my mom in my lap while she died,
- 7:14Speaker 3: my sister crawled over. Yeah.
- 7:18Speaker 1: Uh.
- 7:20Speaker 3: Hours after it happened, when the ambulance came to pick
- 7:22Speaker 3: her up. My uncle came to picked me up from
- 7:25Speaker 3: the scene, took me to the house, his house, and
- 7:28Speaker 3: we got a call about four hours later, four or
- 7:30Speaker 3: five hours later. I was ten years old at the time,
- 7:34Speaker 3: said that she miraculously lived. They gave her not and
- 7:36Speaker 3: a half pints of blood. She's still here today, seventy
- 7:38Speaker 3: eight years old.
- 7:40Speaker 2: Wow.
- 7:41Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, man, let's I'm pausing, man, because I didn't
- 7:55Speaker 1: know that. Man, I didn't know your backstory. I didn't
- 7:59Speaker 1: know because we never had any childhood conversations. I think
- 8:04Speaker 1: when we met, we were often having discussions about where
- 8:08Speaker 1: we wanted to go and where we were. But to
- 8:14Speaker 1: think about a ten year old boy that's holding his
- 8:18Speaker 1: mom in his hand and as she's bleeding out. Man,
- 8:23Speaker 1: I'm sitting here just trying to fathom. And I'm sure
- 8:28Speaker 1: that you didn't at the time because you probably didn't
- 8:31Speaker 1: even know what was going on, that everything was happening
- 8:33Speaker 1: so fast.
- 8:34Speaker 3: Yeah. So when it happened my parents, I used the
- 8:40Speaker 3: phrase where my dad was a terrible husband, but he
- 8:43Speaker 3: was a good father to his children.
- 8:44Speaker 2: I know.
- 8:45Speaker 3: As crazy as that may sound, he didn't miss any
- 8:48Speaker 3: important events for his kids. He was always there. But
- 8:52Speaker 3: his relationship with my mother was terrible. My dad was
- 8:55Speaker 3: a pastor. I'm a piquet like me.
- 8:58Speaker 2: Yeah, did you know that?
- 9:00Speaker 3: I didn't know that.
- 9:00Speaker 2: Yeah, my dad's a pastor thirty three years really yeah?
- 9:05Speaker 3: So, uh man, I grew up in South Park in Houston,
- 9:10Speaker 3: Nick in their third ward.
- 9:12Speaker 1: Uh.
- 9:13Speaker 3: My dad was a hard worker as a carpenter and contractor.
- 9:16Speaker 2: So was my dad. Oh so he was a carpenter.
- 9:19Speaker 3: Really. Yeah, we've been on your brothers all right. So
- 9:24Speaker 3: oh wait, waited, Billy ain't rolling Stone man? Hold up?
- 9:29Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, so I grew up in I grew
- 9:32Speaker 3: up in Sauth Park in Houston, and we was evicted
- 9:36Speaker 3: from several homes and it got to a point where
- 9:39Speaker 3: my dad just shut down the church. We had to
- 9:41Speaker 3: live in the church for a year and a half.
- 9:43Speaker 3: Didn't have any my birthdays on Christmas. That's how I
- 9:46Speaker 3: get my name Chris. I didn't me. I didn't get
- 9:48Speaker 3: any presents when we were younger. So what my mom
- 9:52Speaker 3: did was, uh, she pawned a wedding ring and buy
- 9:55Speaker 3: me my first Christmas gifts. So when my dad earned
- 9:59Speaker 3: the money, he went to the punch shop to buy
- 10:02Speaker 3: it back, but they gave it back. Well, he gave
- 10:04Speaker 3: it the money to my mom and she with and
- 10:07Speaker 3: the owner gave the gave my mom the wedding ring
- 10:10Speaker 3: back because he just thought it was a marrable what
- 10:11Speaker 3: she did for children. So you know, I mean, yeah,
- 10:15Speaker 3: that's two of the many stories I got to sham
- 10:17Speaker 3: to try to give you as many as I can today.
- 10:19Speaker 3: But when you go through so much of that up
- 10:22Speaker 3: to ten years old, you learn how to heal. So
- 10:25Speaker 3: anything that came as a challenge after that, that the
- 10:29Speaker 3: most traumatic experience was just like this, you know what
- 10:32Speaker 3: I mean. So I don't cant hand.
- 10:34Speaker 2: Out it sidewalk, but how did you heal? Though?
- 10:37Speaker 3: Well, I knew God was real. I've always been in
- 10:39Speaker 3: church my whole life. And to back you up, I
- 10:42Speaker 3: was born in Thesemmer twenty fifth, nineteen eighty six. Before
- 10:47Speaker 3: I got here, my mom was thirty nine years old
- 10:50Speaker 3: and she's having me. Doctors told her nineteen eighty six,
- 10:53Speaker 3: this has done a good idea because they ain't had
- 10:54Speaker 3: any type of technology back then to have a child
- 10:58Speaker 3: at eighty to thirty nine, So my dad was against it.
- 11:03Speaker 3: My oldest siblings were against it. They were like, you know, shoot,
- 11:05Speaker 3: we want our mom childing. We want her to make it.
- 11:09Speaker 3: If the child can't make it, you know, that's the
- 11:11Speaker 3: decision we're gonna roll with to keep my mom. But
- 11:14Speaker 3: they didn't know that. The whole time, my mom had
- 11:16Speaker 3: been praying for a savior to come to the family,
- 11:19Speaker 3: so a financial savior. So when I got here, they
- 11:24Speaker 3: were trying to figure out what was gonna be my gift.
- 11:28Speaker 3: My mom always knew it was gonna be his gift.
- 11:30Speaker 3: When I was four years old, was at choir rehearsal
- 11:33Speaker 3: at church. That was the day they was discovering my gift.
- 11:36Speaker 3: The choir was rehearsing and I got off the front
- 11:40Speaker 3: bench and I went and pointed out to the person
- 11:43Speaker 3: that was in the wrong key, and then my brother
- 11:45Speaker 3: looked at my mom and my cousin. They said, that's
- 11:47Speaker 3: what it is. He got perfect pitch. So when they
- 11:51Speaker 3: came to learn the saxophone, I didn't take lessons. They
- 11:54Speaker 3: took me two and a half months. I would put
- 11:56Speaker 3: Kenny g CD's in a CD player and just try
- 11:58Speaker 3: to emulate the signs I was hearing and I just
- 12:00Speaker 3: picked it up the third month. My first performance was
- 12:04Speaker 3: in church. I played Amazing Grace and that was that
- 12:10Speaker 3: was pretty much.
- 12:12Speaker 2: Wow.
- 12:14Speaker 1: So you discover your gift at four, you learn how
- 12:18Speaker 1: basically taught yourself how to play the saxophone through hearing.
- 12:22Speaker 1: So I played drums. I didn't know that I played drums,
- 12:25Speaker 1: and I don't play often like I used to. I
- 12:28Speaker 1: played in my dad's church, my dad's son quartet saying,
- 12:32Speaker 1: so I played for his group.
- 12:33Speaker 2: I played by ear. Can't read sheet music.
- 12:36Speaker 1: Yeah, And so my dad was Baptist, and so you know,
- 12:40Speaker 1: I played by ear.
- 12:42Speaker 2: And to think about.
- 12:44Speaker 1: To discover your gift at such a young age, but
- 12:48Speaker 1: also to experience something so traumatic, how do you navigate
- 12:54Speaker 1: what happened at ten through the time you went through college.
- 12:58Speaker 3: Because God never let me fell. So when I was
- 13:03Speaker 3: when I was sitting down on the curb and she
- 13:05Speaker 3: was dying, my mom immediately started praying over me while
- 13:09Speaker 3: she was dying. While she was dying, do you remember
- 13:11Speaker 3: what her prayer was. Yes, she was praying that God
- 13:15Speaker 3: keeps her hair to be here for a children. So
- 13:18Speaker 3: she was rubbing the hand of my cheek bloody hand everything. Man,
- 13:21Speaker 3: it was blood shooting them like a water fountain. And
- 13:24Speaker 3: I remember my hat on the Grand Hills, the Grand
- 13:27Speaker 3: Hills in ninety seven. Yeah, the white Grand Hills had
- 13:29Speaker 3: a whole white union on. It was all in blood,
- 13:32Speaker 3: dressed in blood. And my sister was crawling over and
- 13:35Speaker 3: she started praying and she passed out. So I started
- 13:37Speaker 3: rocking and saying, don't leave me. So her testimony is
- 13:42Speaker 3: that when she passed out, she heard her voice that
- 13:45Speaker 3: asked her, do you want to stay with your children?
- 13:47Speaker 3: Do you want to come with us? She said, I
- 13:49Speaker 3: want to stay with my children. So she woke up
- 13:52Speaker 3: in the back of the ambulance truck. We didn't know that.
- 13:55Speaker 3: So when she got to the hospital, that gave her
- 13:57Speaker 3: nine and a half pints of blood. And so when
- 14:00Speaker 3: she told her testimony in church, she said she heard
- 14:02Speaker 3: her voice saying, don't leave me. I don't want it
- 14:05Speaker 3: told her that, I said, you know that was me.
- 14:07Speaker 3: So in my eyes, it felt like, you know, we're
- 14:11Speaker 3: all guys, little children, these angels, right, I felt like
- 14:15Speaker 3: I was being an angel for her to night. I
- 14:17Speaker 3: felt like I was the one that kind of like
- 14:18Speaker 3: really encouraged her, inspired and motivated to stay here. So
- 14:23Speaker 3: throughout life, every little thing that I got involved in,
- 14:27Speaker 3: I was always saved from it. It didn't matter like
- 14:30Speaker 3: it was well, we didn't have a place to live.
- 14:33Speaker 3: We had, you know, we got evictor. We had a
- 14:35Speaker 3: place to live. When she died, she came back to life.
- 14:40Speaker 3: When I wanted to line to play saxophone, I didn't
- 14:43Speaker 3: have any money for it. My sister was there. She
- 14:45Speaker 3: was in the military at the time. She's able to
- 14:47Speaker 3: get alan. I didn't have the money to get lessons,
- 14:50Speaker 3: so God gave me an ear for it. When I
- 14:52Speaker 3: graduated school, I couldn't find a job, he gave me
- 14:55Speaker 3: an opportunity to play on the street. That's what I
- 14:57Speaker 3: made you. When I didn't have money to ren venues,
- 15:00Speaker 3: I sayd them eight hundred dollars. I'm playing tips and
- 15:03Speaker 3: rented the Redcat Jazz Cafe.
- 15:04Speaker 2: I don't you remember that yet, Red Cat in Houston.
- 15:06Speaker 3: In Houston rented the Red Cat Jazz Cafe. Shout out
- 15:10Speaker 3: to Santa Pink. He was an owner. No one would
- 15:12Speaker 3: give me the opportunity because I was just somebody playing
- 15:15Speaker 3: on the street. So I rented the venue. So saying
- 15:20Speaker 3: people was like, how are you gonna sell tickets? So
- 15:22Speaker 3: I said, well, I got a few email addresses. I'm
- 15:24Speaker 3: gonna see what happens. Sold out under fifteen minutes. It's
- 15:27Speaker 3: one hundred and fifty seats. I had half a million people, right,
- 15:30Speaker 3: So we added a second show. The first was at
- 15:34Speaker 3: seven pm. The second one was at nine to thirty pm,
- 15:36Speaker 3: and that was sold out too. So every every time
- 15:41Speaker 3: I got involved with something I wanted to do, God
- 15:44Speaker 3: always he literally always opened the door for me if
- 15:46Speaker 3: I only stayed true to what I wanted to do. Wow,
- 15:48Speaker 3: now what led me out to the sidewalk is interesting
- 15:51Speaker 3: because after my car was stolen and I got that saxophone,
- 15:56Speaker 3: I prayed a proud that I'll never forget. And you know,
- 15:58Speaker 3: you reached the point in your life like when you
- 16:00Speaker 3: were healed or when you were prayed over by TD Jenks.
- 16:05Speaker 3: I saw the video. The moment I knew that I
- 16:10Speaker 3: really had a connection was during that prayer. Because I
- 16:13Speaker 3: still renting my entire life everything. So I told God,
- 16:17Speaker 3: I said, if you bless me with music, I don't
- 16:19Speaker 3: care if I made twenty thousand dollars a year, I'm
- 16:21Speaker 3: gonna take it over any job you give me that
- 16:23Speaker 3: sixty thousand that was in twenty eleven. I meant it,
- 16:27Speaker 3: and he knew I meant it. Two weeks later I
- 16:29Speaker 3: ended up at Turquoise. My friend Schouler, he lives in
- 16:33Speaker 3: Baltimore nonight' from Houston. He didn't want to told me
- 16:35Speaker 3: to go to the US Sugarlan Town School with him.
- 16:37Speaker 3: He played saxophone and we were just practicing in the open.
- 16:41Speaker 3: So when I was walking down a sidewalk, I saw
- 16:43Speaker 3: a guy playing the guitar. The guy you saw me
- 16:45Speaker 3: playing guitar with. He was on a sidewalk and I
- 16:48Speaker 3: just told him we played together, we could make some
- 16:49Speaker 3: extra tips. And then that door was open. And then
- 16:52Speaker 3: the whole Harry saysha, give me the idea open. And
- 16:56Speaker 3: then when I wanted to do concerts full time in
- 17:00Speaker 3: different cities, I was sitting at the bar area in
- 17:04Speaker 3: Turquoise and I was looking at CNBC. That's what he
- 17:08Speaker 3: had on the screen. CNBC said that in twenty eleven
- 17:12Speaker 3: that America is one of the most diverse countries in
- 17:15Speaker 3: the nation. So I graduated a general business degree, but
- 17:19Speaker 3: I had to hustle mentality from the street. So I said,
- 17:22Speaker 3: all right, well, if America is the most diverse in
- 17:26Speaker 3: the world, right, then Houston got to be there too,
- 17:31Speaker 3: because Houston is one of the most diverse in the nation.
- 17:34Speaker 3: So that means everybody in my list ain't from here.
- 17:36Speaker 3: So I go back to my email list or asking
- 17:38Speaker 3: people where you're from New York, Italy. I'm from Morocco,
- 17:42Speaker 3: from wherever all around the world. That was right, But
- 17:46Speaker 3: now I still don't have the money to get to
- 17:47Speaker 3: him to do the shows. So I was playing at
- 17:50Speaker 3: Sugar at Marriott on Wednesday night, right down on you know,
- 17:53Speaker 3: right down there. Jeffrey of Bembije, the general manager. I
- 17:59Speaker 3: asked him. I said, I see all these parties coming
- 18:01Speaker 3: in and out, people having meetings and parties at in
- 18:06Speaker 3: the meeting space and barrooms. How do you how do
- 18:09Speaker 3: you get a ballroom or meeting space? He was like, well,
- 18:11Speaker 3: how many people you want to hold? I said, man,
- 18:13Speaker 3: maybe about fifty people. He said, what you're trying to do?
- 18:15Speaker 3: Or said, I'm trying to do a show, but I
- 18:17Speaker 3: don't have money for a venue. He was like, whoa,
- 18:21Speaker 3: this is how you work in there. If you could
- 18:22Speaker 3: do a food and beverage minimum meat, you can get
- 18:24Speaker 3: the room for free or uh, if you rent the room,
- 18:28Speaker 3: you don't have to have food of beverage, but the
- 18:29Speaker 3: rent gonna be a little high for the for the
- 18:31Speaker 3: meeting space. Okay, And I said, well, does that work
- 18:34Speaker 3: all around the world? He go yeah. I say, is
- 18:37Speaker 3: there any money up front? He was like no, and
- 18:40Speaker 3: I said he said, they give you a deadline. I said, okay, cool,
- 18:43Speaker 3: here's another nugget God gave me. I get an email
- 18:47Speaker 3: A few days later a woman named Jenny Chang. She says,
- 18:52Speaker 3: my name is Jenny Chang. I'm from groupon dot com.
- 18:56Speaker 3: We've been watching your career and I was like my head,
- 18:59Speaker 3: like what career? Because I already posted on social media
- 19:01Speaker 3: like that I ain't got a career. So she's like,
- 19:04Speaker 3: I've been your friend on Facebook for a while, but
- 19:06Speaker 3: we're trying to start this music thing on groupond. We
- 19:10Speaker 3: want you to be one of the first. I was like, well,
- 19:12Speaker 3: I'm thinking about self worll. I ain't got no venues.
- 19:15Speaker 3: So I lied to It was like all right, cool,
- 19:18Speaker 3: I say you the tour schedule. I ain't got no tour.
- 19:21Speaker 3: So I started calling all around the world, booking meeting
- 19:26Speaker 3: spaces at the married hotel, which is perfect because I
- 19:30Speaker 3: knew that my career evolved around entertainment for women. Men
- 19:35Speaker 3: don't buy concert tickets, so uh, not like that, not
- 19:38Speaker 3: like women do. So I needed a place where women
- 19:40Speaker 3: could get dressed, have a place where they can go,
- 19:43Speaker 3: have something to eat, something to drink, they listen to
- 19:46Speaker 3: some good music. If they don't want to go home,
- 19:48Speaker 3: they could go upstairs, go to their room. It was
- 19:50Speaker 3: a hotel. It's a perfect place. So I started doing
- 19:52Speaker 3: shows all over. I didn't have the money, so I
- 19:57Speaker 3: was buying one white one way tickets, have a way
- 20:00Speaker 3: to get home. And since we in Dallas right now,
- 20:04Speaker 3: those hotels, I was out here playing that. And then
- 20:07Speaker 3: I started playing at the Dallas Our Museum.
- 20:10Speaker 2: Wow.
- 20:10Speaker 3: Yeah. And I had the money to pay them either
- 20:13Speaker 3: until after the show and I sold enough CDs.
- 20:15Speaker 2: Man.
- 20:15Speaker 1: Yeah, bro, As I'm listening to you, Chris, what's cathartic
- 20:23Speaker 1: and what will also be a bit freeing for those
- 20:28Speaker 1: that are watching, is how what happened as a tragedy
- 20:36Speaker 1: and what could have been a traumatic spind on your
- 20:39Speaker 1: life turned into something greater than what you can even imagine.
- 20:45Speaker 1: Because what happens when we have a traumatic experience. Not
- 20:49Speaker 1: only do it reset the brain, but it also reset
- 20:54Speaker 1: our life. And your life seemed to have been reset
- 20:58Speaker 1: in such a way that God orchestrated that what was
- 21:01Speaker 1: meant to derail you actually put you on path because
- 21:05Speaker 1: you now saw God as this sovereignty and saw God like,
- 21:11Speaker 1: if he would bring my mom back, what else could
- 21:14Speaker 1: he do?
- 21:14Speaker 2: Yeah? Is that how you view God through your journey
- 21:17Speaker 2: of healing?
- 21:18Speaker 3: Absolutely? I didn't have the money for college. I didn't
- 21:21Speaker 3: want to get in, so my best friend filled out
- 21:24Speaker 3: my application. I was always surrounded by the people God
- 21:28Speaker 3: needed me to be surrounded by to where I can
- 21:30Speaker 3: be where I am today and further so, I didn't
- 21:32Speaker 3: know how to get in college. I went to Sam
- 21:34Speaker 3: Jessie State University. By the way he filled out my application,
- 21:38Speaker 3: I done had the grades. So two of my friends,
- 21:41Speaker 3: they were in the DECA program back in high school.
- 21:43Speaker 3: You probably remember that those are smart people in there.
- 21:47Speaker 3: So two of my friends, you were wondering why their
- 21:51Speaker 3: friends aggress just but they wrote my letter to Sam
- 21:54Speaker 3: Houston of why they should let me in. So I
- 21:58Speaker 3: get to Sam Houston and I'm basically the fresh prince
- 22:01Speaker 3: of Bell Eye get dropped off because I was like,
- 22:04Speaker 3: I don't know where to go from here, and so
- 22:05Speaker 3: I get dropped off Huntsville. I'm looking at my friends
- 22:09Speaker 3: like all right, I'm here. Now, I'm what now? Then
- 22:11Speaker 3: we got to go down and you know, figure out
- 22:13Speaker 3: what your major mind it go be. But the point
- 22:16Speaker 3: is is that I've always been like He's always ordered
- 22:20Speaker 3: my steps everywhere I was going.
- 22:23Speaker 2: That's what I was looking for, right, Yeah.
- 22:25Speaker 3: I never had to wonder like what was gonna be next, because,
- 22:29Speaker 3: like you said, like I always knew that God had me.
- 22:32Speaker 3: So even still to this day, the scariest thing for
- 22:35Speaker 3: a businessman is that we don't know. We don't know
- 22:38Speaker 3: up tomorrow. That's that's in a good book too. We're
- 22:40Speaker 3: supposed to let that go and worry about and focus
- 22:43Speaker 3: about today. So even as a businessman and today man,
- 22:47Speaker 3: you don't you don't know how much You never made
- 22:48Speaker 3: the same amount of money on a day. Never. That's
- 22:51Speaker 3: not how business works. Even when you have contracts, that
- 22:55Speaker 3: doesn't mean it's gonna pull through, right, You just gotta
- 22:58Speaker 3: step out of faith.
- 22:59Speaker 2: That's business.
- 23:00Speaker 3: This is all faith.
- 23:01Speaker 2: Yeah, that's business. If you if you're a real entrepreneur,
- 23:04Speaker 2: you have to operate on faith. So I want to
- 23:08Speaker 2: go back to the childhood. Mom is still living. Whatever
- 23:13Speaker 2: happened with dad.
- 23:15Speaker 3: They went to prison for about five years. Uh. You
- 23:18Speaker 3: know laws are different in ninety seven, so you went
- 23:21Speaker 3: through about about five years and then he got released.
- 23:26Speaker 3: And I still talk to him today. Been forgave him
- 23:29Speaker 3: a long time ago. I mean we don't go out
- 23:31Speaker 3: and have a beer or nothing like that, but you
- 23:32Speaker 3: know I always.
- 23:33Speaker 2: Check on him.
- 23:34Speaker 3: See if you're done, all right?
- 23:35Speaker 2: What's my father? What was that like for you to
- 23:39Speaker 2: forgive your father who you watch preach Pastor Shepherd and
- 23:49Speaker 2: the very wife that he had.
- 23:52Speaker 1: That the Bible would say, love your wife, husband, love
- 23:55Speaker 1: your wives as Christ love the church. You don't see
- 24:00Speaker 1: that with him and your mom. In fact, it is
- 24:03Speaker 1: a complete opposite of what you should have saw, or
- 24:07Speaker 1: or what of what.
- 24:09Speaker 2: You didn't see.
- 24:11Speaker 1: I know you say that you forget him, but if
- 24:13Speaker 1: you can somebody who's watching this, what is that process like?
- 24:18Speaker 1: You know, to forgive somebody that you love that It's
- 24:23Speaker 1: not like an uncle, it's not like a friend, a cousin.
- 24:27Speaker 1: This is your dad who tried to take take your
- 24:29Speaker 1: mom's life. How do you and your sisters, And then
- 24:33Speaker 1: how did forgiveness? What was that process like for you?
- 24:40Speaker 3: Even on our best day, Will still has failed. This
- 24:42Speaker 3: woman's rag. That's on a good book. God still loves us, right,
- 24:47Speaker 3: So regardless of how bad he did my mother or
- 24:52Speaker 3: his children, I'm supposed to still love him, you know
- 24:56Speaker 3: what I mean.
- 24:57Speaker 2: So, and not at any given time did you ever
- 24:59Speaker 2: have any malice?
- 25:01Speaker 3: As I was upset, But over time, because of my
- 25:05Speaker 3: faith in God, it just kind of just dissipated.
- 25:09Speaker 2: Because you ever do therapy, anybody you ever said in you.
- 25:12Speaker 3: Know, yeah, the altar. I couldn't go to a person,
- 25:17Speaker 3: you know what, because me going to a person, I
- 25:19Speaker 3: needed somebody to relate to that traumatic experience that they
- 25:24Speaker 3: took us to therapy that didn't work for me. What
- 25:26Speaker 3: I needed to do was go to the altar and
- 25:28Speaker 3: go to my source, my therapy. So when I went
- 25:32Speaker 3: to the altar and the God on my knees and
- 25:35Speaker 3: told God, just take it off from me, I don't
- 25:37Speaker 3: want it, he did. So I think a lot of
- 25:40Speaker 3: the times that we go and look for uh healing
- 25:44Speaker 3: and people from people, but you gotta go, you gotta
- 25:47Speaker 3: go to that like you did. That video was different, bro.
- 25:51Speaker 3: I'm saying you do a lot of videos. I'm saying
- 25:53Speaker 3: you pray. Other people get prayed over something happened that
- 25:56Speaker 3: day when you was with TD James. I don't know
- 25:59Speaker 3: what you was going through. Was something happened and you
- 26:02Speaker 3: went and you gave it all. You gave it all
- 26:04Speaker 3: to God that day.
- 26:05Speaker 1: And it's funny you say that what had happened was
- 26:12Speaker 1: that was probably the toughest year of my life.
- 26:15Speaker 2: Man.
- 26:16Speaker 1: I was coming out of a relationship that I walked
- 26:20Speaker 1: away from I thought amicably, but the individual felt that
- 26:30Speaker 1: I couldn't leave on my terms, and because they had
- 26:34Speaker 1: an issue with me leaving, they made my life a
- 26:39Speaker 1: living hell. Her son who is here today and we'll
- 26:44Speaker 1: talk about it a little bit. I walked into the
- 26:47Speaker 1: gym Chris right in Missouri City, and they was ready
- 26:52Speaker 1: to turn me around because it was all on the
- 26:55Speaker 1: news and she said I had abused her, hadn't touched her,
- 26:59Speaker 1: hadn't all. I just said, I was just wanted to
- 27:02Speaker 1: break up and this didn't work for me. And during
- 27:06Speaker 1: that time, man, when everything popped off. It was may
- 27:10Speaker 1: or twenty eighteen, and that happened with Bishop July in
- 27:14Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, and you're right, man, something shook that day.
- 27:20Speaker 1: I mean, I still had to heal and go through
- 27:25Speaker 1: that process of really forgiveness, because it's one thing to
- 27:32Speaker 1: be accused of something that you go, you know what,
- 27:35Speaker 1: I probably could have did this better, but to be
- 27:38Speaker 1: accused of something where you're just like, nah, I didn't
- 27:41Speaker 1: do that. And when that happened with Bishop Man, it
- 27:49Speaker 1: was my moment of understanding that God truly sees me.
- 27:55Speaker 1: Because I caught a flight up to Dallas from Houston.
- 28:01Speaker 1: I was still in Houston living in Dallas.
- 28:03Speaker 2: No, I was. I was still in Houston.
- 28:05Speaker 1: So a friend of mine went to church and I
- 28:07Speaker 1: was like, she was like, yo, you need to come
- 28:09Speaker 1: up here. Man.
- 28:09Speaker 2: She's like, you just need to come to church. Man.
- 28:11Speaker 1: She's like, I don't know why, but I feel like
- 28:13Speaker 1: this should got a word for you. I said, okay,
- 28:16Speaker 1: bet So I got on a plane that came up
- 28:18Speaker 1: and that happened that day. So you're right, man, something
- 28:23Speaker 1: And when that happened that day, man, it was almost
- 28:26Speaker 1: like the moment that Jesus come out of the water
- 28:30Speaker 1: when John the Baptist is baptizing him and God goes,
- 28:33Speaker 1: this is my beloved son and whom I'm well pleased.
- 28:36Speaker 1: It was like this was my moment.
- 28:40Speaker 2: That God was.
- 28:41Speaker 1: Validating me that I know you are hurting right now,
- 28:45Speaker 1: but I got I got you right where I want
- 28:48Speaker 1: you and I'll never forget that day, man, And for
- 28:52Speaker 1: you to bring that up and for you that to
- 28:53Speaker 1: be sort of like an earmark that you remember tells
- 28:59Speaker 1: me and that that not only had an impact on
- 29:03Speaker 1: my life for me being in that moment, but also
- 29:07Speaker 1: had an impact on yours.
- 29:09Speaker 2: It did, man.
- 29:10Speaker 3: You know, we believe it or not, you'll follow us.
- 29:12Speaker 3: We watch your journey, so we we we've been following
- 29:16Speaker 3: you for a while saying where you're coming from and
- 29:18Speaker 3: where you currently are and where you where you want
- 29:20Speaker 3: to go. And it is healing to see somebody that's
- 29:24Speaker 3: you know, for us, seems like they're doing so well
- 29:26Speaker 3: in social media, but then they go to church and
- 29:28Speaker 3: surrender themselves like that that's reality for us. We won't
- 29:32Speaker 3: get a lot of that on social media. Man, we
- 29:34Speaker 3: get a lot of I'm just doing good. Life is good.
- 29:37Speaker 3: There's no there's no hardships, you know what I mean.
- 29:41Speaker 3: But to see to see you do that, that reminded
- 29:44Speaker 3: me like this, you know there's some realness in some
- 29:48Speaker 3: people that that post on social media on my timeline
- 29:52Speaker 3: what I need to see, right, you know what I mean.
- 29:54Speaker 3: So I appreciate you posting that.
- 29:56Speaker 2: That was nice.
- 29:57Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I appreciate you sharing that, man, because again
- 29:59Speaker 1: I never you never know how people feel, you know,
- 30:04Speaker 1: people with that until you until you hear what people
- 30:09Speaker 1: think about you know what they observe.
- 30:13Speaker 2: And so you sharing that, man, I'm really blessed. Man.
- 30:16Speaker 1: I'm just blessed man to have you here in your journey,
- 30:18Speaker 1: like I didn't know about your childhood's story.
- 30:21Speaker 2: I didn't know, but.
- 30:23Speaker 1: Just to see you live in complete freedom because that
- 30:28Speaker 1: it's not most people, let alone most men. Because some
- 30:34Speaker 1: people have a traumatic event man, and they're they're they're
- 30:39Speaker 1: off for the rest of their lives. They can't find
- 30:43Speaker 1: their way back, they can't find their way to to
- 30:46Speaker 1: to reconcile and to see you thriving and what should
- 30:51Speaker 1: have and what the enemy probably meant for harm, but
- 30:55Speaker 1: God used it for good.
- 30:57Speaker 3: You know. It's it's funny that you and I said
- 31:01Speaker 3: mentioned before. We're all guys children, so we all we'll
- 31:04Speaker 3: all have discernment. You have a decision to make we're
- 31:07Speaker 3: all faced with that. Some people choose not to go
- 31:11Speaker 3: to the positive route or to follow the rout god
- 31:14Speaker 3: the path God wants to take him because of fear.
- 31:16Speaker 3: The humans we're curious, you know what I mean? And uh,
- 31:21Speaker 3: but we also we also feel the unknown. A lot
- 31:24Speaker 3: of the times people don't jump off of business themselves
- 31:27Speaker 3: or self employment because they're afraid to leave the employment
- 31:31Speaker 3: that they have because they're like, oh, you know, I
- 31:33Speaker 3: got bills, I got a wife, I got kids, or
- 31:36Speaker 3: on the flip side, I got a husband, I got
- 31:38Speaker 3: kids or whatever. But the thing is, it's like you
- 31:41Speaker 3: still wants to step out in faith. Because I explained
- 31:44Speaker 3: this in another podcast in Atlanta. The interview had a kid.
- 31:49Speaker 3: I said, I'm glad you're doing what you what you're
- 31:51Speaker 3: doing and living your dream because if you wasn't, One
- 31:54Speaker 3: day your kids are gonna grow up, I'm gonna ask you, well, daddy,
- 31:58Speaker 3: did you do? Did you Are you doing what you
- 31:59Speaker 3: want want to do? Because dads still their cares. You
- 32:02Speaker 3: could be all you want to be, but they gonna
- 32:04Speaker 3: want to know if you're being all you want to
- 32:06Speaker 3: be too, So you gotta be an example. You know
- 32:08Speaker 3: what I'm saying so man, yeah.
- 32:17Speaker 2: Man, oh man, yeah, are you being all you want
- 32:20Speaker 2: to be?
- 32:20Speaker 3: Yeah, they're gonna ask you that. They're gonna look at
- 32:22Speaker 3: you like that, and you're gonna have to answer it.
- 32:26Speaker 3: You're gonna have to answer it. Uh. Yeah, it's it's
- 32:30Speaker 3: at home.
- 32:31Speaker 2: But man, it's the truth. Man.
- 32:34Speaker 3: I watched I watch. Your dad was a contract of
- 32:36Speaker 3: a preacher. My dad was a preacher. Both parents are
- 32:40Speaker 3: the same. Was my dad doing what he really wanted
- 32:42Speaker 3: to do? I don't think so. But also I think
- 32:45Speaker 3: he was doing what God called him to do. I
- 32:47Speaker 3: think he should have left that contract and alone. If
- 32:50Speaker 3: he was staying in the world, then it ain't been
- 32:52Speaker 3: all right because that's what he was called to do.
- 32:55Speaker 3: But he deviated. And when you deviate, you see what
- 32:58Speaker 3: happens if I if I stop I'm doing on call
- 33:00Speaker 3: to do with music, it's not gonna go well. Like
- 33:03Speaker 3: you just said, why didn't my life go the other way?
- 33:05Speaker 3: It's because I stayed true to what God wanted me
- 33:07Speaker 3: to do. As long as I stayed doing music and
- 33:10Speaker 3: how he wanted me to do it, I was gonna
- 33:12Speaker 3: be all right. Everything will work itself out.
- 33:14Speaker 2: So we may asked you this quzy, Is that your lifeline?
- 33:19Speaker 3: No, so I'm glad you asked.
- 33:21Speaker 2: So.
- 33:21Speaker 3: People think that the saxophone is my gift, that's not
- 33:24Speaker 3: my gift. My gift is entertainment. The saxophone is a
- 33:27Speaker 3: segway for me to do it. I can entertain people
- 33:30Speaker 3: without my saxophone. So if you stole the saxophone, I'll
- 33:33Speaker 3: still be all right because God is just put my
- 33:36Speaker 3: gift in and initially put it in me so for
- 33:39Speaker 3: me to go out there and entertain on stage. But
- 33:42Speaker 3: I got my saxophone out of tune. If it's backstage
- 33:45Speaker 3: on a broken to read or whatever, I could still
- 33:47Speaker 3: go out there and give people a good show. Matter
- 33:49Speaker 3: of fact, before I would go, before I even go
- 33:51Speaker 3: out there and perform, I walk out on stage without
- 33:53Speaker 3: my saxophone and people happy to see me. What do
- 33:56Speaker 3: you think that is? It's not that they're like, where
- 33:58Speaker 3: your saxophone at? Some people may say it, well, yeah,
- 34:03Speaker 3: but I stick it out there. Enter title though, So
- 34:06Speaker 3: when you start deviating from what you're called to do,
- 34:09Speaker 3: your life is not gonna look good. Like you can
- 34:10Speaker 3: go out there and make all the money you want
- 34:13Speaker 3: if you do. Went to the NFL and not doing
- 34:15Speaker 3: this right here, you will not work. It would not
- 34:17Speaker 3: ended well for you at all.
- 34:19Speaker 1: And I and I and I never forget, man, well
- 34:21Speaker 1: you did go. I'm just saying, And I never forget
- 34:23Speaker 1: you said that. I never forget someone telling me that
- 34:26Speaker 1: a lady, an older lady, said God didn't allow you
- 34:29Speaker 1: to make it because it was not going to end
- 34:32Speaker 1: well for you.
- 34:33Speaker 3: No, it's not your gift. The gifts shall make room
- 34:36Speaker 3: for you. Uh. And and if you're not using it, dude,
- 34:41Speaker 3: I'm telling you, it's like blatantly going against guy's will
- 34:44Speaker 3: for you. Who wants to do that? Right? I don't
- 34:47Speaker 3: want to do that. I don't even want to see
- 34:49Speaker 3: what that's gonna look like. If I just stop doing
- 34:51Speaker 3: what I'm called to do, it's not gonna end well.
- 34:54Speaker 2: Man.
- 34:56Speaker 1: Man, listen, if you you're watching this, it's not about chance,
- 35:03Speaker 1: not about happenstance. I think it's a divine moment that
- 35:07Speaker 1: you've been listening and watching My brother Chris Mitchell awesome
- 35:11Speaker 1: saxophone player, but even better man. And so often we
- 35:17Speaker 1: are infatuated with people's gift that we lose focus of
- 35:22Speaker 1: the gift giver and what I love that Chris is
- 35:26Speaker 1: expounding on and I love one of my favorite words.
- 35:30Speaker 1: He's elucidating pain in this picture that he's never forgotten
- 35:35Speaker 1: the giver of his gift. And I want to say
- 35:40Speaker 1: to you, have you forgotten what God has given you?
- 35:45Speaker 1: Maybe there's some gifts in you that you have just overlooked,
- 35:48Speaker 1: that you have just forgotten about. In fact, you just
- 35:50Speaker 1: don't even want to touch it because it irritates you
- 35:53Speaker 1: because everybody's like, why don't you do this?
- 35:55Speaker 2: Why don't you do that? You're good to this.
- 35:56Speaker 1: So I want you to take this opportunity to think
- 35:59Speaker 1: about what has God giving youth that is unique about you.
- 36:04Speaker 1: How can you use your gift to not only just
- 36:07Speaker 1: be blessed because you're compensated for it, but how can
- 36:11Speaker 1: you be a blessing.
- 36:13Speaker 2: It took me a long.
- 36:14Speaker 1: Time to figure out not only just what my gift was,
- 36:19Speaker 1: but how to utilize my gift. And I think that's
- 36:22Speaker 1: the difficulty for most people is with doctor J what
- 36:26Speaker 1: do I do with my gift? Okay, I can do
- 36:28Speaker 1: this because sometimes you can be gifted in many different areas.
- 36:32Speaker 1: What I learned was my voice was a gift, and
- 36:35Speaker 1: my level of understanding and comprehension was even more of
- 36:38Speaker 1: a gift because I can conceptualize information and process it
- 36:42Speaker 1: in a way and deliver it back to people where
- 36:47Speaker 1: they can hear it in a way that can resonate
- 36:50Speaker 1: with them. When you think about playing by ear, what
- 36:57Speaker 1: are some of the things that you hear when you
- 36:59Speaker 1: are are deciphering how to pull out a sound and
- 37:03Speaker 1: to connect the cords.
- 37:06Speaker 3: So I'll tell you what gets me started before ever
- 37:09Speaker 3: going to a performance. I got a players, like a
- 37:11Speaker 3: gospel player. That's what I listen to before I go
- 37:13Speaker 3: on stage, and I think my spirit gets heightened. So
- 37:19Speaker 3: then when I go out there, it's kind of like
- 37:21Speaker 3: somebody that lose the Holy goes they don't you know, Yeah,
- 37:24Speaker 3: it's only they don't know where they at. So when
- 37:27Speaker 3: I go out there, I just play. It's just like
- 37:28Speaker 3: muscle memory. It's just like just order my fingers and
- 37:32Speaker 3: what do you want me to So I don't have
- 37:36Speaker 3: any premeditated nothing. Yeah, I'll just start going.
- 37:39Speaker 1: What I love about what you shared today, Chris, is
- 37:42Speaker 1: that you just a vessel man, but a willing vessel,
- 37:48Speaker 1: and you have surrendered the gift. I often talk to
- 37:51Speaker 1: people about that when they ask me about my ability
- 37:53Speaker 1: to to do what I do. I said daily, I
- 37:57Speaker 1: have to surrender my gift back to God, because if
- 38:00Speaker 1: you don't surrender it back to God, you will mismanage
- 38:03Speaker 1: what He's given you. And I never want to mismanage
- 38:06Speaker 1: what God has given me.
- 38:07Speaker 2: I want.
- 38:07Speaker 1: I don't want to manipulate. I don't want to explore.
- 38:10Speaker 1: I don't want to use for my game. I want
- 38:13Speaker 1: to always make sure that I'm stewarding the gift well
- 38:18Speaker 1: so he continues to expand what the gift can do.
- 38:22Speaker 1: How important is it for you to steward your gift?
- 38:25Speaker 1: And when you think about.
- 38:27Speaker 3: That's funny you say that because I know you can
- 38:29Speaker 3: relate with my mother. Tell you, how did it feel
- 38:32Speaker 3: being in church on a Sunday and you weren't playing drums?
- 38:36Speaker 3: You feel like you need to get up there exactly
- 38:39Speaker 3: because that's what that was your way of praise. It's
- 38:42Speaker 3: the same thing with me. I can't just go to
- 38:44Speaker 3: church sometimes just be sitting on the sidelines. Some people
- 38:48Speaker 3: raise their hands, some people lose their minds, some people
- 38:51Speaker 3: just stand still and cry. I always was I gotta
- 38:54Speaker 3: get to that instrument. I gotta play the drums. I
- 38:56Speaker 3: gotta feel. That's how I'm a feeling, you know what
- 38:59Speaker 3: I mean, That's how I stewarded by. Every time I play,
- 39:04Speaker 3: I make sure in every concert I do one good
- 39:06Speaker 3: gospel song because that was my promise of God that
- 39:08Speaker 3: every show I'm doing a gospel song and tell my story.
- 39:12Speaker 3: And I do. Wow, that's not a concert that ever
- 39:16Speaker 3: went by that will not tell my story. My story
- 39:19Speaker 3: goes further than that. Since twenty eleven, I've never been
- 39:23Speaker 3: hired to do a concert. Every theater, every rent has
- 39:26Speaker 3: been my own investment. Wow, I've never been hired. Even
- 39:31Speaker 3: when when I spoke to Live Nation this year about
- 39:36Speaker 3: going on my til for twenty twenty six and put
- 39:38Speaker 3: my toy days together, they were like, all right, great,
- 39:41Speaker 3: uh sitting an agent and I was like, I'll sing
- 39:42Speaker 3: you the agent, but I'm renting the theaters. And even
- 39:46Speaker 3: then it was like what I was like, Yeah, but
- 39:52Speaker 3: uh again it goes back to Irby's till I step
- 39:54Speaker 3: out in faith. That's another way I mean stewing in
- 39:57Speaker 3: my gift.
- 39:58Speaker 2: It's managing.
- 40:00Speaker 3: Yeah, this is as long as I just stay on
- 40:02Speaker 3: the path that he wants me to be on, I'll
- 40:04Speaker 3: be all right. I literally don't. My prayers are very
- 40:08Speaker 3: open ended. It literally ends and basically have your way.
- 40:14Speaker 3: That's it. I don't have this a bucket two and
- 40:18Speaker 3: two Steve Harvey talks about the life was one of
- 40:20Speaker 3: his one of my favorite verses. Right division making plans
- 40:23Speaker 3: a huge reason. Will run to it, even though it
- 40:25Speaker 3: take a long time, wait for it, for surely to
- 40:27Speaker 3: come into this terrs way for it. It'll come at
- 40:33Speaker 3: to a point in time. This is a fact. You
- 40:36Speaker 3: went through your life trained Jim two hand, touched on
- 40:40Speaker 3: the street in the grass that show. Do you know
- 40:43Speaker 3: what I'm saying? And you stay, stay us to it.
- 40:47Speaker 3: You went to the league, after that, you left, You
- 40:50Speaker 3: went through some things, but you still use your voice.
- 40:52Speaker 3: And here I am today sit with you like it's
- 40:55Speaker 3: easy for me to call you my brother. Because there
- 40:57Speaker 3: was a reason why we met on that sidewalk, on.
- 41:00Speaker 1: The sidewall, and we was both at a place where
- 41:03Speaker 1: we was looking for more, looking for.
- 41:05Speaker 3: More, and look at us and ten plus years later
- 41:08Speaker 3: we're talking about our journeys.
- 41:09Speaker 2: Man.
- 41:10Speaker 1: Yeah, you never know, bro, When I tell you, I'm
- 41:12Speaker 1: so proud of you, man, it blesses me through to
- 41:15Speaker 1: see you all over the world. It blesses me to
- 41:18Speaker 1: see your videos being reposted, retweeted, thank you. Know, to
- 41:23Speaker 1: see your your TikTok videos, to hear people talking about
- 41:26Speaker 1: how phenomenal of a saxophone player you are, Man, it
- 41:30Speaker 1: blesses me because no one would have ever known that
- 41:34Speaker 1: this black man that would stand on the sidewalk had
- 41:39Speaker 1: navigated one of the most traumatic experiences that any child
- 41:44Speaker 1: would have to navigate through.
- 41:46Speaker 2: It's seeing their parents in a pool of blood. Yeah,
- 41:50Speaker 2: and finding a way to not only just forgive your dad,
- 41:55Speaker 2: but finding a way to take what God has given
- 41:58Speaker 2: you to use it. Brother. And I tell you, brother,
- 42:02Speaker 2: you have inspired me even more today just hearing that
- 42:05Speaker 2: because I didn't know. And that's why I love what
- 42:07Speaker 2: I do with this podcast, because we don't realize that
- 42:13Speaker 2: our life's journey is also someone's healing journey, and it's
- 42:17Speaker 2: how people get healed through sharing our stories. Man, in
- 42:21Speaker 2: this moment, if you can think about a song in
- 42:25Speaker 2: this moment, what would you play Amazing Grace? Yeah, let's
- 42:31Speaker 2: here man, My brother, you're truly annoying it. Man, Thank you.
- 43:39Speaker 2: There's people who are gifted and there's people who are
- 43:41Speaker 2: an knowing it.
- 43:42Speaker 1: You are both appreciated you, and I pray Man that
- 43:47Speaker 1: as you begin your tour next month, that.
- 43:53Speaker 2: You experience a different.
- 43:54Speaker 1: Level of admiration and validation, not because you could at it,
- 44:03Speaker 1: but you get to experience what your kid brings to others.
- 44:08Speaker 3: Appreciate it. Man, Thanks so much for the interview. Thank
- 44:11Speaker 3: you for inviting me on Man, and stay in contact
- 44:14Speaker 3: with me because I got some friends, as we both
- 44:17Speaker 3: that didn't make it. I'm thirty eight, now you know
- 44:20Speaker 3: what I mean, Like, I got some friends that didn't
- 44:22Speaker 3: make it at thirty eight. Yeah, but we're in and
- 44:25Speaker 3: if we wasn't promised to be here today either, No,
- 44:28Speaker 3: but we both have the stories to share. And you know,
- 44:30Speaker 3: Guy of the plan, so he kept us.
- 44:32Speaker 1: Yeah we are. I want to ask you this one
- 44:34Speaker 1: last question. I always ask every guest man, what is
- 44:38Speaker 1: healing for Chris.
- 44:39Speaker 3: Mitchell surrendering your life to Christ. It's said, accepting Jesus
- 44:46Speaker 3: your Lord and savor and know that God is the
- 44:47Speaker 3: only way. I said, when you do that, everything in
- 44:51Speaker 3: work and souff out Man. There's not a single story
- 44:53Speaker 3: in the Bible of somebody that's rending themselves in Christ
- 44:57Speaker 3: that didn't make it, that didn't make it now. God
- 45:03Speaker 3: gives a free will. You can choose the other route,
- 45:05Speaker 3: even if you do supposedly surrounding usself to Christ. But
- 45:09Speaker 3: for those that surrender themselves, it's still in that path.
- 45:12Speaker 3: They'll be right, They'll be just fine.
- 45:15Speaker 2: Many brother, I love you man too. Listen.
- 45:20Speaker 1: I hope something that was shared today in this interview
- 45:23Speaker 1: with Chris. I don't know what will title this episode.
- 45:28Speaker 1: I know we will come up with something amazing, but
- 45:29Speaker 1: it definitely has been a transformative conversation for me because
- 45:36Speaker 1: I've known this about ten plus years and did not
- 45:39Speaker 1: know the depth of his story. I don't know the
- 45:41Speaker 1: depth of your story, but what I do know is
- 45:45Speaker 1: there is healing on the other side and you have
- 45:49Speaker 1: the power to rewrite a new story. Listen, don't forget
- 45:54Speaker 1: to subscribe to Jess Heal Doctor J. Every Tuesday, we're
- 45:58Speaker 1: bringing new episode. We're bringing guests from all walks of life,
- 46:03Speaker 1: people that are sharing their journey so you can continue
- 46:05Speaker 1: your healing journey and remember, healing is a journey and
- 46:09Speaker 1: wholeness is the destination.
- 46:12Speaker 2: Until next time, take care.
- 46:14Speaker 1: Just here with Doctor J a production of the Black
- 46:17Speaker 1: Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio visit the
- 46:21Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts.
- 46:23Speaker 2: Or wherever you listen to your favorite shows
- 46:25Speaker 1: And you can follow me at King J Barnett on
- 46:28Speaker 1: Instagram and x and follow us on YouTube Just Heal
- 46:33Speaker 1: Doctor J.