Supporting Your Spouse in Difficult Times | Ron + Hope: Unfiltered

Hello, everybody. It's Ron and Hope. Ron and Hope.

Finally.

Unfiltered.

Finally.

Raw. Relevant.

Finally.

Guess who's back? Back again. Me.

Looks like lemonade, doesn't it?

Yep. Why are you drinking that?

Well, I wish Essentia was a sponsor.

They're not.

But they're not a sponsor. But I guess I'm giving them some advertising because I'm drinking electrolytes.

But that's not Essentia electrolytes.

That's not Essentia, it's Essentia.

Yeah, but it's not Essentia electrolytes.

I poured electrolytes in it.

Okay.

And did the—

Who do you— What electrolytes do you take?

I don't know, somebody gave them to me.

Oh my Lord.

Since I'm not eating sugar. They said you needed help. I'm telling you, the world needs to know what I'm doing.

The whole world? The whole world. Go on, tell them.

Need to know what I'm doing. 'Cause you know what they're gonna do when this gets on YouTube and they get in the thread, they're gonna all tell me how it's good or bad, or what I should or shouldn't be doing.

Well, everybody's got an opinion. You know what they say about those.

I have a— let me tell you something, guys. I don't do diets ever, I do lifestyles. And since I've gotten into my 50s, would you say that's an accurate number? Since I've gotten into my 50s, I've had to change my life in a lot of ways. A 50-year-old guy can't work out like a 25-year-old guy, and I was trying to, and I paid for it.

Hurt yourself, hurt your knee, hurt your shoulder.

Yeah, I paid for it, because I was trying to go in there with my sons. And just do their workout. And for the most part—

But it wasn't about working out.

It was about beating you.

And for the most part, I could.

Well, they've never beaten me, and I'm not gonna let it begin now. Okay. That was one thing in the swimming pools, I was always undefeated. They would both jump on me at the same time, and I left that. So, what I do is when I see 'em getting close, I retire. You quit.

Yeah, you quit.

So, I can retire undefeated. But anyway, with the— That's horrible. Both of my boys, at times, you know, worked out really seriously and I try to work out with them, but 50s, my body changed.

So if you can't win, you're not going to play?

Pretty much.

Right.

That's why I'm in golf. You know, that's why I don't play golf. Because everybody that invites me to play golf is good. And I've never invested the time in golf.

So you're a sore loser.

I'm not a sore loser. I don't want to lose.

Oh my gosh. Okay.

I don't want to lose to find out if I'm sore or not. Does that make sense?

So you've never lost anything?

Yep.

Okay, keep going. Electrolytes. So you are—

No, let me tell you what I'm doing. I know some of y'all are gonna have an opinion, I know. About 4 years ago, I tried vegetarian. If you lift weights, not CrossFit, Not all that. If you lift weights, that's hard to do, to not have any protein intake, or animal protein rather. That's hard, and to keep your energy level, you subsidize a lot of carbs. And I remember I went back, did my blood work, and my sugar, and my doctor said, "What in the world are you doing?" And I told him, and he said, "Whatever you're doing, stop." because it was affecting my blood sugar levels. And so, you have to find, you know, you, because me and you both, you know, and I know you don't want to hear this, but we're approaching 6-0. Can you believe that? I can't believe it. We're approaching it. And you and I have seen a lot of sickness and things around us. You're dealing with it now with your mom and dad on a high level. I certainly saw my dad suffer through it. And so, we're trying to do things in such a way for longevity. We wanna go and go strong for as long as we can. And so, we understand that you have to make decisions now that bring results later. And we're trying to do that. And there are many different ways to attain a goal. There's usually not one way. There's usually several ways. Anyway from vegan, anywhere from carnivore, anywhere from Atkins to getting a shot. I mean, there's all kind of ways. But I had some—

You forgot about Weight Watchers.

I had some bad weight that I was having a hard time losing. The way I'm having to change my workouts were not helping. And I already don't eat bad. There's not a whole lot of room. There, but I did have someone who's a pastor friend of mine who's 68 and has been doing the carnivore thing for about a year and a half. And I was amazed, amazed at how lean this person was. And I just talked to him, I got him myself. I said that, you know, this ain't normal, guys your age. I'm not talking about beefed up, but just lean. And so, I've been doing that, as you well know. I will eat vegetables from time to time. I will eat a salad from time to time to get my fiber, but I've been doing about all carnivore. And I'm gonna tell you guys, I am losing bad weight like crazy. However, my energy level, because this is what I found out, baby, and we're not giving a nutrition thing. I just wanna tell everybody though, 'cause it's important to me. One thing we found out about every eating lifestyle is all of them agreed on one thing, and that was this: sugar was the devil. Sugar was the devil. No matter what it was, sugar was the devil. So I've cut, cut sugar out of my life.

You have been very good.

And they say that you need to replace it with electrolytes. You need something with electrolytes in it, and it's helped me. And I got some in that water, but I'm not lying to you guys. Cutting out carbs and cutting out sugar, it's affected my energy level. It has affected— 'cause I go. I go hard and I go a long time. And I have looked at you several times in this past week and told you, "Man, I'm telling you, I feel like I'm dragging cinder blocks behind me." And I'm not used to that. But I have not cut back. I have cut sugar out of my diet. I never ate a bunch, but when you start cutting it out, you find out how much you did eat.

Except that one piece of pizza you ate the other night.

That ain't sugar.

It's carbs.

We were just talking about carbs. Carbs are just sugar. I'm probably 80% carnivore diet. But you know why I ate that piece of pizza? Because I was absolutely about to fall over.

Because you wanted it?

There was nothing else there. No, if I'd wanted it, I'd eat a whole pizza. I wouldn't eat a piece. I can eat a whole pizza and y'all have to get another one. I can do that. But I have gotten on this thing. I have gotten a lot leaner. I've lost some bad weight that I've had a hard time losing. I like you better leaner. The downside is, I like me leaner, but I don't like losing being big because I wanted everybody to look at you and say, "Don't mess with her 'cause of her husband." Oh my Lord, have mercy. And now I don't feel like I could say that. When I look in the mirror, I look small.

You do not.

But anyway. And cutting, I'm gonna tell you something, they say that your taste will change and this, that, and the other.

They haven't.

It's been tough. It's been tough all the way to my coffee.

Is this sustainable? Like, do you eat?

I don't know. I mean, I've been doing it, you know, I've been doing it a couple of months now.

So, my question to you was, I mean, we're just talking, right? My question was, "Well, what about cholesterol?" That's just packed.

I have not gone back. I get my blood checked every 90 days. So I have not gone back and I have not checked it. My cholesterol was borderline. But Hope, even in that, there's people that say, "That whole thing's a lie from big pharma." And I read and study a lot of stuff.

[Speaker:HOPE_CARPENTER] They check your plaque in your veins.

[Speaker:DR_PHIL] That's what you gotta work out for. There are people that have high cholesterol and it's no problem, 'cause so much of your body needs it. Your brain is what, like 60% cholesterol? That's why they tell babies when their brain's developing, eat fatty things, drink fatty things. But I don't know, I'm trying to find that which works for me and has the least amount of downside, 'cause it's like no matter what you take, you know, like the vegetarian, lot of upside. Come over here, big downside.

Yeah, we had to take B vitamins, didn't we? And we had to take iron.

Iron, had to take iron 'cause there's no iron basically in the vegetables, you know. So there's pluses and minuses, I have not, weighed the down of this yet, except the energy level. And I'm gonna look at my cholesterol. But those are the things, you know, you talk about when you're in your 50s, and I'm sure we got some people in 20s and 30s watching this that don't wanna talk about cholesterol.

But while we're talking about this, let's talk about our wonderful, wonderful supporter of Ron and Hope Unfiltered, and that is Green Chef. Okay, real talk. We've just talked about this. We've tried our fair share of this is the one. This is the one diet or lifestyle, but super strict and hard to keep up with. And honestly, sometimes they don't last. So quick fixes just weren't sustainable for us. And that's why we love Green Chef. Where fad diets fail, they deliver real food and recipes that make healthy eating feel easy. And actually, it's lasting. So it's been one of our favorites. It feels effortless, like we were eating well without you know, overthinking it. So when Green Chef— every week you get over 40 recipes made with organic produce, responsibly sourced proteins, and nothing that you can't pronounce. So pick what matters to you, whether it's Mediterranean, high protein, carnivore, or their new longevity line built around brain and gut health, which is so important. Meals come pre-portioned and ready in minutes. And if you want guidance beyond the plate, they include free unlimited one-on-one nutritional coaching. Which helps you stay on track. Green Chef is the only certified clean meal kit tested by the Clean Label Project and the most sustainable meal kit with 20% less food waste and 100% offset delivery emissions. So I feel better, I'm eating real meals, and it actually fits into my life without being overwhelming. So head to greenchef.com/50ronandhope and use code 50RONANDHOPE to get 50% off your first month, then 20% off for 2 months. That's code 50RONANDHOPE at greenchef.com/50ronandhope. You've got to try it. The food's delicious. It's easy, especially busy families. It just makes your life so easy.

They let me work like I work, but it's not a meal prep, but it lets me keep my eating on track. And so, we use it. We're not just people who advertise it, we use it. And we'd love for you guys to check it out too. And it benefits this podcast when you do that. So, check them out and get that promotion, if you would. You've had a time with your mom and dad. I wanna talk about the next 20, 25 minutes, which is how long we usually give a podcast, How to support your mate in good times. And here again, none of this is out of a book. I don't have the 4 things that I've done. I don't have it. We're gonna talk as we go, and I'm gonna let you tell me what I've done that's been beneficial. If you won't hurt my feelings a bit, I'll let you tell me maybe some things you need. But everybody goes through this. We're not gonna moan. We're not martyrs. But the fact is, Hope's mom and dad, their health is both failing at the same time. Her mom could have easily passed away in her 80s with open heart surgery, and we've not got her sewn up and healed to where even close to where her dad had— then had a stroke and has been pretty debilitated because of that.

And he has macular degeneration.

He can't see.

I mean, he's legally blind.

He can't see.

Now, the stroke has limited his movement on the left side.

Part of his brain is— the tissue has died.

The tissue has died. Plus, I mean, they can't fix it.

Well, they were going to put him to rehab to see if they could get him strong enough to go in there and fix it. Then the neurosurgeon came in and said, there's no way. We can't— we can't go in there.

Major arteries, the carotid artery, the one behind it, are 100% blocked. Said there's not even a sliver.

So they told him, you know, without a God miracle, tissue will continue to die because it's getting no blood flow.

Right.

And so, that has direly affected him in the early '80s. So, you get something government-run and people do the best they can. I'm not throwing any shade, but you know, if you get something government-run, sometime maybe the care that you would like your parents to have was not there. So, we look at doing things—

My grandparents in nursing home.

They just kind of put you in a corner.

And it was pitiful to watch. Pitiful to watch.

I guess they do the best they can with the resources, but it's not a great place.

I promised my parents I would never do that. To them.

And you and I, without revealing all our stuff, you know, we're blessed. People probably think we roll a whole lot deeper than we actually do. It always amazes me what people think versus what really is. But it is extremely expensive to get private care, unbelievably expensive.

I can't believe it. I'm just— I've been shocked.

And there's no vacancy. And there's no vacancy.

No.

I'm like, who are these people?

These people are gobbling it up left and right.

Like, who are these people paying these kind of bills?

Well, here's the thing with that that I found, because I've done all the research, I have been immersed in it.

You have.

Is there's no help, really, for the elderly unless you have provided that for yourself prior to— to get into assisted livings or memory care.

So, a lot of these people have prepared for this season in their life.

Yes, they have. They have.

The burden's not on their children.

Right. There are policies. You know, I do insurance. I do wealth management. There are policies out there that you can get called long-term long-term care policies. And if you've paid into that, like a life insurance policy, when you need it—

it will benefit you.

You can use that policy at that particular time. And it— your children don't have to pay for it, or it doesn't have to come out of your Social Security, or, you know, you don't have to sell a home that you've worked for your whole life, you know, to pay for things like that. Some people have, you know, prepared for it, but most have not.

It's astronomically expensive, guys. And that's not what we want to talk about is the price of elderly care. What we want to talk about is Hope has been their primary caregiver. Your brother does help when he can. He works in Augusta, Georgia, and he comes up on weekends, but he can't just leave. And so, you're across the country, and you are involved in the ministry on the greatest level I can remember. I don't remember Whenever we were during this kid season, I told people, you cherry-picked. I'm gonna do the women's ministry, I'm gonna do this, I'll help you with this. In the early days, you grinded with me. Kid days, you got to cherry-pick a little bit. You were always involved, but you got to cherry-pick. You was a mother and you worked. And then that we're here in these empty nest days, I've never seen you more involved, plus, your inner circle, plus you've opened up your own private business with your wealth management and insurance. You are going, and now you got a mom and dad, they have to be taken care of, and it has shifted everything. Like, you leave to go back to the East Coast again tomorrow. There's a reason she hadn't been on 4 weeks of podcast. It ain't because she don't wanna do podcasts. She's not been available. I did them a little bit without her, but our podcasts were never meant to become teaching tools. That's not what we designed them to do.

Yeah, I just had to pick up what she left off.

You just had to go.

My dad had a stroke.

You called me on a Sunday when I was expecting you to be at church and you said, "I gotta go." And you've been there with the exception of one week, you've been there ever since. And so, I just wanna talk about, you know, how do spouses accommodate and support in difficult times. This is totally unscripted. No script to it at all. But what has it been like for you? How have I helped make that process better? And what are things you need during that time? What do you need personally when you're going morning to night in something unexpected?

[Speaker:CECE] Yeah. I mean, you've done it. You did it.

[Speaker:JOYCE] You don't have to just say that.

[Speaker:CECE] I know that, but you have. And this is what I needed was, No more pressure. You know, all the pressure was coming from that side. And there were demands that we didn't even know, you know, what the next day would look like, you know, trying to take care of Mom at home, trying to go to the— be at the hospital, trying to transition to the rehab, trying to spend time with Daddy, trying to spend time with Mama, all the while making all the calls to all the assisted livings and all the skilled nursing.

Searching through your mom and dad's—

Going through all their paperwork. Paperwork and everything. So, I didn't need—

'Cause you got calls that gases were gonna be turned off and bills hadn't been paid. It's not because they don't have money. It's just been let go. They've been sick.

Yeah. So, I didn't need another round of pressure. Like, you picked up the slack. My assistants here at the church picked up the slack. They just took over and just let me be. You didn't put extra demands on me like, "Well, when are you coming home? Well, I can't believe, you know, you've been gone 3 weeks and da-da-da." You didn't do that to me. You knew that I had to do it.

You know I miss you horribly. Okay.

Yes, I know.

And being alone sucks.

I know. But you didn't do that. And you knew that that would put more pressure on me. And I didn't need it at the time.

Do you handle pressure well?

I think I handle it better than I've ever handled it.

I would agree with that.

Pressure to me, I don't— I don't cry. I don't— I get tight physically. It affects me physically. I want to lay down and take a nap. I want to go to bed. That's what pressure does.

The broken you would run.

Yeah.

The healed you just needs— you need time.

I need—

you need time. You got— you got to have a little bit of space where you can remove yourself from it and you recover pretty quick. That's what I've noticed in my own.

Probably not as quick as you, but—

I do recover quick.

But I think that's a man versus a woman.

Probably. What's been the hardest part of it? Just getting away from me. Okay. You know, we promised on this to be real raw and relevant. I think to most people who've known us any amount of time, they're no strangers to the fact that that relationship was extremely strained for a large season of your life. Is there any satisfaction you have with them, obviously, you know, being in this season of their life, the twilight season? Is there any unfinished business? If they were to be with the Lord anytime soon, would your heart be at peace?

Oh, absolutely.

Explain that to anybody who has strained family relations.

I feel like I have gone above and beyond with my time, with my resources, with my care for them, above and beyond. We both have. You have been extremely generous and said, You know, use this money, move this money, or do whatever you need to do to take care of your parents. And I think that's the love of God displayed.

They don't know what you're talking about.

Well, we've explained it, that it's our— you know, they, they really didn't want me to marry you to start off.

Till about 2 weeks ago.

And they kind of made our life hell for many years, probably up to about 15 years ago.

And 15 years ago.

Yes, Ron.

She's pinching my leg.

No, it's true.

She's pinching my leg.

15 years ago. But we've been married 36 years, so it's been strained. It's been hard.

It went from hell to Hades.

Ron Carpenter.

So, is ADs a little bit nicer than hell? Whatever the next level above hell is, it went there for a little while, the last 15 years. So, I spent 20 there and then we elevated to another one. So, she's pinching my leg, now she's done her eyes, look. She's done her eyes real big.

He is lying.

Am I being bad?

Yes. Anyway, you asked me—

I told you, you apologized to me, didn't I?

Did I have unfinished business? No. I feel like I'm doing what the Lord wants us to do for our family, for our parents. And I'm hoping and praying that I'm sowing, that if I ever need to be taken care of in that level, my children would do the same thing for me.

They better. We've tried to take care of them. I'm believing they would take care of us. What— What did you learn about yourself when you had to confront this that you didn't know? 'Cause I'm gonna tell you what, I had a tough time when I knew my dad was getting ready to leave this world. When the realization that my dad's days were numbered.

I think the toughest part for me is assuming the role of the power of attorney, of like the realization—

You having to be the heavy.

And the realization of they're not that anymore for me. You know, because everybody, I think, wants their parents to be the strong, the ones that are there for you. And that's not there anymore.

Oh, no, not at all.

And I'm 100% having to be there for them. And you really don't have that role of a support—

parental support.

Yeah. In your life. That's, that's kind of— that's been hard, you know, having to reverse and treat them like a baby, really, and have to help them understand things and Kind of make hard decisions even when they don't like it, but knowing I'm making the right decision.

Yeah, when they're not aware of what they need. And you're having to force the issue because, you know, they are a danger to themselves. And we've made those decisions and had those conversations together. Like taking away car keys to somebody who don't want to lose that. Like assisted living to somebody who does not wanna leave their house. You gotta understand, Hope's making these decisions decisions, and nobody wants them made. They're kicking and screaming against these decisions. And one of them, your mama thinking it's unnecessary, you know, and you see it from a whole different angle. A woman who 80-some years old will drive the car somewhere and don't know how to get back. But she don't want her car taken away, you know.

Ginger: and that's also another hard thing is it's sad to me that You know, you can live your whole life and be so strong. My mom was such a smart, strong woman, you know, accountant, worked in the accounting department of an entire plant, like number 3 in the entire organization, then went back to school at 50 years old and got a nursing degree. And just smart woman, you know, ran our whole family. And it's just sad, you know, to see that, like my dad said, which is not true, he made a statement, he said, "We live our whole life and worked our whole life just to be put in a box," meaning that small assisted living. And that's not true, but in a sense, it is true. That's sad.

And that's why we're making decisions now in the hopes that— 'cause I told you, growing old is not an option. I think growing feeble, unless there's things that happen out of your control, I think growing feeble is different though.

He made a statement. He said, "You know, you're putting us here." And I immediately said back to him, "I'm not putting you here. Your health puts you here." We have no option.

You can't care for yourself.

So, your health or lack of will dictate your elderly years. That's why it's so important, like, what we're trying to do now with our bodies and being healthy and eating right and supplements and all the things.

[Speaker:JOYCE] One of the things that has been surprising to me is the— 'cause when I'm there, I help you. They're extremely sick and feeble, but I don't know that totally work, 'cause your daddy said at rehab, "Why don't you just take me back home?" "But that's from the stroke." "Yeah, but that's what I'm talking about. But he can't take 2 steps. He can't hardly control things within his body. And he needs assistance in all— he needs assistance to put his feet in the bed. I had to pick up his feet and put them on the pedals for the wheelchair. But why can't I go home and y'all just leave me at home?" I'm like, "Wow, he just— he's extremely—" he needs extreme amounts of help, but is not aware that he needs help, so you're fighting with them about pulling something away. You think they just understand, "Oh, I need some help." They don't. They don't understand. And then we left your daddy, went straight to your mama's, and she comes in there and she's kind of pitching a little fit, and she goes in there and starts crying on you and this and that and the other. You know, she don't want to leave her house, but she'll look at you in another voice and say, "I'm not able to take care of your dad." And we're sitting there going back and forth, and we find out she just got stopped by a cop for running a red light, you know, and you're sitting here and—

You could have been T-boned.

Yeah, and the gas department calls you and says, "We're cutting off the gas 'cause it ain't been paid." And you find out the bills aren't being— It's chaotic. Ah, it's just— It's chaotic. And here's the thing, life doesn't stop.

No. No, my life has not stopped.

You can't say, "All right, let me press pause like YouTube, and I'm gonna go in here and get me, pour me a cup of—" It don't stop.

Yeah, you pulled in 100 directions.

Yeah, it keeps right on going. And I think, for me, that's probably been the hardest part, is weathering this newfound stress and weight. But everything else we've got that was already heavy enough, don't slow down, still running 100 miles an hour down the road.

It is only a season, and you just gotta give it all you got. No, and then, you know, I think it's been very important to— I mean, to take breaks. I've had my— I've just asked my brother, "Could you come up on the weekends? Give me the break." I've asked people in the church. Our care pastors there on the East Coast have been so precious to go sit with Daddy 2 and 3 hours.

I sent you some pictures of me in a wife beater. Oh my God.

And what did that do? What was that?

You said it encouraged you.

Y'all see what I got to deal with? You see? So I just want to make you smile when you're down.

Anyway, I got a massage one night too. I've been getting you massages. Yep.

That was great. I've been getting you massages.

I've been trying to take care of you. So when you're in a thing like that, what helps you more? Words, kindness, gestures, time, things, understanding? Understanding. Or, "Do this with me." Understanding.

"I'll do it. I don't want you to do it.

I'll do it." I think most women are like that.

"I'll do it.

Just understand and give me some massages." You know, in the marriage conference, I tell people that. I say, most women, You know, if you're watching TV and she walks in and says, "Do you know the kitchen's on fire?" Okay, this is what I found about the nature of women. This is generalities, this is not 100%, this is general. She don't want you to get up and go put out the fire. She can put the fire out. But do you care? Yeah, do you care? All right, do you care the kitchen's—

I want you to recognize—

I can put the fire out, but do you care that the kitchen's on fire? Yes, don't just sit there and ignore that I'm "Hey, I'm over here too." Exactly right. And so, that's what I've been trying to do is not pull on you, but let you know I'm there. I care. I know you're putting out double. I know you gotta be exhausted.

And give me some massages. I take gift cards. I've done that. Yeah, I take—

I didn't give you gift cards, I take you myself. Yeah, all the things. And— but that, I think when— you know, Miss Denise Boggs, when we went through our counseling back in 2013. We were there doing a family thing. And at that time, Chase was really struggling and battling some things. And she did, you remember the thing she did about the carousel? I don't know if people do this anymore, but there used to be when everybody had babies, they laid in the crib and there's a little carousel that had little dangly animals or something hanging on it. And she And she did this illustration that has stayed with me now all these years. And she said she pulled one of them, and when she pulled one of them, all of them shifted. And she says, "You know, when somebody's struggling in your home, that's what happens." And she says, "Everybody—" 'Cause everybody has to accommodate. Everybody's got to accommodate. And I think that's what I would leave, if there's any point of emphasis or teaching that comes what we're saying I'm sharing today is there's no way around the fact that when something out of the ordinary needs extra attention, it shifts everybody. It didn't just change for that person.

Yeah. You don't sin in a vacuum. You don't struggle in a vacuum.

Especially if you're married and have a family, you don't do anything in a vacuum.

Nothing. Everything affects everybody.

Everybody around you. It affects everybody. Because like, when you left, Our Greenville, you know, we lived in Greenville 3 decades. We retained the house there. We have a house in Greenville. And you know, when I get there, I have grandkids and they wanna come over and they wanna do things. And I have children, they wanna see daddy, you know, meet me at so-and-so, we'll get some hibachi or whatever. When I'm on the West Coast and you're gone, buddy, it is— Holy man. Nobody takes you out there. I mean, to tell you, that house is quiet. We live up on a little—

All right, West Coast, y'all better step it up.

Moses Mountain all by himself. And I've just been nights I've called you and told you, I'm not putting pressure on you, but you're not being there is felt. He's lonely. Because you get up and the house is quiet. You ain't got nobody to talk to you. You go to bed and the house is quiet. Because I'm literally not just without you, I'm in a place that's isolated. And I tell you, you know, going to restaurants and looking at the wall while you eat, you know, I'm not used to that because me and you do everything together. Everything shifts, everything moves. Financially— financially, things have something about to shift, you know, with all that's caused. And so, what have we done? Restructuring. Everything moves. So, I would just tell people, if you are in a family, if you are in a marriage, if you're in any type of group where you are tied to the people in that group, when there is one person— the Bible puts it this way, "Bear one another's burdens." Let me end with this. It almost sounds like a contradiction. In one place, the Word of God says, "Let each man carry his own load." But in another place, it said, "Bear one another's burdens." Your load is, it is my responsibility to take care of the daily activities of my life and run my life. That's not your responsibility, okay? Now, there's a sickness, lose a job, okay, that's an unusual load. That becomes a burden. That's when we get involved in one another's life, is when something above the normal life load comes and is then burdensome to us. Then we come in and we shift and we move and we bear one another's burdens. And I hope that that would start in the marriage. That's what I've tried to do. That's what I've tried to do. And I don't always know what you need. I don't always know when you need it. And sometimes I'm like, I'd love to talk to her, but she probably don't even wanna talk to nobody right now. And so, I try not to call you out of my need, I try to call you out, what would you need? And putting the other person first when you're lonely yourself, you gotta intentionalize that. 'Cause it could be, I ain't talked to nobody in 6 hours, I'm gonna call Hope. Well, the fact is, you've talked your ear off, you're dead.

Ooh! Don't stop. Ooh! Ooh! Ron said, "Your daddy don't have a passing thought that don't come out of his mouth." My goodness. I was like, "Well, somebody got to tape him." You know, sometimes, you know, you just have thoughts and you just don't even say them because there's no reason for it. Like, "Man, that's an ugly tree." You know, you're going down the road, you don't say it out loud. It's no reason to say it. Well, my daddy says it. He never stops. He says every thought in his head.

And it shuts you down. It shuts you down. It shuts you down where you just quit. Because going down the road is like this, "I wonder when they painted that yellow. Look right here, I ain't never seen a car like that. There's so many clouds in the sky. This chair right here, how do I get this arm up?" I mean, it never stops. And you'll see me in the thing, after a while, I look like I'm beaten. Like I've been beaten.

I'll tell you what, I have gotten some of the funniest videos that I've ever had of my daddy. And I will treasure them and keep them forever. While he has been in that hospital, it's been a hoop.

It has been. Anyway, guys, we appreciate you.

That's what's going on in our life.

I'm glad I got to do a podcast with you. Yes.

First one in a month. Absolutely. They're so much better when I'm here.

They're a lot better when you're here.

Everything's better when you're here. Well, It's been awesome being here. We love you guys. Get registered for Transfer. It's right around the corner. It's just right around the corner. Literally about, what, 3 weeks?

About 4 weeks away.

Yes, it's free. It's here in California. It's going to be life-changing. I'm not just saying that. It really is. There's something special. The anointing is on that conference. Really is. And we want you to be here with us in California. We love you guys. It's been wonderful to be back. So, it's Running Hope Unfiltered. Real, raw, and relevant.

We'll see you soon.