Mud Baths & Unexpected Joy 🛁🌄

Well, hey, everybody. I'm Justin.

I'm Courtney.

And welcome to Working From Home, our podcast. And you're probably wondering where we've been, and that's what today is going to be all about today. So we welcome you to Working From Home, and we pray that something is going to be said and said to you in a couple. A little bit. I feel like I'm talking like a pastor about get ready, get ready, whatever. Whatever about this. So welcome to Work From Home. Glad you guys are here. Welcome back, everyone. We're so glad you guys are here with us today as we engage. And we thought this, that today's podcast on the 12th could be one where we literally just kind of give you an update on, like, I guess where we've been. There's been a lot that's happened. And let's see. There's sickness. There's.

It's only been a month. It's in 2024. And I feel like we lived the whole year in a month. Like, this has been a lot.

So let's go back. Go back, back into time. Let's see if we go back into January. You came down with the COVID Yes.

Oh, my gosh. I think we had. In this house, we had every sickness. So first Cam came down with strep throat.

Yeah.

So he was sick for that. Without. For a while. Then I got Covid right after. And then luckily, nobody got each other's sicknesses, which is good. And then you got some random cold. Yeah, it was like, so random.

My doctor said that it's like the new strain of COVID that's supposed to be coming, but I didn't have Covid. But it's like the new strain that's supposed to be more gastrointestinal.

Oh, yeah.

He said this next strain that's happening is more gastro than it is respiratory. So I guess we'll have to. You know that there's a. If you guys watch ces, it was the consumer Enterprise show that was in Vegas. But I'm getting someplace. What There is a robotic toilet. If you say this one would be gastrointestinal. There's a robotic toilet. And you literally. It has seat warmers, you wave at it, and it opens up, it plays music, it has lights. And then if you have the Vision Pro, it has Vision Pro from Apple has an opportunity for you to be able to watch shows, watch whatever. And so if this new strain of COVID is gastrointestinal, we're prepared for it.

That's a lot. AI robotic.

Well, this is more AR and Mr.

But I'm sure that's actually really good as it relates to. And then seeing, like, the technology of toilets, like, well, then it'll be able to tell you, like, if you have any, like, I don't know, like, you know, a lot of stuff is in your stool and a lot of stuff is in, like, your urine. Like, be able to tell you, like, diseases or sicknesses that you have just by the stool. Like, actually technology in the toilet is.

Actually really smart to think about.

Brilliant.

Yeah. That's what you really smart to think about. I don't know. I just know that they made an Mr. Related toilet. But I'm sure because they're be able.

To tell you, like.

Cause like Vision Pro. So with Apple's Vision Pro, you're able to look at food and get exactly how many calories are in your food.

Wow.

Yeah. It's crazy. Like, you're able to do, like, so much.

And so you are still. He's on this campaign to get an Apple Vision Pro.

I really wanted Apple Vision Pro.

You have been on this campaign. I didn't want to share this with you. Mike Todd is doing a sermon series.

I don't want to know. Don't.

About Fruit in the Spirit. And he started with app. So I was like, this was a long stretch for you to just get a Vision Pro.

I really want an Apple Vision. I really want an Apple vision Pro. They're $4,000. And then I need. I would need to get the glasses in it too, so.

Oh, yeah. How do you wear glasses?

You get it. You get your prescription.

You go put your prescription.

You put your prescription in it. That's why I want one so bad, because then I could take literally, like, I'd be my life. I really don't have a Vision Pro. But anyway, so that's. That. That was sickness. But in the midst of that, I guess, you know, talking about working from home. Right. I think. I think it spoke volumes because it. There was. We. We constantly talk about a marriage, right? It's 200% every single day, right? And so. 200%, that means, like, so when court was down, it was. I adjusted my work schedule and things like that to Cam and medicine and all of that. And then she did the same thing for me. And that whole thing where marriage is not a hundred percent and it's not 50, 50. Let's talk about that in a second. But, like, it's 200%. Marriage is 200%. Not 50, 50 or a hundred. Like, whatever it is. 200. And each person has to give 100 a day. And every once in a while, there are moments where only one person can give, like, 85% and somebody else has to compensate for the 15, and somebody can only give, you know, 50%. And because of work or life or whatever. And so what we recognize in that season is the continual nature of working from home in terms of marriage, in terms of giving. 200%.

Yeah, that. I think whoever said that, I forgot who I got that from. Maybe it was like, Pastor Buchanan. But that knowledge really has changed, I think our perspective. Right. In a lot of ways. Oh, yeah. 200%. Yeah. That's shout out.

Mike Glenn, speaking of. All you guys are listening to this. Valentine's Day is two days away. All right.

So that. It's such a notion, right? I think in this world we're raised of, like, you know, put your all into it, just get your. Your portion and then whoever else. But then it's like, do you really want to run a deficit in your marriage? Right? Like, you know, everybody is not their full self every single day, right? But it's like, do you really want to run a deficit just for the sake to say, well, I gave my all today and this person didn't. You still have a deficit in your home? And it's like, no, Once you realize, okay, this person or whatever, sicknesses, jobs, whatever, they are unable to give their full self, that's it.

And like, it's that. And then also this dating game right now that everything is 50, 50. Marriages are 50, 50. So, like, you know, you. I pay the mortgage, but then you pay car note, or I do this.

Or nowadays, people don't want to pay, like, anything. And it's like, I saw this thing where it's like, I don't think people are really looking for relationships anymore. They're looking for investors. Like, they're looking for people to, like, invest in them or just to, like, this traditional notion. It's so funny how we, like, refute the traditional ways of life, but when it comes to money, it's like, be very traditional. Be very traditional, like, have the man. And it's like, our economy is not. Because, you know, I like looking at history and why things have come the way they are. Like, in that case, like, people were getting married, like, straight out of high school, if not in high school. Like, they were getting married, like, early, early on. Like, from the beginning of time, like the early 50s and. And 40s, like, they were getting married so early on, and it was like, okay, we Got to figure this out. They're having kids at an early age, 18, 19, 20. And as they grow, like, things are completely different as they are. So we want a very, like, untraditional look. Like, no, I want to graduate. I want to go to college. I want to do this, I want to do that. I want to have my own career. I want to do that. I want to do that. But then I'm totally traditional. I want you to give me all your. I'll take care of me. And if you can't take care of me, then that's a lousy man. Because it's just like, I don't know, this notion, that's just my unpopular opinion. You know, I'm, like, untraditional and everything else in life. But, like, I just. I feel that we don't have a realistic tradition.

To be broken.

Yeah.

So traditions in and of themselves. I think the Latin for it is, like, frozen success. So traditions are. There's a moment in time. It was successful.

Right?

Right. Unless it's the Green Bay Packers. And we're always successful. Right. So we won the first Super Bowl. That's why it's named the Vince Lavardi.

He's so saucy because he went the package to be the Super Bowl.

But did you see. I'm gonna put it on the screen now. Did you see. Did you see the new super bowl logo for next year?

It's green.

The new super. So you know the superstition between the super bowl logo.

Yeah.

Was. No, no, no, no, no, no.

Baltimore was. It was purple.

Baltimore, they found a way to lose. So here's the thing. So it was purple. Yes. But here's the thing. The red. It's always. Whoever has less color wins next year's super bowl logo. The primary color for the packers is green, and the lesser color of the two colors is green. We are going to win the super bowl next year.

Not you looking this up.

Yes.

So who's gonna be the packers and the Chiefs?

Packers. Chiefs. I don't really care. Packers. Who else is in the afc? Packers. I don't know. Other trash teams.

Is there anybody else Green in the nfc? That's like giving Saints. Where is it?

It's in New Orleans. Oh. Yeah. It reflects the city, but also, like, there's nothing red about New Orleans, I guess. Creole. I don't know.

But no, it was just like the shape of the spade.

No, I know. I'm just saying in general. So, like, I don't. It's probably the Chiefs or whatever team they want it to be, you know, the Bills. I don't know. But the fact is I don't really care who's in the afc. What matters is packers are gonna be in the super bowl and they're going to be there. So anyway, 50, 50 type stuff going on. So there's that. So there's, there's, there's marriage. Right.

There's some weighty questions, but okay, there's marriage.

So then good news, too. You turn 36.

Yes.

No. No.

How good that is. I have four years. You guys from 40?

Yeah. So we'll put on the screen. We did a mud bath. Oh, my gosh.

We did a mud bath. And number one question I've gotten about the mud bath. No, it does not get into your cracks and crevices. It does, it does. But not in like a point of no return.

We went to Calistoga.

Yes. Okay. So we had an amazing time away. We did almost like a stay, a daytime staycation where we went up to Calistoga, which is a small town, like on top of Napa. So past Napa, if you're familiar with the area, like Packville, some people listen.

To our podcast, don't live in California.

Right. So if you ever get a chance to come up to wine country, it's all a part of Napa Valley, though. And so part of the Napa Valley includes this small town called Calistoga. And Calistoga is known for their hot mineral water in spring. So there is an inactive volcano that kind of sits underneath the city. And there's like a natural faithful geyser that goes off pretty much every hour because of the earth, it's so warm, but they say two miles underneath the earth.

So two miles under the earth. So it was an active volcano, but two miles under the earth, there's water that is extremely hot. And so first place, because of the.

Earth is extremely hard.

Yeah.

And there's an underground river.

Yeah. The first place we went to was the geyser, where literally it's like a boiling pot. They put a pipe in and it pops up. And we'll put a video right now. Oh, a picture probably video as well. You guys can see the geyser. That's Cam holding, like the water shooting out of his hand, the sweet holding, washing. So it's really cool to go to the geyser.

It was really cool.

And so that was the first stop in our journey.

Yeah. It brings forth, like natural warm water. So there. One of the things they're known for is their mud baths. And so this is not just like mud, like outdoor dirt that they're mixing with this water. That's not it at all. So this is actually lava ash that they take and then they mix with the naturally hot, warm mineral water and they mix it together and it creates this like ionic mineral, like mineral miracle, clay bath type stuff that really helps to dry up, draw all the toxins, all the metals, all the bad stuff in your body kind of out. And when I say like instantly relax. Instantly relax. I mean that water, it was warm. It was pretty warm.

So it was burning hot.

It was burning. And you kind of don't sink into mud. So you have to like shimmy into it and get into it. But that was the best experience, like just doing that. And then what else did we do? We went to lunch in Calistoga, which was really nice. And just seeing that small town and it just was a good getaway, just a good time to explore. One thing that I love about being in California is that there's so many places to explore. Right. Literally you can just like vacation in a number of places and they're totally different. And there's just so much to get into just from this area alone where you don't have to like full have to get on an airplane and do much. But I had fun. I had a great time.

So you go from this hot mud bath to a really like a cold shower to like get your body temp lowered and then they put you into a hot tub to get your body temp up again. And then a cool down room and I almost blacked out. Cause it was just so much moving for your body. But it was really amazing experience. The mud bath was what else? And then beyond there, then we found this really cool. Dr. Wilkinson's went there for lunch and then we saw the Geyser and then we stopped by a barbecue space.

I think that was your favorite.

It was the best barbecue I've had since I've been in California.

Yeah. Even though they're crispy, Anastasia is known for their barbecue. I guess there are other barbecue spots there too. Yeah, it's like known for. I was looking up on TikTok. It's known for their barbecue. So there's a number of barbecue spots. We gotta find more.

What?

Yeah, it's like the number one barbecue spot.

Calistoga.

Calistoga.

Okay. The brisket was a little pot roasty, but I mean. Calistoga, Calistoga.

Look it up. So we've been to Busters and we went to 707. Was it 707Q or something.

It was good. It was good. Don't be wrong.

That was really good.

It was food.

So we will report back when we're on seven.

I'm still getting used to the try to. So I like smoking tri tip in the brisket style, but the way the tri tip is supposed to be cooked is to medium or medium rare. And so I'm getting used to chewy tri tip, but I'm used to more of a pull apart brisket tri tip.

Oh, tell them about this weekend. What did we make this weekend?

Oh, yeah. So this weekend video will come up here. And also if you guys go follow our brown dad Barbour adventures page. Yeah. Go find that we have. We decided to make brisket for the Super Bowl. But then we had this idea. Cam had the idea of not just making brisket for us and making brisket for the houseless in our area. And so we bought two briskets.

Right? Unknowingly to me, because we. Okay, let me tell y'.

All.

I'm gonna tell y' all the. I'm gonna tell y' all the truth about this and what happens. So Justin is a barbecue pit master, right? He loves to cook, but he loves it for the experience.

Experience.

And Dustin will taste it, and he will be like, this is chef's kiss. Love it. And he's done. He's done. Same with the little one. He just chases it and that's it. So now we're always left with a whole brisket, and who's left to eat it? So I eat brisket pretty much breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next few weeks because I'm the only one that is committed to eating it. Right? So I'm thinking Cam had a great idea, like, why don't we donate this brisket, some of this brisket to the house list? I'm like, oh, my gosh. That's absolutely. So I come home, I had a meeting, you guys went out shopping to get the stuff that we needed to make it. And I see the brisket and I'm like, oh, beautiful. It's a pretty big brisket. And then in walks another brisket. So not just one brisket. Two briskets. Two. Two huge ones. It's like having a whole cow. And so we made two humongous briskets. But it was really good because we were able to cut it up and make 17.

17 meals for the houseless community.

For the house's community. And Cam, we were. He directed it all, like what the sides were, which were totally random. So, like, if you're seeing this, I hope you enjoyed it. But honestly, I kind of tasted it both together. It worked. It really worked. It was brisket with barbecue sauce and spaghetti noodles, which are two of Kim's favorite things. And he wanted others to explain, experience it, and enjoy. And it surprisingly came together. And I know they were so happy.

Yeah, they were. It was really great to go out there, and it really reminds you of. To be grateful. Right. And it was sad because we saw a group of people who were just put out of their apartment or their home moving into an encampment with a U haul and had their boxes and everything and were unloading a U hat.

And saying, we're moving. We're moving in to the encampment, into the encampment. And this is not like a setup, established place. This is literally just an outside tent city and they're moving in. But what was like. So I know people who live in huge houses and have everything and will complain because their coffee wasn't the way they wanted it. And here we are seeing people with a U Haul. They were like, we just got kicked out, and we're moving into this tent city. But they didn't have a poor attitude.

No. They had peace. And it was. And it was a family. Yeah.

They had every reason to complain, to grumble, to be upset, to be rude, to be mean, but their heart's posture was just like, peace, peace.

And so we gave them the meals, and there's a lot of people, and, you know, you always want to do more, but, you know, I don't know what else to do. Our church does a lot.

Yeah. But it broke my heart. I was up last night looking up, like, what is the housing situation? Like, what homeless shelters? What is available? How do you help? What do you do? And it's hard. I know it's hard for people to. I hope Keith Lee. And maybe we can talk about that in the next episode. But, like, coming. It's really overwhelming not being from the area and seeing just the sheer amount of people, because I'm sure, you know, it's expensive to live in California.

Expensive, period.

Right now, period. Like, $5 a gallon for gas and traveling, you have to drive substantially, raise their prices. You guys are here. Things so funny. While we were gone, I think we got into the biggest argument of our entire marriage over Chipotle. So Kim and I. Chipotle is our favorite restaurant. Like, we love Chipotle so much, we can eat it every single day. Like, we went to Chipotle every day. We'll be so happy. Like, boom, boom, eating Chipotle. Justin, on the contrary, cannot stand a.

At all.

He cannot stand it. So he tried to. Me and Kim, sometimes we team up against. Against brown dad here. So he tried to break us with the bad news by saying that Chipotle is increasing their prices. But nothing's gonna stop us.

From a New York press article that came out this morning because of the raising. Well, I think the issue is more so Californian because of the raising the minimum wage here in California, they are raising prices. The same. Big Mac meals, $18 now.

Big Mac meals. No, I'm telling you. Do y' all remember? I don't know if this is just like, a Wisconsin thing, but. Okay, remember at McDonald's, like. Like a double cheeseburger was like, how much? $1. Or a Mac chicken was $1. So I was there. Cam wanted a happy meal. Why is it not the double cheeseburger? Because that means that's two pieces of cheese. This is a Mac double, which means there's one piece of cheese. 497.

It's incredible.

In a French fry now. It's like a medium, five members that used to be $1. It's $5.

Crazy to me. So that's. That's. That's. It's crazy to see all of this happening. And I think it's amazing because it's like, it's a one to get into, like, deep other stuff, like, like in the spits with all that, too. Like, Monique happened and, like, Cat Williams. And it's amazing. It's only been, like, two weeks, I guess. Well, three weeks since we've been together. We had PV on here a couple weeks ago, so it's been three weeks of being together. And how much stuff has occurred in that three weeks? Right? And we're gonna talk about that in the next episode. Positively and negatively. And along with that, too, like, have been some really interesting things. Like, I found another gym that I'm gonna start going to. Right. I'm preaching this series on emotions, which has been really, really eye opening to talk about and to talk. I talked about stress and anxiety the first week, and there's some quotes I'll give you that have been really eye opening to me that I'll give you guys. Overthinking does not change the future. Overthinking does not change the past. It just really screws up your present. Right. Another one was anxiety is not the fear of the future, and depression is not the fear of the past. Stress and anxiety is the Worry that you'll handle your next decision like your last decision.

Wow.

Right. And I mean, it's more of a leadership thing, but, like, that you'll make another decision similar to another decision. Right. Lower your expectations of people. Because the reason we have so much anger is because one of the reasons we have so much anger is we have unmet expectations that we have not communicated and that some people are not able to live to. Who are those people? And the reason we're frustrated with so many people is we have not named those people. Because, like, even the super bowl ads had, like, they, they, like, they said, I can't do it. And they said, I can't do this. And they said, I can't do that. And I'm like, who are they? Who are they? Who are those people? But because we have this abstensive or. Yeah, just they. Everybody's they. And it's like, actually, like, I was joking with Court because, well, Court can talk about the. Our big endeavor, but it's like, no, you have no one against you. Like, who's they?

I know. So that commercial was like, they said I could never do this. They said I could never. And I was like, me too. They said I could never. Justin was like, nobody has ever said that to you.

But that's what I'm saying, though. So, like, it's.

I think they is. I've said. And I think that's the issue that we, We've. It's easy to say. Well, they said. But honestly, in reality, it's. I said I could never own a business. I said I could never graduate. I said I could never get this job. I said I could never do that. But it's easier if we put the onus and other people of saying they don't believe in me.

Yeah, it's. I, I, I don't. I don't think I'm capable. I don't think I can. And. And so that's what God. And then also good news for me. I preached a revival. I'm preaching revival.

Yeah. You are, like, booked and busy.

Shout out. Elon Musk First Baptist Church in Elon, North Carolina.

You have been bugged and busy.

North Carolina barbecue.

I had some come on and raised up. Raised.

I had some barbecue from there. Then I also did a conference in New York on artificial intelligence. And then you have a couple more coming up. A couple more coming up, which is really cool. And what was the thing I was gonna say, though, with that? Yeah, I don't revival in ages. And it was different. And I'm not. I'm not an evangelist. So that was like, really hard for me, like, because I'm not. I'm just not a late night preacher. And then Wilkes was mad because he was like, dude, I listened to you. Like, dude, I listen to you every week. Like, what was that like? I'm used to, like, Pastor Justin, not like Dr. Lester coming here in a black suit and white shirt. Black. But it was fun. It was. It was really a lot of fun. I'm really proud of. So shout out if you guys are in North Carolina, North Elon First Baptist Church, Carolina, doing great work, just planning another location. Really proud of him. And we are actually up for, which is kind of cool. Hopefully united. You see this Thursday of this week. So hopefully have update next week. Up for being doctorate mentors and that prayerfully we're able to be Lester Wilkes Scholars. That's huge. And that people who are desiring to be in ministry, we'd be able to look back years from now and be like, I was a Lester Wilkes Scholar. And we'll talk about technology and sustainability and local church ministry. And I'm. And I actually just took what you just said because I'm working on a book that'll come out in June called I'm Ready. And I like, it's not they, it's. I actually really like that. But I'm working on this book called I'm Ready. And so January has been interesting and getting into February, we're just halfway through the month and we celebrate eight years in a couple weeks.

Crazy.

Yeah.

Can't believe it. We've been together a total of what, 11. 11 years. We've been together in a relationship with a thunk. And then we've celebrate. We celebrate eight years of being married. And so in a couple of weeks, probably not next week's episode, but the week after that, we'll probably do some reflections. Maybe eight things we learned in eight, eight years.

A lot of things. But it's been groovy. And so. Yeah, so that's what we want to bring in updates. I know this one was a little more just conversational. Next week we'll get into some of the things going on in the world and all of that. So any unpaid advertisement before we go today?

No, I'm reading a new book which is really, really good. It's called Mame.

It's right here.

Hold on, I'm gonna grab it. Maume, this is a really good book. It's from a young adult black author. It's very. It's real. It's about Asian parents. It's about just the rigor, morale, millennial life and jobs and all that. So this is very good. She has African parents, so there's some humor in it too. But that's my unpaid advertisement that. That book is keeping me going. So shout out to Usher in the super bowl and for Verizon, okay. Because they literally won the Super Bowl. Okay? Usher made the super bowl, but Verizon one with that Beyonce commercial.

I'll give you it. Whatever it was, it was a really good football game. It was a really good football game. It was a great game. It was a good defensive football game. My unpaid. I have two unpaid advertisements, okay? And I'm not gonna share all of them. Well, the first one, the super bowl logo for next year because packers are gonna win the super bowl next year.

My other opinion, they go after superstitions. And you literally preach the sermon about.

Superstitions and all of that, but it doesn't apply to SP Sports, okay? Sports are a whole other world. All right? So my other OPA advertisement. Did you see what happened to Keon Henderson's church? This old woman. I'm gonna play the video. You guys are gonna get the video. This old woman.

Can't believe she said, that's hilarious. I just. The funny part is cuz she's so you just was not expecting that cuz given her age. But it's funny.

Yeah. And a lot of reason. But you guys are gonna see this video. How you keep a man Happy for 45 years. My God. Yeah. Okay, okay, okay. Let the church. Yeah. Unpaid advertisement. Shout out. That's longevity, Court. That's longevity. I said that to so many of my friends and they were like, wow. But, yeah. So unpaid advertisement. There you go. So anyway, hope you guys have an amazing week. Happy Valentine's Day to those who celebrate. Or Galentine's Day or Single Times Day, or Palatine, whatever it is. Enjoy. You know, there's this. And I'll leave you with this Henri Nouwen in his work here. And now I'm reading it now. He said that the prayer we ought to have to ourselves every day when you wake up is thank you for existing, he said, because you're the only one who needs you to exist. Right?

PV said that too.

PB said that too. The only thing. And so he said, thank yourself for existing today. So my challenge to you is you're going to every day this week, not just Valentine's Day. And I get Valentine's Day brings up a whole bunch of Stuff. I remember being single and hating Valentine's Day. Right? So going into Valentine's Day, wherever you are, thank you for existing and thank yourself for existing. Look in the mirror. And that's one thing I've been trying to do recently. His book is titled Here and Now. And one of the things I've been trying to do recently is to wake up and look at myself in the mirror and say, justin, thank you for existing today. So thank you for existing, those of you who watch and listen to our podcast, and I want you to take a moment today and go thank yourself for existing for yourself. You need you to live.

Yeah.

So go live.

There's no relationship that works, that can be successful unless you are successful with yourself in loving yourself. And that is the biggest takeaway. So love yourself. Do something that you want to do. Even if you're in a relationship, even if you're married, even if you know you have that or if you're single, do something you want to do. Eat the candy. Go to dinner. Make the reservations. Have fun. Get your friends to together. Whatever it is, you plan it, you do it. And that's another thing. Stop sitting around and waiting to be disappointed. Right. I think that's a. A big thing where it's like I was seeing these things. My husband never asked me to be a Valentine. It's like you make the reservation to the place that you want to go and tell your. Tell your significant other. This is what I really wanted to do, and I think we should do it and do it. There's nothing wrong with that, and there's nothing wrong with that. But don't sit around and be disappointed.

That's it.

Be proactive. And guess what? I'm sure your relationship would be even stronger.

That's it.

Than it was before.

That's it. Uprooting those roots and replanting it with something else. Have an amazing day. We'll see you next week. I'm Justin.

And I'm Courtney.

See you.