Voices In My Head Podcast Episode #261: Mister Rogers

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Welcome to Voices in My Head, the official podcast of me, Rick Lee James. I'm a recording artist, a singer-songwriter, an author, a worship leader, and an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. The Voices in My Head podcast is your source for discussions on music, literature, movies, pop culture, theology, and more. Now sit back, relax, and listen to the latest episode of the Voices in My Head podcast. And don't forget to let the voices in your head be heard by following me on Twitter @RickLeeJames and sharing your thoughts about today's show.

Welcome back to Voices in My Head.

As always, I am your host, Rick Lee James.

I'm very glad that you are back this week. I hope you enjoyed last week's episode with Krista Wells. I really had a great time talking with her and hearing more about her music. She's such a great singer, and I learned some things I didn't know about her. And I've known she was a great songwriter for some time, but Just to get to connect with her on a personal level, it was pretty great. So I hope you enjoyed that last week. If you haven't had a chance, please check out that episode with Krista Wells. She is the writer of the song "Held" that Natalie Grant made popular a few years ago, but she's so much more than that. And so I hope you enjoyed that. So check out the podcast with Krista Wells last week. It was really great. This has been an interesting week since last week. I wanted to start out just by saying something real quick. To all of you. It has been a time of great celebration and a time of great difficulty all at once. Because it has been Easter, it has been very busy just in its own way. We had the first Sunday of Easter last week, and I am always excited when we get to the Easter season. But it was such a time of joy and sadness for us because we, as many of you know, and I referenced it last week, we went through our 4th miscarriage, and it was just a really hard time for us. So Sunday morning, I was just a mess. My wife was a mess emotionally. We were having a really hard time. And when you're singing songs about the resurrection, it gives you not only a sense of great sadness and heartbreak because of what we've lost, but also a sense of hope for the future and what we will be gaining, and the fact that they are with our Lord, and we believe we will see those babies one day. But I wanted to thank all of you for your many prayers. Whenever you have a miscarriage, I don't know if a lot of people know this, and if you haven't been through it, you wouldn't know it, but it is a death, and you do go through the grieving process. And you know, in a normal, in a normal grieving process, it takes at least a year just for you to work through all the stages and go through that process. And we've experienced that about 4 times now in the last couple of years. And, and some days are okay, some days are hard, but we're in that state of grief. We've lost ones that we love. And, and so anyway, I wanted to thank you for all your thoughts, all your prayers with that, the many, many kind words that you have sent my way through not only just social media but email. Some of you have sent cards and letters, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. I really— we are very moved by that, and we just thank you so much for you thinking of us in this time and what we have been going through. Thank you. Please continue praying for us. We want this to be something that God can use, and maybe there are other people even listening today who have been through it that just need to know someone else is there and has gone through it. I think the timing was amazing last week of talking with Krista, and just, just that her— much of her ministry is based off of helping people that have been through situations like this through songs like Help. So I don't think that was a mistake at all. I think it was a God moment that we had last week. And so anyway, just wanted to let you know about that. It has also been an interesting week in that as we have celebrated the resurrection and celebrated Easter, there was a couple of unique and unusual things that happened. Yesterday I was on a talk show on Newsmax Radio, or actually Newsmax TV. It's a radio show, but they also filmed it. So I'm gonna be on TV, everybody, on Newsmax. I wanted to kind of give give this as a disclaimer because I didn't know what Newsmax was. Somebody contacted me, as they do, through the contact page on my website, and I didn't do a lot of follow-up as I often do. And last week, because of the miscarriage, and because at the same time literally we got home from my wife having to go through an outpatient surgery because of the miscarriage, and we got home and our pipes needed to be fixed, and so it was like You know, it was like insult to injury all in the same day. Had to get a plumber to come out. It was late at night, we couldn't take a shower. So the next day was dealing with that, and then I got this invitation, hey, would you like to come be a guest on our show? And I thought it was going to be, well, hey, cool, you know, I don't know what Newsmax TV is, but, um, you know, I'd be happy to, to go on, you know. And didn't really do a lot of research about it. I looked at their website and I thought, hmm, this seems a political, maybe a political site. But I wrote him back the day before I was supposed to be on. I had kind of forgotten about the interview and told them that I would be on. And I said, you know, I just want to make sure, you know, I'm, I'm not really a political guy, you know, and if that's what this is about. And I said, I have had kind of a tough week. We've had a personal tragedy in our life. And so I'm not prepared if that's what you want me to talk about. You know, I do music, I do podcasts and things like that. So I got a really nice email back from the Jesse Lee Peterson Show, and, and it's— it said, said, no, we want to talk to you about fatherhood and spirituality and being a pastor and things like that. And I said, well, cool, I can, I can do that. So I got on there, and it started out to be a little bit about that, about being a pastor, and then it kind of felt a little bit like an ambush, to be honest with you. And I was in the thick of it. And I've come to find out now, looking at a lot of the websites of Newsmax and Jesse Lee Peterson, it's a very just extreme right-wing political talk show. And I think they wanted me to— I don't know, I think they wanted me to get all political, which I didn't want to do. And I didn't do. I talked actually more about the way that the church, we tend to sacrifice our prophetic voice when we get too involved in politics and things like that. But anyway, just kind of Wanted to make a disclaimer if you thought I was out there endorsing a show on Newsmax TV or the Jesse Lee Peterson Show. I don't know them very well. Their emails, they were very nice and they seem to be friendly people to me beforehand. I'm not so sure what the purpose was of me being on the show, but if you wanted to look it up, you certainly can. It's the Jesse Lee Peterson Show. I was on there on the 3rd of— what is this month?

April.

It was, it was an interesting thing. I don't think I went where they wanted me to go, and I don't think it made them very happy. But anyway, you'll be able to watch it on Newsmax TV if you get that in your area, and you can listen to it online. Just listen to the radio show. You'll see my name. Look up Jesse Lee Peterson and Rick Lee James. It was interesting, to say the least, and I guess that's all I have to say about that. So thanks for having me on. I wish we could have talked about some of my music or the podcast or some of the things I have going on, but we didn't end up doing that. So what I'm gonna do now, uh, before I get into the segment about Mr. Rogers today— yes, we're gonna talk about Mr. Rogers today, folks— um, I wanted to share once again, we still have 23 days left as of the time of this recording, uh, to help support the making of my new album. We still need a lot of help. We've raised about $520 through Indiegogo right now. Our goal is $4,700. And we are featuring a perk right now where you get 2 CDs and my book for only $50, plus you get an instant download of 2 songs from the new album Thunder whenever you go on and buy this. A lot of you told me you were waiting to get your tax returns back, and that's great. Hopefully by the time, you know, before the campaign ends, you guys can help out. That would be great. We still need a lot of help. But there are also perks like $10, and you can get a thank you and song download. You can, for $20, get the full digital album. For $25, you get your name in the credits. For $30, you can get the full album on CD plus the 2 instant downloads. There's a perk where you can get a t-shirt. There's a perk where you can do concerts in your homes and all kinds of things like that. So I hope that you'll take advantage of those things. Go to Indiegogo.com, just look up my name, Rick Lee James, under the project. You'll be able to find it there. And I think that's all I have to say about that right now. I appreciate all of you who have contributed and the many who still will continue to do that in the coming days. I'm grateful. We have 8 backers at this point. We need a lot more. So if you could help out, I'd really appreciate it, and I'm looking forward to releasing this album to you. It should be mixed and mastered hopefully in the next 2 months here, and after that, nothing is stopping us except for money from actually releasing it and getting it out to you all. And I'm working on getting transcriptions done right now for churches to be able to play it. Okay, quickly, before Well, not quickly. I'm just gonna take time to talk about what I want to talk about today. There's something that many of you— I don't know if you know it's me or not— but there's something that's becoming quite popular online in the Twitter world, and I have really enjoyed doing this, starting this, being a part of it. I think all of you who listen and have listened to me for a while know that I'm a huge fan of Fred Rogers, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Not so much just that I watch the show all the time. I don't actually. Obviously that's a children's show, and we used to watch it more with Alex when he was a little bit younger. But the man himself— I've read a lot of books about Fred Rogers. I've read a lot about his life. I've read a lot about the different things that he did that people would never know about— his ministry, about him becoming ordained, and the way that his show was actually considered a mission work by the Presbyterian Church, and he was considered a missionary. And just did a lot of amazing things. Well, I'm inspired by him, especially in this age where everything is so divisive and people have— they're so argumentative through social media and things like that. And I thought— it's been, I think, under a year ago now, less than a year ago, I started a Twitter, a Twitter name, MrRogersSay, just MrRogersSay, no spaces, anything like that.. And I started out just putting quotes by Mr. Rogers up. And at first I had like, you know, maybe 5 to 10 followers on there, and that's fine. I started following a few people that I thought may be interested to have it and just start putting up little quotes by Fred Rogers on Twitter. Well, before I knew it, it started really taking off and people started really liking this site. I was getting a lot of interaction through Mr. Mr. Rogers say? And people were resonating with the words of Fred Rogers, and especially the Gospel words of Fred Rogers. I don't think people realize so often when Fred would talk, he wouldn't use reference and verse, and he wouldn't do direct quotes from Scripture, but he was speaking biblically, and he was very intentional. I mean, he was good friends with people like Henri Nouwen, who, you know, we know is such an amazing spiritual director, and had written so many books while he was alive. And Fred was very intentional about presenting the gospel in a way that people didn't know he was preaching at them, but he was. He was showing what it meant to love your neighbor and to love your enemies and to what it meant to be a neighbor. And that was the whole basis of the show, was the gospel. And so now here we are, I think less than a year later, And I have got so many people interacting with the Mr. Rogers Say website, I can barely keep up. It's well over 3,000 Twitter followers now. It's growing daily. And daily I get direct messages from people. I get responses from people, probably 20 to 30 a day, just from people saying, "I can't tell you what it means to just hear these quotes from Fred Rogers every day. Thank you for taking time and carrying on this." I've had people say, I knew Fred Rogers a little bit, or I knew Fred Rogers— I know Fred Rogers' widow, and I know they would be proud of what's going on with the site. So I've never really talked about it on the podcast before. I wanted to take a minute to share that with you today, and I want to share with you a few of these great quotes that— just an example of what you might hear. And I want to encourage you to go to that Twitter page and follow it if you're on Twitter, @MrRogersSay. It is simply there for encouragement. I want to be an encouragement to people in this time. I am trying to be more like Fred every day and trying to allow the Holy Spirit to work through my life in the way that He worked through Fred's life. He is an example, I think, in that. Even right down to the fact that before he would go on his show every day, he would say this simple prayer: "Lord, let some word that is heard be Yours.". And I am finding that the word of the Lord is being heard through these words of Fred Rogers. So let me share some of these quotes with you, things you might hear or read Mr. Rogers say. When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed. That's a great quote. I mean, that's powerful stuff coming from Fred Rogers. You might hear a quote like this, or read a quote. I keep saying hear, it's read. It's on Twitter. But part of the problem with the word disabilities is that it immediately suggests an inability to see or hear, or walk, or do other things that many of us take for granted. But what of people who can't feel, or talk about their feelings, or manage their feelings in constructive ways? What of people who aren't able to form close and strong relationships, and people who cannot find fulfillment in their lives, or those who have lost hope, who live in disappointment and bitterness, and find in life no joy, no love, These, it seems to me, are the real disabilities. And another quote that you might find on Mr. Rogers, say, my Twitter page: "When I was a boy, I would see scary things in the news. My mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'" I gotta tell you, that's true. I found so many helpers in times of crisis. Here's another one: Love isn't a state of perfect caring. It's an active noun, like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now. And another one: Anything that's human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone. So I just wanted to tell you about that today. That's mostly what this podcast is about. It's a short one, but I hope you'll take some time if you're on Twitter to go to @MrRogersSay. I'm really hoping, and I think it's happening, that we're building a community there of people that just wanna make the world a little brighter place. And a lot of us were finding that we are resonating with the gospel, and many people who didn't even know Fred was a preacher, didn't know he was a pastor, they're finding that the words of Fred Rogers are life-giving words because in essence they are the life-giving words of the gospel. They're just framed a little bit differently, and Fred was very intentional about that. So I wanted to share about it. I'm excited about it because of the interactions I'm getting there. And I wanted to give the opportunity for those of you who listen to this podcast, if you like what I'm doing here, I'd love to see you there at the Mr. Rogers Say Twitter feed. Just give us a follow and click on there and become part of that community that's there. Post some tweets and mention Mr. Rogers Say in your tweets if they're quotes about Fred Rogers, and I'll try to retweet retweet them. That's hard to say, retweet. I'll try to retweet them there. It's just for encouragement and hope and help, and I think we really need that in this day and time. People need encouragement. I have needed it. I have needed these words in my life, and I'm very grateful for them, and I'm very grateful posthumously for the ministry of Fred Rogers. And on this 50th anniversary of the Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, with new movies coming out and documentaries and things, It's important to me to share the Gospel in a little different way. I tell you, I think it's something good that is something we can share together. Maybe, you know, it seems like the community there is growing at a faster pace than this podcast ever has community-wise. We've done a lot of great things through this podcast, but I wanted to share that with you. It's sort of an extension of It's another thing that Voices in My Head Productions is doing that I just haven't talked about. I wanted to give it some time to see where it was going. And it seems like it's something that is becoming a life of its own. So check out Mr. Rogers Say on Twitter. Alright, well, I've talked to you a lot this morning. It's only been about a 20-minute podcast, but I think that's enough. And I wanted to share that with you. And I'll be back soon And I guess I could say I'll be back in this neighborhood soon so we can talk with some great guests. I'm going to be in Indiana this weekend playing about 3 different times at a revival in North Vernon, Indiana. Coming up, the National Worship Leader Conference. I hope to see lots of you guys there. I'll be playing a concert on a Sunday morning in Nashville. I believe that's May 7th coming up. Got some things coming up with Jeremy Cassella here in Springfield, Ohio in the very near future. I'll be talking about that more in the coming days. So thank you for listening to Voices in My Head. God bless you all.

Thank you for joining me here this week on the Voices in My Head podcast. I hope you'll visit me on my website at rickleejames.com, follow me on Twitter @RickLeeJames, like my artist page on Facebook at facebook.com/rickleejames, and keep up to date on what I'm writing at my author page on amazon.com. Make sure to follow my calendar on the website, and if you would like to have me come to your town to do a concert, a speaking engagement, or a book event, you can book me through my website by clicking on the link for Pare Booking Agency. That's P-A-R-E Booking. And finally, it would mean the world to me if you were to leave me a review of this podcast on iTunes. The more positive reviews that we receive, the more visible this podcast is on the internet.

And now the benediction.

May the God of peace, who raised Christ from the dead, strengthen your inner being for every good work. And may the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, rest upon you and dwell within you this day and forevermore. Amen.