Thoughts on seeing a psychic about the dead

is something supernatural about some of them. I know that there's a million fakes. Well, there's a million frauds. They're just an artists, they're just tricking. I do believe that there's a handful that are actually harnessing a supernatural power. So, yes, there is a there's a belief, a non endorsed belief, that they are harnessing a supernatural power, and I highly discourage it. It is highly discouraged in my faith in Jesus Christ. Chad Warren guests on the podcast Today Reoccurring guests.

One of my faves, one of the crowds faves. People request you now, man, I'm super excited to be here. Here's what I'll say. It is a lot of fun. It is just a lot of fun to come in here and I get excited. Well, you have been here. We've been chatting for about an hour before we turn on the mics, and I always do this, man, you come in here, we talk for like a solid hour and we say some really deep stuff. And I think this could have been a podcast. This could have been

a good podcast episode. So we're answering questions today. This is what we do a lot of times on this podcast. If you have anything for me, email Granger Smith Podcast at gmail dot com. Could be any kind of question, could be a shout out, could be a hey, you could just say it's my birthday and I want you guys to say birthday. We could do that. These questions have been rolling in for about a year now, and

they are all over the place. We're talking relationship questions, life questions, deep questions about God, or questions about football or music or I mean, it's all over the place, and I'm going to dive in, you know me. I like to start off with a couple of soft pitches here. So this first one says, hey you and your my name is James, I met you the other night in Lafayette, Louisiana. It was great to meet you before the show was

it was an awesome night. I got to stand in front on the front row and fish bump you and get a guitar pick it said. It was great. But I'm fourteen years old. I want to learn how to play guitar. I've wanted to ask you if you have any tips for learning how to play I already have a guitar. I just want to learn to play it. I love your podcast and music. Thanks well, James shout out to Louisiana. Thanks for writing in Buddy fourteen. Do

you play any instruments? I played guitar mandolin, and I was forced to take piano lessons back in the day. But I'm grateful for it because I learned the scales and kind of note placement and things like that. Do you remember how you first started playing for James's sake, I yes, So we had a classical guitar, Old Gibson, and so you learn a lot about kind of yeah dexterity and fingerpicking and things like that. But I couldn't wait to get to a steel string and then eventually

an electric guitar. Do you remember how the first how it first started for you, it was it a book. For me, it was a book for me, it was lessons. It was a guy named Larry. It's out there Larry and Montana, Larry and Montana, and he talked about himself and the third person, Like I remember, we were sitting in this room, just me and Larry, and we're sitting there and I've got my guitar and he's facing me and he says, Okay, now Larry's gonna play a g ooh.

And I was like, it's creepy. Oh you're Larry, got it? Okay. It's then he's like, okay, now Larry's gonna do It. Was the strangest, but I learned a g chord and it was a lot of scales, okay, a lot of finger scales. But for me it was I learned. Actually, you said you're fourteen. I learned at fourteen, and I pulled the It was because some friends of mine were playing guitar in middle school and I just thought it

was the coolest thing. So I thought I want to do that, and the girls liked it when the guys could play guitar, so I thought, that's cool. No girl looked at me, so I thought, maybe one will look at me if I play guitar. So there was one in my closet for my grandmother. Was actually classical, which is great and I and it's kind of the point I want to make here in a second. They have nylon strings and they don't hurt your fingers as bad as the steel strings do. They're a lot softer, right

getting those calluses. Yeah, And it feels like the strings are further from the neck. Yeah, like they're higher up. So you've got to be very intentional about fret placement. So I learned there was a book inside the guitar case. And this was a guitar inside because my grandmother tried to play it and didn't put it in our house.

So there was a book in there and it said where to put it had to fretboard and little dots, and so I just looked at the page and lined up my fingers to where the where the dots were lined up. And if you do that, all you have to do is learn three chords and you could play a song essentially just two chords you could play if you learn e and a very simple positions E and A are the first things I learned, and you could play a full song just E and A back and forth.

But when you learn three chords and you learn a D, then you could play a full any song you hear on the radio pretty much. But that being said, today YouTube is around. YouTube is such a great source for learning instruments, so you could do it free. You don't have to go see Larry and listen to him talking

with Larry. You could watch YouTube. And I remember a big step was I was good at playing as long as there was no other things happening, like keeping rhythm and stand on track, and then learning to play and sing at the same time. That was a major hurdle for me. Yeah, and you don't have to do that right away. Learn your guitar first, decently, and then you'll just want to sing along with the guitar. So you're

on the right path, James. The first thing that you need is you need to want to do it, and then you need a guitar, and then and you have both of that, you're ready. But this is what I was gonna say earlier though. What you can do though with your guitar is you could take it to a local shop and have them put nylon strings on your acoustic guitar. And they're gonna think you're crazy. And you say, Granger Smith told me to do it on a podcast,

but I've done it many times. You could take the steel strings off your guitar, replace it with eye on strings, and it allows you to play longer periods of time without it hurting. Because your your fingers tips right now are just soft. They don't have any callouses. So you don't want that to be to inhibit your learning because it hurts that. You don't want that. But right back in James to try this out, and and right back in, let's get an update from you. Let's go to another question.

I'm trying to get another. Okay, here we go. Here's another softball. Hey Grande, this isn't necessarily a podcast question. I'm reading it on the podcast. But said, I'm in the market for a new smart watch. I saw yours on an episode of The Smith of just wondering what model it is. I get this question all the time, and that people don't realize it's just an Apple watch. But this is just a wat. You're a commando, right.

It has a case that I got for fourteen dollars on Amazon, this little strap, this band, and it's just it's strong. It doesn't it protects it more even though it's cheap. But I love the Apple Watch. It took me a while to get in the rhythm of it, but once I got in the rhythm of it. The alarm is probably my favorite thing. It vibrates so I can get up before my wife and she doesn't hear me get up. She doesn't hear the alarm go off.

So then I have I have the temperature outside always on my face, my watch face, which is great because I wake up in a new city and before I get dressed, I can be like, oh, it's forty two degrees south side. Yeah yeah. And then I also this face has this and all the Apple Watch faces are free, but this one has the ability to see where the sun is in the sky, and I could I could track it like this and go, well, the sun broke.

It broke the horizon at six twenty six this morning, and it's going to be it's going to hit the horizon again at a twelve PM, which that's probably helpful for hunting when you know thirty minutes prior to first light and after. And so the night before you go on a hunt, you go, what times should I set my alarm? We want to be in the blind or out in the field wherever you're going, thirty minutes before

the sun boom the sun comes up. That's nice. Whatever. So, yeah, you have smart watch, I don't have it on today. You usually have the garment, right, I do have the garment. And for me it was a I don't need a smart watch as much as I needed a fitness tracker, which it's different. I would say absolutely the Apple is probably the best smart watch out there, but in terms of tracking fitness, it has some Like my wife has an Apple Watch, and so we'll both do a workout

and I'm tracking heart rate, intermittent heart rate, respiratory. I can track all kinds of things and see stats for days on Like I remember going for a run and it told me that I spent more time on my left foot than on my right foot, So all kinds of cool things. My wife and I do the same workout. We finish and maybe it's a fifteen minute workout, it says that she's only been active for like a minute and a half. Interesting, and she does the whole Apple

fit the little circles. So I think Apple's an incredible smart watch, but I think there are better fitness trackers. So it depends on what your goal is. And I've had a garment before. Parker actually wears it now, but it's also it just it's the best in the field for GPS. So if you're hiking, altitude, perimetric pressure, snow skiing, anything in the mountains, garmin corners of the market, they are the best. Apple is going to depend on your

cell service, and the garment depends on the satellite. It picks up the satellites, so doesn't need to sell tower at all. Are you ready to get into this? Those are nice just one of soft on ramps into are we Getting Crazy? Series? I'm not going, well, you're gonna pick oh, this is what we do. This is kind of a newer development when I first started, not that I'm like a seasoned vet. So let me say a couple of things. One, when you email Grangersmith Podcast at

gmail dot com. Try you don't have to, but please try to make it readable and shorter. If it's a novel, it's really hard to put on the podcast. And the second thing is. Please don't send them twice. I know that a lot of you guys I could recognize some mover names, are sending it multiple times in hopes that you know you're going to just put another ball in the in the bingo and the hopper hopper. So please don't do that because it messes me up a little bit.

I put everybody's email in the queue, so don't worry if you haven't heard it yet, it's just in the queue. So here's a couple for you. Chad, Hey, Granger needs some advice. Two light questions of faith and music. No real friends, psychic mediums, going against the grain, any of those pop out? Didn't Garth Brooks have a song going against the Grain? Yeah, folks call me the Maverick. It was. It was the name of the album against the Grain. Okay, let's see here. Well we've talked a lot about that.

I'm sorry it was not that wasp win and out. The song was called against Have you ever had Garth on this I no, I have not know we should have him on here, Yeah I don't. I don't think Garth would do good on this podcast. He'd be too nice to everybody. Yeah, he's he's agree You've never met everybody. He seems like he's very agreeable. Really, yeah, that's fun anything. So in order to be good on this podcast, you kind of have to You gotta be a little You

gotta ruffle some feathers. Not necessarily, but you know me and you you're you're straight up. You have to be honest. You want to be honest here, Yeah around a campfire. You can't always you can't always be butterflies and bunnies. We have to read against the grain now, Okay, because we brought it up, says Hey Granger, just recently started to find out about you and your company and your music, and I cannot be happier to have found you. Thank you. So my name is Sam. I'm nineteen years old. I'm

from a small city in Massachusetts. My question to you is going against the grain or finding your own path? Is it worth it? Because everyone I know from my school went to college and wants to be a plumber, and I want to be a plumber. Do you have any advice? So everyone in your school is going to college, but you want to go against the grain and not go to college and be a plumber. I mean that I don't see anything wrong with being a plumber. That

the plumbers make really good money and are in high demand. Yes, especially today. You're always glad when you need a plumber and there's a plumber available, and you're always liked, especially doing that ice storm. Yeah yeah, dude, Yeah, Sam. What's awesome about this email is that you already know what you want to do, and probably most of your friends that are going to college don't know yet, and so that that's the default is going to college, which is

a good thing. If you don't know what to do, get some more education and you'll figure it out in the way. You want to be a plumber, dude, I think I think that's awesome. You could also go to some kind of tech school for plumbing, right, Yeah, And it's probably like a journeyman or some sort of kind of process where you study and train, and I mean, I don't know, but it seems like if you think about why most of the people are wanting to go to college, it's so that they can figure out what

they want to be when they grow up. Right, If you already know that, you save a ton of time and money. My nephew has decided he's in his senior year. I think he's going into a year of high school. He's already decided he wants to be an electrician. His sisters both went to college, but he's just like, you know what, I just I want to be an electrician and he loves it. So he's already started right now in high school working with a local electrician and getting experience,

and he just loves it. And he's going to save a ton of time and money and just get going making a difference in the world through being an electrician. I think you can do the same thing, absolutely said. My question is my question to you, is going against the grain or finding your own path worth it? Yes? For you? Yes, not always. If you're talking about painting your fingernails black, i'd probably said hump the brakes a little bit. But yeah, it's like, what's your what's your

end game? Yeah? You do? You want to go a gett? Your end game is right? Yeah? How about I just pulled this one up lost at seventeen. Yeah, Hey, Grangeer, I'm a seventeen year old from New Hampshire's currently taking my ged I have very big goals for my life, but I don't know how to get to where I want to be. Do you have any advice on how to chase your dream? Is there any advice on how to just feel like I'm doing right by myself and by my family. I want to feel like I'm making

myself and my family proud. I love the podcast and the music. Sincerely a Lost Teenager. There's definitely like three questions in there. There's you know, how do you achieve a goal? And then doing right by your family or honoring your family and their reputation. It's great that he cares about that. Yeah, you're not so lost, buddy. You might feel lost, but you're writing emails like you're on a really good track here. You're asking the right questions,

which is a great starting place. I want to start this by just saying it's seventeen. There's just a lost feeling that just goes with that being seventeen, because you're coming out of adolescence and into manhood. So anytime you're making that transition out of adolescence and in the manhood, you're going to feel like you're in uncharted waters. You're in a new territory here. And when you're in uncharted waters,

what do you feel a little bit lost. So there is a natural feeling like if you were saying this and you were forty or thirty five, we've got a deeper issue of being lost at thirty five, but lost at seventeen is kind of normal. So if anyone's let me say this too. A lot of people write similar questions, and so if you don't hear your specific question answered,

you're gonna find yourself in some of these. And there's a lot of lost teenagers that email this podcast, and I could kind of speak to all that by saying, if you're fifteen through nineteen and you're feeling lost, don't worry right now, don't worry. That's pretty natural. Yeah, And I would say that, you know, for for guys especially, we put a lot of phasis on what we do

and how that relates to our value. Right if my occupation, my career, if I've made a name for myself, how I know what I'm able to contribute to society, And there's a lot of there's a lot of value placed on that, and we got to be careful that we don't find our identity in that or our actual value as a human being in what we do. Then where do you see that social media, you see that that value placement happened through social media where you see that

guy is doing this and he is successful. I'm doing this and I'm not. I'm lesser value right, And even like when you meet somebody new, you're like, hey, my name is so and so what do you do? The question is what is your occupation? There's an association when you first meet somebody that I can fill in the blanks about who they are based on what they do,

and I think that's a danger. So at the age of seventeen, the questions I think you're asking good questions to kind of dial in on your goals, whether they're appropriate goals, honoring family, those kind of things come out of figuring out kind of what you're wired to do. So you're going to assess passion, skills, opportunities, maybe what you've been equipped with or trained with, or what you find yourself doing anyway, what people around you affirm that

you're good at, and what resources you have. Those all are going to play a role in setting trajectory, identifying goal, and you'll also identify are their other things you know, as you look towards that end goal that you need to make sure are in the picture, and you're asking any advice on how to do right by myself and by my family. I just want to feel like I'm making myself and my family proud. So that's going to relate always back to work, ethic, integrity, honesty. These are

core moral values that Christians find in the Bible. And where are you? Where's your moral compass? Where are you basing your being right? Doing right? What does that word mean to you? Is something you're going to think about at seventeen. That's it's a great thing to think about.

What is right? What is right? Now? I'm going to tell you that that right is being honest, making an honest living, working hard, treating others right, good, treating others well, you know, treating others as you would want yourself treated. You do that, it doesn't matter how much money you make, It doesn't matter your career status, doesn't matter how many followers you have on Facebook. If you're doing that, then that's how you answer your question making yourself and your

family proud. Your family is proud of you because you're a good kid. You're honest, you work hard, you're passionate, you are a man of integrity, those are things that your family goes Yeah, very proud of my son, right Yeah. And what's cool about what you're saying is it doesn't matter what your occupation or what you're actually doing. It's how you're doing it that represents and reflects on your family.

And it's honesty, integrity, you know, doing what you're saying you're going to do, showing up on time, like completing the task, maybe going above and beyond, Like these are things that regardless of what you put your hand to, it's the how you do it that's going to make it matter what you do, it's how you do it. I love that chat. I think of myself sometimes every once in a while drive by like burger King, and the stop pops in my head, like kind I kind

of want to work there. I kind of want to work there in the kitchen, just to see how I could move up in the chain of burger king. And that means just what Chad said, showing up on time to burger king, make an impression with the manager, making every burger perfect, you know, doing the job that you're supposed to do really well, taking pride and making that burger and and cleaning up your area and being nice

to customers, being in a good mood. And it's so interesting to think that if you did all of those things day by day by day, how long it would take you to become manager, and then how long it would take you to be a regional manager and maybe own a franchise or two. It's an interesting thought. You're asking all the right questions. You're not a lost teenager. You're right on track, buddy. All right, let's do we got We got time on this segment for another. I

have what should I do? I have dating as an adult? I have personal problem, dude, dating as an adult. Let it out there. We've dealt with a lot of teenage questions. Listen how he starts this? Hey Granger and hopefully Chad really right on? Who is this? Greg? Greg shout out says, I'm thirty two. I've been single for roughly seven years. Because of your podcast, I've been on a journey recently to better myself. I found a group of peers in my area that go country dancing a few times a week.

I've grown into friends. They have grown into friends over the last few weeks that have been that have been a really good group of friends. We went to one of the country dance clubs here in Phoenix. Recently, I was able to get the attention of one of the shot girls. We've been texting, but it's sporadic and short lived. I found out she was talking to another guy, but she wants to see where this goes with me. I know, and I know from you and Amber that Amber was

sort of seeing someone. When you met, I realized that we just met and there's no way for me to have any sort of feelings about this because we just met. But is there any advice that says Greg Patterson saw him twenty three, so he needs you on here for a reason. Chad, So this is awesome. You're sitting here so yet to answer the Amber thing. When I met Amber, she was kind of dating a guy. They weren't She'll tell you they weren't serious, but they were kind of dating.

And I've looked at that often and thought, well, usually the girls that are worth it are at least seeing somebody or or you know, they're on the market. You know. So what I told Amber what happened when I knew that she had been talking to a guy, And this was a round Palatine's Day when we met, I told her, I just because she said, I have feelings for you? Is this real? These feelings real? And I said, they

are for me too. But you have been talking to this guy, so in respect for him, you need to just call him and say, I need to completely cut it off, because regardless of if anything happens with me and you, this is a sign that you have a wondering eye from this guy. And so Amber's like, yeah, I agree. So I said, regardless of if we ever see each other again, you should break it off with this guy and just be single. So she did, and about four weeks after she did that, because she texted

me that she did the next day. About four weeks after that was when we had our first coffee at Starbucks and and I felt I felt good about it. Wasn't like it wasn't like she was dating somebody and then wanted to try me and see if that worked. You know, it was. I let a month go by. So anyway, that's that's our story, and that's probably what you heard before. And I don't know necessarily this this shot the story of the shotgirl in Phoenix Dance Club.

What would what would you say to him? I mean I have my wife and I before we got married and met or and were dating, we were both dating other people when we first met, So that's another example of it. Yeah, and we were hanging out in a large group of friends and we happened to meet each other.

We had some great conversation and I thought, man, she is really something else, and then I felt bad, like, wait a minute, Yeah, I'm in a relationship, so it wasn't for and so my relationship took its course, hers took its course, and then it was a year later

that we then kind of rekindled and got together. And man, once we started hanging out, it was any and every excuse to see each other again, Like in my book, But I think that the key here if as you hang out in groups and you identify, because by the time you're thirty, you're kind of done with the game exactly. You're not trying to figure out who you are and

who you like and who you're compatible with. Usually you've you've had enough friendships and you've done enough life that you kind of have figured out your likes and dislikes. And so if there's enough compatibility with you and this girl, and if you if you can't figure that out unless you have a few more times of hanging out and going on dates. Then I would say, yeah, pursue, But I think it's on you to pursue, not for you to wait for a sign that you might have a shot.

I think you you pursue, You go and say, hey, I like you, this is a I just want to see if yeah, if we enjoy time together. Yeah, you're right, and so Greg, I would say the same thing for you. I would say that I said to Amber. I would go to this girl and say, listen, I like you. I think there's something, there's something really special between us. The fact that you're talking to a guy and you say you want to see where this goes between us, the fact if you're even saying that you should cut

it off with this guy. It's the same thing un told Damber, because it's not fair to that guy, and it's saying something about how you really feel about him. You're obviously obviously she obviously doesn't real Yeah, there's a level of discontent or not quite enough that she's even willing to consider other options. Yeah, and if she doesn't agree to that, move on pursuit over. If she says I kind of want to just see if you're better than this guy, and if you're not, I'll go back

to him. It's a bad sign. Yeah, you don't want to be in a You're not in an audition. It's just a bad American idol. Yeah. So yeah, that that's uh, that's your call to action. Buddy, right back in and tell me and Chad what happened. Yeah, we're gonna take a break. You're right back. Podcast Today is brought to you in part by Uncommon Goods. Uncommon Goods is honestly

you just have to check it out yourself. It's an online shot filled with unique, totally unexpected gifts and when I say unexpected, I mean truly original things you won't find anywhere else. And with Father's Day coming up on June twentieth, don't forget now, it's the perfect time to check out the site. This is the place that you want to go. If you have a unique dad, you probably do that that goes out and gets things for himself that he needs, and you just because he does that,

you don't know what to get him. This is a really cool place to get an original gift that he's not gonna find anywhere else, he's gonna have no idea where you got it. Uncommon Goods is the place to go for thoughtful, original gifts for everyone in your life. When you shop at uncommon Goods, you're supporting artists in small, independent businesses. Uncommon Goods looks for products that are high quality, unique,

and often handmade or made in the US. They don't sell products made with leather, fur, or feathers or any of that other kind of stuff. It's a Brooklyn based company that's all about giving back with every purchase you make it Common Goods they give one dollar to a nonprofit of your choice. They've donated more than two point five million dollars to date. To get fifteen percent off your next gift, go to uncommon Goods dot com slash granger.

That's uncommon Goods dot com slash granger for fifteen percent off. Don't miss out on this limited time offer. Uncommon Goods. We're All Out of the Ordinary podcast is also brought to you by one of our regulars, ship Station. If you sell stuff online, you're definitely in the right business. More people are shopping online right now than ever. That means a lot of orders are coming in and a lot of orders you'll need to ship out fast. That's

why online sellers like you need ship Station. No matter how much you sell, ship Station to make it super easy to manage and ship all of your orders for all of your sales faster, cheaper, and more efficiently. Import orders from any sales channel, ship with any carrier, access diskinnd of shipping rates, automate just about any ship being tasks.

You'll spend a lot less time doing all the mundane stuff that you don't want to do, and a lot more time growing your business, no matter what you're selling Amazon, Etsy, your own website. Shipstation funnels all your orders into one simple interface that you could manage from anywhere, even your cell phone, which is great for me, I'm not that techi. You'll even get access to amazing discounts with major carriers, including ups FedEx usps, easily compare carriers and choose the

best solution every single time. With shipstation, small businesses can access the same rates usually reserved for the big fortune five hundred companies without small contracts or commitments, or excuse me, without any contracts or commitments. It's no wonder the ship station has more five star reviews than any other shipping software and no wonder why EEE Apparel uses it too, So ship more and less time. Just use my offer code granger to get a sixty day free trial. That's

two months free, no hassle, stress free shipping. Go to shipstation dot com, click on the microphone at the top of the page and type in granger that shipstation dot Com. Enter the offer code granger, make ship happen. And finally, the podcast is brought to you by Decked. This is a new product that we're talking about here at ee Apparel and on the Grangersmith podcast. If you own a truck, you know what it's like to have your stuff rattling around in the cab or under the seat. You know

what a pain it is to keep organized. Not only that, but everything you put in your truck bed is unsecured and exposed to the elements. That's why for my truck, I just got the Decked drawer system. I just checked this out literally today. This was a coincidence that I'm reading this on the podcast and we just got home from a little tour and what was waiting in the cardboard box out there outside of ee Apparel. This new

deck system. So bull and Butcher and I my two bus drivers, we got together and unboxed it and put it together, and it is really awesome. I've never seen anything like it. Decks makes organizing, accessing, protecting, and securing everything you need much easier. Deck has a true two thousand pounds payload capacity load floor, and the drawers slide in underneath the load floor. Plus they're weatherproof, protecting your

stuff for the elements and theft. So these drawers, it's basically this system that goes in your truck bed and it goes about three forces the way up in your truckbed, so you still have the bed itself and you got a deck on top you could still use as your normal bed. But underneath that deck it has all these compartments and these massive drawers that go to the entire length of the bed. And these drawers are super strong and they roll. They really good little wheels that they

roll on, super sturdy. Me and Butch and Bullard were amazed by this. The decked drawer system keeps your gear secure, out of sight, out of mind. If your tailgate is locked, you can't open the drawers and you can't remove the system. The drawers lock and they're available for added security and peace of mind. Decked also offers a full line of segmented storage organizational accessories like various toolboxes, bags, cargo tie downds, and other handy items. From maximum efficiency both of space

and time. The Decked Drawer system is one hundred percent made in the USA, backed by a three year no hasshole warranty with a second to non customer service team ready to answer all your questions. Get your Decked Drawer system at decked. That's D E c K E D dot com slash granger, and get free shipping. That's deck dot com slash granger. For free shipping on your Decked

Drawer System, deck dot com slash Granger. Before I stop these ads, before I before I go back to the podcast, I gotta tell y'all too ee g Apperil Summer launch coming up this week on Friday. Ye Apperil Summer Launch. So uh yeah, I'm gonna make sure I'm saying that on the on the right day once today. Yep, that's coming Friday, June eighteenth, eug Parol Summer Launch ten A. Back to the podcast. You all right, let's dig into this. We have this one says, ever thought about making gospel music?

Question mark, Oh what should I do? Personal problem? No real friends, psychic mediums. I definitely want to get that to that at some point today. Question for the podcast. Any of those pop up? I want to hear your take on gospel music and then get another stuff. This comes up a lot, says hey Grader. My name is David. I'm nineteen years old from North Carolina. Shout out to North Carolina. As a kid, I grew up in church

and listening to Southern gospel. So happens. I'm going to school to be a youth pastor and Bible teacher in Florida. I was wondering if you thought about making a gospel album or something along those lines. I've been showing you to a lot of my ministry buddies in your podcast, and I may have got a couple of city slickers addicted along with me. Would love to hear back from you. Thanks for what you do. You're changing lives. Ye you well,

Thank you, David. I appreciate that, buddy very much. Here's a nineteen year old that doesn't seem lost at all. He's dialed in. He's dialed in speaking like a much older man here. Yeah, this question comes up a lot, and I'm never really sure how to answer it, but I do get this question. Will you sing gospel music or worship music or make a worship or gospel album? And I don't know because this is and I think I've said this maybe before. It starts with a song.

Any album in my life always starts with a song, and a song will usually dictate the mood of the forthcoming album. So and so for you, is that a there is a story that shapes into a lyric that you then put music to. A cow does when you say it starts with a song, there's something that you need to express, and so there is a song that comes out of that, and then it more songs come like what do you mean by that? So in a season like I'm exactly like I'm in right now, that's

a season after an album release. We're about six months fast forward from the last release. So this is about the season when I'll start thinking, somebody will say something, I'll read a title or something in a book, and I'll think that would be a great song, and then

eventually I will write. I'll start writing, and then as I get one that I really like, I'll think, Wow, this is this is this is cool, this is a new version of me, this is the newest version of me, and then from that can spawn an entire album of songs in that same vein that same thread. So when I think of a gospel album or gospel song or worship song, when I think of that, a lot of my songs talk about God through the lens of a life. But a worship or gospel song is the opposite. It's

it is God in the song. The lyrics are are textual to the scripture. A lot of times they're they're inspired from God or from the actual Bible. So there's a difference. What I'm trying to say is there's a difference between God being in a song and God being the song. And for you, gospel music, it's already been written, Like, so are you? Is there a sense in which if you did a gospel album, you're covering No, that's a good question. Songs that are already written, that's a good question.

And maybe that's what he means. Maybe he's not talking about writing. Maybe he's talking about me covering and actually performing, Like amazing, Still don't even know how to answer that besides the fact that it's still even if I didn't write it would start with a song. If I recorded Amazing Grace and just thought this is cool. This is banjo and acoustic and piano. Never heard Amazing Grace like this, maybe I should make a whole album like this. That

would be still starting from a song. But I'm not opposed to actually writing a worship song either. It just hasn't happened yet. And that would happen knowing my brain from a title, probably reading a title, seeing something in scripture, hearing something from this podcast and a question, and going, oh,

it would be a really good worship song. And then if I wrote it and recorded it and put it out and felt something from that, then then I would consider maybe I should write four or five more of these. So anyway, that's a long way of saying I don't know. I should get by a campfire, your guitar, your family, and you guys, just rock just a favorite hymn, just acoustic style. Throw that on YouTube because see what happens.

I bet you and if you comment below, put in your like your picks, like what would be the gospel song preference, so you would love for this voice to vocalize, that would for this voice to mess that song up. I want My pick is nothing but the blood. Oh yeah, that's good. All right, we gotta go them. Just the psychic medium thing, man, I love. I love these kind of questions. So I'm gonna have trouble with this name. Oh actually, he says right here, said hello, mister Smith.

I don't feel like it's respectable to call someone who is old enough to be my father by the first name. You can, buddy, you can thank you for that, says my name is it says pronounced with a short eye. Yeah, yeah, Hudah, Yeah Hudah, yea Huda Manovic. I'm fifteen years old and I'm Jewish and I love everything that you do. You and your family are great inspiration to me. Thank you. Yehudah says I was wondering if you believe in what

psychic mediums do. They supposedly this is parentheses. They supposedly connect with people who have passed on and create can relate messages from deceased loved ones. A great example is Matt Fraser. You could check out his YouTube channel called Matt Fraser or Frazer Fraser Fraser. He's the five time world fittest man according to CrossFit. Okay, and if you do believe in them, would you consider meeting one or having messages relayed over to you? Thanks Yshuda. Ps I

love building things automotive. I'm also a mechanic and I love watching Earld's truck come together. So dude, thanks man, thanks for the question. I don't know if you did you say where he's from? Didn't say where he's from. But fifteen Jewish asking about psychic mediums. So let me dig in kind of one at a time here with Chad on your questions. If one question is do you believe in them? One question is would you consider meeting with one? And yes, do I believe? Yes, I do,

I do believe what I consider meeting. No, absolutely not is forbidden. It's actually forbidden in your beliefs as well. And when you say you believe, you're not saying you endorse. No, you're saying you think that there is something happening. Yeah, yes, and it is not good. Yes, okay, Yes, I believe that there is something supernatural about some of them. I know that there's a million fakes. Yeah, there's a million frauds. They're just an artist, they're just tricking. But I do

believe there's a handful. I don't know Matt Fraser. I do believe that there's a handful that are actually harnessing a supernatural power. And that Fraser may be a different Matt Fraser, but Matt Fraser I know is an athlete. So yes, there is a there's a belief, a non endorsed belief, that they are harnessing a supernatural power, and I I highly discourage it. It is highly discouraged in my faith in Jesus Christ. Notice how avoided religion that

in that phrase. Here's here's something I want to say to this and then I'll let Chad. I'll just unleash Chad. You say, supposedly they connect people with people, they connect you with people who have passed on. So that's that's what I do not believe that, that's the part I do not believe. I do believe there is a supernatural power. But I believe who you're talking to is not who you think you're talking to. That's just my personal belief. But we do know from the Bible that the dead

have no business on earth once they pass on. There are a few Old Testament examples of them of someone that has passed on coming back, and there are parables in the New Testament that reference that as examples, right, And they're kind of scenarios trying to guess at what Jesus might do or what might happen. But yeah, so I think you're spot on. There is something going on in some cases. So sometimes it is just pure manipulation, human manipulation. I think there are ways in which there

are supernatural forces that are not for your good. They are for their good and your destruction, and they will and they don't represent truth, but they do have a way to make you experience or feel like you're talking to dead people. But I would say just we would call that demonic activity versus godly activity. So when we talk supernatural, we're talking about things beyond the natural realm, things beyond what we can experience with our five senses.

That there is a belief within the Christian world view that there is a supernatural element to our reality. And in that world, there are those that are for God and there are those that are against God, and those that are pitted against God by their own choice, are any interaction they have with the physical realm is in an effort to draw people away from God and so, and there's no demonstration in the scriptures of God working

or operating in that way in order to reveal himself. Yeah, yeah, is it is very specifically forbidden to visit for a for a believer in Christ, to visit a psychic medium. Those words are specific, they are undisputed. There's there is no there's no bad translation from the Greek or any misconception and what that might mean. So there is And I you said, I'm fifteen years old and I'm Jewish. I'm not sure if that Jewish, because sometimes Jewish means

heritage only and not practicing religion. Sometimes it's a difference when when you're talking about Jewish. But but I will bring up that it is forbidden for Jews as well.

And I think there is another component to consider, and I I have witnessed this is that by engaging in medium, fortune tellers, palm readers, whatever you want to call that, you are opening yourself and granting access to very dark influences that you've given your You've given access to them, and now they they have a opportunity and even the right to be there in your life influencing you, and

so it is absolutely absolutely dangerous. Do not open yourself up and grant access to any kind of dark influence like that. Yeah, I want to add just one more little thing, and this is this might offend some people, but I also completely disagree with any of our dead friends or relatives ever coming back and speaking to us

in any way. Not that it's not possible, but I just I highly discourage thinking that way, or looking looking at at a bird that is our dead grandma that's coming to tweet at our window and say that everything's okay. I just guys, Grandma is fine, she's fine. She's not thinking about coming and tweeting in your window as a as a blue jay or something. So that's a whole

other kind of Twitter. Yeah, that's totally different. Sorry, I mean to laugh something so serious, but because I know a lot of people really crave that crave the signs of nature to speak to them as if a dead relative is speaking through an animal or a cloud or guys, are just that's all human conception, it's all in our minds that we build these things out of our semi delusion. But but that's just not what. It's not what the Bible says. In fact, it's not what any of the

Abrahamic religions say. If we want to even go there, The dead no place on earth, and they're too busy being full of joy and to come and deal with the sadness and the anxiety and the affliction that we have here. So there's probably way more than you you're asking for. But but I do like it because my my short answer is I want no part of that. We should lighten the load, Chad heavy. How about how about two light questions? Faith and music? Hey Grainger, my

name is Jeff. I'm from Modesto, California, center of Almond Country. Love It. My fiancee and I are re acquainting ourselves with faith. This year. We're going to try to read the Bible in a year with an app and this will help both of us connect with faith and a different topic to talk about. So the light part of my question is one in IV or American standard. Two other than old Country, what newer artists do you like to play on your way to the Yugi Farm? Let

me start with two. I'll just be as boring as possible and say that I don't I just don't listen to the radio on the way to ee Farm. I'm usually catching up on a podcast or studying something and or listening to an audiobook super boring, but I don't. I just don't listen to I don't listen to newer country when I'm driving. Newer country reminds me of work, and I hate that. I hate that that's what's happened to me. But like, if I'm in an uber and

they're like, what do you want to listen to? And they turn on country, I think that we're who we're touring with, or when I'm going to see that guy next, or the song the co writer that wrote that song, and there's friends of mine, and I just think, I think business, or even worse, I think about the chart positioning. Yeah, do you get competitive? You're like, that's a good song. I wish I would have thought of that. Absolutely, Yeah. So then we'll kick it over to chatterre N I

V or the American standard version I actually read. I don't read either consistently, but I do. I do really like the N I V. I don't think I'm too familiar with the American the standard American version, but I have read a lot of the n IV, and I like, I really like that translation, but I'm I'm an ESV guy personally. Yeah, the American Standard Bible not as familiar with. I very familiar with the New American Standard and the n i V. Those were both translations that were familiar

to me when I first came to follow Christ. And I would say that n I V is a it's a it's a translation that I will frequent when I'm hanging out in the Old Testament because the translation philosophy behind the n I V is more thought for thought

rather than a word for word translation. And Hebrew, the way that the Hebrew authors and poetry and the way that they told stories and described things is very different than Greek, which is what the New Testament is originally written in, and so you've got Hebrew versus Greek, and Greek is a much more linear and technical kind of way of doing things, and so more word for word translations are going to help you there, but understanding thought

for thought translations and IV is really good at thattment. The version that I've frequent the most would be English Standard version, the ESV. That's me too. There's a couple of exceptions. I'm all ESV. It's like I actually, like Chad said, the most frequented version, but I do like some things that the NIV says. For instance, I like, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. I just like weary and burdened. But sometimes it says things that I feel as opposed to heavy ladened. ESV

says heavy laden, but I hear weary and burdened. It's just kind of poetic. And that's the thought by thought that you're talking about. This is a good a good place for me and you to just quickly talk to talk to a translation conversation about where these come from and why they exist and are they is it the game of telephone? We could never say that enough speak to where translations come from and why they exist. And there's a common thought that how could you even believe

the Bible? Isn't it just like it's been translated so many times it's just completely forgotten out of its original. But it's just not the case. It's all these translations come from the original sources, which are Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic, and people like the ESV. I know more

about at because I read it. But we're talking about a committee of scholars that come together and build from the actual Greek and go back and forth, and there's a lot of contextual evidence on why they're picking the words that closely in our common language, closely match up to what the Greek was or what the Hebrew was.

So it's just so important to remember that when you read these versions and n IV and American Standard included, when you're reading these, they're really getting a snapshot, a modern day snapshot of what those those scriptures actually meant

and what they meant to say. Yeah, and you have these translation committees that don't take lightly the task ahead of them, and they labor over word like a word, and they'll they'll rattle sabers over the word usage and how to and so there is a translation philosophy that is going to drive their final decision. There was one project that I don't even know how many years it took, but it's called the Neet Bible, the New English Translation, and it was the I think it's the only open

source translation that we have. It was I think originally created for missionaries in the field that were translating into local dialects and languages, and what this was is it was hundreds and hundreds of biblical scholars that they basically shared all their notes and they had kind of open

conversation and dialogue about word usage and different things. And so you can now go to I think they have a website where you can see all of the footnotes and all of their discussions over word choice available to see kind of how they arrived at a certain word or a phrase and how they decided to go about it. And you can even get it in a physical copy. You can get a copy of it with all of the notes included, where it just pages and pages of footnotes if you really want to kind of dig into that.

But for those that are listening, no way have many listeners that don't believe in anything the Bible says, and we love that you guys are listening. This is a non exclusive podcast for sure. But for those that are that are listening and this is this, this is very interesting even to you. It's just a piece of human history. The fact that the Bible exists, and the fact that the margin for error and what you read in the

Bible is so tiny. I mean, it's like, maybe you know Chad there's only like two scriptures that have one word that's that's disputed. But each of those few times those scriptures are not part of major doctrines. They don't change any of the major ideas. There's it's the margin for error is so tiny. And so here's the deal. When I say the original, we don't have the original from the hand of John or Mark or Luke. We don't have those originals. But we have just a few

decades after those originals. And when we'll find we I say we as if I was part of the archaeological dig. But when when historians have found a piece of say, the Gospel of John, originally called the Gospel of Jesus Jesus Christ according to John, we will find a piece in one region, and then a thousand miles we'll find another piece written by another scribe who was that's at

the time. Those are the guys that were recreating these and it's the same, no margin of error, and it we have like six thousand of those from thousands of manuscripts, lazy from different time periods, locations, regions. The Dead Sea Scrolls played a big role in that where they uncovered this basically a library that corroborated so much of what

we understood and it confirmed. And when we compare the historicity of the Bible to other ancient texts that we put a lot of stock in, like anything from Homer or Herodotus or others, where we don't have the original copies of those either. However, we have hundreds of years or thousands of years removed from when those were written, and yet we just we give them, we just assume that they're valid and true and they were copied correctly.

And yet when you compare that to the amount of copies of manuscripts we have of the New Testament alone, and the proximity right within ten years or you know, twenty years or thirty years or whatever, and within a lifetime of when it was actually written. So there are people there that can attest to when they receive one of these copies, they can there are people alive that we're able to go, no, I remember when that was first read exactly, and so that they could affirm and

attest whether something was accurate and corroborated. It's basically that we have so many of these these old copies, more thousands more than any other ancient document, and his inhuman history. We have more copies, and these are in museums. It's not like it they're hidden somewhere where. I mean, these

are on display in museums. And it is fascinating even for the non believers to think how these ideas and these scriptures and these words were preserved not by a small group and a little castle of little monks, you know, but I'm talking thousands of square miles apart from each other as it as it expanded outward, and every time it was without error or a tiny, tiny margin of error all the way to to this podcast question the NIV or the American Standard or the ES for those

of the old school kings. King James's out there. Yeah, it's just fascinating. I was a history major in college, and regardless of my faith, that is just fascinating that we even that's even existence. It has to be a God thing that it's in here. Let's grab one more. What should I do? Personal problem? No real friends please read me? Need some advice? Any of those pop out to you? No real friends, no real friends graduate. My husband and I have moved several times in different states.

Long story, not military. We're currently living in Indiana. And we don't see ever moving again. The problem is we don't have that many real friends. We're in our fifties and it feels like everyone we meet has an established friends circle and there's just not room for us. We feel it's important to have a couple friends to be able to do things with. We've joined a couple of small group classes at church and everyone is interested in our story, but then it stops. We have a strong

marriage and we enjoy each other's company. It's just frustrating for us to always be alone. What do you think we should do? This is Rhonda from Columbus, Indiana. I can relate to that. We've moved around a few times and have experienced life in different stages, being the new family or the new couple and trying to figure out a way into pre existing friendships. And it takes intentionality.

It really takes pursuing people that you enjoy and recognizing that man, they're really dialed in and they have a sense of normalcy, and so new people that can kind of rock the boat a little bit, But being intentional pursuing friendship is a big deal. And rather than kind

of sitting and waiting for it to happen. Yeah, it takes pursuit, and so finding those couples or those families that you really really enjoy and want to get to know better and taking the initiative to invite them, ask them out for lunch after church or on a Friday night, invite them over, and continue to just pursue them, and it will. I think it'll be reciprocated. All. Yeah, that's great, that's great, Ronda. It sounds like a little more time

needs to go by. There's not you haven't given us a timeframe, but it sounds like a little more time needs to go by. And once you kind of establish not being the new couple in town anymore, a lot of these relationships will come from your neighbors on the same street. I think small group classes is a great opportunity for this. That you don't say anything about kids, but a lot of times kids will bring their parents in, and that the kids' friends will bring their parents in

and that that becomes a relationship. But I think Chad's right if you guys hosted a barbecue at your house, even for just your street, or say you're your small group and just say hey, we'd like to host a small group at our house. We're new here and we want to cook and bring everybody over. And I'd say one more thing would be it sounds like you are

a churchgoer. You guys are involved in a local church, serve, volunteer to serve in different capacities at your church, and you're going to get to serve alongside of other people that also enjoy doing that. And you get to know people when you labor next to them. If there are any mission trips or outreach opportunities, do that, and you're going to meet other people that are doing that. And there's just something about getting to labor with somebody where

you get to know them as you have activity with them. Rohnda, thank you so much. Good luck to you. I want to give a couple of shout outs before we end this. Steve o'garnum, Tommy Barr, Kaylea Moore, Kyla Alcorn, Jody Bowser, Hailey Robinson. Is there just some of the shout outs that you guys have sent in. We we love hearing from you, love having you. Chad, It's good. I want to be friends with Granger. So I'm gonna take my own device. We're gonna invite him over to supper. See

how that out all right, dude. Good to see you, brother, See you guys. Thanks for joining me on the Granger Smith Podcast. I appreciate all of you guys. You could help me out by rating this podcast on iTunes. If you're on YouTube, subscribe to this channel. Hit that little like button and notification spell so that you never miss anytime I upload a video. If you have a question for me that you would like me to answer, email Graingersmith Podcast at gmail dot com. Yi