Jarrett Potts

jesseduke.net

What is Faith & Purpose?

Ordinary people who have been transformed by an extraordinary God tell their stories of what happened and what their lives are like now.

Cailin: Welcome everyone to
Faith and Purpose Podcast.

Each episode of this podcast contains the
personal testimony of an ordinary person

transformed by an extraordinary guide.

My name is Kaylyn, and I'm
here to introduce this podcast

for my friend Jesse Duke.

Jesse is a husband, father,
author, life recovery guide, lay

counselor, and small group leader.

But his most important role is
disciple as a disciple of Jesus.

Jesse created this podcast to help other
believers tell their faith stories.

We'll be hearing the personal
testimonies of all sorts of people

who have one thing in common.

Jesus has transformed their lives.

Jesus used parables because he created
us to learn best through story.

And as we listen to how God has worked
in others' lives, we find encouragement

and inspiration for our own faith walk.

Whether you are already a believer or
just a curious seeker, we believe that

as you listen to these stories, you will
be encouraged on your own faith journey.

We are sure that God can speak to you
through one of these episodes and that

you will see that our Heavenly Father
truly works all things together for our

good when we simply love and trust him.

If you are currently going through a
trial, we believe that you will come

to see that your troubles, heartbreaks
and failures are not gravestones, but

stepping stones into new life in Christ.

Here's Jesse with today's guest.

Jesse: Welcome everybody to
Faith and Purpose Podcast.

My name is Jesse Duke, and today I have
my friend, jar Potts to tell his story

and I'm really looking forward to it.

How you doing today, Jarret?

Jarrett: I'm great.

How are you doing today?

It's a beautiful day here in Flory.

Jesse: Yes, it is.

I'm, looking forward to
some cooler weather, though.

Jarrett: I think it's what it
feels like a 95 today, which is

so unusual for this time of year.

Jesse: and, uh, well, uh, faith and
Purpose Podcast is all about, Christians

telling their faith stories, how they came
to faith in Christ, and, what that whole

journey was about and what's he, what he's
done along the way, and how he's helped

you through various trials and, things
you've learned, things the Holy Spirit

has taught you, just the, any, anything
related to the spiritual path in your

particular individual walk of the Lord.

so start from the beginning.

tell us, how you came to faith in Christ
and what your early life was like.

Jarrett: Sure.

first though, I'd like to say how
much of a blessing this podcast

is, and I'd like to thank you for.

Following through on what
the Lord told you to do.

'cause I've been listening to your podcast
and you talked about how, you know the

Lord kind of led you in this direction.

And I'm really glad you listened
because you never know when somebody's

gonna stumble across this podcast
or rumble lacrosse a Bible study.

And it just will change somebody's life.

And I will say that listening to this
podcast just recently, has filled my

tanks, and my spiritual tanks with hope.

it, it's very nice, to have this.

So thank you so much for that.

Jesse: Thank you.

Jarrett: so I grew up in a, what
I thought was a Christian home.

my mother was a choir director
for a Methodist church.

and.

We went, I think, quite
often, at least twice a month.

But when my mom stopped being
the choir director, we moved.

we didn't go to church, until she
started being the choir director again.

So I, don't know, honestly,
my, my father passed away when

I was in my early twenties.

I don't know what his, we never
had these frank conversations

about Christ and the Bible.

We definitely didn't do Bible study.

I never saw anyone crack a Bible,
I'm not sure what my parents'

faith was when they passed.

and yes, my mom passed probably
10 or 15 years later after that.

it's been 10 years now, so I'm not
really sure how I would fit in.

I do remember.

Going to Sunday school when I was a kid.

I don't remember flannel grass, which was
evidently a big thing in the south, but

Jesse: Yeah.

Jarrett: I don't remember that at all.

but so I went to college and was just
footloose and fancy free, thank God that

there were not cell phones with cameras
on 'em back then, because, I would be

either in jail or dead, one of the two.

But I'll say that

I met someone, believe
it or not, in a bar.

and the bar was half in Virginia,
half in Tennessee, and there was

a line down the middle of it.

and I ended up marrying her.

And, we moved from Virginia to Tennessee.

no, sorry, Virginia to Kentucky.

Sorry.

and

we ended up having a child and we talked
about the Lord, but we never really made

any steps to go to church or anything.

But one day Amy and I were talking, and it
was time to, it was time to go to church.

We had kids, we needed
to, we need to get right.

And so we went to the church and
then both made the decision and ended

up getting baptized on a Tuesday.

so we were baptized right then and there.

and that was in Lexington, Kentucky.

I remember it.

and that started our church life and
immediately things changed for us.

Jesse: In what way?

Jarrett: In the way we talked to
each other and the way we talked to

our kids, definitely in the way we
looked at the world, the view I had

of the world changed from a secular
view to a faith-based view, right?

And I'm not saying I'm all holier
than thou far from it, I get myself

in trouble with the best of them.

But what I noticed was I would
make a conscious effort here

and there on little things.

Starting off with little things like cuss
less or drink less, or be more present

when my kids were in the room or because
I traveled for business, I traveled a lot.

I don't know if you remember, 'cause I've
known Jesse forever, but, I would be in

China one week and then I would be in.

Latvia, which I didn't even know was a
real country, until I got there, the next

week in South Africa, two weeks later.

So I was everywhere.

I spent eight birthdays in India.

I don't know why that way, but,
and, so it changed the way I looked

even when I was in other countries.

I would go to all those religious sites.

I went to the Taj Mahal, I went
to, the Big Buddha in Thailand

and a couple other things.

And they're gorgeous, don't get me wrong.

But it's not the same.

it's not the same.

And what I quickly found out was
that life with Christ was action.

It was active, not passive, right?

you didn't just sit there in your faith.

You had to be active on said faith or
your faith was not going to produce.

The fruits that, that we're
supposed to produce, right?

So like in Thailand, I went to the big
Buddhist site and it was very interesting

to see people would, put incense down
and they would say their prayers and then

they would, bow and re rec, recite some
chance, And then, and then that was it.

And then they would go back to their life.

And so, kind of masks the same thing that
cultural Christianity does today, right?

or worldly Christianity,
however you wanna put it.

where people are Christians on
Sunday, but only for two hours, and

then the rest of the week they're
just, going about their thing.

Jesse: Yeah.

Jarrett: so fast forward, we, we.

have two kids, two daughters.

and at the time one was
nine and one was five.

And Amy looks over at me, Amy's my
wife, and she says, we should adopt.

Right?

And, And, and, it was kind of
triggered by a moment that I had

in, in China when I traveled.

I would always get off the plane, I'd
be jet lagged, and I knew that I had

to exist until at least eight o'clock
at night before I went to sleep.

Or I would've jet lagged
really bad the next day.

So I would always leave the hotel
and I'd walk, three miles north,

three miles east, three miles
south, and then three miles west.

So big there, right?

the Australians call it walkabout, right?

just to get out and

see the town, right?

Well, I'm in Cooning China, which
is like the, like basically.

nowhere Bill, it's like plant city,
it's like out in dub middle of nowhere.

Jesse: Yeah,

only with only a few million people.

Jarrett: yeah, I, okay.

their villages have a
million people in it.

very true.

I forgot that you've been there too.

so I'm walking and I'm taking pictures
and I come up on this little square.

and this is, this was a
turning point in my life.

Come up on this little
square and it's gorgeous.

It is, the red lacquer and it's got a,
well in the middle and it's got the bucket

on the, it's like literally everything you
would picture, about a well in China with

all the paintings on it and everything.

So I am, I want to show my
wife, so I take pictures, right?

and out of from behind me comes this
woman and she is screaming at me.

I mean, screaming at me.

And, I don't, I know about 15 words
in Chinese and most of 'em have

to do with the bathroom or beer.

so I hit the record button on
my little digital camera, right?

and just started taking a movie.

And I didn't aim it at her, I just
wanted the audio 'cause I wanted

to know what she was saying later.

So she starts, swinging her broom at
me and shooing me out of the square.

So I leave and I stop the recording.

I go back to my hotel and, the
guy that was our host, I, I asked

him, I was like, Hey, can you
tell me what this lady is saying?

So I played it for him
and he said, oh, you.

You, were taking pictures of a place that
you're not supposed to take pictures of.

And I was like, why?

He goes, that's a baby.

Well,

Jesse: What?

Jarrett: I said, what do you
mean a ba Like same thing.

Yeah.

My wife was like, what?

He goes, yeah, that's where if someone
has a baby and it's not allowed,

that's where they go is in the well,

Jesse: Oh, man.

Jarrett: yeah.

And now you have an adopted
child from China as well.

Jesse: Mm-hmm.

Jarrett: But I called my wife and I
said, you're never gonna believe this.

And I told her the story and then shortly
thereafter she's we should adopt it.

I said, yeah, we should.

so we started the process
to adopt it in the us.

it is very, it's crazy, to try to
adopt out of the us it, the laws

make it very hard for you to do
and that was around the time where.

the kid from Jacksonville got sent back
to their parents like eight years later.

Remember

that?

and I was like, okay, I
can't go through that.

So I was like, that's
just a dot from China.

And China was open.

So the process, while it is cumbersome,
it's very predictable, right?

You know, it's gonna happen.

It's very prescriptive.

So we're like, let's do it.

So we started the process And next thing
I knew, we had an agency and we were

filling out paperwork and we just did it.

I never questioned, 'cause I think
God really said, okay, you have

a, you have love in your heart and
you have space in your home, right?

James 1 27 is pretty
prescrip prescriptive.

so we, we jumped and, we adopted
a young lady, her Chinese name

was b we Leon, I'm sure I murdered
that, but, who became Olivia Lee?

Olivia Leon in our house,
and, she's now 20 years old.

so it, it's been a while.

We, she was, nine months
when we adopt her.

and that was a really,
turning point in our life.

and that was the, basically, there were
miracles that just stacked on top of

miracles when, when it came to that baby.

then, and then we adopted again.

we actually,

Jesse: wait a minute.

I want to hear about the
second adoption, but you got to

Jarrett: I'll tell

Jesse: some examples of some miracles that

Jarrett: I'll tell you, but I
wanna tell you the, I wanna, okay.

so

when we filled out the paperwork, and
as 'cause you've been through it, the

waiting, it's like being pregnant, right?

Except for you don't know when
this baby's gonna land in your lap.

You have no idea.

And we actually prayed and prayed
about it and then all of a sudden,

out of nowhere we get these pictures.

And this baby is perfect, right?

It a little young lady, and her
brow is furrowed and oh God, it was,

she looked like a big butterball.

'cause they always put 'em in
these big jackets and you're like.

Oh my God.

how do we deserve this?

Right?

And so one thing leads to another and we
end up in China picking this girl up from,

from Yu Young City, which is like way
again, way out in the middle of nowhere.

meeting some wonderful people that
we still stay in contact with.

but I guess the biggest miracle
that we saw when it came to

adoption is with our son.

He, it was a special needs kid.

He was missing fingers and a
couple toes, which in, culture,

in, in Asia means you're cursed.

And We actually, with Olivia, got to
know a bunch of families that were over

there living as missionaries running
what they would call foster homes.

But they're really orphanages,
they're just run by Westerners.

So the care was much better, right?

They, there was a certain ratio,
like six, six babies to one adult,

or four babies to one adult as compared
to like Chinese state run orphanages,

which is like a hundred babies to adult

50, whatever it

Jesse: Yeah.

Jarrett: And we found this kid,
we found two kids actually.

one was Oliver and one, his name was,
dang, I, you can't make that up, right?

Dang.

Ian Hong.

And so we started the process
to look for their paperwork and.

It is unheard of for you to be able
to look for and find a specific

child in the Chinese system.

unheard of.

So we spent weeks and weeks, looking for
this child in this big stack of paperwork.

And what we found out is we were
looking at all of these kids

and saying no to them, right?

I look back at it, I was like, oh my
God, how do I, because really what you

wanna do is ob adopt 'em all, bring
'em home, because they're in these

just crazy or anyway, so we finally, it
was just too heartbreaking and my wife

and I prayed about it and we gave up.

We're like, if this child is
supposed to be with us, God

will make it happen, right?

So we gave up and by gave up.

I mean, we stopped looking
on a night to night basis.

We started basically
just praying about it.

two days later, one of our
friends calls us and says, Hey,

weren't you looking for this kid?

And she sends us over the paperwork
name is spelled wrong, birthdate

is wrong, but it's the kid, right?

Two days later.

And if that's not a miracle, you
just don't know what it's right.

Because here we are spending months
looking for this kid and then boom,

Jesse: Yeah.

Jarrett: after you give it all to Christ,
it comes back and just comes up spades.

You can't beat

that.

There's no way.

There's no way I can even
explain how that happened, right?

then crazy enough, there was another
kid there that, our friends, our

best friends who live in Tennessee,
they were praying about and

looking for, they stopped looking.

And gave it to Christ.

And literally a week and a half
later, they found the paperwork

or that paperwork sent to them.

it got to the point, Jesse, I'm a
computer engineer, so I wrote a script

that would scour the internet looking
for his name, his birthdate, and

the place where he was born, right?

So that if those three things
popped up, it would send me an

alert and tell me where to go.

I

Jesse: Wow.

Jarrett: built a web crawler to do that.

And it never, it would've never
found him because his birthdate

was wrong and his name was wrong.

And what's really funny is in the whole
adoption paperwork, we get to the very

end, like we're in China, we're in the
last stop right before we go to the

consulate to get his US passport, and
they're like, wait, you, you have two

different birth dates for this child.

This paperwork is not right.

We can't do this.

And I'm like, oh no, this
is not gonna happen now.

And so we go back and forth and finally
I just scribbled it out and wrote

the right one on and they let it go.

It's really, you know,

Jesse: Yeah.

Jarrett: just bizarre how the
wor world works over there.

and so we ended up with this child
that was truly just a gift from God.

But I

Jesse: was he speaking Tony's?

Jarrett: oh, a hundred percent
he knew three words, right?

Jesse: he knew three English words.

Jarrett: yeah.

Three English words.

Yeah.

And that was because he was in an
orphanage run by English people.

he knew how to say hi and candy
and a couple other things, right?

but he spoke a hundred percent Chinese.

As a matter of fact, when we
got home in the middle of the

night, he started yelling.

I'm like, I have no idea
what this kid is saying.

This is before Google translate.

And what he was saying was
he was not allowed out in the

orphanage out of his room.

so he was screaming that he
had to go to the bathroom.

So I'm like, why are you even asking?

But then we realize, and this is literally
night one, when we get back to the states,

we realize that, there's a lot of stuff
in this 4-year-old that we will have

to, remold into the Western society.

That he has the freedom to go to the
bathroom and he has the, he has a fridge

full of food, which he didn't before.

right.

And he's still, his appetite's
still insatiable light.

boys are that way anyway, but.

so the miracles that stacked on,
stacked to, to line up to, for us to

discover this child, meet this child
before we ever thought about adopting

him, then come back, find him in the
system, and to be able to adopt him.

And by the way, somebody else was lined
up to adopt him and had to pull out

because she, was diagnosed with cancer.

Jesse: Hmm.

Jarrett: and I, this sounds so strange,
but how, I don't know what else to say,

but I'm thankful that she had the cancer
so that I got my son and I found out

later that she did recover from cancer.

But it's so crazy that all the
things that led up to this child

entering our house was God ord.

Jesse: Yeah.

Yeah.

Jarrett: And so those things
were huge in our life.

And now, I got a 21-year-old son.

I have a 20-year-old daughter.

I

have a full 30-year-old and a 28-year-old.

And, now I know that looking back on it
now, I know there were a lot of things

that I just did wrong as a parent, right?

Especially of an adopted child.

I did the best I could at the time.

but I could have gone to Christ more.

I could have prayed more about things.

our daughter, the one we adopted is
a high functioning autistic, child.

I would've never even known
that there was anything there.

But, it's caused, you know,
debilitating social anxiety and.

A lot of the things in, modern society
today that you and I never saw.

We didn't, nobody ever had these problems
when we were kids that we knew about.

They either hid it very well, or, I
don't know about your parents, but my

parents, whenever I fell or did something
stupid, they're like, walk it off.

Rub dirt in

it.

And so we had the opportunity,
years later, right?

when my son was, he was 10
and my daughter was eight.

I lost my job.

It was terrible.

It was really dark time.

we got laid off from IBM.

And I could not find a job.

I was in that donut hole of
too old and too expensive.

people didn't wanna pay for me.

and then even if I did wanna
take a pickup, they're like,

oh, you're overqualified.

I'm like, what are you talking about?

You're giving me the discount.

But anyway, couldn't find a job.

Couldn't find a job.

I actually found a job, was offered
a job, but I had to move to China.

And so we actually, and I'm like, baby,
we have the opportunity to take our

kids back to where near home, country.

And mind you now they're westernized.

They eat cheese and drink milk
and the, all the western things

that we do that they don't.

and so we moved back to China and.

I think it was probably the best thing
for them that they could have ever done.

They got to, they got to see
the country of their birth.

They got to, eat the food
that is native to China.

'cause it's impo almost impossible
to get, authentic Chinese cooking

here in the United States.

United States.

It's so good, by the way.

so they, they loved it.

my son like literally
doubled in size, right?

he gained a bunch of weight, but
he also gained height, right?

So he just ate his way across China.

It was awesome.

but they gotta to see how that
whole side of the world lives.

So, a year later, when my contract
was over, we came home, and

resumed our life, but we lived in.

North Carolina for a while,
'cause that's where I had a job.

And then we came back to the island.

It was, we look back on it
now and see it as a blessing.

And we see there are things that,
that we see that we would got to see

in China that can't be explained any
other way than God working in our life.

We got to go to, it wasn't a house
church, but it was a church like

literally met in a auditorium.

and, if you go to church in China,
when you walked through the front

door, you have to show your passport.

you've been right.

Jesse: Yeah.

Yeah.

I have been to a, church in
Nanning, but I did, I don't

remember having to show a passport.

Jarrett: So when I was in
Beijing, every church that I went

to, I had to show my passport.

You had to be a non-local to

Jesse: Oh.

Oh, this was in Beijing.

Jarrett: Yeah, that was in Beijing
and the same thing in Shanghai.

but where this town that we lived in, it
was open and so locals could go and that

was not something that we had ever seen.

So we got to see, people from China who
are finding out about Christ worshiping.

I had never seen that before.

and I gotta be honest with you,
at first I hated that church.

I hated it.

It was I don't know.

I guess

boring is the word

And I don't wanna say it that way, but
my wife and I were talking about it

as we were riding the bus back from
church to our apartment and she's like,

you know that church is not about you.

Jesse: Mm.

Jarrett: church is not about you.

It's

about Christ and what Christ
is doing in this city and with

these people who need them.

And it, it struck me as, okay, I get it.

Church is not supposed to
be this fun social time.

It is a time where you are to learn
about Christ and where you are to

minister to those who need certain
minute ministry minutes or certain

things that they need to be fed.

And if you don't get fed
that service or that day.

You should be feeding someone, right?

You

should be pouring into them.

And and I am very much blessed with
a wife who is very grounded in faith

and very much helps me get to know
where I should be looking, right?

She will be driving along and, we live
on a little small island and now we have

a bunch of people who are, not from here
or are new to here, and come from places

where everybody's always in a hurry.

And we live on island time.

We're never in a hurry.

So I get, I'm like, why
are you driving this way?

It's like an island, right?

It's two miles across from 14 miles long.

You're not gonna get
anywhere any faster, right?

So I get a little bitty about it.

She's Hey, think about it this way.

They could be having the
worst day of their life.

You should be praying for 'em.

wife was very grounded that way, and
I, and so she helps me a lot, but

we got to see that church in China
and she really grounded me in that.

And then when we came back to,
to North Carolina, we went to a

church, that is very well known.

you probably listen to them online.

but their buildings that you would go to,
were all telecast from the main campus.

I don't like that.

I don't wanna, I wanna see my preacher,
but then again, they were reaching

people that weren't reached before.

So I had to say, okay, if this is the
way it's gonna be, how do I fit in?

very, very grounded woman and.

It, that church in China, while it was
not built for what I was looking for, it

was definitely built for the people who
needed it right then and there in China.

Jesse: right,

Jarrett: And

so that's, my, my life in general
has been a series of blessings.

I've never, I have never taken
a job that wasn't brought to me.

Right.

I, if I go out and look for a
job, I'll look for a job and

I'll get some interviews and
stuff, but I won't find anything.

But then someone will say, Hey,
Jart, this is like something

I think you'd be good at.

I think you should apply for this.

And that one I'll get.

But all the other ones that I
apply for out of the blue, I won't.

And it's like God has a place for you.

They'll put you where
you're supposed to be.

And the problem I always had
was that patience thing, right?

we're doing a study of psalms right now
and, one of the toughest things that, that

I am still working on, at the age of 50
something, is that active word of waiting.

Now waiting is, everybody looks at
the word waiting and then you have

to wait on the Lord, be patient.

And waiting I have found
out is not a passive thing.

It's an active thing, right?

You have to actively wait,
which means you have to actively

be in the moment of waiting.

You need to be praying, you need to be.

You need to literally see it as a lesson.

I'm currently going through a
situation now at work where I am

not utilized the way I should be, so
I have some free time on my hands.

And it's crazy.

I've never had this kind of job where
I've had this kind of free time where

people are literally saying, yeah,
you don't have to, don't do anything.

we'll let you know when we're
ready for you, because I'm

waiting for all these
projects to roll towards me.

And I'm like,

Jesse: Meanwhile, you're
getting paid to, wait.

Jarrett: yeah.

And my wife was like, why does that
bother you inside and play cards with me

and spend good, we're an empty nesters.

Now this is the first time I've gotten
to really spend good quality time with

my wife, where we're not kid-centric.

so that active weight,
it's an active thing.

Christianity in general is
definitely not a passive thing.

It's, it is an active thing.

You have to be active in your faith,
or your christianity's not gonna grow.

your faith in God will not grow.

And so this right now is the
struggle I'm going through.

And it sounds like such a mundane struggle
when you look at the rest of the world.

but it's allowed me to refocus some things
and find out how I can use this time to

my advantage, whether it's to reeducate
myself or to go do, like handyman work

on the side for people who can't afford,
somebody to come in and fix something.

So I'm really trying to.

Make my weighting into an active endeavor,
where I don't just sit still and sit

in silence and play on my phone or
surf the internet or watch tv, right?

Something that completely useless.

I'm trying to make use of myself and in
other ways that I think God is pushing me.

Jesse: Can I, interject something here?

Jarrett: Oh, of course.

Jesse: I think of a waiter
in a restaurant, you know,

waiting on the customer.

So the image I got in my mind was that
to wait on the Lord is to serve him.

So the active waiting is really
just trusting that he's gonna bring

everything about in the perfect way,

Jarrett: Yeah.

let's be brutally honest, dude.

Let's be brutally honest.

God's gonna throw something
at me that I cannot handle.

I know it's coming.

You know it's coming,

right?

Everybody knows it's coming.

that whole saying where, God, I won't
give you anything you can't handle.

That's absolutely not true,

Right.

God's of course, gonna give you

something you can't handle
because you have to lean on

him to be able to handle it.

Jesse: that's right.

Jarrett: So I'm not saying you can't
handle it, literally can't handle it.

you can't handle it
without putting God first,

then you can handle it.

And that's, in today's society, we don't
do that very much, but I guess I see your

point waiting on the Lord as in serving
the Lord actively while I am waiting

for whatever comes next, that he's not
telling me to be a missionary right now.

He's not telling me to, start my own 5 0 1
C3 or whatever what he's telling me to do.

He's to look around and find
people that I should be helping

people I know in my community
in little tiny ways.

and I got to do that
yesterday as a matter of fact.

So the fact remains that I
actively struggle with it.

It's something I still do, but,
and I love going to Bible study.

Bible study helps me on this.

I'm not as good at Bible
study as I should be.

Right.

You know, doing it every day.

I am very much not perfect,

right?

And I am try to be humble in my
not perfectness or my screwed

upness, however you wanna put it.

but it, it definitely does show you how

the meek shell inherit the earth,

Jesse: Hmm.

Jarrett: If I am super strong
and do all this myself, I

don't get anything out of it.

If I submit it to the Lord, then
the Lord will provide right, like he

provided the paperwork for my son.

So it very much is something
that is, is active.

Now, I will say this, I will say this,
my wife and I got the opportunity last

year because we're empty nesters, to
go on a religious pilgrimage, right?

Which is from, it's called
the Camino de Santiago.

And it's basically walking from France
all the way across Spain to, a town called

Santiago de Costello, which is where
the theoretical bones of the Apostle St.

James are.

it's a long walk.

It's 500 and something miles.

Now, I couldn't take off that much time.

So we did about 250 miles of it.

and I spent basically three
weeks with no phone, no job.

I didn't have to worry about that at all.

And all I did was walk.

Talk to my wife, pray, eat, and sleep.

That's it.

Jesse: Wow.

Jarrett: And I'll tell you
something, it very much changed.

I had troubles coming back into
to society after that because

you experience the things that you
miss every day because you're doing

everything at the speed of walking, right?

So you are fully vested in the
conversation you're having.

You hear the birds, you hear a
lot of noises you don't normally

hear, bees buzzing and brooks
babbling and stuff like that.

It's really cool.

But you also hear, you also see
other pilgrims that are on the

same trail, struggling, right?

And it's almost like a community and
you get to lift the other pilgrims

that are on the same journey that
you are on maybe for different

reasons, but you get to help them.

And so that is probably the biggest
thing that's happened recently and maybe

that's why I've been in this waiting
period, was to be able to do that.

so we did get to do it and
it was absolutely fantastic.

Jesse: Well, I want to ask you a
question, but I'm gonna lead up to it.

Okay.

If you

Jarrett: Please do.

Jesse: we were talking about this waiting
thing and I think about, Moses, so Moses

had to spend what, 40 years in the desert.

Jarrett: Wandered around in the desert.

Jesse: so wandering around in the
desert, he didn't have a cell phone.

He probably didn't have wifi.

He probably didn't have
very many distractions.

Somehow I think the Lord puts us
in those situations so that he's

preparing us for the big thing.

And there, there's something that we
really don't know what's coming, but he's

training us 'cause he knows the future.

Right.

You know, I think about David, you know,
Being a shepherd boy and being out in

the fields by himself and worshiping
God and watching the sheep, and he,

God was training him for his mission.

It is funny that God puts us in these
desert situations where we don't

have the distractions or the idea
that we have a particular important

thing to do in order to train us.

And I don't know if I'm, getting off
track here, but I can just imagine that,

that walk across Spain was really, I
could see it being transformative in

a way that most people would never,
ever experience unless they take

the time to do something like that.

Jarrett: Yeah, and some people
were doing it for exercise.

Some people were just on a long walk.

Again, you had to be active a, okay, so a
pilgrimage compared to just a long walk.

A pilgrimage you're doing for a reason.

You have an end goal in, you want
to discover something, right?

Jesse: Yeah.

Jarrett: so if you don't, if you're
not actively participating in

the walk and thinking about what
you're doing and why you're doing

it, it's just a long walk, right?

yeah, no, you're absolutely right.

And you think about
it, you think about it.

Abraham, God even told Abraham,
you, you're gonna have a son, right?

But he didn't wait.

He went off and, his wife said, Hey,
here's my, slave or one of our attendants.

You can sleep with her, right?

And she'll give you a kid.

But see, that's not what God said.

God said that his wife was gonna
give him a, but he didn't wait.

He did it his way or
they did it their way.

And think about the millennia's, of
strife that has come from that one.

Passive wait time where he actively
took it into his own hands and

he didn't wait for the Lord to
do what he said he was gonna do.

that's, he said, I,
you're gonna have a child.

I'm gonna bless you and you're
gonna be the father of many nations.

And guess what happened?

He rushed it.

And from that, his first son was
the start of the Y Islam faith.

Which has been at war with the
Jews and with Christians since the

beginning of time it seems like.

yeah, you have to be active in
your faith when you're connected

with Christ, you just have to.

Jesse: Well, let me ask you,
so you're empty nesters now.

you've got by the grace of
God, if you want to look at it

that way, you got some time.

you're the kind of guy that you've
always had a project or a, a mission

or a, you've always has something
going on that you're involved in.

and

Jarrett: It's hard for me to sit still.

Jesse: So how do you do it?

What do you do on a daily
basis that keeps you grounded?

Jarrett: well, um, right now
I'm in community Bible study and

I'm trying to do that every day.

but really what I'm doing, I have a, we
have a couple family friends who they're.

Very young.

my family, Finn's kids, I should say.

so I go over there and I
help them with their house.

I put in new countertops and I'm doing
help 'em with construction work stuff

that these kids, because they came
from broken families in general, nobody

showed them how to do, nobody showed me.

But I learned over time.

I'm self-taught, so not extremely
perfect on that, but I am, I'm

doing this work because I think God
is giving me the time to be able

to bless these people with help.

Jesse: Hmm.

Jarrett: You're right.

I can't sit still.

and when I, when I don't have
a purpose and I'm a list guy.

I don't know if you are.

I'm a list

guy, I write lists of things and if
it's on the list, it will get done.

If it's not on the list,
it will not get done.

Right.

You know, I was like literally writing
in my book over here and I was like,

okay, I need to reach out to this
person to see if they need help.

and that's what I, that's what
I did, and they did need help.

And so I'm doing that at the moment.

trying to help basically someone who,
doesn't have a whole lot of money

and wants to make their life better
for them and their kids and so I'm

helping in the little ways that I can.

Right.

I don't have a lot of money to give, but
I have some time, so I help 'em paint.

I, this one kid, Jordan, I put in, I'm
putting in butcher block countertops.

which you would think is the,
you would think I had literally

farmed to the moon for this kid.

He's just so happy with it.

and because this house is just, it's, it's
old, it was built in the, I think forties.

I'm very much trying to just
take the time that God's given

me and Use it to his advantage,

right?

And another thing that I'm doing
that my, my, again, genius wife,

has really helped me with is, I walk
around and I either say it out loud

or I might be, I write it in a book.

what I am thankful for, I'm
thankful for, having the ability

to call it to Jesse Duke.

think about it.

If I didn't have time, this wouldn't
be happening, I'm thankful for the

time that I get to mow my yard.

And I'm thankful for, being able
to do the dishes to help out my

wife instead of her doing it.

I do it right.

All these little things, I
have to be thankful for that.

you're never, you'd never
think about to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for taking out the garbage,

right?

Because I have the ability to do it,
but also because I have the money to

buy the food and prepare the food.

Right.

And I mean, it's, this is all
blessings that have been given to us

that we look over every single day.

and so before I got my handle on
this, I was like very depressed

and, God, what am I gonna do?

I'm probably gonna get
laid off, blah, blah, blah.

I was worrying all the time.

It was hard to sleep.

so this little exercise that we've
started just recently has really

changed the way I think, because I'm
thankful for the time that I get to do.

Some randomly multi repetitive task
that I really don't like doing, like

the dishes or the laundry, right?

but I could be thankful for that
'cause that is something that is given

to me and he is blessing me with the
opportunity to do it, and I am not,

giving him the credit where credit
is due or the ability to do that.

And so for me, recently, that's the
biggest step I've taken forward is

the being thankful for the things
that I should be thankful for.

The little things.

Jesse: Yeah, God's been working with me
on that too, and I just recently, I didn't

just discover it, but I recently figured
out what it was all about Psalm 100, where

it says, enter his gates with Thanksgiving
and come into his courts with praise.

And I just finally figured out at
my late age that the way to get

into God's presence to have him
real in your life is Thanksgiving.

So we enter into his presence with
Thanksgiving, come into his courts

with praise and just the, like you
say, even the littlest thing, that

we think of as a little thing.

It doesn't matter what it is.

Thanksgiving is a, is the thing.

It's not whatever we're thankful for,
Another thing related to this Thanksgiving

thing is when we come into God's presence,
we are in the now, we're in the present.

To be in His presence is to be in the now.

when you're in the now,
you're in the presence of God.

Jarrett: And I don't know about you.

I'm not great at it.

I still struggle with it.

I still let the, you know,
devil Demons, bad mojo society.

Worldly stuff, I still let it get to me.

And I still slip and stop
thinking about them as blessings.

and that is why the verbal part of it
for me, has been transformative for

me, because before, if I just did it
in my mind, I would get sidetracked.

you know, my mind is a
thousand miles a minute anyway.

So if I say it out loud, it, it
allows me to be more in the now

instead of, just being in my own head.

You know what I mean?

Jesse: Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

And there's power in our words,
whatever comes out of our mouth

we're more likely to adhere to.

then if we just in our head.

Does that, I think that's
what you're talking about.

Jarrett: Oh yeah.

No, you, yeah.

we.

We all see it.

We all know it's there, but it, for some
odd reason, unless you're very mature at

a young age, you just don't, you don't
see it until much later in life that

all this stuff that we struggle with on
a day-to-day basis kind of pointless,

right?

Jesse: Yeah.

Yeah.

Jarrett: and we can't, let's be honest,
we can't control anything in this world.

None.

Zero.

Not a none except for how we react to it.

That's the only thing
we can control, right?

You can't control whether
the guy's speeding.

You can't control what happens
at work, There's a lot of

stuff that you cannot control.

And so accepting that it's not about
you, that it's about the world and

how God is in that world, allows you
to be much more efficient in the way.

You react to others,

Jesse: Yeah.

Jarrett: I don't wanna cuss and scream
at my kids when they, wreck the car.

I wanna, I wanna accept the
blessing that they didn't get hurt.

They might have been, I don't have
to, I don't have to like gloss

over the fact that they were stupid
and rolled through a stop sign.

I don't gloss over that.

But they're not dead, so I
gotta be thankful for that.

I gotta be thankful they
walked away from that accident.

'cause it could have been much worse.

Jesse: Yeah.

Well, when we take a break from
technology, even if it's just

turning off the phone for a day,
is a huge pilgrimage in itself.

if we look at it, that way.

So what do you think about that as far as
technology and how it's affecting people?

I.

Jarrett: I use my phone for work.

I answer the phone when people call me
and I'll answer texts usually for my kids.

And I say usually 'cause I
ignore the ones where they say,

Hey dad, can I have some money?

But, and that's it.

I don't do social media.

And I, and the reason I don't do social
media in general is because A, all I

see is the perfect life of someone else,

right?

And it's usually a lie.

and b, it takes away from where I should
be at that moment, which is either, in

the presence of God or in the presence
of my life, or, there's something that

I should be doing besides just going
down this rabbit hole of social media.

And honestly, social media
is so full of lies of deceit.

it's,

Jesse: You don't know what's real.

Jarrett: no, with the, AI has made
it very easy for even the layman to

create videos that you can't tell
from the layman, can't tell from.

From the real thing.

And so you're being filled with lies
and deceit and half-truths and you're

these people who pose for selfies
and stuff, they're trying to show

off how perfect they are, which is
basically saying, I'm better than you.

And so it's just not my thing.

It's not my thing.

No, I'm not saying I don't use my phone.

Every once in a while I'll play a
crossword puzzle or something like

that to just to entertain myself.

I'm not saying I don't use it at all,
but because I'm in the industry there

are people at Facebook and, TikTok and
a couple of the other in Instagram and

a couple others, they literally sit down
and code these products to be addictive,

Jesse: Yeah,

I've heard that.

Jarrett: Course I will fire up Facebook
every once in a while when I want to go

to Marketplace and see if I can find a,
like a used interior door or something.

But I'm not going out there to,
I'm not going out there, oh,

what's Jesse Duke doing today?

I don't, first of all, I don't care.

I don't care about anybody's opinions,
but mine and God's and my wife's

and my family's, I don't care.

I don't care what, Ben Aflac says about
President Trump don't care at all.

Right?

Jesse: y right.

Jarrett: who cares?

Just another dude.

Right?

So, so, yeah, that's a waste of my time.

I don't, while I have a lot of time
on my hands, I don't wanna waste it,

Jesse: I like that.

I don't do social media either.

this podcast is about as close as I
get to exposing myself to the world.

Jarrett: That's

funny

Jesse: Well, we're gonna have
to wrap up pretty soon, but

I wanted to pick your brain.

see you've had a pretty interesting life.

You've traveled the world.

you've adopted kids from, China.

you've raised, kids.

you've had a lot of experiences.

What do you see?

Where do you see God leading you What,
what do you think your life purpose is?

Jarrett: Well, uh.

Until just recently, I would've
said my purpose was to save the,

those two children from China.

'cause you know, I mean, you
adopted as well and literally

saved her life and so in his life.

but I, I don't think that
was the purpose of my life.

If I look at it as a whole, I would
say the purpose of my life was, not

to be cliche, but to bear fruit.

and by that I mean spreading his
word, not by words, but by actions.

Jesse: Yeah.

Jarrett: I don't, I'm
not a great evangelist.

Yes.

I love to talk about God and stuff like
that, but I'm not a great evangelist.

I, if I could talk, I had a preacher once
that said this, if I can talk you out into

it, somebody could talk you out of it.

but if I show you and you see it
right then it's not somebody just.

It's not pie in the sky.

It's not somebody just talking about
it, it's something that you see.

So hopefully what I have done, in my life
is create a family down on the road that

will create more disciples and more fruit.

If you think of it like a pyramid, right?

I'm on the bottom of this pyramid.

I'm one person, right?

And my wife, and then we have
four kids and they're gonna have

their circle of influence and
then that circle of influence.

So we will, it will
spread out exponentially.

So mean.

That is, I think what I've been
trying to do my entire life is

to take my circle of influence
and show them the life of Christ.

Jesse: Yeah.

Wow.

Jarrett: Do I know what's
coming next, Jesse?

No, no idea.

God's gonna do what God's gonna do.

And I just have to, as
best I can say, yes sir.

Get to it.

A lot of times you're like, you pray
for things and then when God says,

yeah, I want you to be a missionary
in Zimbabwe, you're like, no.

I didn't mean I wanted to do that, but
yeah, no, I have no idea what's next.

Jesse: Yeah, but you're, it sounds
like you're ready for whatever it is.

Jarrett: We shall see, half the
times when, I was, I thought

I was ready to move to China.

I tell you what, that was my wife.

My wife will tell you,
they had a great time.

I was miserable the whole time.

I

was just, because I was working,
14 hours, I worked at a Chi

for a Chinese company in China,

right?

So I was working like 12 hours a day.

So I would get home after dark
and leave before it got the light.

So I got to spend pretty much
one day a week with my family.

And, I didn't even get to have dinner with
'em most nights, so it was terrible, but

it was a good experience for the family.

Jesse: Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

then the next question is, what
advice would you have for somebody

out there listening to this?

Maybe the, maybe a young jarret,
a 20-year-old jarret out there?

What advice would you have?

Oh, you do have a 20-year-old jar

Jarrett: I do actually have a
20-year-old j Which first advice,

never name your child after you.

don't,

Jesse: that was accidental
that I said it that way.

Jarrett: yeah.

No, but that's funny.

That is funny though.

My advice was you are not alone.

There are people around you that want
that love on you, want to help you.

You don't have to do it by yourself.

Even if you, even if your
parents are like, my parents

were no longer with me, right?

That I had lost them.

I'm sorry I didn't lose 'em.

I knew where they are.

They just weren't on this planet.

Right?

Um, that was my poor attempt at a joke.

I think really honestly is that,
that there are people who are

willing to help, whether it is
mentally or physically right?

You just have to find, someone, and ask,
you have to be willing to ask for help.

And the church is great with that.

If you say, Hey, I need help, and
your church doesn't answer you,

you're in the wrong church, right?

they're not tending to the flock.

But if you need help, you
reach out, you've gotta reach.

Because the devil wants to isolate you.

And that's what I would tell 'em.

I would say, Hey, you don't
have to do this yourself.

Jesse: Yeah.

Jarrett: it's not all on you.

Jesse: Don't let pride stop
you from getting what you need.

Jarrett: And as 20 year
olds, we have love, pride.

Jesse: Yeah, absolutely.

we know everything.

Jarrett: You just, we do.

And our parents are dumb.

Jesse: I guess my third question is,
would you pray for the listeners,

Jarrett: Not really a question,
but Absolutely I will.

Jesse: there may be somebody listening
to this 10 years from now, that's

going to hear what you have to say

Jarrett: Which is
exactly the point, right?

The point is we don't
know how we're going.

We might never see the fruit
of the labors that we have.

It might be 12 years after you're dead.

It might be that very moment,
but you may never see it.

Jesse: right.

Jarrett: but yes, I will pray.

Lord, I pray, for Jesse and this
podcast to continue to spread, stories

of how you work on this planet.

In the hearts of those people on this
big blue marble that we call Earth,

that literally don't know Christ.

Lord, I, pray for each and every person
that's listening or will listen and I pray

that they find the peace of Christ, the
ability to pray to Christ, the ability

to hear Christ and be patient when
Christ does not answer them immediately.

When God does not come back and
immediately answer a prayer.

Lord, I pray that, each person, that hears
this, gives thanks for the little things,

the things that they don't normally look
at and are thankful for, but should be,

groceries and, everyday tasks and chores.

and Lord, I pray for
those people who are ill.

I allow you to take some of their
burden, their yoke, and allow them

to focus on recovery, Lord, because
without you, there is no recovery.

And Lord, lastly, I pray that, all
the people on the island that we

live on, remain blessed, or will be
blessed and see the fruits of their

labor, in their walk with Christ.

And lastly, I pray for, Jesse and his
beautiful wife that they continue to

minister in the ways that you tell
them to and just continue to work for

the coalition that is Christianity.

Lord, it's in your name I pray.

Amen.

Hey, Jesse, it was great talking to you.

I.

Hope and pray that this podcast reaches
that one person that needs to hear it.

Jesse: Maybe more than that.

Jarrett: Hopefully God has a plan.

Jesse: thank you Jared.

Jarrett: Thank you.

Speaker 2: We hope you've
been blessed by today's story.

if you've heard something that you think
could help someone you know, please share

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Also, if you will give Faith and purpose a
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Can make a big difference in someone's
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Speaking of sharing, if you know a Jesus
follower with a story to tell, please send

them a link to Faith and Purpose Podcast.

It may encourage them to tell their story.

That person may even be you.

Our only criteria is
that Jesus be glorified.

No one has a story like yours, and you
may be the only one who can reach someone

else through telling your experience.

When we tell what Jesus has done in
our lives, we are being obedient to his

command to go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature.

So when you are ready to tell
how Jesus has impacted your life,

you can let Jesse know at his
ministry website, jesse duke.net.

There you can download guidelines
that will make it easy to

prepare to tell your story.

Thank you for listening today and shalom.