Episode 21: The "Call-In" Episode with Jason Clairmont
Transcript
Patsy: Hi, I’m Patsy Clairmont, and I’m a Boomer.
Andrew: And I’m Andrew Greer, and I’m a Millennial.
Patsy: And you are listening to Bridges.
Andrew: Spiritual Connections Through Generational Conversations
Patsy: Speaking of generational, I just happen to have a guest with me today.
Andrew: You do?
Patsy: Yes. He’s often with me because we share the same roof, and we actually share the same last name. And that is because he’s my son, Jason Clairmont, and he’s going to help us out today.
Andrew: He is. Jason is always helpful, No. 1, so I’d like to say that. I’d also like to say in the podcast studio where we are right now, his back is to us, and I think that’s an indicator of how he feels about us sometimes.
So Jason, would you like to say hi?
Jason: Hello, I’m Jason, and I’m a Gen Xer. Is that how I’m supposed to do this?
Andrew: Oh yeah, that’s true. We’ve got all three generations-- Well, not all three, but we’ve got three.
Jason: Three, yeah.
Andrew: Boomers, Gen X, and then Millennial. And of course, I’m an old Millennial, so I’m closer to Jason than you’d think.
But today’s episode is a result of so many of you supported our efforts to bridge the gap of poverty and protein through chickens in Latin America. We had a goal of just 200 chickens, and we’re almost to 400 chickens, Patsy.
Patsy: Yay, chickens!
Andrew: That’s right. I wish you could’ve seen that visual of Patsy right now.
But as a result of that, we said we would do a bonus episode to kind of close out this first season, and we thought it might be fun to do an old school call-in, but how did we get these questions, Patsy?
Patsy: Well, people sent ‘em in, made their little fingers dance across the keys and sent them in to Instagram, yours and mine.
Andrew: That’s right. So we have a list of questions. I’ve had a little peak at them; you haven’t, and I think that’s the most fun way to do this. Jason actually has them, so just like an old school… What is it, Delilah or something? Who takes the call-ins? Except it’s not all love advice I don’t think. I hope not because I’m not the best at that.
Alright, Jason, throw one our way.
Jason: We have Karen on line 1. Is that how?
Alright, the first question is from Karen, and she asks and says, “I know him, his promises and love and grace, but I still carry this sliver of doubt. How do I get rid of that?”
Patsy: I think we’ll always have some doubts in life. I think it’s part of the makeup of our humanity. I think if there’s a pulse in your wrist, somewhere there’s some doubt in your mind.
When he said he would love me always, did it include when I really messed up the other day?
And we wonder about so many things, even though it may be clearly stated, so I think that’s part of us learning how to grow up in the Word and embrace it more and more deeply along the journey so we’re not always second-guessing God.
Andrew: I like that you said deeply in there. I do think doubt helps us dive and dig deeper into what faith could mean.
I was given a book several years ago called Faith and Doubt, and it was about how they interplay, that doubt does not diminish our faith but rather helps establish our faith. And so I think, Karen, to receive as natural I guess.
Patsy, you might have some comments on this. But for me, to allow my doubting tendencies, to let those further help me identify with faith. Like the doubting Thomas, right, the classic “I believe; help my unbelief,” just to submit that with faith to God just like you said is helping grow my faith, helping establish my faith, helping root my faith versus somehow making it disappear I guess.
Patsy: Yes. I don’t think doubt makes our faith disappear. I think it gives us information that can be invaluable as to where we’re going to need some additional help along the way to grow in the area where we’re feeling a little suspect of God’s intentions.
So it may be through a deep study, it may be through a meaningful conversation with a counselor or with a pastor or with a friend, and we then have the chance to watch that doubt shift categories over into belief and faith.
Andrew: And I like the shared aspect that you said. That’s one of the basis of our podcast is that we would share our experiences across the lines of generations, and if I’m speaking with your or if I’m in relationship or friendship you, and I’m in a particularly doubtful or doubting season and we talk about that, it’s helpful for me to know someone a few years my senior, who I may respect their walk of faith or I’ve observed their journey of spirituality, of connection with God, to say, “Well, you know what? Here was a season where I was doubting.” I just think there’s a lot of communion in that among fellow believers that helps connect us in communion with God as well.
Patsy: I love the word communion because there is a fellowship of suffering that is talked about in Philippians, and I think we’re invited into that fellowship of suffering when we’re in a season where we’re not sure how to make all the dots connect. And someone will say, “I’ve been there. I know how you feel. I see you in this circumstance, and I support you in your walk.” It makes a world of difference.
“[Communion] makes a world of difference.”
Andrew: So Karen, welcome to our club of doubting disciples.
Jason, do you have a response?
Jason: I think you guys said it perfectly.
Andrew: Alright, what else you got for us?
Jason: The next one is from Sheila. She says, “Counsel for me on the cusp of older, 55, how to leave a legacy in an age of social media.”
Patsy: How do we leave a legacy with social media? Interesting, 55 — that is a child, my dear. You know it all depends on your perspective, where your calendar is sitting at the moment, but mine says 55 were the good ol’ days.
I would say that I’m gonna let you go first on this, and then I’m going to back it up.
Andrew: Really? Okay.
Well, I like, Sheila, that you asked about in the age of social media. Now, though I am in my 30s, I do think about legacy. I think everybody does once they get to a certain age. That may be in their mid, late 20s.
What first got me thinking about legacy was seeing all my peers get married and have children, and when they started having children, really — and I’m single with no children — I started thinking through… That is such a tangible, visible legacy, and so I started thinking through what is my legacy.
And so I think, one, it is natural for us at different stages of our lives. I was talking to someone who’s 94 a few weeks ago who said every birthday that’s still a question that pops up in her mind — what is my legacy? What am I leaving? She’s still considering that even though the best part of her living legacy on this planet, on this side of life, is already probably behind her.
And so I think we all think about it, but I think in the age of social media, one would be what do I post. I’m just gonna go real practical here. What do I post on social media, and does that have any lasting value, either for the moment or even for a greater timeline, because it does live there forever.
Patsy: And ever and ever, amen.
Andrew: And without contest to some degree. It’s not a conversation. I’ve put something out there that, unless I go delete later or even if I delete later, it still has made its presence known.
So I think social media could actually be a positive in that it causes us to be more thoughtful with our words. It causes us to pause and think about what do I actually what to write down for others to digest. So I see it as a positive, not necessarily a negative, that we could pause, think through, and be maybe even more — this is an overused word — intentional about what our legacy could be.
Patsy: I found that what I did is I went on to social media and I asked myself the question, What mainly is going on out here? And I heard a lot of noise, and I heard a lot of anger, and I heard people getting very defensive, and I heard kind of an outrage of opinion. And I thought, Lord, what do I need to bring to the table in this season that can make a difference? I know that your table is expansive, that your arms are open with inclusion, but that you have prepared it for us. So how might I prepare what I’m offering on there, that it measures up to what you would want me to give?
Because a lot of times it’s not even so much if we’ve pinpointed what the need is as do we have any experience in that field. And I found that what I thought that would help and be lasting in legacy was peace. If I could put out peaceful things and things with fun content and lively colors, things that made people feel good but made them think beyond where they were at. And so it was my goal everyday to put something out there that was gonna give a lot of encouragement to the heart.
Andrew: And we do have choice. What you’re speaking about is choice of what we offer, and I think when we think about legacy, we are thinking about what can I offer. And I even think about this last year and the kind of chaos that has ensued in many layers and a bit of the frenzy around that, which is just human nature around unknowns. We tend to get scared, and we tend to react rather than respond.
So with all that though, I remember thinking about peace in the middle of that, thinking, Okay, this is just a snapshot in time. We will move on to something different. This will be behind us at some point. But during this snapshot of time, what do I want even the people who come into my home to experience? What do I want people who are on a phone conversation with me, on the receiving end of a text strain or even a social media post?
And really I kept thinking calm and peace. And not because I hold some key that no one else holds and I’ve got some glimpse into the future, but because if that is my spiritual backbone, if that is my spiritual belief, foundation, that to be at home is to be with God and to be with God is to be at peace, the I hope to more fully embody that with each passing year.
Patsy: And I think that even if we have insight in a certain field, there’s great potential for our own personal growth. So the research and the offering benefits us as well as it does others.
Andrew: One of your most lasting pieces of legacy is joining us today, Jason Clairmont. You like that?
Jason: That was great.
Andrew: How’s that? Well, he is with us in the studio today, but we’re going to take a quick break to hear from some of our favorite people like Food for the Hungry, in case you didn’t get your chicken yet. So we’re going to take a pause. You are listening to Bridges with…
Patsy: Patsy Clairmont, the Boomer.
Andrew: And Andrew Greer, the Millennial. We’ll be back.
Bridges Sponsorship Message
Patsy: “Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience the Lord’s favor in the land of the living? Rely on the Lord! Be strong and confident! Rely on the Lord!” Those are the last two verses of Psalm 27 from the Abide Bible. It is a new Bible that has been in my home now for several months, so I’ve had time to work with it and it to work inside of me. It offers beautiful, old art that is associated with verses, so it helps it to become a bigger picture in our mind and our retention is improved. It has places for us to journal on the side as we read. It also has instructions on how to pray this Scripture, how to meditate on it, how to contemplate it so we can sit and soak in God’s Word and allow it to dwell richly within us.
Andrew: What I love about the Abide Bible is that it’s invitational, not just informational. It’s inviting us not to just exercise the Word of God in our head but to really invite it to dwell in our hearts, which to me reminds me of John 15:4: “Abide in me and I in you.” So you can order your copy of the Abide Bible today at bridgesshow.com/abide.
Bridges Sponsorship Message
Patsy: I’m excited about Food for the Hungry because they know how to get to the need of people. If you meet their needs, then their heart is open to anything else you say, so they’re feeding the children not only to nurture them and prepare them for real life but to hear about Jesus. And one of the ways that they’re able to help these families and it be sustainable is by chickens, Andrew.
Andrew: That’s right. It’s incredible. For just $14, you can provide a family with a chicken, and if you want to multiply that blessing, you can provide them with two chickens for just $28. And we know that chickens multiply, so that’s more eggs for the children to have the protein that they need, for them to sell the extras at market, and those chickens last eight to 10 years. It’s a huge blessing. All you have to do is go to fh.org/bridges.
Patsy: So my son Jason Clairmont is going to throw out a question for Andrew and I to respond to. We hope it’s something that helps.
Jason: Yes. This next question is from Rebecca, and she asks, “How do you handle self-doubt or feeling like you’re a failure when you are doing the best you can?”
Patsy: Oh honey, that is such a great question and one that all of us struggle with at some point in our life, or some of us may struggle with it for most of our life. Some things will always be a tendency, but they don’t have to be the captain of our ship. We can learn, Oh, that’s the old voices, and I don’t have to be under their control anymore. I’ve got a new thing to speak life into my own soul, so instead of doubting what I’m doing, I’m going to start with I believe that God is in this. It was in him that I asked for direction, and I’m going to keep trusting that that is happening. And if I falter, he will let me know and redirect my steps.
Andrew: I like that kind of empowering thought of choosing to believe that our steps are directed and that they’re meaningful, that they’re full of significance, and each in their own way.
I remember one time, this was years ago when I first started doing concerts, and I was kind of going from church to church to church, and it was all over the map. Some nights there’d be people in the seats, and they would be applauding or responding or staying afterward to buy a CD. And some nights the seats were pretty empty.
I remember going to do the concert one night. I was getting ready, and my dad called and we were talking. I just said, “I don’t know if it matters.” I was just honestly in a place of self-doubt, of wondering if there was any significance or any meaning on those nights when no one showed up. And my dad just encouraged me very practically, and he said, “I truly believe that God does direct our steps and that he places people in spaces and time to receive what he needs them to receive, and you may be the only one to offer them tonight what they need to receive, even if it’s that one person in the audience and you behind that piano.”
And that just shifted everything for me in thinking how significant each life is. It’s kind of like saying, well, nothing’s significant unless it’s massive, right.
And my cousin also said to me one time, “God is in you, and God is not small.”
Patsy: Oh, I like that.
Andrew: I would say to all of us, if God is in us and working through us and God is not small, then we can retrain that self-doubt to be belief that what we are doing for the moment, no matter where that is, what that is, how much that makes, how many people are “impacted” by it, that it indeed it is on purpose, by design, and with a lot of potency.
I think of teachers when I think about this question and how I wonder if they ever doubt themselves, especially when they have that one kid in their class.
“God is in us and working through us, and God is not small.”
Patsy: Or they have half a dozen of that kid.
Andrew: Absolutely. And thinking about their effectiveness and they’re deeply influencing these pivotal years in human’s life, and yet when we get older, how many of us point back to our educators, those kind of thankless jobs, point back to them as some of our greatest influences?
So I kind of got off on talking about influence, but I think self-doubt comes from believing that we are not valuable, worthy, that what we do is not meaningful, and I think what you’re talking about, believing that God is infusing everything with meaning.
Patsy: And realizing that if it’s one person in our audience, like our child, or it’s a thousand people because of a concert, that when we walk in faithfulness that God uses that for whatever purposes. We may never know till glory exactly what he’s accomplished in a life, but we know that he keeps accomplishing. That’s his heart. It’s for his people. So for us to get to be a part of that plan is really precious. It gives us purpose that’s holy and lasting.
Andrew: You know, one of the questions that comes out of this question for me is comparison. I know a lot of my self-doubt has been driven by the willingness to compare. What do we do with comparison in a world especially full of likes and shares and that kind of thing? How do we either utilize or dismiss? What do we do with comparison?
Patsy: Well, I think first of all, we’re back to that old saying that remains true, and that is we all struggle with it. You can’t help but compare, regardless of what it is. He’s got more hair on his head than I have on my head. She’s got cuter shoes than I’ve got at home in my closet. There’s always something.
But then you get into some of the nitty gritty and you don’t always pinpoint that that’s what it is, a problem with comparison, which says I’m only as valuable with what I’ve managed to put together.
When God is putting something together, he doesn’t even tell us all the plans. He doesn’t show us the full blueprint. He gives us an idea, he puts hope in our heart, he gives us creative ideas, and then he allows us to be on the adventure with him. So comparison cheats us out of the adventure, and we don’t want to miss that spirit of adventure, the joy of knowing that God is up to something, even if we don’t feel qualified.
That really is something that is way over here on a back shelf, whether we feel up to the task or qualified or as good as someone else. What matters is that the heart of our God, he has given us the message “I love you. I see you. I know you fully. I know your ups, your downs, and I am empowering you for a journey that’s going to take you places you’re not gonna believe.”
We need to rest in the confidence he’s up to something good because that’s his heart.
Andrew: Was that a question, Jason, from Rebecca?
Jason: Yes.
Andrew: So Rebecca, we hear you, we see you, we know the struggle, and I hope you’ve found these responses to at least be uplifting.
Jason, are you comparing all the questions with each other to pick which one?
Jason: I have a few.
Andrew: Okay. What else you got?
Jason: Kelly asks, “What is your favorite book of the Bible and verse?”
Patsy: Kelly, we’re supposed to say we love them all equally, but we’re human and so we’re gonna have preferences, and I’m a great fan of the book of Philippians. I think it is amazing that it is such an upbeat book while Paul is imprisoned.
How can that be? That gives me so much food to think on, and it also gives me hope for my heart when I’m feeling limited because he could not do much, but what he could do was write a book that God would use for all of our lives. Isn’t that amazing? I think that’s amazing. So I love Philippians.
I’m also a big fan of things that are in the beginning, so I love Genesis and I love seeing the newness and sparkle. I’m also sad when some of that wears off because of our choices, but there are great reminders in there.
I love Exodus. I identify with the wandering of God’s people. I wander around my house. My family will go, “You’re wandering. Why don’t you sit down and eat dinner?” “Oh yeah, that’s why I’m here.”
So you’ll find yourself in the Scriptures. One time you’ll be rejoicing in the New Testament and John, the beloved disciple, opening up the stories of Jesus, and the next minute you’ll be in Job and you’ll see the suffering of mankind and scratch your head a few times as you go. So lots of beautiful, exciting opportunities to become a person of the Word.
And that’s what I would say about favorites is don’t get so stuck in your favorite that you don’t venture past favorite and go into some of the other things that you’ve not yet searched out. He has so much more for us.
Andrew: Though I would say Deuteronomy did not make my list.
Patsy: I love Deuteronomy.
Andrew: You do?
Patsy: Deuteronomy is wonderful.
Andrew: Of course she would.
Patsy: It’s a recollecting of truth in a way that makes it new and go deeper inside of you. I love Deuteronomy. I don’t love Numbers.
Andrew: Okay, I’ll try Deuteronomy again. I’ll give you Numbers. I’m not going to say I love Numbers.
Patsy: I do not love Numbers. I do not love Numbers.
Andrew: There’s probably not many, though I’m sure there are some wonderful commentaries on it. I’ve yet to read one that’s convinced me of its greatness, but favorites — that’s what we’re talking about anyway, right.
You said your favorite book was Philippians, or one of your favorite books, and that is where one of my favorite Scriptures is. It’s Philippians 4. I like starting in verse 4, going through verse 7, which is of course a famous verse: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice.” We don’t always recite this part of the verse, but it says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” And then: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, with prayer and petition, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
There’s so much in those three verses, so much encouragement, so much instruction, admonishment.
Patsy: Protection for our thought life, for our hearts, that we need to be aware that we have an enemy that comes at us, and he often does it through our thought life. And because he’s an imitator, he can even use our own voice inside our heads, so we think we’re listening to ourself when it’s really him saying, You just messed that all up. And I’ve learned to say, “Excuse me, you need to go sit down because I have a truth here that tells me that I can rejoice where I’m at.” And if I forget, he reminds me, and again I say rejoice.
Andrew: Yes. One of the ways to help get rid of those false voices, not only rejoicing again but presenting your request with thanksgiving. I love that. “In prayer and petition with thanksgiving.”
So there’s all these nuggets. I continually try to remember if I’m praying for something that is a heavy request but to somehow do that with thanksgiving, to always filter it through… Maybe that’s my glass-half-full personality, but I think we’re all capable of it. I think thanksgiving requires exercise from all of us to remember to do it and to do it continually. So I do love that.
I mean, probably with songwriting being my first foray into creativity and music, all that, I think the Psalms just… The Psalms are so many people’s favorite, and they’re so mainstream and so accessible to so many different people. Even those who aren’t necessarily convinced of who Jesus is still find comfort in the Psalms, which I love that. I love that the Bible is very accessible to so many different people, and I think that’s because God is accessible to everyone thanks to Jesus.
But I love the Psalms. I love the rhythm of it. I love the ups and downs of it. It’s very human, and yet it is very eyes pointed upward. The amount of submission in all the right ways of saying, “I don’t get it. I don’t like it. I don’t see this working out. I don’t have it figured it, and I don’t want to figure it out.” And putting all literally at the feet of God I guess and saying, “So do something with it.”
Patsy: Here it is. I don’t know what to do with it, so holy, holy, holy are you, and you’ll have to work this out. I’ve tried. I’m not doing so good.
I also like Proverbs because it’s in your face with the truth, and that’s where I really started off my growth walk because my words could often, and still can be if I’m not guarded and careful and applying the counsel of God, can be caustic. It can be harsh. It can be invasive. So it has been my journey to keep asking God to deliver me from myself and to give me a language that helps people to know him and to grow. So knowing and growing have been two things that the Proverbs have really helped me with, and it has admonished me many times about my words.
One of the verses: “There is one who speaks harshly, like the thrust of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” I love that it gives us a picture of when we behave one way what we’ll do and the results if we behave the other way.
Andrew: I like where you said continually asking the Lord to deliver me from me. It reminds me of a song our friend Sara Beth wrote called “Lord Deliver Me,” and it’s kind of a call and response where she sings a line and the whole chorus of people sing it back to her, but it’s a prayer. So we’re going to include a clip of that right here.
Sara Beth Geoghegan singing “Lord Deliver Me”
Lord deliver me from me
Lord deliver me to You
Lord deliver me from me
Lord deliver me to You
Lord deliver me from me
Lord deliver me to You
Lord deliver me from me
Lord deliver me to You
Lord deliver me from the desire to be noticed, loved, exalted
Lord deliver me from the desire to be favored, popular, chosen, or acknowledged
Lord deliver me from the fear of being wrong, forgotten, or ignored
Lord deliver me from the fear of being humiliated or left behind
Lord deliver me from me
Lord deliver me to You
Lord deliver me from me
Lord deliver me to You
Lord deliver me from me
Lord deliver me to You
Lord deliver me from me
Grant that I may seek to comfort rather than be comforted by others
Grant that I may understand and love more than be understood and loved well
Lord deliver me from the desire to be noticed and encouraged
Lord deliver me from the desire to be appreciated and included
Lord deliver me from me
Lord deliver me to You
Lord deliver me from me
Lord deliver me to You
Lord deliver me from me
Lord deliver me to You
Lord deliver me from me
Andrew: Patsy, I hear that you have a book club.
Patsy: I do. Books are what God used to help heal me, so it delights me to offer that service to others, that they could sign up, anybody. All y’alls, come on in. We want you to join in the book club, and we will read ourselves silly and sane. We’ll have different selections, one every month with a bonus. You can check it out: patsyclairmont.com. And also on that page, you’ll see that I do cheerleading for people. I coach them in helping them stir up their creativity to tell their story. But here’s what I know: You’re into a different kind of storytelling, and you’ve been set up to win awards for what you’ve done.
Andrew: I love music, and I have a new record out called Tune My Heart, and it includes some of my really close friends, some of your friends, like Sandra McCracken and Cindy Morgan and Buddy Greene. And you can find that record anywhere you stream or download, or at andrew-greer.com. You know what else, Patsy?
Patsy: What?
Andrew: I’ve got another podcast. It’s not my favorite podcast, but if you like listening to Bridges, then you might like listening to and viewing Dinner Conversations with our pal Mark Lowry and myself. You can find it on Apple Podcasts or Amazon Prime, or simply go to dinner-conversations.com.
Patsy: Here we are back at Bridges. I’m Patsy. Andrew’s right here with me. I wouldn’t let him leave because he’s got too many good things to say, and we’ve got a question coming from Jason. The question isn’t his, but he’s going to offer it up.
Jason: The question is from Kimberly, and this is to Andrew: “Are you wanting to marry someday, or are you happy as a single person?”
Patsy: Great question.
Andrew: Kimberly, is this a proposal?
Patsy: I think it could be.
Andrew: That is a great question, and depending on the season of life I’ve been in, probably a different response. So I’ll respond from where I am currently and that is one of great contentment in being single.
I always kind of had some insecurity that if I was ever content being single, I may never get married. And I do love the picture of marriage; I love the institution of marriage. My life has been filled with really strong marriages around me, so I’ve never had a lot of weird feelings about marriage or doubts that it can work out. I just have had a lot of pictures of marriages that have stuck with it but with a lot of joy and a lot of happiness and a lot of fun. And so that certainly wasn’t a deterrent for me.
I have had, in my younger life, some very particular heartaches that I have noticed other people tend to bounce back from or move on into new relationships with new hope and fresh hope, and I would say for me two in particular, that was not true for me. It’s very, very difficult for me to move forward. I was able to with the counsel of professionals as well as my community and family. But I’ve always had questions about why those pinged me the way they did, and I don’t know that I’ll fully have the answers. Maybe something in my makeup. It may be that I’m designed to be single. I’m not sure.
One of my really close friends I asked one time of her, and she’s a little older than me. She’s been married a good while, but she’s known me a long time. She’s known me in some of my relationships. She said this to me. She said there are two kinds of single people in her life, and she’s friends with lots of single folks of all ages. She said, “There are the ones that I put in a category of Never Going to Be Married.” And I said, “Well, why?” She said, “Their lives just aren’t suited for it.” Whether that’s because of their lack of desire of wanting to be married or something, she said, “From my experience of being married 20 years, their life is not set up to be married. It would take radical change to be married.”
She said, “Then there’s this category of Always Possible,” and she said, “You’re squarely in that box.” She said, “While I do think you’re content being single, while I think you’ve been afforded a lot of opportunities that are beneficial to not just you but your community and the world around us that have been afforded to you because you’re single, so important things have come out of your single life, I think that there’s always opportunity for you to be married. I think you’re designed for family. I think you have that makeup about you.”
So listening to other people, Kimberly, has been helpful for me because it’s such a personal subject, and I don’t know that culture has always steered single people in the right direction as far as encouraging them, as far as what their singleness offers the world, as well as encouraging them to always be open to the possibility of marriage and family, that it’s for me taken the help of community and of professional counseling to remain open because I certainly don’t want to miss out on something because I’m living out of my pain.
Patsy: Well said.
Andrew: I don’t know if that really answers the question directly, but it is the space that I’m living in.
Patsy: Well, I think it’s very honest, and honest always helps.
Andrew: Patsy, have you ever wanted to be single again?
Patsy: Not a chance. Not a chance. I’ve been married, it’ll be 59 years in July, and I plan on just finishing the run with him.
Andrew: I love that. And Jason, you’ve also been married a long time now.
Jason: Yeah, I’ve been married 25 years, 26 this year.
Andrew: And he’s only 35. It was a strange arrangement.
Jason: That’s right. That’s right.
Andrew: Alright, Jason, so did you have one other for us?
Jason: Yes. This is my favorite question so far. It’s from Jason.
Andrew: Where’s Jason from? Do you know?
Jason: Uh, looks like Franklin, Tennessee. And this is to you, Andrew: “Who is your favorite Clairmont, and why is it me?”
Andrew: This is tricky. I’m actually in between them right now. I’m in between Patsy and Jason, so this makes for a sticky situation.
Let me think about that. I’m going to say Les.
Jason: Good answer. That’s a good answer.
Patsy: I think that’s wisdom.
Andrew: I would say each of the Clairmonts, and for many of you that know them, even if from afar, you each offer very unique things to friendship. I mean, you’re all so different, even the ones that came from the others, like Jason is from Les and Patsy and just a total different ballgame altogether. And then your wife, Danya, and the grandkids. So many unique personalities. You all are a very colorful family.
Patsy: Well, I think that probably your favorite is Molly, my dog.
Andrew: I think the one I would put out to pasture quickest…
Patsy: Would be Molly.
Andrew: Yes. She also is full of her own… See, that’s the thing. Even the dogs.
Jason: Both of them.
Andrew: I mean, think about them. Even the dogs.
So yeah, I would definitively, in this moment, much like the last question about singleness, I would say Les.
Jason: That’s safe.
Andrew: Now the question for you two is who’s your favorite Greer?
Jason: Oof. You want the answer to that?
Andrew: Sure.
Patsy: Oh wow.
Andrew: And they know other Greers than me, by the way.
Patsy: Oh yes.
Jason: I love having coffee and conversation with your dad, but you’re still my favorite Greer, Andrew.
Patsy: Well, I’m crazy about your mom, and I love getting her into things she hasn’t perhaps participated in before, just to add a little creative liveliness.
Andrew: We’re talking about legal activities.
Patsy: Legal, all legal. All legal. But I would have to say your mom.
Andrew: Aww, look how they did that to me. I said Les.
Don’t worry — I’ll do what my mom always did with us boys, with my brothers and me. She would always whisper in our ears, “You’re my favorite,” and then you’d see her later whispering in someone else’s ear. You knew exactly what was going on with that. So I’ll whisper in both your ears later, just wait for that.
This has been a really fun episode, but it’s been a really fun season. Who would’ve thought, Patsy, that we would’ve done 20 episodes in a first season and that anybody would’ve cared?
Patsy: Yes. I’m just delighted. I love the opportunity of working with you. I love the privilege of speaking into a microphone that goes into the homes and hearts of people. And I think those who have come alongside us to sponsor us have been amazing in what they’re doing to reach right around the world in impact, so I think we’re very blessed.
Andrew: I agree. Food for the Hungry has been a wonderful sponsor. Thank you again for you partnering with us as we partner with them. It’s a wonderful partnership and one that I hope extends into your hearts and homes for years as it has ours. The Abide Bible, which of course is just a beautiful presentation of the Bible, and we are so grateful that they would find this podcast and what we have to say worthy of their time and attention as well. That’s been wonderful.
And then, it’s been a great honor to co-host this with you. It sounds like this is our last episode. It’s not. This is a pathway into season two.
Patsy: Or a bridge.
Andrew: Or a bridge. Thank you very much. Where have I been? A bridge into season two this fall. But as many of you are here because you’ve been a part of Patsy’s audience for a long time, I hope that you found me to be an addition, not a subtraction. But I am super grateful that you would invite me into the space and allow me to share it with you.
Patsy: Thank you, Andrew.
Bridges is co-produced by Andrew Greer and myself, Patsy Clairmont.
Andrew: And our podcast is recorded and mixed by Jesse Phillips at the Arcade in Franklin, Tennessee.
Patsy: Remember, don’t forget to leave us a rating, a review, or a comment. It all helps our little show get going.
Andrew: To find out more about my co-host Patsy Clairmont or myself, Andrew Greer, or to read transcripts of our show, simply go to bridgesshow.com.