back to indexLiving Simply and Chasing Joy ft. Great Aunt Nancy // Michael Porter Jr.
Chapters
0:0
22:58 How Long Did It Take To See the Letters
23:44 The Audible Voice of God
27:5 Receiving God's Love
36:16 Christianity and Catholicism
47:20 When Did You Really Accept Christ in Your Heart
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So before we get started, I just wanted to tell you, like, I, one of the reasons that 00:00:12.600 |
I wanted you on here is because I admire you so much and like, just the way you live your 00:00:16.280 |
life and everything, it just, like, I love you so much. 00:00:19.580 |
I tell people all the time, like, if there was one person I could have them meet, it'd 00:00:23.440 |
be you, like, and I love you and so I'm happy that you're here. 00:00:28.920 |
The first thing that I wanted to ask you about was about joy, like, it's something I feel 00:00:32.800 |
like you purposely live with and you are always joyful, I've never been around you when you're 00:00:38.840 |
not bringing joy and good energy into a room, so I just wanted to ask you about that and 00:00:43.800 |
like, how did that become such a, like, a natural part of you? 00:00:49.200 |
I can remember, and this is, it's not my original, but I read someplace, or my, I guess it was 00:00:57.400 |
my daughter-in-law sent me a medal and it had, at the top they had Jesus, and in the 00:01:04.360 |
middle they had a group of people, and then at the bottom it had one person, and it spelled 00:01:11.040 |
out joy, Jesus first, everybody else second, others, J-O, and why put yourself last, and 00:01:19.440 |
that is, in all my years of experience, that's the joy and that's the recipe for joy. 00:01:26.120 |
Yeah, no, that's amazing, it's so crazy to me because it's like, in our culture nowadays, 00:01:33.720 |
the world teaches that the recipe for happiness, and happiness and joy are different, and I'll 00:01:38.000 |
get into that in a second, but they teach if you want to be happy that you just have 00:01:41.600 |
to, like, search for your own happiness and do what makes you happy, and it's, and I think 00:01:47.080 |
people sometimes follow that, and then they realize, like, when they're only thinking 00:01:50.680 |
about themselves, then it's impossible to find happiness, but when you can, like you 00:01:55.840 |
said, think about Jesus first, and then others, and then yourself last, that's the real, that's 00:02:01.040 |
the real recipe for joy, but I think it's so opposite of what the world teaches nowadays, 00:02:07.160 |
For sure, especially the younger generations, for sure. 00:02:12.440 |
So, another thing that I wanted to ask you about is, like, just your simplicity with 00:02:17.840 |
life, like, ever since I've known you, obviously, you've been in this house a long time and 00:02:22.840 |
everything, but you've been here in the same house, you haven't really bought a ton 00:02:26.080 |
of new things, you just got an iPhone, and now I can text you, but, like, how did you 00:02:34.080 |
adapt kind of that simplistic view to life, and how do material possessions, like, not 00:02:41.480 |
mean much to you, or at least it seemed from the outside like they don't? 00:02:44.840 |
All right, my motto is, and I have a sign downstairs, is live simply, and I look at 00:02:50.640 |
it all the time, but I never, and you know what, Michael? 00:02:56.480 |
I don't feel like, I mean, I feel like I have so much. 00:03:00.760 |
I mean, I have a home, I have financial security, I can buy groceries, and I have running shoes, 00:03:10.080 |
I have gym equipment, I have, I don't need much, and I just never have, but I have so 00:03:22.000 |
I mean, as a child, we didn't have that much, and I feel that to be able to pay your bills 00:03:28.080 |
is huge, to have electricity and air conditioning, there's, honestly, truly, I don't think I 00:03:34.520 |
ever go grocery shopping without saying, "Thank you, Lord, for the money," because I know 00:03:38.240 |
I'm managing His money, and I pray that I use it the right way, and here's something, 00:03:46.120 |
and you've heard it before, I think God makes us all where there's a piece of puzzle that 00:03:51.880 |
only God can fulfill, and if you try to put possessions in there, and if you try to put 00:03:57.760 |
any relationships, anything in that piece that is God, because He made us to be in His 00:04:03.360 |
image and to be His child, you'll never be completely joyful. 00:04:09.100 |
First you feel that part, and then everything else falls into place. 00:04:12.360 |
Yeah, and my experience, you know, being in the NBA, having, you know, some money now, 00:04:17.880 |
and being around all these people with money, it's like, all these guys, and it just gets, 00:04:23.960 |
you get caught up in a cycle, but they think, "Oh, the next car that I get, the next, you 00:04:28.400 |
know, the next house I get, the next piece of jewelry I get, that'll make me happy," 00:04:32.160 |
and when you constantly get in that cycle, it's like, and you constantly are getting 00:04:35.660 |
these new things, and you realize that that isn't gonna make you happy, then a lot of 00:04:40.480 |
guys end up depressed, and that's why I think, you know, some of the most famous people, 00:04:45.120 |
some of the people that have the most money and the most material possessions, they end 00:04:49.340 |
up the least happy, because their whole life, they thought that these possessions would 00:04:55.360 |
make them happy, and that was their whole goal, was to get famous and get money and 00:04:59.480 |
buy all these things, and now they're not happy, and even for me, like, we kind of grew 00:05:05.040 |
up where we didn't have a lot of money, but my mom and dad made it seem like we had everything 00:05:10.920 |
we needed, and we were so happy, and even me, you know, being in the NBA now, and having 00:05:15.640 |
money, like, I can even get caught up in just thinking that buying stuff will make me happy, 00:05:21.360 |
but you, I mean, it's just so crazy, because people don't learn from, like, celebrities 00:05:26.960 |
or famous athletes or whatever, they don't learn from their mistakes, and they don't 00:05:30.560 |
see that these people that can get anything sometimes are the most unhappy people, you 00:05:39.240 |
- People who have lots of things that, I mean, they're not the ones I wanna be like, but 00:05:45.400 |
those who live a more simple life and do it the right way, God's way, they're the ones 00:05:52.960 |
I think, wow, they're my icons, but I do understand what you're saying about the people that you 00:06:02.240 |
are with it, they have that mindset, it's easy to go that way. 00:06:05.720 |
- Yeah, I've had to honestly struggle, like, with that at times, just in my free time, 00:06:11.360 |
who do I hang out with, who do I spend time with, because it's something that when you're 00:06:15.040 |
around that all the time, you can kind of get, you can kind of start to, like, mold 00:06:20.880 |
into that in a way if you're not really, really careful, and for me, I've just had to be really 00:06:25.120 |
careful about that and just make sure that my free time, I'm spending time around people 00:06:29.700 |
who see it like you and see it and are so joyful, but it's like, it's not because of 00:06:37.200 |
the things they have, and I mean, you see it even, like, overseas, like, America is 00:06:42.080 |
so spoiled compared to most countries, but then you go overseas and you see these kids 00:06:47.040 |
who have nothing, but they're running around with their shirts off all day, and they look 00:06:51.520 |
like they're having the most fun ever, I mean, Sierra tells me stories all the time about 00:06:55.760 |
how she goes to these different places and spends time with these kids and they're just 00:07:05.360 |
We get caught up in the world, but it's easy not to get caught up in the world 'cause most 00:07:10.360 |
of my friends are very similar in their mindset. 00:07:15.440 |
They're financially okay 'cause they can take care of their bills, but we know, but life 00:07:21.000 |
experience teaches you, it's not things, it's relationships with the Lord and with your 00:07:28.280 |
- Do you think that that came with time for you, like, did you ever struggle with wanting 00:07:34.340 |
stuff and thinking stuff would make you happy, or did you realize that at a really young 00:07:38.720 |
'Cause I feel like a lot of people, it's kind of trial and error, like, they try to get 00:07:42.760 |
all these things, but then they finally realize, "Oh, this stuff isn't gonna make me happy. 00:07:46.360 |
I need to turn somewhere else for happiness." 00:07:48.320 |
And sometimes that leads people to Jesus, sometimes it doesn't, but for you, what was 00:07:53.720 |
- Okay, honestly, truly, I'm thinking it went right back to when I was a kid. 00:08:00.440 |
We always had shelter, we always had food, and we always had parents that loved us and 00:08:08.040 |
I just never, all I remember, bill collectors coming to get money at home and they would 00:08:17.220 |
send me to the door and say, "My dad's not home," even if he was home, 'cause they didn't 00:08:22.360 |
I think I was probably seven when I said to myself, "Self, I will never have to send a 00:08:34.120 |
I don't want a lot of money, but I do appreciate money to take care of my needs." 00:08:40.880 |
I became a teacher and because I wanted to be a teacher, not about money, I married Fred. 00:08:49.240 |
He was just getting out of the service and I married him, not because of money, but because 00:08:55.180 |
he loved the Lord and I wanted him for the father of my children. 00:09:00.860 |
But I did know that before we got married, he had to have a job 'cause I did not want 00:09:05.120 |
to repeat not having stability, 'cause that's really important to me. 00:09:10.920 |
I'm just being smart with what you do have and I know, if we run out of food on Sunday, 00:09:19.320 |
I don't go shopping 'til Tuesday, then we do without and I think it's good to do without. 00:09:25.120 |
I love to be without something and just say, "Oh yeah, tomorrow we're gonna get peanut 00:09:29.440 |
butter," and not that I couldn't go any day and get more, but I like doing without. 00:09:38.360 |
I've always said, and this might be really weird of me to say, but I've always said, 00:09:44.120 |
"I want to spend at least some part of my life where I'm living off of barely any money 00:09:50.000 |
and I'm experiencing what ... I've always wanted to try that." 00:09:54.960 |
I'm not saying live on the street and be homeless, but close to it, I want to live off a tiny 00:10:00.600 |
bit of money to see what it was like and just really experiencing that for myself, 'cause 00:10:06.880 |
especially in Denver, you see all these homeless people and I just have always wondered what 00:10:11.600 |
it felt like to, like I said, not live homeless, but live with a very little amount of means. 00:10:19.960 |
It probably obviously wouldn't be sometime when I'm in the league, but it might be after. 00:10:27.920 |
Go someplace and live on, let's say, just live on $3,000 a month, and that's a lot. 00:10:37.240 |
But where you had to say, "No, I've already ... No, can't have that one, nope." 00:10:49.320 |
I can give money away, but I cannot waste it. 00:10:55.320 |
I'm kind of the same way, 'cause I think a lot of people also who did grow up with nothing, 00:11:00.320 |
but now at least being around some of the guys I'm around who now have all this money, 00:11:08.920 |
It takes a while when you first get into the NBA or whatever, and then you first get that 00:11:13.060 |
money, it's a shock, and you're kind of like so grateful, but after a while, you see guys 00:11:17.600 |
just get so used to that lifestyle that now they're not even grateful anymore. 00:11:21.120 |
I think that if you ... That's kind of why I want to do it in a way. 00:11:25.640 |
If you were to go away from that lifestyle for a little bit and then come back and have 00:11:30.880 |
money and stuff, you'd just be grateful all over again. 00:11:33.400 |
I think being grateful is one of the top ways you can be happy. 00:11:43.360 |
Even in bad times, if you're thankful, it turns it around, 'cause that's a great prayer 00:11:51.440 |
I was watching a sermon actually about that the other day, and it just talked about when 00:11:55.640 |
you are going through bad times, being grateful ... You don't have to try to will yourself 00:12:00.400 |
to be grateful, but if you just say thank you to God and to other people for everything 00:12:04.680 |
that you are thankful for, that's a remedy for joy when you are ... 'Cause no one can 00:12:10.680 |
be happy all the time, but when you are down and you think like that and you just say thank 00:12:15.280 |
you, I feel like that can get you out of that entitled attitude. 00:12:20.880 |
Right where you're sitting, usually I have my gratitude journal, and I keep a running 00:12:25.320 |
thank you, Lord, and when you leave, I will put your name in there and Sarah's name because 00:12:36.040 |
I heard another explanation, 'cause it's hard to be thankful for when you get a bad diagnosis 00:12:43.480 |
or something's happening with one of your kids. 00:12:47.480 |
And it said something about we give thanks in all things. 00:12:50.840 |
Well, we can give thanks because the Lord's gonna go through it with us, and sometimes 00:12:56.560 |
that's what you say, "Lord, I don't understand it, but thank you that you're gonna go through 00:13:07.560 |
Like when you were going through your cancer and chemo and stuff, how in the world ... 'Cause 00:13:12.400 |
whenever I talk to you on the phone, you seem so fine. 00:13:15.480 |
How did you keep that just upbeat attitude, and I know inside you probably weren't experiencing 00:13:21.360 |
happiness all the time, but how did you keep that gratefulness and that joy and continue 00:13:31.440 |
Well, number one, I think you might have heard from your parents. 00:13:37.280 |
This third time, I finished my third time, and I just signed people up to be on my Positive 00:13:47.080 |
There's a book called The Positive Energy Bus. 00:13:52.080 |
So this time I took people along on my journey, and they were powerful prayer people. 00:13:59.640 |
And so instead of being sad for me, they would say ... When they got kind of sad, I went, 00:14:06.520 |
Then it turned their frame of mind around to be positive. 00:14:10.740 |
So surround yourself with positive people, prayer. 00:14:15.440 |
I look back, Michael, 2011 when it started, I can hardly remember it. 00:14:21.400 |
You know that footprints in the sand where Jesus picks you up and you only see one footprint? 00:14:29.160 |
I mean, you look back and you go, "Well, that wasn't bad because He carries you." 00:14:37.400 |
I don't know if I have to go through it again because it's one that keeps coming back, but 00:14:42.080 |
I do know I'm going to hire all my people on my Positive Energy Bus, and I know I've 00:14:51.680 |
And I have hundreds of people that when they need something, I'm on their bus. 00:14:57.600 |
I just love going through life together with people, and as you know, there are hard times, 00:15:05.400 |
but when I look back, it doesn't seem that hard, but I don't want to have to do it again. 00:15:09.760 |
But if I have to do it again, I'll hire people on my Positive Energy Bus. 00:15:24.640 |
I think, so you would rather have people when you're going through tough stuff just bring 00:15:30.080 |
positivity and like ... Because sometimes, I think, some people are looking for people 00:15:35.480 |
to kind of like console them and like empathize with them in kind of a sad way when they're 00:15:41.720 |
going through sad things, but you would rather just have a bunch of people that are just 00:15:45.760 |
lifting you up positively throughout the whole process. 00:15:48.560 |
Well, I mean, because if they're my friends, you know that they're sad that it's going 00:15:52.560 |
through, but they also know it gives me strength if they go, "Okay, we can do it," instead 00:15:58.000 |
of going, "Oh, honey, I don't want you to go through it," and then that makes me go, 00:16:05.200 |
And here's another thing, Michael, and I pray I can always, because I don't know what's 00:16:10.240 |
And times might get really hard with stuff, but I just believe in not wasting a day. 00:16:17.200 |
I mean, if every day ... There's a week after a chemo that I just kind of wasn't ... I had 00:16:24.120 |
to go running every day because I had to fight it kind of, but probably I ran in ... The 00:16:30.800 |
I think I was going that slow, but I determined to keep exercising and to do everything in 00:16:37.200 |
my power to keep strong because every day is so powerful. 00:16:42.000 |
I don't want to waste a day because even through this COVID stuff, you know, I have been walking 00:16:49.880 |
I've been doing outdoor things because I think every day is such a gift, and I don't want 00:17:05.440 |
I thought, "I'm going to do it before he gets here, he's going to ask me." 00:17:23.400 |
How many days straight do you think it's been? 00:17:28.880 |
If I ever missed any, it would be probably on a trip. 00:17:33.440 |
I couldn't find a spot in a hotel where I was in bed and I didn't remember if I didn't 00:17:38.360 |
remember it, but I probably would double it up the next day because I'm just determined. 00:17:43.760 |
And don't ask me why, but it's ... I love ... You're on my planking chart. 00:17:49.240 |
But two and a half minutes was so hard for me when we did it over at my house. 00:18:00.680 |
Still, I'm a professional athlete and you ... 00:18:08.920 |
So I do it right here and I'll go, "Alexa, set the timer for two and a half minutes." 00:18:15.960 |
Fred will sit here and I'll do my devotional, and then he'll look up the scripture. 00:18:20.400 |
And then I'll go, "Alexa, how many minutes left?" 00:18:23.600 |
And then when it goes off, I go, "All right." 00:18:38.880 |
What game did you play at Thanksgiving with your family? 00:18:42.600 |
We played ... It's called "Doo-Doo and Your Neighbor." 00:18:55.040 |
But Brie won, so we all played with $15, so she won a $150. 00:19:14.000 |
Because half the time when they come to my house, I have to give them their nickels. 00:19:24.320 |
And here ... Okay, over here, I wish he was out. 00:19:39.520 |
Well, since COVID, I've been working this neighborhood. 00:19:45.160 |
I don't know all, but if they were out, I would say, "Hey, what's your name? 00:19:52.440 |
Yeah, because honestly, truly, Michael, I pray for these neighbors every single day. 00:19:59.280 |
I don't know them all, but I have gotten more. 00:20:13.440 |
Well, my furthest is 13 miles, a half marathon, but now, I just do three Ks, and when people