October 10, 2022 • 49 mins
Benny DiChiara is back to update on how he's still rocking 4 Jesus and the opportunities that God has recently opened up for him to share his relationship with Jesus to a new audience.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Benny DiChiara (00:00):
And when we get saved, it's not easier because
you may as well just go aheadand put that target on your back
for the devil. Look, Satandoesn't want to Satan, he's
brilliant. He's brilliant. Hetalked angels to leave the
kingdom of heaven and followhim. I mean, if he could talk
angels out of heaven, he couldtalk us straight into hell, if
(00:23):
we're listening to him, insteadof Jesus, right.
John Matarazzo (00:27):
Welcome to along the way. I'm John matter as your
host and fellow traveler, thankyou for joining me along my way
as I've tried to become morelike Jesus every day. The goal
of along the way is to identifythe moments in life that Jesus
really is walking with us andtrying to get our attention. But
just like the disciples alongthe way to amaze us, we are
missing those moments that ourhearts are burning within us. I
(00:50):
want us to be able to identifythose moments, learn from others
and apply those lessons to ourlives so that we don't miss the
blessings that God has for usalong the way in our life
journey. It's nice whenever I'mable to make a friend while
podcasting. Bending to share isone of those people that I have
definitely stayed in touch withsince our original interview.
(01:12):
we've reconnected for thisconversation. And I hope that
you enjoy his update on what Godhas been doing in his life along
the way for this last year. I'llget to our conversation in just
a moment. But as always, I wantto thank you for listening to
along the way. I hope that youlike what you hear and that you
subscribe, please rate andreview along the way on Apple
(01:32):
podcast or wherever you'relistening. All of my contact
information is in the shownotes. And you can check out all
of my episodes, and please joinmy email list through my website
along the way dot media, I wouldlove to hear from you. Also, I
have a Patreon page if you'dlike to help me to continue to
put out these along the wayepisodes. If you'd like to
(01:52):
become a patreon supporter,simply go to patreon.com/along
the way and select the level.
The link to become a supporteris also in my show notes. And
now here's my secondconversation with Benny to
share. Well, Benny does share itit is great to have you back on
along the way. Thanks so muchfor coming back. Yeah, thanks.
Benny DiChiara (02:13):
It's been a bit so blessed to be back with you,
man. It's fun. Yeah,
John Matarazzo (02:17):
I was just going through my journal and realizing
that the the first time that youand I connected you are a guest
on the hope today program. And Iliterally wrote in my journal
that it said this was the mostconfusing longest Skype test
because at that point, we werejust doing Skype test for for
(02:39):
the for the hope today program.
And we've just having so manyissues getting everything worked
out. But I'm so glad that wewent through that process,
because everything worked finethe next day for the live show.
Benny DiChiara (02:50):
Thank you Jesus, right.
John Matarazzo (02:52):
I know. But be because we spent literally, I
wrote in my journal we weredoing we were figuring it out
for two hours. We actuallybecame good friends virtually in
that two hour period. That'sright. Well, we're basically
kind of forced to be with eachother, right? So it was exactly
(03:12):
and and so that I invited you toto do it along the way with me
and yeah, got your story on thatwe call it surrender the
outcome. That's episode number96. I'll put a link in that in
the show description so thatpeople can check that full
episode out. If you want to hearBenny's full story up until that
point last year whenever we didthat interview, but you've had
(03:34):
some things happen within thislast year that that God's put
his hand on and from acompetition to some of your
songs getting extra extraattention. And so whenever
whenever your publicist is, youknow, a mutual friend said a
(03:55):
Benny's doing. Benny's got moreto talk about. I'm like, Okay,
that's all I need to hear. Let'sbring along good. Let's catch
up. I just need an excuse. Let'sgo. What's been happening along
the way for you?
Benny DiChiara (04:05):
My wife, Donna would say, Oh, Benny has
something to talk about. Let metell you, so it's like that what
she enjoys when she enjoys whenI'm sleeping? Because it gives
her so there's a lot of stuff,but a lot of stuff. So since we
since we had talked, you know,we were talking about the three
days record that was out. And,you know, for those who are
(04:25):
watching or listening. John, Iwould share this sometimes
things happen. Where it's sobig. You know, it's not you
write it, it has to be Godmoving on your life. I'm a big
predestination person, right?
Like when we first met, Ithought that was predestined
(04:47):
eons ago, because God knowseverything so so the first
record, by the way, it's goneover 300,000 streams on Spotify.
And so I've got Yeah, I mean,that's significant. Nobody knows
who we are. And it's, it's, it'sgreat. But as I was always
selling a media friend of mine,they were like, A, they're in a
(05:09):
secular world. And they werelike, Y'all are blowing up and
there's all this stuff. And it's300 Oh, well, and I'm like us, I
was laughing. And I said, slowthat down. So, but the thing is,
in the music world, thosenumbers probably don't mean like
a lot, because everything'snumbers, right? But in heaven,
yeah. Man, there's, there's aparty going on. Right? Just just
(05:31):
for the people who have heardthat. So coming out of that is
like an in in October of 20 of2020. My dad had more plumbing
work done to his heart and his,his veins and he just had stents
everywhere quintuple bypass, wealways thought we'd lose that to
(05:52):
that. And he felt a pain in hiship. told my mom, he thought he
had a blood clot. So he selfdiagnose, which was funny,
because he's just a littleSicilian Dude, that was rufen
his whole life. But he but heself assessed himself, and went
to the doctor. And long storyshort, the doctor says, Hey,
bud, you have cancer. And he'slike, really, like how bad and
(06:15):
the doctor said, get your stufftogether. And so I looked at his
PET scans and everything.
Because when I was in the Navy,as a medic, right, I knew how to
do that. And I mean, I looked atit. And as a, as a serious man
of faith. I believe God can doanything. The message I got when
(06:35):
I looked at his scans was, I'mgoing to heal your dad in
heaven. Because it was it waseverywhere. So it took it was
nine days from diagnosis to gointo the table. Oh, wow. And
dad, and I had a littlediscussion at the end of his
life within the last couple ofdays. I'm like, Dad, not only
are you going, not only do youhave a place at the buffet
(06:57):
table, you have a name tag setout. So I need you. This is our
discussion seriously. And I'mlike, I need you to tell me, you
know where you're going. It'simportant. And so his nickname
for me is Pastor boy, right?
Which is kind of funny. And he'slike, yes, yeah. He's like, yes,
Pastor, boy, I know where I'mgoing. And I said, Dad, any
other day? That would be funny,right? Not today. So tell me and
(07:22):
he's like, Well, Jesus died. Andhe rose again. And I believe
that I'm going to heaven, right?
Mike? Does absolutely right. Soit doesn't matter what the
doctors telling you. But it'sgoing to suck for us, it's going
to be great for you. And it'salso going to be great for me
(07:43):
because I know your address.
That's important, right? So Iknow your address. So so so dad
pass. And God kind of said, youneed to write a song about it,
just to touch people who havelost. It could be it could be
their family member, it could bea friend, it could be it could
(08:04):
be even a loss of job. Peoplejust handle loss and grief so
differently. And so it's calledI'll meet you there and his
daddy song in parentheses. Andso that's doing really well on
all the streaming platformseverything. And it's it's just
touched. Everyone who's heardit. And ironically, as we sit
(08:27):
here speaking, my wife's fatheris in hospice at home after a
really serious thing, he's at areally serious thing. And we're
in the process of losing himover the next day or so. So
(08:47):
So and I say that because howpeople deal with that without
Jesus, I have no idea. If you donot have Jesus as your
foundation, if you're listeningor watching this, I just implore
you. The reason the house thatwas built on the rock is the one
who stood is because Jesus isthe foundation, he's the rock.
(09:09):
And so to go to go through that,and now the song that God gave
me for my dad is rolling rightaround into my father in law,
who also called dad, and, andit's touching people that we're
coming into contact with. Overthe course of the last couple of
weeks, it's just been it's just,I don't know, it's an amazing
(09:33):
thing. When you are you're readyfor it. We're going back to a
previous episode here, when yousurrender the outcome, because
God's got this. There, there canbe a peace, right? There can be
a peace through loss, becauseyou're foundationally rooted in
Christ. And somebody told meonce they said, Is it that easy?
And I'm like, Yes, it is. Itreally is. It's just a matter of
(09:56):
choice. It's as easy as am Igoing to Starbucks today? Am I
gonna get a 13? Name latte orjust a coffee? And it's the same
thing. It's just a choice.
John Matarazzo (10:08):
Yeah. You know, Benny is we're talking about
this, we're, you know, I knowthat this, this conversation is
going to talk about loss. Youknow, I, two weeks ago as we're
recording this, I lost a mentorof mine, Dr. Steve green, he
passed away. And it was, it wasa difficult thing to just
process that I knew he was inthe hospital, he was on a
(10:30):
ventilator and had hadcomplications. And we were
praying that he would come outof it. But he didn't. And he had
been my life coach for three anda half years. And God used him
to open up opportunities for meto move to Florida to work at
charisma just to I mean, I I oweso much of what I have right now
(10:53):
to Dr. Steve green. And I knowexactly where he's at. I mean,
there's no there's no doubt inmy mind that he was greeted at
the pearly gates saying welldone good and faithful servant.
But you still are dealing withwaves of emotion. And like the
knowing that I can't text andget a response. Right, you know,
(11:17):
it says little things, thoselittle things that really,
really get to you. Tell me aboutabout that for you like that.
Some of those little things andhow you put this into a song and
let's just talk about overcomingovercoming some loss.
Benny DiChiara (11:37):
Yeah, I'll tell you like, like leading up to
daddy's death. My wife was like,you just don't seem emotionally
connected here sorta, in in forme, because I was a Navy medic,
right? I'm like, my thing in mymind is I'm processing right.
I'm like, Who's the doctor?
When's the appointment? What'she going to say? What do we need
(11:59):
to do? And I told my wife, Isaid, there's going to be time
for that later. And so when mydad passed, it was a Friday.
When I got home, the next day,when I got home, I broke like, I
haven't broken before. I've gota little I've got a bench in my,
in my closet. And I went sat onit. And just I had a face, my
(12:19):
hand towel and I'm in handtowel. But it was to a point
where I'm, I'm self coachingmyself, like, Come on, man, get
it together. And just and I wasit was just a flow, right? And
Donna saw that she's like, I'venever seen that. So there was
morning, right? Just a deepmorning love my dad, he taught
(12:39):
me integrity and all that sortof setup, my father in law, just
just a man of integrity.
Everything was above board. ButI'm going to tell you this, and
it just God's given me this. Idon't know if he's gonna speak
to you or whomever but it's forsomeone because God's given it
to me. My MOU, our ni ng mymorning, did not carry over to
(13:08):
every mo AR N. Ing. You follow?
So my, my deep morning did notdictate every morning,
thereafter. And so for mepersonally, I haven't broken
like that about Daddy, again,right? I have I had moments.
Like you're saying, you know,you have moments, all of a
(13:31):
sudden you feel like key wheat.
It's wedged in your, in yourthroat. So you think about is
like oh, so. But there hasn'tbeen I can't go on type. Morning
or feeling because God issaying, listen, again, I'm in
(13:56):
control surrendered an outcometo me because I have plans for
you. That I need you toaccomplish. And I think I just I
just think the reason Petersank, right? Was because he took
his eyes off Jesus and hestarted looking at everything
(14:17):
going on around the boats rockinthere's guys on the boat
screaming why they didn't getout. I still don't know. There's
waves all over the place andwind and everything. And he
looked at the chaos that is ourlife sometimes, like with losing
somebody or craziness at work orany of that. And he he took his
eyes off Jesus. And I think it'sa great story for us that when
(14:38):
we take our eyes off of Jesus,especially during difficult
times. We feel like we can't goon like we we can't continue to
walk like Peter did right? Andso, and that's that's when God
is saying listen, I want you topress in. Like press into me.
Press into me, don't press intoBenny. Don't press into John,
(15:03):
press in to me, because I havethe answers. And just to me,
that's a helpful place for us tooperate. Right? Because without
Jesus, what do we have?
John Matarazzo (15:18):
Yeah, we really don't have any hope without
Jesus. I mean, I, as you, yousaid this earlier, or before we
started recording, like, I don'tknow how people get through
this. Without Jesus. Like, it'sjust right. It floors me as a
follower of Jesus Christ. And Iknow where I'm going. I know,
we're, you know, I know we'reDr. Green is or my grandparents
(15:39):
are. But like, it's still hard.
Like, yeah, I don't know howpeople do it without Jesus.
Right? I don't think they do. Idon't think they really do.
Benny DiChiara (15:49):
Right. And when we get saved, it's not easier
because you may as well just goahead and put that target on
your back for the devil. Look,Satan doesn't want to Satan does
not. He's brilliant. He's, he'sbrilliant. He talked angels to
leave the kingdom of heaven andfollow him. I mean, if he could
(16:12):
talk angels out of heaven, hecould talk us straight into
hell, if we're listening to him,instead of Jesus. Right. And I
just saw that someplace. Andthat just spoke loudly to me. So
So here's, here's a, here's thething, and I'm going to
transition on you a little bit.
All right, but but there's a,there's what I'm talking about
how God can move you from lossinto greater things that you
(16:34):
don't even know or come in. Butbut they only come if your focus
is right, and it's on him. So.
So there's a guy that I've beenfollowing for quite some time,
online, you know, as a musician,as an artist, you connect with
labels and with managers andwith instrument companies, and
(16:58):
he's got a drum company, andit's called, it's called Outlaw
Drums. Like, like, outlaw right?
Yeah. So. And he takes oldbridges and old public
buildings, old churches, and hetakes that word, he repurpose
it. And he makes it, he makeshandcrafted drums and drum sets.
Gorgeous and phenomenalsounding. And so he did this
(17:22):
contest, I saw him come acrossmy feet, he did this contest, I
didn't even tell my wife aboutit. It's like, Hey, we're
looking to help out some bands.
And you can win this $2,000snare drum and this artist girl,
Amy lane, she, she's done theArt Deco to it. And so, it this
(17:42):
is a secular company, right? AndI'm like, What a great way to
help him out. So I submitted andGod says, yep, put your daddy
song in there, put put, I'llmeet you there. So I'm like,
really? Okay, we're going to dothat. So we do it. And then we
make the top five out of 40entries. And then later in the
week, he does a live reveal. Andwe actually wind up winning the
(18:06):
thing, right? Wow. So So what'sexciting for me was that I went
to Georgia, to meet him inperson, and do some PR pictures
for it and all that kind ofstuff. We just did a national
press release about all of it.
And he was the greatest guy,good Christian guy, right? Just
(18:27):
doesn't push it through hiscompany, whatever. And he wanted
to do some podcast. So we'resitting there doing, we're
dropping Jesus bombs throughevery single podcast we did in
the more we talked, the moreengaging it got, right? And the
more he was, the more he wasinto it. And I'm sitting there
and God is going, I'm doing athing here. And I'm like, Yes,
you are. Because I'm all insecular world right now. But it
(18:50):
was enjoyable for me becausepeople who may have never heard
the story, or, or my story orhis story, God story had an
opportunity to hear it throughthis other medium, right. So God
opened up that other medium,and, and we've become the best
(19:10):
of friends since. Okay, we'rewell connected with all that
kind of stuff. And I told him,you know, end of July for end of
August, we're going to cut a newrecord. So he's, he's like, I
need to hear that. So I'm like,Hey, you're first on the list,
but don't worry about it. Youalong with several others. And
so So later this summer, whatGod kind of told me cut a new
(19:34):
record. So we're going to cut anew record. So we're, we're
setting up for it now. And we'retrying to finish the final
compositions of the songs andeverything. And then Mikey
Howard is going to get with usand produce again, and it'll be
awesome. That's cool. So when
John Matarazzo (19:51):
you had those opportunity to be on that
podcast and to share about Jesusand share your story, what are
some of the things that you feltled to share and how did God
opened up those doors for you.
And how did you How did you knowlike, this is where God wanted
you to go. Because that's one ofthe things I'm always looking
for to learn. Because I know Godspeaks to me and says, you know,
in doing podcast or otherinterviews or just normal
(20:14):
conversations, sometimes Godsays, this is where I want you
to go, this is what I want youto say. And it's amazing how God
opens up that door. Tell meabout that about that experience
for you.
Benny DiChiara (20:25):
Yeah, that's a great question. It's a great
question. Every interview thatI've done my wife is like, are
you prepping? for that? I'mlike, I am. prepped. And she's
like, what does it mean? Andreally don't sit there and say,
whatever, because normally Ifollow the interviewer. But the
(20:50):
the basic premise is alwaysthere if, if God is the Alpha
and the Omega, the beginning andthe end. If he's the Lord of the
Bible, and the Bible is in ahistory book, if we believe that
to be true, he knows everything.
Right? He also knows everything.
(21:10):
We're going to say. This was abig lesson for me, John, he
knows everything we're gonnasay. So. So for me, surrender,
the outcome became a thing,right? And so I'm like, Lord,
I'm surrendering as I knew wewere going to talk today. I'm
like, I'm surrendering John's,we're great friends, since the
the first couple of times wetalked and just, whatever you've
(21:33):
got, give me and we're justgonna roll with it. It's I can I
can tell you, there's a there'sa freedom there. That if
whoever's listening or watchingdoesn't have, you need to get
you some, you need to get yousome because the freedom and
just moving in what God has foryou. Yeah, man. Right. For
(21:58):
instance, the new record thetitle track, the title is going
to be Yahweh Nisi. So in the, inthe Hebrew, that's the Lord is
my banner. And it's going to bea little militant, and a little
rowdy, and all that, and God'stelling me, listen, the world is
turning from me, but in someway, the Christian community is
(22:20):
turning from me too. And I'mcalling people to be warriors
for me right now, because timeis short. So that's what I want
you to address in this newrecord. So I don't want to do a
record. And just lyrically, makeit nice. So I can be on the
(22:43):
radio. That's not our mission.
Anyway, when we play on stage,it's a party for Jesus, right?
But there needs to be somelegacy to that, right. Like, if
the love of Jesus doesn't flowover the foot lamps, then we
should like, quit do birthdayparties or something. So. But if
if our main goal is to leavepeople with what Jesus can do
(23:05):
for them in their life,regardless of what they're going
through, kind of missionaccomplished. That's in my mind.
So
John Matarazzo (23:17):
I know for me, because my podcast is focused on
those moments where you realizethat Jesus was walking with you.
Now, as you look back, but youmight not have recognized it
right, then I have a goal inthis podcast to to get to kind
of get to that point where wecan learn about how Jesus met
(23:38):
somebody in their life. But youwere on a podcast that was not
that didn't have a goal likethat. That wasn't, you know,
seeking an opportunity to sharethe gospel like I'm always
looking for God. How do you wantto minister during this that?
Yeah. How did you work Jesusinto the conversation? That's
what I'm trying to get to, inthose podcasts that we're about
brought his name up. You broughthis name up? That's a great
(24:00):
start.
Benny DiChiara (24:00):
Let's talk about isn't it though, you brought up?
Yeah, I tell people who strugglewith the Bible, I'm like, Just
read the red stuff. I mean, justjust read the red stuff. It's
Jesus speakings is it's in red.
And you know, and we're talkingand in the middle of it, I start
talking about what God's doingin our life and with the band
and all that and he goes,Really, and we go, yeah, and
(24:24):
then God's like, you know, it'slike being at a at a drag
strips, like BP green and theHoly Spirit saying, Go, go, go,
go, go. And so, so. So that's,that's another thing to think.
Like, when God says move. Herequires four things of us,
right? Mo V. E, okay. Move.
(24:47):
Don't think about it. Don't getinvolved with it. Don't let our
own minds tell us, hey, Is Godreally speaking it to me because
if it's bigger than somethingyou can think of? I guarantee
you. God is faking it to youbecause he doesn't play around.
And he gives us huge goals thatonly he can accomplish using us
right as a tool, that way hegets the glory, or that way he
(25:10):
should get the glory. So for meas an artist, and playing and
having the opportunity to be outthere and interview with people,
and all that kind of stuff,that's a gift that not many
people get to have in your life,right? It's not fame or anything
like that. But it's anopportunity to share about him.
(25:31):
So regardless if it's Christianor secular, this could even
apply to your job. If you're notan artist. That's okay. Let's
say you work at Chick fil A,well, yeah, Chick Fil A's got
that little bass go. And so youknow, or any place, but if you
work any place, right? It's a,it's a mission field, wherever
you work, it's a mission foryou. And God gives us the
(25:55):
opportunity to share him in somekind of way. Even if it's as
simple as a, God bless you. Andif you're talking to someone
who's going through somebodythrough something, and they say,
you say God bless you. And theygo, Well, thank you. Because I
really needed that. There's theHoly Spirit, say, ready, baby,
go, go, go. Because there's anopportunity to sew into someone,
(26:20):
and like, bring them into thekingdom. So God gives us these
gifts. And for me, it's beingonstage and acting crazy and
doing what we do. And you know,singing about him. And in
between, we get to talk abouthim. What we do with our gift is
our gift back to him. So thatsounds like a deep thing. But
(26:41):
it's it's really a simple thing.
And he always, always providesopportunities for us to do that.
And whether or not we choose tofollow those opportunities. I
don't want to get to heaven, andbe the betta servant who dug a
hole and buried the money. I'mjust saying, I don't want to do
it.
John Matarazzo (27:00):
I know. I have enough to answer for so that's a
fear of mine. Well,
Benny DiChiara (27:05):
but it's a gift for the opportunity to there's a
verse in the Bible, even therocks will cry out. So how much
more value do we have than arock? I'm just saying a lot.
Right? Yeah, it's ouropportunity to talk and to reach
out to other people. For him.
It's a great gift to be able todo that. Amen. Like be here
(27:26):
today. Again, with you. Yeah,it's a great opportunity. It's a
great gift. So it's what it is.
Yeah.
John Matarazzo (27:34):
So Benny, you made you made mention that for
this contest. You felt the Lordsaying, he put his hand he put
his finger on this daddy song?
Yeah, yeah. What was youroriginal plan? Before that? What
song were you going to submit orwhatever, three days, three days
I actually, which is a prettygood rockin song.
Benny DiChiara (27:54):
It's a pretty good rocket song. And the
message doesn't get more simple,right? So Oh, yeah. So I did
that one, I put that one. Andyou could put up to two and God
said, Daddy song. So get this.
So Michael, who owns the companywho did it. His dad passed three
years ago building drums withhim in a warehouse. And it was
(28:16):
it. He just, it was like thatinstant. And it took him a while
to get over it. Like a longtime, like over a year to get
over it. Because he and his dadwere like really close. And we
got a chance to talk about thatsong on his podcast. After
sharing with him. He's like,man, there's a reason that song
just spoke. To me. It's there'sa reason everyone who's heard it
(28:40):
who's been through some kind ofloss, or knows someone close to
him to them, that's passed on orwhatever. They all say the same
thing. And that's how you knowthat I'm not that talented to
write that kind of song. Right.
And so Mikey Howard, yeah. Whoproduces this? He's the seventh
(29:01):
time down guy, right? So he cowrote with me, you know, we're
just not that talented to dothat either. Holy Spirit's
speaks through you to be able tohave eternal impact on people.
Or he doesn't. So when we'rewriting songs, we don't want to
write a song that we go, oh,that sounds really good. There's
a hook maybe we can get on aradio. That's not That's not
(29:23):
what it's about. It's about oneperson, possibly who's listening
to us today who hear somethingthat we've talked about that
pointing to Jesus, and they theydevelop a deeper relationship
with him. And it points them toheaven. And so we haven't start
rejoicing right now. Go look I'musing. I'm using two Italians on
(29:45):
a podcast right here and whothought that would be something
and look at boo and we haveanother we have another entrance
into the kingdom of heaven. Andso I mean, put a price on that.
You can't it's priceless. Itsprice. less, just like when
Jesus gave His Son for us,right? That is, that is a price
(30:06):
less gift because we gainedeverything from that God lost
his son. But for a short period,he had a bigger plan, right? So
brought him back man for justthree days, just three days. And
that's where three days camefrom. Yeah, that's where the
song came from. So
John Matarazzo (30:21):
I work in my podcast name, I work in your
songs, titles as much as I can,in these conversations. You
weren't
Benny DiChiara (30:27):
everything.
That's amazing. That's God giventalent right there. So
John Matarazzo (30:31):
all I'm saying, I try, you gotta use those. You
know, I'm not dad yet, but I'mpracticing my dad jokes. That's
it's, that's it's a good thingcoming up later in life.
Benny DiChiara (30:40):
My kids are tired. They're like, oh,
John Matarazzo (30:42):
so another song that you have recently coming
out? Or it's out right now. It'scalled listen to the children.
Yeah, yeah. Tell me about that.
And like, why is this animportant thing for you? Because
honestly, sometimes you can hearGod speaking through kids, but
sometimes it's just gibberish.
How do you determine what is thegood thing to listen to? And how
do you like what inspired you towrite this song?
Benny DiChiara (31:03):
You know, what the Holy Spirit spoke to me in
that is, our kids in general,are being so dumbed down. Right
now, the one thing I mean, Godknows everything. Everybody's
like, oh, this pandemic? Whoa, Ididn't see that comment. Well,
guess what God did. He knew. Itwas right, the lockdown. God
(31:25):
knew all the unrest that we seeright now. God knew all of the
crazy people in politics andthere's a lot of them on both
sides. God knew so God knowseverything. So. So one thing
that the pandemic and thelockdowns and everything opened
up was that parents saw stuffbeing told to their children
(31:46):
that they never knew about it.
And it created this big thingacross the country. Right. And I
think, I think through thepandemic, what God did was
unveiled a lot of evil that wethought we knew, but we need
proof. Right? So he's like,here's a nugget, here's a
nugget. And so it everybody wasexposed to it. So it's
(32:07):
foundationally set in the Bible,the Bible's truth, the Bible's
word, you know, and the kids nowthere's a saw thing on a window
and a teacher put up this thingsaying, if your parents can't
deal with your transitioningthoughts, then I'm your mama and
stuff like that. I saw that.
That's crazy. Yeah. And so forme, God was saying, if we want
(32:32):
to know what's going on with ourkids, if we want to know what's
being told to our children, justlisten to our kids. Because
kids, the one great thing aboutkids, they cannot lie not very
well. And even if they lie, theytell themselves, they're
horrible at it. And they'll juststraight up tell you, you know,
if you're eating at McDonald'shas happened to me before my
(32:54):
kids were babies, right? There'sa booger in your nose. I'm like,
really are rebroadcasting downacross? Seriously, and you just
they can't, right? So. So forme, that song was about, listen
to the children hear whatthey're saying, right? And we
should be praying over our kids.
And we should be instillingGod's Word into their little
souls into their little heartsinto their little. So Mick
(33:19):
capdeville, he's my drummer.
Incredible, okay, just anincredible guy, incredible
daddy, his son, this is rightafter we this is right after we
cut three days record. His songets diagnosed with leukemia. So
they immediately stick him in atruck boom got to Memphis Center
at St. Jude's for like almost ayear. Wow. chemo, just all kinds
(33:43):
of stuff. And so on this day and2022 Luke crews man is in
remission. Mountain kids facesoff about like what Jesus did to
snap in and all that kind ofstuff. But when they were at St.
Jude's up there, Mick said onenight, his wife had called him
to the room. And he looked andthey looked into cruises room.
(34:05):
And it's dark, except for thenight light cruisers sitting on
the bed with his arms, likeraised up with little fish,
right? And he's in the bed. He'sgoing this is how a five mob
bed. How old is he at this throwin a Smitty? Ban six. And he's
throwing Michael W. Smith downin the bed and mix like what do
I do with that? Like, I'msupposed to be the spiritual
(34:26):
leader of a family. This boy islike leading it and I said, You
know what that is? That's welldone. Mom and dad. That's what
it is really. you've sewn intohim? So he's rooted and he has
that it helped him fight and hiskids completely he's gonna Oh,
he's a little David. I call himHello, David. I gave MC a rock
the other day with like Jeremiah2911 on it and I put like a
(34:49):
little twist on it and whatever.
Because he carries stuff in hispockets. And I'm like, give this
boy a rock and tell himwhenever. Whenever the devil
starts talking to him aboutanything like grab that rock and
just go Huh, I've heard aboutyou big dude and you're going
down. So just things like that,right? It's just, it's little
God winks, it's little miraclesthat we get to see. If we just
surrender the outcome press in,follow him when he says move mov
(35:13):
II don't think about it, becauseyou're putting yourself in it.
And you'll see the greatness ofwhat God's trying to do in your
life if we do that along theway.
John Matarazzo (35:25):
Amen. There we go. There it was in my title,
and there was so with along theway, you know, my whole thing is
like, Where was Jesus walkingwith you that you weren't aware
in the moment, but you look backand you see now, you know, it's
been a year since we've had alittle bit more than a year
since we've been able to recordan episode, right? We've stayed
(35:45):
in touch via text and others,you know, and messenger, yes,
things like that. But how haveyou gotten better in this last
year about being aware of Jesuswalking with you?
Benny DiChiara (35:55):
Okay, I'm gonna go way back on you. You're
ready. So okay, go for it. likeway, way back, like 80s. In my
BC life, when I had a secularrock band in New Orleans had
hair. Now No, less is more. Butlike then yeah. And dressed
onstage saw things, I neverwanted to see anything. So I had
my keyboard, right, becauseplaying keyboards, and I had a
(36:15):
ramp that my keyboard sat on, inthe ramp went down to the stage,
and my brother in law who playedguitar with me at the time, he
would run up the ramp, and I'dreach across and high five, and
we do all this crazy stuff onstage. On the front of the ramp
was a star that I had painted.
And inside the star was a crossin the tail of the cross kind of
came down through the peak atthe bottom of the star. And
(36:38):
people would ask me all now I'mnot saved. I'm in church every
Sunday. If I died, I'd probablywent to hell, because I didn't
know Jesus, but in church everySunday, and everybody's like,
what is that? And I'm like, thestars what I want to be, are you
ready for this? Here's a nugget,the stars, what I want to be in
that cross is who's gonna get methere? Okay, as I look back on
(36:59):
it pretty ironic, you know,because I don't want to be a
star. Now, I don't want to befamous. I just want to make
Jesus famous, like he needshelp. But that's the goal here.
And so, so, but I look back andsee that and know that thought,
and I'm like, God was working onme in the 80s, late 80s. For
(37:21):
what's happening now. Right,right, in 2022 2021 2020. It's
been a whirlwind for the pastcouple of years. So it just you
look at that, and you go, howcould I have missed that? Right?
And so like, when I first gotsaved, I actually had remorse.
(37:42):
I'm like, what took me so long,I was 35. I'm like, man, I've
wasted some time. Well, wait,and then God kinda was like, hit
the brakes. Timeout. Never, everfeel guilty about when you've
come to me because I've alwaysbeen here for you. Always, as
waiting for you as a as a kid,as a waiting for you through
(38:06):
high school as waiting for youwhen you are married and having
kids and doing the rock thing.
I've just been waiting for you.
And I get you know, I givepeople freewill. Judas had free
will. And he turned him over,right? So I've been waiting for
you. As always, if you ever haveany doubt, look at this book
that's hanging around. It's gota really cool title called Holy
(38:28):
Bible. It talks about how I'malways there for you. And I'm
always waiting for you. It'sjust when people come prodigal
son, perfect story to representcoming back to Jesus, right. And
ever since he put that on me.
I've never once again said, I'mso sorry, it took me so long.
(38:52):
Because the truth of the matteris in a real world sense, is
that I went through some thingsthat prepared me how to better
handle what I would face as aChristian, and how I could talk
to people about my priorexperiences. And if not for God,
what would have made itdifferent? Or better? Or have me
(39:16):
where I am now, if that makessense. So So I mean, so for me,
the way that my walk has grownnow is basically I kind of don't
care. I'm not saying this in amean way, or, or or or bad way.
I don't care what people think.
Basically, you know, you're acrazy Christian. That's cool.
Love you, man. And it just youhave to roll like that. Because
(39:37):
otherwise it flies in the faceof what you say you believe.
It's one thing to talk to talk.
It's totally another walk thewalk. And walking the walk is
harder than talking because youdon't have to prove anything
talking. Oh, I know Jesus, Ibelieve him. But to walk to walk
(39:58):
it it's it's a tougher Do right?
People, I can walk around with aBible every day of my life. And
people go, Oh, look at him. He'sgot a Christian rock band, he
rolls with a Bible. And it willnot speak as much as if they see
us after a show. Praying forsomebody, or just talking to
somebody about what they'regoing through, or, or something
like that, you know, so it'skind of where it is for me. So
(40:22):
as I go along the way of mylife, right, since I got saved.
Wow. That's the only word that Ihave. You know. And thank you,
Laura, for Thank you for waitingfor me. And I am thankful that I
didn't wait longer, right. Soit's been Yeah, been cool. Yeah,
it's cool.
John Matarazzo (40:45):
That's good about how you can look back and
you can see all that. But like,just since the last time we
added, we had a chance to talk.
How have you? How was yourrelationship with Jesus grown?
Like, what are some measurablethings that you can say, you
know, a year ago, my life waslike this in this area. But now
Jesus has helped me take it takea few more steps along the way.
(41:07):
In this.
Benny DiChiara (41:09):
Yeah, one thing is discipline. Right. So I do a
little Bible study. For a smallgroup of guys, we've been doing
it for 20 something years,that's on Thursday mornings. And
so that's an incredible thing.
But every morning, I do a littleBible study, and I tried to read
I try my best to read onechapter a day. So I can read
(41:30):
through the entire Bible I'vebeen through a couple of times.
But it's an every time Idiscipline myself to do that.
The same story, the same verses,I learned something new. And it
just jumps off the page at meanslike, may I bet you haven't
heard that one? And I'm like,I've read you four times. What
(41:54):
are you talking about? Yet? Andon time number five, right?
It's, it's it's like the seeparts. It you just see a dry
landbridge to go through. AndI'm like that that's been that's
been probably one of the biggestthings with with everything
going on all these moving partsthat I have going on, trying to
do new records in, you know, andthere's just being a Christian
(42:18):
is one thing, but you've got todo the work. There's work
involved, right? And so totally,all of that stuff going on,
John, and it's just thatdiscipline to say, yeah, it's
kind of like God saying, andlisten, you're no busier than
me. I've got quite a few thingsgoing on. Maybe a few more than
(42:40):
you, Benny. So just tune in. Andso that pressing thing that we
were talking about earlier, forme, is like really pressing in
to the word because I mean,church is great on Sunday,
sometimes churches, great onSunday, and Wednesday. If you do
that, plus, you have like alittle small group, and that's
great, too. But if we want tohear from God daily, we need to
(43:03):
press in daily. So and thattakes discipline. And so for me,
it's early in the morning. Sofor other people, it can be late
at night, but find some alonetime with God in and work on
that discipline to do that,because unless you have a quiet
(43:24):
time to talk to him, you can'thear back what he's got for you.
So that's been a big thing thispast year.
John Matarazzo (43:33):
Yeah, that discipline is really important.
That's something I've been kindof trying to get better at.
Because I've been in Florida nowcreating a new life for a little
bit more than a year. And a yearin a couple of months right now.
And it's amazing how some of thedisciplines that I used to have,
(43:54):
I don't have any more. Yeah, youknow, it's just hard to
sometimes you move locations andor you move something in life
and it changes. And you're nowtrying to regain some of those
disciplines. Now. There's otherdisciplines in my life that I've
started and have, and I've beenable to develop. And I'm trying
to get it to a place where I'mmore consistent with all those
(44:15):
things again, so, right, I'msetting goals. Again, I'm trying
to journal on a regular basisagain, but those disciplines,
man, that's really going to getyou in a good way, you know,
it'll challenge you and just letyourself be accountable. Whether
it be to boys just goes anddeadline or accountable. Yeah.
(44:38):
Yeah, sometimes you can get ityou can ask other people to help
you be accountable.
Benny DiChiara (44:41):
It's about being accountable to him, too. Right.
Yeah, so totally. And that helpsthe accountability and
discipline. Just they just gohand in hand. They don't they
don't bash each other. They theywork together compliment. Yeah,
I think he does that right. Soso our ability to be accountable
to him, has to start by thediscipline of us wanting to have
(45:05):
that relationship with him andpress in and see what he's got
for us. And yeah, that's a biglesson. That's a big lesson for
anybody, no matter where theyare.
John Matarazzo (45:14):
So Benny, could you just tell our listeners how
they can follow your music andlisten to you know, I'll meet
you there, which is Daddy songand listen to the children and
some of the other stuff thatyou've been putting out there?
How can people find becausewe've been talking about that
for almost an hour, and we hopepeople were able to find it
themselves.
Benny DiChiara (45:34):
That'd be cool.
So the band website is rockinminus A G source, roc, k i n,
the number four jesus.com. So wewent to something simple. So
there it is, rockin for Jesuscalm. So you can see some things
there. All of the songs thatwe're talking about are on every
streaming, I think we're on 40Something streaming platforms.
(45:56):
So you could go there,regardless of what you're on,
you could go on there. OnFacebook, we are empowered on
Instagram, you can follow usit's empowered, official,
empowered, rockin for Jesusofficial. And on YouTube, on
YouTube, just look forempowered, official, or you
could just look at one of thesongs and the rest of the videos
(46:19):
that we've done, smooth acrossfor you. So it's been been, it's
been a blast. And that's
John Matarazzo (46:26):
good. I'll do one better for you. I'll make
sure that in the showdescription, I put links to your
main site so that people can goto their connections. That's
that's, that's trying to behelpful. Good, I see. Yeah, is
that it's good to catch up withyou and talk with you again, you
know, it's been like, like Isaid, just over a year, since
(46:47):
we've really taught, I mean,we've stayed connected. But, you
know, it's really cool to seewhat God's been doing in your
life and how, you know, he'sprovided more opportunities for
you, and you've been faithfulwith those to talk about Jesus,
you know, you won, that you wonthat competition, had the
opportunity to talk aboutyourself or talk about Jesus,
(47:08):
and you chose to talk aboutJesus, and, you know, open up
those doors and a little bit ofboth a little bit of both. But
of course, of course, you know,it's a
Benny DiChiara (47:15):
blessing to see what God's doing with you,
especially since the move to andI mean, you know, because it
goes beyond friendship at somepoint, right? You just, you
just, there's a joy when you seesomebody excelling and what God
has for them regarding whatthey're doing. And that's how it
should be in the body. Right, weshould be supportive, and amen,
(47:37):
in behind each other. And it'sbeen a blast to say, Man, I love
when we get the chance to hangup. It's been fun. Amen.
John Matarazzo (47:43):
Likewise, you know, I normally have my, my
along the way questions that Ikind of always wrap things up
with. But, Benny, I just want tothank you so much for being in
my life, and, you know, allowingme to join you along your way
for another time.
Benny DiChiara (47:56):
Yeah, same brother, I appreciate you more
than I can tell you find afriend, like Martha, that so
many people as what you need todo, your life on your way will
be will be changed. And I'm sureif they tuned in into all of
your podcasts. You know, it'sjust you're following God's
heart, man. And it's it'sawesome to watch and follow you
(48:17):
as well. So it's been, it's beena blast and a blessing.
John Matarazzo (48:20):
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for
listening to along the way. Ifyou've enjoyed joining me along
my way, please share this with afriend who you think will be
encouraged by this podcast.
Also, please rate and reviewalong the way on iTunes. That
helps more people discover alongthe way. And subscribe to this
podcast wherever you'relistening. You can follow me on
(48:41):
Facebook, Instagram, and on mywebsite along the way dot media.
I hope that you've enjoyed thispart of my journey. And may you
realize when Jesus is walkingwith you along your way. Along
the way is honored to be part ofthe charisma Podcast Network.
You can find tons of spiritfilled content from their vast
catalogue of podcasts, includingmy news stories with the
(49:03):
charisma news podcast. Go to CPNshows.com To see the full list
and latest episodes
And when we get saved, it's not easier because
you may as well just go aheadand put that target on your back
for the devil. Look, Satandoesn't want to Satan, he's
brilliant. He's brilliant. Hetalked angels to leave the
kingdom of heaven and followhim. I mean, if he could talk
angels out of heaven, he couldtalk us straight into hell, if
(00:23):
we're listening to him, insteadof Jesus, right.
John Matarazzo (00:27):
Welcome to along the way. I'm John matter as your
host and fellow traveler, thankyou for joining me along my way
as I've tried to become morelike Jesus every day. The goal
of along the way is to identifythe moments in life that Jesus
really is walking with us andtrying to get our attention. But
just like the disciples alongthe way to amaze us, we are
missing those moments that ourhearts are burning within us. I
(00:50):
want us to be able to identifythose moments, learn from others
and apply those lessons to ourlives so that we don't miss the
blessings that God has for usalong the way in our life
journey. It's nice whenever I'mable to make a friend while
podcasting. Bending to share isone of those people that I have
definitely stayed in touch withsince our original interview.
(01:12):
we've reconnected for thisconversation. And I hope that
you enjoy his update on what Godhas been doing in his life along
the way for this last year. I'llget to our conversation in just
a moment. But as always, I wantto thank you for listening to
along the way. I hope that youlike what you hear and that you
subscribe, please rate andreview along the way on Apple
(01:32):
podcast or wherever you'relistening. All of my contact
information is in the shownotes. And you can check out all
of my episodes, and please joinmy email list through my website
along the way dot media, I wouldlove to hear from you. Also, I
have a Patreon page if you'dlike to help me to continue to
put out these along the wayepisodes. If you'd like to
(01:52):
become a patreon supporter,simply go to patreon.com/along
the way and select the level.
The link to become a supporteris also in my show notes. And
now here's my secondconversation with Benny to
share. Well, Benny does share itit is great to have you back on
along the way. Thanks so muchfor coming back. Yeah, thanks.
Benny DiChiara (02:13):
It's been a bit so blessed to be back with you,
man. It's fun. Yeah,
John Matarazzo (02:17):
I was just going through my journal and realizing
that the the first time that youand I connected you are a guest
on the hope today program. And Iliterally wrote in my journal
that it said this was the mostconfusing longest Skype test
because at that point, we werejust doing Skype test for for
(02:39):
the for the hope today program.
And we've just having so manyissues getting everything worked
out. But I'm so glad that wewent through that process,
because everything worked finethe next day for the live show.
Benny DiChiara (02:50):
Thank you Jesus, right.
John Matarazzo (02:52):
I know. But be because we spent literally, I
wrote in my journal we weredoing we were figuring it out
for two hours. We actuallybecame good friends virtually in
that two hour period. That'sright. Well, we're basically
kind of forced to be with eachother, right? So it was exactly
(03:12):
and and so that I invited you toto do it along the way with me
and yeah, got your story on thatwe call it surrender the
outcome. That's episode number96. I'll put a link in that in
the show description so thatpeople can check that full
episode out. If you want to hearBenny's full story up until that
point last year whenever we didthat interview, but you've had
(03:34):
some things happen within thislast year that that God's put
his hand on and from acompetition to some of your
songs getting extra extraattention. And so whenever
whenever your publicist is, youknow, a mutual friend said a
(03:55):
Benny's doing. Benny's got moreto talk about. I'm like, Okay,
that's all I need to hear. Let'sbring along good. Let's catch
up. I just need an excuse. Let'sgo. What's been happening along
the way for you?
Benny DiChiara (04:05):
My wife, Donna would say, Oh, Benny has
something to talk about. Let metell you, so it's like that what
she enjoys when she enjoys whenI'm sleeping? Because it gives
her so there's a lot of stuff,but a lot of stuff. So since we
since we had talked, you know,we were talking about the three
days record that was out. And,you know, for those who are
(04:25):
watching or listening. John, Iwould share this sometimes
things happen. Where it's sobig. You know, it's not you
write it, it has to be Godmoving on your life. I'm a big
predestination person, right?
Like when we first met, Ithought that was predestined
(04:47):
eons ago, because God knowseverything so so the first
record, by the way, it's goneover 300,000 streams on Spotify.
And so I've got Yeah, I mean,that's significant. Nobody knows
who we are. And it's, it's, it'sgreat. But as I was always
selling a media friend of mine,they were like, A, they're in a
(05:09):
secular world. And they werelike, Y'all are blowing up and
there's all this stuff. And it's300 Oh, well, and I'm like us, I
was laughing. And I said, slowthat down. So, but the thing is,
in the music world, thosenumbers probably don't mean like
a lot, because everything'snumbers, right? But in heaven,
yeah. Man, there's, there's aparty going on. Right? Just just
(05:31):
for the people who have heardthat. So coming out of that is
like an in in October of 20 of2020. My dad had more plumbing
work done to his heart and his,his veins and he just had stents
everywhere quintuple bypass, wealways thought we'd lose that to
(05:52):
that. And he felt a pain in hiship. told my mom, he thought he
had a blood clot. So he selfdiagnose, which was funny,
because he's just a littleSicilian Dude, that was rufen
his whole life. But he but heself assessed himself, and went
to the doctor. And long storyshort, the doctor says, Hey,
bud, you have cancer. And he'slike, really, like how bad and
(06:15):
the doctor said, get your stufftogether. And so I looked at his
PET scans and everything.
Because when I was in the Navy,as a medic, right, I knew how to
do that. And I mean, I looked atit. And as a, as a serious man
of faith. I believe God can doanything. The message I got when
(06:35):
I looked at his scans was, I'mgoing to heal your dad in
heaven. Because it was it waseverywhere. So it took it was
nine days from diagnosis to gointo the table. Oh, wow. And
dad, and I had a littlediscussion at the end of his
life within the last couple ofdays. I'm like, Dad, not only
are you going, not only do youhave a place at the buffet
(06:57):
table, you have a name tag setout. So I need you. This is our
discussion seriously. And I'mlike, I need you to tell me, you
know where you're going. It'simportant. And so his nickname
for me is Pastor boy, right?
Which is kind of funny. And he'slike, yes, yeah. He's like, yes,
Pastor, boy, I know where I'mgoing. And I said, Dad, any
other day? That would be funny,right? Not today. So tell me and
(07:22):
he's like, Well, Jesus died. Andhe rose again. And I believe
that I'm going to heaven, right?
Mike? Does absolutely right. Soit doesn't matter what the
doctors telling you. But it'sgoing to suck for us, it's going
to be great for you. And it'salso going to be great for me
(07:43):
because I know your address.
That's important, right? So Iknow your address. So so so dad
pass. And God kind of said, youneed to write a song about it,
just to touch people who havelost. It could be it could be
their family member, it could bea friend, it could be it could
(08:04):
be even a loss of job. Peoplejust handle loss and grief so
differently. And so it's calledI'll meet you there and his
daddy song in parentheses. Andso that's doing really well on
all the streaming platformseverything. And it's it's just
touched. Everyone who's heardit. And ironically, as we sit
(08:27):
here speaking, my wife's fatheris in hospice at home after a
really serious thing, he's at areally serious thing. And we're
in the process of losing himover the next day or so. So
(08:47):
So and I say that because howpeople deal with that without
Jesus, I have no idea. If you donot have Jesus as your
foundation, if you're listeningor watching this, I just implore
you. The reason the house thatwas built on the rock is the one
who stood is because Jesus isthe foundation, he's the rock.
(09:09):
And so to go to go through that,and now the song that God gave
me for my dad is rolling rightaround into my father in law,
who also called dad, and, andit's touching people that we're
coming into contact with. Overthe course of the last couple of
weeks, it's just been it's just,I don't know, it's an amazing
(09:33):
thing. When you are you're readyfor it. We're going back to a
previous episode here, when yousurrender the outcome, because
God's got this. There, there canbe a peace, right? There can be
a peace through loss, becauseyou're foundationally rooted in
Christ. And somebody told meonce they said, Is it that easy?
And I'm like, Yes, it is. Itreally is. It's just a matter of
(09:56):
choice. It's as easy as am Igoing to Starbucks today? Am I
gonna get a 13? Name latte orjust a coffee? And it's the same
thing. It's just a choice.
John Matarazzo (10:08):
Yeah. You know, Benny is we're talking about
this, we're, you know, I knowthat this, this conversation is
going to talk about loss. Youknow, I, two weeks ago as we're
recording this, I lost a mentorof mine, Dr. Steve green, he
passed away. And it was, it wasa difficult thing to just
process that I knew he was inthe hospital, he was on a
(10:30):
ventilator and had hadcomplications. And we were
praying that he would come outof it. But he didn't. And he had
been my life coach for three anda half years. And God used him
to open up opportunities for meto move to Florida to work at
charisma just to I mean, I I oweso much of what I have right now
(10:53):
to Dr. Steve green. And I knowexactly where he's at. I mean,
there's no there's no doubt inmy mind that he was greeted at
the pearly gates saying welldone good and faithful servant.
But you still are dealing withwaves of emotion. And like the
knowing that I can't text andget a response. Right, you know,
(11:17):
it says little things, thoselittle things that really,
really get to you. Tell me aboutabout that for you like that.
Some of those little things andhow you put this into a song and
let's just talk about overcomingovercoming some loss.
Benny DiChiara (11:37):
Yeah, I'll tell you like, like leading up to
daddy's death. My wife was like,you just don't seem emotionally
connected here sorta, in in forme, because I was a Navy medic,
right? I'm like, my thing in mymind is I'm processing right.
I'm like, Who's the doctor?
When's the appointment? What'she going to say? What do we need
(11:59):
to do? And I told my wife, Isaid, there's going to be time
for that later. And so when mydad passed, it was a Friday.
When I got home, the next day,when I got home, I broke like, I
haven't broken before. I've gota little I've got a bench in my,
in my closet. And I went sat onit. And just I had a face, my
(12:19):
hand towel and I'm in handtowel. But it was to a point
where I'm, I'm self coachingmyself, like, Come on, man, get
it together. And just and I wasit was just a flow, right? And
Donna saw that she's like, I'venever seen that. So there was
morning, right? Just a deepmorning love my dad, he taught
(12:39):
me integrity and all that sortof setup, my father in law, just
just a man of integrity.
Everything was above board. ButI'm going to tell you this, and
it just God's given me this. Idon't know if he's gonna speak
to you or whomever but it's forsomeone because God's given it
to me. My MOU, our ni ng mymorning, did not carry over to
(13:08):
every mo AR N. Ing. You follow?
So my, my deep morning did notdictate every morning,
thereafter. And so for mepersonally, I haven't broken
like that about Daddy, again,right? I have I had moments.
Like you're saying, you know,you have moments, all of a
(13:31):
sudden you feel like key wheat.
It's wedged in your, in yourthroat. So you think about is
like oh, so. But there hasn'tbeen I can't go on type. Morning
or feeling because God issaying, listen, again, I'm in
(13:56):
control surrendered an outcometo me because I have plans for
you. That I need you toaccomplish. And I think I just I
just think the reason Petersank, right? Was because he took
his eyes off Jesus and hestarted looking at everything
(14:17):
going on around the boats rockinthere's guys on the boat
screaming why they didn't getout. I still don't know. There's
waves all over the place andwind and everything. And he
looked at the chaos that is ourlife sometimes, like with losing
somebody or craziness at work orany of that. And he he took his
eyes off Jesus. And I think it'sa great story for us that when
(14:38):
we take our eyes off of Jesus,especially during difficult
times. We feel like we can't goon like we we can't continue to
walk like Peter did right? Andso, and that's that's when God
is saying listen, I want you topress in. Like press into me.
Press into me, don't press intoBenny. Don't press into John,
(15:03):
press in to me, because I havethe answers. And just to me,
that's a helpful place for us tooperate. Right? Because without
Jesus, what do we have?
John Matarazzo (15:18):
Yeah, we really don't have any hope without
Jesus. I mean, I, as you, yousaid this earlier, or before we
started recording, like, I don'tknow how people get through
this. Without Jesus. Like, it'sjust right. It floors me as a
follower of Jesus Christ. And Iknow where I'm going. I know,
we're, you know, I know we'reDr. Green is or my grandparents
(15:39):
are. But like, it's still hard.
Like, yeah, I don't know howpeople do it without Jesus.
Right? I don't think they do. Idon't think they really do.
Benny DiChiara (15:49):
Right. And when we get saved, it's not easier
because you may as well just goahead and put that target on
your back for the devil. Look,Satan doesn't want to Satan does
not. He's brilliant. He's, he'sbrilliant. He talked angels to
leave the kingdom of heaven andfollow him. I mean, if he could
(16:12):
talk angels out of heaven, hecould talk us straight into
hell, if we're listening to him,instead of Jesus. Right. And I
just saw that someplace. Andthat just spoke loudly to me. So
So here's, here's a, here's thething, and I'm going to
transition on you a little bit.
All right, but but there's a,there's what I'm talking about
how God can move you from lossinto greater things that you
(16:34):
don't even know or come in. Butbut they only come if your focus
is right, and it's on him. So.
So there's a guy that I've beenfollowing for quite some time,
online, you know, as a musician,as an artist, you connect with
labels and with managers andwith instrument companies, and
(16:58):
he's got a drum company, andit's called, it's called Outlaw
Drums. Like, like, outlaw right?
Yeah. So. And he takes oldbridges and old public
buildings, old churches, and hetakes that word, he repurpose
it. And he makes it, he makeshandcrafted drums and drum sets.
Gorgeous and phenomenalsounding. And so he did this
(17:22):
contest, I saw him come acrossmy feet, he did this contest, I
didn't even tell my wife aboutit. It's like, Hey, we're
looking to help out some bands.
And you can win this $2,000snare drum and this artist girl,
Amy lane, she, she's done theArt Deco to it. And so, it this
(17:42):
is a secular company, right? AndI'm like, What a great way to
help him out. So I submitted andGod says, yep, put your daddy
song in there, put put, I'llmeet you there. So I'm like,
really? Okay, we're going to dothat. So we do it. And then we
make the top five out of 40entries. And then later in the
week, he does a live reveal. Andwe actually wind up winning the
(18:06):
thing, right? Wow. So So what'sexciting for me was that I went
to Georgia, to meet him inperson, and do some PR pictures
for it and all that kind ofstuff. We just did a national
press release about all of it.
And he was the greatest guy,good Christian guy, right? Just
(18:27):
doesn't push it through hiscompany, whatever. And he wanted
to do some podcast. So we'resitting there doing, we're
dropping Jesus bombs throughevery single podcast we did in
the more we talked, the moreengaging it got, right? And the
more he was, the more he wasinto it. And I'm sitting there
and God is going, I'm doing athing here. And I'm like, Yes,
you are. Because I'm all insecular world right now. But it
(18:50):
was enjoyable for me becausepeople who may have never heard
the story, or, or my story orhis story, God story had an
opportunity to hear it throughthis other medium, right. So God
opened up that other medium,and, and we've become the best
(19:10):
of friends since. Okay, we'rewell connected with all that
kind of stuff. And I told him,you know, end of July for end of
August, we're going to cut a newrecord. So he's, he's like, I
need to hear that. So I'm like,Hey, you're first on the list,
but don't worry about it. Youalong with several others. And
so So later this summer, whatGod kind of told me cut a new
(19:34):
record. So we're going to cut anew record. So we're, we're
setting up for it now. And we'retrying to finish the final
compositions of the songs andeverything. And then Mikey
Howard is going to get with usand produce again, and it'll be
awesome. That's cool. So when
John Matarazzo (19:51):
you had those opportunity to be on that
podcast and to share about Jesusand share your story, what are
some of the things that you feltled to share and how did God
opened up those doors for you.
And how did you How did you knowlike, this is where God wanted
you to go. Because that's one ofthe things I'm always looking
for to learn. Because I know Godspeaks to me and says, you know,
in doing podcast or otherinterviews or just normal
(20:14):
conversations, sometimes Godsays, this is where I want you
to go, this is what I want youto say. And it's amazing how God
opens up that door. Tell meabout that about that experience
for you.
Benny DiChiara (20:25):
Yeah, that's a great question. It's a great
question. Every interview thatI've done my wife is like, are
you prepping? for that? I'mlike, I am. prepped. And she's
like, what does it mean? Andreally don't sit there and say,
whatever, because normally Ifollow the interviewer. But the
(20:50):
the basic premise is alwaysthere if, if God is the Alpha
and the Omega, the beginning andthe end. If he's the Lord of the
Bible, and the Bible is in ahistory book, if we believe that
to be true, he knows everything.
Right? He also knows everything.
(21:10):
We're going to say. This was abig lesson for me, John, he
knows everything we're gonnasay. So. So for me, surrender,
the outcome became a thing,right? And so I'm like, Lord,
I'm surrendering as I knew wewere going to talk today. I'm
like, I'm surrendering John's,we're great friends, since the
the first couple of times wetalked and just, whatever you've
(21:33):
got, give me and we're justgonna roll with it. It's I can I
can tell you, there's a there'sa freedom there. That if
whoever's listening or watchingdoesn't have, you need to get
you some, you need to get yousome because the freedom and
just moving in what God has foryou. Yeah, man. Right. For
(21:58):
instance, the new record thetitle track, the title is going
to be Yahweh Nisi. So in the, inthe Hebrew, that's the Lord is
my banner. And it's going to bea little militant, and a little
rowdy, and all that, and God'stelling me, listen, the world is
turning from me, but in someway, the Christian community is
(22:20):
turning from me too. And I'mcalling people to be warriors
for me right now, because timeis short. So that's what I want
you to address in this newrecord. So I don't want to do a
record. And just lyrically, makeit nice. So I can be on the
(22:43):
radio. That's not our mission.
Anyway, when we play on stage,it's a party for Jesus, right?
But there needs to be somelegacy to that, right. Like, if
the love of Jesus doesn't flowover the foot lamps, then we
should like, quit do birthdayparties or something. So. But if
if our main goal is to leavepeople with what Jesus can do
(23:05):
for them in their life,regardless of what they're going
through, kind of missionaccomplished. That's in my mind.
So
John Matarazzo (23:17):
I know for me, because my podcast is focused on
those moments where you realizethat Jesus was walking with you.
Now, as you look back, but youmight not have recognized it
right, then I have a goal inthis podcast to to get to kind
of get to that point where wecan learn about how Jesus met
(23:38):
somebody in their life. But youwere on a podcast that was not
that didn't have a goal likethat. That wasn't, you know,
seeking an opportunity to sharethe gospel like I'm always
looking for God. How do you wantto minister during this that?
Yeah. How did you work Jesusinto the conversation? That's
what I'm trying to get to, inthose podcasts that we're about
brought his name up. You broughthis name up? That's a great
(24:00):
start.
Benny DiChiara (24:00):
Let's talk about isn't it though, you brought up?
Yeah, I tell people who strugglewith the Bible, I'm like, Just
read the red stuff. I mean, justjust read the red stuff. It's
Jesus speakings is it's in red.
And you know, and we're talkingand in the middle of it, I start
talking about what God's doingin our life and with the band
and all that and he goes,Really, and we go, yeah, and
(24:24):
then God's like, you know, it'slike being at a at a drag
strips, like BP green and theHoly Spirit saying, Go, go, go,
go, go. And so, so. So that's,that's another thing to think.
Like, when God says move. Herequires four things of us,
right? Mo V. E, okay. Move.
(24:47):
Don't think about it. Don't getinvolved with it. Don't let our
own minds tell us, hey, Is Godreally speaking it to me because
if it's bigger than somethingyou can think of? I guarantee
you. God is faking it to youbecause he doesn't play around.
And he gives us huge goals thatonly he can accomplish using us
right as a tool, that way hegets the glory, or that way he
(25:10):
should get the glory. So for meas an artist, and playing and
having the opportunity to be outthere and interview with people,
and all that kind of stuff,that's a gift that not many
people get to have in your life,right? It's not fame or anything
like that. But it's anopportunity to share about him.
(25:31):
So regardless if it's Christianor secular, this could even
apply to your job. If you're notan artist. That's okay. Let's
say you work at Chick fil A,well, yeah, Chick Fil A's got
that little bass go. And so youknow, or any place, but if you
work any place, right? It's a,it's a mission field, wherever
you work, it's a mission foryou. And God gives us the
(25:55):
opportunity to share him in somekind of way. Even if it's as
simple as a, God bless you. Andif you're talking to someone
who's going through somebodythrough something, and they say,
you say God bless you. And theygo, Well, thank you. Because I
really needed that. There's theHoly Spirit, say, ready, baby,
go, go, go. Because there's anopportunity to sew into someone,
(26:20):
and like, bring them into thekingdom. So God gives us these
gifts. And for me, it's beingonstage and acting crazy and
doing what we do. And you know,singing about him. And in
between, we get to talk abouthim. What we do with our gift is
our gift back to him. So thatsounds like a deep thing. But
(26:41):
it's it's really a simple thing.
And he always, always providesopportunities for us to do that.
And whether or not we choose tofollow those opportunities. I
don't want to get to heaven, andbe the betta servant who dug a
hole and buried the money. I'mjust saying, I don't want to do
it.
John Matarazzo (27:00):
I know. I have enough to answer for so that's a
fear of mine. Well,
Benny DiChiara (27:05):
but it's a gift for the opportunity to there's a
verse in the Bible, even therocks will cry out. So how much
more value do we have than arock? I'm just saying a lot.
Right? Yeah, it's ouropportunity to talk and to reach
out to other people. For him.
It's a great gift to be able todo that. Amen. Like be here
(27:26):
today. Again, with you. Yeah,it's a great opportunity. It's a
great gift. So it's what it is.
Yeah.
John Matarazzo (27:34):
So Benny, you made you made mention that for
this contest. You felt the Lordsaying, he put his hand he put
his finger on this daddy song?
Yeah, yeah. What was youroriginal plan? Before that? What
song were you going to submit orwhatever, three days, three days
I actually, which is a prettygood rockin song.
Benny DiChiara (27:54):
It's a pretty good rocket song. And the
message doesn't get more simple,right? So Oh, yeah. So I did
that one, I put that one. Andyou could put up to two and God
said, Daddy song. So get this.
So Michael, who owns the companywho did it. His dad passed three
years ago building drums withhim in a warehouse. And it was
(28:16):
it. He just, it was like thatinstant. And it took him a while
to get over it. Like a longtime, like over a year to get
over it. Because he and his dadwere like really close. And we
got a chance to talk about thatsong on his podcast. After
sharing with him. He's like,man, there's a reason that song
just spoke. To me. It's there'sa reason everyone who's heard it
(28:40):
who's been through some kind ofloss, or knows someone close to
him to them, that's passed on orwhatever. They all say the same
thing. And that's how you knowthat I'm not that talented to
write that kind of song. Right.
And so Mikey Howard, yeah. Whoproduces this? He's the seventh
(29:01):
time down guy, right? So he cowrote with me, you know, we're
just not that talented to dothat either. Holy Spirit's
speaks through you to be able tohave eternal impact on people.
Or he doesn't. So when we'rewriting songs, we don't want to
write a song that we go, oh,that sounds really good. There's
a hook maybe we can get on aradio. That's not That's not
(29:23):
what it's about. It's about oneperson, possibly who's listening
to us today who hear somethingthat we've talked about that
pointing to Jesus, and they theydevelop a deeper relationship
with him. And it points them toheaven. And so we haven't start
rejoicing right now. Go look I'musing. I'm using two Italians on
(29:45):
a podcast right here and whothought that would be something
and look at boo and we haveanother we have another entrance
into the kingdom of heaven. Andso I mean, put a price on that.
You can't it's priceless. Itsprice. less, just like when
Jesus gave His Son for us,right? That is, that is a price
(30:06):
less gift because we gainedeverything from that God lost
his son. But for a short period,he had a bigger plan, right? So
brought him back man for justthree days, just three days. And
that's where three days camefrom. Yeah, that's where the
song came from. So
John Matarazzo (30:21):
I work in my podcast name, I work in your
songs, titles as much as I can,in these conversations. You
weren't
Benny DiChiara (30:27):
everything.
That's amazing. That's God giventalent right there. So
John Matarazzo (30:31):
all I'm saying, I try, you gotta use those. You
know, I'm not dad yet, but I'mpracticing my dad jokes. That's
it's, that's it's a good thingcoming up later in life.
Benny DiChiara (30:40):
My kids are tired. They're like, oh,
John Matarazzo (30:42):
so another song that you have recently coming
out? Or it's out right now. It'scalled listen to the children.
Yeah, yeah. Tell me about that.
And like, why is this animportant thing for you? Because
honestly, sometimes you can hearGod speaking through kids, but
sometimes it's just gibberish.
How do you determine what is thegood thing to listen to? And how
do you like what inspired you towrite this song?
Benny DiChiara (31:03):
You know, what the Holy Spirit spoke to me in
that is, our kids in general,are being so dumbed down. Right
now, the one thing I mean, Godknows everything. Everybody's
like, oh, this pandemic? Whoa, Ididn't see that comment. Well,
guess what God did. He knew. Itwas right, the lockdown. God
(31:25):
knew all the unrest that we seeright now. God knew all of the
crazy people in politics andthere's a lot of them on both
sides. God knew so God knowseverything. So. So one thing
that the pandemic and thelockdowns and everything opened
up was that parents saw stuffbeing told to their children
(31:46):
that they never knew about it.
And it created this big thingacross the country. Right. And I
think, I think through thepandemic, what God did was
unveiled a lot of evil that wethought we knew, but we need
proof. Right? So he's like,here's a nugget, here's a
nugget. And so it everybody wasexposed to it. So it's
(32:07):
foundationally set in the Bible,the Bible's truth, the Bible's
word, you know, and the kids nowthere's a saw thing on a window
and a teacher put up this thingsaying, if your parents can't
deal with your transitioningthoughts, then I'm your mama and
stuff like that. I saw that.
That's crazy. Yeah. And so forme, God was saying, if we want
(32:32):
to know what's going on with ourkids, if we want to know what's
being told to our children, justlisten to our kids. Because
kids, the one great thing aboutkids, they cannot lie not very
well. And even if they lie, theytell themselves, they're
horrible at it. And they'll juststraight up tell you, you know,
if you're eating at McDonald'shas happened to me before my
(32:54):
kids were babies, right? There'sa booger in your nose. I'm like,
really are rebroadcasting downacross? Seriously, and you just
they can't, right? So. So forme, that song was about, listen
to the children hear whatthey're saying, right? And we
should be praying over our kids.
And we should be instillingGod's Word into their little
souls into their little heartsinto their little. So Mick
(33:19):
capdeville, he's my drummer.
Incredible, okay, just anincredible guy, incredible
daddy, his son, this is rightafter we this is right after we
cut three days record. His songets diagnosed with leukemia. So
they immediately stick him in atruck boom got to Memphis Center
at St. Jude's for like almost ayear. Wow. chemo, just all kinds
(33:43):
of stuff. And so on this day and2022 Luke crews man is in
remission. Mountain kids facesoff about like what Jesus did to
snap in and all that kind ofstuff. But when they were at St.
Jude's up there, Mick said onenight, his wife had called him
to the room. And he looked andthey looked into cruises room.
(34:05):
And it's dark, except for thenight light cruisers sitting on
the bed with his arms, likeraised up with little fish,
right? And he's in the bed. He'sgoing this is how a five mob
bed. How old is he at this throwin a Smitty? Ban six. And he's
throwing Michael W. Smith downin the bed and mix like what do
I do with that? Like, I'msupposed to be the spiritual
(34:26):
leader of a family. This boy islike leading it and I said, You
know what that is? That's welldone. Mom and dad. That's what
it is really. you've sewn intohim? So he's rooted and he has
that it helped him fight and hiskids completely he's gonna Oh,
he's a little David. I call himHello, David. I gave MC a rock
the other day with like Jeremiah2911 on it and I put like a
(34:49):
little twist on it and whatever.
Because he carries stuff in hispockets. And I'm like, give this
boy a rock and tell himwhenever. Whenever the devil
starts talking to him aboutanything like grab that rock and
just go Huh, I've heard aboutyou big dude and you're going
down. So just things like that,right? It's just, it's little
God winks, it's little miraclesthat we get to see. If we just
surrender the outcome press in,follow him when he says move mov
(35:13):
II don't think about it, becauseyou're putting yourself in it.
And you'll see the greatness ofwhat God's trying to do in your
life if we do that along theway.
John Matarazzo (35:25):
Amen. There we go. There it was in my title,
and there was so with along theway, you know, my whole thing is
like, Where was Jesus walkingwith you that you weren't aware
in the moment, but you look backand you see now, you know, it's
been a year since we've had alittle bit more than a year
since we've been able to recordan episode, right? We've stayed
(35:45):
in touch via text and others,you know, and messenger, yes,
things like that. But how haveyou gotten better in this last
year about being aware of Jesuswalking with you?
Benny DiChiara (35:55):
Okay, I'm gonna go way back on you. You're
ready. So okay, go for it. likeway, way back, like 80s. In my
BC life, when I had a secularrock band in New Orleans had
hair. Now No, less is more. Butlike then yeah. And dressed
onstage saw things, I neverwanted to see anything. So I had
my keyboard, right, becauseplaying keyboards, and I had a
(36:15):
ramp that my keyboard sat on, inthe ramp went down to the stage,
and my brother in law who playedguitar with me at the time, he
would run up the ramp, and I'dreach across and high five, and
we do all this crazy stuff onstage. On the front of the ramp
was a star that I had painted.
And inside the star was a crossin the tail of the cross kind of
came down through the peak atthe bottom of the star. And
(36:38):
people would ask me all now I'mnot saved. I'm in church every
Sunday. If I died, I'd probablywent to hell, because I didn't
know Jesus, but in church everySunday, and everybody's like,
what is that? And I'm like, thestars what I want to be, are you
ready for this? Here's a nugget,the stars, what I want to be in
that cross is who's gonna get methere? Okay, as I look back on
(36:59):
it pretty ironic, you know,because I don't want to be a
star. Now, I don't want to befamous. I just want to make
Jesus famous, like he needshelp. But that's the goal here.
And so, so, but I look back andsee that and know that thought,
and I'm like, God was working onme in the 80s, late 80s. For
(37:21):
what's happening now. Right,right, in 2022 2021 2020. It's
been a whirlwind for the pastcouple of years. So it just you
look at that, and you go, howcould I have missed that? Right?
And so like, when I first gotsaved, I actually had remorse.
(37:42):
I'm like, what took me so long,I was 35. I'm like, man, I've
wasted some time. Well, wait,and then God kinda was like, hit
the brakes. Timeout. Never, everfeel guilty about when you've
come to me because I've alwaysbeen here for you. Always, as
waiting for you as a as a kid,as a waiting for you through
(38:06):
high school as waiting for youwhen you are married and having
kids and doing the rock thing.
I've just been waiting for you.
And I get you know, I givepeople freewill. Judas had free
will. And he turned him over,right? So I've been waiting for
you. As always, if you ever haveany doubt, look at this book
that's hanging around. It's gota really cool title called Holy
(38:28):
Bible. It talks about how I'malways there for you. And I'm
always waiting for you. It'sjust when people come prodigal
son, perfect story to representcoming back to Jesus, right. And
ever since he put that on me.
I've never once again said, I'mso sorry, it took me so long.
(38:52):
Because the truth of the matteris in a real world sense, is
that I went through some thingsthat prepared me how to better
handle what I would face as aChristian, and how I could talk
to people about my priorexperiences. And if not for God,
what would have made itdifferent? Or better? Or have me
(39:16):
where I am now, if that makessense. So So I mean, so for me,
the way that my walk has grownnow is basically I kind of don't
care. I'm not saying this in amean way, or, or or or bad way.
I don't care what people think.
Basically, you know, you're acrazy Christian. That's cool.
Love you, man. And it just youhave to roll like that. Because
(39:37):
otherwise it flies in the faceof what you say you believe.
It's one thing to talk to talk.
It's totally another walk thewalk. And walking the walk is
harder than talking because youdon't have to prove anything
talking. Oh, I know Jesus, Ibelieve him. But to walk to walk
(39:58):
it it's it's a tougher Do right?
People, I can walk around with aBible every day of my life. And
people go, Oh, look at him. He'sgot a Christian rock band, he
rolls with a Bible. And it willnot speak as much as if they see
us after a show. Praying forsomebody, or just talking to
somebody about what they'regoing through, or, or something
like that, you know, so it'skind of where it is for me. So
(40:22):
as I go along the way of mylife, right, since I got saved.
Wow. That's the only word that Ihave. You know. And thank you,
Laura, for Thank you for waitingfor me. And I am thankful that I
didn't wait longer, right. Soit's been Yeah, been cool. Yeah,
it's cool.
John Matarazzo (40:45):
That's good about how you can look back and
you can see all that. But like,just since the last time we
added, we had a chance to talk.
How have you? How was yourrelationship with Jesus grown?
Like, what are some measurablethings that you can say, you
know, a year ago, my life waslike this in this area. But now
Jesus has helped me take it takea few more steps along the way.
(41:07):
In this.
Benny DiChiara (41:09):
Yeah, one thing is discipline. Right. So I do a
little Bible study. For a smallgroup of guys, we've been doing
it for 20 something years,that's on Thursday mornings. And
so that's an incredible thing.
But every morning, I do a littleBible study, and I tried to read
I try my best to read onechapter a day. So I can read
(41:30):
through the entire Bible I'vebeen through a couple of times.
But it's an every time Idiscipline myself to do that.
The same story, the same verses,I learned something new. And it
just jumps off the page at meanslike, may I bet you haven't
heard that one? And I'm like,I've read you four times. What
(41:54):
are you talking about? Yet? Andon time number five, right?
It's, it's it's like the seeparts. It you just see a dry
landbridge to go through. AndI'm like that that's been that's
been probably one of the biggestthings with with everything
going on all these moving partsthat I have going on, trying to
do new records in, you know, andthere's just being a Christian
(42:18):
is one thing, but you've got todo the work. There's work
involved, right? And so totally,all of that stuff going on,
John, and it's just thatdiscipline to say, yeah, it's
kind of like God saying, andlisten, you're no busier than
me. I've got quite a few thingsgoing on. Maybe a few more than
(42:40):
you, Benny. So just tune in. Andso that pressing thing that we
were talking about earlier, forme, is like really pressing in
to the word because I mean,church is great on Sunday,
sometimes churches, great onSunday, and Wednesday. If you do
that, plus, you have like alittle small group, and that's
great, too. But if we want tohear from God daily, we need to
(43:03):
press in daily. So and thattakes discipline. And so for me,
it's early in the morning. Sofor other people, it can be late
at night, but find some alonetime with God in and work on
that discipline to do that,because unless you have a quiet
(43:24):
time to talk to him, you can'thear back what he's got for you.
So that's been a big thing thispast year.
John Matarazzo (43:33):
Yeah, that discipline is really important.
That's something I've been kindof trying to get better at.
Because I've been in Florida nowcreating a new life for a little
bit more than a year. And a yearin a couple of months right now.
And it's amazing how some of thedisciplines that I used to have,
(43:54):
I don't have any more. Yeah, youknow, it's just hard to
sometimes you move locations andor you move something in life
and it changes. And you're nowtrying to regain some of those
disciplines. Now. There's otherdisciplines in my life that I've
started and have, and I've beenable to develop. And I'm trying
to get it to a place where I'mmore consistent with all those
(44:15):
things again, so, right, I'msetting goals. Again, I'm trying
to journal on a regular basisagain, but those disciplines,
man, that's really going to getyou in a good way, you know,
it'll challenge you and just letyourself be accountable. Whether
it be to boys just goes anddeadline or accountable. Yeah.
(44:38):
Yeah, sometimes you can get ityou can ask other people to help
you be accountable.
Benny DiChiara (44:41):
It's about being accountable to him, too. Right.
Yeah, so totally. And that helpsthe accountability and
discipline. Just they just gohand in hand. They don't they
don't bash each other. They theywork together compliment. Yeah,
I think he does that right. Soso our ability to be accountable
to him, has to start by thediscipline of us wanting to have
(45:05):
that relationship with him andpress in and see what he's got
for us. And yeah, that's a biglesson. That's a big lesson for
anybody, no matter where theyare.
John Matarazzo (45:14):
So Benny, could you just tell our listeners how
they can follow your music andlisten to you know, I'll meet
you there, which is Daddy songand listen to the children and
some of the other stuff thatyou've been putting out there?
How can people find becausewe've been talking about that
for almost an hour, and we hopepeople were able to find it
themselves.
Benny DiChiara (45:34):
That'd be cool.
So the band website is rockinminus A G source, roc, k i n,
the number four jesus.com. So wewent to something simple. So
there it is, rockin for Jesuscalm. So you can see some things
there. All of the songs thatwe're talking about are on every
streaming, I think we're on 40Something streaming platforms.
(45:56):
So you could go there,regardless of what you're on,
you could go on there. OnFacebook, we are empowered on
Instagram, you can follow usit's empowered, official,
empowered, rockin for Jesusofficial. And on YouTube, on
YouTube, just look forempowered, official, or you
could just look at one of thesongs and the rest of the videos
(46:19):
that we've done, smooth acrossfor you. So it's been been, it's
been a blast. And that's
John Matarazzo (46:26):
good. I'll do one better for you. I'll make
sure that in the showdescription, I put links to your
main site so that people can goto their connections. That's
that's, that's trying to behelpful. Good, I see. Yeah, is
that it's good to catch up withyou and talk with you again, you
know, it's been like, like Isaid, just over a year, since
(46:47):
we've really taught, I mean,we've stayed connected. But, you
know, it's really cool to seewhat God's been doing in your
life and how, you know, he'sprovided more opportunities for
you, and you've been faithfulwith those to talk about Jesus,
you know, you won, that you wonthat competition, had the
opportunity to talk aboutyourself or talk about Jesus,
(47:08):
and you chose to talk aboutJesus, and, you know, open up
those doors and a little bit ofboth a little bit of both. But
of course, of course, you know,it's a
Benny DiChiara (47:15):
blessing to see what God's doing with you,
especially since the move to andI mean, you know, because it
goes beyond friendship at somepoint, right? You just, you
just, there's a joy when you seesomebody excelling and what God
has for them regarding whatthey're doing. And that's how it
should be in the body. Right, weshould be supportive, and amen,
(47:37):
in behind each other. And it'sbeen a blast to say, Man, I love
when we get the chance to hangup. It's been fun. Amen.
John Matarazzo (47:43):
Likewise, you know, I normally have my, my
along the way questions that Ikind of always wrap things up
with. But, Benny, I just want tothank you so much for being in
my life, and, you know, allowingme to join you along your way
for another time.
Benny DiChiara (47:56):
Yeah, same brother, I appreciate you more
than I can tell you find afriend, like Martha, that so
many people as what you need todo, your life on your way will
be will be changed. And I'm sureif they tuned in into all of
your podcasts. You know, it'sjust you're following God's
heart, man. And it's it'sawesome to watch and follow you
(48:17):
as well. So it's been, it's beena blast and a blessing.
John Matarazzo (48:20):
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for
listening to along the way. Ifyou've enjoyed joining me along
my way, please share this with afriend who you think will be
encouraged by this podcast.
Also, please rate and reviewalong the way on iTunes. That
helps more people discover alongthe way. And subscribe to this
podcast wherever you'relistening. You can follow me on
(48:41):
Facebook, Instagram, and on mywebsite along the way dot media.
I hope that you've enjoyed thispart of my journey. And may you
realize when Jesus is walkingwith you along your way. Along
the way is honored to be part ofthe charisma Podcast Network.
You can find tons of spiritfilled content from their vast
catalogue of podcasts, includingmy news stories with the
(49:03):
charisma news podcast. Go to CPNshows.com To see the full list
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