April 25, 2025 • 44 mins
The twenty-one years that kept Rob Richardson separated from his wife and their six sons were long enough. As he survived two decades at America's bloodiest penitentiary and his wife raised their sons solo, Rob and Fox never stopped fighting for freedom and for their futures against the statistical odds. All the while, it was love that carried them through. As they peel back the layers of their unforgettable love story, you'll discover the secrets of perseverance and the power of resilience that is founded on faith in a God who never gives up on us.
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S1 (00:00):
Hi friends, thank you so much for downloading this podcast
and it is my sincere hope that you'll hear something
that will equip you, edify you, encourage you, enlighten you,
and then gently but consistently push you out into the
marketplace of ideas where you can let your light so
shine before men and go and tell them the good news.
Before you listen to this podcast, let me just tell
you about this month's truth tool. It's called The Jesus Book,
(00:20):
written by pastor Jack Graham. I love it because he
really does recognize the fact that biblical literacy is declining,
and that a lot of people think that the Bible
is too complicated, that it's written for pastors or for scholars.
And yet, in truth, Jesus is there from Genesis to Revelation.
And that book was written for every single one of us.
We just need a better way to know how to
study God's Word. And that's exactly what the Jesus Book
(00:42):
is all about. So when you give a gift of
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(01:04):
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In the Market with Janet Parshall. Scroll to the bottom
of the page. Thanks so much for letting me take
a moment of your time. And now please enjoy the broadcast.
(01:28):
Hi friends, this is Janet Parshall. Thanks so much for
choosing to spend the next hour with us. Today's program
is prerecorded so our phone lines are not open. But
thanks so much for being with us and enjoy the broadcast.
S2 (01:39):
Here are some of the news headlines we're watching.
S3 (01:41):
The conference was over. The president won a pledge.
S4 (01:43):
Americans worshiping government over God.
S5 (01:45):
Extremely rare safety move by a mage.
S6 (01:48):
17 years. The Palestinians and Israelis negotiated a truce.
S1 (02:07):
Hi, friends. Welcome to In the Market with Janet Parshall.
Did you hear all that noise in the marketplace of ideas?
What a mess. And yet that is exactly where Jesus
told us to go. My prayer, he said to His
Father in John 17, is not that you take them
out of the world, but sanctify them with thy word.
Thy word is truth. So when you open up that
wonderful Word of God, those 66 inspired love letters, you
(02:31):
can find out a lot of good stuff. In fact,
you can find out particularly what love is. Everybody turns
to first Corinthians 13, right? The love chapter, The Way
of love. And you read these words and you think, wow, well,
it's really a picture of Christ's love for us when
you think about it. But listen to the attributes of love.
Love is patient and kind, does not envy or boast.
It's not arrogant or rude. It doesn't insist on its
(02:53):
own way. It's not irritable or resentful. It does not
rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Think about that.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things. Well, pull yourself a little closer to
the radio, because you're about to hear the story of
an enduring love that had to deal with an awful
(03:14):
lot of things. In most cases, you would say this
would have been the stuff that would tear a marriage apart.
But no, this couple is super glued at the hip
and God has worked in and for and through their lives,
and they are on a mission now, not only to
tell you how to have a good, solid marriage, but
also to deal with the offenses that are in the
criminal justice system. And there are many. And as followers
(03:35):
of Jesus Christ, this is something we should care about.
So they're known as Fox and Rob, but their real
names are Sibil Fox and Robert Richardson together as husband
and wife. They are Fox and Rob Richardson. They have
authored a book called Time The Untold Story of the
Love that Held us Together when Incarceration Kept us apart. Now,
I'm not going to tell you a whole lot as
(03:55):
I introduce them, because I want you to come to
know and love them as I have by watching their
Academy Award winning documentary called time. And reading their book
that bears the same title. Time as well. They join
us both by phone. Fox and Rob, what an honor.
I have been waiting to talk to the both of you.
Thank you for giving me the gift of your time.
And what a joy to spend the hour with you.
S7 (04:16):
Thank you so much for having me. It's all ours.
S1 (04:19):
Thank you so much. The book is written back and
forth between your two voices. And Rob, I want to
start with you, if I can, please. What made you
fall in love with Fox?
S7 (04:28):
Oh, man. It must have been the that beautiful smile
that she had on her face when she opened the door.
It was like, uh. It was like the gates of
heaven had opened. And all I could see was this.
This halo of light that just kind of came gleaming through.
And I was like, whoa. You know, it's kind of
one of those kind of moments. I was hooked ever since.
S1 (04:48):
Wow. Well, Fox, I would be remiss if I didn't
ask you the same question. What did you see in
this fella?
S8 (04:52):
I it wasn't even the seeing Janet. And before I
even go there, thank you so much for for blessing
us and giving us an opportunity, this opportunity to share
with your listening audience. Um, it was Bob's touch when
he held my hand for the first time. It was
like just the most soothing thing. I felt it all
(05:13):
the way to my soul. So it was his touch
for me that moved me most when I first met him.
S1 (05:19):
Wow. Wow. What I love so much about your story
is that you teach us the background. We deal with
a lot of presumptions in the culture, and one of
the things that I really resonated with was watching how
the two of you eventually marry. You have kids together now.
You are the parents of six sons, by the way.
That isn't easy for anybody. Pray for them while you're
raising six sons. Not easy, but. But what you wanted
(05:41):
to do was you wanted to start a business. A
clothing line in Shreveport. Sound really cool. You called it culture.
Tell me something about what your dream was for the store.
S7 (05:50):
The last part of the question asks what was your
tell us about the store.
S8 (05:54):
The vision was actually Rob's vision. He had lived on
the East Coast before moving back to Shreveport, and he
had seen all of these clothing lines that were coming
out that were designed by black designers. And so he
thought it would be cutting edge and innovative if we
did something like that. We both had an entrepreneurial spirit.
We always knew we wanted to have a little bit
(06:15):
of piece of something for our own that we could
pass on to our children. And he came up with this, um,
this he took this idea that he had seen working
on the East Coast and thought that we could try
it in small town Louisiana and be on the cutting
edge of fashion and hip hop. Um, the hip hop
music industry was just, um, taking it, taking its, um,
(06:36):
the taking to the forefront of society during that time.
It's the early 90s. And, um, and so I was like, wow,
that sounds great to me. It's better than a beauty
shop or just a barbershop. So let's go for it.
S1 (06:50):
And Rob, on that note, and thank you for reminding
me you actually were pursuing cosmetology. You were going to
learn to be a barber, is that right?
S7 (06:57):
That's correct. Wow.
S1 (07:00):
So go ahead.
S7 (07:02):
Go ahead. I'm listening.
S1 (07:04):
I was just going to say. So this was you
were trained in this, and that comes into play in
the story in a little bit. But also you had
this idea to really start the American dream, open a shop,
you're going to be able to sell your merchandise and
things are going to be great. As I understand it,
you were first time home owners at the same time,
and all of a sudden, you know, Thomas Jefferson said,
you don't own a home. A home owns you. I
(07:25):
think he was right. And things began to fall apart.
Tell me about that Fox. What was it like? Roof problems.
There were some other issues you had to deal with
and that cost money last time I checked.
S8 (07:36):
Oh my goodness, let me tell you. Rob and I
had spent ten years off and on dating. We had
three children between us, and finally God had gotten us
on course where we could build our family, um, on
a solid foundation of a union together and create a
real home and family life for our children because they
deserve that. And so I was so happy when we
(07:57):
first married Janet that I started filming. I wanted to
document it and the documentary time, it opens with me saying, um,
turning on the camera and saying, well, here's the rich family.
What do you think about that? I was so proud.
It was my happiest moment of all, to have finally
gotten this man to the altar to take my hand. Um,
(08:19):
and after, um, when I was 17, I was having
some trouble at home, and Rob asked me to marry him,
and I was like, boy, I've got to finish high school.
Are you crazy? He was in the Navy in Scotland
and wanted me to marry him and move over there.
And I was like, no. And then I've got to
go to college. And so never again in ten years
did he ask me until we married in 1997. So
(08:43):
I was not going to say no, I was not
going to delay. And we decided to elope so that
we could get a home. Um, we went to Kissimmee me. Saint.
Saint cloud, Florida and eloped at a small little wedding
chapel on the night of our union. We consummated it
by bungee jumping over the city of Orlando, and we
(09:04):
were off with our dreams. It was going to be
a wonderful life for us, finally. And. And then we
came home and put the deposit down on our business. And, um.
S5 (09:16):
Let me stop you there. I'll be. Wait.
S1 (09:17):
I'll be right back. Hang on. Friends. Ever feel intimidated
by the Bible? Unsure where to begin or how it
all fits together? Well, you're not alone. That's why I've
chosen the Jesus Book by Doctor Jack Graham as this
month's truth tool. Learn to unlock the timeless wisdom of
God's Word. As for your copy of the Jesus Book,
(09:38):
when you give a gift of any amount to in
the market, call eight 7758, that's eight 7758 or go
online to in the market with Janet Parshall Dot.
S5 (09:53):
This is such a powerful story.
S1 (09:55):
I'm hoping somebody will buy this book and turn it
into a movie, so that the heart of America can
be softened on this particular issue. It really and truly
is the story of enduring love, but it's also a
clarion call to really change the way our judicial system works.
The book is called Time The Untold Story of the
love that Held us together when incarceration Kept us apart.
Let me tell you, there's so much to Fox and
(10:16):
Rob Richardsons story that only because of the mandates of
the clock, I have to skip over some of this stuff.
But I want you to get enough of this so
that you'll go out and get a copy of the
book yourself. So we were talking Fox before that. You
get married, you come back, you've got this home, you've
got the American Dream, you've got the store. Rob, you're
being trained to be a barber. And real life comes
(10:37):
and shows up and all of a sudden now there's
a hole in the bucket and the money is draining
and you can't keep up. Tell me about that chapter
of your life, Rob. How bad was it?
S7 (10:47):
Oh, man, it was. It was terrible. Uh, everything that.
How is it that Murphy says that everything that could
have gone wrong went wrong? Uh, the house that we thought, uh,
that was the, uh, our dream home, the business that
we bought that we thought would be, uh, our family's legacy.
The house itself, uh, had a crack foundation, unbeknownst to us.
(11:08):
And the roof, uh, due to the add on, was also, um, uh,
cracked in the, uh, in the middle. And, boy, when
they say when it rains, it poured. Oh, man. It poured.
And everything that we had put into the house. New carpets, uh,
new paint, new furnishings, all of it, uh, was totally destroyed.
The business that we bought, uh, that we thought was, uh,
(11:28):
would be our family's legacy. We realized that we had
violated the, uh, three main rules of business, and that
is location, location, location. We had actually, uh, opened up
a hip hop clothing store in the middle of an industrial, uh, district. Uh, and. Oh, God,
you should have saw Fox and I standing out on
the corners trying to, uh, get passing traffic to stop
(11:51):
by and realize that we were a retail clothing shop.
Happening over there. And then on top of all of that, um,
our youngest son, uh, Lawrence, uh, took sick with an
undiagnosed ailment and started having seizures unannounced. And, uh, boy,
we just went, uh, the, uh, hospital bills, uh, started
piling up, and, uh, American Dream is pulled.
S8 (12:13):
Out on us. Yeah, the our investor pulled out on us. Um.
S7 (12:18):
That's right.
S8 (12:18):
I was teaching at the college. Uh, I just wanted
don't want you to forget these other ailments we had.
I was teaching at the college in Shreveport, and, uh,
at the end of the semester, they discontinued my program.
So I lost my job within our first six months
of marriage. Janet. It was. It was hell.
S9 (12:37):
Wow. Yes, indeed.
S7 (12:38):
And when they say the, uh, American Dream syndrome is
a is a real thing, it's not a hard science,
but considered a soft science nonetheless. And it's basically the
foolish desire to succeed at all costs. And even though
we were spiraling down. You know, in a downward, uh, trajectory, uh,
Fox and I wanted to, uh. Wanted to succeed. And
we made, uh, the foolish, uh, decision to think that
(13:01):
we could regain financial solvency by robbing a bank. Um, and, boy,
when I tell you that, um, that we didn't think
that it could get any darker before it got darker
and the bottom got deeper, uh.
S9 (13:13):
We we were at the. Oh my God.
S7 (13:16):
So, uh, when you when you ask, what was it like?
It was, uh, we were we were in the pits
of hell.
S1 (13:21):
Exactly. And once you made the statement, you make the
statement in the book and in the documentary that desperate
people do desperate things when everything else had failed. Every
other avenue that you could possibly pursue to get back
on your feet financially. You made this decision, and neither
one of you had any background in any criminal action
at all. I want to really underscore that for our friends.
(13:42):
So you make this decision, and I got to ask you.
So I'm sitting at the kitchen table, I'm having a
cup of coffee with you, and you go, this is
what we're going to do. We're going to rob a
bank to get out of this. This is what I
have to say. Okay. How do you think you're going
to get away from that? I mean, is that not
that they don't have security cameras? Some of them even
have guards. Why a bank? Why did you think this
was going to be the answer to your problems?
S7 (14:02):
Well, we came to the realization that if we were
going to rob anything, our corner store would basically garner
you the same amount of time for the most part.
We even thought that with a bank, a bank is
under federal guidelines. And with that being said that maybe
the the penalties might be different, but definitely if you
got away with it, that you would at least go
into a place that had some money in it. Uh,
(14:23):
crazy enough, I got to prison and I witnessed, you know,
guys that had robbed corner stores and, um, you know,
just some of the craziest of places and had, you know,
100 years, 200 years, uh, one guy robbed a barbershop
and got away with, I think, about $75. And, um,
ended up catching a armed robbery count for every person
(14:44):
that was inside of the barbershop. Based upon how our
state's laws are set up. So he was facing 99
years at a maximum for each person that was in
the barbershop. So he ended up with eight 789 years
of time for $75 that he that he that he
made away with in the, in the robbery. Uh, one thing, uh,
definitely is for sure, is that you will lose far
(15:06):
more in the, uh, in the commissions of crimes than
you'll ever gain, uh, from one. And, uh, we had
to learn that the hard way.
S1 (15:15):
Yes. That's such an important lesson. Fox, you were also
a part of this. You were deemed to be an accessory, right?
S8 (15:21):
Yes. I dropped my husband and his nephew off at
the bank on that day. Um, Janet. And as soon
as they got out of the car, um, my spirit
just dropped to the bottom of my feet. Um, because
I knew that this was not what God wanted for us.
This is not how we were raised. You know, this
is not the people that we are. But, um, it's
kind of like, I think one of the apostles that
(15:43):
was in the boat, and he took his eyes off
of Jesus and begin to sink. And so that was
what happens with us and with anybody. Our affliction just
happened to be incarceration. And but everybody in our society
is going through something. And no matter what you're going through,
when you take your eyes off of Jesus, we begin
to sink.
S1 (16:04):
Amen. Well, what a good word. Let me take a
break and come right back. And we'll begin this with
the incarceration. And I wanted people, you know, the Bible
says out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
And I want. You're talking to folks all across the country.
I know immediately they're sensing how much you love each other,
how much you care for each other, how you really
and truly did not have a criminal mind. You were
in a place of desperation and you made a bad choice.
(16:27):
And now when we come back, I want to hear
about what the trial was like. And then I want
to get to the sentencing, and then I want to
find out, because the super glue between the two of
you is you got Rob in prison, you do time also.
Fox how in the world do you keep a marriage
together when every statistic out there says that's it, done
buried over. Not going to happen. And for those brothers
and sisters who are listening to me right now behind bars,
(16:49):
and I know there are many of you, I want
you to be encouraged by this story. You're not alone,
and you are absolutely not forgotten back after this. What
(17:18):
a privilege to spend time with Fox and Robb Richardson.
They tell their story in the book they've co-authored called
Time The Untold Story of the Love that Held Us
Together when Incarceration Kept us Apart. You can also watch
the award winning documentary by the same name. And I
have to tell you, Fox, I when I watched it,
I had so many emotions, I cried like a baby.
I laughed out loud. I thought, boy, how brilliant you
(17:40):
were that you had this love affair with your phone
because you were able to record your life as a family.
And we got a chance to see the babies when
they were young and what you were going through, and
it's all laid out. You had no idea at the
time that God would use all of that footage to
be used as telling your story, which is powerful and amazing.
I want to go to the trial. So, Rob, if
I can start with you. Did you have an attorney?
(18:01):
Did you get a court appointed attorney? And you look
back now, what was that experience? Experience like being put
on trial?
S7 (18:10):
Yes. Well, I did actually have have an attorney when
we first started the trial. In fact, we all had
the same attorney. He was representing us all. We all
agreed to enter our guilty pleas, accept responsibility for, um,
for our transgressions, and, um, basically threw ourselves on the
mercy of the court, uh, pending a pre-sentence investigation. The
(18:33):
investigation came back, and as a result, uh, they recommended
that I go to, uh, what they called a boot
camp program. But it's in Louisiana. It's called the impact program,
and it's where you go through this boot camp style
of program. And then once you complete it successfully, assuming
that you complete it successfully after six months, you would
do the remainder of the sentence on, uh, on, uh, supervisor, um,
(18:55):
supervised parole. Uh, needless to say, the, uh, attorney came
in after hearing the pre-sentence investigation, thought that he could
get a better deal because in order for me to
qualify for the program, I would have had to get, uh,
a maximum of seven years, uh, for the, uh, for
the offense. Uh, and at the time, they were, they
had a plea bargain on the table for a 10
(19:17):
to 18 year, um, uh, sentence, uh, for, for me
in particular. And, uh, the lawyer, uh, called himself, uh,
working to try to get the sentence under seven years
and ultimately ended up fumbling the, uh, the plea bargain
that we had on the table for the 10 to
18 years. Subsequently, we ended up standing trial. Um, we
lost that trial. Uh, was subsequently sentenced to 60 years,
(19:43):
45 years, two seven year sentences, and a five year sentence, respectively. Uh,
my nephew Ontario, uh, who is, uh, who is also
a fox, and his co-defendant, uh, in the offense uh,
received 45 years as a first offender. Fox two seven
year sentences and a five year sentence, and myself receiving
a 60 year sentence. All this first offenders.
S1 (20:05):
Uh, I just I want my friends to just think
about that for a minute. You're not a hardened criminal.
This was your first offense. You go from a boot camp,
a shortened sentence, a plea bargain, and this turns into
61 years. It's it's absolutely stunning. Absolutely stunning. So, Fox,
let me ask you, was your trial run concurrent with Rob's?
(20:27):
Did you have a separate trial and what were you
finally sentenced to?
S8 (20:32):
Uh, actually, you would have to back up and know
that the district attorney in my matter, after sentencing my
husband to 60 years, knowing that we had four children,
but five children between us. I had become pregnant with
twins while Rob was home on bond. You know, just
interesting how God will give you light in the darkest
moment of your life. And, um, and so that moment
(20:56):
when my attorney, uh, my sister, um, scraped up some
money and gave it to me, loaned it to me
for a private attorney. And when he went to speak
to the district attorney in regards to my matter, the
district attorney thought that 40 years for me, dropping them
off at the bank was an appropriate sentence for my actions.
S1 (21:16):
Oh my word. And 40 years. Oh my word.
S8 (21:19):
40 years. 40 years as a first offender and a crime.
I mean, for dropping them off. That was my actions
in this. My involvement in this matter. And so for
him to say that, um, that that was what he
deemed as a responsible, um, punishment for me, um, which
just shows you how heinous the courts were, in Lincoln
(21:42):
Parish in Ruston, Louisiana. And so, um, I ended up
being able to negotiate down my lawyer said, I'm going
to keep talking to him. And finally they came back
with 12 years that I would do. 212, um, 212
year sentences and I think, like a five year sentence.
And finally we were able to get them to run
the five years in with the two, seven years all
(22:04):
together instead of separately. And so I would end up
serving three and a half years on good time and
being able to return home to our boys and then
take up the tremendous responsibility of working to continue to
restore my family and believe that, um, I had a girlfriend, Janet,
a couple of weeks ago that came over. Um, Rob
(22:24):
had cooked us breakfast and we were sharing with her
that six months after marriage, we found ourselves in all
of this, this, um, trouble. And she said to us, um,
I was also sharing with her that Rob had posed
a question to me that was one of the most
powerful ever. When he asked, he said, Fox, we when
we married, we took our vows, for better or for worse.
(22:46):
Did you think that the better was going to come first?
And you know, my mouth just dropped open. Janet, I said, yes,
I sure did. I thought we have at least good
ten years before we have any disruptions or the seven
year itch that everybody talks about. But out the gate, man.
Come on, cut me some slack here. And she says
(23:07):
to me, she says, wow, Fox. That must have been
a great six months, huh? I said, you know what?
That was so well said. It was such an amazing
six months that I would spend the next 21 years
of my life fighting to get back what God had
given me, that I had destroyed with my own hands.
S1 (23:26):
Oh, yes. Wow. So, Fox, you've got two babies beating
under your heart, and you've got a three and a
half year prison sentence. What happens to your babies? The
music's playing. So let me just ask you the question,
and I'll come back with the answer after the break.
But what happens when you're pregnant? Were you pregnant in prison?
Who watched the other babies while you were in prison?
And Fox. I also want to know from Rob what
(23:47):
it was like for you. How does somebody do what
at the time you think is going to be 60 years?
How does that happen? And then how in the midst
of all of this, you could be so self-focused because
you've both got prison sentences. The last thing you thought
was about each other, and yet what you just gave
testimony to Fox was no. Best six months ended up
(24:08):
having you hanged together through all those years of incarceration.
It is the story of love, enduring love. All of
this is in the book time, written by Fox and
Rob Richardson. More after this. Going through life with the
(24:28):
Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other
is essential for each of us on our walk with Christ.
And that's what we do on in the market. We
examine culture, interpret the headlines, and look at the news
from a biblical perspective. When you become a partial partner,
you're directly responsible for putting this program on the air.
Reaching men and women across America with the practical application
of God's Word. Become a partial partner today by calling
877 Janet 58 or go to in the market with
(24:51):
Janet Parshall. What a story of enduring love. Fox and
Rob Richardson are with me. Together they tell their story
in their new book, time. The Untold story of the
love that held us together when incarceration Kept us apart.
We're going to tell you more about some of the
work they do as we continue our conversation. But boy,
I'll tell you, this is absolutely riveting. Six months before
(25:13):
everything begins to fall apart. Not a criminal heart. Not
a criminal thought. Your desperate people trying to hold your
family together literally put a roof that doesn't leak over
your head and trying, as the Bible says, to look
well to the ways of your household and everything is
falling apart. Desperate people, as you said, Fox, do desperate things.
You end up thinking that robbing a bank is going
to get you the money you couldn't find anywhere else.
(25:34):
Horrible sentences come down. Fox. You end up with three
and a half and you rob, get 60. I want
to go to you, Fox. Because you were pregnant. Newly
pregnant with twins. What do you do? You've got these
other boys. You've got two baby boys beating under your heart,
and you're looking at a prison sentence. How do you
take care of your boys? And what happens when you're
a pregnant female inmate?
S8 (25:55):
You know, I think the challenge is my biggest prayer, Janet,
was when I found out. Well, one, I found out
that I was pregnant with twins when I was handcuffed
and shackled. I was in the parish jail going through
the process, and they took me from my first OBGYN appointment.
I had an armed guard on my side and an
armed guard outside of my door. Um, my feet and
(26:17):
my hands were shackled together when the, um, the obstetrician
did my ultrasound and two heads popped up on the
screen and all I could do was cry out and
think to myself that, God. For you to give me
something so amazing. I don't know anything about twins. Twins
don't run in my family. for you to give me
something this incredible, this miracle at the lowest point of
(26:40):
my life. To me, it was a sign from God
that even though you messed up, kid, I got you.
You're going to be all right. And so, um, when
I finished the ultrasound, they put you back in a
holding cell in the prison medical ward, and I stayed
in there in that sterile environment, and I said, I
prayed out. I called out to God. God, I'll do
(27:00):
whatever I've got to do to get past this. I'm
willing to take responsibility for whatever this turns out to be.
But please don't let me have my babies in handcuffs
and shackles. Because when you are a woman in the
state of Louisiana and you give birth, they shackle you
to a bed. Janet, can you imagine where is a
woman in labor going? And so that was my biggest cry.
(27:22):
Just God, deliver me from this and I'll deal with
everything else. And as God would have it, after they
finally shipped my husband to Angola, they, um, they did
not want and found out that I was pregnant with
the twins. They didn't want to be responsible for caring
for me during that pregnancy, and so they reduced my
bond from a half $1 million to $5000. And my mother,
(27:45):
bless her soul, put together enough change to bail me out. And,
and and as God would have it, my mother said
to me as ten months later they said, okay, well,
we want you to go to prison and do time.
I had been home after giving birth to the twins
for ten months and they said, well, now we're ready
for you to go to prison. And my mother said
(28:06):
to me, don't worry about me and those boys, Sybil.
We're going to be okay. You go on and do
what you have to do to get this behind you.
Thank God for Mother Shannon. My mother took care of
all of my children when I was shipped off to prison.
And the beautiful part about that, not just my mother,
but my community, came together for me. I moved past
(28:28):
the shame, and I reached out to all of the
elders in my community. My church family, and I shared
with them that I was about to leave and ask
them to please help my mother with my children. And
they did. They showed up and took my children to
the movies. They bought school clothes for my mother. They
took them to football games. They showed up for my
oldest son's school plays. So it is about a community
(28:51):
effort that helped me make it through the process. Now,
that's not common for women. I found when I got
to prison, and especially someone that had as many children
as I had, um, those women that were there, many
of them didn't even know where their children were. Janet.
They had lost them because they didn't have anybody to
care for them. So they didn't even know where their
(29:13):
children were. Others, their children were separated between relatives, a
cousin here or there, a grandmother over here, and could
only talk to them whenever someone would take their phone calls.
Because the only way, as an incarcerated person, that you
can have a conversation, even as an incarcerated parent is
(29:34):
if somebody is willing to pay for you to speak
to your children, and that is just not what God
would want for us in a civilized society, I believe.
So that is what happened for me. My mother took
responsibility for my children, and when we came home from prison,
when Rob was returned, we put together our change. And
instead of buying us a house, Janet, we restored my
(29:57):
mother's home, totally remodeled it from the top to the bottom,
and blessed her with it for her 75th birthday.
S1 (30:04):
Wow. Wow. Oh, so much richness there. The importance of family.
The importance of community. Unbelievable. Praise God he put all
those pieces in place so that you would be able
to do the work that had to be done. And, Rob,
that makes me say to you, okay, you know the
old adage, just do the time. You don't know what
God's got planned for your future. You don't know if
you're going to end up doing this full stint of
(30:25):
60 years. How do you do the time? How do
you not become angry and bitter and revengeful and all
of those things that would be perfectly natural, perfectly understandable.
And yet, you know, you've got two brand new baby
boys out there waiting for you, as well as a
wife who just think you hung the moon. How do
you do the time?
S7 (30:46):
Man, I guess in those moments I had to really
tap in and and think about, you know, people who
had been, you know, who had been in similar circumstances
as myself. Uh, first it started with, uh, with characters and, uh,
or subjects in the Bible. Uh, it made me think
about job, who had been, uh, who had been, you know,
strapped with, uh, insurmountable, uh, uh, suffering and affliction and, uh,
(31:09):
much like job, even in that moment, I was like,
you know, I was demanding answers. You know, I was like, God,
what is this all about? Uh, no different than Jesus,
who was on the cross, who was on the cross
again faced with insurmountable, uh, you know, affliction and suffering,
you know, and cried out and said, you know, if
the cup if you could pass this bitter cup, you know,
(31:30):
believe me, I wouldn't I wouldn't complain about it. But
like both of them, in those moments, you know, I
had to trust the wisdom of God. Uh, it was
in that moment that I was humbled. And then I
had to tap in. I realized then, in that in
the quiet of, uh, of those moments that I started
realizing that I come from a people, uh, who had
endured over 400 years of chattel slavery in the Americas,
(31:53):
and they had figured out how to overcome, uh, chattel slavery.
And I know that prison as a as a result
of the 13th amendment, when you are duly convicted of
a crime, it is the only time that the abolishment
of slavery is reinforced. Uh, so I realize that in
that moment that I had the blood, the DNA of
(32:14):
those people who had overcome over 400 years of chattel
slavery running through my veins. And with that being said,
I trust I trust God in the process. I started
realizing that this was this was bigger than me. It
wasn't about the judge. It wasn't about the district attorney.
It wasn't about me. It wasn't about my bad decisions.
It wasn't about any of those things. This, for me,
(32:37):
was a test from God and an opportunity for God
to perform a miracle for all of the world to see. Uh,
we come in contact with one of the first stories, uh,
in the Bible, when we hear Joseph, who goes off
to prison for. No, no fault of his own. Uh,
do about 12 to 13 years before, uh, before receiving relief.
(32:58):
And when he was, uh, when he was relieved of
that prison sentence, uh, Joseph became only second to the king. Now,
I am in no way saying that we became second
to the governor who pardoned us. But when you think
about when you go from the pits of hell in
one of the bloodiest penitentiaries in America, and then you
find yourself on the red carpet of the of the
(33:19):
most exclusive Oscars ever.
S10 (33:21):
Mhm, mhm. Wow.
S7 (33:22):
It is in that moment that you realize the meaning
for your suffering. You know, you realize that God is
real and you realize that this was so much more
bigger than you. It was so much bigger than than Fox.
It was so much bigger than our family. And we
all were. We all were being tested in that moment
and we rose to the occasion. Our children went on
(33:44):
to do some exceptional things. For those that don't know,
when you are a child of an incarcerated parent, you
yourself are nine times more likely to wind up in
prison yourself as a result of having a parent there.
Our children had both of us there, so I don't
know if that means that they were twice that time
likely to end up in prison themselves, but instead they
ended up as doctors. They ended up as a 23
(34:08):
year old young men working in our nation's capital as, uh, as, uh, chief. Uh,
chief advisers, uh, operating officers. I'm sorry. Uh, they end
up serving our country honorably. Two of them. Uh, another
ends up graduating high school, uh, finishing high school at
16 and wrapping up and heading off to, uh, to
(34:28):
to pick up with his collegiate studies at 16, as
did his other three youngest brothers right above him. So
when you look at all of those things, we defied
the odds.
S10 (34:40):
Wow. It was.
S7 (34:41):
It was God's work.
S1 (34:43):
Yeah. Yeah. Wow. The attitude, the attitude. Understanding the perspective
that you had to take. Hitting God's word, looking at
what he tells you to do and making the right
choice every single day. About the attitude. Is it easy?
Absolutely not. But whether you're whether you're behind bars or not,
that is exactly a prison of our own construction. You
keep choosing the wrong attitude, and I don't know how
(35:03):
God's going to bless you. He can't open those doors
of opportunity. Let me take a break. And when I
come back, I still want to talk about the Rich
Family Ministries. And I absolutely want to talk about, excuse me,
the participatory participatory defense movement, because I think this is
where the church capital C rises up and says, wait
a minute. Book of Amos says you're supposed to seek
(35:23):
justice in the courts when you have a 60 year
sentence for a first time offense. That's not right. Just
get in front of your computer. Google. First time offense.
Armed robbery. See what the average sentencing is across the country.
And you're going to realize that this was way out
of the ballpark. Why? And isn't it about not recidivism?
How many people go back to prison again? Isn't it
(35:46):
about restoration? Isn't it what this is supposed to be? Yeah,
you do the crime, you do the time. I get it.
But it isn't about taking people and throwing them on
the ash heap of history. It's about redeeming them. And
that's what this story is really all about. Redemption. Back
after this. We're visiting with Fox and Rob Richardson. Together
(36:19):
they founded the Rich Family Ministries, and they also participate
in the Nola chapter of Participatory Defense movement. That's an
initiative that was started by their ministry. Their story is
told in their new book, time. The Untold Story of
the love that Held us together when incarceration Kept us apart.
So if I can, because I want to get to
the ministry. But. But Rob gave us a hint when
(36:41):
he talked about the governor and what he did to
mitigate that sentence in the end. How many years did
you serve and how many years did Rob serve?
S8 (36:50):
I served three and a half years and Rob served
21 years and four days. Janet.
S10 (36:57):
Mhm. Wow.
S1 (36:58):
And you counted every single one of them came home,
created a space in the dresser, burned that cutout you
had of him, they had on the wall so you
could look at him every single day. And he was
finally home. What a day that was. But what what
I want to do. And the boys have turned out
just because of God's grace, his mercy and your commitment
to each other. Unbelievable. You're videotaping Fox. You're sending it on.
(37:20):
You're taking those phone calls to be restricted from communicating
with a man that you love to a couple of
phone calls a month just defies imagination for anyone who
hasn't lived through that. They don't know what a pain
and a torture it is when somebody you love is institutionalized.
They're there, just cast aside, and it's absolutely horrific. But
you want to deal with this idea that there really
is some some injustice when it comes to sentencing. And
(37:43):
this aggressive prosecutor who decided that they would throw 60
years at a first time offender is absolutely stunning. But
you believe that you can change the laws. And I
want our friends to hear your language change lives and
laws through love. You're not marching through the streets with
a raised fist. You're doing it through the power of love.
That same love I referenced in first Corinthians 13. Tell
(38:04):
me about the initiative and what are you hoping to do?
S8 (38:07):
Love is the most divine chemical in the universe, Janet,
and it dissolves everything that is not of itself. And
it is that love that is in Corinthians that we
speak of. And that is what I have found to
be the most powerful tool in my toolbox. And so
when Rob came home, we launched our ministry because we
understood that to be free is to free others. What
(38:29):
God had done for us, we had a responsibility to
do for other families. Louisiana leads the world in incarceration
and New Orleans leads Louisiana. We lock up more people
here per capita than any other place on the planet Earth.
And so I had discovered in my, um, in my advocacy,
a model called participatory defense out of Silicon Valley. Um,
(38:55):
Silicon Valley debug. And that model teaches families what Rob
and I had learned instinctively over 21 years, how to
participate in your own defense. How for families to be
strengthened and present themselves to the courts to reduce harm.
How to seek forgiveness in the process and bring about
(39:15):
healing between the victims and the offenders. Um, and so
that is what we did is launch a hub called
participatory defense Movement. Nola. PDM Nola. Org is our website
and we teach legal awareness to families that are justice
involved in our efforts to reduce harm and provide them
with the support and love of God as they are
(39:38):
going through this process. Because we clearly understand we are
more than the worst thing that we have ever done.
We are still God's children.
S10 (39:48):
Yeah. Amen. Wow.
S8 (39:50):
So so how we judge our success also, just so
you know, and your listeners will know how we judge judge,
the success of the work that we do is based
upon how much time we save a person from spending
in prison versus how much time they actually serve. And
since we started our work in April of 2019, we
have saved over 3300 years of time behind bars.
S10 (40:15):
Ooh! Wow.
S8 (40:17):
Taxpayers dollars. That's keeping families together. No one that we
have helped has gone back to prison. And that's what
we want as a society. We are one hub of
40 hubs across this country doing this work.
S1 (40:31):
Yeah, exactly. So, Fox, let me go to you because
it's so clear in the documentary, the excruciating pain of loneliness,
of not being with Rob, that separation the state now
controls how often you can even communicate with your husband.
The statistics were not on your side. They haven't been
on your side for any part of your story. As
Rob pointed out before that research about the propensity for
(40:53):
children of those who've been incarcerated to likewise themselves become
incarcerated unless God intercedes. And that's what happened in your story.
But how did you keep love alive? I'm sure there
were all kinds of people who said, hey, you're out
in three and a half. He's doing 60. Walk away,
start a new life. You didn't do that. That was
a choice of your will. Where did that strength come from?
And why did you make that choice?
S8 (41:15):
Did you say that was for me, Janet? Because really,
Rob would be the one to answer that question then.
S10 (41:21):
Okay, Rob.
S8 (41:21):
God had him in a marriage and family counseling course
during the most challenging time of our marriage.
S10 (41:28):
Really? So tell me about that, Rob.
S7 (41:30):
They say it best that, uh, when when you, uh,
the closing parts of your nuptials and that is, is
when it says that what God has put together let
no man put or take asunder. Uh, Fox uh, probably
maybe the 13th, 14th year of, uh, of our of
our marriage, uh, maybe even a year or two sooner
than that had, uh, really, um, you know, had really,
(41:52):
you know, hit the wall, you know, as it related
to because everything that she thought that a husband should be,
I was not. A husband should be present. Husbands should
be there to protect. Husbands should be there to provide.
Husbands should be there to teach discipline and all of
those things. And a lot of those things. In her mind,
at that moment, I was not. Um, and she attempted to, uh, to, uh,
(42:15):
to file for a divorce. Well, she didn't attempt to.
She actually filed for a divorce. Uh, and maybe about
a year or so later, I think the paperwork, the
finality of it, finally hit. But even as she was
waiting on the finality, she continued to come back and
forth to the prison. She continued to visit. She continued to, uh, to,
you know, have phone calls with me and, uh, spend
(42:39):
time with me. Um, but it was in that moment,
I guess, that we both came to the realization. She
for sure came to the realization that what God had
put together, it was not her. It was not for
her or I to undo. And just so happened, as
Fox may have mentioned, I was in a loving, um,
in a marriage and family counseling class, uh, at the time. And, uh,
(42:59):
during my, uh, my seminary studies, the New Orleans Baptist
Theological Seminary has an extension center that is, that is
at Angola Prison, where they offer two and four year
degrees in pastoral, uh, in Christian, uh, pastoral counseling and
Christian ministry, for which I took up with. And in
there we were reading a book on, um, uh, Gary Smalley,
(43:21):
Making Love Last Forever. And one of the biggest takeaways
that I had in the book was when he likened
love relations to that of a bank account, and he said,
the same objective holds true you have to place far
more deposits than the withdrawals that you're going to make
from time to time. And we had become we had
become dead set on placing the deposits needed in our
(43:44):
relationship to ensure that it would sustain itself.
S10 (43:48):
Wow.
S1 (43:49):
Rob, I got to tell you, we started out talking
about poverty and struggling. You ended up this story by
telling me you were a rich man. You've got all
kinds of deposits in that bank account. And I'll tell you,
those are treasures. Immeasurable. What a story of commitment, of justice,
of perseverance, of choosing the attitude of pushing into God,
of allowing the Holy Spirit to lead, of being faithful
(44:10):
to God, faithful to each other, faithful to your family.
May God throw open wide the doors of opportunities for
you and your ministry. Blessings to you both.
Hi friends, thank you so much for downloading this podcast
and it is my sincere hope that you'll hear something
that will equip you, edify you, encourage you, enlighten you,
and then gently but consistently push you out into the
marketplace of ideas where you can let your light so
shine before men and go and tell them the good news.
Before you listen to this podcast, let me just tell
you about this month's truth tool. It's called The Jesus Book,
(00:20):
written by pastor Jack Graham. I love it because he
really does recognize the fact that biblical literacy is declining,
and that a lot of people think that the Bible
is too complicated, that it's written for pastors or for scholars.
And yet, in truth, Jesus is there from Genesis to Revelation.
And that book was written for every single one of us.
We just need a better way to know how to
study God's Word. And that's exactly what the Jesus Book
(00:42):
is all about. So when you give a gift of
any amount this month, I'm going to give you a
copy of the Jesus Book by doctor Jack Graham. Just
call 877 Janet 58. That's 877 Janet 58 or give
online to in the market with Janet Parshall. Also consider
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(01:04):
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In the Market with Janet Parshall. Scroll to the bottom
of the page. Thanks so much for letting me take
a moment of your time. And now please enjoy the broadcast.
(01:28):
Hi friends, this is Janet Parshall. Thanks so much for
choosing to spend the next hour with us. Today's program
is prerecorded so our phone lines are not open. But
thanks so much for being with us and enjoy the broadcast.
S2 (01:39):
Here are some of the news headlines we're watching.
S3 (01:41):
The conference was over. The president won a pledge.
S4 (01:43):
Americans worshiping government over God.
S5 (01:45):
Extremely rare safety move by a mage.
S6 (01:48):
17 years. The Palestinians and Israelis negotiated a truce.
S1 (02:07):
Hi, friends. Welcome to In the Market with Janet Parshall.
Did you hear all that noise in the marketplace of ideas?
What a mess. And yet that is exactly where Jesus
told us to go. My prayer, he said to His
Father in John 17, is not that you take them
out of the world, but sanctify them with thy word.
Thy word is truth. So when you open up that
wonderful Word of God, those 66 inspired love letters, you
(02:31):
can find out a lot of good stuff. In fact,
you can find out particularly what love is. Everybody turns
to first Corinthians 13, right? The love chapter, The Way
of love. And you read these words and you think, wow, well,
it's really a picture of Christ's love for us when
you think about it. But listen to the attributes of love.
Love is patient and kind, does not envy or boast.
It's not arrogant or rude. It doesn't insist on its
(02:53):
own way. It's not irritable or resentful. It does not
rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Think about that.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things. Well, pull yourself a little closer to
the radio, because you're about to hear the story of
an enduring love that had to deal with an awful
(03:14):
lot of things. In most cases, you would say this
would have been the stuff that would tear a marriage apart.
But no, this couple is super glued at the hip
and God has worked in and for and through their lives,
and they are on a mission now, not only to
tell you how to have a good, solid marriage, but
also to deal with the offenses that are in the
criminal justice system. And there are many. And as followers
(03:35):
of Jesus Christ, this is something we should care about.
So they're known as Fox and Rob, but their real
names are Sibil Fox and Robert Richardson together as husband
and wife. They are Fox and Rob Richardson. They have
authored a book called Time The Untold Story of the
Love that Held us Together when Incarceration Kept us apart. Now,
I'm not going to tell you a whole lot as
(03:55):
I introduce them, because I want you to come to
know and love them as I have by watching their
Academy Award winning documentary called time. And reading their book
that bears the same title. Time as well. They join
us both by phone. Fox and Rob, what an honor.
I have been waiting to talk to the both of you.
Thank you for giving me the gift of your time.
And what a joy to spend the hour with you.
S7 (04:16):
Thank you so much for having me. It's all ours.
S1 (04:19):
Thank you so much. The book is written back and
forth between your two voices. And Rob, I want to
start with you, if I can, please. What made you
fall in love with Fox?
S7 (04:28):
Oh, man. It must have been the that beautiful smile
that she had on her face when she opened the door.
It was like, uh. It was like the gates of
heaven had opened. And all I could see was this.
This halo of light that just kind of came gleaming through.
And I was like, whoa. You know, it's kind of
one of those kind of moments. I was hooked ever since.
S1 (04:48):
Wow. Well, Fox, I would be remiss if I didn't
ask you the same question. What did you see in
this fella?
S8 (04:52):
I it wasn't even the seeing Janet. And before I
even go there, thank you so much for for blessing
us and giving us an opportunity, this opportunity to share
with your listening audience. Um, it was Bob's touch when
he held my hand for the first time. It was
like just the most soothing thing. I felt it all
(05:13):
the way to my soul. So it was his touch
for me that moved me most when I first met him.
S1 (05:19):
Wow. Wow. What I love so much about your story
is that you teach us the background. We deal with
a lot of presumptions in the culture, and one of
the things that I really resonated with was watching how
the two of you eventually marry. You have kids together now.
You are the parents of six sons, by the way.
That isn't easy for anybody. Pray for them while you're
raising six sons. Not easy, but. But what you wanted
(05:41):
to do was you wanted to start a business. A
clothing line in Shreveport. Sound really cool. You called it culture.
Tell me something about what your dream was for the store.
S7 (05:50):
The last part of the question asks what was your
tell us about the store.
S8 (05:54):
The vision was actually Rob's vision. He had lived on
the East Coast before moving back to Shreveport, and he
had seen all of these clothing lines that were coming
out that were designed by black designers. And so he
thought it would be cutting edge and innovative if we
did something like that. We both had an entrepreneurial spirit.
We always knew we wanted to have a little bit
(06:15):
of piece of something for our own that we could
pass on to our children. And he came up with this, um,
this he took this idea that he had seen working
on the East Coast and thought that we could try
it in small town Louisiana and be on the cutting
edge of fashion and hip hop. Um, the hip hop
music industry was just, um, taking it, taking its, um,
(06:36):
the taking to the forefront of society during that time.
It's the early 90s. And, um, and so I was like, wow,
that sounds great to me. It's better than a beauty
shop or just a barbershop. So let's go for it.
S1 (06:50):
And Rob, on that note, and thank you for reminding
me you actually were pursuing cosmetology. You were going to
learn to be a barber, is that right?
S7 (06:57):
That's correct. Wow.
S1 (07:00):
So go ahead.
S7 (07:02):
Go ahead. I'm listening.
S1 (07:04):
I was just going to say. So this was you
were trained in this, and that comes into play in
the story in a little bit. But also you had
this idea to really start the American dream, open a shop,
you're going to be able to sell your merchandise and
things are going to be great. As I understand it,
you were first time home owners at the same time,
and all of a sudden, you know, Thomas Jefferson said,
you don't own a home. A home owns you. I
(07:25):
think he was right. And things began to fall apart.
Tell me about that Fox. What was it like? Roof problems.
There were some other issues you had to deal with
and that cost money last time I checked.
S8 (07:36):
Oh my goodness, let me tell you. Rob and I
had spent ten years off and on dating. We had
three children between us, and finally God had gotten us
on course where we could build our family, um, on
a solid foundation of a union together and create a
real home and family life for our children because they
deserve that. And so I was so happy when we
(07:57):
first married Janet that I started filming. I wanted to
document it and the documentary time, it opens with me saying, um,
turning on the camera and saying, well, here's the rich family.
What do you think about that? I was so proud.
It was my happiest moment of all, to have finally
gotten this man to the altar to take my hand. Um,
(08:19):
and after, um, when I was 17, I was having
some trouble at home, and Rob asked me to marry him,
and I was like, boy, I've got to finish high school.
Are you crazy? He was in the Navy in Scotland
and wanted me to marry him and move over there.
And I was like, no. And then I've got to
go to college. And so never again in ten years
did he ask me until we married in 1997. So
(08:43):
I was not going to say no, I was not
going to delay. And we decided to elope so that
we could get a home. Um, we went to Kissimmee me. Saint.
Saint cloud, Florida and eloped at a small little wedding
chapel on the night of our union. We consummated it
by bungee jumping over the city of Orlando, and we
(09:04):
were off with our dreams. It was going to be
a wonderful life for us, finally. And. And then we
came home and put the deposit down on our business. And, um.
S5 (09:16):
Let me stop you there. I'll be. Wait.
S1 (09:17):
I'll be right back. Hang on. Friends. Ever feel intimidated
by the Bible? Unsure where to begin or how it
all fits together? Well, you're not alone. That's why I've
chosen the Jesus Book by Doctor Jack Graham as this
month's truth tool. Learn to unlock the timeless wisdom of
God's Word. As for your copy of the Jesus Book,
(09:38):
when you give a gift of any amount to in
the market, call eight 7758, that's eight 7758 or go
online to in the market with Janet Parshall Dot.
S5 (09:53):
This is such a powerful story.
S1 (09:55):
I'm hoping somebody will buy this book and turn it
into a movie, so that the heart of America can
be softened on this particular issue. It really and truly
is the story of enduring love, but it's also a
clarion call to really change the way our judicial system works.
The book is called Time The Untold Story of the
love that Held us together when incarceration Kept us apart.
Let me tell you, there's so much to Fox and
(10:16):
Rob Richardsons story that only because of the mandates of
the clock, I have to skip over some of this stuff.
But I want you to get enough of this so
that you'll go out and get a copy of the
book yourself. So we were talking Fox before that. You
get married, you come back, you've got this home, you've
got the American Dream, you've got the store. Rob, you're
being trained to be a barber. And real life comes
(10:37):
and shows up and all of a sudden now there's
a hole in the bucket and the money is draining
and you can't keep up. Tell me about that chapter
of your life, Rob. How bad was it?
S7 (10:47):
Oh, man, it was. It was terrible. Uh, everything that.
How is it that Murphy says that everything that could
have gone wrong went wrong? Uh, the house that we thought, uh,
that was the, uh, our dream home, the business that
we bought that we thought would be, uh, our family's legacy.
The house itself, uh, had a crack foundation, unbeknownst to us.
(11:08):
And the roof, uh, due to the add on, was also, um, uh,
cracked in the, uh, in the middle. And, boy, when
they say when it rains, it poured. Oh, man. It poured.
And everything that we had put into the house. New carpets, uh,
new paint, new furnishings, all of it, uh, was totally destroyed.
The business that we bought, uh, that we thought was, uh,
(11:28):
would be our family's legacy. We realized that we had
violated the, uh, three main rules of business, and that
is location, location, location. We had actually, uh, opened up
a hip hop clothing store in the middle of an industrial, uh, district. Uh, and. Oh, God,
you should have saw Fox and I standing out on
the corners trying to, uh, get passing traffic to stop
(11:51):
by and realize that we were a retail clothing shop.
Happening over there. And then on top of all of that, um,
our youngest son, uh, Lawrence, uh, took sick with an
undiagnosed ailment and started having seizures unannounced. And, uh, boy,
we just went, uh, the, uh, hospital bills, uh, started
piling up, and, uh, American Dream is pulled.
S8 (12:13):
Out on us. Yeah, the our investor pulled out on us. Um.
S7 (12:18):
That's right.
S8 (12:18):
I was teaching at the college. Uh, I just wanted
don't want you to forget these other ailments we had.
I was teaching at the college in Shreveport, and, uh,
at the end of the semester, they discontinued my program.
So I lost my job within our first six months
of marriage. Janet. It was. It was hell.
S9 (12:37):
Wow. Yes, indeed.
S7 (12:38):
And when they say the, uh, American Dream syndrome is
a is a real thing, it's not a hard science,
but considered a soft science nonetheless. And it's basically the
foolish desire to succeed at all costs. And even though
we were spiraling down. You know, in a downward, uh, trajectory, uh,
Fox and I wanted to, uh. Wanted to succeed. And
we made, uh, the foolish, uh, decision to think that
(13:01):
we could regain financial solvency by robbing a bank. Um, and, boy,
when I tell you that, um, that we didn't think
that it could get any darker before it got darker
and the bottom got deeper, uh.
S9 (13:13):
We we were at the. Oh my God.
S7 (13:16):
So, uh, when you when you ask, what was it like?
It was, uh, we were we were in the pits
of hell.
S1 (13:21):
Exactly. And once you made the statement, you make the
statement in the book and in the documentary that desperate
people do desperate things when everything else had failed. Every
other avenue that you could possibly pursue to get back
on your feet financially. You made this decision, and neither
one of you had any background in any criminal action
at all. I want to really underscore that for our friends.
(13:42):
So you make this decision, and I got to ask you.
So I'm sitting at the kitchen table, I'm having a
cup of coffee with you, and you go, this is
what we're going to do. We're going to rob a
bank to get out of this. This is what I
have to say. Okay. How do you think you're going
to get away from that? I mean, is that not
that they don't have security cameras? Some of them even
have guards. Why a bank? Why did you think this
was going to be the answer to your problems?
S7 (14:02):
Well, we came to the realization that if we were
going to rob anything, our corner store would basically garner
you the same amount of time for the most part.
We even thought that with a bank, a bank is
under federal guidelines. And with that being said that maybe
the the penalties might be different, but definitely if you
got away with it, that you would at least go
into a place that had some money in it. Uh,
(14:23):
crazy enough, I got to prison and I witnessed, you know,
guys that had robbed corner stores and, um, you know,
just some of the craziest of places and had, you know,
100 years, 200 years, uh, one guy robbed a barbershop
and got away with, I think, about $75. And, um,
ended up catching a armed robbery count for every person
(14:44):
that was inside of the barbershop. Based upon how our
state's laws are set up. So he was facing 99
years at a maximum for each person that was in
the barbershop. So he ended up with eight 789 years
of time for $75 that he that he that he
made away with in the, in the robbery. Uh, one thing, uh,
definitely is for sure, is that you will lose far
(15:06):
more in the, uh, in the commissions of crimes than
you'll ever gain, uh, from one. And, uh, we had
to learn that the hard way.
S1 (15:15):
Yes. That's such an important lesson. Fox, you were also
a part of this. You were deemed to be an accessory, right?
S8 (15:21):
Yes. I dropped my husband and his nephew off at
the bank on that day. Um, Janet. And as soon
as they got out of the car, um, my spirit
just dropped to the bottom of my feet. Um, because
I knew that this was not what God wanted for us.
This is not how we were raised. You know, this
is not the people that we are. But, um, it's
kind of like, I think one of the apostles that
(15:43):
was in the boat, and he took his eyes off
of Jesus and begin to sink. And so that was
what happens with us and with anybody. Our affliction just
happened to be incarceration. And but everybody in our society
is going through something. And no matter what you're going through,
when you take your eyes off of Jesus, we begin
to sink.
S1 (16:04):
Amen. Well, what a good word. Let me take a
break and come right back. And we'll begin this with
the incarceration. And I wanted people, you know, the Bible
says out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
And I want. You're talking to folks all across the country.
I know immediately they're sensing how much you love each other,
how much you care for each other, how you really
and truly did not have a criminal mind. You were
in a place of desperation and you made a bad choice.
(16:27):
And now when we come back, I want to hear
about what the trial was like. And then I want
to get to the sentencing, and then I want to
find out, because the super glue between the two of
you is you got Rob in prison, you do time also.
Fox how in the world do you keep a marriage
together when every statistic out there says that's it, done
buried over. Not going to happen. And for those brothers
and sisters who are listening to me right now behind bars,
(16:49):
and I know there are many of you, I want
you to be encouraged by this story. You're not alone,
and you are absolutely not forgotten back after this. What
(17:18):
a privilege to spend time with Fox and Robb Richardson.
They tell their story in the book they've co-authored called
Time The Untold Story of the Love that Held Us
Together when Incarceration Kept us Apart. You can also watch
the award winning documentary by the same name. And I
have to tell you, Fox, I when I watched it,
I had so many emotions, I cried like a baby.
I laughed out loud. I thought, boy, how brilliant you
(17:40):
were that you had this love affair with your phone
because you were able to record your life as a family.
And we got a chance to see the babies when
they were young and what you were going through, and
it's all laid out. You had no idea at the
time that God would use all of that footage to
be used as telling your story, which is powerful and amazing.
I want to go to the trial. So, Rob, if
I can start with you. Did you have an attorney?
(18:01):
Did you get a court appointed attorney? And you look
back now, what was that experience? Experience like being put
on trial?
S7 (18:10):
Yes. Well, I did actually have have an attorney when
we first started the trial. In fact, we all had
the same attorney. He was representing us all. We all
agreed to enter our guilty pleas, accept responsibility for, um,
for our transgressions, and, um, basically threw ourselves on the
mercy of the court, uh, pending a pre-sentence investigation. The
(18:33):
investigation came back, and as a result, uh, they recommended
that I go to, uh, what they called a boot
camp program. But it's in Louisiana. It's called the impact program,
and it's where you go through this boot camp style
of program. And then once you complete it successfully, assuming
that you complete it successfully after six months, you would
do the remainder of the sentence on, uh, on, uh, supervisor, um,
(18:55):
supervised parole. Uh, needless to say, the, uh, attorney came
in after hearing the pre-sentence investigation, thought that he could
get a better deal because in order for me to
qualify for the program, I would have had to get, uh,
a maximum of seven years, uh, for the, uh, for
the offense. Uh, and at the time, they were, they
had a plea bargain on the table for a 10
(19:17):
to 18 year, um, uh, sentence, uh, for, for me
in particular. And, uh, the lawyer, uh, called himself, uh,
working to try to get the sentence under seven years
and ultimately ended up fumbling the, uh, the plea bargain
that we had on the table for the 10 to
18 years. Subsequently, we ended up standing trial. Um, we
lost that trial. Uh, was subsequently sentenced to 60 years,
(19:43):
45 years, two seven year sentences, and a five year sentence, respectively. Uh,
my nephew Ontario, uh, who is, uh, who is also
a fox, and his co-defendant, uh, in the offense uh,
received 45 years as a first offender. Fox two seven
year sentences and a five year sentence, and myself receiving
a 60 year sentence. All this first offenders.
S1 (20:05):
Uh, I just I want my friends to just think
about that for a minute. You're not a hardened criminal.
This was your first offense. You go from a boot camp,
a shortened sentence, a plea bargain, and this turns into
61 years. It's it's absolutely stunning. Absolutely stunning. So, Fox,
let me ask you, was your trial run concurrent with Rob's?
(20:27):
Did you have a separate trial and what were you
finally sentenced to?
S8 (20:32):
Uh, actually, you would have to back up and know
that the district attorney in my matter, after sentencing my
husband to 60 years, knowing that we had four children,
but five children between us. I had become pregnant with
twins while Rob was home on bond. You know, just
interesting how God will give you light in the darkest
moment of your life. And, um, and so that moment
(20:56):
when my attorney, uh, my sister, um, scraped up some
money and gave it to me, loaned it to me
for a private attorney. And when he went to speak
to the district attorney in regards to my matter, the
district attorney thought that 40 years for me, dropping them
off at the bank was an appropriate sentence for my actions.
S1 (21:16):
Oh my word. And 40 years. Oh my word.
S8 (21:19):
40 years. 40 years as a first offender and a crime.
I mean, for dropping them off. That was my actions
in this. My involvement in this matter. And so for
him to say that, um, that that was what he
deemed as a responsible, um, punishment for me, um, which
just shows you how heinous the courts were, in Lincoln
(21:42):
Parish in Ruston, Louisiana. And so, um, I ended up
being able to negotiate down my lawyer said, I'm going
to keep talking to him. And finally they came back
with 12 years that I would do. 212, um, 212
year sentences and I think, like a five year sentence.
And finally we were able to get them to run
the five years in with the two, seven years all
(22:04):
together instead of separately. And so I would end up
serving three and a half years on good time and
being able to return home to our boys and then
take up the tremendous responsibility of working to continue to
restore my family and believe that, um, I had a girlfriend, Janet,
a couple of weeks ago that came over. Um, Rob
(22:24):
had cooked us breakfast and we were sharing with her
that six months after marriage, we found ourselves in all
of this, this, um, trouble. And she said to us, um,
I was also sharing with her that Rob had posed
a question to me that was one of the most
powerful ever. When he asked, he said, Fox, we when
we married, we took our vows, for better or for worse.
(22:46):
Did you think that the better was going to come first?
And you know, my mouth just dropped open. Janet, I said, yes,
I sure did. I thought we have at least good
ten years before we have any disruptions or the seven
year itch that everybody talks about. But out the gate, man.
Come on, cut me some slack here. And she says
(23:07):
to me, she says, wow, Fox. That must have been
a great six months, huh? I said, you know what?
That was so well said. It was such an amazing
six months that I would spend the next 21 years
of my life fighting to get back what God had
given me, that I had destroyed with my own hands.
S1 (23:26):
Oh, yes. Wow. So, Fox, you've got two babies beating
under your heart, and you've got a three and a
half year prison sentence. What happens to your babies? The
music's playing. So let me just ask you the question,
and I'll come back with the answer after the break.
But what happens when you're pregnant? Were you pregnant in prison?
Who watched the other babies while you were in prison?
And Fox. I also want to know from Rob what
(23:47):
it was like for you. How does somebody do what
at the time you think is going to be 60 years?
How does that happen? And then how in the midst
of all of this, you could be so self-focused because
you've both got prison sentences. The last thing you thought
was about each other, and yet what you just gave
testimony to Fox was no. Best six months ended up
(24:08):
having you hanged together through all those years of incarceration.
It is the story of love, enduring love. All of
this is in the book time, written by Fox and
Rob Richardson. More after this. Going through life with the
(24:28):
Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other
is essential for each of us on our walk with Christ.
And that's what we do on in the market. We
examine culture, interpret the headlines, and look at the news
from a biblical perspective. When you become a partial partner,
you're directly responsible for putting this program on the air.
Reaching men and women across America with the practical application
of God's Word. Become a partial partner today by calling
877 Janet 58 or go to in the market with
(24:51):
Janet Parshall. What a story of enduring love. Fox and
Rob Richardson are with me. Together they tell their story
in their new book, time. The Untold story of the
love that held us together when incarceration Kept us apart.
We're going to tell you more about some of the
work they do as we continue our conversation. But boy,
I'll tell you, this is absolutely riveting. Six months before
(25:13):
everything begins to fall apart. Not a criminal heart. Not
a criminal thought. Your desperate people trying to hold your
family together literally put a roof that doesn't leak over
your head and trying, as the Bible says, to look
well to the ways of your household and everything is
falling apart. Desperate people, as you said, Fox, do desperate things.
You end up thinking that robbing a bank is going
to get you the money you couldn't find anywhere else.
(25:34):
Horrible sentences come down. Fox. You end up with three
and a half and you rob, get 60. I want
to go to you, Fox. Because you were pregnant. Newly
pregnant with twins. What do you do? You've got these
other boys. You've got two baby boys beating under your heart,
and you're looking at a prison sentence. How do you
take care of your boys? And what happens when you're
a pregnant female inmate?
S8 (25:55):
You know, I think the challenge is my biggest prayer, Janet,
was when I found out. Well, one, I found out
that I was pregnant with twins when I was handcuffed
and shackled. I was in the parish jail going through
the process, and they took me from my first OBGYN appointment.
I had an armed guard on my side and an
armed guard outside of my door. Um, my feet and
(26:17):
my hands were shackled together when the, um, the obstetrician
did my ultrasound and two heads popped up on the
screen and all I could do was cry out and
think to myself that, God. For you to give me
something so amazing. I don't know anything about twins. Twins
don't run in my family. for you to give me
something this incredible, this miracle at the lowest point of
(26:40):
my life. To me, it was a sign from God
that even though you messed up, kid, I got you.
You're going to be all right. And so, um, when
I finished the ultrasound, they put you back in a
holding cell in the prison medical ward, and I stayed
in there in that sterile environment, and I said, I
prayed out. I called out to God. God, I'll do
(27:00):
whatever I've got to do to get past this. I'm
willing to take responsibility for whatever this turns out to be.
But please don't let me have my babies in handcuffs
and shackles. Because when you are a woman in the
state of Louisiana and you give birth, they shackle you
to a bed. Janet, can you imagine where is a
woman in labor going? And so that was my biggest cry.
(27:22):
Just God, deliver me from this and I'll deal with
everything else. And as God would have it, after they
finally shipped my husband to Angola, they, um, they did
not want and found out that I was pregnant with
the twins. They didn't want to be responsible for caring
for me during that pregnancy, and so they reduced my
bond from a half $1 million to $5000. And my mother,
(27:45):
bless her soul, put together enough change to bail me out. And,
and and as God would have it, my mother said
to me as ten months later they said, okay, well,
we want you to go to prison and do time.
I had been home after giving birth to the twins
for ten months and they said, well, now we're ready
for you to go to prison. And my mother said
(28:06):
to me, don't worry about me and those boys, Sybil.
We're going to be okay. You go on and do
what you have to do to get this behind you.
Thank God for Mother Shannon. My mother took care of
all of my children when I was shipped off to prison.
And the beautiful part about that, not just my mother,
but my community, came together for me. I moved past
(28:28):
the shame, and I reached out to all of the
elders in my community. My church family, and I shared
with them that I was about to leave and ask
them to please help my mother with my children. And
they did. They showed up and took my children to
the movies. They bought school clothes for my mother. They
took them to football games. They showed up for my
oldest son's school plays. So it is about a community
(28:51):
effort that helped me make it through the process. Now,
that's not common for women. I found when I got
to prison, and especially someone that had as many children
as I had, um, those women that were there, many
of them didn't even know where their children were. Janet.
They had lost them because they didn't have anybody to
care for them. So they didn't even know where their
(29:13):
children were. Others, their children were separated between relatives, a
cousin here or there, a grandmother over here, and could
only talk to them whenever someone would take their phone calls.
Because the only way, as an incarcerated person, that you
can have a conversation, even as an incarcerated parent is
(29:34):
if somebody is willing to pay for you to speak
to your children, and that is just not what God
would want for us in a civilized society, I believe.
So that is what happened for me. My mother took
responsibility for my children, and when we came home from prison,
when Rob was returned, we put together our change. And
instead of buying us a house, Janet, we restored my
(29:57):
mother's home, totally remodeled it from the top to the bottom,
and blessed her with it for her 75th birthday.
S1 (30:04):
Wow. Wow. Oh, so much richness there. The importance of family.
The importance of community. Unbelievable. Praise God he put all
those pieces in place so that you would be able
to do the work that had to be done. And, Rob,
that makes me say to you, okay, you know the
old adage, just do the time. You don't know what
God's got planned for your future. You don't know if
you're going to end up doing this full stint of
(30:25):
60 years. How do you do the time? How do
you not become angry and bitter and revengeful and all
of those things that would be perfectly natural, perfectly understandable.
And yet, you know, you've got two brand new baby
boys out there waiting for you, as well as a
wife who just think you hung the moon. How do
you do the time?
S7 (30:46):
Man, I guess in those moments I had to really
tap in and and think about, you know, people who
had been, you know, who had been in similar circumstances
as myself. Uh, first it started with, uh, with characters and, uh,
or subjects in the Bible. Uh, it made me think
about job, who had been, uh, who had been, you know,
strapped with, uh, insurmountable, uh, uh, suffering and affliction and, uh,
(31:09):
much like job, even in that moment, I was like,
you know, I was demanding answers. You know, I was like, God,
what is this all about? Uh, no different than Jesus,
who was on the cross, who was on the cross
again faced with insurmountable, uh, you know, affliction and suffering,
you know, and cried out and said, you know, if
the cup if you could pass this bitter cup, you know,
(31:30):
believe me, I wouldn't I wouldn't complain about it. But
like both of them, in those moments, you know, I
had to trust the wisdom of God. Uh, it was
in that moment that I was humbled. And then I
had to tap in. I realized then, in that in
the quiet of, uh, of those moments that I started
realizing that I come from a people, uh, who had
endured over 400 years of chattel slavery in the Americas,
(31:53):
and they had figured out how to overcome, uh, chattel slavery.
And I know that prison as a as a result
of the 13th amendment, when you are duly convicted of
a crime, it is the only time that the abolishment
of slavery is reinforced. Uh, so I realize that in
that moment that I had the blood, the DNA of
(32:14):
those people who had overcome over 400 years of chattel
slavery running through my veins. And with that being said,
I trust I trust God in the process. I started
realizing that this was this was bigger than me. It
wasn't about the judge. It wasn't about the district attorney.
It wasn't about me. It wasn't about my bad decisions.
It wasn't about any of those things. This, for me,
(32:37):
was a test from God and an opportunity for God
to perform a miracle for all of the world to see. Uh,
we come in contact with one of the first stories, uh,
in the Bible, when we hear Joseph, who goes off
to prison for. No, no fault of his own. Uh,
do about 12 to 13 years before, uh, before receiving relief.
(32:58):
And when he was, uh, when he was relieved of
that prison sentence, uh, Joseph became only second to the king. Now,
I am in no way saying that we became second
to the governor who pardoned us. But when you think
about when you go from the pits of hell in
one of the bloodiest penitentiaries in America, and then you
find yourself on the red carpet of the of the
(33:19):
most exclusive Oscars ever.
S10 (33:21):
Mhm, mhm. Wow.
S7 (33:22):
It is in that moment that you realize the meaning
for your suffering. You know, you realize that God is
real and you realize that this was so much more
bigger than you. It was so much bigger than than Fox.
It was so much bigger than our family. And we
all were. We all were being tested in that moment
and we rose to the occasion. Our children went on
(33:44):
to do some exceptional things. For those that don't know,
when you are a child of an incarcerated parent, you
yourself are nine times more likely to wind up in
prison yourself as a result of having a parent there.
Our children had both of us there, so I don't
know if that means that they were twice that time
likely to end up in prison themselves, but instead they
ended up as doctors. They ended up as a 23
(34:08):
year old young men working in our nation's capital as, uh, as, uh, chief. Uh,
chief advisers, uh, operating officers. I'm sorry. Uh, they end
up serving our country honorably. Two of them. Uh, another
ends up graduating high school, uh, finishing high school at
16 and wrapping up and heading off to, uh, to
(34:28):
to pick up with his collegiate studies at 16, as
did his other three youngest brothers right above him. So
when you look at all of those things, we defied
the odds.
S10 (34:40):
Wow. It was.
S7 (34:41):
It was God's work.
S1 (34:43):
Yeah. Yeah. Wow. The attitude, the attitude. Understanding the perspective
that you had to take. Hitting God's word, looking at
what he tells you to do and making the right
choice every single day. About the attitude. Is it easy?
Absolutely not. But whether you're whether you're behind bars or not,
that is exactly a prison of our own construction. You
keep choosing the wrong attitude, and I don't know how
(35:03):
God's going to bless you. He can't open those doors
of opportunity. Let me take a break. And when I
come back, I still want to talk about the Rich
Family Ministries. And I absolutely want to talk about, excuse me,
the participatory participatory defense movement, because I think this is
where the church capital C rises up and says, wait
a minute. Book of Amos says you're supposed to seek
(35:23):
justice in the courts when you have a 60 year
sentence for a first time offense. That's not right. Just
get in front of your computer. Google. First time offense.
Armed robbery. See what the average sentencing is across the country.
And you're going to realize that this was way out
of the ballpark. Why? And isn't it about not recidivism?
How many people go back to prison again? Isn't it
(35:46):
about restoration? Isn't it what this is supposed to be? Yeah,
you do the crime, you do the time. I get it.
But it isn't about taking people and throwing them on
the ash heap of history. It's about redeeming them. And
that's what this story is really all about. Redemption. Back
after this. We're visiting with Fox and Rob Richardson. Together
(36:19):
they founded the Rich Family Ministries, and they also participate
in the Nola chapter of Participatory Defense movement. That's an
initiative that was started by their ministry. Their story is
told in their new book, time. The Untold Story of
the love that Held us together when incarceration Kept us apart.
So if I can, because I want to get to
the ministry. But. But Rob gave us a hint when
(36:41):
he talked about the governor and what he did to
mitigate that sentence in the end. How many years did
you serve and how many years did Rob serve?
S8 (36:50):
I served three and a half years and Rob served
21 years and four days. Janet.
S10 (36:57):
Mhm. Wow.
S1 (36:58):
And you counted every single one of them came home,
created a space in the dresser, burned that cutout you
had of him, they had on the wall so you
could look at him every single day. And he was
finally home. What a day that was. But what what
I want to do. And the boys have turned out
just because of God's grace, his mercy and your commitment
to each other. Unbelievable. You're videotaping Fox. You're sending it on.
(37:20):
You're taking those phone calls to be restricted from communicating
with a man that you love to a couple of
phone calls a month just defies imagination for anyone who
hasn't lived through that. They don't know what a pain
and a torture it is when somebody you love is institutionalized.
They're there, just cast aside, and it's absolutely horrific. But
you want to deal with this idea that there really
is some some injustice when it comes to sentencing. And
(37:43):
this aggressive prosecutor who decided that they would throw 60
years at a first time offender is absolutely stunning. But
you believe that you can change the laws. And I
want our friends to hear your language change lives and
laws through love. You're not marching through the streets with
a raised fist. You're doing it through the power of love.
That same love I referenced in first Corinthians 13. Tell
(38:04):
me about the initiative and what are you hoping to do?
S8 (38:07):
Love is the most divine chemical in the universe, Janet,
and it dissolves everything that is not of itself. And
it is that love that is in Corinthians that we
speak of. And that is what I have found to
be the most powerful tool in my toolbox. And so
when Rob came home, we launched our ministry because we
understood that to be free is to free others. What
(38:29):
God had done for us, we had a responsibility to
do for other families. Louisiana leads the world in incarceration
and New Orleans leads Louisiana. We lock up more people
here per capita than any other place on the planet Earth.
And so I had discovered in my, um, in my advocacy,
a model called participatory defense out of Silicon Valley. Um,
(38:55):
Silicon Valley debug. And that model teaches families what Rob
and I had learned instinctively over 21 years, how to
participate in your own defense. How for families to be
strengthened and present themselves to the courts to reduce harm.
How to seek forgiveness in the process and bring about
(39:15):
healing between the victims and the offenders. Um, and so
that is what we did is launch a hub called
participatory defense Movement. Nola. PDM Nola. Org is our website
and we teach legal awareness to families that are justice
involved in our efforts to reduce harm and provide them
with the support and love of God as they are
(39:38):
going through this process. Because we clearly understand we are
more than the worst thing that we have ever done.
We are still God's children.
S10 (39:48):
Yeah. Amen. Wow.
S8 (39:50):
So so how we judge our success also, just so
you know, and your listeners will know how we judge judge,
the success of the work that we do is based
upon how much time we save a person from spending
in prison versus how much time they actually serve. And
since we started our work in April of 2019, we
have saved over 3300 years of time behind bars.
S10 (40:15):
Ooh! Wow.
S8 (40:17):
Taxpayers dollars. That's keeping families together. No one that we
have helped has gone back to prison. And that's what
we want as a society. We are one hub of
40 hubs across this country doing this work.
S1 (40:31):
Yeah, exactly. So, Fox, let me go to you because
it's so clear in the documentary, the excruciating pain of loneliness,
of not being with Rob, that separation the state now
controls how often you can even communicate with your husband.
The statistics were not on your side. They haven't been
on your side for any part of your story. As
Rob pointed out before that research about the propensity for
(40:53):
children of those who've been incarcerated to likewise themselves become
incarcerated unless God intercedes. And that's what happened in your story.
But how did you keep love alive? I'm sure there
were all kinds of people who said, hey, you're out
in three and a half. He's doing 60. Walk away,
start a new life. You didn't do that. That was
a choice of your will. Where did that strength come from?
And why did you make that choice?
S8 (41:15):
Did you say that was for me, Janet? Because really,
Rob would be the one to answer that question then.
S10 (41:21):
Okay, Rob.
S8 (41:21):
God had him in a marriage and family counseling course
during the most challenging time of our marriage.
S10 (41:28):
Really? So tell me about that, Rob.
S7 (41:30):
They say it best that, uh, when when you, uh,
the closing parts of your nuptials and that is, is
when it says that what God has put together let
no man put or take asunder. Uh, Fox uh, probably
maybe the 13th, 14th year of, uh, of our of
our marriage, uh, maybe even a year or two sooner
than that had, uh, really, um, you know, had really,
(41:52):
you know, hit the wall, you know, as it related
to because everything that she thought that a husband should be,
I was not. A husband should be present. Husbands should
be there to protect. Husbands should be there to provide.
Husbands should be there to teach discipline and all of
those things. And a lot of those things. In her mind,
at that moment, I was not. Um, and she attempted to, uh, to, uh,
(42:15):
to file for a divorce. Well, she didn't attempt to.
She actually filed for a divorce. Uh, and maybe about
a year or so later, I think the paperwork, the
finality of it, finally hit. But even as she was
waiting on the finality, she continued to come back and
forth to the prison. She continued to visit. She continued to, uh, to,
you know, have phone calls with me and, uh, spend
(42:39):
time with me. Um, but it was in that moment,
I guess, that we both came to the realization. She
for sure came to the realization that what God had
put together, it was not her. It was not for
her or I to undo. And just so happened, as
Fox may have mentioned, I was in a loving, um,
in a marriage and family counseling class, uh, at the time. And, uh,
(42:59):
during my, uh, my seminary studies, the New Orleans Baptist
Theological Seminary has an extension center that is, that is
at Angola Prison, where they offer two and four year
degrees in pastoral, uh, in Christian, uh, pastoral counseling and
Christian ministry, for which I took up with. And in
there we were reading a book on, um, uh, Gary Smalley,
(43:21):
Making Love Last Forever. And one of the biggest takeaways
that I had in the book was when he likened
love relations to that of a bank account, and he said,
the same objective holds true you have to place far
more deposits than the withdrawals that you're going to make
from time to time. And we had become we had
become dead set on placing the deposits needed in our
(43:44):
relationship to ensure that it would sustain itself.
S10 (43:48):
Wow.
S1 (43:49):
Rob, I got to tell you, we started out talking
about poverty and struggling. You ended up this story by
telling me you were a rich man. You've got all
kinds of deposits in that bank account. And I'll tell you,
those are treasures. Immeasurable. What a story of commitment, of justice,
of perseverance, of choosing the attitude of pushing into God,
of allowing the Holy Spirit to lead, of being faithful
(44:10):
to God, faithful to each other, faithful to your family.
May God throw open wide the doors of opportunities for
you and your ministry. Blessings to you both.
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