March 9, 2025 • 54 mins
Darcy reveals her journey as "God's problem child" in this deeply vulnerable conversation about finding faith through life's unexpected divine interventions. As a fifth-generation Iowa farmer and storyteller who grew up feeling like an outsider in church settings, Darcy shares three remarkable stories that challenged her skepticism and revealed God's presence in undeniable ways.
When her grandmother – alone and vulnerable at 80 years old – faced a home intruder intent on assault, a simple cry of "Help me, Jesus" inexplicably stopped the attack. Later, as a college student stranded on Interstate 80 without a cell phone, Darcy found rescue through strangers with unlikely connections to her tiny hometown who diverted hours from their route to help her. These "coincidences" planted seeds of faith that would blossom even as questions remained.
Most poignantly, Darcy shares how her father – equally resistant to church throughout his life – found faith in his final years through a pastor who faithfully visited him despite having no prior connection to her dad. This fulfilled her mother's lifelong prayer for her husband's salvation and demonstrated authentic Christian love that transcended institutional boundaries.
What makes this episode particularly powerful is Darcy's honesty about continuing to question even while recognizing divine intervention. Her perspective creates space for listeners who've felt alienated by religious environments yet remain spiritually curious. Through tears and laughter, she reminds us that God meets people where they are – whether through Scripture, kind strangers, or persistent pastors.
Whether you've felt like the "problem child" in your faith community or you're curious about how God works through ordinary circumstances, this conversation will leave you reconsidering the "coincidences" in your own life story. Subscribe now to hear more authentic faith journeys that might just change how you see your own.
My scotcheroos recipe: 🍽️
1 1/2 Cups white syrup
1 1/2 Cups white sugar
*Stir together and once it starts boiling cook only for 2 more minutes, then take off the stove.
Add 1 1/2 Cups creamy peanut butter and mix in until it’s all 1 consistency
Then add rice krispies. My recipe says 8 Cups, but I don’t think I use that much. I start with a small amount. I can always add more, but can’t take it out. I like the scotcheroos to still be a little creamy.
Put this into a 9x13 greased pan.
Frosting:
12 oz chocolate chips
6 oz butterscotch chips
*melt these 2 ingredients so it’s creamy & melted but not burned
Then add the frosting to the top of the scotcheroos
Let the frosting cool for a little while before cutting the scotcheroos, but don’t wait too long, as it will get very hard to cut when everything hardens. 🍫
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Ordinary People, Extraordinary Things.
I'm so glad that you found ushere.
We talk about faith and hope,real hope from stories of people
just like you, Ordinary people,telling their stories to
inspire, encourage and buildyour faith.
Did you know that we have aprayer team?
If you would like to join,please go to
(00:23):
generations2generationscom.
Generations is plural and twois T-O.
There you will see a podcasttab and if you scroll down, it
says join our prayer team.
We would love to have you join.
By doing this, you will get anemail from us every two weeks to
share how you can pray forOrdinary People, Extraordinary
(00:43):
Things.
Well, welcome to OrdinaryPeople, Extraordinary Things.
I'm here with Darcy Darcy.
Thanks for being on.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Thanks, Nancy.
It's always good to connectwith someone from Lake City,
Iowa.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yes, we come from the same town.
It's just fun to kind of meetagain and learn each other's
story and see what God has beendoing in our lives since we were
, you know, kind of little,that's right.
Well, if someone doesn't knowwho you are, can you give three
(01:17):
words or phrases to describeyourself?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Absolutely yes.
I call myself Iowa Storytellerand I'm a fifth generation
farmer, so that's kind of onecluster of words.
And then I'm also.
I've always been an old soul.
I have a title of marketing tohelp people understand what I,
officer, I tell people.
I'm a CMO chief memory author.
That seems to resonate withpeople because I've just always
(01:52):
been a history head.
I was the little kid listeningto the old people talk instead
of playing with other kids, andI just it's so important to to
know the past, honor the pastand use it as a guide map for
the future.
But then that also leads toanother part of who I am.
So the third description wouldbe I am eternally curious.
(02:13):
I don't evaluate people basedon their educational degrees or
their job titles.
I look at someone and wonderhow many questions are you
asking?
And if you're a person who asksa lot of questions and is
curious, I know you've got afertile mind.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
That's good.
I can see why we kind of hit itoff.
We both love history, we bothlove stories, and just we're
doing that in different venues,right?
Could you tell people where youshare your stories?
How do you share stories?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, there's two main ways.
So I'm actually an agjournalist by trade, so you'll
see my stuff in places like FarmNews and Iowa Farm Bureau
Spokesman.
If you don't read things likethat, that's okay, because the
other side of what I do is beingan author, so that taps into
that whole CMO Chief MemoryOfficer side of me.
(03:10):
So I've got eight nonfictionbooks now Granted.
These focus on Iowa history,but a lot of just fun stories in
there, for example, culinaryHistory of Iowa, why we Eat what
we Eat so just fun stuff.
That really has struck a chord,surprisingly, with a large
number of people.
(03:30):
And then also I have a substack so you can read my blog
posts on my sub stack column.
So we might talk farming, wemight talk history, we might
talk food who knows?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
All right.
Well, we'll link all of that.
You said food.
A couple of things come to mind.
I still say supper, for youknow five o'clock eating time
and that's a very specific, Ithink, to the to the Midwest,
and my kids make fun of me it'sdinner, mom, for so long that it
(04:07):
would be very hard to switch.
But the other thing, and thisis something that because we
live in Colorado if someone'slistening and doesn't know and
we live in a suburb of Denverbut I make scotcheroos and they
are such a hit out here and it'sso funny because that's that's
a very normal thing in Iowa andbut it is very, I think,
(04:33):
localized to Iowa, maybe alittle bit further out, but is
that one of the foods that youtalk about in your in your story
?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I do, I do, and you know it's so funny because I
wrote a column about this twoyears ago.
One of the things I do I'm acolumnist for the Iowa Rural
Electric Co-op statewidemagazine and honestly I had
forgotten I'd written aboutScotch Aroos.
And just the other day, likelast week, a gal emailed me from
Northwest Iowa and she wasgiving me her take on where she
(05:04):
thinks Scotch Aroos, how theyoriginated, and it's kind of a
great debate over whether it wasspecial K that was used first
and then Rice Krispies in scotchroos.
If you want to talk aboutreligion and politics and get
stirred up, get people stirredup.
That's one way to do it, butalso get people talking about
scotch roos.
Everyone has an opinion here inIowa about scotcharoos and I
(05:28):
love it when ambassadors likeyou take this wonderful treat
out to other regions that arenot familiar with scotcharoos.
They're fantastic.
So yes you can even read aboutscotcharoos on my my website and
blog posts about scotcheroos onmy my website and blog posts.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
So yes, and maybe I'll share my scotcheroos recipe
on there, but oh yeah, mad ifit's different than yours
exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
They're all good.
They're wonderful.
They bring people together.
What's not to love?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
yes, they are delicious.
The other one that I wasthinking of and this doesn't
have anything to do with what wewere talking about, but I just
like this is fun is cinnamonrolls with chili.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yes, yeah, you know I get asked about that a lot too,
believe it or not.
Smithsonian actually contactedme a few years ago.
They were doing a story onregional foods and in that piece
they ended up dubbing me, ofall people, the chili and
cinnamon rolls expert.
Now, I wouldn't call myself anexpert, but I have eaten a lot
of them through the years and Idistinctly remember you and I
(06:32):
went to the same high school,different time periods, but oh
my goodness, when I was there wehad the retired farm cooks and
that kitchen, as you know, wasdown in the basement of this big
three-story brick built in 1923kind of school building.
And when I was up on thirdfloor in math class you could
smell those homemade caramelrolls being baked and that aroma
(06:55):
would drift up all that way andI just couldn't wait for lunch.
So yes to the uninformed, theywant to know.
Well, that has really weird.
What do you dunk the roll inthe chili?
And I said, well, no, notnormally I guess you could, but
you eat the chili and then youhave that cinnamon or caramel
roll for dessert.
(07:15):
So I can find no real reason whythis is such an Iowa thing.
I do see it, you.
You'll see shades of thiscreeping into eastern Nebraska
and even into Wyoming.
But here's I'll give you realquick, my theory on why this
emerged here.
So we, like the old farm schoolor farm wife, old school cooks
(07:36):
that were cooking at these highschools in Iowa back in the day,
they were very thrifty and wehad commodities that became
available through this to theschools, like beans and ground
beef and such things, and I'msure they looked at the
ingredients they had to workwith and they thought, ok, what
can we make that is actuallyenticing to kids and somewhat
(07:57):
healthy.
So I'm guessing they came upwith a combination like chili
and cinnamon rolls and it isstill a hit.
I have been assured of this asI've done little informal polls
of schools around Iowa, wherethis has always been a tradition
.
It is still a hit today.
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
That is so fun, this is so fun.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
We could just talk about food all day.
We'll just completely changewhat we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
We could just talk about food all day, we'll just
completely change what we'retalking about.
We were talking about stories,obviously, and you had just said
off air and I loved what yousaid.
You said everybody's storymatters and could you maybe
share on that.
Why do you believe that?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Well, I've been doing my job a long time of doing
sharing ag, primarily ag stories, but I've been doing this since
the mid to late nineties andyou know, it just happened again
the other day where I this wasI'm writing about barns right
now and I was.
I drove past a beautiful barnin Northern Iowa and I wasn't
sure whose it was.
So I do my homework.
I miraculously track down thelady who owns the barn.
(09:07):
I call her up and I say, hey,I'm trying to document the
history of our rural heritageand your barn is beautiful.
I just like to do a fun littlestory.
If you tell me what you knowabout the barn, she just flat
out refused, wanted nothing todo with it.
I don't know why that doeshappen from time to time.
(09:28):
I don't know if it's peoplearen't confident, like they
don't know enough to tell theirstory because they don't know
every last fact.
Your show a couple of times onyour podcast he said you have to
be vulnerable to open up andtell your story, and that is
(09:48):
true, just like some of thethings we'll talk about today.
I don't normally share thesestories but I think I'm willing
to do it because if they arehelpful for someone else.
That's important and it allreminds me of when I took Master
Gardener through Iowa StateUniversity Extension.
They had us go up to Ames,which is the home of Iowa State,
(10:09):
and we had a Saturday where wehad to do labs and we're working
with plants and I really wasn'texpecting to get life wisdom
there.
I was expecting to learn how togrow better plants.
But one of the teachingassistants that was teaching us
he was a gentleman from Africaand he made it real clear I want
all of you to share when youhave some knowledge to share
(10:30):
with the group, because it wouldbe very wrong for you to
withhold that information thatcould help other people learn.
And that always stuck with methat we all know things that
other people don't know.
Just because we know it, wejust assume everyone else does.
That's not true and it reallyis wrong if you don't share that
with other people.
(10:51):
So, yeah, you got to bevulnerable.
Yeah, you've got to be brave toshare your story, but you don't
know who needs to hear that.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
It's really good.
That's really good and I likehow you.
We were talking about CurtisFry's story and if you haven't
heard it, there's two of themout there but he has a very
distinct, wonderful, amazingredemptive story of prison to
just a life of just loving Godand sharing God and it's so
(11:21):
beautiful and I love it so much.
That's why we've done two ofthem.
But I think that somebody mightget a little wrapped up in some
stories that are really big andthink, well, I didn't do that,
I don't have that story, so thenI don't have anything to share
and honestly, that's a littlebit how I feel, because I was
(11:45):
really blessed to grow up in aChristian home and a great home
and I don't have like a lot ofthese like whoa crazy.
But in a way that's wonderful.
Right, that's that's lessthings to to try to overcome,
but that doesn't mean that Idon't have a story to share.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
That's right, exactly .
We all have our own uniquecalling and purpose in the world
and thus we have our own uniquestories.
So we just we can't be afraidto share those, especially when
someone like you you gotconnected with me it would be
very wrong of me to say, oh no,nancy, I just can't help you
because I don't have anything tooffer.
(12:25):
I'm not the expert in a lot ofthings in life, but I do have
life experiences and hopefullythis will resonate with somebody
out there.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Well, that's a great segue into what are some stories
that have impacted you.
How have you seen God show upin your life?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
have impacted you?
How have you seen God show upin your life?
I'm an interesting person inrespect to God simply because I
grew up in a church.
My mother was a strong woman offaith still is but I was always
God's problem child.
That's what I call myself.
I didn't particularly likechurch.
In fact, I really didn't likechurch, and I still feel that
(13:08):
way to a large extent today.
I feel like I've kind of beenrunning from God a lot of my
life.
A lot of this is rooted in thechurch I went to growing up.
I just felt excluded, I feltleft out.
It was a very hurtfulexperience and that stuff sticks
with you.
So that's when I think, well,who am I to share my God story?
(13:31):
Because I'm the problem child.
I'm not the one that lovesgoing to church.
I'm not the one that just yayGod.
I put God first at every turn.
I try, but maybe there's.
I always felt like gosh.
I really wish someone wouldspeak my language and say yeah.
For a long time in my life, andmaybe even today on some level,
(13:52):
I reject God or I'm notcomfortable with God.
You know, does God really care?
So some of this is coming froma place where I'm still
struggling with some of that.
But that's okay because I amconfident there is a God, the
God of the Bible, and he showsup in really unexpected ways and
maybe for a hard head like meit has to be somewhat dramatic,
(14:16):
and I think of the first timethat I kind of became aware of
this.
I was pretty young.
It was the mid-1980s, so I wasstill in grade school and my
grandma, fern, lived up in FortDodge, iowa.
It's a rough town.
It wasn't quite so rough backthen, but her house was on a
dead end and there was a ravinedown below in another
(14:36):
neighborhood below, andunfortunately at that time she'd
had a couple break-ins at herhouse and I remember being
terrified because I was onlyabout third grade at this time
and my mom, who's an only child,would go up there when grandma
called and said oh gosh, youknow something bad happened.
We better check.
I need you up here.
We had another break-in.
These guys that were and I'massuming they were guys, we
(15:00):
don't know who they were, butthey ransacked the place.
They were slashing open couchesand mattresses, looking for
money or Lord knows what.
But my grandma was tough andshe was definitely a woman of
faith and she continued to livein that house even after about
two of those bad breaking andentering and theft experiences.
(15:21):
Well, it all came to a head.
One day, on a Saturday morning,my mom came up there to visit
her mom and my grandma.
I would go with mom.
We'd go to visit Grandma Fernevery Saturday morning and on
this particular morning agentleman had knocked on
Grandma's door.
Before we got there.
Now remember Grandma's about 80years old, maybe early 80s at
(15:44):
this point.
So she knocks on the door andthis gentleman is out there
asking her if she needs any helpwith lawn care or snow removal
or anything like that.
And she said, no, nope, I'mfine.
And so he left.
She closed the door.
Well, not all that much time hadpassed.
Here comes another knock atthat front door and she looks
(16:04):
out the window.
It's that same guy.
And she's scared at this point.
But she wasn't sure what to do.
Because do I go answer the door, cause he knows I'm home?
Is he going to force his way inIf I don't answer the door, or
should I try and hide in thehouse and pretend like I'm not
home?
Well, she decided.
Well, he knows I'm here.
I'd better just go to the doorand see what he wants.
(16:26):
So she opened the door and heforced his way in he wasn't
messing around this time andright there in the hallway he
starts wrestling with her.
He gets her down on the floor,gets her pants down and he's
preparing to rape her.
She's 80 some years old at thispoint.
This is just unbelievable.
This even happened and sheobviously can't fight back.
(16:48):
She's she never was a realstrong woman.
She's a thin lady, you know,small statured, but she just
cried out.
Help me, jesus, and the guy outloud, yeah, out loud, yeah.
and I don't know how forcefullyshe said it, I don't know if it
was a yell or a whisper or what,but she said it out loud and he
(17:12):
stopped and he left and she wasfine.
Now, granted, after we arrivedand found out what had happened,
then you call the cops and wemade it clear Grandma, you're
not staying here anymore.
And we, in short order, got hermoved to an apartment.
But it's one of those things,even to a young child's mind,
(17:35):
maybe it didn't change my life,but you just realize, oh my gosh
, there's no logical reason whythat guy would have stopped his
attack.
There's no logical reason whythat guy would have stopped his
attack.
He was stronger, he had theupper hand, he could have done
whatever he wanted to at thatmoment.
But why did he stop?
Why did help me jesus stop,stop that attack?
(17:57):
So that's one thing that plantsthe seed in your mind.
Well, maybe there is somethingto this God stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Yeah, yeah, that's powerful.
What a miracle.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
It really is.
And you know, sometimes peopleask why do you think that God
saved your grandma that day?
You know, I don't know.
I'd like to say it's becausethen it was real obvious that
grandma went on and did this orthat and it wouldn't have
happened had it not been forthat.
And I've also met enough peoplethrough my work as a journalist
(18:32):
and a writer.
I know that God doesn't alwaysintervene and those are tough
questions Like well, why did Godsave your grandma and not my
loved one?
I don't know.
Did God save your grandma andnot my loved one?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
I don't know and I don't know that we'll ever know
some of those answers this sideof heaven yeah.
But you have to trust, yeah, andthat's fair.
That's fair not to have to tryto wrap everything up into a
present with a pretty bow on it.
And here it is.
This is the answer.
I don't know that we'll, and wemight get glimpses here and
(19:09):
there of why or, like you said,a miracle and things like that,
but to figure it all out, tofigure out an immense God that
created the universe, I don'tknow it's possible, but it's
nice to get glimpses andthoughts and parts of it.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, and another time I think back to is when I
was starting out my collegecareer.
So this is about this was.
It was the spring of 1993.
So I was in my freshman year ofcollege.
Actually, I was attending thesame college that you went to, I
believe, nancy, at CentralCollege in Pella Iowa.
Yeah right, go Dutch.
(19:52):
So this is the era before cellphones and all that.
And I had a little 1984hatchback chevy cavalier.
It was a little red car and hada little age on it at that
point, but it had gotten methrough high school and and I
was using it to go to college,which is about a three-hour
drive from where you and I grewup, and there's interstate
(20:15):
traffic as part of the route toget from home to Pella, and so I
was coming back.
I think it was around springbreak and I was.
So I'm westbound on Interstate80 in central Iowa and my car
breaks down.
It just dies on me out on thisinterstate, which is one of the
busiest in the whole countrybecause it's a major
(20:36):
thoroughfare across the country.
No cell phones, it's, I can'tremember.
It must have been about rightafter lunch, so fortunately it
wasn't nighttime, but it wasstill scary because I have no
way to call for help and you'rejust praying that a state
trooper or someone will comealong and you see scary people
(20:58):
stopping and going.
You know, sometimes there'd bea car where you just think, oh,
please don't be, don't be comingover here.
And then when someone calledand said or stopped and said can
I get some help for you?
Fortunately they were a safe,kind person, but when they got
where they were going, I can'tremember if they had a cell
(21:18):
phone.
I don't remember all thedetails, but anyway we found out
that the state trooper was atleast half an hour away and
there's nothing I can do but sitout there in this little broken
down car on the side of thisreally busy interstate.
Now you got to understand thetime that we're talking about
the early 90s, so it wasn't thatmany years before, maybe a year
or two, that a young collegestudent named Tammy Zawicki had
(21:42):
been coming from New Jersey, Ibelieve, headed back to central
Iowa to a place called GrinnellCollege, and her car had broken
down on the interstate inIllinois and Tammy vanished.
Tammy's is still an unsolvedcase to this day.
When you say the name TammyZwicky, it still haunts me and
anyone who remembers her case,because she just vanished off
(22:03):
the side of that interstate andthey did find her body later, in
Missouri I believe.
But she was murdered and thisis still an open investigation
and you just think, oh my gosh,I am going to be the next Tammy
Zwicky.
I just know it because yourmind goes to all the bad places.
And then, as I'm just sittingthere freaking out, a large
(22:25):
truck and I mean like asemi-type truck pulls over off
the interstate in front of meand I thought, oh my god, this
is it, I, this is where I die isout here on Interstate 80.
Why on earth is a semi pullingover?
And a lady gets out and comes.
She's out of the passenger sideand she comes up to my window.
(22:47):
I didn't roll my window down,but she said do you need help?
And I said, well, yeah,actually I do.
My car is broken down.
Well, my husband could take alook at it.
He's pretty good with cars.
And I thought, okay, all right,so he gets out of the truck.
And I popped the hood and he'slooking around under the hood.
(23:09):
He said I don't think there'sanything much I can do for you
really, but where are you headed?
And remember, I'm still in thecar at this point, just talking
to them through the window.
I said, well, I'm trying to gethome.
And they said where's home?
And I said Lake City, iowa.
And they just lit up.
They're like Lake City, really.
Do you know the DeFreeze family?
(23:30):
I said, yeah, I know theDeFreezes Well.
We're friends with them fromway back when.
We haven't seen them for a longtime.
How are they doing?
I said, well, okay, I guess Imean we're not real close
friends, but yeah, they're stillaround, everything's good as
far as I know.
And they said, well, maybe weshould head up that way.
We are actually transportingcars.
(23:52):
That's what we do for a living.
So in this enclosed trailerwe've actually got capacity to
take on another car.
And would you want us to putthe car on the transport and
take you and the car back toLake City?
And I thought I don't even knowwhat to say to this.
This is too wild to believe.
But, nancy, you know, with atown there's only about 1800
(24:16):
people, which probably was thepopulation at that time you
can't make up random stuff likedo you know the defreezes, right
?
So I thought, oh my gosh, thisis something I think I can say
yes to this, I think it's OK.
So, yeah, that's what we did.
They were able to push the carup the the um, up into the truck
(24:37):
and I climb up into the cab.
And so here I am, riding upfront with these two people
named Pam and Eric.
They were a husband and wifeteam.
And so we take off forNorthwest Iowa and they are just
we're just getting to know eachother and it turns out they
haul really high end cars, likeexpensive cars for movie stars
and celebrities.
(24:58):
That's their job.
And so here's my little junkiecavalier on a transport that has
hauled fabulous sports cars forpeople like Alan Alda and the
little cool car they used inthat movie of who Framed Roger
Rabbit.
You know, it was a thing backin the day in the early nineties
(25:18):
and you just think, oh, mygoodness, this is too crazy.
So we make the two hour trip upthere to Lake city.
We pull into the driveway at myfamily's farm with this huge
semi.
My mom and dad come out andlook at it and think what in the
world is going on?
So I jump out and explainwhat's going on and dad said
(25:38):
well, my dad, the practicalfarmer, says well, nothing we
can do to fix that car here.
You're going to have to take itto Mackey's.
So, as you know, mackey Motorsis the local car dealership.
So we take off again, drive thefive miles into town, pull into
Mackey Motors and I can tellyou for a fact that will cause a
big stir on a Friday afternoonwhen you pull in with a big
(25:59):
transport, and they weren'texpecting it.
So, long story short, we gotthe car off.
They got it fixed at Mackey's,everything was fine, as far as I
know.
Pam and Eric went and visitedthe DeFreezes and I kept saying,
oh my gosh, what can we do tothank you?
This?
I can't believe this.
This is too good to be true.
You're angels in disguise andand they said we don't want any
(26:22):
money, we don't want anythingfrom you, just if you see us
along the side of the roadsomeday, you just stop and help
us.
And I I've never heard fromthem again.
Those you know, this ispre-Facebook and hey, can we
stay in touch easily, kind ofstuff.
It was even pre-email.
So I've often wondered whathappened to Pam and Eric.
(26:42):
But there are just times inyour life like that you think,
if this isn't supernatural, Idon't know what it is, because
there's way too many things thathad to align here at the right
time.
It seems more far-fetched tobelieve that was just a random
accident or happenstance.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Oh, it's such a great story of such kindness of those
people too.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Oh, because you know, I don't know where they were.
I think they were bound forCalifornia, I think.
So taking two hours you knowit's two hours up out of the way
to go up there and then you'regoing to have to go two hours
back.
They could have easily justkept right on rolling.
There was no reason.
They didn't know who I was.
They didn't know I was fromLake City.
You really do wonder why didthey stop in the first place?
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Yeah, it's amazing, yeah, but it's so neat.
Yeah, it's amazing, yeah, butit's so neat.
I might, I might ask you if youfeel comfortable diving in.
You said you felt like or didor still do of God's problem
child.
Can you explain that a littlemore?
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yeah, cause I I'm not one of those people that just
grew up in the church andembraced all this and just was
so faithful right from thebeginning.
I have a very questioning mind.
It goes back to that curiosityand, I think, also the hurt I
experienced with bullying andjust feeling like an outsider
growing up.
(28:09):
You shouldn't you experience itat school, you shouldn't have
to feel it at church, and Ithink so with all these things,
they plant these seeds likechurch it's.
It's for some people and Iguess if you are one of those
who really likes it, or Godreally likes you and and you
don't have these problems, youknow feeling like the outsider
(28:31):
then church is awesome.
So I guess church is great forsome people and maybe it's just
you're just not really one ofthose church kind of people and
and by extension, maybe God justdoesn't really love you quite
as much as he loves other people, and that's just your lot in
life and and that's just how itis.
So get used to it.
(28:53):
And then you, I grow up and youhave all these experiences
especially you know this assomeone who interviews people.
You hear a lot of life storiesand you hear things that inspire
you.
You hear things that anger you,you hear things that make sense
and you hear things that don'tmake sense and you just realize
we're all on a journey that Idon't believe God loves one
(29:14):
person more than he lovesanother person, and I think God
is okay with people who questionhim, for people that can come
to faith and just embrace allthis from day one.
That's wonderful, that's ablessing.
That's not who I am, but Godcan handle it.
He's not afraid of the toughquestions.
So don't be afraid to ask anddon't be afraid to ask and don't
(29:37):
be afraid to admit.
I don't maybe just say I don'tfeel like a God person, I don't
feel like a church person, butyou hope you find those mentors
in life that can help steer youthrough and show you more little
glimpses of the divine.
There are these things thatseem random, just like the two
examples that I shared, andthey're probably not.
(29:58):
No, they're not random, buthopefully you will surround
yourself with other people whopoint you in the right direction
.
You know there's a famous linethat you are the composite you
reflect the five people youspend the most time with in life
, and that's true in business,it's true in school or whatever
(30:19):
realm you find yourself in, youwill be a reflection of those
people.
So I've been blessed to have amom that has a strong faith,
even though she'll tell you Iwill question her and be the
problem child as much as anybodyand I still am.
But find those people in lifethat can guide you and are
consistent.
It makes all the difference.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Thank you for sharing that.
I think that you're right thatthere's a lot of people who who
are right where you're talkingabout that are saying I'm just
not really sure, or I'm sure,but I still see this, or I'm
sure, but I still see this, orI'm sure but I still see this,
or but this doesn't make senseto me.
And just thanks for beinghonest and sharing that portion.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Of course it's a journey.
It's a journey.
It's a lifelong journey, yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Are there any other stories that you wanted to share
on God's plan for your life?
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Yeah, I did think of another one.
This was something my mom hadalways prayed for my dad, that
he would be saved and make it toheaven.
And my dad, I think I takeafter him a lot of just, you
know, church it's not really mybag.
I'll play along if I have toand do the things that a good
church person does, but I don'tknow if I quite believe it.
(31:41):
And he was stubborn that wayand my mom had always said you
know, I just gosh, I pray forhim every day.
I want to make sure that hegoes to heaven.
And so this oh man, this isgoing back probably seven, eight
years now Dad started havingsome health problems and we
(32:03):
nobody the doctors couldn'tfigure out what was going on.
So he, he was, you know, he's ahealthy farmer, he'd been
healthy and active his wholelife and and suddenly, when he
was getting up in the morning,he would just not feel right.
It was like he was almost indanger of falling down.
His blood pressure startedhaving these really wild swings
(32:25):
and, gosh, he went to I don'tknow how many doctors.
Nobody could figure it out, butthis problem is getting worse
and worse and finally we had totake him to the medical facility
at Iowa City, which is one ofthe premier ones in the Midwest,
and he went to a neurologistand, being the old farmer that
he is, when he had to go throughsome of these nerve tests, they
(32:46):
would shock you to see whereyou had sensation and where you
didn't.
And it sounded awful.
And I said, dad, what did thatfeel like?
And he said it feels likerunning into an electric fence.
But the test did reveal what weneeded to know, which was he
had something called multiplesystem atrophy.
(33:07):
And when I first heard aboutmultiple system atrophy, msa, I
thought, oh, thank goodness, atleast we have a diagnosis Never
heard of, I had never heard ofit before.
But oh, thank goodness, atleast we have a diagnosis Never
heard of, I had never heard ofit before.
But then when I started readingabout it, it was I just broke
down in tears and I could notquit bawling, because what it is
?
It's like Parkinson's on speed.
And the reason they call itmultiple system atrophy is
(33:29):
because it will eventually shutdown all your systems.
There's nothing you can do tostop it.
You will.
You won't necessarily die fromit exactly, but it will shut
down your vital systems andsomething will get you at some
point.
So there is no coming back fromit when you have MSA.
And I just never, ever dreamedthat my dad, my strong, active
(33:53):
farmer father, would havesomething like that to deal with
.
And it's hard on the wholefamily to watch someone slip
away piece by piece like that.
So ultimately we kept him athome as long as we could.
Mom was a saint that took careof him.
But there came a time when youknow he's a tall guy, he was
6'2", 6'3".
When someone loses theirability to move and do basic
(34:16):
functions, you just can't takecare of them at home anymore.
So he went to shady oaks carecenter in lake city and there
was a lutheran, pastor paulfurterer.
I almost tear up when I saythis because he's the one that
saved my dad.
(34:38):
And I think back to Pastor Paul.
He didn't owe my dad anything.
He didn't have to come visithim.
My dad wasn't even hisparishioner.
But Pastor Paul made a point tocome see lots of people and he
started talking to my dadbecause my mom had gone to
(34:59):
Pastor Paul's Bible study andshe asked him would you come see
Jim?
And he did, and he assured usthat through some of their
conversations, dad did acceptJesus, pastor Paul's confident.
(35:20):
He's in heaven.
I really don't like to crybecause this is really hard for
me, but I think about PastorPaul.
I go to his church now and Ithink you didn't have to do any
of that.
You didn't know us, you didn'towe us anything and we, you know
we're not even members of yourchurch.
(35:42):
But if that's not love andaction, I don't know what is.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Oh, beautiful story I think of when you're talking
about these three things besidesthe one about your grandma,
because she was all alone withthis man, and we're hurt by
people like you were alluding toand that's just so devastating,
not only on your life but yourfaith and your walk with Jesus,
(36:25):
because people can either justbring you to Jesus or they can
kind of make you turn away for awhile.
So, yeah, what a inspirationalstory of some people that really
showed God's love, and one ofthem was a very tangible way
with the, with the car, and, andthen the other one was just
(36:47):
such a spiritual way of andtalking with your dad.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
No, it was, and I have to laugh too.
No, it was, and I have to laughtoo, because my dad, who was
never the most ambitiouschurchgoer when Pastor Paul
would, he, made a comment onceabout well, I could come see you
more often, jim, if you't haveto come around too often.
(37:13):
So I thought, as emotional asall that gets, it's like my dad.
That's the dad that I know,that's the dad that I love.
There's a lot of shades of himin me.
So, even as hardheads, ourhearts can be softened.
But you've got to be open andwilling, and that goes back to
(37:33):
being curious and askingquestions, continuing to seek
answers, continuing to learn.
You're never too old to do anyof those things and it just
might change your life.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Well, thank you for that.
Well, as we wrap up, what areyou grateful for?
Speaker 2 (37:53):
You know it's funny.
I was just at a farm meetingthis past weekend and we had a
whole speaker talking.
Her whole talk was aboutgratitude.
And so what am I grateful for?
The more I thought about it,it's like what am I not grateful
for?
Even the simple things in life?
I woke up this morning.
I was healthy.
I turn on the light switchWe've got electricity.
(38:13):
I've got enough food in therefrigerator.
Turn on the light switch.
We've got electricity, I've gotenough food in the refrigerator
.
Right there, you're livingbetter than a lot of people on
this planet.
I'm grateful for opportunitieslike this to share my story,
even though it's hard to shareparts of that story.
And I'm still feeling like, ohmy gosh, did I just say that?
Did I just break down in tears?
What's wrong with me?
But it's so important to sharethose stories, I thought, well,
(38:37):
I can't expect other people toshare their stories with me if
I'm not willing to go theremyself and be vulnerable.
So we're blessed.
We're blessed every day that wewake up on the right side of
the dirt, as a farmer would say.
Right, I think of the words ofEinstein where he said there's
only two ways to live your life.
It's like nothing's a miracleor everything's a miracle, and
(39:02):
so I choose to be grateful foreverything.
Not that I don't whine.
Sometimes I catch myselfwhining and being that
ungrateful person and then youstop yourself and think okay, if
you had to make a list rightnow of five or 10 or 15 things
you're grateful for, just do it,and that'll change your mindset
right now.
That's good.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Yeah, what is your favorite Bible verse or story?
Speaker 2 (39:27):
You know I'm kind of a Proverbs kind of person.
I like a lot of those.
Although I was thinking thismorning, one that really has
resonated with me lately wouldbe James 1, james excuse me
James chapter 1, verse 5, Ibelieve it is.
I'll just read it here If anyof you lacks wisdom, you should
ask God, who gives generously toall, without finding fault, and
(39:49):
it will be given to you.
So that quest for wisdom, thatcuriosity, seeking the truth,
seek and you shall find.
That's why that verse resonateswith me, because it really
reflects how I live my life, andand when I do get into
situations where maybe the pathisn't clear, I'm getting
frustrated, I'm getting whiny,being that problem child.
(40:12):
Those types of thoughts keep meon track.
Are you really seeking forwisdom or are you just being a
whiner?
So, keep seeking wisdom.
And, like someone told me once,it's not enough to to wisdom,
knowledge, wisdom.
You know the line that wisdom,knowledge is power.
(40:33):
Well, knowledge is not powerunless it is applied.
So, applied wisdom, appliedknowledge, that's where the
magic happens.
And, like you mentioned, nancy,we have these partners in life.
They're human partners.
God works through these humanpartners.
So, seek the wisdom, seek theknowledge and then apply it,
(40:54):
share your stories and you neverknow how far that impact will
have.
It's like the pebble that youdrop in the pond you don't know
how far those ripples extend,and that's something my mom
always said.
She was a teacher, a gradeschool teacher.
You hope you touch a life andyou think you do, but you never
know how far those ripplesextend.
(41:15):
So thank you for what you'reknow how far those ripples
extend.
So thank you for what you'redoing, because the ripples are
extending a lot farther, I think, than any of us can imagine
thank you.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Well, and I think, how long ago was it that your
grandma had that scary, awfulincident and how how long ago
was it when your car broke downwhen you were going to college?
And these stories are stillimpacting your life.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
I was thinking about that doing the math the other
day.
So it's over 40 years forGrandma's story, it's over 30
years for the Pam and Ericbroken-down car story.
So yeah, the stories, a goodstory, a true story, well told,
has infinite impact that can fartranscend time, and has, I
(42:02):
don't.
It sounds maybe a bit bombasticto say it, but it can have an
impact ripples throughouteternity and I think that's why
we are supposed to share thosestories.
We don't know how far thoseripples will go.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Yeah, yeah, how your story might really really be
like impactful for someonesaying I didn't know anyone else
felt like that I didn't knowanyone else would see themselves
as a problem child.
And I'm only saying thatbecause you are, because I don't
think you're a problem child.
(42:41):
I think you are a child of God.
But I don't want to minimizehow you are feeling, too, or how
you have felt, and so be.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Yeah, that that is that you really hit on something
important, because sometimeswhen you say stuff like this,
like I don't know, I'm notstrong in my faith, I'm
questioning, I'm a problem child, and well-meaning people will,
will fire back at you oh but,but God loves you, you're a
child of God, you know.
They say all this stuff, thatis true, but yet it hurts
(43:17):
because you're not meeting thatperson where they're at Now.
I'm strong enough and confidentenough and all this that that I
know exactly what you meantwhen you said that.
But so many people, they comefrom a place of hurt and and we
just want to jump ahead and givethem the solution.
Well, they might not be readyto hear that yet.
(43:37):
So that's where the eternalcuriosity, the questioning, just
asking people without judgmenttell me your story, how did you
get to the point of coming tothat conclusion?
What are the things thathappened in your life that led
you there?
So you don't ask closed-endedquestions where they can say yes
(43:58):
or no.
You are honestly looking forthem to open up and share that.
And I'm sure you've seen, nancy, because you're a great
interviewer.
You get people to you, tap intothat right vein where they feel
comfortable with you and theyrealize you're not judging, you
almost become a counselor.
It's kind of unnerving, in away, what people will tell you
(44:20):
when they feel comfortable withyou.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Yeah, but that's how you find that common ground so
you can move forward to somesome better ground, hopefully
well, and this is just somethingI've learned over the years
that I'll just kind of interjectin here and when we have life
group, which is study, howeveryou want to say it, one of the
things that like a rule is thatyou can't fix someone's problem.
(44:45):
So and that's so hard to do,right, it's so hard, when
someone's saying I feel like abad mom, to not say you're not a
bad mom you're not a bad mom ohmy gosh, you're such a great
mom.
So that's A not letting themfeel where they're feeling or
you know like they're, they'reobviously going through
(45:06):
something.
If they're willing to sharethat and to just like be like no
, no, no, no, you're not.
Is is actually really hurtful.
No, no, no, no, you're not isactually really hurtful.
It's supposed to be helpful butit's actually really hurtful
when you're trying to sharewhere you are and then also
maybe God is saying, hey, let'swork on this or let's do this,
(45:32):
and throwing out a Bible verseto someone of like you are a
child of God sometimes is superwonderful and sometimes it can
(45:58):
be super hurtful.
I would just share that withpeople.
As far as if someone sharessomething that you believe is
not true about them, or you wantthem to hurry up and get to a
different point in their walk,in their hurt, in wherever they
are, just probably be a littlebit more careful about throwing
out a self-help book or a Bibleverse or something, because
sometimes all they need is justto sit in it for a while and
then maybe in three days, yousay, hey, do you want to go have
coffee and talk?
Three days you say, hey, do youwant to go have coffee and talk
?
But when someone's sharing it'sit can be so, so detrimental to
(46:21):
to try to fix it for them.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
It's so true and it only comes it's coming from a
good place of wanting to helpand wanting to ease someone's
pain, and yet you got to holdyourself back from that.
Keep asking them questions, getthem to maybe reveal more if
they're comfortable, and thenmaybe, if there is, let's say,
there's a Bible verse, there's abook, there's something you
think in the moment would helpthem.
Don't be afraid to ask theirpermission and say well, I think
(46:52):
, and use tentative language.
You don't say I know this bibleverse would help you.
You say I think this bibleverse could help you.
Would do you mind if I wouldshare this with you?
Ask, let them have some control.
Let them say yes or no, andmaybe it's not now, maybe that's
the answer.
(47:12):
No, I don't want to hear thatright now.
Okay, well, I still think thismight have some value at some
point.
Would you mind if maybe Iemailed it to you later?
Anything that injects thattentative language into the
conversation gives the otherperson some control to say yes
or no.
It's amazing how receptivepeople will be to saying yes,
(47:35):
but they just need to feel likethey can have it a little bit
more on their own terms, and Ithink that's fair.
That just is part of beinghuman.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
Well, what kindness have you shown, or what kindness
have you seen in the last week?
Ah well, you know, I had tostop and think about that one.
I was kind of mad at myselflike, oh, I should be able to
just pop those answers right off.
But I guess my brain hasn'teven thought like that before.
Which I should think like that,realizing, oh, I guess I'm not
(48:17):
21 anymore and all of a suddenthere's younger generations that
are looking to you for guidanceand you think I don't know that
I'm really qualified.
I still feel like the 20something that is still trying
to figure it all out.
But I got asked if I would be amentor for one of the seniors in
high school, at the local highschool that's trying to figure
out her possible career path andmaybe wants to do some ag
marketing or something like that.
(48:38):
So in recent weeks I've beendoing a little mentoring with
her, explaining my career,trying to answer her questions,
showing her or helping her meetsome other people in the
industry that do similar thingsso she can get a broader
perspective.
So to me that is a kind thingto do because I wish, wish, wish
someone had done that for meback when I was in her position
(49:01):
but we didn't have thoseresources then.
But oh well, I can help someonenow.
And then someone showed me akindness was when a friend of
mine he was headed to a meetingup, an ag meeting up in
Minnesota and asked if I'd liketo ride along and we had a great
conversation all the way back,all the way back home and even
something like that, which iskind of a no-brainer probably
(49:23):
for a lot of people.
I'm more of that independentfirst born child, I'm gonna do
it myself kind of person.
It's not natural or normal forthe first thought to pop in my
head of how can I help someoneelse, how can I invite someone
else and maybe bring them alongwith me.
It's not that I want to be mean, it's just I'm not wired that
(49:46):
way.
So anytime someone doessomething like that shows a
kindness, not only do I enjoylike in this case I enjoyed the
conversation on the way up andback, but it reminds me hey, you
can do that for other people.
And even that speaker Imentioned the other day when we
were talking about gratitude,she was pointing out that
friendships, relationships, theyrequire work.
(50:08):
You can't just put them onautopilot and then not do
anything and think they're goingto be strong.
So maybe it's as simple aswrite a thank you note to
someone that did a kindness foryou.
I plan to write two of thosetoday and pop them in the mail.
The power of the written word,the power of a thank you.
I've even done it with emails,where even just sending a little
(50:31):
taking two minutes to send anemail and saying thank you for
just being you, thank you forinviting me, you, thank you for
inviting me to be part of yourevent.
Whatever it is the power ofthank you and expressing that to
other people.
Never underestimate that weneed more kindness in this world
, do we not?
Speaker 1 (50:50):
We do, and I started this question because I think
that it shifts our focus, firstof all, but also it's one of
those things that people areafraid to tell their story but
they're also afraid to not behumble, and so if I say
something that I did, kind, isthat not being humble, but kind
of breaking that down a littlebit, of sharing these things,
(51:12):
because most of the time it's akind of small and not something
crazy big.
Speaker 2 (51:17):
Oh, totally, and I'm so glad you brought that up.
It is a thing, as you know, inIowa, the whole Iowa nice, be
humble, don't be tooting yourown horn.
Well, that's great to a certainextent, but it goes back to
what that guy taught us inMaster Gardener up there at Iowa
State it's not tooting yourhorn.
To tell the truth and shareyour story, as long as it's
(51:40):
coming from a place of itshouldn't be.
Hey, look at me, look at me,I'm so great.
That's not right.
But if you do it with a humbleheart and you are truly hoping
that your story helps someoneelse, then by all means you need
to share it and be gratefulwhen you have these
opportunities, even if you dobreak down and cry like I did,
(52:01):
just get over it and bevulnerable and be authentic,
because that's you know, we livein this.
Some people call it a plasticworld, a fake world, whatever
you want to call it.
I see especially young peoplethat I'm concerned about them.
They live in these social mediarealms and they can't even take
(52:23):
pictures of themselves withoutall kinds of filters and making
them look and present likesomeone they're really not.
This is why you, this is whypeople end up with mental
problems.
Seriously, it's okay to beauthentic, it's okay to talk
about things that are buggingyou, but we also can't wallow in
(52:44):
all the things that are wrongand the things that are bad.
We need each other to buildeach other up.
We need those five peoplearound us that make us better.
We need to share our storiesand share those stories of hope
so that we don't have to to staywallowed in the muck.
Yeah, because isn't that whatthe christian life is all about
(53:05):
redemption building with eachother up right, yeah, yeah
exactly.
Life is too tough to do it alone.
You need friends, you need, youneed.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
God, yeah Well, darcy , this has been such a great, a
great chat and it went in somany different ways and I and
then I thought and I think, god,that's just you and that's just
so wonderful and and I doappreciate you being so
vulnerable with so many piecesof your story and I'm just
(53:35):
praying for the person.
Well, there's many people whoare going to listen, obviously,
but for the one person, it justreally resonates with them that
they're really impacted by youbeing vulnerable and you being
authentic.
So thank you for that.
Speaker 2 (53:51):
You're welcome.
Thank you, Nancy.
Thanks for all you do.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (53:56):
Well on Ordinary People, extraordinary Things.
Your story is His glory.
I pray that this podcast hasimpacted you, that it has made
you think, that it has impactedyour life.
I pray that it has grown yourfaith and that you will share
this podcast with someone youknow.
And if you would like to joinour prayer team, don't forget.
(54:16):
Just go togenerations2generationscom and
you'll find the Join Our PrayerTeam under the podcast tab.
We'll see you in two weeks fora brand new episode.
Welcome to Ordinary People, Extraordinary Things.
I'm so glad that you found ushere.
We talk about faith and hope,real hope from stories of people
just like you, Ordinary people,telling their stories to
inspire, encourage and buildyour faith.
Did you know that we have aprayer team?
If you would like to join,please go to
(00:23):
generations2generationscom.
Generations is plural and twois T-O.
There you will see a podcasttab and if you scroll down, it
says join our prayer team.
We would love to have you join.
By doing this, you will get anemail from us every two weeks to
share how you can pray forOrdinary People, Extraordinary
(00:43):
Things.
Well, welcome to OrdinaryPeople, Extraordinary Things.
I'm here with Darcy Darcy.
Thanks for being on.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Thanks, Nancy.
It's always good to connectwith someone from Lake City,
Iowa.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yes, we come from the same town.
It's just fun to kind of meetagain and learn each other's
story and see what God has beendoing in our lives since we were
, you know, kind of little,that's right.
Well, if someone doesn't knowwho you are, can you give three
(01:17):
words or phrases to describeyourself?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Absolutely yes.
I call myself Iowa Storytellerand I'm a fifth generation
farmer, so that's kind of onecluster of words.
And then I'm also.
I've always been an old soul.
I have a title of marketing tohelp people understand what I,
officer, I tell people.
I'm a CMO chief memory author.
That seems to resonate withpeople because I've just always
(01:52):
been a history head.
I was the little kid listeningto the old people talk instead
of playing with other kids, andI just it's so important to to
know the past, honor the pastand use it as a guide map for
the future.
But then that also leads toanother part of who I am.
So the third description wouldbe I am eternally curious.
(02:13):
I don't evaluate people basedon their educational degrees or
their job titles.
I look at someone and wonderhow many questions are you
asking?
And if you're a person who asksa lot of questions and is
curious, I know you've got afertile mind.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
That's good.
I can see why we kind of hit itoff.
We both love history, we bothlove stories, and just we're
doing that in different venues,right?
Could you tell people where youshare your stories?
How do you share stories?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, there's two main ways.
So I'm actually an agjournalist by trade, so you'll
see my stuff in places like FarmNews and Iowa Farm Bureau
Spokesman.
If you don't read things likethat, that's okay, because the
other side of what I do is beingan author, so that taps into
that whole CMO Chief MemoryOfficer side of me.
(03:10):
So I've got eight nonfictionbooks now Granted.
These focus on Iowa history,but a lot of just fun stories in
there, for example, culinaryHistory of Iowa, why we Eat what
we Eat so just fun stuff.
That really has struck a chord,surprisingly, with a large
number of people.
(03:30):
And then also I have a substack so you can read my blog
posts on my sub stack column.
So we might talk farming, wemight talk history, we might
talk food who knows?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
All right.
Well, we'll link all of that.
You said food.
A couple of things come to mind.
I still say supper, for youknow five o'clock eating time
and that's a very specific, Ithink, to the to the Midwest,
and my kids make fun of me it'sdinner, mom, for so long that it
(04:07):
would be very hard to switch.
But the other thing, and thisis something that because we
live in Colorado if someone'slistening and doesn't know and
we live in a suburb of Denverbut I make scotcheroos and they
are such a hit out here and it'sso funny because that's that's
a very normal thing in Iowa andbut it is very, I think,
(04:33):
localized to Iowa, maybe alittle bit further out, but is
that one of the foods that youtalk about in your in your story
?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I do, I do, and you know it's so funny because I
wrote a column about this twoyears ago.
One of the things I do I'm acolumnist for the Iowa Rural
Electric Co-op statewidemagazine and honestly I had
forgotten I'd written aboutScotch Aroos.
And just the other day, likelast week, a gal emailed me from
Northwest Iowa and she wasgiving me her take on where she
(05:04):
thinks Scotch Aroos, how theyoriginated, and it's kind of a
great debate over whether it wasspecial K that was used first
and then Rice Krispies in scotchroos.
If you want to talk aboutreligion and politics and get
stirred up, get people stirredup.
That's one way to do it, butalso get people talking about
scotch roos.
Everyone has an opinion here inIowa about scotcharoos and I
(05:28):
love it when ambassadors likeyou take this wonderful treat
out to other regions that arenot familiar with scotcharoos.
They're fantastic.
So yes you can even read aboutscotcharoos on my my website and
blog posts about scotcheroos onmy my website and blog posts.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
So yes, and maybe I'll share my scotcheroos recipe
on there, but oh yeah, mad ifit's different than yours
exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
They're all good.
They're wonderful.
They bring people together.
What's not to love?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
yes, they are delicious.
The other one that I wasthinking of and this doesn't
have anything to do with what wewere talking about, but I just
like this is fun is cinnamonrolls with chili.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yes, yeah, you know I get asked about that a lot too,
believe it or not.
Smithsonian actually contactedme a few years ago.
They were doing a story onregional foods and in that piece
they ended up dubbing me, ofall people, the chili and
cinnamon rolls expert.
Now, I wouldn't call myself anexpert, but I have eaten a lot
of them through the years and Idistinctly remember you and I
(06:32):
went to the same high school,different time periods, but oh
my goodness, when I was there wehad the retired farm cooks and
that kitchen, as you know, wasdown in the basement of this big
three-story brick built in 1923kind of school building.
And when I was up on thirdfloor in math class you could
smell those homemade caramelrolls being baked and that aroma
(06:55):
would drift up all that way andI just couldn't wait for lunch.
So yes to the uninformed, theywant to know.
Well, that has really weird.
What do you dunk the roll inthe chili?
And I said, well, no, notnormally I guess you could, but
you eat the chili and then youhave that cinnamon or caramel
roll for dessert.
(07:15):
So I can find no real reason whythis is such an Iowa thing.
I do see it, you.
You'll see shades of thiscreeping into eastern Nebraska
and even into Wyoming.
But here's I'll give you realquick, my theory on why this
emerged here.
So we, like the old farm schoolor farm wife, old school cooks
(07:36):
that were cooking at these highschools in Iowa back in the day,
they were very thrifty and wehad commodities that became
available through this to theschools, like beans and ground
beef and such things, and I'msure they looked at the
ingredients they had to workwith and they thought, ok, what
can we make that is actuallyenticing to kids and somewhat
(07:57):
healthy.
So I'm guessing they came upwith a combination like chili
and cinnamon rolls and it isstill a hit.
I have been assured of this asI've done little informal polls
of schools around Iowa, wherethis has always been a tradition
.
It is still a hit today.
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
That is so fun, this is so fun.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
We could just talk about food all day.
We'll just completely changewhat we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
We could just talk about food all day, we'll just
completely change what we'retalking about.
We were talking about stories,obviously, and you had just said
off air and I loved what yousaid.
You said everybody's storymatters and could you maybe
share on that.
Why do you believe that?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Well, I've been doing my job a long time of doing
sharing ag, primarily ag stories, but I've been doing this since
the mid to late nineties andyou know, it just happened again
the other day where I this wasI'm writing about barns right
now and I was.
I drove past a beautiful barnin Northern Iowa and I wasn't
sure whose it was.
So I do my homework.
I miraculously track down thelady who owns the barn.
(09:07):
I call her up and I say, hey,I'm trying to document the
history of our rural heritageand your barn is beautiful.
I just like to do a fun littlestory.
If you tell me what you knowabout the barn, she just flat
out refused, wanted nothing todo with it.
I don't know why that doeshappen from time to time.
(09:28):
I don't know if it's peoplearen't confident, like they
don't know enough to tell theirstory because they don't know
every last fact.
Your show a couple of times onyour podcast he said you have to
be vulnerable to open up andtell your story, and that is
(09:48):
true, just like some of thethings we'll talk about today.
I don't normally share thesestories but I think I'm willing
to do it because if they arehelpful for someone else.
That's important and it allreminds me of when I took Master
Gardener through Iowa StateUniversity Extension.
They had us go up to Ames,which is the home of Iowa State,
(10:09):
and we had a Saturday where wehad to do labs and we're working
with plants and I really wasn'texpecting to get life wisdom
there.
I was expecting to learn how togrow better plants.
But one of the teachingassistants that was teaching us
he was a gentleman from Africaand he made it real clear I want
all of you to share when youhave some knowledge to share
(10:30):
with the group, because it wouldbe very wrong for you to
withhold that information thatcould help other people learn.
And that always stuck with methat we all know things that
other people don't know.
Just because we know it, wejust assume everyone else does.
That's not true and it reallyis wrong if you don't share that
with other people.
(10:51):
So, yeah, you got to bevulnerable.
Yeah, you've got to be brave toshare your story, but you don't
know who needs to hear that.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
It's really good.
That's really good and I likehow you.
We were talking about CurtisFry's story and if you haven't
heard it, there's two of themout there but he has a very
distinct, wonderful, amazingredemptive story of prison to
just a life of just loving Godand sharing God and it's so
(11:21):
beautiful and I love it so much.
That's why we've done two ofthem.
But I think that somebody mightget a little wrapped up in some
stories that are really big andthink, well, I didn't do that,
I don't have that story, so thenI don't have anything to share
and honestly, that's a littlebit how I feel, because I was
(11:45):
really blessed to grow up in aChristian home and a great home
and I don't have like a lot ofthese like whoa crazy.
But in a way that's wonderful.
Right, that's that's lessthings to to try to overcome,
but that doesn't mean that Idon't have a story to share.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
That's right, exactly .
We all have our own uniquecalling and purpose in the world
and thus we have our own uniquestories.
So we just we can't be afraidto share those, especially when
someone like you you gotconnected with me it would be
very wrong of me to say, oh no,nancy, I just can't help you
because I don't have anything tooffer.
(12:25):
I'm not the expert in a lot ofthings in life, but I do have
life experiences and hopefullythis will resonate with somebody
out there.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Well, that's a great segue into what are some stories
that have impacted you.
How have you seen God show upin your life?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
have impacted you?
How have you seen God show upin your life?
I'm an interesting person inrespect to God simply because I
grew up in a church.
My mother was a strong woman offaith still is but I was always
God's problem child.
That's what I call myself.
I didn't particularly likechurch.
In fact, I really didn't likechurch, and I still feel that
(13:08):
way to a large extent today.
I feel like I've kind of beenrunning from God a lot of my
life.
A lot of this is rooted in thechurch I went to growing up.
I just felt excluded, I feltleft out.
It was a very hurtfulexperience and that stuff sticks
with you.
So that's when I think, well,who am I to share my God story?
(13:31):
Because I'm the problem child.
I'm not the one that lovesgoing to church.
I'm not the one that just yayGod.
I put God first at every turn.
I try, but maybe there's.
I always felt like gosh.
I really wish someone wouldspeak my language and say yeah.
For a long time in my life, andmaybe even today on some level,
(13:52):
I reject God or I'm notcomfortable with God.
You know, does God really care?
So some of this is coming froma place where I'm still
struggling with some of that.
But that's okay because I amconfident there is a God, the
God of the Bible, and he showsup in really unexpected ways and
maybe for a hard head like meit has to be somewhat dramatic,
(14:16):
and I think of the first timethat I kind of became aware of
this.
I was pretty young.
It was the mid-1980s, so I wasstill in grade school and my
grandma, fern, lived up in FortDodge, iowa.
It's a rough town.
It wasn't quite so rough backthen, but her house was on a
dead end and there was a ravinedown below in another
(14:36):
neighborhood below, andunfortunately at that time she'd
had a couple break-ins at herhouse and I remember being
terrified because I was onlyabout third grade at this time
and my mom, who's an only child,would go up there when grandma
called and said oh gosh, youknow something bad happened.
We better check.
I need you up here.
We had another break-in.
These guys that were and I'massuming they were guys, we
(15:00):
don't know who they were, butthey ransacked the place.
They were slashing open couchesand mattresses, looking for
money or Lord knows what.
But my grandma was tough andshe was definitely a woman of
faith and she continued to livein that house even after about
two of those bad breaking andentering and theft experiences.
(15:21):
Well, it all came to a head.
One day, on a Saturday morning,my mom came up there to visit
her mom and my grandma.
I would go with mom.
We'd go to visit Grandma Fernevery Saturday morning and on
this particular morning agentleman had knocked on
Grandma's door.
Before we got there.
Now remember Grandma's about 80years old, maybe early 80s at
(15:44):
this point.
So she knocks on the door andthis gentleman is out there
asking her if she needs any helpwith lawn care or snow removal
or anything like that.
And she said, no, nope, I'mfine.
And so he left.
She closed the door.
Well, not all that much time hadpassed.
Here comes another knock atthat front door and she looks
(16:04):
out the window.
It's that same guy.
And she's scared at this point.
But she wasn't sure what to do.
Because do I go answer the door, cause he knows I'm home?
Is he going to force his way inIf I don't answer the door, or
should I try and hide in thehouse and pretend like I'm not
home?
Well, she decided.
Well, he knows I'm here.
I'd better just go to the doorand see what he wants.
(16:26):
So she opened the door and heforced his way in he wasn't
messing around this time andright there in the hallway he
starts wrestling with her.
He gets her down on the floor,gets her pants down and he's
preparing to rape her.
She's 80 some years old at thispoint.
This is just unbelievable.
This even happened and sheobviously can't fight back.
(16:48):
She's she never was a realstrong woman.
She's a thin lady, you know,small statured, but she just
cried out.
Help me, jesus, and the guy outloud, yeah, out loud, yeah.
and I don't know how forcefullyshe said it, I don't know if it
was a yell or a whisper or what,but she said it out loud and he
(17:12):
stopped and he left and she wasfine.
Now, granted, after we arrivedand found out what had happened,
then you call the cops and wemade it clear Grandma, you're
not staying here anymore.
And we, in short order, got hermoved to an apartment.
But it's one of those things,even to a young child's mind,
(17:35):
maybe it didn't change my life,but you just realize, oh my gosh
, there's no logical reason whythat guy would have stopped his
attack.
There's no logical reason whythat guy would have stopped his
attack.
He was stronger, he had theupper hand, he could have done
whatever he wanted to at thatmoment.
But why did he stop?
Why did help me jesus stop,stop that attack?
(17:57):
So that's one thing that plantsthe seed in your mind.
Well, maybe there is somethingto this God stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Yeah, yeah, that's powerful.
What a miracle.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
It really is.
And you know, sometimes peopleask why do you think that God
saved your grandma that day?
You know, I don't know.
I'd like to say it's becausethen it was real obvious that
grandma went on and did this orthat and it wouldn't have
happened had it not been forthat.
And I've also met enough peoplethrough my work as a journalist
(18:32):
and a writer.
I know that God doesn't alwaysintervene and those are tough
questions Like well, why did Godsave your grandma and not my
loved one?
I don't know.
Did God save your grandma andnot my loved one?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
I don't know and I don't know that we'll ever know
some of those answers this sideof heaven yeah.
But you have to trust, yeah, andthat's fair.
That's fair not to have to tryto wrap everything up into a
present with a pretty bow on it.
And here it is.
This is the answer.
I don't know that we'll, and wemight get glimpses here and
(19:09):
there of why or, like you said,a miracle and things like that,
but to figure it all out, tofigure out an immense God that
created the universe, I don'tknow it's possible, but it's
nice to get glimpses andthoughts and parts of it.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, and another time I think back to is when I
was starting out my collegecareer.
So this is about this was.
It was the spring of 1993.
So I was in my freshman year ofcollege.
Actually, I was attending thesame college that you went to, I
believe, nancy, at CentralCollege in Pella Iowa.
Yeah right, go Dutch.
(19:52):
So this is the era before cellphones and all that.
And I had a little 1984hatchback chevy cavalier.
It was a little red car and hada little age on it at that
point, but it had gotten methrough high school and and I
was using it to go to college,which is about a three-hour
drive from where you and I grewup, and there's interstate
(20:15):
traffic as part of the route toget from home to Pella, and so I
was coming back.
I think it was around springbreak and I was.
So I'm westbound on Interstate80 in central Iowa and my car
breaks down.
It just dies on me out on thisinterstate, which is one of the
busiest in the whole countrybecause it's a major
(20:36):
thoroughfare across the country.
No cell phones, it's, I can'tremember.
It must have been about rightafter lunch, so fortunately it
wasn't nighttime, but it wasstill scary because I have no
way to call for help and you'rejust praying that a state
trooper or someone will comealong and you see scary people
(20:58):
stopping and going.
You know, sometimes there'd bea car where you just think, oh,
please don't be, don't be comingover here.
And then when someone calledand said or stopped and said can
I get some help for you?
Fortunately they were a safe,kind person, but when they got
where they were going, I can'tremember if they had a cell
(21:18):
phone.
I don't remember all thedetails, but anyway we found out
that the state trooper was atleast half an hour away and
there's nothing I can do but sitout there in this little broken
down car on the side of thisreally busy interstate.
Now you got to understand thetime that we're talking about
the early 90s, so it wasn't thatmany years before, maybe a year
or two, that a young collegestudent named Tammy Zawicki had
(21:42):
been coming from New Jersey, Ibelieve, headed back to central
Iowa to a place called GrinnellCollege, and her car had broken
down on the interstate inIllinois and Tammy vanished.
Tammy's is still an unsolvedcase to this day.
When you say the name TammyZwicky, it still haunts me and
anyone who remembers her case,because she just vanished off
(22:03):
the side of that interstate andthey did find her body later, in
Missouri I believe.
But she was murdered and thisis still an open investigation
and you just think, oh my gosh,I am going to be the next Tammy
Zwicky.
I just know it because yourmind goes to all the bad places.
And then, as I'm just sittingthere freaking out, a large
(22:25):
truck and I mean like asemi-type truck pulls over off
the interstate in front of meand I thought, oh my god, this
is it, I, this is where I die isout here on Interstate 80.
Why on earth is a semi pullingover?
And a lady gets out and comes.
She's out of the passenger sideand she comes up to my window.
(22:47):
I didn't roll my window down,but she said do you need help?
And I said, well, yeah,actually I do.
My car is broken down.
Well, my husband could take alook at it.
He's pretty good with cars.
And I thought, okay, all right,so he gets out of the truck.
And I popped the hood and he'slooking around under the hood.
(23:09):
He said I don't think there'sanything much I can do for you
really, but where are you headed?
And remember, I'm still in thecar at this point, just talking
to them through the window.
I said, well, I'm trying to gethome.
And they said where's home?
And I said Lake City, iowa.
And they just lit up.
They're like Lake City, really.
Do you know the DeFreeze family?
(23:30):
I said, yeah, I know theDeFreezes Well.
We're friends with them fromway back when.
We haven't seen them for a longtime.
How are they doing?
I said, well, okay, I guess Imean we're not real close
friends, but yeah, they're stillaround, everything's good as
far as I know.
And they said, well, maybe weshould head up that way.
We are actually transportingcars.
(23:52):
That's what we do for a living.
So in this enclosed trailerwe've actually got capacity to
take on another car.
And would you want us to putthe car on the transport and
take you and the car back toLake City?
And I thought I don't even knowwhat to say to this.
This is too wild to believe.
But, nancy, you know, with atown there's only about 1800
(24:16):
people, which probably was thepopulation at that time you
can't make up random stuff likedo you know the defreezes, right
?
So I thought, oh my gosh, thisis something I think I can say
yes to this, I think it's OK.
So, yeah, that's what we did.
They were able to push the carup the the um, up into the truck
(24:37):
and I climb up into the cab.
And so here I am, riding upfront with these two people
named Pam and Eric.
They were a husband and wifeteam.
And so we take off forNorthwest Iowa and they are just
we're just getting to know eachother and it turns out they
haul really high end cars, likeexpensive cars for movie stars
and celebrities.
(24:58):
That's their job.
And so here's my little junkiecavalier on a transport that has
hauled fabulous sports cars forpeople like Alan Alda and the
little cool car they used inthat movie of who Framed Roger
Rabbit.
You know, it was a thing backin the day in the early nineties
(25:18):
and you just think, oh, mygoodness, this is too crazy.
So we make the two hour trip upthere to Lake city.
We pull into the driveway at myfamily's farm with this huge
semi.
My mom and dad come out andlook at it and think what in the
world is going on?
So I jump out and explainwhat's going on and dad said
(25:38):
well, my dad, the practicalfarmer, says well, nothing we
can do to fix that car here.
You're going to have to take itto Mackey's.
So, as you know, mackey Motorsis the local car dealership.
So we take off again, drive thefive miles into town, pull into
Mackey Motors and I can tellyou for a fact that will cause a
big stir on a Friday afternoonwhen you pull in with a big
(25:59):
transport, and they weren'texpecting it.
So, long story short, we gotthe car off.
They got it fixed at Mackey's,everything was fine, as far as I
know.
Pam and Eric went and visitedthe DeFreezes and I kept saying,
oh my gosh, what can we do tothank you?
This?
I can't believe this.
This is too good to be true.
You're angels in disguise andand they said we don't want any
(26:22):
money, we don't want anythingfrom you, just if you see us
along the side of the roadsomeday, you just stop and help
us.
And I I've never heard fromthem again.
Those you know, this ispre-Facebook and hey, can we
stay in touch easily, kind ofstuff.
It was even pre-email.
So I've often wondered whathappened to Pam and Eric.
(26:42):
But there are just times inyour life like that you think,
if this isn't supernatural, Idon't know what it is, because
there's way too many things thathad to align here at the right
time.
It seems more far-fetched tobelieve that was just a random
accident or happenstance.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Oh, it's such a great story of such kindness of those
people too.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Oh, because you know, I don't know where they were.
I think they were bound forCalifornia, I think.
So taking two hours you knowit's two hours up out of the way
to go up there and then you'regoing to have to go two hours
back.
They could have easily justkept right on rolling.
There was no reason.
They didn't know who I was.
They didn't know I was fromLake City.
You really do wonder why didthey stop in the first place?
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Yeah, it's amazing, yeah, but it's so neat.
Yeah, it's amazing, yeah, butit's so neat.
I might, I might ask you if youfeel comfortable diving in.
You said you felt like or didor still do of God's problem
child.
Can you explain that a littlemore?
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yeah, cause I I'm not one of those people that just
grew up in the church andembraced all this and just was
so faithful right from thebeginning.
I have a very questioning mind.
It goes back to that curiosityand, I think, also the hurt I
experienced with bullying andjust feeling like an outsider
growing up.
(28:09):
You shouldn't you experience itat school, you shouldn't have
to feel it at church, and Ithink so with all these things,
they plant these seeds likechurch it's.
It's for some people and Iguess if you are one of those
who really likes it, or Godreally likes you and and you
don't have these problems, youknow feeling like the outsider
(28:31):
then church is awesome.
So I guess church is great forsome people and maybe it's just
you're just not really one ofthose church kind of people and
and by extension, maybe God justdoesn't really love you quite
as much as he loves other people, and that's just your lot in
life and and that's just how itis.
So get used to it.
(28:53):
And then you, I grow up and youhave all these experiences
especially you know this assomeone who interviews people.
You hear a lot of life storiesand you hear things that inspire
you.
You hear things that anger you,you hear things that make sense
and you hear things that don'tmake sense and you just realize
we're all on a journey that Idon't believe God loves one
(29:14):
person more than he lovesanother person, and I think God
is okay with people who questionhim, for people that can come
to faith and just embrace allthis from day one.
That's wonderful, that's ablessing.
That's not who I am, but Godcan handle it.
He's not afraid of the toughquestions.
So don't be afraid to ask anddon't be afraid to ask and don't
(29:37):
be afraid to admit.
I don't maybe just say I don'tfeel like a God person, I don't
feel like a church person, butyou hope you find those mentors
in life that can help steer youthrough and show you more little
glimpses of the divine.
There are these things thatseem random, just like the two
examples that I shared, andthey're probably not.
(29:58):
No, they're not random, buthopefully you will surround
yourself with other people whopoint you in the right direction
.
You know there's a famous linethat you are the composite you
reflect the five people youspend the most time with in life
, and that's true in business,it's true in school or whatever
(30:19):
realm you find yourself in, youwill be a reflection of those
people.
So I've been blessed to have amom that has a strong faith,
even though she'll tell you Iwill question her and be the
problem child as much as anybodyand I still am.
But find those people in lifethat can guide you and are
consistent.
It makes all the difference.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Thank you for sharing that.
I think that you're right thatthere's a lot of people who who
are right where you're talkingabout that are saying I'm just
not really sure, or I'm sure,but I still see this, or I'm
sure, but I still see this, orI'm sure but I still see this,
or but this doesn't make senseto me.
And just thanks for beinghonest and sharing that portion.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Of course it's a journey.
It's a journey.
It's a lifelong journey, yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Are there any other stories that you wanted to share
on God's plan for your life?
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Yeah, I did think of another one.
This was something my mom hadalways prayed for my dad, that
he would be saved and make it toheaven.
And my dad, I think I takeafter him a lot of just, you
know, church it's not really mybag.
I'll play along if I have toand do the things that a good
church person does, but I don'tknow if I quite believe it.
(31:41):
And he was stubborn that wayand my mom had always said you
know, I just gosh, I pray forhim every day.
I want to make sure that hegoes to heaven.
And so this oh man, this isgoing back probably seven, eight
years now Dad started havingsome health problems and we
(32:03):
nobody the doctors couldn'tfigure out what was going on.
So he, he was, you know, he's ahealthy farmer, he'd been
healthy and active his wholelife and and suddenly, when he
was getting up in the morning,he would just not feel right.
It was like he was almost indanger of falling down.
His blood pressure startedhaving these really wild swings
(32:25):
and, gosh, he went to I don'tknow how many doctors.
Nobody could figure it out, butthis problem is getting worse
and worse and finally we had totake him to the medical facility
at Iowa City, which is one ofthe premier ones in the Midwest,
and he went to a neurologistand, being the old farmer that
he is, when he had to go throughsome of these nerve tests, they
(32:46):
would shock you to see whereyou had sensation and where you
didn't.
And it sounded awful.
And I said, dad, what did thatfeel like?
And he said it feels likerunning into an electric fence.
But the test did reveal what weneeded to know, which was he
had something called multiplesystem atrophy.
(33:07):
And when I first heard aboutmultiple system atrophy, msa, I
thought, oh, thank goodness, atleast we have a diagnosis Never
heard of, I had never heard ofit before.
But oh, thank goodness, atleast we have a diagnosis Never
heard of, I had never heard ofit before.
But then when I started readingabout it, it was I just broke
down in tears and I could notquit bawling, because what it is
?
It's like Parkinson's on speed.
And the reason they call itmultiple system atrophy is
(33:29):
because it will eventually shutdown all your systems.
There's nothing you can do tostop it.
You will.
You won't necessarily die fromit exactly, but it will shut
down your vital systems andsomething will get you at some
point.
So there is no coming back fromit when you have MSA.
And I just never, ever dreamedthat my dad, my strong, active
(33:53):
farmer father, would havesomething like that to deal with
.
And it's hard on the wholefamily to watch someone slip
away piece by piece like that.
So ultimately we kept him athome as long as we could.
Mom was a saint that took careof him.
But there came a time when youknow he's a tall guy, he was
6'2", 6'3".
When someone loses theirability to move and do basic
(34:16):
functions, you just can't takecare of them at home anymore.
So he went to shady oaks carecenter in lake city and there
was a lutheran, pastor paulfurterer.
I almost tear up when I saythis because he's the one that
saved my dad.
(34:38):
And I think back to Pastor Paul.
He didn't owe my dad anything.
He didn't have to come visithim.
My dad wasn't even hisparishioner.
But Pastor Paul made a point tocome see lots of people and he
started talking to my dadbecause my mom had gone to
(34:59):
Pastor Paul's Bible study andshe asked him would you come see
Jim?
And he did, and he assured usthat through some of their
conversations, dad did acceptJesus, pastor Paul's confident.
(35:20):
He's in heaven.
I really don't like to crybecause this is really hard for
me, but I think about PastorPaul.
I go to his church now and Ithink you didn't have to do any
of that.
You didn't know us, you didn'towe us anything and we, you know
we're not even members of yourchurch.
(35:42):
But if that's not love andaction, I don't know what is.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Oh, beautiful story I think of when you're talking
about these three things besidesthe one about your grandma,
because she was all alone withthis man, and we're hurt by
people like you were alluding toand that's just so devastating,
not only on your life but yourfaith and your walk with Jesus,
(36:25):
because people can either justbring you to Jesus or they can
kind of make you turn away for awhile.
So, yeah, what a inspirationalstory of some people that really
showed God's love, and one ofthem was a very tangible way
with the, with the car, and, andthen the other one was just
(36:47):
such a spiritual way of andtalking with your dad.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
No, it was, and I have to laugh too.
No, it was, and I have to laughtoo, because my dad, who was
never the most ambitiouschurchgoer when Pastor Paul
would, he, made a comment onceabout well, I could come see you
more often, jim, if you't haveto come around too often.
(37:13):
So I thought, as emotional asall that gets, it's like my dad.
That's the dad that I know,that's the dad that I love.
There's a lot of shades of himin me.
So, even as hardheads, ourhearts can be softened.
But you've got to be open andwilling, and that goes back to
(37:33):
being curious and askingquestions, continuing to seek
answers, continuing to learn.
You're never too old to do anyof those things and it just
might change your life.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Well, thank you for that.
Well, as we wrap up, what areyou grateful for?
Speaker 2 (37:53):
You know it's funny.
I was just at a farm meetingthis past weekend and we had a
whole speaker talking.
Her whole talk was aboutgratitude.
And so what am I grateful for?
The more I thought about it,it's like what am I not grateful
for?
Even the simple things in life?
I woke up this morning.
I was healthy.
I turn on the light switchWe've got electricity.
(38:13):
I've got enough food in therefrigerator.
Turn on the light switch.
We've got electricity, I've gotenough food in the refrigerator
.
Right there, you're livingbetter than a lot of people on
this planet.
I'm grateful for opportunitieslike this to share my story,
even though it's hard to shareparts of that story.
And I'm still feeling like, ohmy gosh, did I just say that?
Did I just break down in tears?
What's wrong with me?
But it's so important to sharethose stories, I thought, well,
(38:37):
I can't expect other people toshare their stories with me if
I'm not willing to go theremyself and be vulnerable.
So we're blessed.
We're blessed every day that wewake up on the right side of
the dirt, as a farmer would say.
Right, I think of the words ofEinstein where he said there's
only two ways to live your life.
It's like nothing's a miracleor everything's a miracle, and
(39:02):
so I choose to be grateful foreverything.
Not that I don't whine.
Sometimes I catch myselfwhining and being that
ungrateful person and then youstop yourself and think okay, if
you had to make a list rightnow of five or 10 or 15 things
you're grateful for, just do it,and that'll change your mindset
right now.
That's good.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Yeah, what is your favorite Bible verse or story?
Speaker 2 (39:27):
You know I'm kind of a Proverbs kind of person.
I like a lot of those.
Although I was thinking thismorning, one that really has
resonated with me lately wouldbe James 1, james excuse me
James chapter 1, verse 5, Ibelieve it is.
I'll just read it here If anyof you lacks wisdom, you should
ask God, who gives generously toall, without finding fault, and
(39:49):
it will be given to you.
So that quest for wisdom, thatcuriosity, seeking the truth,
seek and you shall find.
That's why that verse resonateswith me, because it really
reflects how I live my life, andand when I do get into
situations where maybe the pathisn't clear, I'm getting
frustrated, I'm getting whiny,being that problem child.
(40:12):
Those types of thoughts keep meon track.
Are you really seeking forwisdom or are you just being a
whiner?
So, keep seeking wisdom.
And, like someone told me once,it's not enough to to wisdom,
knowledge, wisdom.
You know the line that wisdom,knowledge is power.
(40:33):
Well, knowledge is not powerunless it is applied.
So, applied wisdom, appliedknowledge, that's where the
magic happens.
And, like you mentioned, nancy,we have these partners in life.
They're human partners.
God works through these humanpartners.
So, seek the wisdom, seek theknowledge and then apply it,
(40:54):
share your stories and you neverknow how far that impact will
have.
It's like the pebble that youdrop in the pond you don't know
how far those ripples extend,and that's something my mom
always said.
She was a teacher, a gradeschool teacher.
You hope you touch a life andyou think you do, but you never
know how far those ripplesextend.
(41:15):
So thank you for what you'reknow how far those ripples
extend.
So thank you for what you'redoing, because the ripples are
extending a lot farther, I think, than any of us can imagine
thank you.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Well, and I think, how long ago was it that your
grandma had that scary, awfulincident and how how long ago
was it when your car broke downwhen you were going to college?
And these stories are stillimpacting your life.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
I was thinking about that doing the math the other
day.
So it's over 40 years forGrandma's story, it's over 30
years for the Pam and Ericbroken-down car story.
So yeah, the stories, a goodstory, a true story, well told,
has infinite impact that can fartranscend time, and has, I
(42:02):
don't.
It sounds maybe a bit bombasticto say it, but it can have an
impact ripples throughouteternity and I think that's why
we are supposed to share thosestories.
We don't know how far thoseripples will go.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Yeah, yeah, how your story might really really be
like impactful for someonesaying I didn't know anyone else
felt like that I didn't knowanyone else would see themselves
as a problem child.
And I'm only saying thatbecause you are, because I don't
think you're a problem child.
(42:41):
I think you are a child of God.
But I don't want to minimizehow you are feeling, too, or how
you have felt, and so be.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Yeah, that that is that you really hit on something
important, because sometimeswhen you say stuff like this,
like I don't know, I'm notstrong in my faith, I'm
questioning, I'm a problem child, and well-meaning people will,
will fire back at you oh but,but God loves you, you're a
child of God, you know.
They say all this stuff, thatis true, but yet it hurts
(43:17):
because you're not meeting thatperson where they're at Now.
I'm strong enough and confidentenough and all this that that I
know exactly what you meantwhen you said that.
But so many people, they comefrom a place of hurt and and we
just want to jump ahead and givethem the solution.
Well, they might not be readyto hear that yet.
(43:37):
So that's where the eternalcuriosity, the questioning, just
asking people without judgmenttell me your story, how did you
get to the point of coming tothat conclusion?
What are the things thathappened in your life that led
you there?
So you don't ask closed-endedquestions where they can say yes
(43:58):
or no.
You are honestly looking forthem to open up and share that.
And I'm sure you've seen, nancy, because you're a great
interviewer.
You get people to you, tap intothat right vein where they feel
comfortable with you and theyrealize you're not judging, you
almost become a counselor.
It's kind of unnerving, in away, what people will tell you
(44:20):
when they feel comfortable withyou.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Yeah, but that's how you find that common ground so
you can move forward to somesome better ground, hopefully
well, and this is just somethingI've learned over the years
that I'll just kind of interjectin here and when we have life
group, which is study, howeveryou want to say it, one of the
things that like a rule is thatyou can't fix someone's problem.
(44:45):
So and that's so hard to do,right, it's so hard, when
someone's saying I feel like abad mom, to not say you're not a
bad mom you're not a bad mom ohmy gosh, you're such a great
mom.
So that's A not letting themfeel where they're feeling or
you know like they're, they'reobviously going through
(45:06):
something.
If they're willing to sharethat and to just like be like no
, no, no, no, you're not.
Is is actually really hurtful.
No, no, no, no, you're not isactually really hurtful.
It's supposed to be helpful butit's actually really hurtful
when you're trying to sharewhere you are and then also
maybe God is saying, hey, let'swork on this or let's do this,
(45:32):
and throwing out a Bible verseto someone of like you are a
child of God sometimes is superwonderful and sometimes it can
(45:58):
be super hurtful.
I would just share that withpeople.
As far as if someone sharessomething that you believe is
not true about them, or you wantthem to hurry up and get to a
different point in their walk,in their hurt, in wherever they
are, just probably be a littlebit more careful about throwing
out a self-help book or a Bibleverse or something, because
sometimes all they need is justto sit in it for a while and
then maybe in three days, yousay, hey, do you want to go have
coffee and talk?
Three days you say, hey, do youwant to go have coffee and talk
?
But when someone's sharing it'sit can be so, so detrimental to
(46:21):
to try to fix it for them.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
It's so true and it only comes it's coming from a
good place of wanting to helpand wanting to ease someone's
pain, and yet you got to holdyourself back from that.
Keep asking them questions, getthem to maybe reveal more if
they're comfortable, and thenmaybe, if there is, let's say,
there's a Bible verse, there's abook, there's something you
think in the moment would helpthem.
Don't be afraid to ask theirpermission and say well, I think
(46:52):
, and use tentative language.
You don't say I know this bibleverse would help you.
You say I think this bibleverse could help you.
Would do you mind if I wouldshare this with you?
Ask, let them have some control.
Let them say yes or no, andmaybe it's not now, maybe that's
the answer.
(47:12):
No, I don't want to hear thatright now.
Okay, well, I still think thismight have some value at some
point.
Would you mind if maybe Iemailed it to you later?
Anything that injects thattentative language into the
conversation gives the otherperson some control to say yes
or no.
It's amazing how receptivepeople will be to saying yes,
(47:35):
but they just need to feel likethey can have it a little bit
more on their own terms, and Ithink that's fair.
That just is part of beinghuman.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
Well, what kindness have you shown, or what kindness
have you seen in the last week?
Ah well, you know, I had tostop and think about that one.
I was kind of mad at myselflike, oh, I should be able to
just pop those answers right off.
But I guess my brain hasn'teven thought like that before.
Which I should think like that,realizing, oh, I guess I'm not
(48:17):
21 anymore and all of a suddenthere's younger generations that
are looking to you for guidanceand you think I don't know that
I'm really qualified.
I still feel like the 20something that is still trying
to figure it all out.
But I got asked if I would be amentor for one of the seniors in
high school, at the local highschool that's trying to figure
out her possible career path andmaybe wants to do some ag
marketing or something like that.
(48:38):
So in recent weeks I've beendoing a little mentoring with
her, explaining my career,trying to answer her questions,
showing her or helping her meetsome other people in the
industry that do similar thingsso she can get a broader
perspective.
So to me that is a kind thingto do because I wish, wish, wish
someone had done that for meback when I was in her position
(49:01):
but we didn't have thoseresources then.
But oh well, I can help someonenow.
And then someone showed me akindness was when a friend of
mine he was headed to a meetingup, an ag meeting up in
Minnesota and asked if I'd liketo ride along and we had a great
conversation all the way back,all the way back home and even
something like that, which iskind of a no-brainer probably
(49:23):
for a lot of people.
I'm more of that independentfirst born child, I'm gonna do
it myself kind of person.
It's not natural or normal forthe first thought to pop in my
head of how can I help someoneelse, how can I invite someone
else and maybe bring them alongwith me.
It's not that I want to be mean, it's just I'm not wired that
(49:46):
way.
So anytime someone doessomething like that shows a
kindness, not only do I enjoylike in this case I enjoyed the
conversation on the way up andback, but it reminds me hey, you
can do that for other people.
And even that speaker Imentioned the other day when we
were talking about gratitude,she was pointing out that
friendships, relationships, theyrequire work.
(50:08):
You can't just put them onautopilot and then not do
anything and think they're goingto be strong.
So maybe it's as simple aswrite a thank you note to
someone that did a kindness foryou.
I plan to write two of thosetoday and pop them in the mail.
The power of the written word,the power of a thank you.
I've even done it with emails,where even just sending a little
(50:31):
taking two minutes to send anemail and saying thank you for
just being you, thank you forinviting me, you, thank you for
inviting me to be part of yourevent.
Whatever it is the power ofthank you and expressing that to
other people.
Never underestimate that weneed more kindness in this world
, do we not?
Speaker 1 (50:50):
We do, and I started this question because I think
that it shifts our focus, firstof all, but also it's one of
those things that people areafraid to tell their story but
they're also afraid to not behumble, and so if I say
something that I did, kind, isthat not being humble, but kind
of breaking that down a littlebit, of sharing these things,
(51:12):
because most of the time it's akind of small and not something
crazy big.
Speaker 2 (51:17):
Oh, totally, and I'm so glad you brought that up.
It is a thing, as you know, inIowa, the whole Iowa nice, be
humble, don't be tooting yourown horn.
Well, that's great to a certainextent, but it goes back to
what that guy taught us inMaster Gardener up there at Iowa
State it's not tooting yourhorn.
To tell the truth and shareyour story, as long as it's
(51:40):
coming from a place of itshouldn't be.
Hey, look at me, look at me,I'm so great.
That's not right.
But if you do it with a humbleheart and you are truly hoping
that your story helps someoneelse, then by all means you need
to share it and be gratefulwhen you have these
opportunities, even if you dobreak down and cry like I did,
(52:01):
just get over it and bevulnerable and be authentic,
because that's you know, we livein this.
Some people call it a plasticworld, a fake world, whatever
you want to call it.
I see especially young peoplethat I'm concerned about them.
They live in these social mediarealms and they can't even take
(52:23):
pictures of themselves withoutall kinds of filters and making
them look and present likesomeone they're really not.
This is why you, this is whypeople end up with mental
problems.
Seriously, it's okay to beauthentic, it's okay to talk
about things that are buggingyou, but we also can't wallow in
(52:44):
all the things that are wrongand the things that are bad.
We need each other to buildeach other up.
We need those five peoplearound us that make us better.
We need to share our storiesand share those stories of hope
so that we don't have to to staywallowed in the muck.
Yeah, because isn't that whatthe christian life is all about
(53:05):
redemption building with eachother up right, yeah, yeah
exactly.
Life is too tough to do it alone.
You need friends, you need, youneed.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
God, yeah Well, darcy , this has been such a great, a
great chat and it went in somany different ways and I and
then I thought and I think, god,that's just you and that's just
so wonderful and and I doappreciate you being so
vulnerable with so many piecesof your story and I'm just
(53:35):
praying for the person.
Well, there's many people whoare going to listen, obviously,
but for the one person, it justreally resonates with them that
they're really impacted by youbeing vulnerable and you being
authentic.
So thank you for that.
Speaker 2 (53:51):
You're welcome.
Thank you, Nancy.
Thanks for all you do.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (53:56):
Well on Ordinary People, extraordinary Things.
Your story is His glory.
I pray that this podcast hasimpacted you, that it has made
you think, that it has impactedyour life.
I pray that it has grown yourfaith and that you will share
this podcast with someone youknow.
And if you would like to joinour prayer team, don't forget.
(54:16):
Just go togenerations2generationscom and
you'll find the Join Our PrayerTeam under the podcast tab.
We'll see you in two weeks fora brand new episode.
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